HOUGHTON, N.Y. (WIVB) — Houghton College has a new leader; Dr. Wayne D. Lewis Jr. was inaugurated as the Christian liberal arts and science school’s sixth president Friday.

The inauguration happened at the John & Charles Wesley Chapel on campus. The ceremony was streamed online for the public, while faculty attended in person.

Lewis, a native of New Orleans, came to Houghton after previous stops at Belmont University as the inaugural dean of the School of Education, the Commonwealth of Kentucky as commissioner of education, and the University of Kentucky as a faculty member. He began his career teaching at public schools in Louisiana and North Carolina. 

He will lead Houghton’s faculty, nearly 1,000 students and oversee the college’s 50 undergraduate programs at the Houghton and Buffalo campuses.

“I am deeply humbled to be selected as the sixth president of Houghton College, one of the finest Christian liberal arts and sciences colleges in the nation,” Lewis said at the time of his selection as president. “For generations, Houghton has equipped Christian leaders, but I firmly believe the next chapter of its story will be one of growth, wider reach and greater impact than the College has ever experienced.”

The News Orleans native succeded Dr. Shirley A. Mullen who had served as president at Houghton since 2006.

Watch the inauguration below: