Jennifer Turpin

Jennifer Turpin

Professor

Full-Time Faculty
Kalmanovitz Hall 283
Socials

Biography

Jennifer Turpin joined USF's faculty in 1991 after receiving a doctorate in sociology at the University of Texas at Austin. She has received USF's Distinguished Teaching Award and the College Service Award, as well as an honorary doctorate from USF in 2015. She founded USF's Women's Studies program and served as chair of the sociology department before spending 17 years in the university administration, as provost (2010-2015); dean (2003-2010); and associate dean (1997-2003).

Her research addresses the causes and consequences of violence, the role of gender in warfare, the sociology of the Cold War, and the impact of Russian media on the dissolution of the former Soviet Union. She has published several books, including Reinventing the Soviet Self (Praeger); The Web of Violence (co-edited with Lester R. Kurtz, University of Illinois Press); The Women and War Reader (co-edited with Lois Ann Lorentzen, NYU Press); The Gendered New World Order (co-edited with Lois Ann Lorentzen, Routledge); Rethinking Peace (co-edited with Robert Elias, Lynne Rienner), and the 3-volume Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict (co-edited with chief editor Lester R. Kurtz, Academic Press), and numerous articles, book chapters, and papers at professional meetings.

Professor Turpin served as chair of the American Sociological Association's Section on Peace, War and Social Conflict as well as the Peace and Justice Studies Association. She has served on a Western Association for Schools and Colleges (WASC) accreditation team and as a program reviewer for institutions such as the Catholic University of Ecuador and the University of Limerick, Ireland. She is currently involved in several higher education networks, including the Centre on Critical Thinking based in Hungary and Spain.

Expertise

  • Sociology
  • Gender Studies
  • Peace and Conflict Studies
  • Higher Education Studies

Research Areas

  • Peace and Conflict
  • Gender and Violence
  • Universities in Society

Appointments

  • Trustee, Seattle University, 2014-2017
  • Advisory Committee, Peace and Justice Studies Program, 2016-present

Education

  • University of Texas, PhD in Sociology, 1991
  • University of Texas, MA in Sociology, 1986
  • University of Texas, BA in Psychology, 1983

Prior Experience

  • Provost and Academic Vice President, USF
  • Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, USF
  • Visiting Professor of Sociology, McGill University

Awards & Distinctions

  • Honorary Doctorate awarded by the University of San Francisco, 2015
  • Named “Forever Influential” by the San Francisco Business Times, 2015
  • Named one of Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business San Francisco Business Times, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
  • Girl Scouts Forever Green Honorees Top 100 Women “Greening” the Future, 2012
  • Co-recipient, College Service Award University of San Francisco, 1994
  • Co-recipient, with Lois Lorentzen, Interfaith Hunger Appeal (IHA) Grant 1993-1994
  • Recipient, University-wide Distinguished Teaching Award, 1993

Selected Publications

  • Jennifer Turpin and Lester R. Kurtz. “Untangling the Web of Violence.” Reprinted in Manfred B. Steger and Nancy S. Lind, eds. Violence and its Alternatives. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999. Reprinted in John MacDougall, et al. eds. Teaching the Sociology of Peace and War. Washington, D.C.: American Sociological Association, 1999. Originally printed in Jennifer Turpin and Lester R. Kurtz, eds. The Web of Violence. Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1997. 207-232.
  • Lois Ann Lorentzen and Jennifer Turpin, eds. The Women and War Reader. New York: NYU Press, 1998.
  • Jennifer Turpin and Lester R. Kurtz, eds. The Web of Violence: From Interpersonal to Global. Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1997.
  • Jennifer Turpin and Lois Ann Lorentzen, eds. The Gendered New World Order. New York: Routledge, 1996.
  • Jennifer Turpin. Reinventing the Soviet Self: Media and Social Change in the Former Soviet Union. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1995.