Houston Baptist University
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Houston Baptist University (commonly abbreviated HBU) is a private Baptist institution founded in 1960. It is located in the southwest part of Houston, Texas near the Southwest Freeway.
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[edit] 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 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 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.
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.
[edit] Academics
HBU has been ranked in the top tier among the "Best Universities" offering master's degrees in the Western region by U.S.News & World Report (http://www.hbu.edu/Pages/best/) More than 50 undergraduate majors are offered and pre-professional programs range from Biblical Languages to Nursing. A streamlined double major program combines two areas of study, and is generally a requirement for the undergraduate college. All classes are faculty-taught and more than half the classes have fewer than 20 students. HBU has traditionally been on a quarter system but it will transition to semesters starting Fall 2008.
[edit] Life on Campus
There are men's and women's dorms and on-campus apartments which are reserved for upperclassmen. Much of HBU's social capital, activities and fraternity life revolve around the apartments and campus buildings such as the MD Anderson Student Center and the Husky Village Club House.
[edit] Spiritual Life
Spiritual Life Points are a requirement for graduation and may be earned through a variety of opportunities including campus service, weekly Convocations, small group Bible studies, and through the ACTS office which coordinates community service and volunteer work in the Houston community. HBU also awards points for students who travel abroad on mission trips or service projects.
[edit] Athletics
The Huskies are a member of the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) Division I and the Red River Athletic Conference.
Houston Baptist has men's teams in basketball, baseball and soccer, and women's teams in volleyball, soccer, basketball and softball.
HBU's teams are traditionally ranked in the Top 25. The volleyball team finished as NAIA runner-ups in 2002.
The athletics department boasts an 80% graduation rate amongst its student-athletes.
[edit] List of Notable Clubs and Activities
- Alpha Chi
- Alpha Chi Omega
- Alpha Epsilon Delta (Pre-Med)
- Alpha Kappa Alpha
- Alpha Kappa Psi
- Alpha Mu Gamma (Foreign Language)
- Alpha Phi Omega
- Alpha Pi Kappa
- Alpha Tau Omega
- Art Guild
- ASDA (American Student Dental Association)
- Black Student Fellowship (BSF)
- Beta Upsilon Chi (Brothers Under Christ)
- Christian Medical Fellowship
- The Collegian
- Focus/Refuge
- South Asian Student Association
- Intrafraternity Council
- Kappa Alpha Order
- Nursing Students Association (NSA)
- Phi Kappa Psi
- Phi Mu
- POPS (Pre-Optometry Professional Society)
- SPS (Society of Physics Students)
- Student Government Association
- Student Programming Board (SPB)
- Vietnamese Student Association (VSA)
