Loved Instructor of Normandale Community College Dies
By Andrea Huspeni
Jane Elizabeth Turk, a teacher who loved her learning, died unexpectedly on Tuesday evening at the age of 30.
Turk was born on Feb. 1, 1980 at Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina, Minn. to parents Carolyne and Louis.
After graduating from St. Louis Park High School, Turk was accepted to Macalester College in St. Paul. While working on her undergraduate degree, Turk took pride in her job as a DJ at her school radio station, WMCN.
Upon completion of her undergraduate degree, Turk studied at Columbia University in the City of New York where she received two masters degrees in art and philosophy under the communications program. Columbia University was also the home of her doctoral program where she was writing her dissertation on U.S public broadcasting. While studying at Columbia, Turk enjoyed teaching at a neighboring school, Hunter College of the City University of New York, and fell in love with the diverse environment in a public school setting.
After leaving New York, Turk continued her teaching career in Chicago and finally ended up in Minnesota where she most recently taught public relations and media writing at Normandale Community College.
“Instructor Turk knew how to teach a class. She always got the point across and did it in a way everyone could understand and enjoy,” Mattie Born, a student in her media writing class, said.
“Jane’s true love was the academic world. Her favorite thing to say, ‘Never stop learning,’ and she never did,” Carolyne Turk said.
Besides loving education, Turk enjoyed playing video games, reading for pleasure, watching movies and listening to music. One of the highlights in her life was meeting her favorite scholar, Robert McChesney.
Her other accomplishments included being a member of the Society of Cinema and Media Studies where she presented at their national convention for their 50th anniversary. Turk also had many articles and reviews published. Her last one was a book review, “Conglomerate Rock,” featured in New Media and Society. Unfortunately, due to the fact Turk died at a very young age she was not able to fulfill two of her major goals in life: finish her dissertation or to return to Berlin.
Surviving are her mother, Carolyne Turk; father, Louis Turk; sister, Lindsey Turk and her partner, Brendan Themes.
Services will be scheduled at 5:00 p.m. Thursday at Lake Harriet Bandshell. In lieu of flowers or plants, the family asks for donations to Free Press at www.freepress.net.
