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Dr. Nathan O. Hatch became Wake Forest's 13th president July 1, 2005. He had previously served as Provost at the University of Notre Dame, where he was the Andrew V. Tackes Professor of History.
His first years at the helm were characterized by an intense period of getting to know Wake Forest: its faculty, students, and alumni, in order to identify both opportunities and challenges. This led Dr. Hatch to complete a comprehensive strategic planning process to guide Wake Forest's future. The strategic plan, approved by the Board of Trustees and embraced by the college community, encompasses all schools and departments on the Reynolda Campus. Additionally, Dr. Hatch has embarked on a master planning process to ensure the physical development of the campus is aligned with the University's strategic goals.
"This is an exciting time for Wake Forest," he says. "Our new plan builds upon existing strengths and identifies areas where we need to improve, through defining strategies, setting priorities, and developing tactics to reach our goals. We have a rare opportunity to integrate an undergraduate liberal arts tradition with the vitality of a research university.”
Dr. Hatch has assembled a remarkable team of academic and administrative leaders to meet the challenges of running the premier “collegiate university” in the country today. Throughout his academic career, Dr. Hatch has been drawn to challenges that involve people and building organizations. "I am thoroughly an academic and have cherished administrative work not as different than teaching and scholarship but as an opportunity to build an organization in which academic life can flourish," he says.
“I am convinced that Wake Forest can claim a very special, even extraordinary place in American higher education,” Dr. Hatch says, “I have learned in my time here that Wake Forest is a deeply personal place, dedicated to community and face-to-face interaction. We help students connect who they are with what they do — helping them to find meaning and purpose in their lives and work.”
Since coming to Wake Forest, Dr. Hatch has created a Presidential Trust for Faculty Excellence to support faculty professorships and research. Building a community of faculty and students and sustaining the "teacher-scholar" ideal must remain the University's highest priority, he says, “Wake Forest has long served humanity through the pursuit of knowledge.”
Often described as affable, approachable and a lively conversationalist, Dr. Hatch has established a strong rapport with students; he can occasionally be found taking a coffee break with them at the Starbuck's in Z. Smith Reynolds library or having lunch in the Pit. He made an early positive impression when he arrived at his student-sponsored Inaugural Ball on the back of a motorcycle driven by the Demon Deacon.
He and his wife, Julie, a former public school teacher, have three children: Gregg, a 1997 graduate of Notre Dame, is a hospital administrator in Seattle, Washington; David, a 2000 Notre Dame graduate, received an MBA degree from Duke University in 2007 and is working in finance in Charlotte, NC; and Beth is a 2007 graduate of Notre Dame, working in Washington, D.C. at Georgetown University. The Hatches also have three young grandchildren. In the spirit of Wake Forest as one big family, they have opened up the “garage” of their home as a lounge and meeting place for Wake Forest students.
Dr. Hatch grew up in Columbia, South Carolina, where his father was a Presbyterian minister. A graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois, he received his master's and doctoral degrees from Washington University in St. Louis and held post-doctoral fellowships at Harvard and Johns Hopkins universities. He joined the faculty at Notre Dame in 1975 and was named director of graduate programs in history in 1980.
Over the next twenty-five years, he amassed a strong record of directing undergraduate, graduate and professional programs at Notre Dame. He served as associate dean of the College of Arts and Letters from 1983 until 1988 and then acting dean for one year. He was appointed vice president for graduate studies and research in 1989. He was named provost, the university's second highest-ranking position, in 1996; a Presbyterian, he was the first Protestant to ever serve in that position at Notre Dame.
He is regularly cited as one of the most influential scholars in the study of the history of religion in America. He received national acclaim for his 1989 book, The Democratization of American Christianity, in which he examines how the rise of religious groups in the early 19th century helped shape American culture and foster democracy. The book 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.
From 2000 to 2006, he served on the National Council on the Humanities, the advisory board for the National Endowment for the Humanities. He currently is on the board of directors of the American Council on Education and is chair of the NCAA Committee on Athletics Certification. He is also a member of the Business Higher Education Forum and a trustee of the Fuller Theological Seminary. A board member of the United Way of Forsyth County, in 2010 he will serve as the Chairman of the United Way Campaign.
Dr. Hatch was named president of Wake Forest in January 2005 and took office on July 1, 2005, succeeding Thomas K. Hearn Jr., who retired after 22 years as president.
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