Turan Kayaoglu PhD

In 2022, Turan Kayaoglu assumed the role of Associate Vice Chancellor for Faculty Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver, where he guides the strategic direction of a wide range of activities related to faculty life and provides comprehensive support to help faculty members feel well informed and valued. Activities under his purview fall into four key areas: enhancing faculty development and support, overseeing faculty personnel actions, supporting faculty leadership development, and strengthening shared governance. Dr. Kayaoglu also holds a tenured professor position within the Political Science Department in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Prior to CU Denver, Dr. Kayaoglu (he/him) served as chair of Faculty Assembly at the University of Washington Tacoma, where he collaborated closely with university leadership on matters related to the university's budget, faculty salaries, teaching modalities, and COVID-19 response. He previously was Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs at UW Tacoma’s School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, where he spearheaded initiatives to promote faculty's professional development and advancement, oversaw and supported research centers, expanded the university's sponsored research portfolio, and enhanced the visibility of UW Tacoma research, creative activities, and community-engaged scholarship. His extensive career has also included research and professorial roles at Qatar University and the Brookings Doha Center (now the Middle East Council on Global Affairs).

A first-generation college graduate, Dr. Kayaoglu earned a bachelor's degree in International Relations at Bilkent University, Ankara in 1996, a master's degree in International Studies in 1999 at the University of Denver, and a PhD in Political Science in 2005 from the University of Washington in Seattle.

His research primarily relates to intersections of human rights and religion in politics. Dr. Kayaoglu investigates political and discursive strategies employed by state and non-state actors to advance human rights articulations and claims. He serves as editor-in-chief of Muslim World Journal of Human Rights. His books include The Organization of Islamic Cooperation: Politics, Problems, and Potential and Legal Imperialism: Sovereignty and Extraterritoriality in Japan, the Ottoman Empire, and China, the latter of which advances a post-colonial theory of state sovereignty. Other notable works include co-editorship of The Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Human Rights (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019).

A publicly engaged scholar, Dr. Kayaoglu received UW Tacoma's Distinguished Public Engagement Award in 2019. He served as a member of the Washington Humanities Speaker Bureau, where he delivered 20 talks from 2017 to 2019 on American Muslim history and politics. A former Shalom Hartman Jewish-Muslim Relations fellow, in 2016 he addressed the UN Human Rights Council on how interfaith dialogue can combat antisemitism and Islamophobia. His op-eds on topics related to religion, human rights, and international politics have appeared in the Seattle Times, Arab News, Tacoma News Tribune, and Brookings Institution publications. He also served on the board of the Puyallup School District from 2019 to 2023.