William H. Turner, PhD.

 

William H. Turner received his bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Kentucky in 1968, followed by a master's degree in sociology in 1971, and a doctorate in sociology and anthropology from Notre Dame University in 1974.

He served on UK's faculty from 1979 through 1983. In addition to UK, he has taught, performed research and held administrative posts at several colleges and universities including Fisk University, Howard University, and Winston-Salem State University.

He was Distinguished Visiting Professor of Black and Appalachian Studies at Berea College, 1988-89 and Visiting Research Professor at Brandeis University from 1990 to 1991. From 1979-1991, Dr. Turner was a research associate to Alex Haley, author of "Roots."

For the 1983-84 academic year, Dr. Turner served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Kentucky State University; from January 2003 to April 2004, he served as interim president.

A freelance journalist/writer since 1980, Dr. Turner contributed occasionally on issues affecting blacks in Appalachia through "Appalachian Voices" in the Lexington Herald-Leader. His essays also appeared weekly from 1986 through 1996 in ten black newspapers in North Carolina, syndicated by the North Carolina Black Media Group.

Dr. Turner's editorial columns appeared weekly in The Journal, the daily newspaper of Winston-Salem, NC, from 1996 through 2002. He is also a member of the Trotter Group, a Harvard University-based network of black journalists.

Among his other writings are a master's thesis "On Martin Luther King and Malcolm X: Parallels and Divergences" and his doctoral dissertation "Factors Accounting for the Attitude Formation and Change Among College Students. His books include "Blacks in Appalachia," co-edited with Edward Cabbell and published in 1985 by the University Press of Kentucky, "Black Colleges: Essays on Cultural Legitimacy and Economic Efficiency," "Appalachian Heritage," and "The Path of My Pilgrimage: The Autobiography of Marshall B. Bass." He assisted in the production and wrote the afterward to the 2004 book, "African-American Miners and Migrants: The Eastern Kentucky Social Club," published by the University Press of Illinois.

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