Mark Elrod, Ph.D. Asso. Prof Janet Fortner, M.A. InSI. Paul Haynie, Ph.D. Prof Thomas Howard, Ed.D. Prof $ortner stresses importance and timeliness ofhist01Y to students History has long been a subject that fascinates some people and bores others. For history teachers, sharing their enthusiasm for the subject can be one of their greatest challenges. Jan Fortner, instructor of history and Bible, strove to communicate the timeliness of history to her students. Fortner attended Harding for several semesters and finished her bachelor's degree in psychology at what was then Memphis State Uni versity . The two main job opportunities in psychology - research and counseling - did not interest her, however. "I was a preacher's wife. 1 already listened to people's problems a lot, so counseling didn 't appeal to me ," she said. "The other alternative was experimenting with rats, so 1 decided maybe psychology was not for me. " She went on to receive her master's in history fromTexas Tech University. "I have kind of a family leaning toward history. I come from a Southern family where everyone talks about who married whom and what happened when. 1 wanted to. understand how things got to be the way they are," she said. "Past happenings are important to our personal identities as well as (Q civilization. If a person comes into the room and doesn't know who he is, where he came from, where he's going or who his parents are, we know something is physically wrong with him," she said . "Yet people think they don't need to know about their past as a group, about their ancestors, and then they wonder why they act in the schizophrenic ways tfiiI 76 Academics they do. That is just as much of a problem as not remembering one's personal past. "My bent is more toward the social, cultural and intellectual facets of hiStory, " she said . Ancient history, particularly the 100 years on either side of the time of Christ, is the period of history that personally interests Fortnermost. She anributed that, in part, to being a Christian. "The Bible is a historically based document It is rooted in the time period in which it was written. The writers portrayed Jesus through the eyes of their time, and it was God who added the timelessness," she said. Some of her interest in that time period also stemmed from the influence of the Roman Empire on modern cultures, she said. Of all the events and patterns of current society, Fortner said she thought post-modern philosophy had the potential to make the most impact on history. "It takes several hundred years to get a perspective on current events. From a European standpOint, American history is still new," she said. "If post-modernism is a new long-term phase rather than a temporary phenomenon, it will have an impact on history. It will require a change in the way Christians approach evangelism because it teaches that there are no absolutes .)) By explaining history's implications for students' personal lives, American culture, and the world as a whole , Fortner and other teachers in the History Department showed students the relevance of history. - Wendi Keller Jan Fortner takes a moment to chat with Wanda Loyd, secretary ofthe HiStory andPolitical Science Department. Fortner taught both hiStory and Bible classes. Photo by Kristi Burns.
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