Craig Turner assumed the presidency of Hardin-Simmons University on June 1, 2001. He joined the University in 1992 as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of English. In 1996 he was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer and in 2000 assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer.

Turner was born and reared in Mobile, Alabama. His academic background includes a Ph.D. in British and American Literature from Tulane (1977), an M.A. in English (1971), and a B.A. in English and History (1969), both from Baylor.

 Turner served as Professor and Head of the Dept. of English and as a Professor of English for Mississippi College from 1985-1992. He was at Texas A&M as Assistant and Associate Professor of English, 1976-1985, and spent the previous two years as an Instructor at Baylor.
Dr. Turner

 Dr. Turner has edited three books, Critical Essays on Eudora Welty, Critical Essays on American Humor, and The Poet Robert Browning and His Kinfolk: By His Cousin Cyrus Mason, and is a recognized authority on the life and works of Robert Browning.

He is a member of numerous entities, including the Consortium for Global Education, the Distance Education Advisory Committee of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and the Abilene Education Council.


" Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?"
- from "Andrea Del Sarto" by Robert Browning