Faculty involvement changes the face of Student Impact This fall, 40 members of Harding's faculty became closely involved with Student Impact, Harding's freshmen and transfer orientation program. During Impact, new students are spli t into energy groups that allow them to interact with other newcomers and upperclassmen, while learning the basics about life at Harding. This year, one faculty member was added to each group to enrich the experience. "The purpose of the faculty involvement in Impact was to help the freshmen become oriented to Harding and to build a strong student/faculty relationship," Dr. Neale Pryo r, vice presidentfor academic affairs said. "The faculty involvement in energy groups helped to take the place offreshmen chapel thisyear," Student Impact co-director Emily Price said. Each faculty volunteer attended three of the energy group sessions. During these sessions, the faculty members answered questions, talked about the history of Harding and went over the basic rul es of the Unive rsity. "The faculty loved it. Many of the professors never get to have freshmen in class, and they enjoyed making a connection with them thi s year," said Dr. Dee Carson, who helped organize the facu lty involvement. Although" the professors provided useful information about Harding, the most important job, " they felt, was bonding with the students. "I think the faculty involvement was a great idea," faculty member Ann Dixon said. "Our group really seemed to gel. I beli eve it should be continued next year because it gave the new students a face to recogni ze among the faculty." Some faculty members made an extra effort to bond with the freshmen and transfe rs. A few brought their families to energy group meetings, had the groups over to their homes and planned activities for later on in the school year. "Our faculty member had us over to her home for dinner one Sunday afternoon, " freshman Brandon Wood said. "We had a really good time." - Becky Pratt Natasha Jaworski, Katie Tool and St1?phen Cloer make a connection at Gil Eagles ' show. Eagles, a hypnotist and popular act during Student Impact, always had students mix and mingle during his shows. • 18 STU DENT LIFE
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