It will be presented next month at the 37th BEYA STEM Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, the Air Force said.
“Turner is being recognized for his efforts in founding and successfully executing the Air Force’s first-ever Historically Black Colleges and University Digital Literacy Summit,” the Air Force said. “He pulled together a group of highly skilled and dedicated representatives from AFIT, the Air Force Research Laboratory, Central State University and Infinite Management Solutions to hold a two-day summit.”
“I am proud of Dr. Turner’s and the Air Force’s contributions in expanding diversity and inclusion with the STEM outreach to historically underrepresented areas of society,” said Col. Craig Punches, AFIT’s School of Systems and Logistics dean.
“This event was long overdue as evidenced by the tremendous turnout from the (Department of Defense), DAF, AFRL senior leaders, leadership and students from several HBCUs, industry and the like,” Turner said. “I am so proud to be associated with such a diverse group of professionals who are committed to the HBCU cause.”
As associate dean for AFIT’s largest professional continuing education school, Turner is responsible for daily operations, including overseeing an annual budget of $12.5 million, offering more than 120 courses in acquisition management, logistics, contracting, systems management, software engineering and financial management.
In an interview last year, Turner told the Dayton Daily News that the summit was the first time AFIT reached out with this kind of “particular intent” to HBCUs — historically black colleges and universities. But the idea had been with him for a while.
“I said ‘All right: If no one else is going to do it, I’m going to do it,’” he recalled.
About the Author
