Turner, Francena
Dr. Francena F.L. Turner
Adjunct Assistant Professor, History
Email: fturner1@uncfsu.edu
Education
- Ph.D. History of Education, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL , August 2020
- Dissertation: "Black Women & Student Activism at Fayetteville State, 1960-1972”
- Ed.M., Education Policy Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, August 2015 B.A., History, Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville, NC, May 2014
- A.A.S., Respiratory Care, Fayetteville Technical Community College, Fayetteville, NC, May 2003
Postdoctoral Certifications
Effective Teaching Practice Framework, Association of College & University Educators, Summer, 2023
Postdoctoral Study
Digital Archives Specialist Certification, Society of American Archivists (Ongoing)
Arrangement & Description Certification, Society of American Archivists (Ongoing)
Areas of Specialization
- 20th century, African American History
- African American Education History
- Oral History
- Student Activism in Higher Education
- Digital Humanities
- Mentoring
- Qualitative Research Methodologies
- Historically Black Colleges & Universities
- Adult Education
- Public History/Community Archives
- Black Women’s Higher Education History
- Education Foundation
Academic/Teaching Experience
- Adjunct Assistant Professor, Fayetteville State University 2020-present
- Civics Teacher, Cumberland County Schools 2021
- Adjunct Lecturer, University of Illinois, Springfield 2019-2020
- Graduate Instructor, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 2018-2020
- Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 2016-2020
Courses Taught
- African American History
- Oral History
- Historical & Social Barriers to Education
- Asian American Education
- Mentoring for Excellence in Teaching
- Harlem Renaissance
- Social Justice, Schooling, & Society
- Diversity in the Workplace
- Identity & Difference in Education
- Qualitative Research Methodology
- Learning Improvement through Student Accountability
University Service
- Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program Faculty Research Mentor, 2022-2023
Graduate Research Experience
- Research Associate Office of Community College Research & Leadership 2017-2020
- Research Assistant Office of School and Community Experiences 2016-2018
- Research Assistant College of Education, UIUC 2014-2016
Postdoctoral Experience
CLIR/Mellon Postdoctoral Associate for Data Curation in 2020-2024
African American History and Culture
Project Manager, Reparative Histories Initiative/The Black Experience at UMD Oral History Project Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities College Park, MD
Other Professional/Consulting Experience
- Historian & Digital Archivist 2024-2025
- Telling Our Story: Fayetteville State University Virtual Museum
- Historian & Digital Archivist 2023-2024
- Mary Jane Legacy Research Project
Publications
Published Journal Articles & Book Chapters
(Coauthored work features the co-authors’ names.)
"Girls don't strike without provocation.": African American Women, the General Strike, and the Good Samaritan
Hospital School of Nursing, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1956-1959. Nursing History Review 32, no. 1 (2024): 142-164.
Bohonos, Jeremy, James-Gallaway, Chaddrick, James-Gallaway, ArCasia, & Turner, Francena F.L. “Black History in Adult Education in the United States: A Historical Review and Historiographical Critique.” Adult Education Quarterly (June 2023).
ZANJ: The Journal of Critical Global South Studies 6, no. 1 (September 2022).
James-Gallaway, ArCasia & Turner, Francena F.L. “Toward a Racial Justice Project: Oral History Methodology, Critical Race Theory, and African American Education.” Paedagogica Historica. (2022).
Turner, Francena F.L., Yeo, HyeJin Tina, & Zamani-Gallaher, Eboni. "Mentoring Domestic and International Graduate Students of Color," in A Handbook for Supporting Today's Graduate Student. Sterling: Stylus Publishing, 2022.
"Bone by Bone": Re(collecting) Stories of Black Women at Fayetteville State, 1960-1972 Using Oral History Interviews with a Life History Approach" in Oral History and Qualitative Methodologies for Educational Research. New York: Routledge, 2022. DOI:10.4324/9781003127192-6
"It Just Got Real: Dissertating Under the Tripartite Pressures of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Anti-Black Racism, & The
Academic Job Market" in Dissertating During a Pandemic: Narratives of Success from Scholars of Color. Charlotte:
Information Age Publishing, 2022.
Turner, Francena F.L. & James-Gallaway, ArCasia D. "Black Baby Boomers, Gender, and Southern Education:
Navigating Tensions in Oral History Methodology." Oral History Review 49, no.1 (2022): 77-96. DOI:
James-Gallaway, ArCasia D. & Turner, Francena. "Mobilizing Betrayal: Black Feminist Pedagogy and Black Women
Graduate Student Educators." Gender, Work, and Organization 28, no. Spring 1 (2020): 24-38. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12554
Perez, Marielisbet & Turner, Francena. "Mothering Graduate Students of Color Reflect on Lessons Lived and Learned in the Academy." Women, Gender, and Families of Color 8, no 2 (2020): 234-240. DOI:
Zamani-Gallaher, Eboni M., Turner, Francena, Tess-Brown, Karie, & Thrill, Chauntee. "Autobiographical Counternarratives from the Community College to the PhD." Community College Journal of Research and Practice 41, no 4-5 (2016):326-32. DOI: 10.1080/10668926.2016.1251359
Published Policy Briefs & Reports
"Finding Florence: The Need for Community College Educators as Topics of Historical Research." The Community
College Context 6, no 2 (2021): 1-3. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED616299.pdf
James-Galloway, Chaddrick & Turner, Francena. "Identifying and Responding to Racial Microaggressions." OCCRL Insights on Equity and Outcomes 22, no 1 (2020). http://online.anyflip.com/hhwk/gwps/mobile/index.html
“Equity in Career & Technical Education." OCCRL Update on Research & Leadership 29, no 1 (2018): 8-9. https://occrl.illinois.edu/docs/librariesprovider2/cte/equity-brief.pdf
Published Book Reviews
James-Gallaway, ArCasia D., Bohonos, Jeremy, Turner, Francena & Lewellen, Chelsea. Review of New Horizons in Adult and Continuing Education. New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development 33, no 1 (2021): 24-38. DOI: 10.1002/nha3.20308
Accepted Articles/Essays/ Chapters/Reviews
“A History of Clinton College.” In The Encyclopedia of HBCU Histories. (Under Review) University of North Carolina Press.
Review of A Forgotten Migration: Black Southerners, Segregation Scholarships, and the Debt Owed to Public HBCUs.
American History Review (2025).
Oral History Projects
Black Women and Activism at Fayetteville State, 2015-2020
Black Women in the San Francisco State Student Strike, 2018
Black Experience at the University of Maryland, 2020-2024
17 Interviews
4 interviews
60 Interviews
Digital Humanities Project
“Black Experiences at the University of Maryland”
This digital archive holds over 50 oral history interviews I conducted with Black alumni, faculty, and administrators of the University of Maryland at College Park as a part of the University Archives’ Reparative Oral Histories Initiative. These interviews and the narrators’ stories span over 5 decades of matriculation through the institution.
Work-In-Progress
Book Project: Carrying the Weight of the World: Black Women, Civil Rights, & Black Power at Fayetteville State University, 1960-1972
“The (Un)Disciplined Life of Florence R. Beatty-Brown.” Cambridge History of Black Women in the United States, Vol 5.
Cambridge University Press.
Selected Presentations
“intergenerational Exchanges with Black Baby Boomers.” Presented at the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Tampa, FL. November 22, 2o24.
“The Black Experience at the University of Maryland: Cross-Generational Conversations.” Presented at the Oral History of the Mid-Atlantic Region Annual Meeting, Virtual. April 20, 2024.
"Girls don't strike without provocation.": African American Women, the General Strike, & the Good Samaritan Hospital School of Nursing, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1956-1959.” Presented at the Organization of Educational Historians
Annual Meeting, Virtual. September 30-October 1, 2022.
"Black Baby Boomers, Gender, and Southern Education: Navigating Tensions in Oral History Methodology." Presented at the History of Education Society Annual Meeting, Virtual. November 3-7, 2021.
“Black Baby Boomers, Gender, and Education: Challenges and Recommendations for Oral History Methodology." Presented at the Organization of Educational Historians Annual Meeting, Virtual. October 2-3, 2020.
"Students with Families" Four Years Later: A Participatory Action Research Study of Mothers of Color Scholars Activists & Community Building." Presented at the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Portland, OH. November 11- 16, 2019.
"A Tale of Two Presidents: Student Government Associations and Activism at Fayetteville State, 1962-1971." Presented at the History of Education Society, Columbus OH. October 31-November 3, 2019.
"Had We Known: Critical Pedagogical Reflections of Black Women Graduate Student Teachers." Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL. May 17-19, 2018.
'What Happened to Black Studies at FSU?', 1968-1972." Presented at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Richmond, VA. October 5-9, 2016.
Invited Academic & Community Talks
Workshop Facilitator, Bridging Theory & Practice June 24, 2024
NPS Mellon Summer Oral History Workshop, Virtual
Panelist, Black HERstory: Colorism, Texturism, & Featurism & Black Girls & Women April 27, 2024
North Regional Library, Fayetteville, NC
Panelist, Leveraging Historical Methods to Build Coalitions for Liberation in Education April 12, 2024
Division F Fireside Chat, American Education Research Association Annual Meeting
Guest Lecture: Oral History Methodology October 5, 2023
Virtual. Hamilton College, Clinton, NY
The Black Campus Movement at Fayetteville State, 1960-1972 February 24, 2023
IGPH Global Studies Lecture Series, Fayetteville State University
Digital Sources of Information about 20th Century Black History February 18, 2023
Virtual, African American Education Research Organization @ Melchor Quick Meeting House
Oral History Preservation & Archiving Webinar February 15, 2023
Virtual Institute of Museum & Library Services, Oral History Forum.
Community Oral History Methodology & Ethical Considerations March 1, 2022
Virtual. University of Illinois, Urbana
Researching Historically Black Colleges & Universities February 28, 2022
Virtual. University of Illinois, Urbana.
Keynote. Ronald E. McNair Program Graduation Ceremony April 24, 2021
Fayetteville State University. Fayetteville, NC.
FSU and Student Activism. October 5, 2020
Fayetteville State University. Fayetteville, NC.
Black Women & Student Activism at Fayetteville State, 1960-1972. July 21, 2020
Virtual. University of Illinois, Urbana.
Researching Black Women. March 6, 2019
University of Illinois, Urbana.
Oral History Methodology. April 10, 2019
University of Illinois, Urbana.
Media/Interviews
Saylor, Teri. TBA. CityView Magazine, December 3, 2024.
Kyles, Akira. "Here's why there's a push for Fayetteville State University to get a historical marker." Fayetteville Observer, October 23, 2021.
Kyles, Akira. "What is Southern culture? The answer's not so Black and white." Fayetteville Observer, February 4, 2021.
Awards
- 2024-2025 Archie K. Davis Research Fellowship, $4,000
- North Caroliniana Society
- 2017-2020 Diversifying Faculty in Illinois Fellowship $41,000
- 2020-2021 Social Justice Award $1, 000
- College of Education, University of Illinois
- 2019-202 Mellon Newberry Archives Fellow $1,500
- 2017-2018 Elbert L. & Barbara A. Gentry Scholarship $1,000
- College of Education, University of Illinois
- 2018 Hardie Conference Travel Award $600
- College of Education, University of Illinois
Teaching/Research Honors
Outstanding Faculty Researcher 2021-2022, 2022-2023
- Department of Intelligence Studies, Geospatial Sciences, Political Sciences, & History
- Fayetteville State University
Faculty Ranked Excellent FA16, SU18, FA2019, SP2020
- College of Education
- University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Current Professional Affiliations
- American Anthropological Association (AAA)
- Black Women's Studies Association (BWSA)
- Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH)
- History of Education Society (HES)
- Organization of Educational Historians (OEH)
- African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS)
- Oral History Association (OHA)
- American Historical Association (AHA)
- National Council on Public History (NCPH)
- Association for the Study of African American Life & History (ASALH)
- Society of American Archivists (SAA)
- Society of North Carolina Archivists (SNCA)
- North Carolina Association of Historians (NCAH)
Service
- Planning Committee, Oral History Association 2024-2025
- Essay Prize Committee, History of Education Society 2024-2026
- Director of Operations, Inaugural Board of the Black Oral Historians Network 2024-present
- Review Editor, Journal of Society of North Carolina Archivists 2023-present
- Reviewer, North Carolina Historical Review, Oral History Review, Public Historian, 2023-present
- AERA Open, American Historical Review
- Steering Committee, Oral History Section, Society of American Archivists 2021-2023