In Memoriam: Ulku Ulkusal Bates, 1938-2023
Posted on Aug 25, 2023 | Comments 1
Ulku Bates, a long-time educator who spent the bulk of her teaching career at Hunter College of the City University of New York, died on August 7 in Portage, Michigan. She was 84 years old.
A native of Romania, Dr. Bates earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Istanbul in Türkiye. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Michigan.
Dr. Bates began teaching career at Oakland University in Michigan and the University of Michigan, where she taught Islamic and Chinese art history. In 1971, she joined the faculty at Hunter College in New York City. Her major focus was Islamic art history, but she also taught Indian, Chinese, and Japanese art history.
Professor Bates was a co-author of the original edition of Women’s Realities, Women’s Choices, an interdisciplinary textbook for an introductory course on women’s studies that was first published in 1983. It is now in its fourth edition.
Dr. Bates retired from teaching in 2008, after 37 years on the faculty of Hunter College.
Filed Under: In Memoriam
I am no kin to Ülkü–I was born with the surname, while she acquired it by marriage to a different Bates. We were brought together for a while by love, as well as by our complementary fields of scholarship. I don’t remember what then pulled us apart, and regret it. She was a great scholar and a great human being. In writing this small tribute I found this image (https://huntercollegeart.org/2023/09/11/in-memoriam-ulku-bates/) from 1969, at the beginning of her career, and then there is the picture at the top of this webpage, from at least 50 years later–and it’s the same big smile! Everyone who was lucky enough to see that unique smile will remember it. And everyone who was lucky enough to know Ülkü will always remember her.