Meet William Turner
Office
283 McNeal Hall
Phone
(612) 625-3735
Mailing Address
Mail Code 6140
290 McNeal Hall
1985 Buford Avenue
St Paul, MN 55108-6140
William Turner
Professor
(Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University)
Scholarly Interests
- Resiliency and the Strengths of African American Families
- Culturally Effective Family
- Community and School-Based Prevention Intervention Research
- Quality of Life in Diverse Populations
- Substance Abuse Prevention in Adolescents
- End-of-Life Family Caregiving in African American Families
- Exploration of Family, Cultural, and Spiritual Processes in African American Families Related to Death and Dying
- Psychosocial Dimensions of Health
- Illness and Disability
- Marriage and Family Therapy
- School and Family-Based Substance Abuse Prevention
Degrees
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University,
Blacksburg, VA
Ph.D. Family &
Child Development w/specialization in Family Therapy
Abilene Christian University,
Abilene, TX
M.M.F.T. Family Therapy
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
NC
B.A. Journalism
Honors & Awards
2004 Sussman Award for Outstanding Research Publication, Groves Conference on Marriage and the Family.
2002-2005 Special Emphasis Panel for Developing and Advanced Centers for Interventions and Services Research, National Institutes of Mental Health.
2004 Guest Editor, Special Issue: Implications of Research with Diverse Populations, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy
2002-2005 Associate Editor, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy
2002 College of Human Ecology Excellence in Outreach and Engagement Award for the Minnesota to New York project
2002 Outstanding Service to the National Institutes on Health
2001 Marriage and Family Therapy Distinguished Lecture, Purdue University
2001 Outstanding Contribution to Cultural and Economic Diversity Award, American Family Therapy Academy
2000-2003 National Institute of Health Center for Scientific Grant Review Panel (Risk, Prevention, and Health Behavior Integrated Review Group).
Teaching & Learning
FSoS 3426/5426: Alcohol and Drugs: Families and Culture
FSoS 8001: Conceptual Frameworks
FSoS 8033: Clinical Issues in Marriage and Family Therapy
FSoS 8035: Assessment of Couples and Families
FSoS 8550: Ethnicity and Family Therapy
FSoS 8295: Family Therapy Practicum
FSoS 8296: Family Therapy Internship
Research & Discovery
Tracking Changes in Minnesota's Diverse Families - Tracking Changes in Quality of Life Among Minnesota's Diverse Families project members are teaming with community leaders from across Minnesota's diverse ethnic and regional groups. They are working to create a research project designed to help better understand diverse family strengths that lead to improvements in quality of life. Families representing five racial/ethnic groups (African American, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, and European American) are the focus of the project.
Collaborative Center for the Study of Families in Diverse Contexts - The mission of Center is to better understand family life and strengthen family well-being, for all citizens, especially those who are from culturally, racially and ethnically diverse and often-disadvantaged groups, through discovery, scholarship and public engagement.
Understanding End-of-Life in African American Families - The overall aim of this project is to uncover and understand the factors, which must be considered when improving palliative and end-of-life care in the African American community.
African American Family Strengths Project, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse - In this study, they are investigating the role that family protective factors play in the prevention of substance abuse among African American Adolescents. The overall purpose of their research was to uncover the relationship that exists between adolescent substance abuse and family, school, and individual experiences among African-American adolescents and their families.
Outreach & Engagement
2002-present FSoS Diversity Committee
2001 CHE Centers Advisory Committee
2001 FSoS Curriculum Committee
2000-2003 CHE Honors and Awards Committee
Selected Publications
Turner, W.L., Collins, C., & Erolin, C. (2007). Improving the health and well-being of African American Families: Effective and promising approaches. Minneapolis: Hennepin County Press.
Turner, W.L., Wieling, E., & Allen, W. (2004). Developing culturally effective family-based research programs: Implications for family therapists. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 30, 257-270.
Turner, W.L., Wallace, B., Anderson, J., & Bird, C. (2004). The last mile of the way: Understanding caregiving in African American families at the end-of-life. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 30, 427-438.
Turner, W. L., Wieling, E. (2004). Introduction to the Special Section: Implications of research with diverse families, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 30, 255-255.
Boss, P., Beaulieu, L., Wieling, E., Turner, W., & LaCruz, S. (2004). Healing loss, ambiguity, and trauma: A community-based intervention with families of union workers missing after the 9?11 attack in New York City. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 29, 455-468.
Turner, W. L., & Hench, M. (2003). Drug abuse prevention among African Americans. In Z. Sloboda, & W. Bukoski (eds.), Handbook for Drug Abuse Prevention, Theory, Science, and Practice. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.
Turner, W.L., & Wallace, B. (2003). African American substance use: Epidemiology, prevention, and treatment. Violence Against Women, 10 (10), 1-13.
Turner, W.L., Clayton, R., Harrington, N., Novak, S., Miller, T., & Durden, D. (2002). Prevention in rural settings: Problems, challenges, and opportunities. Journal of Prevention Research, 5, 86-97.
Turner, W., Wieling. E., & Boss. P. (2002). Ambiguous loss . Family Therapy Magazine, 1, 22-25.
Turner, W.L., & Hench, M.L. (2001). Prevention programs for African American. Journal of the National Medical Association.
Turner, W. (2001). Cultural considerations in family-based primary prevention programs in drug abuse. Journal of Primary Prevention, 21, 285-303.
Ruble, N., & Turner, W.L. (2000). A systemic analysis of the dynamics of urban street gangs. American Journal of Family Therapy, 27, 247-264.