Coalter brings an impressive background in research, information technology, and American church history to Union Presbyterian Seminary. An ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church, he joined the Union faculty after serving twenty years at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, first as library director, and later as vice president for library and information technology. He held the position of acting president of Louisville Seminary in 2003 while an interim president was being sought. Along with Louis Weeks and John Mulder, he was a co-director and author of The Presbyterian Presence, a major study of the Presbyterian Church and other mainline Christian denominations. He has served as editor and webmaster for the “Resources for American Christianity” website (http://www.resourcingchristianity.org), an electronic resource funded by the Lilly Endowment. With his colleague, Scott Thumma, he has also developed the web portal "Insights into Religion" (http://www.religioninsights.org). This portal provides access to the information, research findings and reflection available on over 20 major websites in religion that are affiliated with the Religion division of the Lilly Endowment.