By Kevin Johnson, junior

A new Religion and Humanities Division chairman has been selected for Friends University. Religion professor Stan Harstine will take over the position starting this fall.

Current chair Connie Reimer submitted her letter of resignation last fall, and Harstine was approached by the dean about the position shortly after.

He took some time to process the decision but was formally offered the job on March 1.

“I think that it would make for a smoother transition to have someone who has been around the University for a period of time,” he said, “rather than hiring someone who would be completely new to the University, especially with a new dean in the near future.”

The new position will mean Harstine will teach three classes instead of four. He will teach perspectives of Romans, New Testament Greek, and First Year Experience along with the duties of division chair.

“One of the main jobs of chair is to correspond between the dean and the faculty members of the division, but becoming more accustomed to paperwork will probably be the biggest change for me,” Harstine said.

However, he wasn’t sure whether his office would move upstairs to the fourth floor of Davis.
“I really don’t think that it would benefit much to move upstairs,” he said.

Harstine said he does not plan to make many changes within the division. But one thing that will be different is that Carol O’Hara will become the new head of the writing center.

“Carol has more knowledge in the area of writing so she is going to take over there,” Harstine said.
Reimer has been chair for nine years and is handing the role over to Harstine, who has been at Friends for eight years.

“I think he is going to do a fine job,” Reimer said.

Harstine returned the compliment.

“Connie has done a great job, and I believe that we will have as smooth a transition as possible,” he said.

The Religion and Humanities Division contains the disciplines of Religion and Philosophy, English, Communications and Foreign Language.