Turner — who will be stepping down at the end of the year after more than three decades at Yale University — was the first Director of Yale University’s Community Hiring Initiatives, a program which bridges the connection between qualified, pre-screened New Haven Works participants and open positions at the University by working directly with Human Resources and hiring managers to assess candidates. It was also through this initiative that two dozen New Haven Promise Scholars earned paid summer internship on Yale’s campus in settings such as the Art Gallery, the Department of Information Technology and the Police Department.

Formerly the Associate University Librarian for Human Resources & Organizational Development, Turner has also been very active in the New Haven community. She has served on the United Way Board of Directors earning that organization’s Champion for Advancing the Common Good Award in 2007 for her outstanding work in leading the Yale Book Drive for three years, collecting thousands of children’s books for New Haven Reads and Read to Grow. She helped expand that drive to local campuses — Albertus Magnus College, Gateway Community College, Southern Connecticut State University, Quinnipiac University and Yale — which collected over 4,000 books that were distributed throughout the Greater New Haven community. In 2009 she led United Way’s campaign for the Greater New Haven area and in 2011 served as Chair of the Board of Directors.

Turner has been a leader and philanthropist both here and abroad. Several years ago, as a member of the Sister Cities/Freetown Board, she visited Sierra Leone and has spearheaded several missionary projects in Togo, West Africa, Sierra Leone and Sudan.

She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Grambling State University and her Master’s from the State University of New York at Albany.