The ‘Dynamic Decade’ of President Hatch
In the Sunday edition of the Winston-Salem Journal, there was a wonderful feature story on President Nathan O. Hatch and his ten years of service at Wake Forest. The article is “Dynamic Decade: Hatch Reshapes University with Eye Toward Future” and it is well worth your time to read.
Here are a few select excerpts:
“The construction boom, paid for in part by an ambitious $1 billion fundraising effort, is the most obvious piece of a larger transformation that Hatch has been quietly shepherding over the last 10 years — improving faculty and staff, overhauling university culture and increasing the size of the student body while making the university more selective to solidify its place among the top tier of colleges and universities in the country.
Better staff, brighter students, bigger donors — all things that can be hard to come by in the highly competitive world of higher education. On the eve of celebrating his 10th anniversary, though, Hatch’s efforts seem to be bearing fruit….
Hatch said Wake Forest does not want to be the next great research institution; it’s not striving to be the next Duke or Emory. It offers something different — “a much more nurturing environment” — than such large state universities as the University of Virginia and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. But it is also more than a college. Hatch looks toward somewhere like Dartmouth, an Ivy League school, as an “aspirational peer.”
“We want to be the best face-to-face liberal arts residential community,” Hatch says of the university’s goals. “We want to be the best place for college-to-career transition.”
The article gives you a glimpse of not only Dr. Hatch as president of Wake Forest, but how he is regarded by his peers and colleagues. “Never the showiest person in the room but often the smartest,” he respected for his personal and professional skills as much as his academic skills.
Enjoy the article. We are indeed fortunate to have Dr. Hatch at the helm of Mother So Dear.