Overseas campaigns educate students T o prepare students for life and work in the modern world where communication with people of other cultures and languages is becoming increasi ngly important was a major thrust of the Department of Foreign Languages and International Studies. The foreign language teachers attempted to make the language curriculum practical in preparing students to use the given language for specific career and personal interests while at the same time providing those students pursuing a major in the given language the background that will enable them to pursue graduate study effectively. During 1985-86, three French majors pursued graduate study at outstanding universi ties on excellent graduate assistantships. Kim Capps received from Vande rbilt University a long-term commitment designed to continue until the completion of the Ph .D . degree in Comparative Literature. Susan Perkins received an assistantship in the International Business Program of Penn State University. Joli Gibbs held an assistantship in the Master's Program at Auburn University. Since each teacher had served as a missionary to a country where the given language was the principal language of the country, he was familiar with the culture of the people and the spoken language as well as the grammar and literature . Each teacher was also sympathetic to the fact that many students were studying the language to meet the foreign language requirement for their major or to pass the foreign language test for a graduate degree. During the summer of 1985, Drs. Winfred and Dorothy Wright, accompanied by their youngest daughter, directed 14 Harding students on a sevenweek Work / Study Tour of France, Belgium and Switzerland. Evangelistic campaigns were conducted at Lyon and Grenoble, France; Liege and Mons, Belgium; and Geneva, Switzerland. The Wrights were doing some follow-up work after the tour had ended when they received the tragic news that their middle daughter, Susan, had been involved in a head-on collision near Jackson, Mississippi , that had killed her and her husband, Darrin Allison. Ava and Bill Conley, accompanied by their daughter, directed 13 Harding students on a seven-week Work / Study Tour of Venezuela conducting evangelistic campaigns while engaged in language and culture study. The new International Studies major began to attract students. The Cooperative Education Program directed by Dr. Wright continued to serve the needs of a few students. He also coordinated church relations for the University, scheduling speakers from the University for about 100 churches. Dr. Don Shackelford directed the Florence, Italy Program. A summer semester was added for the first time for the summer of 1986. Mrs. Conley coordinated the Pan American television program and spoke at the Pan American Lectureship in San Jose , Costa Rica, on Venezuelan missions. 11tt Department participates in History Day C onducting National History Day for the state of Arkansas was a significant project of the mtrJF' Department of History and Social Science for 1985-86. History Day was held in 12 districts in the state followed by state competition at the capitol building in Little Rock. Winners of the state competition were taken to Washington, D.C., by a member of the department to compete in the national competi tion. Members of Harding faculty served as judges at all levels - district, state, and national. Harding became the home base of the state competition with all correspondence to the 4,000 participants bearing the Harding logo. Dr. Raymond Muncy, chairman of the department , was invited by the government of Israel to spend May 19-29, 1985, at the Daphne Kibbutz on the Lebanon border and to participate in the International Conference of Kibbutz and Communes at · Telaviv University. He read a paper, "Families in Communes: A Historical Perspect ive," which was published in Kibbutz Studies of the Yad Tabenkin Institute. Dr. Muncy also served on the awards committee of the Arkansas Historical Association, as county coordinator of the Arkansas Sesquicentennial Celebration, chairman of the Historical Preservation Committee of White County, Alumni Board Member of the Arkansas Endowment for the humanities, and several other historical committees. Dr . Fred Jewell served on the National Paper Prize Committee of Phi Alpha Theta, national history honor society, and as secretary-treasurer of the Arkansas Association of College History Teachers . He also taught at Harding University in Florence, Italy, during the spring semester. Dr. Joe Segraves served as coordinator of the Third district of History Day: Arkansas . Students in the department also gained recognition. Carla Treat, a Searcy girl, received a $6,000 fellowship from the University of Mississippi to do graduate study in history. Roy Hollard received a $5,000 fellowship from Arkansas State University to do graduate study in history. Fran Coon, a political science major, read a paper, "II Malgoverno: the Italian Political System," at the 1985 National Convention of Alpha Chi in Louisville, Kentucky, and became first alternate for an Alfred H. Nolle Scholarship for 1985-86. Dr. Tom Howard attended the Christian Scholars Conference hosted by Abilene Christian University in July and read a paper, "The Current Status of Social Science in Christian Colleges," and conducted several workshops for the College Level Examination Program throughout Arkansas. Dr. Earl Cobill attended the Southwestern Political Science Association meeting in Houston, Texas. Dr. Muncy attended the Southwest Social Science Association meeting in Houston, Texas, and read a paper, "A Small Town: America in the Making." At the Social Science Section of the Arkansas Education Association meeting, he read a paper, "Make Your History Classes Come Alive with History Day Projects and Performances." At the Stone County Historical Association meeting, he read a paper, "Huey P. Long's Whirlwind Tour of Arkansas." J1tt Foreign Languages & International Studies / History & Social Science 269
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