MACON – Dr. Lake Lambert, dean of Mercer University's College of Liberal Arts, was introduced as the 16th president of Hanover College in a ceremony on Saturday in Hanover, Indiana.
Dr. Lambert will take office on July 1. He will succeed Dr. Sue DeWine, who announced last year that she would retire on June 30, upon completion of her eighth year as president of Indiana's oldest private, four-year college.
“Hanover College is fortunate to have successfully recruited Lake Lambert as its next president,” said Mercer President William D. Underwood. “He is one of the best academic administrators I have had the pleasure of working with over the last 25 years. He is an effective leader, and I believe Hanover will flourish under his presidency.”
Located on 650 acres overlooking the Ohio River in southeastern Indiana, Hanover is a premier, nationally ranked liberal arts institution that has core strengths in the sciences, education and business. Founded in 1827, the college currently has a student body of more than 1,200 pursuing Bachelor of Arts degrees in 31 academic programs.
“I wish Lake Lambert great success as president of Hanover. He has proven to be a great leader and ambassador for both the College of Liberal Arts and Mercer University,” said Mercer Provost Dr. Scott Davis. “Lake brought a clear vision for the College and was able to take it to new heights. Working with Lake has been one of my great pleasures as provost, and Hanover could not have chosen a better president.”
Dr. Lambert was appointed dean of Mercer's College of Liberal Arts on July 1, 2010. Under his leadership, the College's enrollment surpassed 1,500 students, and a number of new academic programs, including chemical commerce, graphic design, and law and public policy, were added to the curriculum. He also oversaw a revision of the University's General Education Program.
During his tenure as dean, the Center for Collaborative Journalism was started with nearly $6 million in grants from the John S. and James L. Knight and Peyton Anderson Foundations. The Center, dubbed “one of the nation's boldest journalism experiments” by The New York Times, combined the University's journalism and media studies program with the professional expertise of The Telegraph, Georgia's third-largest daily newspaper, and Georgia Public Broadcasting, the third-largest public broadcaster in the country based on population reach. The Center has since added a University-owned and operated television station, WMUB, as well as a studio to produce student-run ESPN3 broadcasts.
Additionally, the Thomas C. and Ramona E. McDonald Center for America's Founding Principles, featuring an interdisciplinary commitment to the foundational texts and ideas that have shaped Western Civilization and the American political order, was begun and later endowed as part of a $2 million gift to the University.
“It has been an incredible honor to work alongside the talented faculty and staff of Mercer's College of Liberal Arts,” said Dr. Lambert. “We have accomplished a great deal over the last four-and-a-half years. I want to thank President Underwood and Provost Davis for their support of the College and my leadership. I expect to see even greater things from Mercer in the future.”
Before coming to Mercer, Dr. Lambert served as professor of religion and Board of Regents Chair in Ethics at Wartburg College, where he had been on the faculty since 1996. He also served as executive director of Wartburg's Commission on Mission, an initiative to engage faculty, staff, students, alumni and trustees in strategic planning while maintaining its distinctive mission. Additionally, he served as assistant dean for academic planning, working to foster collaboration among faculty leaders and administrators for effective program assessment and budgeting in coordination with the college's long-range plan and fundraising priorities.
Dr. Lambert is an active scholar in the fields of religion and ethics. He published a book in 2009, Spirituality Inc.: Religion in the American Workplace, and has published articles and book reviews in scholarly journals, religious publications and the popular press, including USA Today.
From 2003 to 2008, Dr. Lambert served as director of the Center for Community Engagement and The Callings Initiative at Wartburg, a program funded by a $2.5 million grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc., which helped the college to further professional development and programs for student vocational discovery, as well as support and expand experiential learning and external partnerships. The efforts helped to further Wartburg's reputation as a leader in experiential learning, including national recognitions from the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll and the Carnegie Foundation.
Dr. Lambert earned his Doctor of Philosophy in social ethics from Princeton Theological Seminary and his Master of Theological Studies from Emory University's Candler School of Theology. He also completed his undergraduate studies at Emory, earning his Bachelor of Arts, majoring in economics and history.
