Ten months after he took office, Gene C. Fant Jr. was officially installed April 13 as the eighth president of North Greenville University.

Nearly 1,000 people — including Fant’s family and friends, NGU students, faculty, staff, trustees, donors and alumni, as well as community members and delegates from more than 20 universities — gathered in Turner Chapel for the investiture ceremony.

Also in attendance were South Carolina lieutenant governor Kevin L. Bryant and Gary L. Hollingsworth, executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.

David S. Dockery, president of Trinity International University, delivered the inaugural address. He closed his remarks by invoking God’s favor on Fant. “May the Lord be with you on this day and in the days to come as you faithfully lead North Greenville University to its best days ever,” Dockery said.

After he was formally installed, Fant told those in attendance he desires North Greenville to claim “the optimism of the gospel, the optimism that our culture needs, the civility that our culture needs, and the Christ our culture needs.”

“As Christians, we are to be relentlessly optimistic because of the gospel and because of the hope we have,” he said.

Following the ceremony, guests were invited to observe the planting of an oak tree near the Hayes Ministry and Welcome Center. Given by Fant’s wife and children, the tree will serve to commemorate the establishment of his presidency.