College of Arts and Sciences Offers Variety in Majors "To guide a mind to think truly and wisely ," wrote J. N. Armstrong, President of Harding College from 1924 to 1936 and then chairman of the Bible Department until his death on August 12, 1944, "to judge properly, reason correctly. is a masterful work. Were this the greatest work to be done in the rearing of a child, it would be enough to engage the undivided thinking and planning of fathers and mothers. But in this mind, even in the lowest type of man, is somethiflg still more beautiful and wonderful. By some it is called conscience, and by others the moral sense. Call it what we may. it separates man from all other animals and ftxes his destiny eternally different. Robbed of this power, man is no longer man. Through its abuse he gradually sinks so low that language reels to tell the story. The real and lasting advancement of every community, nation, and people lies in the consciences of its people. So in our work our chief aim is to send every boy and girl home at night with a tenderer conscience, a greater respect for right and duty . To teach a boy how to live a hundred years and train him to be an intellectual giant without this conscience culture is to curse the world and him." This statement of educational philosophy by the first president of Harding as a senior college has remained the guiding philosophy of the institution. Although the enrollment is more than 10 times greater than when this statement was made and the programs of s tudy have expanded and developed until the institution reached university status by virtue of its diversity and academic strength , Biblical conscience training still permeated its every discipline and every activity. Even though accredited professional programs have developed, a strong liberal arts core undergirded every academic program. When Harding became a university on August 27, 1979, the Board of Trustees reemphasized the importance of maintaining the basic principles and emphases that had existed for 55 years. The College of Arts and Sciences provided the liberal arts emphasis through the general education program required of every student and 82 College of Arts and Sciences also offered a variety of strong majors through 15 departments in the arts and sciences. Structural changes from the college era were few except for the emergence from department status of the School of Business, the School of Education, and the School of Nursing each with a dean . In the fall of 1980, the College of Arts and Sciences had 1,335 declared majors, with 162 additional students specifying only professional goals, compared to 744 declared majors in the School of Business, 331 in the School of Education, and 213 in the School of Nursing, including 95 in the program and 118 prenursing students actually in the College of Arts and Sciences. For the fall semester, the College of Arts and Sciences accounted for 77.5 per cent of the student semester hours generated - 34.627 semester hours compared to 6,398 by the School of Business, 2,335 by the School of Education, and I ,335 by the School of Nursing. The number of semester hours credit generated per teacher by the 122 teachers in the College of Arts and Sciences was 283.5 , compared to 426.5 by the 15 teachers in the School of Business, 212.3 by the II teachers in the School of Education, and 111 .3 by the 12 teachers in the School of Nursing. During the period July I, 1979, through June 30, 1980, there were 297 degrees granted in the College - Don Holland - Don Holumd
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