By Jason Turner | Assistant Professor of Computer Information Systems, Professor Shannon Turner, wants to have an impact on the students of Howard Payne University (HPU). She formerly lived in Greenville and Whitehouse, Texas, until she moved to Brownwood.
“I have a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Master of Science in Information Systems. Both degrees are from Tarleton State University,” said Turner.
Before teaching at Howard Payne, Turner taught at the high school level (English, Computer Science, and Technology Applications) for 10 years.
“I grew up in a family of teachers, both my parents taught and 3 aunts were teachers too, so I always knew I’d go into teaching,” said Turner.
She then came to teach at HPU for the next 11.5 years. For three of those years, she worked under the Provost in Institutional Research and Effectiveness. For the last 8.5 years, she has been teaching for the Collegium and has taught several CIS courses.
“I started out as an Elementary Education major, but I enjoyed computer programming so much that I decided to switch to high school. At the time, Computer Science couldn’t be your only teaching field, so I chose English and Computer Science,” said Turner. “After teaching in public schools, I came to HPU. It was so nice to attend meetings where prayer was incorporated, but during my first 3 years at HPU, I missed teaching. I was happy to get back in the classroom as soon as I could.”
Turner has also helped students with their accommodations through the Office of Learning Assistance. This spring, she moved fully to the CIS department.
“I worked with my former colleague Dr. Trissa Cox to make the Intro to IT class more practical. I’d like to help grow the CIS department as well.”
Turner wants her students to learn something from her classes, and also wants to help prepare them to be successful in whatever future path God has for them.