Katherine Conway-Turner joins 2023 AAUW NYS Celebration of College Women Presidents

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) has invited Buffalo State University President Katherine Conway-Turner to participate on a panel in its 2023 AAUW NYS Celebration of College Women Presidents on Saturday, April 8, from 9:15 a.m. to noon via Zoom. It is open to the public.

Conway-Turner will take part in the program’s second panel, which begins at 11 a.m. She will discuss her experience as a university president, her mentors, and the challenges that appear with incoming academically unprepared students from 2020. 

In addition to Conway-Turner, other panelists include Denise A. Battles, Ph.D., from SUNY Geneseo; Alison Buckley, Ed.D., from SUNY Ulster; Kristine D. Duffy, Ed. D., from SUNY Adirondack; Amy Kremenek, D.M., from Tompkins Cortland Community College; Mary C. Toale, Ph.D., from SUNY Oswego; and Lisa Vollendorf, Ph.D., from SUNY Empire State College.

A press release noted, “AAUW has been a national, nonpartisan, grassroots organization promoting equity and education for women and girls since 1881. The organization advocates for women, helps women pursue graduate studies, and empowers women to challenge sex discrimination.”

In August 2014, Conway-Turner was appointed Buffalo State’s ninth president. Before coming to Buffalo State, she served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at both Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, and SUNY Geneseo. She also served as the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Georgia Southern University, and as associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Delaware (where she directed the women’s studies program and served as graduate program coordinator). She was an American Council on Education (ACE) fellow at the College of New Jersey, and she has held teaching positions at the University of Delaware, Santa Clara University, and California State University, Long Beach.

Conway-Turner earned her Ph.D. and Master of Arts in social psychology, and her Bachelor of Arts in microbiology, all from the University of Kansas.