Daniel Cross Turner possesses a wealth of educational experience, including 20 years of teaching at the college and university levels, as well as 18 years of collegiate academic advising. Creating connections with students has been at the heart of his life’s work, enabling them to fulfill their potential. A prolific professional writer, whose publications include 3 books (two academic, one creative), dozens of scholarly articles and chapters, as well as creative writing, Dr. Turner has spent much of the past 25 years helping students express themselves clearly and effectively.

Dr. Turner earned his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University, his M.A. from the University of South Carolina, and his B.A. from Hampden-Sydney College. At HSC, he earned a four-year merit scholarship, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, fulfilled Honors coursework and a thesis, and graduated Valedictorian. He completed undergraduate sessions at the University of Oxford in England and in Normandy, France. Dan was James A. Morris Fellow at USC and Harold S. Vanderbilt Scholar at Vanderbilt. Across his career, he has earned numerous grants and fellowships.

Dan distinguished himself as an Assistant Professor of English at Siena College and as a tenured Associate Professor at Coastal Carolina University. He has worked in diverse learning environments: a large state flagship university (USC); a top-tier private institution (Vanderbilt); a Catholic liberal arts college (Siena); and a regional comprehensive university (CCU). Dan’s commitment to excellence in student learning has been recognized by the universities where he has taught. At Vanderbilt, his students’ essays were routinely placed for the Morgan Award for the best writing by a first-year student, and he won the Excellence in Teaching Award. At CCU, students published research articles developed in collaboration with him, and he was honored as an Outstanding Teacher in Humanities.

To help students achieve their ambitions, Dr. Turner draws on a rich range of experience from more than two decades in higher education as a faculty member, administrator, and academic advisor. During her career, she has taught thousands of college students; evaluated tens of thousands of student essays across all disciplines and at all academic levels; and advised and counseled hundreds of students in pursuit of their future endeavors.

Taking a positive, collaborative, and accessible approach, she enjoys guiding young adults from diverse backgrounds and with diverse needs past their anxieties and towards their academic potential. Dr. Turner’s goal is to empower students with strategies for developing confidence in their voices and ideas. She believes that every student has extraordinary potential to generate compelling and competitive academic and professional writing.

As a parent of two teenage boys, Dr. Turner knows that every family has hopes, needs, and concerns when it comes to sending children to college and launching them into the world. As a parent and a professor, she seeks to support families by bridging the expertise provided by high school counselors and university advisors.

For the past several years, Dr. Turner has worked with students across the country on applications for all types of institutions, from the Ivy League and service academies to big state universities and small liberal arts colleges. In addition to college and scholarship applications, she offers customized guidance to students on transfer applications, graduate and law school applications, graduate school advisement, test prep sessions, and general academic counseling. Dr. Turner is an alum of the College of the Holy Cross (B.A.), Georgetown University (M.A.), and the University of South Carolina (Ph.D.).