HU welcomes 21 new faculty members

Aug. 17, 2016 |

At the University’s annual pre-session faculty and staff dinner Aug. 16, 21 new faculty members were welcomed to campus for the 2016-17 school year.

Since graduating from the College of Education in 2003, Lisa Acuff has pursued graduate degrees in information sciences and public health and has now joined the Brackett Library as the health sciences librarian.

Dr. Rene Crow is from Vilonia, Arkansas, where she taught early childhood special education for several years. She especially enjoys working with preschoolers and kindergartners. She has a strong research agenda in service learning and social and emotional learning, especially for children with special needs. She has spent the last 15 years in teacher education at the University of Central Arkansas and now joins the Cannon-Clary College of Education as an associate professor.

Mark Farley completed his B.B.A. in accounting at Harding and his MBA with an emphasis in financial management at Arkansas State University. He has currently completed all but his dissertation in pursuit of his doctorate in finance and economics at Louisiana Tech University. His previous work experience includes Ernst & Young LLP, Concord (now First Data Corporation), and Union Planters Corporation (now Regions Financial Corporation) where he worked as an auditor, treasurer and financial analyst. Farley also ran a private research and consulting practice working with various banks, mortgage brokers and insurance marketers as well as energy, transportation and telecommunications firms. His research interests include financial institutions, financial economics, finance ethics and corporate treasury. He is joining the Paul R. Carter College of Business Administration as an assistant professor.

Kimberly Flowers’ doctoral research focused on upper elementary and secondary reading strategies and recent research in brain-based teaching and learning. She brings 27 years of teaching and administration experience to the educational leadership program in the Cannon-Clary College of Education.

Joining the Harding community as an assistant professor of political science in the department of history and political science, Liann Gallagher is originally from Lubbock, Texas. While there, she received her undergraduate degree from Lubbock Christian University and recently completed her doctorate at Texas Tech University. Her dissertation focuses on oil and interstate behavior as it applies to conflict, border settlement and conflict management strategies.

Jessica Snell Gardner received her undergraduate degree in nursing at Harding and, after working as an RN in pediatric trauma ICU, completed her M.S.N. at Vanderbilt University as a pediatric nurse practitioner. She is joining international programs and the Carr College of Nursing, working also with the HIZ program each fall.

Following graduation from Harding in May with a B.S. in athletic training, Bren Grymes will be working with various university sports as a certified athletic trainer on campus.

Jordan Guy joins the College of Bible and Ministry. Guy focuses on the Old Testament, especially the post-exilic books of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah. He has served three congregations as their full-time preaching minister. Guy earned a B.A. in Bible from Freed-Hardeman University and an M.A. in Old Testament and M.Div. from Harding School of Theology and is currently completing his Ph.D. in biblical studies at Asbury Theological Seminary.

Prior to employment with Harding, DeeAnn Martin worked for 33 years at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the last nine years of which she functioned as a pediatric nurse practitioner. She joins the Carr College of Nursing as an assistant professor.

Joining Harding as an assistant professor of engineering, Jeff Massey completed his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He obtained his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology. After graduate school, he spent five years working in industry at Cummins Filtration Inc. in Cookeville, Tennessee.

Amy McGohan began working as the Electronic Resources Librarian at the Brackett Library in October of 2015. She has previously held positions at the academic libraries of the University of Central Arkansas and University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Amy is a 2007 graduate of the University, where she began her library career as a student worker at the Brackett Library reference desk. After leaving Harding, Amy earned her Master of Library Science at Florida State University.

Emmie Mercer has a B.S. in mathematics from Auburn University and an M.S. in management information systems from Florida Institute of Technology. Mercer has worked as an analyst for the Department of Defense and has a variety of experiences with nonprofits and small businesses. She is joining the Paul R. Carter College of Business Administration faculty this fall after 13 years of teaching experience as an adjunct, the last eight being in the Harding math department.

Dr. Ken Olree previously taught at Harding from 2004 to 2012, helping the engineering programs get started and accredited. After helping Abilene Christian University launch a new engineering program, Olree has recently started a new engineering company designing medical devices. He is returning to Harding in the Paul R. Carter College of Business Administration as the director of the Waldron Center for Entrepreneurship and Family Business. His vision for the center is to help small businesses, especially tech start-ups, to be successful. His plans are for the entrepreneurship center to be a strong supporter of business as missions all over the world.

Garrett Perry graduated from Harding in May with a Bachelor of Science in athletic training. He is joining the athletic training program with plans to get his Master of Arts in Teaching, focusing on kinesiology and health science. He joins the College of Allied Health as an exercise and sports sciences lecturer.

Dr. Jesse Robertson has a bachelor’s in Bible from Freed-Hardeman University, a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from Tennessee Tech, a Master of Divinity degree from Harding School of Theology, and a Ph.D. in New Testament from Baylor University. He has just completed 14 years with Freed-Hardeman University where he was a Bible teacher and dean of graduate studies. In addition to teaching and preaching, he has been leading short-term mission trips to Haiti for more than 20 years. He will be teaching a variety of undergraduate classes in the College of Bible and Ministry.

Dr. Stacey Dineen Rodenbeck obtained her Bachelor of Science in biology at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany, Indiana, and a Ph.D. in physiology from Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. Rodenbeck is excited to join the faculty in the biology department at Harding.

The Carr College of Nursing welcomes Dr. Susan Clouse Smith as an online associate professor with the master’s nurse practitioner program. She lives in Colorado and telecommutes daily. She is a lifelong learner and enjoys sharing her passion for nursing with students. In her spare time, Smith enjoys traveling on surgical mission trips, having worked in Kenya, Ethiopia and Guatemala.

Kim Swenson graduated from Harding with a B.S.N. in December 1992, completed her M.S.N. in 2015, and will begin D.N.P. coursework later this month. She will be joining the faculty in the Carr College of Nursing as an assistant professor.

Matthew Swindle majored in economics at Harding and graduated in 2007. Swindle graduated from law school at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2012 and then joined the Reddick Moss law firm and practiced in Arkansas and Kentucky dealing with nursing home abuse and class action litigation. In 2015, he accepted an appointment clerking for Justice Rhonda Wood on the Arkansas Supreme Court, and he is back at Harding to teach in the Criminal Justice Department.

Returning to Harding’s College of Pharmacy after a two-year absence, Dr. Richard Ward brings a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the experience of practicing pharmacy since 1994 in various practice settings.

Dr. Gene Wright has worked as a counselor in community mental health and private practice for more than 20 years. Wright worked at Harding from 2007-10 and will resume teaching in the professional counseling program in the Cannon-Clary College of Education as well as supervising the professional counseling clinics.