Diana Turk is an associate professor of Teaching and Learning in the Steinhardt School of Culture Education, and Human Development at NYU. She received her MA and PhD in American Studies from the University of Maryland at College Park. As the former Director of Teacher Education at NYU, she is passionate about teaching for democratic change and dedicated to the fundamental belief that all teachers must be prepared to reach and teach all learners. Actively committed to an ongoing antiracist and antiableist journey, Diana recognizes the need for all students to have teachers who see, know, and understand them, as well as look like them, Diana is incredibly proud that the NYU Teacher Residency, which she helped design and build, was the 2024 recipient of AACTE's Best Practice in Multicultural Education and Diversity Award. The author of four books, most recently Project Based Learning in Real World U.S. History Classrooms: Engaging Diverse Learners (Routledge, 2025) with Stacie Brensilver Berman, and several articles on innovative and inclusive approaches to teaching and learning social studies and history, Diana is a founding co-editor of the Inclusive Social Studies Column in the widely read, peer-reviewed journal Social Education. She is also a guest-editor of the forthcoming spring 2026 Special Issue of The Educational Forum, Rethinking Teacher Residencies: Their Promise, Opportunities, Challenges, and Potential for Sustainability.
Selected Publications
Books:
Turk, D. and Berman, S. (2025). Project based learning in real-world U.S. history classrooms: Engaging diverse learners. Routledge Press.
Turk, D., Dull, L., Cohen, R., and Stoll, M* (2014). Teaching recent global history: Dialogues among historians, social studies teachers, and students. “Transforming Teaching” Series, Routledge Press.
Turk, D., Mattson, R., Epstein, T., Cohen, R (Eds). (2010). Teaching U.S. history: Dialogues among teachers and historians. “Transforming Teaching” Series, Routledge Press.
Turk, D. (2004). Bound by a mighty vow: Sisterhood and women’s fraternities, 1870-1920. New York University Press.
Selected Refereed Articles and Chapters:
Turk, D., Schlessinger, S., Trepper, K., and Lowell, B (forthcoming, 2026). A multiple mentorship model for teacher residencies: Grounding mentorship in antiracism and antiableism. The Educational Forum, 90 (3).
Turk, D., Schlessinger, S., Babb-Guerra, A., Pignatosi, F., and Sewell, T. (2025). Advocacy, mentorship, and evaluation: Preparing equitable, justice-oriented teachers and transforming school communities. In Albright, T., Cross, S.B., and Davis, C. (eds) Critical turn in teacher residencies. Routledge Press.
Turk, D., Berman, S., and Caldwell, S.* (accepted, expected 2026). Confronting collective amnesia: Pandemics of the past and present. In Brant, C. and Cormier, K. (eds) Universal Design for Learning and Secondary Social Studies. Routledge Press.
Turk, D., Berman, S., Gentry, C., Traxler, R.*, and Caldwell, S.* (2023). When equity and justice are front and center: Building a teacher residency that walks the walk on antiracism, equity, and justice. Issues in Teacher Education v32, n1.
Turk, D. & Berman, S.* (2018). Learning through doing: A project based learning approach to the history of the U.S. civil rights movement. Social Education.