The Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association (TICUA) has honored Trevecca alumnus and longtime leader Dr. Melvin Welch as a 2021 Hall of Fame inductee, officials announced today.
Welch’s induction is a recognition of his professional excellence and passionate service to Trevecca Nazarene University and to the field of education in Tennessee and beyond. Over the course of several decades, he served in virtually every facet of the administration at Trevecca while also instructing in the classroom.
“Dr. Welch served in many capacities at Trevecca over the years, and in every role he sought to serve the needs of others,” Trevecca President Dr. Dan Boone said. “He has demonstrated the foundational principles of our mission statement, leadership and service, in more ways than one could count.”
Welch’s first involvement with Trevecca was as a student working toward a bachelor’s degree in education. He would later earn graduate degrees at MTSU and Vanderbilt, and after working as a teacher and becoming an administrator in higher education, he returned to Trevecca in 1980 as the school’s first full-time director of alumni services.
As Welch’s career progressed at Trevecca, his subsequent roles included director of admissions; professor; assistant to the president under Dr. Millard Reed; and dean of the School of Education.
Of special significance among Welch’s accomplishments at Trevecca was his integral role in the development of the master's degree in education. The dynamic success of the M.Ed. program provided a platform for the Ed.D., the first doctoral program in Trevecca's history. Trevecca has since become a leading provider of professional, terminal degrees in Tennessee in the fields of education and business leadership.
Welch worked as a consultant in higher education following his 2003 retirement from Trevecca. He is the author of Pathways to Success, a book that documents the development of Trevecca’s programs from 1954 – 2003. In 2019, he was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from Trevecca.
Welch is one of 24 alumni inductees selected for the Hall of Fame by TICUA and its member institutions in 2021.
Media Contact: Brian Bennett