Distinguished University Professor Award

Daniel Alex Heckert, professor of sociology, is IUP’s 2025–26 Distinguished University Professor. A member of the faculty since 1992, he is known for his research on domestic violence, addiction, and other mental health and public health issues. 

In 1998, Heckert began work as a research fellow at the center now known as the Mid-Atlantic Research and Training Institute for Community and Behavioral Health. Since 2021, he has served as its director. He also chaired the Department of Sociology for 18 years and coordinates the Administration and Leadership Studies PhD program. 

Heckert has coauthored 60 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals and more than a dozen book chapters and encyclopedia articles on topics including autism, opioid addiction, domestic violence, and women and justice. He has been an invited presenter for state, national, and international conferences and meetings. 

His research with IUP sociology professor emeritus Ed Gondolf in the area of family violence improved the prediction of abuse and re-assault among batterers and introduced many innovations in the field. In a series of journal articles, he and his sister, Druann Heckert, a sociology professor at Fayetteville State University, introduced an integrated typology of deviance that expanded traditional deviance conceptualizations and definitions. 

In addition to his work on predicting abuse, his funded research has included evaluating an inclusion program for children with disabilities in day care settings and a National Science Foundation instrumentation grant. 

Heckert has been a chair, reader, or advisor for more than 100 dissertations and master’s theses. He has led and served on many departmental committees, served on the University Budget Advisory Committee for 12 years, and was on the executive steering committee to develop IUP’s Public Health program. He was also a board member for the Labyrinth Center, a program for IUP students on the autism spectrum. 

He completed his master’s degree and PhD in sociology at the University of Iowa and his undergraduate degree in sociology and political science at Frostburg State University. 

During his year as Distinguished University Professor, Heckert has been working to introduce a new theoretical framework, called the integrated anomie framework, to the sociology and criminology fields. He is also working with colleagues to develop a new concept pertaining to identity work done by parents on behalf of their children. 

About the Distinguished University Professor Award

IUP recognizes one faculty member each year with the Distinguished University Professor Award, based on a record of outstanding teaching, university service, and active and demonstrable engagement in research/scholarly activity that advances the professor’s discipline or its pedagogy. In addition to the lifetime title, the award earns recipients a grant and a reduced teaching load for one year to allow more time for research and scholarship.

Past recipients are as follows:

The award was not presented from 2001 to 2006 and in 2021.