Myrtle Turner Harris Retires After 27 Years of Service
Myrtle Turner Harris, course director and instructor for occupational safety and health and related courses, has retired after 27 years of service at Georgia Tech.
Turner Harris served as the director of Safety, Health, and Environmental Services (SHES) in the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute and the Georgia Tech Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Training Institute Education Center (OTIEC) since 2005. Throughout her leadership, Turner Harris expanded OSHA programs’ course offerings and increased the number of courses offered annually across Region IV (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee).
Turner Harris played a major role in the development of the Professional Master’s in Occupational Safety and Health (PMOSH) program, which launched in 2017. Serving as the associate PMOSH program director, Turner Harris also helped develop the OSHA processional certificate program.
Turner Harris is a certified instructional trainer (CIT) and has more than 29 years of experience in industrial hygiene and occupational safety and health. After completing her master’s degree in public health and working for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) followed by another federal agency, she made industrial hygiene the focus of her career. While working as a compliance safety and health officer for OSHA, she conducted numerous health and safety inspections in a variety of private and federal workplaces. She is former/past president of the National Environmental Safety and Health Training Association (NESHTA) Board of Directors.
To honor her many contributions to OSHA throughout her leadership in occupational safety and outstanding service, OTIECs created an award on her behalf — the "Making the Difference Award." It was presented by the U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA Directorate of Training and Education (DTE) at the Fall 2020 OTIEC Directors Meeting.
