History of the Department of English Language and Literature
Following the enactment of the Higher Education Law No. 2547 in 1981, the Department of Western Languages and Literatures was established in accordance with Article 13 of the "Regulation on Academic Organisation in Universities" issued on February 18, 1982, and was situated within the Faculties of Arts and Sciences. Pamukkale University became one of the 23 state universities established by Law No. 5018 in 1992. Its Faculty of Arts and Sciences—the foundation of basic sciences—officially commenced education in 1994 with the appointment of Prof. Hasan Erdoğan as the founding Dean. The Department of Western Languages and Literatures was included in this organisational structure. In this context, the department aimed to establish sub-departments (major branches) in German Language and Literature (ADE), American Culture and Literature (AKE), French Language and Literature (FDE), and English Language and Literature (İDE) in alphabetical order.
Founding Years and Early Academic Staff
In 1995, one Instructor position was allocated to the Department of English Language and Literature (İDE), and Kenan Dursun began his tenure as the department's first academic staff member. Following a job posting in 1996, positions for one Research Assistant and one Assistant Professor were opened. Asst. Prof. Mehmet Ali Gülel and Research Assistant Cem Peker (who later resigned of his own accord) were appointed in January 1997. As of February, the İDE academic staff consisted of one Assistant Professor, one Instructor, and one Research Assistant. Asst. Prof. Mehmet Ali Gülel served as both the Head of the Western Languages and Literatures Department and the Head of the İDE Sub-department; however, the department had not yet reached a sufficient number of faculty members to admit students.
In September 1997, a Professorship was advertised for the İDE Sub-department. Prof. Ünsal Özünlü, who applied from Hacettepe University’s Faculty of Letters, took over the department's leadership on October 6, 1998, following a year-long appointment process.
Growth and Integration
Around the same time, the Department of Foreign Language Education at the Faculty of Education, which lacked students and activity, was closed by the Senate. Consequently, several faculty members were transferred to the Department of Western Languages and Literatures in 2000: Asst. Prof. Ertuğrul İşler and Instructor Süleyman Bingöl to the French Language and Literature Sub-department; Research Assistant Necdet Keleş to German Language and Literature; and Research Assistants Cumhur Yılmaz Madran and Nevin Usul (who had completed their master’s degrees) to the English Language and Literature Sub-department. These additions enriched the faculty, bringing the total number of staff to ten. During this period, Res. Asst. Cumhur Yılmaz Madran was assigned to METU for his doctorate, and Res. Asst. Cem Peker was assigned to Ege University for his master's degree. Additionally, in 1999, Şeyda İnceoğlu (Sivrioğlu) and İlkay Yatağan (Khalid) joined the İDE staff as research assistants through a competitive examination.
Commencement of Graduate and Undergraduate Education
To prepare for student admission, a Master’s program in English Language and Literature was established within the Pamukkale University Institute of Social Sciences. In the Spring semester of 1999, six master’s students were admitted, marking the start of active education. Of these students—three of whom were departmental research assistants—four successfully defended their theses and graduated in 2002.
With the arrival of Prof. Sevinç Özer from Hacettepe University in 2001, preparations for undergraduate education were completed, and the department admitted its first 30 undergraduate students for the 2001-2002 academic year. The department has since become a self-sustaining institution; for instance, Baysar Taniyan (a 2001 entry student) and Reyhan Özer (a 2003 entry student) joined the faculty as research assistants in 2006 and 2009, respectively.
Administrative Transitions
At the end of 2002, the second Department Head, Prof. Dr. Ünsal Özünlü, retired after making significant contributions to the department’s academic and cultural growth. He was succeeded by Prof. Sevinç Özer. Following Prof. Özer's appointment to another university in 2004 and the retirement of Asst. Prof. Mehmet Ali Gülel, Asst. Prof. Ertuğrul İşler was appointed acting Head. In May 2005, Assoc. Prof. Ertuğrul İşler was officially appointed as the Head of the Department of Western Languages and Literatures, a position he held until 2015.
During the transition period leading up to 2015, Asst. Prof. Meryem Ayan (who joined from Manisa Celal Bayar University in 2005) served as the Head of the İDE Sub-department until 2013. She was succeeded by Asst. Prof. Mehmet Ali Çelikel, who transferred from Van Yüzüncü Yıl University in 2008. Dr. Çelikel served as the first Head of the newly independent Department of English Language and Literature from 2015 until February 2022. Upon his transfer to Marmara University, he handed over the chairmanship to Assoc. Prof. Şeyda Sivrioğlu.
Current Status and Legacy
The English Language and Literature program began its doctoral program in 2009 in collaboration with ADIM Universities and has been conducting it independently since 2015. To date, the program has produced 54 Master’s and 22 Doctoral graduates, many of whom serve as academics across Turkey.
In 2023, the 100th anniversary of the Republic, the Department continues its educational mission under the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. With over 900 students and a dedicated faculty—including Assoc. Prof. Şeyda Sivrioğlu (Head), Assoc. Prof. Baysar Taniyan (Deputy Head), Asst. Prof. Elçin Parçaoğlu (Deputy Head), and many others—the department strives to uphold the intellectual and literary culture of the Philology departments first established during Atatürk’s University Reform of 1933.