Arthur M. Harding was the first Arkansas native named president of the University of Arkansas. Born September 3, 1884, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Harding was raised in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where he attended public schools. After receiving his B.A. degree in mathematics from the University of Arkansas in 1904, Harding joined the mathematics department as an instructor. On August 9, 1905, Harding married Edna Nance and together the couple had two children.

After teaching for a number of years, Harding and his family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he then earned his master's and doctoral degrees in 1913 and 1916 in mathematics from the University of Chicago, and returned to Fayetteville to accept a position as a professor at the University of Arkansas.

Harding served as the University of Arkansas's first examiner and as registrar during World War I. He was also secretary of the Alumni Association for twenty-five years, founder of the Arkansas Alumnus (which he edited for twenty years), manager and operator of radio station KUOA for ten years, and in 1919 organized the General Extension Service (later to become the Division of Continuing Education), which he administered until 1941. In that year, he succeeded J. William Fulbright as president of the University of Arkansas, a post he held for six years. Harding passed away on December 24, 1947.