Department of Physical Science Department of Psychology Building to Help Serve Needs Construction of the $1.1 million addition to the Science Building was the most significant development of the year for the Department of Physical Science. Plans were studied for obtaining the funds needed to purchase the equipment desired for educational and research purposes. Dr. William D. Williams, chairman of the department, continued an ongoing collection and study of early American chemistry books, 1776-1860. He was invited by Dr. Wyndham Miles, a nationally known historian of chemistry and medicine at the National Library of Medicine, to coauthor a book of "Bibliography of Early American Chemistry: 1776-1870. During the year, Dr. Williams authored four papers. "Did Horace Wells Stage a Newspaper Publicity Scheme? Some Unreported Newspaper Items" appeared in the October issue of The Bulletin of the History of Dentistry. "1820 Letter from Governor Miller Describing Arkansas Territory" appeared in the October Arkansas Historical Quarterly. "Louis Bringier and His Description of Arkansas in 1812" and "A Note of Mifflin Wistar Gibbs" were submitted to the Arkansas Historical Quarterly. Dr. Edmond Wilson received a $6,500 NSFEPSCOR grant for summer research on chromium-amino acid complex compounds. Chemistry majors Eddie Metcalfe and Don Kyle were supported during the summer in preparing compounds and obtaining data on them. Dr. Lambert Murray spent the summer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a member of a research team working on nuclear ~usion. Dr. England received a third Distinguished Teacher Award in May and became the first faculty member at Harding to be designated a "Distinguished Professor." In February, he spoke on the University of Mississippi Christian Student Center Lectureship. Chemistry faculty attended monthly meetings of the Cenral Arkansas Section of the American Society. Several members of the department attended the 1984 meeting of the Arkansas Academy of Science. PhysiCS faculty members attended the national meeting of the American Physics Society in San Antonio. For the fall of 1983, the -department had 41 declared majors, including 19 in chemistry and 11 in biochemistry, and the department generated 2,062 student semester hours of credit. During 1982-83, Harding graduated five majors in biochemistry, three majors in chemistry, and two in physics. After a careful study of the needs of the majority of entering freshmen in the areas of emotional, social, and academic adjustment, the Department of Psychology recommended to the faculty that the general education requirement of "General Psychology" be replaced by a new course, "Psychology for Personal and Social Adjustment. The course was taught for the first time in the fall of 1983 by Dr. Lew Moore, Director of CQunseling. Dr. Robert McKelvain began a long-range research project with the freshmen class entering in the fall of 1982 to predict academic perThree Makes it Permanent "He is the sort of man who is so competent that you can't not respect him," mused junior biology major Bob Sain, as he reflected on Dr. Don England, distinguished professor of chemistry. In May 1983 England was designated a reci108 Physical Science pient of Harding's Distinguished Teacher Award. The announcement marked the first time an individual faculty member had received the award for a third time, the maximum possible. His previous awards were received in 1968 and 1973. Upon receiving the award for formance and retention. He also conducted study skills classes for any student who requested assistance and worked closely with coaches in helping freshmen athletes adjust to college requirements. Dr. Jack Thomas, chairman of the department, did a one-week internship in Medical Hypnoanalysis with Dr. John Scott in Memphis and received staff privileges at Central Arkansas General Hospital. He was elected Secretary of the Arkansas Board of Examiners in Psychology and served as chairman of the his third time, the permanent title of "Distinguished Professor" was bestowed upon him. 'The thing that means so much to me is that the weight of the "decision rests on the students' evaluation," said England. According to the criteria for decisions, 65 % of the decision was based on in-class student evaluations with the remainder based on the evaluations of faculty peers and special awards committee. Because of the nature of his subjects, England's chemistry courses were difficult for most students, but he felt that they needed to be in order to be fair to them. He believed it was necessary to help prepare them for graduate school, medical school or any walk of life. An area of major concern to England was Christian evidences. In 1983 he authored a book titled, A Scientist Examines Faith and Evidence, published by Gospel Light Publishing Company, which was dedicated to those struggling with their faith. He also held lectures and was involved in several programs with various churches and college campuses, addressing Christian apologetics. An intricate part of England's teaching was his faith. "At the top of my list (of achievements) , I would like to be known as a Christian teacher," said England. Though his courses were not such that he could spend time in sharing his faith, he constantly worked toward integrating it ~ the subject. 'i
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