Pryor Teaches and Encourages Students By Keeping His Door Open to Them Vice Presidents The door to his office was always open and his rocking chair w as always ava ilable for s tud nts to sit in . rock and discu s any problems or concerns on the ir minds. Dr. Neale Pryor, vie president for academic affairs . was the only faculty memb r s rving th dual ro les o f teacher and vice president during 1994-95 . Pryor·s association with Harding began in 1 954 when he transferred from Freed-Hardeman College. He graduated with a degree in English two yea rs la ter and then w ent to Harding·s Graduate School of Religion. where he receiv d a degree in Bible. Whil in school, Pryor preached in various locations . It w as in on o f these preaching positions that h m r his wife of 34 years , Treva. They w ere married in 1960 in the sam week that he comple ted a three-year degree in sacred litera ture, the first degree of its kind ever to be given. His love of teaching and preacl1ing, combined with the examples of Chris ti an teachers . led him back to Harding in 1962 to join the Bible faculty. He taught full-time for 21 years be fore accepting his administrative role upon th retirem nt o f Dr. Jo Pryor. Pryor's responsibilities comprised the entire academic fie ld - curri cu lum. faculty, registrar and library. H worked c lose ly with the deans of the various schools and colleges. staying in to uch with each other through w eekly luncheons . which also served to he lp focus them on the ir mission. To manage both his teaching and administrative roles. Pryor limited himself to teaching only two sections of Bible and was able to spend the rest of the day in his office in the James w. Carr c. Floyd Daniel Executive Vice President Sen ior Vice Pres iden t Acor/emics 10 V i ce Pres i cl e 111 s Administra ti on bui lding. According to Pryor. the one downfall o f try ing to ba lance both roles was tha t be ing vice p resident fo r acad mic a ffairs sometimes took away from c lass prepara ti o n time. Vying for pieces o f Pryor's time away from school were his commitments to the Coll g hurc l1 o f Chris t as an e lder and teacher o f the audito rium c lass. He a lso he ld one w eekend meeting each month and is so popular as a speaker that he is booked into 1999. Altl1ough Pryor enjoys adminis tra tive dut ies. lie said lie wou ld no t be happy doing on ly that. "I love int eracting with til e s tudents and sharing with th m. I wouldn't be happy just be ing an adminis tra to r ." I e loves til e cha llenge of teaching and sa id tha t young minds keep him "on the ba ll. " Pryor plans to re turn to th c lassroom full time when he reaches 65. tl1e retirement age for administrators . ''I'll st ick around and teach if they want me," he said. Another thing that set Pryor apart from o ther people o n campus was his ability to reca ll names. "I suppose I have a g ift for it. but I also work very hard at rememb ring names. I may not always come thro ugh, bu t enough to bluff it anyway!" lie sa id . He feels it is important for an admin istrn tor to know tl1e s tud nts' names . In years past. he tried to know the names of every student o n campus . but with enro llment nearing 4.000. that has become an impossible task . "I hope that students will never be scar d to come int o my o ffice to see m e. " he said. "I would hope tha t they will no t be intimidated by m y title. My door is always open." Dr. Gary Ellic>11 discusses o project wi1l1 /Jis secrerury. Donna / /dms. Elliott and /Jis sroff worked w i1h friends of I Jurninu ro keep 11urc linofinanciully .sru/J/e. Pl1010 by Jason Burr. - Me lanie Ma tthews Dr. U>ll Tucker smiles clurill(J u wluxino l'isil wi1I 1 u friend . I luuimJ <1ruw11 wi1/1 / Jurc/i110 frolll 11w1i11Jc lw wus u sruclenr. Tucker hos h<'ip<'<I <T<'OI<' r/ w quuliry insrirwion w l1ic /1cxis1.s1ocluy. Pl1oro l>y .Juson Hun.
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