Page 17 - Laker Connection Fall 2009
P. 17

The Harden Years
During my time at Clayton State, the university has grown exponentially in the areas of academics and campus expansion. Throughout the last decade I have been part of welcoming more un- dergraduate programs and the addition of the School of Graduate Studies. In addition, Clayton State added more full time faculty, we opened three new buildings, and acquired our first piece of land to continue campus expansion.
In my early years at Clayton State, we realized that we had quite a few stu- dents only taking core classes and moving on to other universities because of our lack of bachelor’s degree pro- grams. We knew we needed to offer more undergraduate programs, and since our curriculum expansion our en- rollment has signifi-
cantly increased.
Clayton State has
more than doubled
its undergraduate of-
ferings during the
last nine years, start-
ing with the addition
of the B.S. in Dental
Hygiene and Psy-
chology and Human
Services, through the
most recent addition,
the B.S. in Computer
Science. As an edu-
cator, there is noth-
ing more exciting than the addition of new academic programs.
Clearly another academic mile- stone for Clayton State University is the addition of the School of Graduate Studies. In November 2005, Clayton State University’s first graduate level program, the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies, was approved by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. We knew that graduate pro- grams would meet the needs of our re-
By Dr. Thomas K. Harden with Erin Fender
Laker Hall
Harden with Loch, 2008
Dr. and Cathy Harden, Homecoming 2000
During Harden’s years at Clayton State, the Univer- sity began offering gradu- ate level programming. Pictured below is Clayton State’s first master’s de- gree recipient, Anna Cox, who received her Master of Arts in Liberal Studies de- gree at the fall 2008 com- mencement.
L to R: Dr. Wendy Burns-Ardolino, Anna Cox and Dr. Tom Barnett.
Harden, in 2000, at the beginning of his tenure.
gion and strove to create a solid program. We started the graduate school with- out additional funds from the state and created basic programs that worked well with our undergrad offer-
ings. Now the School of Graduate Stud- ies is flourishing and offers seven master’s degree options. In December 2008, Clayton State marked another milestone by awarding its first master’s level degree.
While academics at Clayton State grew tremendously during the last nine years, the campus grew as well. Early on in my time at Clayton State, we ded- icated and opened the doors to the James M. Baker University Center, a
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GRADUATE DEGREES


































































































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