The President’s Council was developed so that its members could serve as ambassadors of Harding, going out and sharing Harding’s story with others. Spiritual growth, academic opportunities, and friendships are some of the hallmarks of the Harding experience. These are also probably many of the reasons that you decided to participate in the President’s Council and give back to the University as a donor and volunteer.

This newsletter, President’s Council Compass, was created to support you in that capacity. We want to keep you connected and involved in the happenings on campus, equip you with information and stories to tell when people ask what makes Harding so special, and allow you to help shape the University for future generations.

In this issue, you will hear from Dr. Bruce McLarty and the upcoming strategic planning process, find video from our semi-annual meeting held this past spring, and see the highlights from other PC events. There is also an opportunity for you to give us some feedback on this newsletter so that we can continue to make it relevant and helpful to you.

Thank you for all that you do for this University!

Bryan Burks
Vice President of University Advancement

Directions from the President

The Next Wave Of Strategic Planning At Harding

Strategic planning has been a formal and important process at Harding University for the past 30 years. As many of you are aware, we have done our planning in five-year cycles to facilitate the gathering of input from our various institutional stakeholders and to clarify our priorities for the upcoming five years. Much has changed during these three decades including the development and execution of strategic plans.

During the 2017-18 school year, we will once again go through the process of strategic planning at Harding. As a matter of fact, it has already begun. During the spring, I presented to the cabinet with five presidential priorities that will guide this year’s planning process. Then, two weeks after graduation, the board of trustees and the cabinet met for a retreat in Branson, Missouri, to discuss those priorities. These two events began the next round of strategic planning.

When school begins in the fall, these priorities will be presented to the faculty and staff at the annual pre-session meetings. The document that will be handed out at that time will then be presented to the entire Harding family and will serve to invite everyone to join together in addressing the most pressing challenges and the most exciting possibilities facing Harding as we look to the future. You will be hearing more about this in August, and I hope the President’s Council will be a major participant in Harding’s strategic planning for the next five years.

Dr. Bruce McLarty
President

Upcoming Harding Events

August 21- University classes start

September 24-27th- 94th Annual Bible Lectureship

September 29-30th- Family Weekend

October 20-21st- Homecoming & President Council meeting

President’s Council Homecoming, October 20-21, 2017

Be on the lookout for the 2017 President’s Council Homecoming registration brochure and email! Each household is eligible for two complimentary tickets to the Black and Gold banquet, two reserved seats at the football game, two tickets to the musical, and up to 6 passes to the football tailgate!

Schedule of Events for the President’s Council

Friday, 8 a.m. Bison Booster Golf Tournament, The Course at River Oaks

Friday, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Black and Gold Banquet, Heritage Dining Hall, first floor

Friday, 8 p.m. Homecoming musical, “Annie Get Your Gun”, Benson Auditorium

Saturday, 8-9:45 a.m. Fall 2017 Business Meeting, Burks American Heritage Building, Founders Room

Come join us as Dr. McLarty presents the Strategic Vision. Be prepared to offer feedback. A light continental breakfast will be served from 8-8:15 a.m.

Saturday, 11:30 a.m. President’s Council Homecoming Tailgate, Tent on GAC front lawn

Enjoy grilled burgers, brats, sides, and ice cream sundaes with family and friends! Listen to live music and enjoy connecting with other members!

Saturday, 2 p.m. Harding Bisons versus Southwestern Oklahoma State University, First Security Stadium

Saturday, 8 p.m. Homecoming musical, “Annie Get Your Gun”, Benson Auditorium

A full schedule of campus-wide Homecoming events, go to www.harding.edu/homecoming.

We look forward to having you on campus.

Summary From Our April 2017 President’s Council Meeting

Curtain Up: Sharing The Harding Story

We enjoyed one of the best turnouts in recent years for our semi-annual PC meeting. We had more than 200 in attendance at our meeting and then more than 400 for our brunch following the meeting. What a blessing to us to hear your stories and share in your memories of Harding. For those of you not able to attend, we have provided the link below to the meeting’s video recording. You may choose to watch the entire 90 minutes or select a section or two, like the president’s report or our student speaker, Abby Smith, speak about “What Harding means to me.”

Click here to see our video of the event.

During the meeting, we provided results of the PC survey questions we asked back in March. We asked for you to share names of those in your community who you believe may have an interest in becoming a President’s Council member, and we received more than 20 names to contact. These names are very appreciated, and you are welcome to continue sending more!

We also asked what membership benefits you enjoy most. We received a mixed response as some loved items that others did not value as much. The majority appreciated the complimentary tickets to various events (shows, tailgating, games, etc.), and others listed the medallions or gifts received as what they least favored.

When asked how we could help you to be a better storyteller for Harding, you requested quality, costs, scholarships and student information such as job placement and class size, academic information, spiritual impact/changed lives, extracurricular activities, athletic program updates, future of Harding, and more.

As part of this request, we provided a fact sheet of information at the meeting. The first page came from our wonderful admissions team and dealt with information helpful for recruiting students. The second page was primarily assembled by our Provost office regarding academic programs. If you don’t yet have a copy, you can download a copy at the link below. This information may be helpful as you share your Harding story with prospective students and/or donors.

Click here to see the facts sheet

PC Golf Scramble

God blessed us with a beautiful day for the annual President’s Council golf scramble held at the Searcy Country Club Golf Course. Our thanks to all the players, our hole sponsors, and those who provided gifts for the goodie bags. While our primary goal is not necessarily to be a fundraising event, we did raise more than $7,000 on this event.

President’s Council Feedback

We welcome your feedback on this newsletter. Please let us know what you would like to see more of or how we can tailor this newsletter to meet your needs.
Send your feedback to advancement@harding.edu.