Hadronic Physics in the Kovar Era

The period of Dennis Kovar's leadership of the nuclear physics program at the DOE Office of Science was remarkably productive for the subfield of hadronic physics. As it began, research utilizing the newly-constructed Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at Jefferson Lab started and the RHIC Spin program was initiated. In addition, a variety of important smaller initiatives have been supported at other facilities world-wide, and careful plans were laid for the next generation of experiments in the field, with the 12 GeV Upgrade of CEBAF as a major initiative. The research program has produced a number of surprising discoveries and a substantive refinement of our understanding of the nucleon and its underlying quark structure, of the dynamics of the strong interaction, and of the relationships between nucleon structure and nuclear structure. The upgrade of CEBAF is now well underway that, together with the continuation of a broad variety of smaller initiatives, will support continued progress well into the next decade.