Daniel Alex Heckert, Indiana University of Pennsylvania professor of sociology, has been selected as IUP’s 2025–26 Distinguished University Professor.
The Distinguished University Professor is a faculty member who exemplifies excellence in all areas of teaching, research and scholarly activities, and service. This recognition is a title that the recipient holds for life.
“Dr. Heckert’s ongoing work and research on mental health and public health issues, including domestic violence and addiction, is prolific and nationally respected,” IUP President Michael Driscoll said. “He has earned a reputation for excelling in the classroom and as a mentor to students at all levels, committed to educating and inspiring the next generation of leaders.
“He continues to provide impactful leadership and service to the university through his contributions to important university committees and initiatives. His selection as a Distinguished University Professor is well deserved,” President Driscoll said.
“I feel very honored to receive this award,” Heckert said. “It is a testimony to the quality of mentorship I have received throughout my career, as well as to the quality of my collaborators and colleagues that I have been fortunate enough to work with over the years. I also owe thanks to my wife, Gale, and my children, Kyle and Kelsey, for always being supportive of my endeavors.”
Heckert joined the IUP community in 1992 as an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and was promoted to full professor in 2000. He began work as a research fellow at IUP’s Mid-Atlantic Research and Training Institute 1998; in 2021, he was named director of the institute (now Mid-Atlantic Research and Training Institute for Community and Behavioral Health), a position he continues to hold.
He served as chair of the Department of Sociology for 18 years before beginning his current work in 2020 as coordinator of IUP’s Administration and Leadership Studies PhD program.
He is the co-author of 60 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals, as well as over a dozen book chapters and encyclopedia articles on topics in the field of sociology, including autism, opioid addiction, domestic violence, and women and justice. He has been an invited presenter for state, national, and international conferences and professional meetings.
His research with IUP sociology professor emeritus Ed Gondolf in the area of family violence improved prediction of nonphysical abuse and physical re-assault among batterer program participants and introduced multiple methodological and statistical innovations to the field. In a series of journal articles, he and he and his sister, Druann Heckert, Department of Sociology, Fayetteville State University, introduced an integrated typology of deviance that has expanded traditional conceptualizations and definitions of deviance.
Previous funded research has included predicting levels of abuse and re-assault among batterers, evaluating an inclusion program for children with disabilities in day care settings, and a National Science Foundation instrumentation grant, among other projects.
Heckert is a current chair of 12 dissertation projects and a reader for 15 projects. In addition, he has chaired 26 successfully completed dissertations for the Administration and Leadership Studies PhD program and served as a reader on over 60 more. He has advised eight master’s theses and has been a reader for more than 20 other students completing their master’s degrees.
His IUP service work includes leadership and membership of many department committees, including the department self-study and program review committees. He served on the University Budget Advisory Committee for 12 years and was on the executive steering committee to develop the public health program. He was also a member of the board for the Labyrinth Center, a program for IUP students who identify as being 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.
The Distinguished University Professor honor includes a reduced teaching load for the academic year that professors hold the designation to permit recipients to pursue an academic project. Heckert plans to introduce a new theoretical framework, called the Integrated Anomie Framework, to the fields of sociology and criminology, and to work with IUP colleagues to develop a new concept pertaining to identity work done by parents on behalf of their children.