Assoc. Prof. Okay Pekşen

Okay Pekşen was born on July 1, 1986, in the Yomra district of Trabzon province. He completed his primary education at Yokuşlu Village Primary School and Yomra Central Primary School, and his high school education at Yomra High School. In 2009, he graduated from Atatürk University, Faculty of Literature, Department of History. That same year, he began his master’s degree at Atatürk University's Institute of Social Sciences, in the Department of Ancient History, and graduated with a thesis titled "Ancient History of Giresun Province."

He started his academic career as a research assistant in the Department of Ancient History at Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences (2012-2017). In 2013, he began his doctoral studies at the Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Ancient History, at Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University. He completed his thesis titled "Religion-Politics Relationship in Ancient Mesopotamia (Sumer-Akkadian-Babylonian)" and was awarded the title of Doctor in Ancient History.

In 2017, he joined Ondokuz Mayıs University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Ancient History. Since 2020, he has been working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Ancient History within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the same university.

In addition, he served as the Deputy Director and a Board Member of the Ondokuz Mayıs University Institute of Social Sciences from 2019 to 2020, and as a member of the OMU BAP Sub-Commission in 2023. He held the position of Vice Chair of the History Department at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Ondokuz Mayıs University between 2020 and 2024. He was also the Periodicals Coordinator within OMU Publications Coordinatorship from 2021 to 2024. Since 2018, he has been the Erasmus Department Coordinator of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of History, and the Head of the Department of Ancient History at the same faculty. Since 2022, he has been serving as the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Ondokuz Mayıs University. Throughout his academic career, he has been involved in various boards and commissions on different themes.

He has published numerous articles in national and international journals, has contributed to many books as editor and author of book chapters, and has written several encyclopedia articles. He has also presented papers at national and international conferences. Furthermore, he is the publisher and editor in chief of the academic journal OANNES – International Journal of Ancient History. He is actively involved as an executive in projects supported by TÜBİTAK (1001) and the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

He is married and has two daughters, Duru and Defne.