Professor Turner is a Professor and Director of the Communication, Culture, and Technology Program and holds a joint appointment in the business school as the Annette N. Shelby Endowed Chair in Business and Leadership Communication. Over the past twenty years at Georgetown, her research has explored the use of communication technologies by individuals and organizations. Specific examples of this research include the study of instant messaging and multicommunicating, computer-mediated bulletin boards as a form of social support, and the implementation of telemedicine technology as a means of augmenting the delivery of health care services. She is currently developing a theory of social presence that considers the interruptive nature of smartphone use.
In addition to her work with graduate students in the CCT program, Turner also teaches courses in the McDonough School of Business to graduate students, executives, and undergraduates. Some of the organizations she has worked with include: the National Association of Broadcasters, Verizon, the World Bank, the District of Columbia Public Schools, Texas Instruments, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Edward Jones, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Sprint, Rolls Royce, the Pentagon, and the Staff of the U.S. Senate. Professor Turner has published over 50 articles and book chapters and presented her work nationally and internationally. Her book,
Being Present: Commanding Attention at Work and at Home by Managing Your Social Presence, published in January 2022 with Georgetown University Press, provides strategies for addressing the challenges of engaging attention in a world of digital devices. The book earned a 2022 Gold Medal Axiom Publishing Award given to promising business titles and was listed on JP Morgan’s 2022 Summer Reading list as a top 10 book. She loves teaching students and discovering the complexities of communication.
