(Above) Students in the Paul R. Carter College of Business at Harding University gather to sign their names on the steel beams being used in the construction of additions to the Mabee Business Building.
On a steel beam that will soon be a part of the Paul R. Carter College of Business Administration facilities upgrade is a Bible verse written alongside hundreds of Harding University business students’ signatures: Matthew 7:24 — “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
After meeting in the Rhodes Field House for a departmental chapel at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 27, students in the Harding College of Business were invited to walk over to the construction site to sign the steel beams that will be used in the college’s new addition.
“The purpose behind letting the students sign the beam is to make them feel like a part of the construction and to help instill a pride in the program,” Dr. Bryan Burkes, dean of the College of Business Administration, said. “These students can look back and say they were here and that their names are written on the foundation of this building.”
The Mabee Building, which has housed the college since 1982, began renovations in July to add new classrooms, a finance trading lab, expanded student common areas, break-out rooms for group projects, faculty offices, and a center for alumni networking. Construction will be carried out in two phases, with the current and largest phase being complete in May 2011. The second phase of construction will begin that same month and conclude in August 2011.
During the last 28 years, the business college has seen a 60 percent growth in enrollment. An M.B.A. program was added in 1998 and has since grown to be the second-largest M.B.A. program in Arkansas.
