Dr. Glenn Sanders of King University Recognized as Nathan O. Hatch Leader of Character

The Nathan O. Hatch Leader of Character Award honors an outstanding leader in higher education who has shown exceptional commitment to educating character at their institution and beyond. The award is given by the Educating Character Initiative, a project of the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University. This year, the Educating Character Initiative is pleased to give the first Nathan O. Hatch Leader of Character Award to King University’s Dr. Glenn Sanders.

In addition to being a beloved teacher and dean, Glenn is an Educating Character Initiative partner who has gone above and beyond to contribute to building communities of character, both at King University and in the larger ECI community. As a member of the ECI community, Glenn is someone who always shows up: he is a regular presence in our webinars and book club discussions and has personally attended or recommended a colleague from King for every in-person event the Educating Character Initiative has hosted. At our major community conference on “Educating Character Across Differences,” Glenn served as a panelist in a key session; for another session, he organized a conversation among faith-affiliated institutions seeking to cultivate character.

“At every opportunity, Glenn has been a humble, eager, and active learner who has embraced the complex and nuanced dimensions of character across contexts, bringing to each experience an open mind and an open heart,” said Jennifer Rothschild, Ph.D., director of the ECI. “He has shown himself to be a steadfast advocate for King, quick to give credit to his colleagues, thoughtful about King’s students, and a seeker of opportunities to contribute to the character of his institution. In all his interactions, he invites others to share in his enthusiasm for building a community of character.”

Glenn took the lead on developing the project “Thoughtful, Resourceful, Responsible: Three Years Forming Character at King,” earning one of the first Institutional Impact Grants ever awarded by the ECI and igniting a movement at King to deepen and expand existing efforts to cultivate character. Glenn is a storyteller with an ability to convey the experience of a project in a creative way that invites everyone to share in his enthusiasm for building a community of character. The Educating Character Initiative has benefited greatly from being granted a share in King University’s success through these stories of impact.

When we started the Educating Character Initiative, we imagined a community of aligned partners working together to build capacity to educate character in colleges and universities. In Glenn Sanders, we found not only a partner but a friend. While Glenn will soon retire from the position of Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at King University, a role he has held since 2018, we are confident that his legacy as a leader of character has left a lasting imprint on us, on King, and on the broader ECI community. We can think of no more deserving recipient of our inaugural Nathan O. Hatch Leader of Character Award than Glenn Sanders.

“Dr. Sanders’ selection as the inaugural recipient of this award speaks both to the kind of person he already is and to the life he continues to pursue,” said Andrew Tooley, Ph.D., president of King. “The virtues of wisdom, courage, justice, curiosity, and humility are not achievements one obtains and then possesses, but rather life-long pursuits. As a leader of character, Dr. Sanders models for us the daily persistence required for the cultivation of these virtues, and inspires us all to imagine with him a world in which the pursuit of virtue shapes not only our individual lives, but our families, our civil society, and our institutions.”

Learn more about the Nathan O. Hatch Leader of Character Award here.