Newsmakers: Fall 2019

Church Relations

Sherrie McAleese was appointed assistant to the vice president in June 2019. She previously served as the administrative assistant to the dean of pharmacy.

College of Allied Health

Dr. Ruth Ann Mathis was named director of clinical education for physical therapy in May. She previously served as assistant director of clinical education.

Dr. Kevin Ramey has been appointed the physical therapy program director, a role previously held by Dr. Mike McGalliard , who is now dean of the College of Allied Health. Ramey was previously director of clinical education.

Dr. Cody Sipe , associate professor and director of clinical research in the physical therapy program, was appointed chair of the Institutional Review Board.

Dr. Jan Traughber successfully defended her dissertation at Nova Southeastern University and has earned her Ed.D. in speech-language pathology supervision. The title of her dissertation is “The Effects of Video Recoded Simulation Training and In-Vivi Simulation Training in a Learner’s Anxiety Level and Ability to Conduct Simulated Infant Feeding Evaluations.”

College of Bible and Ministry

Lee Edwards successfully defended his dissertation and has earned his Ph.D. in heritage studies from Arkansas State University. The title of his dissertation is “Jesus, Popular Culture, and Politics of the Margins.”

College of Business Administration

Dr. Reet Cronk , information systems department chair, was appointed to sit on the data and transparency panel within the Arkansas Department of Information Systems.

Dr. David Johnson was named chair of finance in August 2019. Johnson has more than 25 years of teaching experience and returned to Harding from Faulkner University.

Dr. Jon Wood has been appointed director of the Waldron Center for Entrepreneurship and Family Business. He has served as an assistant professor for the College of Business Administration since January.

College of Education

Dr. Darren Matthews became director of the Master of Arts in Teaching program in July 2019. He previously served as high school principal at Harding Academy.

College of Sciences

Brittany Blake was named chair of family and consumer sciences in June 2019. She holds the Certified Child Life Specialist certification from the Association of Child Life Professionals. Blake fills the role previously held by Dr. Denise Fisher who returned to full-time teaching.

Disability Services and Educational Access

Bridget Smith has been named director of disability services and educational access. She previously served as a teacher at The Sunshine School in Searcy.

Faculty/staff Awards

Faculty members Jenene Alexander, Chuck Hicks, Mary Madill, Frank McCown, Peter Rice, Jonathan Singleton, John Stone, Debbie Waggoner and Jonathan White are the 2018-19 Teacher Achievement Award recipients. Staff members Donna Brown, Kevin Davis, J Lemmons, Nathan Looney, Ashley Lynn, John Noah, Carl Walker and Sharon Williams received the 2018-19 Distinguished Service Award.

International Programs

Audra Pleasant began serving as executive director of international programs Aug. 1, 2019, following the retirement of Dr. Jeff Hopper . Pleasant previously served as logistics administrator.

University Advancement

Shelbi Bridges joined the office as director of Generation HU, Teresa Castleman was named director of the Abundant Living program, and Cherisse Gregory was appointed Harding fund director.

University College

Caitlin Denton was appointed assistant director for first year experience and students-in-transitions programs. Abbey Watson filled her previous role as the communication and events coordinator.

University Communications and Marketing

Megan Stroud joined the office in June 2019 as the digital media coordinator, and Katie Clement was named manager of news services in July 2019.