REMEMBERING PROFESSOR RONALD TURNER 1955–2021
“When I joined the UHLC Pre-Law Pipeline Program, I had just switched out of a STEM major into Business, and had been exploring the idea of becoming a lawyer. Learning under Professor Turner helped me solidify my choice to pursue law. His knowledge extended beyond jurisprudence, allowing him to tie in judicial interpretation and precedent to other pressing issues in the social sciences. I will never forget skipping lunch and spending my break in his office, pouring through various facets of judicial interpretation and exploring the different implications of constitutional language. His mastery of the liberal arts, paired with his humility, made him my favorite professor during the Pipeline Program.”
– Former Pre-Law Pipeline Scholar Sakethram Desabhotla
University of Houston Law Center Professor Ronald Turner’s career as a legal academic was largely spent recognizing the inequities in society. Turner passed away on June 3, 2021 at the age of 66 years old, but he will be remembered by law students across the country for his ability to challenge their perspectives.
“Professor Turner was cherished by our students,” said Dean Leonard M. Baynes. “He was a noted scholar often publishing in top 30 law reviews and the author of several casebooks. He was also an excellent teacher who was able to get students to discuss complex and sensitive issues in a productive manner in his classes.”
Turner specialized in labor law, employment law, constitutional law, and taught employment discrimination, labor law, torts, constitutional law, and a course on HIV/ AIDS and the law. He had a special connection with the Pre-Law Pipeline Program, serving as an instructor for introductory courses to undergraduate students considering a legal education.
“As Associate Dean many years ago, I recall reading some of his student evaluations and marveling at how many students decided to practice Employment Law or Labor Law because Ron had inspired in them a passion for the subject,” said Professor Sandra Guerra Thompson, the Newell H. Blakely Chair.
“I will really miss his mischievous smile as he recalled classroom exchanges and how he put students on the spot in a way that really challenged them to consider an issue from a different perspective. He could make students squirm as he challenged them to broaden their thinking, and they loved him for it. That was part of the genius of his teaching.”
Turner joined the Law Center faculty in 1998 and was the A.A. White Professor of Law. He was the first African- American full professor in the Law Center’s history. Before joining the Law Center, he served as a labor-management relations examiner with the National Labor Relations Board, practiced law in Chicago, and taught at the University of Alabama School of Law.
A former research associate at the Industrial Research Unit at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, Turner also served as a contributing editor for the AIDS & Public Policy Journal. His numerous publications included books and articles on labor and employment law issues, AIDS, and hate speech. He was also a Visiting Professor of Law at the College of William & Mary Marshall-Wythe School of Law and was a Visiting Professor of History at Rice University.
Turner graduated magna cum laude from Wilberforce University in 1980 and received his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1984.
