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Professor Karen Turner of the history department has been
named the Rev. John E. Brooks, S.J., Professor in the Humanities.
This rotating professorship is awarded to Holy Cross faculty
for a term of three years. Turner is the first woman faculty
member to hold an endowed chair at Holy Cross.
Turner earned her bachelor’s degree in history from
Southern Illinois University, her master’s degree in
Asian studies from Yale University and her Ph.D. in history
from the University of Michigan. Specializing in Chinese
and Vietnamese history, she has also studied at Beijing University.
At Holy Cross, Turner was instrumental in the development
of the Asian studies program. She also served as the first
director of international studies. In the late 1980s Turner
led two Holy Cross groups on academic tours of China. As
a professor of history, she has created and taught a series
of new courses on women in Asia, law and human rights in
Asia, and Vietnam’s American War. The recipient of several
academic awards and honors, Turner was also one of the first
Holy Cross faculty members to receive an O’Leary Faculty
Research Award.
The author of numerous books, she most recently wrote The
Limits of the Rule of Law in China (University of Washington
Press, Spring 2000). Turner’s 1998 book, Even Women
Must Fight: Memories of War from North Vietnam, was
very highly acclaimed.
Under a program sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences
and the China Committee, Turner was one of the first seven
Americans chosen to live and study in China after a hiatus
of almost 30 years. She has since returned to China many
times under various auspices as director of academic programs
for the CET company and as a researcher. Turner’s research
interests have also brought her to such places as Russia,
Mongolia and Vietnam.
While living in Vietnam, Turner conducted research on Vietnamese
women veterans. Her research was compiled into a book and
a documentary film, titled Hidden Warriors: Women on the
Ho Chi Minh Trail. She was recently invited to show and
discuss her film at the Brooklyn Museum of Art Festival on
Vietnam.
In addition to her role as a professor of Chinese and Vietnamese
history at Holy Cross, Turner is a senior research fellow
of East Asian Legal Studies at Harvard Law School. A member
of the board of directors of the Warring States Working Group
in Amherst, she is also an elected member of the International
Council of World Affairs.
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