Dr. Hatfield was 38 years old in 1973 when the Austin Community College (ACC)  Board of Trustees selected him to be ACC’s first and founding president. Hatfield envisioned ACC bringing post-secondary education and job training that would enable Austin’s diverse citizenry to more nearly achieve their potential and realize their dreams. Many people thought the greater Austin area had enough colleges and universities. As a public speaker, Hatfield employed analogies to help citizens and community leaders understand ACC’s role in the education-rich Austin community. He compared ACC to the “little red schoolhouse” of times past. He also employed the image of an “educational common market.” In an active speaking campaign, he told listeners that ACC would be good for the economy and good for people, who would have new opportunities for advancement and better-paying jobs. He described community colleges as uniquely American institutions that were well suited for Americans and their needs. To emphasize that ACC was for everyone, Hatfield established the President’s Office in the vacant, historically African-American high school at 900 Thompson Street in East Austin.

Under Hatfield’s leadership, ACC endeavored to unify a fragmented community. Education naturally liberalized individual and community life and, he said, should not be walled off from them. He sought access to public and corporate facilities for classroom space and changed the “lock-step” nature of higher education by promoting “individualized instruction.” He advocated weaving ACC into the fabric of the community by joining with hospitals and government for shared training, with theater groups for students to study the dramatic arts, and sharing book and periodical collections with the public library system.