Hackney Award

T. MORRIS HACKNEY ENDOWED FACULTY LEADERSHIP

The T. Morris Hackney Endowed Faculty Leadership Award honors a faculty member who exemplifies the constant guidance and leadership necessary to make The University of Alabama College of Engineering exceptional. Dr. C. Heath Turner, professor and associate dean for research and economic development, is the recipient of the 2025 T. Morris Hackney Endowed Faculty Leadership Award.

Turner grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and graduated from Mountain Brook High School in 1992. He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Auburn University in 1996 and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from North Carolina State University in 2002. Turner joined the UA Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in 2003, and shortly thereafter he was named a Reichhold-Shumaker Assistant Professor. He was previously recognized as the most outstanding faculty member by the department’s Omega Chi Epsilon Honor Society and by UA’s American Institute of Chemical Engineers student chapter. He served as the ChBE department head from 2019-2025 prior to being appointed as associate dean.

During Turner’s time as department head, the chemical engineering program was consistently ranked as one of the top 10 largest in the U.S., the department’s research funding increased by over 500%, and the department’s national ranking rose faster than any other engineering department in the U.S. Turner has obtained over $15 million in external grants from a variety of funding agencies, including the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense. He has published over 130 peer-reviewed journal articles and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Ionic Liquids and as a section editor-in-chief of the journal Catalysts.

In 2023, Turner established the UA Polymers and Soft Materials Research Center on campus and serves as its director. The Poly-SM Center involves an interdisciplinary group of faculty working to broadly advance research efforts in synthetic polymers, biopolymers, and other soft materials. Within its first year of operation, the Poly-SM Center generated 50 unique publications and 75 unique presentations, and it is associated with 16 current grants valued at more than $8 million.

Turner and his wife, Christy, reside in Mountain Brook, Alabama, and his two oldest children currently attend UA.

This award was established as a tribute to T. Morris Hackney and was made possible by the contributions of John H. Josey and his son, Howard Josey.

T. MORRIS HACKNEY ENDOWED FACULTY LEADERSHIP THROUGH THE YEARS

2025: Dr. C. Heath Turner
2024: Dr. Derek G. Williamson
2023: Dr. Ajay Agrawal
2022: Mark L. Weaver
2020: Bharat Balasubramanian
2019: Kenneth G. Ricks
2018: Gregory B. Thompson
2017: W. Edward Back
2016: John Baker
2015: Jay K. Lindly
2014: Susan L. Burkett
2013: Tim A. Haskew
2012: Allen S. Parrish
2011: K. Clark Midkiff Jr.
2010: Kenneth J. Fridley
2009: Viola Acoff
2008: Beth Todd
2007: Kevin Whitaker
2006: David B. Brown
2005: Charles L. Karr
2004: John Wiest
2003: David Cordes
2002: Robert Griffin
2001: Stuart Bell
2000: Lloyd “Pete” Morley
1999: Verle N. Schrodt
1998: Daniel Turner
1997: Gary C. April