Pryor Scrapbook Clippings, 1983-1997

byJueGere Time has caught up with. Dr. Joeepb E. Pryor, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college of arts and sciences. On March 11,- Pryor turned 65, mandatory retiring age for Harding administration mem- , bers. However, "Dr. Joe," doesn't seem to be upset about bis retirement. "I guess now a person could take a ease to court, but then they would probably try to prove you were incompetent,'' be said. Incompetent is a word that will never be. applied to Dr. Joe. He ... will ltill play an active role in the many areas of Harding's development, including representing the school at . Arkansas Intercollegiate Con– ference meetinp, sponsoring the Petit Jean and Alpha Chi · academic honor society and · serving as honorary sponsor for TNT men's social club. He will a1lo continue teacbiDg at 1eaat· part time in the physical science department. These are just a few of Dr. .Joe's interests on campus_ Since · entering Harding in 1933, Pryor bas grown up with the klltituti•. For the last few years, Dr. Joe bas been dear to the hearts of .students as the man they plead with when they have · milled chapel a few too many times. His is the voice that wakel us out of bleary fog on cold winter mor– niqs jogging our . minds with allusions to ·the ·coefficient of . . friction. He is a man who respects scholarship and can make us feel guilty for missing bi& physical science classes. Many students don't realize · that Dr. Joe's memories of Harding are both as a student and teacher. In his years a.s a . student here Dr. Joe; who en– tered college ai the age of 15, . play~ basketball, edited the_· Bison and the Petit Jen and worked · as a chemistry lab assistant. · · He said of his senior year, "I ..was editing the Petit Jean, taking 20 - bours, . playing on , the . basketball team, was a member of the track team, active in TNT and I even found time to do some dating.'' His years · with the student publications were interesting . ones. He inherited his editorship of the Bison after one week as a cub reporter and one week as · assistant editor, · when the .p-eceding editor revealed bis ·secret marriage of the summer before and went home to bis wife. · "I bad the foolish notion one · year of attempting to · be the Blsoa editor and the Petit Jean ... -elifilHGr;. but my sponsor Mrs.- Stapleton wouldn't allow me to do .that.'' He said, remembering his student years. Later, after earning bis master's and Ph.D. from Louisiana State University, he · returned to Harding, joining the physical science department. It . was during his years as an "unofficial" Petit Jeu spomor that be met and married the 1941 Petit Jean editor Bessie Mae . Ledbetter. Dr; Joe and Bessie Mae ac– companied each other on a train trip to Memphis early in the fall . of UM6. They were each going to visit their respective girlfriend . and boyfriend. Dr. Joe was dating the 1M5 editor of the Petit Jean. It was after this trip that · they began dating. · spiration." Pryor is . proud " the many accomplishments Harding students make. He can name several graduates from the last · 30 or 40 years and the places they've gone. Most m them he ~personally. "A person who gets a degree from Harding does not need to hide their head in shame," he said. "Across · the board, look at what our students do and our graduates · at professional and graduate schools.'' · When Dr. Joe contemplates bis semi-retirement next year be has mixed feelings. "I never did want to be an administrator . (tbn,upout college he planned to enter medical scbool); it's time– conswning. I'm glad· we have a "I · feel -a lot ot sat-isfaction about -strides Harding has made ... : I wish / ·coula Have done a Dr. }-oe Pryor ' Later that year with the help of capable person like Neale Pryor Florence Jewel they ai:ranged a (prefessOr of Bible) taking over. surprise engagement dinner, I'm glad_we have lots of capable where t~ey, announced their people who would be able to fill engagement to their friends. the job:" · When the guests sat down to their A replacement for Dr. Joe as name cards, the ca~ opened to dean of. the ·college m arts and contain a picture m the couple sciences has not been named yet. and an engagement ring. Dr. Joe Dr. Joe's dual title will be split had proposed to Bessie Mae while into ~o jobs from ~ ~n. sponsoring a TNT outiq&. "I've served the allotted time. I . '. . With their marriage, ·or. Joe feel -a lot m satisfacti.on about and Bessie Mae became a symbol strides Hardi ng has made . ~.. I of family and belonging .that will wish I cwld have done a better . not be forgotten · for years to . job with my .. talents and come. Dr. Joe still speaks with abilities," be said. · pride of ~e ·Mae's being -Those people who . 'have. . crowned Miss Li~b 1945, the benefited from the hour& Dr. Joe · year· before she tramferred ·to bas put into bis variws positioos Harding. · know that bis talents and abilities · Dr. Joe believes he ·owes bis l . cannot be .replaced by one ~ successful years as a student and alonie. Dr. Joe is lookinl forward faculty member to bis parents. to ·shedding . ·some of bis titles, however · and spending more "Both my parents received tiine at home. "There have been degrees after I was born,'' be times when Bessie Mae . bas said, feeling that bis parents wondered if _she bad a tmsband.'' . influenced him both educationally and as a Christian. To Bessie Mae be ia a husband; "What I've aceompliabed has to us he will always be "Dr. Joe." been a result ol their in-