Written by Lauren Bucher
Harding is undergoing an administrative paradigm shift, streamlining its organization.
“I think this is the biggest change since Harding became a university in 1979,” Larry Long, vice president for Academic Affairs, said. “And that happened in ’79, because we looked around and said, ‘We are no longer the small college. … Our programs have developed in diverse ways in scope and size.’ So we needed an organization to reflect where we were; that’s exactly where we are today.”
The administration decided to add a new college, the College of Allied Health, under a new organizational entity, the Center for Health Sciences. The college will organize existing programs and provide a way for new health-focused programs to be added.
Harding has grown since ’79 in both the number and diversity of programs and types of programs, Long said. This structural change is a response to that growth.
“This structure matches what Harding looks like today,” Long said. “It apparently will allow us to shape the future through the structure, and it would allow us to enhance our opportunities to do that very thing, ratherthan restrict that kind of growth. We have come up to speed to where we are, and we think [the structure] will engage us for some time in the future, not just to maintain but to expand what we have been doing.”
The Carr College of Nursing, the College of Pharmacy and the College of Allied Health will fall under the organizational umbrella of the Center for Health Sciences. The College of Allied Health will encompass the Communication Sciences and Disorders Program, the Physical Therapy Program and the Physician Assistant Program.
“They didn’t really have a place where their voices as Health Sciences could have its full range and a focus,” Long said.
Now, there will be three separate tiers of organization: the undergraduate programs, the Center for Health Sciences and graduate and professional programs.
With increasing focus on the health field, Long said there has been some concern about whether this growth will be at the expense of the undergraduate liberal arts foundation.
“This structure will put a renewed emphasis on liberal arts,” Long said. “I am excited to demonstrate again that [liberal arts] is an emphasis. This allows liberal arts to have a voice too. We struggled to get the best for the most out of every single move we made.”
Before the reorganization, communication disorders fell under the College of Communication. The Physician Assistant Program fell under sciences. Pharmacy was its own separate college.
Previously, communication disorders, mass communication and theater programs formed the College of Communication. With communication disorders being moved to the Center of Health Sciences, administrators decided to revert theater and mass communication to departments under the College of Liberal Arts and Humani- ties and dissolve the College of Communication.
“Our move to the College of Arts and Humanities will not affect our students, other than the fact that a new dean will be leading us into the future,” Dr. Jim Miller, associate professor of journalism, said. “The communication department is excited about what the future holds. Our academic and co-curricular programs have a strong tradition of excellence, and we know that opportunities for continued growth and expansion will be fostered within COLAH.”
The current dean of the College of Communication, Dr. Rebecca Weaver, will become the dean of the College of Allied Health.
“This is a completely new college that has to be built fromthegroundup,” Weaver said.”What a wonderful opportunity.”
Additionally, Long will serve as provost, the senior academic administrator. To help him with his duties, a provost council will be created. Dr. Marty Spears, Dr. Cheri Pearson Yecke and Dr. Julie Hixson-Wallace will form the council alongside Long.
Spears will serve as associate provost for the undergraduate programs,Yecke will serve as assistant provost for graduate andprofessionalprograms, and Hixson-Wallace will serve as the assistant provost for the Center for Health Sciences.
The deans for each department and college will report to their respective assistant or associate provost, who will report to Long. Previously, the deans of all colleges reported directly to Long.
No new buildings are currently underway to contain the additions, according to Long. The change is organizational rather than geographic.
The initial planning started about 18 months ago, and the changes will go into effect July 1.
