A proud ETSU graduate has been given the chance to give back to her alma mater – and make a difference in the student arena.
Tricia Turner, the new director of student activities at ETSU, has weaved her way through various jobs to return to the place she loved best. “It [was] my dream job to come back and work as a peer with people who have helped me get where I am today,” Turner said.
Dr. Nancy Dishner, vice provost in the Office of Admissions, helped Turner become a first-generation college student. Dishner was there to help and guide her in getting into and through college, Turner said. “She was my Sunday school teacher when I was younger and had made such an impact on me that I knew I wanted to help college students the way she had helped me,” she said.
In college at ETSU, Turner enjoyed being involved in various activities. She was a student worker in the admissions office, a Preview/orientation leader, peer instructor for an Academic Advantage class, member of Sigma Kappa Sorority and in a number of other organizations.
She graduated in 1996 with a bachelor’s in psychology and looked for guidance from ETSU professors and staff. “I started asking around about how I could do what so many of the ETSU administrators were doing and seemed to be enjoying so much,” Turner said.
That’s when she decided to go to graduate school at Appalachian State University enrolling in the College Student Development program.
Student organizations were significant to her in college, so Turner wanted to help students and work with student organizations. “I think the opportunity and encouragement to participate in activities outside the classroom gives students the opportunity to function more completely in the workplace after college,” Turner said.
Now that she is at ETSU, she hopes that she can improve Student Life and Leadership. “The most important thing I can do for awhile is listen to the students and evaluate what is already going on,” she said. “I think everyone who fills a position simply adds to it and brings there own experiences to the table. I simply hope to add something and continue what has already been established.”
Turner’s duties include working with student organizations and students wanting to start new organizations, advising Univer-sity Productions and helping make their events successful and working with students and administration to plan Home-coming.
“I think that she was the perfect person for this job,” said staff programmer for University Productions Kimberly Bublat. “She has such a love for the ETSU community as a whole. She appreciates the creative ideas of students and works hard to support the student leaders on this campus.”
Turner says she cannot imagine herself doing anything else other than working with students and organizations. “Almost everything listed in the job description for my position here was something that I had some experience with,” Turner said. “It was almost like I had been training for this position for the past five years.”
Her first job out of graduate school was at Francis Marion University in Florence, S.C., where she was coordinator of Student Life. She had a lot of different duties including coordinating Homecoming, working with the Orientation Committee, working as greek adviser and the University Programming Board.
“I loved this experience so much because I really felt like I was trusted, valued and able to learn a wide variety of skills,” Turner said.
Then three years later, she decided to move on and return to ASU as the assistant director for Organizational Leadership.
“Most of my time was spent doing greek advising, which I truly enjoyed, but Appalachian was not where my heart was, so when an opportunity came to return to ETSU I was very excited,” she said.
Having worked for other universities has helped Turner bring new ideas to the ETSU campus where change is needed, Bublat said. “Tricia is the third director of Student Activities that I have worked with and by far the director with the most diverse experience,” Bublat said.
Turner will also play an important part in supporting the new Student Organization Resource Center when it is finished. That challenge is exciting to the alumna, too. “This is going to be a wonderful facility that should really foster collaboration between students and provide for an invaluable work area,” Turner said.
The center will be located in the old Craft Shop and will permit Turner and the other professionals in that area to hear students’ needs and react to more effectively.
Turner is open to any challenge where students are concerned. “She is always greeting you with a smile and really seems to want to get to know each student as individuals,” Bublat said.
“My door is always open to listen to what the experiences of ETSU students are and what would possibly make them better,” Turner said. “I love the student contact of my job.”
Although she is very absorbed in student issues, when not on campus, Turner likes traveling, camping, watching movies and is a big fan of reality TV shows – but not the dating shows, she says. She also enjoys scrapbooking and making things from paper such as greeting cards.
Now that she has moved back to her home, she decided to make it more permanent. “I just bought my first house which I am really enjoying decorating,” she said. “It is nice to be able to finally paint and do all the things I couldn’t do in an apartment.”
At ETSU, Turner envisions the potential to accomplish things she wasn’t empowered to do elsewhere. The challenge is on the table. Turner has the “training.”
Now, she’s poised to step into the ring, woo the crowd and go the distance.

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