Treveccan Stories: A Pioneer at Trevecca and Beyond

Bernard Turner, the first African American man to earn an Ed.D. from Trevecca, has worked in Nashville for 35 years as a trailblazing grant writer and local university leader.

When it comes to accomplishing a series of firsts, Bernard Turner is a Nashville trailblazer in the fields of both grant writing and higher education.

He was also a trailblazer at Trevecca, as the school’s first African American male to earn a Doctor of Education in leadership (Ed.D.) in 2003. He went on to establish himself as an unparalleled grant writer for Vanderbilt University School of Nursing and Medical Center and Meharry Medical College in Nashville before being chosen as the founding director of the nation’s first undergraduate program in social entrepreneurship at Belmont University in 2008.