On Friday, Oct. 28, Harding University’s business department hosted its second annual Faith and Business Symposium in the Mabee Business Building. The symposium serves as a special day that the department sets aside for its students to listen to and learn from speakers who have and are currently working in the business field.
Throughout the day students were able to choose from 14 different speakers and 19 lectures covering various topics concerning business and four different panel discussions, which helped prepare students for the work field. Opened to the public, but specifically designed for business majors, the department canceled all business classes and in return required department students to attend the symposium.
“The outreach of our mission is faith,” said Bryan Burks, dean of the College of Business Administration. “We put ‘faith’ first in ‘Faith and Business Symposium,’ because that’s the main focus: how to be a Christian in the work place.”
Burks said the purpose of the symposium was to engage students in learning how to prepare for their future careers as Christians in a non-Christian world and to allow students to hear from alumni and other people besides the faculty. He said the symposium also serves as a good opportunity for the students to network.
Botham Jean, freshman accounting major, said he greatly benefited from attending the Faith and Business Symposium and that he thought it helped him learn more about his career and how to deal with future situations that might arise with being a Christian in the business world.
“The people around us may not reflect the same Christian values that we have grown up with,” Jean said. “It may not be as ethical as we would want it to be.”
Along with the symposium, the business department hosted a donor recognition ceremony for those who helped support the renovation of the Mabee Business Building. The ceremony was held in the business lobby and allowed visitors to tour the building
