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About Harding

Global impact | Nearly 5,000 students from 47 states and more than 60 nations and territories engage in our global community.
About Harding

Welcome to Harding University!

Harding began as a senior college in 1924, when two junior colleges, Arkansas Christian College and Harper College, merged their facilities and assets, adopted the new name of Harding College, and located on the campus of Arkansas Christian in Morrilton, Arkansas. In 1934 Harding was moved to its present site in Searcy, Arkansas. The board of trustees approved the study's recommended change of Harding to university status, and on Aug. 27, 1979, the name of the institution officially became Harding University. We are, at our core, a Christian university.

The character, example, and concerns of Jesus Christ are the standards that shape us and chart the course for our future. Because of this, an all-encompassing love for God and a corresponding love for people are at the heart of who we are.

Harding's mission is to transform learners for global impact by engaging minds and nurturing faith within a deeply connected community. Explore this section to learn more about our mission, our history and what makes us stand apart as a Christian university.

For 30 years, it has been a formal activity at the University for new strategic plans to be developed every five years. While assessing, reviewing, listening, dreaming, defining, implementing, measuring and adjusting never cease, every five years we focus on strategic planning in a more concentrated way as we chart the course for Harding’s future. Learn more by reading the five-year 2018-2023 Strategic Plan, the Year One Report (2019), the Year Three Report (2022) and the Year Four Report (2023).

The President

In June 2022, Dr. Michael D. Williams became the sixth president of Harding University. Learn more about his long history with the University and view a presidential message to alumni while considering how your own inspired purpose intersects with Harding's mission.

About the President