Şebnem Yücel is graduated from Middle East Technical University with a B. Arch degree in 1993. In 1996 she received a governmental  scholarship to pursue Master’s and Ph.D. studies in the US. In 1998 she completed her Msc. in Arch. at University of Cincinnati and the same year she started her Ph.D. at Arizona State University. During her Ph.D. she was also appointed as a faculty associate to teach Orientalism course for the Interdisciplinary Program in Humanities and Research Methods course for the College of Architecture and Environmental Design. After finishing her Ph.D. in 2003, Yücel returned to Turkey to join the architecture faculty of Izmir Institute of Technology, where she taught courses on architectural history, theory, and architectural design studio. In addition to teaching at various private universities in Izmir; she was an executive board member for Izmir Chamber of Architects and a founding executive board member for 4T Design and Design History Association. Yücel served in national architectural design competitions as a jury member and presented in, as well as organized, international conferences. Her research concentrates on cultural identity, non-western modernisms and issues of [cultural] representation in architecture. Some of her publications include “Minority Heterotopias: The Cortijos of Izmir” (2016, ARQ: Architectural Research Quarterly);“Regional/Modern and the Rest” (2015, Architecture, Culture, Interpretation); and “Identity Calling: Turkish Architecture and the West” (2007, Architecture, Ethics and the Personhood of Place).