South Hamilton, MA—President Emeritus, Dr. Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. was honored on Wednesday, April 23, during a chapel service on Gordon-Conwell's South Hamilton campus. During the service, the chapel was officially named the Walter C. Kaiser and Margaret Ruth Kaiser Chapel in honor of their dedication to the seminary and Dr. Kaiser's love of preaching the word of God. Current President Dr. Haddon Robinson presided and Gordon-Conwell Trustee's Joanna Mockler and Board Chair Tom Colatosti also participated in the ceremony.

Dr. Kaiser was President of the seminary from 1997 - 2006 and has served as the Colman M. Mockler Distinguished Professor of Old Testament since 1993.

Under his leadership, the seminary grew from 900 to nearly 2100 students from 44 nations to become the 5th largest seminary in North America, 30 new professors were recruited, a state-of-the-art campus in Charlotte was constructed, spacious new headquarters were renovated for the Boston campus, a new extension site was launched in Jacksonville, Florida, and the facilities in Hamilton were revitalized. The seminary also saw a 300 percent increase in scholarships and the Archaeological Study Bible published in partnership with Zondervan.

Additionally, a number of new academic and spiritual life programs were initiated under his leadership, including: The Center for Preaching, the Pierce Center for Disciple-Building, the Compass program for high school youth, the J. Christy Wilson, Jr. Center for World Missions, the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, Semlink distance learning, now available in Chinese and Free Dimensions of the Faith courses used across the globe.