Dr. Nathan O. Hatch, President

Dr. Nathan O. Hatch, a nationally respected scholar and former provost of the University of Notre Dame, became the 13th president of Wake Forest on July 1, 2005.

A historian who had spent his entire academic career at Notre Dame, Dr. Hatch was unanimously approved by the Board of Trustees last winter to succeed Thomas K. Hearn Jr., who retired after leading the University for 22 years. His inauguration will be held October 20 in Wait Chapel.

Dr. Hatch, a Presbyterian, joined the history faculty at Notre Dame in 1975. Through a succession of administrative appointments-as associate dean and acting dean of the College of Arts and Letters, vice president for graduate studies and research, and finally provost-he amassed a strong record of directing undergraduate, graduate and professional programs. He had served as provost, the university's second highest-ranking official, since 1996, the first Protestant to serve in that position.

Dr. Hatch, 59, also held an appointment at Notre Dame as the Andrew V. Tackes Professor of History. He is regularly cited as one of the most influential scholars in the study of the history of religion in America. He won national acclaim for his 1989 book, "The Democratization of American Christianity," which garnered three major awards and was chosen in a survey of 2,000 historians and sociologists as one of the two most important books in the study of American religion. He is also the author or editor of seven other books on religion.

Coming to Wake Forest is a "homecoming of sorts," said Dr. Hatch, who grew up in Columbia, S.C., as the son of a Presbyterian minister. He and his wife, Julie, a former public school teacher, have three children: Gregg, a 1997 graduate of Notre Dame who is a hospital administrator in South Bend, Ind.; David, a 2000 Notre Dame graduate who works for a financial organization in Chicago; and Beth, a junior at Notre Dame majoring in American Studies and theology.

At Notre Dame, Dr. Hatch was known as a serious sports fan, who frequently took to the basketball court. "Becoming part of Wake Forest is not difficult for someone who still hazards to play basketball several times a week-and who, in his youth, drank at no spring other than ACC basketball," he said in his acceptance speech. "In Columbia, S.C., I attended University High School on the campus of the University of South Carolina-then still a part of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Our gym was only half a block from USC's Field House. I clearly remember going to see Bones McKinney coach that great Wake Forest team that included Billy Packer and Lenny Chappel. I also remember seeing Wake Forest's heralded quarterback Norm Snead single-handedly dismantle a favored University of South Carolina squad."

Dr. Hatch says he intends to be a student during the early part of his administration "to learn as much as I can about this great university." Prior to moving to Winston-Salem in July, he had already made eight trips to campus to meet with faculty, staff, students and alumni. "In beginning this journey of discovery, I have a set of questions to ask," he told the Alumni Council in February. "Where is Wake Forest today? What are its strengths, its liabilities? Are we poised and hungry for the next opportunity? What are our greatest opportunities and, are we prepared to seize them."

Dr. Hatch received his undergraduate degree from Wheaton College in 1968 and his master's and doctoral degrees from Washington University in St. Louis. He was awarded post-doctoral fellowships at Harvard and Johns Hopkins universities before joining the history department at Notre Dame. During the early part of his teaching career, he received the college's Paul Fenion Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching. He directed the history department's graduate studies programs in the early 1980s.

He was named associate dean of the College of Arts and Letters-the largest of the four undergraduate colleges at Notre Dame-in 1983, and served as acting dean from 1988 to 1989. During that time, he founded and directed the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, which led to a significant increase in external research funding for faculty in the humanities and social sciences. As vice president for graduate studies and research from 1989 until being named provost in 1996, he oversaw Notre Dame's master's degree and doctoral programs.

Dr. Hatch was appointed in 2000 by President Clinton to the National Council on the Humanities, the 26-person advisory board for the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is a former president of the American Society of Church History and a former member of the National Advisory Board of the Salvation Army. In South Bend, Indiana, he chaired the St. Joseph Medical Center board and served on the local United Way board of directors.

His selection as president marked the end of a national search process that began following Dr. Hearn's announcement in April 2004 that he would retire June 30, 2005.