(AP) — The Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, who transformed the University of Notre Dame into a school known almost as much for academics as football and who championed human rights around the globe, has died. [...] the man known simply as Father Ted to the thousands who attended the school while he was president from 1952 to 1987 was perhaps even more recognized for his work around the world on issues such as civil rights, immigration, peaceful uses of nuclear energy and Third World development. Hesburgh was named head of the Department of Theology in 1948 and became the university's executive vice president a year later. In 2000, then-President Bill Clinton hailed Hesburgh as "a servant and a child of God, a genuine American patriot and a citizen of the world" as he bestowed upon him the government's highest honor, the Congressional Gold Medal. The Catholic university should be a place," he wrote, "where all the great questions are asked, where an exciting conversation is continually in progress, where the mind constantly grows as the values and powers of intelligence and wisdom are cherished and exercised in full freedom. The school ended a 40-year absence in football post-season bowl games and used the proceeds from the 1970 Cotton Bowl to fund minority scholarships. Hesburgh's work earned him the cover of Time magazine in a 1962 article that described him as the most influential figure in the reshaping of Catholic education. Hesburgh's decision to have Duarte give Notre Dame's 1985 commencement address was met by protests blaming Duarte and the Reagan administration for continued political killings and poverty in the Central American nation. At least 70 bishops opposed Obama's appearance and Notre Dame's decision to award him an honorary degree because of the president's support of abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research. Hesburgh remained active at Notre Dame in his retirement, lecturing occasionally, presiding over residence hall Masses and helping develop the school's Kellogg Institute for International Studies and the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.