Dr. Mila Turner, an environmental sociologist, is an assistant professor. Her primary research specialization is environmental justice and involves the study of historical and present-day environmental disparities as well as the varying impacts of climate change, “natural” disasters, and human-produced hazards on diverse populations. Throughout her career in academia, Mila has worked with scientists and researchers across disciplines and organizations including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Mila’s commitment to environmental justice began with her involvement on a natural hazards research team as an undergraduate student at Howard University. Later she learned to combine her scholarship with her personal agency by joining the HBCU Climate Change Initiative and the National Black Environmental Justice Network at the People’s Climate March in New York City in 2014. She has participated in various climate and environmental (justice) movement activities since then, and they are highlighted in the courses she teaches on social movements, strategies of community development, and demography. Additionally, Mila developed her university’s first social science course on “Environmental Inequality and Justice” in 2019 to critically investigate the relationships between social inequalities and the distribution of environmental hazards in society along dimensions of power including social class, gender, and race.
As an agent of social change, Mila is also a member of regional and national professional associations including the American Sociological Association, Association of Black Sociologists, and the Popular Culture Association.