Instructor Dies before Finishing Doctorate
By Sydney Cohen
Jane Elizabeth Turk, of St. Paul, age 30, died unexpectedly Tuesday night. She is survived by father Louis Turk, mother Carolyne Turk, younger sister Lindsey Turk, partner Brendan Themes and many students.
“She died in the prime of her life,” said her father, Louis Turk.
Her younger sister Lindsey said Jane’s favorite quote was never stop learning, which was apparent throughout her life. After graduating from St. Louis Park Senior High she continued with her undergraduate degree at Macalester College in St. Paul. Finally, Turk attended Columbia University in the City of New York to work on her doctorate in communications. She completed everything including two master’s degrees in communications, but never finished her dissertation.
Turk was a member of the Society of Cinema and Media Studies. She was a presenter at their 50th anniversary meeting speaking about her working dissertation on public radio trends in the last 20 years. She had also been published, most recently in the New Media and Society Journal.
Before her death she was an instructor of communications at Normandale Community College, teaching media writing and public relations. “She was always very well prepared,” said Andrea Huspeni, one of her recent students.
Her hobbies included listening to music, playing video games, reading nonfiction and watching documentaries.
“We always had a lot of fun together,” Themes, her partner for over a year, stated.
Turk had many unfinished goals, “She always wanted to return Berlin to visit and art museum called the Hamburger Bahnhof,” said Lindsey; along with meeting director Christopher Nolan, and to finish her dissertation. .
The funeral is scheduled to be at the Lake Harriet Band Shell, Thursday September 23, at 5:00pm. The family requests tributes to Free Press at http://www.freepress.net/ because of her lifelong commitment to communications education.
