Hello, my name is Selen (seh-LEN). I am the Marilyn J. Gittell Postdoctoral Fellow at the CUNY Graduate Center, where I help run the Gittell Urban Studies Collective. I am a sociologist who studies how people organize to change public policy and institutions in conflicts over taxation, affordable housing, and higher education. I'm especially interested in how moral claims about fairness and responsibility shape the politics and policies of redistribution.

My work has been recognized by the Center for Engaged Scholarship (Dissertation Fellow, 2024-25), the ASA Section on the Sociology of Consumers and Consumption (Student Paper Award, 2025 Honorable Mention), and the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE Early Career Workshop, 2025). Previously, I worked at the UW Center for Evaluation & Research for STEM Equity (CERSE), conducting participatory action research with academic change-makers and supporting program evaluation. 

I earned an MA and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Washington, Seattle. I also hold a BA in Sociology with a minor in political science and international relations from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Türkiye.

You can get in touch with me at sguler@gc.cuny.edu or find some of this work on Google Scholar.