While some students plan a Searcy summer filled with work, internships or local adventures, university president Dr. Bruce McLarty has plans for travel, rest and time with family. With students not on campus, the presidential duties in the summertime involve catching up on business that there was not time for during the school year.

“Summer always feels like you have more hours in the day,” Bruce McLarty said. “It’s an opportunity to finally catch up with yourself and then plan ahead. Summer is a time to work on some of the very important work that gets lost in the busyness of the school year.”

Bruce McLarty will speak to parents of incoming freshmen during two sessions of Stampede, take a retreat with university cabinet members and vice presidents and conduct an orientation for 20-30 new faculty members before the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year.

“I get to spend about eight hours with them doing the stuff I wrote my dissertation about, which is helping first year professors of Harding embrace the spiritual mission of the university,” Bruce McLarty said. “It’s one of the most enjoyable things I do all year long. I love being able to share the story of Harding and talk about what it means to teach from a Christian perspective.”

Bruce McLarty said he hopes to spend some time this summer writing and revising the “Embracing the Mission” curriculum he developed for the orientation.

Bruce McLarty will have opportunities for personal and professional travel throughout the summer. He plans to travel with his wife Ann to three family graduations and a wedding. They also will spend a week with the College of Business Administration (COBA) London program and another week with the chair of the Board of Trustees touring the campuses in Greece and Italy.

This summer marks the beginning of retirement for Ann McLarty, who has been a nurse with Student Health Services for two decades.

“This May, right after graduation, I will be hanging up my stethoscope after 20 years at that clinic,” Ann McLarty said. “After that, I’m going to spend all my time trying to keep up with (Bruce) as my full-time job.”

Both Bruce and Ann McLarty said that they most looked forward to the small joys that summer brings, like having one service at College Church of Christ where they can sit with grandkids and take Sunday night trips to the Bulldog Cafe.