Harding University Commencement Set for May 10

Harding University’s May commencement will be held May 10 honoring nearly 950 graduates. For the first time this year, a third ceremony will be added to commencement activities.
May’s ceremonies will be held at 9 a.m., 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. in the University’s George S. Benson Auditorium, which seats approximately 3,600. The morning ceremony will be for students in the Carr College of Nursing and the College of Sciences. The noon ceremony will be for students graduating with degrees from the Colleges of Bible and Ministry, Education and Business Administration.
The 3 p.m. ceremony will be for students in the Colleges of Allied Health, Arts and Humanities and Pharmacy. It will also include students with interdisciplinary studies majors from the Honors College.
Commencement speakers include Drs. Cathleen Shultz, Paul Pollard and Arthur Shearin.
Shultz, who will be the speaker at the 9 a.m. ceremony, serves as dean of the Carr College of Nursing and has been a member of the Harding faculty since 1976. In 1977 she was named chairperson of the department of nursing, and then in 1980 she became the founding dean of Carr College of Nursing. Shultz was appointed by Governors Bill Clinton and Mike Beebe to serve on the Arkansas State Board of Nursing. She is currently serving her fourth term on the governing body. She was elected to serve as president of the board from 1991-92. She is currently chair of the board’s education committee.
Pollard will speak at the noon ceremony and is a professor of Greek and New Testament within the College of Bible and Ministry. Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Pollard has taught at Harding for 40 years, beginning in 1974, and served as associate dean of the college from 1992-97. Throughout the years he has preached for many area congregations and served for 21 years as a minister for the Northside Church of Christ in Augusta, Arkansas. Presently, Pollard is an elder at the College Church of Christ in Searcy.
Shearin will be the speaker for the 3 p.m. ceremony and is a professor of music originally from Bolivar, Tennessee. Following military service, he taught at Harding from 1972-74, where he served as choral director. From 1976-82, Shearin was chair of the music department and choral director at Freed-Hardeman. In 1982 he returned to Harding where he served as music department chair from 1993-2008. He directed the Concert Choir for two decades. In recent years he has taught studio voice, vocal pedagogy and diction courses, and music appreciation. He is an elder at the College Church of Christ in Searcy where he serves on the worship committee and co-teaches an adult Sunday school class.
Harding is the largest private university in Arkansas with 6,295 students. Harding also maintains campuses in Australia, Chile, England, France, Greece, Italy and Zambia.