Francena Turner

Postdoctoral Associate for Data Curation in African American History and Culture at Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities

Francena Turner received her Ph.D. in Education Policy, Organization & Leadership with a concentration in History of Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As a CLIR Fellow and Postdoctoral Associate for Data Curation in African American History and Culture for the University of Maryland Restorative Justice Project, her work sits at the intersection of African American History, Culture, and Digital Humanities (AADHum), oral history, and the University of Maryland Libraries faculty to design an oral history project, conduct and preserve oral history interviews, and participate in planning, designing, and implementing the project’s data management and curation strategies. Her research interests include histories of Black education, Black women’s higher education, activist scholars, student affairs in community college contexts, Black Feminisms, and oral history methodology. She is most interested in issues of equity, agency, and thriving in education. Turner is also a proud graduate of Fayetteville Technical Community College (A.A.S. Respiratory Care, General Education) and Fayetteville State University (B.A. History).

Education

Ph.D., Education Policy, Organization and Leadership, in History of Higher Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Ed.M., Education Policy, Organization and Leadership, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
B.A., History, Fayetteville State University
A.A.S., Respiratory Care, Fayetteville Technical Community College
A.G.E., Fayetteville Technical Community College

Projects

Research Areas

Counternarratives of African-American women at co-educational HBCUs during the Civil Rights/Black Power and Black Campus Movements
Adult Student Experiences in post-secondary education
Teacher education