Toker, Umut  

Umut is the man. He and Vicente taught the 201 sections together this year. This was Umut's first quarter teaching here, so it was apparent that Vicente had priority as far as presentations and stuff, but Umut does the majority of one-on-one work and will go out of his way to help you. He has gone beyond the call of duty constantly for our class, is always ready to help and is very nice and aproachable. English is not his first language, but he is a better communicator than Vicente by far. He is down-to-earth, very competent, and knows all the programs you're going to be learning very well, whereas Vicente doesn't really help much with technical stuff. Simply put, Umut is awesome.

A very excellent professor! He takes the time to keep everyone together at the same pace, provide any help if needed (he walks around for 4 hours during lab to answer everyone's questions), very reliable, very artistic and design oriented since he got his degree in architecture, nice and helpful professor. Consider him not only a professor but a great friend! IF YOU ARE INTO DESIGN, TAKE HIM!

Easily one of the best professors I have ever had. Take the entire lab series with him, he knows what we need to be able to do and does it in bits so that we never get overwhelmed. Looked forward to going to lab every day!

The best studio professor in the CRP department. Organized, knowledgeable, and incredibly helpful. A full and challenging workload, but Umut goes above and beyond in all ways, and it shows. Also an all around cool and caring dude.

Umut is an amazing professor! He really brings out the best designer and planner in you (even if you feel like you have no creative design side to you). He makes studio run smoothly and is extremely well organized and professional, plus a lot of fun!!

Take all labs with Umut, if you like design, definitely take him!He's a great guy..everybody knows him!

Great professor...take Umut if you like Design and he's willing to help with any question you have...He makes you work and get your stuff done so you don't stressed out towards the end of the quarter..

Umut is by far the best studio professor I've ever had. He is crazy dedicated to his students and really adopts his studio as a family. If you email him at 4 am with a crisis, chances are he'll respond within 10 minutes. He came in almost every Sunday to give us tutorials on Rhino, Vray, etc and it was so helpful. He does expect a lot from his students so prepare to work your ass off but it's completely worth it. DEFINITELY TAKE HIM IF YOU CAN!

May 18, 2014 - The Fifth Sunday of Easter - Youth Sunday Katherine Seth "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." -John 14:1-14 Good morning everyone! If you don't know me, my name is Kat Seth and I've been going to this church for the past 10 years. I'm graduating from high school in 14 days and 10 hours. That is uncomfortably soon. For so long, college and the future and adulthood have been lovely, far off ideas that I've been able to postpone thinking about. But, with the onset of senior year, I was forced to push them to the forefront of my mind, and accept the fact that change is upon me. The resulting months were some of the most stressful and emotionally trying times I have experienced in my short 17 years. Making important decisions - like taking a new job, moving to a new place, or choosing a college - can cause us intense feelings of anxiety because the uncertainty of the future. I couldn't help but feel like it was my responsibility, and mine alone, to ensure the success of my future. My mom can attest to it: the tears, the monthly breakdowns, the intense indecision – all side effects of the pressure I felt planning out my future. Eventually, it came down to my West Coast college trip. This was supposed to decide everything. It was going to put an end to all of the indecision and show me exactly what the right choice was for me. I believed this without a doubt. I expected to have "the feeling" that is so often talked about among college students. It's the moment when you're overwhelmed with clarity and you know that a school is right for you. I was so excited to have this experience and it was only through the suggestion of my mom that we prayed for God to give me a sign. Up till that point, I had never considered putting this decision in God's hands. Did He know about what I needed in my architecture program? Did he know my preference for student body size, or to consider the coolness of the school mascot? I didn't realize that my need to micromanage things was blinding me from the well-preached fact that God knows everything and that, honestly, I needn't have worried. My sign came at the first school we visited. Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. After an amazing student tour in the absolutely gorgeous campus, I had "the feeling." I felt happy and whole and excited to be there. It had so much of what I wanted in a school and it just felt right. God had delivered pretty quickly and it was overwhelming to get exactly what I asked for so quickly. You'd think that would be it, you know, "and then she lived happily ever after, the end, send in the deposit". But as the trip went on, I couldn't help but look at the other amazing colleges and say, "Are you crazy God? Do you see these schools? Why don't you endorse these with your 'magic signs'?" I tried to discredit the feeling, saying, "Oh, I only felt that way because it was my first college visit ever. The other colleges make sooo much more sense." I came home and still did not have a decision. Weeks later, along with more tears, meltdowns, and extensive pro's and con's lists, I had two schools to decide between. Cal Poly and University of Oregon. I was changing my mind daily and splitting hairs till I went crazy. All of that ended on a Sunday very much like this one, just a few weeks ago. After communion, I went to the prayer room and prayed with one of my youth leaders, Kathy Reubosch. I'm sure many of you have had your own experiences of healing and revelation in the prayer room. The sound of running water, the Hawaiian light coming in through the window, and the feeling of safety just create an atmosphere that is optimal for hearing God. Sitting there after the prayer, I felt God. I was talking with Aunty Kathy about which way I was leaning and in that environment, I felt him gently nudging my heart the way he wanted me to go, as is his style. A few days later, I committed to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. The feeling that I had tried to ignore initially ended up being the driving force behind my decision. God knows who we are and what we need more deeply than we ever could, and He always knows our path, even if we can't see it. Sometimes, it is the choice that doesn't work out on the pro's and con's list, the one that doesn't make sense to us that is the change that we need. God doesn't always make sense, but He always knows what we need. Sometimes, in the words of the popular new Disney movie, Frozen, we just need to Let it Go. We need to learn that we don't always have to do it on our own and that in the end, He will guide us to the place we need to be. In the words of Jeremiah 29, verse 11, "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Sometimes we just need to let go of our control, and put it into God's hands. Amen.

Umut is ridiculously, extremely good at his job, and is an all around great person. His dedication to his students is unparalleled, and he has the technical, theoretical, and practical knowledge necessary to apply that dedication. Being in Umut's studio is like bowling with bumpers on, BUT also taking bowling lessons first. He provides you with the direction and support necessary to begin to tackle a problem/prompt/"bowling ball," so you already have developed proper form and technique by the time you approach the lane to bowl. Then, just in case you, like, slip or something when you release the ball, the bumpers are there to guide you back onto the right path- but most likely, you won't even need the bumpers. There is a good balance between technical instruction (his tutorials for V-Ray, Grasshopper, etc. are concise, easy to understand, and always supplemented by a pdf on polylearn for your future reference, and his explanations of architectural details are far more clear than the ones we've gotten in our Practice classes- I'm looking forward to when we get to focus on these in studio next quarter (quarter #2 of double-quarter) because I think I will finally have a full grasp of how they work), architectural theory discussion (reading hours on fridays), and one-on-one design development (he listens carefully, takes a read of how much and what kind of direction you want/need, and then very concisely points you in the direction you may or may not have known you wanted to go. If you're lacking clarity of thought, Umut will help you find it without imposing). The work he assigns is always very carefully considered because he respects the value of our time- I have never felt like a second of my time in this studio has been spent on busywork or otherwise unproductive activities. Overall, the studio experience thus far has been very positive and I look forward to next quarter!

Umut is awesome. He is the best professor in the department. He is very approachable and always willing to help. If you have a choice you should take him, you will not regret it! (And you will actually learn something)

UMUT ROCKS! Take hime for as many CRP courses as you can. CRP 452 is not an easy class, but Umut makes it to where it\'s not too much of a worry since he is very understanding.