Jack Hawkins Jr., Ph.D.Dr. Jack Hawkins Jr., a native of Mobile, Alabama, has served as chancellor of Troy University since 1989 and is the longest-serving chief executive officer of a public university in the United States. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Montevallo and his doctorate from the University of Alabama.
Hawkins has overseen an era of change and growth at Troy, leading the merger of the worldwide Troy State University System into the unified Troy University, an initiative called “One Great University.” More than $450 million has been invested in capital improvements by Hawkins’ administration, including new academic buildings on all four of Troy’s campuses in Alabama. He served as the catalyst for Troy’s evolution to an international institution, as Troy has attracted record numbers of students from other nations and established teaching sites around the world. During his tenure, academic standards for admission have been increased, new degree programs were established in all academic colleges and intercollegiate athletics joined the highest level of NCAA competition.
Prior to beginning his tenure as chancellor at Troy, Hawkins served as an assistant dean at the University of Alabama at Birmingham from 1971 to 1979 and as president of the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind in Talladega from 1979 to 1989.
Upon completion of his bachelor’s degree in 1967, Hawkins was commissioned a lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps and served as a platoon leader during the Vietnam War. For combat duty, he received the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and a citation from the Korean Marine Corps.
In 1985, Hawkins was honored by the University of Montevallo as Distinguished Alumnus of the Year and was the recipient of the 2003 All-American Football Foundation’s “Top College President” Award. In 2005, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Murphy High School in Mobile, Alabama. In 2007, he was recognized as the “Alabama Citizen of the Year” by the Alabama Broadcasters Association. In 2011, he was recognized with the Chief Executive Leadership Award presented by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and as the March of Dimes River Region Citizen of the Year. In 2012, he received the Distinguished Public Service Award from the Secretary of the Air Force for his service on the Air University Board of Visitors from 2004 to 2012. In 2014, he was one of nine university presidents and chancellors worldwide — and the only one in North America — to receive the World Confucius Institute’s Individual Performance Excellence Award. In 2016, he was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor.
Three buildings are named in his honor: the “Jack and Janice Hawkins Chapel” at the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind, the “Hawkins-Adams-Long Hall of Honor” and “Jack Hawkins Jr. Hall,” which serves the College of Education of Troy University. Hawkins was profiled as part of two books published in 2004: “Above and Beyond: Former Marines Conquer the Civilian World” by Rudy Socha and Carolyn Darrow and “The Entrepreneurial College President” by James L. Fisher and James V. Koch.
Hawkins serves on numerous boards, including the Daniel Foundation, the Bennie Adkins Foundation, Business Council of Alabama, the American Village Trust, and Troy Bank and Trust.
He and his wife, Janice, have two daughters, Katie Beall and Kelly Godwin, and four grandchildren.
