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Print 390 Archive
NEWS
21 July, 2025Khazar University's Qusar Trip: Academic Year Summary and Inspirational Meetings for the New Year
13 July, 2025Khazar University's 54th Graduation Ceremony
08 July, 2025Prof.Acad. Hamlet Isakhanli Met with His Classmates and Their Beloved Teacher Mushaferim Qelemova
07 July, 2025Opening Ceremony of the Hospital of Khazar University’s Hasvet School of Veterinary Medicine
04 July, 2025Report Concert and Exhibition by Music and Fine Arts Department
13 June, 2025International Scientific Conference on "Ottoman Prisoners in Azerbaijan during World War I (Nargin and Azerbaijani Society's Aid to Prisoners)"
12 June, 2025Khazar University Launches "From Natural Intelligence to Artificial Intelligence" Seminar Series
10 June, 2025Meeting of Turkish Minister with Faculty and Students at Khazar University
04 June, 2025Prof. Acad. Hamlet Isakhanli at the Seminar of the Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics of the Ministry of Science and Education of Azerbaijan
31 May, 2025"Khazar University Forum" Held

Letter of Appreciation to Khazar University

Dear Khazar Team!

I, Michael Collins, am grateful to have been among you for the past ten months. I arrived in Azerbaijan as an English Language Fellow last September 10, and I spent a little over a week just getting used to being in the country before my associates at the U.S. Embassy could find a suitable assignment for me. In those dizzying days, I just walked around trying to take in as much as I could. I laughed at my discovery that the numerous shops with oboy signs outside were not affiliated with one another or selling anything provocative (in the way "Oh, boy" would suggest), since that word just means "wallpaper" in Azerbaijani. As a person with a deep appreciation for geography, I nearly wept at being able to stand on the shores of the original "Khazar," the Caspian Sea, since I could scour the planet and never find a larger lake. After ten days of such small but powerful experiences as a solo operator, I officially started my association with Khazar University on September 20.

The praise I give here to the student body and staff of Khazar University is not something I am making up, nor is it anything I am expressing for the first time. Since my initial day the better part of a year ago, I have been continuously struck by the abilities and achievements of the young men and women studying here. I have striven to assist those students who summoned the courage to approach me, in any way I could. I was the official teacher of two separate courses at the Narimanov campus, and the students enrolled in those courses were, obviously, in the best position to benefit from my presence. They are free to judge my performance as they please, but I would like to think I offered them a taste of American education and a combination of comedy and college-level instruction uniquely my own. The employees of the university were, without exception, inviting and encouraging. It was as an observer and occasional contributor to the lessons of the Azerbaijani teachers of English that I encountered most of the Khazar students whose acquaintance I made. The local instructors were impressive, and I hope they feel the feedback I offered them on what I saw in their classes made them only more impressive. I got to observe almost all of them at the two of the four Khazar campuses where I spent most of my time, but I barely scratched the surface of what could be done at the other two. If a future English Language Fellow is fortunate enough to be assigned to Khazar University, my relative neglect of the Bakikhanov and Nizami campuses means it should be clear where to pick up and carry on. 

I enjoyed being a behind-the-scenes planner and an on-the-stage performer at some high-profile events. These gatherings were when my presence at Khazar University felt most significant. Because it was understood, all along, that my fellowship term could not extend beyond ten months, there was a sense of urgency about showcasing me when appropriate. I rose to the occasion each time that I was in Marble Hall, and the other planners and presenters made me feel like a valued part of the university for as long as I would be at it; I  attained the pleasant paradox of being treated as one of their own while being spotlit as a visitor whose contributions only had so much time to be experienced. On those special days, I verbalized, in front of dozens, the very same poems (both literal and figurative) I had bouncing around in my head the many times I could be seen pacing up and down the corridors in silent solitude. 

My time as a U.S. Department of State English Language Fellow at Khazar University in Azerbaijan is ten months that the calendar dictates must end eventually but my own memory will never allow to end completely. Wherever I may go, whatever I may do, there will be no alteration to the fact that I had such a wonderful tour of duty here. I could only speculate on when the last trace of any impact I made on the university might disappear, but I can already state, with certainty: Khazar University's impact on me is permanent.

 

Sincerely

Michael Collins

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