Heather Noel Turner

Background

About Heather Noel Turner

Heather Noel Turner, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Santa Clara University. Her research and teaching focus on user experience (UX), digital writing and rhetoric, and social justice in technical communication. Heather is an award-winning scholar, earning the 2023 Programmatic Perspectives Research Article Award and the 2021 Michelle Kendrick Outstanding Digital Scholarship Award for her innovative digital publications. Her work appears in journals like Technical Communication Quarterly, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, and Kairos. As founder and director of SCU's User Experience (UX) Research and Writing Lab, Heather mentors students on research projects in partnership with community organizations. She also serves as Design Editor for the journal Reflections: A Community Engaged Journal of Writing and Rhetoric. Prior to her faculty role, Heather held positions at Michigan State University, including with the Writing, Information, and Digital Experience (WIDE) Research Center. She earned her PhD in Rhetoric and Writing with a Digital Humanities certificate from Michigan State. Heather is dedicated to fostering academic-industry partnerships, promoting UX education across universities, and advocating for equitable, community-engaged pedagogy. Her expertise spans UX research and design, content strategy, information design, and digital writing.