At Harding University’s annual pre-session faculty and staff dinner, 17 new faculty members were welcomed to campus for the 2013-14 school year.
College of Allied Health
Joni Day joined the communication sciences and disorders faculty as an instructor in fall 2012. Joni completed her M.C.D. from Arkansas State University in 1996. She was a speech-language pathologist for Marmaduke School District for 10 years before moving to Searcy in 2006. While in Searcy, she served as a speech-language pathologist for Reaper Physical Therapy before coming to Harding.
Nicole Mount joined the physician assistant program faculty this fall. She was in the first graduating class from the physician assistant program in July 2007 and has worked as a clinician at the Arthritis and Osteoporosis Center of Southwest Missouri since 2008. Mount has planned and participated in Haitian campaigns through Hope for Haiti’s children program with her husband.
Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Doug Steele comes to the Harding family from Jacksonville, Fla. Steele is both a physician assistant and physical therapist with more than 20 years of experience. He is also completing doctoral studies in health science at University of Indianapolis. Steele has been heavily involved in missions focused in Nicaragua. He has been part of many medical mission trips over the last 20 years.
College of Arts and Humanities
Music instructor Grant Cooper completed a double degree with a Master of Music in piano performance and a Master of Music in music history and literature at Baylor University in 2012. Cooper served as a graduate assistant at Baylor and has performed recitals at Baylor, Kilgore College, and University of Texas at Tyler where he earned his undergraduate degree in piano performance.
Dr. Stephanie Eddleman is a returning faculty member and joining the English department as assistant professor. She previously worked for the University from 2004-2011. She received her Ph.D in British literature from University of Mississippi in 2009. This semester, Eddleman is teaching British literature, world literature and English composition.
Multimedia producer Tim Hamilton joined the department of communications in August 2012. He completed his Bachelor of Arts in mass communications from Harding in 1980. He worked 32 years at KATV Channel 7 in Little Rock as senior news/sports photographer. He also worked with the Voice of the Razorbacks, Mr. Paul Eells, for 26 years.
Ben Jones joins the faculty of the theatre department after spending the last five years as assistant technical director in that department. He received his M.Ed. from Middle Tennessee University in 2005. A Harding alumnus, Jones has seven years teaching experience in public schools and has been an adjunct professor for the theatre department in the past four years.
College of Bible and Ministry
Jeff Brauer joins the Harding faculty as visiting missionary this year. Brauer and his wife, Tia, have lived in Padua, Italy, since April 2006. Brauer completed his Bachelor of Business Administration in computer information systems at Harding in 1996 and a Bachelor of Theology at Bear Valley Institute in 2005. In the interim, he worked as a software developer and engineer and served as a short-term missionary in Padua.
Peter Rice also joins the faculty this year. Rice is a doctoral student in Biblical Studies with a New Testament emphasis from Baylor University. Peter served as a vocational missionary and English teacher in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan, for two years after graduating from Oklahoma Christian University with his Bachelor of Science in psychology.
Dr. Dan Williams comes to Harding as vice president for church relations. Williams received his Ph.D. from University of Louisiana at Monroe in marriage and family therapy. Before coming to Harding, Williams served as the senior minister for the Collegeside Church of Christ in Texarkana, Ark., and as a licensed professional counselor. Williams has been an adjunct professor at Harding School of Theology in Memphis and has served on the boards of the South Arkansas Substance Abuse Center and the De Soto Area Council of the Boy Scouts.
PaulR.CarterCollege of Business Administration
Assistant Professor Mike Allen joins as the director of international business and economic development. Allen completed his M.S. in international business and corporate strategy at MIT in 1986. He recently retired from General Motors having lived around the world and served in many executive positions, most recently as director of planning and program management for GM’s midsize, full-size, sport and luxury vehicles.
Since 2009 Assistant Professor Christopher Davis has worked for Harding University. He now serves as assistant director of the newly created Center for Adult and Online Studies. Davis completed his doctorate at Walsh College of Accountancy and Business Administration in Troy, Mich.
Assistant Professor Yessica Jones joins the information systems department. Jones came to Harding on a tennis scholarship. She graduated with a B.S. in computer science and then completed her MBA in 2001. Jones has 15 years of experience as a computer programmer having worked for TRW, Pennzoil Quaker State and Acxiom Corporation.
Cannon-ClaryCollege of Education
Assistant Professor of Education Adam Baker joins the full-time faculty after being an adjunct professor since 2007. Baker taught fourth grade and was the literacy facilitator in Jonesboro Public Schools after graduating with his Master of Education degree from Harding. He won the language arts elementary teacher of the year award in 2010 and was named one of the coolest teachers in Jonesboro in 2011.
College of Sciences
Lecturer Matthew Buehler is joining the chemistry department as a laboratory technician. After playing defensive line for the Bisons, he graduated in May 2013 with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry. Buehler has worked with Dr. Dennis Province, associate professor of chemistry, in summer research and has provided enthusiasm and leadership both on and off the football field, most recently serving as supplemental instructor in the department.
Ryan Stork is joining the biology faculty. Stork graduated from Harding with a Bachelor of Science in biology in 2005 and in 2011 completed a Ph.D. in quantitative biology at University of Texas at Arlington studying thermal ecology of wolf spiders. For the past two years, Stork has been teaching anatomy and physiology, zoology and general biology at GreenvilleCollege in Greenville, Ill.
College of Pharmacy
Assistant Professor Kelly Walls joined the faculty earlier this year. Walls completed her Pharm.D. at University of Tennessee Health Science Center in 2011. After completing her residency at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., she continued to work there. Walls also has served as a volunteer faculty member for University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Pharmacy.
Harding is the largest private university in Arkansas and attracts more National Merit Scholars than any other private university in the state. Harding also maintains campuses in Australia, Chile, England, France, Greece, Italy and Zambia. For more information visit www.harding.edu.
