Houston Baptist University

Houston Baptist University

Type	Private University
Established	1960
Affiliation	Baptist General Convention of Texas
Endowment	US $90 million (2014)
President	Dr. Robert B. Sloan
Academic staff	152 (2014)
Students	3,128 (2014)
Undergraduates	2,288 (2014)
Postgraduates	840 (2014)
Location	Greater Sharpstown and Chinatown, Houston , Texas , USA
Campus	Urban, 100 acres (0.40 km2)
Colors	Royal Blue and Orange
Mascot	Huskies
Website	www.hbu.edu

Houston Baptist University (commonly abbreviated HBU) is a private Baptist institution founded in 1960. It is located in Greater Sharpstown in Houston, Texas near the Southwest Freeway. The Cultural Arts Center houses three museums: the Dunham Bible Museum, the Museum of American Architecture and Decorative Arts, and the Museum of Southern History.

History

Houston Baptist College was created by action of the Baptist General Convention of Texas on November 15, 1960 culminating many years of work and study. The aim of the College founders was the establishment of a Christian college of the highest order in the city of Houston that stressed quality of life as well as quality of learning.

In 1952, the Union Baptist Association authorized a committee to study the possibility of locating a Baptist college in Houston. With the assistance and encouragement of the Education Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the committee conducted a survey in 1955. Acting upon information obtained with the endorsement of the Education Commission, the Association approved the concept of establishing a new college. In 1956, the Executive Board of the Baptist General Convention of Texas approved a recommendation that Houston Baptists be given assurance that the Convention would support such a college when the College Committee of the Union Baptist Association had succeeded in acquiring both (1) a satisfactory site for a campus of at least one hundred acres, and (2) a minimum corpus of at least three million dollars. Of this sum, one and one-half million dollars would constitute a nucleus endowment fund; one and one-half million dollars would be designated for a physical plant. The Union Baptist Association accepted these conditions and endorsed the requirements set up by the state Baptist convention.

In 1957, a Houston land developer, Frank Sharp, offered to sell Union Baptist Association 390 acres (1.6 km²) in southwest Houston for the construction of a college. The Board of Governors of Rice University agreed to lend most of the money needed with the land as collateral. To complete the funding, twenty-five business men, since called "founders", pledged to be responsible for $10,000 each. Therefore, by 1958, a campus site of 196 acres (0.79 km²) was acquired in southwest Houston, and, in 1960, the initial financial goal of repaying the loan was reached as a result of a campaign among the churches. Much of the land was used to build for-profit housing, much of which included the development that will later become the seeds for the Sharpstown community, and the Memorial-Hermann Southwest hospital, land that is still property of HBU.

In 1960, the Baptist General Convention of Texas in its annual session at Lubbock, Texas elected the first Board of Trustees. This board in session in Houston, Texas on November 15, 1960 approved and signed the College charter. The next day, this charter was ratified and recorded with the Secretary of State in Austin. The way was then cleared to select administrative officers, develop a suitable physical plant, and design an appropriate academic program. Dr. W. H. Hinton began service as the first President of the College on July 1, 1962.

The College opened in September 1963 with a freshman class of 193 students, a cluster of new buildings, and a teaching staff of thirty faculty. A new class was added each year until the College attained a four-year program in 1966-67. By then, the full- time faculty had grown to fifty-four members, serving an enrollment of approximately nine hundred undergraduate students. Among the faculty was the historian Marilyn McAdams Sibley, who received her Ph.D. from Rice University.

A history of the University's first fifty years was published in 2010. "An Act of Providence: Houston Baptist University 1960-2010," written by Vice President Emeritus Dr. Don Looser, was awarded the Institutional History Award in 2011.

In 2012 the university administration considered enacting a name change, arguing that the current name distances the school from some prospective students. According to those proposing alternative names—such as "Morris Christian University -- the term "Baptist" might act as a barrier to seeking students from non-Baptist Christian sects and the term "Houston" might be a barrier to a nationwide audience.

Academics

A wide variety of undergraduate majors are offered and pre-professional programs range from Biblical Languages to Nursing. All classes are faculty-taught and more than half the classes have fewer than 20 students. HBU also offers graduate programs in business, Christian counseling, psychology, the liberal arts, visual arts, and education.

Campus housing

The Reuben & Rebecca Bates Philips Residence Colleges for Men and Women are two separate residence hall facilities for freshmen, with each serving one gender. The Sadie & Doug Hodo Residence College is the largest single residential building on campus that houses both genders on opposing sides of the building. Husky Village, seven apartment buildings with various layouts, are usually reserved for the university and house mostly upper classmen and staff.

Community Life + Worship

80 Community Life + Worship Credits (CLW Credits) are required for graduation from HBU. Up to 20 may be earned per semester. Transfer students are also allotted 0.75 CLW Credits for each credit hour transferred into the university. CLW Credits may be accrued from a variety of opportunities including but not limited to: campus service, a weekly traditional chapel service known as Convocation, a weekly student-led contemporary worship service known as Quest, small group Bible studies, lecture series and through the ACTS (Assisting Communities Through Students) office which coordinates community service and volunteer work in the Houston community. The on-campus "Community Life and Worship" biyearly magazine lists the different opportunities through which students may earn CLW Credits. The spiritual life office also awards Credits for students who participate in church or university sponsored mission trips. Read more about HBU's CLW program.

Athletics

Main article: Houston Baptist Huskies

Houston Baptist is a member of the Southland Conference. They joined the league in 2013. From 2008-2013, Houston Baptist competed as a member of the Great West Conference. The Great West, previously a football only conference, expanded on July 10, 2008 to become an all-sports conference. HBU accepted an invitation to join the newly expanded conference along with NJIT, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas-Pan American and Utah Valley.

HBU, which was a member of NCAA Division I until moving to the NAIA in 1989, began its transition back to Division I in 2007-08. The Huskies field teams in 16 sports.

MEN: Basketball, Baseball, Football, Soccer, Indoor Track and Field, Outdoor Track and Field, Cross-Country, Golf

WOMEN: Basketball, Softball, Volleyball, Soccer, Indoor Track and Field, Outdoor Track and Field, Cross Country, Golf

In 2015, HBU's Freshman, Daniel Shelton went on a massive winning streak, dominating the 800; running a school record in nearly every race he ran. In addition, the Huskies qualified 3 athletes, to the NCAA regional meet; Christian Guzman in the 110m High Hurdles, Taylor Thompson in the Women's Long Jump, and Daniel Shelton in the Men's 800m. The first athletes to qualify for the NCAA West Regionals was Brittane Gaines in the Women's 100m Dash, and Matthew Perri in the Men's 3000m Steeplechase. Adding to the mix, the Huskies top distance runner for the past consecutive two years has been Jeremy Lewis. Lewis has twice, made the 1500m outdoor finals, and posted times that ranked among the Southland Conference's top contenders for the 800m, 1000m (relay leg) and 1500m.

The athletics department boasts an 80% graduation rate among its student-athletes.

Notable NCAA D-1 Athletic Achievements:

• 1983 NCAA high-jump champion, Ricky Thompson; t-32nd place in the 1983 Track & Field Championships
• alma mater of European Tour great Colin Montgomerie
• 1983-84 Men's basketball team participated in the NCAA tournament in the play-in game vs. Alcorn State; 1983-84 Men's basketball team led the entire NCAA in team field-goal percentage, shooting 55.2%, this is also 10th all-time in NCAA history
• Participants in the NCAA men's golf championships in 1984, 1987 (5th place), and 1988
• Participants in the NCAA men's gymnastics championships in 1982 (10th place) and 1987 (7th place); 1987 men's gymnastics (Rings) champion, Paul O'Neill.
• 1982, 83, 84, 85 Trans-America (now Atlantic Sun) Men's soccer Champions, and conference tournament champions in 82, 84, and 85.
• 1982, 83, 84, 85 Trans-America (now Atlantic Sun) men's cross country champions; individual titles won by Charlie Foreman (83 & 84) and Magnus Fyhr (85).

Notable NAIA Athletic Achievements:

• 2007 NAIA Baseball World Series, 3rd place; 2007 Baseball Region VI Champions;
• Participants in NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament ten straight seasons from 1997-2007.
• Dwight Jones II, son of Dwight Jones Sr. who played on the 1972 USA Olympic Silver medal basketball team in Munich, was drafted by the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Developmental League as well as the East Kentucky Miners in the CBA draft.

List of notable clubs and activities

• View the complete listing of Student Orgs from the HBU website.

• African Student Association (ASA)
• The Accounting Society (TAS)
• Alpha Chi
• Alpha Chi Omega
• Alpha Epsilon Delta (Pre-Med)
• Alpha Kappa Alpha
• Alpha Mu Gamma
• Alpha Tau Omega
• Art Guild
• American Student Dental Association
• Best Buddies
• Beta Upsilon Chi (Brothers Under Christ)
• Black Student Fellowship (BSF)
• Christian Medical Fellowship
• The Collegian
• Filipino Student Association (FSA)
• Finance Society
• Focus/Refuge
• Hispanic Student Organization
• Intrafraternity Council
• Kappa Alpha Order
• Kappa Kappa Psi
• Music Educators Society
• Nursing Students Association (NSA)
• Omicron Delta Kappa
• Phi Mu
• Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
• Phi Kappa Psi
• POPS (Pre-Optometry Professional Society)
• Sigma Phi Lambda
• Sigma Tau Delta
• South Asian Student Association
• SPS (Society of Physics Students)
• Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society (SAACS)
• Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE)
• Student Government Association
• Student Programming Board (SPB)
• Vietnamese Student Association (VSA)

Notable alumni

• Van G. Garrett, poet
• Colin Montgomerie, professional golfer
• Elliot Segal, DJ host of Elliot in the Morning (did not graduate.)
• Dalton Schafer, evangelist, businessman
• Sean Willix, professional football player. Starting Quarterback for the Sirmium Legionaries.

Notable staff

• Jerry Johnston, former evangelist and pastor; vice president of HBU

Controversy

On August 27, 2014, stand-up comedian Samuel J. Comroe, who has Tourette syndrome, performed at Houston Baptist after having been invited to do so. A student asked him what sex was like with Tourette's during the concluding question-and-answer period. Comroe had already asked whether there were topics he should avoid, and had agreed to be "clean" (no cursing) in his act, yet a faculty member shut off the microphone and called the police. Comroe blamed the administrator and said the students were "sweet." As a follow-up, he posted on YouTube a rebuttal, saying, "Not that my answer would have been this amazing, thought-provoking answer. I'm a stand-up comedian. Of course it's going to be silly and fun, whatever. But the point is, she told the student that he couldn't ask specific questions. Students that pay money to go to your campus to learn..." Comroe also uploaded, with two friends including comedian Drew Lynch, a parody skit in which the friends are dressed as police officers and harass Comroe about a "joke disturbance."

Further reading

• Looser, Donald William. "An Act of Providence: A History of Houston Baptist University 1960-2010." Pearland, Halcyon Press, Ltd., 2010.

External links

Official University websites:

• Houston Baptist University
• HBU Athletics