Professor Regina Turner is on a crusade. She believes that the university is one of the best inventions of humankind, and she wants to help young people from underrepresented communities take advantage of what it offers. "I want them to have all the opportunities that a university education can make possible," she says.

An associate professor of communication studies, Turner draws on her specialty, which is theatre, to demystify higher education for students who would otherwise find the university a foreign experience. Using autobiography and performance, she's worked with students at IUPUI to create Chasing the Dream: Screams from an Urban University. The theatre production employs music, dance, and drama to portray the conflicts that young people encounter on the way to their first degree.

Turner describes herself as having "one foot in the community and one in the university." While previously serving as a community liaison for undergraduate education, Turner worked with Indianapolis-area churches to bring hundreds of community members to campus for a program that helped students strengthen academic skills and broaden their cultural experiences.

As part of her crusade to expand access to higher education, Turner now works with students in IUPUI's University College, a student-centered academic unit designed to help freshmen adjust to the challenges of college life. Her goal is to convey "the intrigue and excitement, the wonder-filled adventure" of learning to students at the university. "I'm confident we can do this," she says.