As he prepares to retire after 10 years as FPU President, D. Merrill Ewert can look back on many honors. But the Harold Haak Award from the Fresno Compact is particularly meaningful.

“It’s a great honor to receive this award, having known Dr. Haak and then being the person who replaced him at Fresno Pacific. He’s a man I have enormous respect for. I’m literally sitting in the chair in which he sat,” said Ewert, who often tells how Haak recruited him and called FPU a “gift to the Valley.”

A collaboration between a longtime faculty member and a former president of Fresno Pacific University will be one of three premiers on the program for a May concert.

“Music of Love” is the title of a recital of songs by Larry Warkentin, who composed the entire program. The performance begins at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 18, in Butler Church, 4884 Butler Avenue, and is sponsored by the FPU Music Department.

Admission is $5 for general audiences and free for children and students. For more information call 559-453-2267.

New tennis courts will be named for a couple who have brought leadership and support to Fresno Pacific University and the entire Central Valley.

The Harold and Betty Haak Tennis Complex will include six championship courts and one practice court so the university can again offer tennis as a physical education class. The facility will also provide recreation for students, faculty and friends of the institution and eventually be the home of FPU tennis teams.

Leaders from Fresno Pacific University joined nearly 1,000 representatives from around the world February 7-9 for the 2001 Forum on Christian Higher Education, an event commemorating the 25thanniversary of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU).

The Sermon on the Mount links Fresno Pacific University with its ninth president.

Harold Haak made that passage the center of his installation remarks during ceremonies October 27 in the campus Special Events Center. In the Evangelical Lutheran Church in which he was brought up, Haak said he learned the fifth chapter of Matthew, which is the heart of Jesus’ great sermon. “It is memory work that often stands me in good stead among Mennonites,” he joked, “although they sometimes look puzzled by my proclivity to cite the King James Version.”

A new president, a strong financial picture and a comprehensive building plan complement continuing enrollment gains at Fresno Pacific University.

A leader with a long history in the Fresno community and broad academic and administrative experience has been named interim president at Fresno Pacific University.

Harold Haak, former president of California State University, Fresno, will step into the office being vacated by Allen Carden, who announced his resignation in January.

Haak served as president of CSUF from 1980-91 and is currently a professor of political science there. Haak will also continue to provide leadership for the development of the Kenneth L. Maddy Institute at CSUF.