Secretary of the University Trudy Turner announces retirement

Portrait of Trudy Turner

Trudy Turner, secretary of the university and a distinguished professor of anthropology, has announced she will retire from UWM after more than four decades of service.

Turner has been secretary of the university since 2008. In that role, she helps facilitate the Faculty, Academic Staff and University Staff Senates and all other functions of shared governance at the university. The office also helps people navigate the sometimes confusing but important systems of employment, including tenure, promotion and grievances. That’s vital, Turner said.

“Shared governance is a really important idea in Wisconsin,” she said. “It helps everybody have a say in where the institution is going and what the institution does.”

UWM Chancellor Mark Mone extolled Turner’s contributions to the university.

“Distinguished Professor Trudy Turner’s service as the secretary of the university has been exemplary,” Mone said. “Through her work and dedication, she helped develop, implement, and uphold shared governance practices at UW-Milwaukee. We owe her a debt of gratitude for her 13 years as the Secretary, contributing to UWM’s valued governance policies and procedures.

“For Trudy, I’m happy that this service has been a crowning achievement in a career marked by significant research, scholarly, and classroom accomplishment. At the same time, I’m sorry that Trudy will be moving on and know that she will be missed. Her championship of governance and collaborative decision making is a treasured legacy and model for us all.”

Turner came to UWM in 1977 after earning a doctorate from New York University. She served as chair of the Department of Anthropology from 1996 to 2000. She was program director of the Physical Anthropology Program of the National Science Foundation in 2005-06, and editor of the Yearbook of Physical Anthropology for the American Association of Physical Anthropology from 2012 to 2018.

In 2019, she became editor of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, the leading journal in the field. She also serves as treasurer of the International Primatological Society.

A leading scholar in primate research, Turner has spent her career studying vervet monkeys, traveling often to Africa and the Caribbean for research. Since 2010, Turner has been an affiliated professor at the University of the Free State in South Africa.

While traveling the world to do research, Turner stayed at UWM for 44 years.

“I was able to do everything I wanted professionally at UWM. It afforded me the ability to do that,” Turner said. “UWM has changed a lot … we’ve grown so much as a research university, so it’s allowed me to grow as it grew.”

Turner’s retirement will be effective July 31. She plans to continue her research and will travel back to South Africa when the pandemic allows. The people and the students of UWM will always hold a special place in her heart.

“I feel like it’s been an incredibly good place to spend my career,” Turner said.

Top Stories