DR BURKS s G 0 L D E N ANNIVERSARY By Kaleb Turner In l966, Harding College's enrollment peaked at l ,400 sLUdents. Campus was growing and expanding, with plans for the original Pryor-England Center for Science and Engineering in the works. In 20 l6, Harding Uni,·ersity's enrollment neared 6,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional program students. Campus, while much larger than it was in 1966, was still growing and expanding. Fifty years passed, and enrollment numbersjumped, academic and professional programs expanded, and mission-mindset flourished. All these accomplishments were thanks in part to Chancellor Dr. David Burks, who began his first year of work at Harding in 1966 and celebrated his 50th year at Harding in 2016. "It hit me in chapel just before Dr. [Bruce] l\IcLarty came to my eat,just as he's done for the last several years," David Burks said. "On that first day of chapel, he came over and asked, 'What is it you're most excited about this year?' A thought that had just gone through my mind was, 'This is my 50th year.· That was the first time I'd thought of it." From his start as an accounting instructor to his role as chancellor, two things remained constant during the 50 years: maintaining Harding's Christian mission and seeing his loving family expand. Maintaining Harding's Christian mission In his beginning role as an accounting instructor, DaYid Burks was welcomed back to a 1966 Harding - much different from a 20 l6 Harding - and 50 years passed quickly. ·'It feels not at all like 50 years," Da\'id Burks said. "I can remember my first year very well. My office was on the third floor of the Administration Building, and all of my busine s classes that I taught \\'ere in the American Studies Building. I shared an office with Bob Elstcn, who ,,·as a well-known Bible teacher at the time. I remember it as though it was yesterday.., Although Harding later became such a pi\'otal part of his life, Da,·id Burks did not originally plan to return to Searcy after graduation, but an exceptional Harding experience and strong Christian mission drew him back to the college in the foothills of the Ozarks. "vVhen I left Harding, I didn't intend to come back," David Burks said. "I went to Texas, got my master's degree, took a job with Exxon and planned one day to be president of Exxon. [I] mo\'ed to Houston, Texas, and that's where I planned to have my career. When I got a call a year later asking if I'd come back and teach accourning at Harding, it was really an easy decision because I had fallen in lm-e with the mission of the university, so I came back." As his time at Harding progressed, Da\'id Burks became the dean of the School of Business in 197+ and was later named president of the university in 1987. David Burks admitted that 50 years was a long time for a person to stay in one place, but noted the trend among faculty and staff to call Harding home for decades. continued on Page 194 Chancellor Dr. David Burks has become an integral part of the Harding image over the course of the past 50 years as a faculty member, dean, president and no w chancellor. Burks, a 1965 alumnus, began working at Harding in 1967 and served in various roles before becoming thefourth university president in 1987, then chancellor in 2013. I Photo by Kasu Fujisawa \F\IOH \'l(l JllU'.\ IIJJ:\T\. Cll\\ (l.l.LOll \"l(l PIH.\IIIF\T\ <( 19·~
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