Person #2 - Field of Interest
Name: Purnur Ozbirinci
Position Held by Interviewee: Bicultural English Professor
Relation to Interviewee: ENGL 1A Professor
Email: pozbirinci@santarosa.edu
Date of Interview: December 8, 2022
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Location: In-Person; Professor Ozbirinci’s Office
1. Q: What is your degree in? How did you go about getting it?
A: Dr. Ozbirinci has a PhD in English Literature. She started by first earning her
Bachelor’s degree in American Culture and Literature. After her graduation, she worked
as a teaching assistant for a while before deciding to apply for her Master’s. When
accepted, she did 2 years and earned her Master’s. Almost immediately after she started
working on her PhD where she wrote a book for her dissertation. She completed 5 years
and finally earned her PhD. All her education was based in Turkey.
R: I was a bit surprised at how long it took Dr. Oz to finally get her PhD. It wasn’t
necessarily anything she did but more so my expectation that people usually apply for
the Master’s straight out of their Bachelor’s and their PhD straight after their Master’s.
2. Q: Was this the career you originally wanted? Why or why not?
A: Becoming a teacher in literature was something that Dr. Oz knew she wanted to do
since high school. She also noted that in Turkey everyone needs to know what they want
to do before applying for college because there’s no options for “Undecided/Undeclared”.
R: I was surprised at the fact that Turkey doesn’t allow students to apply as “Undecided”
or “Undeclared”. I imagine that is extremely discouraging to students who want to
continue in higher education but are ultimately unable to because they aren’t sure exactly
what major they want to choose.
3. Q: What are your favorite parts of working in your career? What are your
least favorite parts?
A: Dr. Oz’s favorite part of being a professor is working with students and helping them
communicate what’s in their head to words on paper. She loves guiding and encouraging
her students to have confidence in their writing as well. Dr. Oz says she feels most
accomplished when students’ mind’s “click'' during lessons or work time. Her least
favorite part, however, is having to give grades. Dr. Oz says that one of the most
frustrating parts is when she knows and sees that the student is brilliant and is
understanding the material, but they don’t turn in their work. She struggles to find a way
to encourage them to keep going without conveying them the wrong message with their
final grade.
R: I’m really glad that Dr. Oz is an English professor because ultimately she cares about
her students' success. I wish more of my teachers were like her. I never really thought
about how difficult it must be for teachers who aren’t solely going based on points to
grade students. I think grades should ultimately depend on both the student’s growth
throughout the semester as well as count the points they earned.
4. Q: How difficult was it to get into this profession after finishing your
Bachelors?
A: For Dr. Oz, the transition was luckily really smooth. She started off as a Teaching
Assistant in an internship she joined while earning her Bachelor’s and continued after
she graduated. While working on her Master’s, she was hired right away with
connections she built through her internship. Dr. Oz notes that it was difficult to find a
full time position when switching countries or even states. She needed to have a solid
resume with lots of experience.
R: Dr. Oz’s experience is an example of networking. I think many people often take
networking for granted in college. Most students fly by their classes trying to complete
their homework and earn good grades, but they forget to build simple bonds with their
teachers or even classmates.
5. Q: What does a typical work week look like for you?
A: Dr. Oz has 4 classes throughout the week. Aside from mandatory classes, she has
about 2 hours of optional office hours per class. A good amount of her time is taken up by
grading and setting up lesson plans. Dr. Oz notes that grading especially piles up during
finals. About once a week she attends mandatory English department meetings in which
she will sometimes present information about her class or sometimes simply listen in.
R: I imagine that with a schedule such as Dr. Oz’s, it must be hard to dedicate sufficient
time to friends and family. Summer may be the only time in which they get the time to do
so, which makes me wonder how often teachers experience burn out? If I were to
seriously consider becoming some sort of educator, I think that this is something I would
have to take into consideration.
6. Q: What words of advice would you offer anyone going into this career?
A: Dr. Oz says to be ready for distress, deadlines, and large workloads. It is a large
amount of responsibility and work but she claims that she always focuses on the end
result to keep her motivated.
R: Dr. Oz’s advice resonates with how I keep myself motivated in school. It also slightly
reminds me of some career advice that my elementary school principal told me once; it
was “become the person you wish you had growing up.” I hope that whatever career I go
into is one that helps someone.