Prof. Cengiz Çekil (1945-2015), the founder of the sculpture department, stated in his notes based on official records on the history of Dokuz Eylül University Faculty of Fine Arts that the Faculty of Fine Arts was first established within Ege University with the decree in 1974 and the Senate decision dated 2 September 1975 and numbered 55/21. Sculpture is included in the Department of Formal Arts, one of the three departments. When the Faculty of Fine Arts was affiliated to Dokuz Eylül University on 20 July 1982 with the Decree Law No. 41, the Sculpture Department took its current name.

In 1978, Cengiz ÇEKİL, who had completed his education at L’Ecole Nationale Superieure Des Beaux-Arts in Paris, was the first person to be admitted as an assistant to the Department of Formal Arts in the field of Sculpture. (At the same time, Adem GENÇ (Prof.), who had received his art education in England, and Halil AKDENİZ (Prof.), who had studied in Germany, won the assistant exam for the field of Painting. In those years, the Sculpture Department shared the same building with the Painting Department in Bornova. Some time after Cengiz ÇEKİL became a lecturer, he expanded the teaching staff. Erdağ AKSEL (Prof.) and Aydın AKDENİZ were the two names appointed to the department as lecturers. In 1986, the Department of Sculpture moved to the Alsancak unit of the Faculty of Fine Arts, accelerating its preparations for education and training. In the 1986/87 academic year, the department started education and training in a single workshop with ten students enrolled in the sculpture undergraduate programme. In 1989, Oktay ŞAHİNLER (Dr. Lecturer) joined the teaching staff as a research assistant. Gökçen ERGÜR (Assoc.) in 1994, Arzu ÇAKIR ATIL (Prof.) in 1995, Sevgi AVCI (Prof.) in 1996, Mert Taşkın DEMİR in 2001, Neda İsmail ATAR in 2006, Levent AYATA in 2013 joined the department staff as Research Assistants.

In the past years, in addition to the names mentioned above, Lecturer. Ali Osman AVŞAR, Lecturer. Mehmet AKYOL, Lecturer. Rasim Özgür (Prof.), Lecturer. Aydemir KUMRU, Assist. Assoc. Prof. Kadir ATA, Lect. Assist. Ali SEVİMLİ, Assoc. Mehmet UYANIK (Prof.), Assoc. Assist. Uğursal ŞARK, Assoc. Assist. Gencer YÜZER, Assoc. Assist. Tamer ERSOY served in the department staff. Research Assist. Assist. H.Yarkın BİÇER (Dr. Lecturer), Assist. Assist. Varol TOPAÇ, Assist. Assist. Derya BARAN (Dr. Lecturer), Assist. Assist. Serap YILDIZ (Dr. Lecturer), Assist. Assist. Canan SÖNMEZDAĞ (Assoc.), Assoc. Assist. Osman YILMAZ (Dr. Lecturer), Assoc. Assist. Seval ALP (Dr. Lecturer) are academic staff who were appointed to the sculpture department within the scope of Article 35 in order to complete their graduate education.

​​The education and training programme of the Department of Sculpture was initially prepared by taking into account the undergraduate programmes of universities in Turkey and in the world and the quality of secondary education in our country. Since the day it was founded, it has constantly updated and renewed itself with the changes it has made in its programme and aims to bring creative individuals who are well-equipped, knowledgeable, self-confident and contemporary to the art world. 

The Department of Sculpture, Dokuz Eylül University Institute of Social Sciences, started to accept students for the first time in 1988-1989 for Master’s Degree and in 1990-1991 academic year for Proficiency in Art programmes. Through workshop and project applications and theoretical lectures, analyses and researches are carried out on the concepts and visual qualities that form the basis of artistic sensitivity. The aim is to make talented artist candidates sensitive to the artistic products realised throughout history within aesthetic categories and to lead their artistic expressions in line with the modernisation goals of our country.