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Prof. Dr. Umay Türkeş Günay is a well-known folklorist in Turkey and abroad. While writing her doctoral thesis, she applied to Elazig tales the Propp method, which was developed by Russian scientist Vladimir Propp in his work "Morfogija Skazki", published in Leningrad in 1928, which marks the beginning of her scientific works. She is the first scientist to implement the Propp method, which is frequently used by folklorists today, in Türkiye. She started her career at Ankara University, Faculty of Language, History and Geogra- phy, and continued at Hacettepe University, thus creating the Hacettepe University school. She led the establishment of the chair of Turkish Folklore at the same university between 1985-1991. She received the title of "Associate Professor" with her research titled "Aşık Style Poetry Tradition and Dream Motif". She served as a member and consultant in commissions and committees related to culture, folklore and education activities of various institutions such as the Prime Ministry of the Republic of Türkiye, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of National Education, UNESCO and the State Planning Organization. In addition to her 5 books, Prof. Dr. Türkeş Günay has hundreds of publications including articles, papers, introductions-critiques, essays and translations. Prof. Dr. Umay Türkeş Günay, who continues her duty as the Dean of the Faculty of Education at Girne American University, sheds light on young researchers with her scientific articles and speeches. Scientists are people who produce, research, question, present their knowledge to the world of science and train young scientists. Prof. Dr. Umay Türkeş Günay, a scientist who has devoted her life to Turkish cultural studies, is principled, open to different suggestions and extremely objective as an administrator. She is uncompromising in scientific and business disciplines. She never conducts her relations with the people she works with on the subordinate-superior plane. By displaying her respectful style towards identities and personalities to both academic staff and students, she approaches young academics and students both like a mother and a teacher. In this study, information about Prof. Dr. Umay Türkeş Günay's life, her academic and administrative duties, the theses she supervised, and the books, articles and papers she wrote is given. In the study, the following books of Prof. Dr. Türkeş Günay, each a value in itself, were examined in detail: "Elazig Tales and Propp Method", "Aşık Style Poetry Tradition and Dream Motif in Turkey", "Risâlet-i Nushiyye and Yunus Emre", "History of Turks", and "Criticism of Turkish Culture". Based on the works of Turkish culture researcher Prof. Dr. Umay Türkeş Günay, attention was drawn to the messages she conveyed to the Turkish society and the importance of her books was examined. In the study, the views of Prof. Dr. Umay Türkeş Günay about science and the situation of the Turkish world in the historical course were pointed out and her suggestions and solutions were discussed. In addition, the articles written by Prof. Dr. Umay Türkeş Günay on the importance of critical perspective as regards the development and growth of societies are also included within the scope of the study. In addition, the bibliography of Prof. Dr. Umay Türkeş Günay's works is provided. Thus, an attempt has been made to draw a scientific portrait of Prof. Dr. Türkeş Günay based on the works. In the 80th year of her birth, the life path of the professor of the professors, Umay Mother of the Turks, is examined and her contribution to Turkish science is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]