Lee College - Vindauga Yearbook (Cleveland, TN)

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points to a class that is offered dealing specifically with current events. Rahamut says that the students get their infor- mation from the various news media sources available, and they then discuss the particular item during class with the other students. This method of being confronted by the issues prepares the students for different situations. Rahamut thinks that history helps the students to be better equipped because they are acquainted with the situation of different viewpoints. He finds this exposure necessary for a person to We do not feel like we are training somebody for a vocation . . . begin to adapt to the situations that will be confronting him later in life. Rahamut seems to put the department ' s philosophy into perspective: We do not feel like we are training somebody for a vocation, but we feel that we are training a Christian person to take Christianity into his vocation. •r JH-j ' -- v ' (l. to r.) Bob Fisher, Paul Conn, R. B. Thomas, Bill Balzano (Chm.), David Rahamut, Murl Dirksen ©mraA

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GSmra Behavioral and Social Sciences The times could be described as man and his dilemma, and, according to Bill Balzano, chairman of the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, that is what this department is all about. The enrollment has been a dilemma for Lee the last couple of years. While the numbers have faltered in some areas, Balzano says that this department is holding its own. Es- sentially our department is alive and well, he says. Students continue to be interested in the majors offered by the department, and Balzano attributes this interest partly to the fact that the subject matter we deal with is contem- porary . . . who man is, what he is, where he ' s heading. . . . We try to focus in on that in the areas of psychology, sociology, and even with history. I think those majors deal with man and his dilemma. Balzano believes these areas are very important, especially in a Christian-college context. What exactly is he describing when he refers to man and his dilemma ? Balzano responds, I think the attitudes of culture . . . the threat of nuclear confrontation ... all of this places man in his dilemma, and so people are really searching for some answers. Students are among those who are searching for answers and will be the ones that people come to for answers in the future. Balzano ' s fellow instructor in psy- chology, Bob Fisher, ascribes this to what he calls the mood of the times. He seems to agree that there is a growing inquisitive nature now among people, especially about what goes on internally. He says, People are more interested in what makes themselves tick and what ' s going on inside themselves, and there ' s a new con- sciousness about that. According to Fisher the mood of the times has been brought about in this changing from the Industrial Age to the Infor- mational Age. This change has caused more students to consider a career in this area of social science because they ' re becoming less external-oriented and more internal-oriented, and I think that ' s what is causing a lot of people to think twice about psychology. Balzano says that when students come . . . We want to give them something they into the department, they are provided with a good sound knowledge of the discipline and a strong theoretical basis integrated within this Christian context. The department is now leading toward a more practical or application-oriented direction. Balzano described several ways in which the courses have been structured so that students have actual field experience and hands-on-type exposure to their major. He explained, Because of the heavy emphasis now upon the economy and the job market, we want to have not only the theoretical base, but we want to give them something they can use. Dr. Murl Dirksen, one of the in- structors in sociology, sees today ' s student in need of an understanding of his place in the society and how the society affects the individual. What we try to do is to shock you into understanding that there is a whole world out there that you ' ve never discovered and that it can be dealt with and it can be looked at, says Dirksen. He feels that this does not take a great deal of talent to understand but rather that It ' s a perspective; it ' s not probably a technical skill but it ' s more an understanding of where you ' re at, and where the people are at, and how you can control and direct your own destiny. This sounds like a feat that could only be accomplished through an intense four-year study of sociology, but Dirksen claims that the basic principles of this type of thinking are being taught in the sociology class that is part of everyone ' s core curriculum. This mind- set allows the student to see himself as affecting the times instead of the times only affecting him. Another course that almost every student will take at Lee is history. David Rahamut is one of the instructors in this area, and he is very concerned with the times ' effect on students. He ®mtP5 L

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) Lucille Elliot, Donald Rowe (Chm.), William Morrisett, Alan Bums During recent years as the economy slumped and jobs became scarce, the Business Department enjoyed a steady growth rate. Department chairman Dr. Donald Rowe sees this as a direct result of the recession and explains, The demands of the business world are, for the most part, for people who are trained in business areas, especially in the areas of finance, statistics, management and more particularly accounting. The business program is structured to attract students to fulfill these positions after receiving a quality education which Rowe calls well- rounded. He explains, The purpose here is not to specialize too much, but to equip students to go in many directions. Business professor Alan Burns at- tributes the department ' s recent appeal among Lee ' s students to two factors of the times. As liberal arts types of jobs did become more scarce, our students Dwayne Thompson, Instructor (not pictured in group photo) realized that they would have a better chance to gain a professional type job when they left college if they had a major in a business field. Secondly, Bums sees changes in the church as a whole. The clientele that Lee College serves, the Church of God, in general, is becoming more affluent and is realizing the need for a professional business background, more so than they did before. Rowe feels these times are somewhat advantageous for students enrolled in the accounting program. Demand for accountants seems to persist even in times of economic slow down. To further explain Rowe points to his memory of the great depression. When many professionals . . . dentists, lawyers, and architects . . . and 25% of the work force was unemployed and on ttcoom The purpose here is to equip students to go in many directions. relief, accountants were in big demand. So, we have developed a program at Lee to take advantage of that situation. According to Rowe, this program is as promising as the general business program and it is headed by a graduate of Lee ' s accounting program, William Morrisett. Rowe thinks that the department can keep pace with the times by developing a major in computers. Mr. Bums blames the lack of a computer program up until this time on the inflationary financially critical times. He admits, It would have been good to have had them (computers) several StmrsA