Dr. William E. Hull returned to Samford, his alma mater, as Provost in 1987, following a distinguished career as a theologian and pastor. With a towering intellect, a gentle spirit, and a commitment to faith and scholarship, he led Samford’s academic program until his retirement in 1996. He serves today with the title of Research Professor. A decade ago, when Mark Noll—then at Wheaton and now at Notre Dame—challenged those of us in Christ-centered higher education to engage in serious scholarship, he quoted our own Bill Hull: “The church has failed to define its intellectual responsibilities in compelling terms, to call out from among its own those gifted to discharge this neglected stewardship, and to provide such budding scholars with support for the kind of advanced training that will equip them to do credible work on so exacting a frontier.” At the commencement ceremony this Saturday morning, December 13, in recognition of a lifetime of raising the standards for himself and those around him, we will bestow upon Dr. Hull an honorary degree.
The world is better because of William E. Hull.