201 students bid goodbye to Bluffton University at their Sunday commencement, but come July they will be joined by one more.
Bluffton University President Dr. James Harder has sat through 12 years of commencement speakers but for the class of 2018, the last to graduate under his leadership, he will be the one giving students life advice from the podium.
"I'm going to challenge them to join three expanding circles of influence in their lives, the first one being our alumni community," says Harder. "Secondly, to join the expanding circle of truth-tellers in the world and thirdly the expanding circle of peacemakers, and I think those are goals that we have here at Bluffton since our founding 119 years ago."
Harder will depart from B.U. at the end of June and students say that his presence on campus is one that many will miss.
"He has a great presence on campus," says Andrew Hunter, a class of 2018 graduate. "His service, just how he interacts with others, with faculty, with students, everyone here on campus he makes a good relationship with. Positive influence for all students, so he's a great man."
Harder made himself accessible to his students, often showing up to athletic events and getting to know the community.
"I know him really well, he's been to a lot of my track meets so he's always relational and he cares about the students," says graduate D'nae Reese, class of 2018. "I'm going to miss him a lot."
Those relationships are not lost on him either. While the campus has seen plenty of development under his time, including adding new fields of study and the addition of Sommer Center for Health and Fitness Education, he says he could not do it alone, and those friendships he has made along the way will stick with him.
"I will miss the friendships, you know, we say here at Bluffton, in fact, it's on a bench that we put up honoring a dean of students, it's all about relationships and I will miss those relationships," says Harder.
Harder says that while he plans on slowing things down once he leaves, he will always be rooting for Bluffton from a distance.
