Tanju Baran Akan (Istanbul, Turkey) “Growing up as a daughter of a teacher and veterinarian Colonel in the Turkish army, I experienced attending many different schools all over the country. When I graduated from my high school Istanbul Lysee, I was ready to confront the challenges of a year studying in America through the American Field Service. Brecksville High School still means so much to me. My year in Brecksville totally changed my life. I started to look at the world through a different window. People were the same all over the world and they were so beautiful.  I gradually decided to find ways to work towards world understanding of cultural differences.  AFS has always stood for that. Whenever I think about the problems of Turkey, I am more able to compare those problems with other countries. I remember each minute of my year in Brecksville and how friendly everyone was. I warmly remember each one of my classmates andteachers. Whenever I return back to those memories, a big smile covers my face.”

When Tanju returned to Turkey she married Cevdet Akan, a civil engineer who owns a heavy construction business, mostly civil water projects. They have two children. Ahmet is an engineer who is married to an architect and Papatya is an architect married to an engineer. They are all involved in the family businesses. They also have three grandchildren.

After having her children Tanju attended and graduated from Mimar (means Architecture) Sinan University. She has been serving on the Istanbul Preservation Commission as an expert on cultural heritage (all periods) restoration and has taught classes at her former university. She started to work for AFS Turkey in addition to her architectural practice and became a founder and board chairman of the Turkish Cultural Foundation which runs the national AFS. In 1993 Tanju began serving on the AFS International Board in New York. She was awarded their prestigious international lifetime achievement award. Recently she has decided to become more active in Turkish politics, helping to found a new political party.

Tanju has an active architectural practice with many projects ranging from mixed use developments to hotel construction to developing a signature high-rise building in Istanbul as well as projects in other European cities such as Prague. Most recently she has been asked to head the Site Management Project for the Istanbul peninsula for the World Heritage Organization, a division of UNESCO.  She will be establishing the building and preservation standards for dealing with ancient discoveries within the city walls.