June 17, 2008
Rev. Diane Henderson Turner-Sharazz
Fisk University, B.A. '69
School of Applied Social Sciences, '71
Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio
Current home: Delaware, Ohio
Diane Henderson Turner-Sharazz is truly a product of her upbringing. Her mother, Rowena Littlepage Henderson, and her sister, Joyce Henderson Kerlegon, are Fisk alumnae. Her father, Oliver, is a Case alumnus. It is no wonder, she says, that she chose Fisk and Case for college and graduate school. "Fisk has a wonderful academic reputation plus it was a small enough school that I would not get lost in a crowd."
Life at Fisk included membership in Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, involvement in environmental issues, and consistent attendance at the varied cultural events held on campus. Upon earning her bachelor's degree in sociology, she came to Cleveland to obtain her degree in social work at the School of Applied Social Sciences at Western Reserve University.
For a little more than 10 years, she practiced in her field, working for Children's Services of Cleveland, the Community Guidance Mental Health Center, and the Women's Christian Guidance Center. Believing she was destined to do other work, she went to divinity school, earning her master of divinity degree in 1988 from the Ohio-based Methodist Theological School. In 2004, she earned a master's degree in religion from Vanderbilt University, where she also was a teaching assistant.
Rev. Turner-Sharazz is a member of the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church, the NAACP, and the Academy of Homiletics. She serves on the Gault Center for Christian Leadership advisory board and is the president of the Black Caucus of the Academy of Homiletics.
Rev. Turner-Sharazz is presently an instructor in homiletics and the Homer J. Elford Chair of Homiletics at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio.
Posted by: Heidi Cool June 17, 2008 03:46 PM
Category: Alumni
, Legacy
, Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences