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Students, faculty and guests from near and far gathered Friday for the inauguration of Grace College’s sixth president, Dr. William J. Katip. The inauguration is the first for Grace in nearly 10-years, with the last presidential inauguration being held in 1994 when former president Dr. Ronald E. Manahan assumed the role.

The inauguration began at 10 a.m. in the Grace College Orthopedics Center with a processional fanfare comprised of college staff, faculty, vice presidents, the board of trustees, administrators, program participants and lastly, the president.

Following the processional, numerous speakers of varying roles such as students, alumni and even Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer greeted the public and spoke about the passion, dedication and commitment of Dr. Katip to college and its mission. Numerous faculty members shared their memories of Katip’s work ethic, noting he would arrive at work at 5:30 a.m., work through his lunch and would often times be sending emails to colleagues 10 p.m.

The ceremony concluded with an inaugural address from Katip, who took guests through the history of the college’s leadership. Though many throughout the ceremony had much to say about the leadership style of Katip himself, Katip instead wished to focus on the future goals of the college in his address. Among those goals were those of expanding student housing, preserving and pursuing innovative partnerships with outside organizations and schools and working to recognize a larger scope of student demographic groups.

“My leadership will not be exactly like any of our previous presidents,” stated Katip. “I am not them –I am me. Rather than focus on my personal leadership style, I’d like to talk about the goals we have selected as we move as an institution into the future. By talking about our vision and what I see as our future priorities, I think you’ll get a glimpse at what makes me tick.”