Davis & Elkins College Professor Emeritus Dr. David Turner will serve as the featured speaker for the College’s Fall Graduate Recognition Ceremony. The event, which is open to students and their guests, is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 7 in Myles Center for the Arts.
Students who completed their degree requirements in the 2021 summer or fall semesters will receive a certificate and a 9-inch plaque made of cherry hardwood and engraved with the D&E seal. Also participating in the ceremony will be Board of Trustees Vice Chair David Cutlip ’77, President Chris A. Wood, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Rob Phillips and Director of Alumni Engagement and Support Wendy Morgan. Benfield-Vick Chaplain the Rev. Laura Brekke Wagoner will offer the invocation and benediction, and music will be provided by Instructor of Music Donna Baroudi Huffman.
Turner joined the D&E faculty in 1985 and one year later was named chair of the Department of History, Political Science and Sociology. For 10 years, he held the Thomas Richard Ross Endowed Chair in History & the Humanities. He has been honored for his distinction in teaching with the Sears Award for Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership, and Lois Latham Award for Teaching Excellence.
Also an author, Turner wrote D&E’s “The Centennial History,” and his work has been published in the journal “Middle East International and Michigan Historical Review,” and newspapers including The News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), News & Record (Greensboro, N.C.) and The Inter-Mountain.
Turner holds a Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky, a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Arts, both from the University of North Carolina, and an honorary M.H.L. from D&E.