January 6, 2003
During his decade as president, Bob Riley (shown at commencement at left) has led East Texas Baptist University to expand its athletic program to include football, soccer and other sports while increasing technology on campus and bringing new life to campus facilities like historic Marshall Hall (above right).
FIRST & TEN:
Riley marks decade at ETBU
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___MARSHALL--Set on the highest point of East Texas Baptist University's campus, Marshall Hall appears from the outside little different than it did in 1915.
___Walk through the front doors, however, and the historic building reveals a thoroughly modern interior--bright lights, contemporary décor, high-tech equipment.
___That's typical of the blend of old and new found across the campus of the Baptist General Convention of Texas' easternmost university. And it illustrates the university's attempt to maintain its heritage while adapting to the needs of a modern era.
___"We think God has blessed us because we have not deviated one iota from our Christian heritage," explained Bob Riley, who is marking his 10th anniversary as university president.
___At ETBU, students are required to attend chapel twice a week. There's an "expected level of dress and behavior." Tobacco and alcohol are prohibited.
___"Some people may ask, 'Isn't that a little old-fashioned?'" Riley admitted. "It may be. They also ask, 'Will students come to a school like that?' Well, they're knocking our doors down."
Student works in computer lab.
___That may be because another part of the "old-fashioned" environment is a residential campus that emphasizes community and personal interaction between students and faculty.
___The university's vision is to offer "a world of opportunity in a community of faith."
___In his decade at the helm of the university, Riley has sought to nurture this vision and to lead by example.
___He knows many of the university's 1,500 students by name. When he's in town, he attends the twice-weekly chapel services to encourage students who provide the bulk of the program leadership.
___"I don't see how they go to all the things they go to," said trustee Chairman Hollie Atkinson. "If the students are doing it, they're likely to rub shoulders with the president and his wife, because they'll be there taking it in."
___Riley considers out-of-classroom interaction as "the moments for greatest teaching opportunity," explained Atkinson, retired pastor of First Baptist Church of Marshall.
___Riley also leads by example off campus, noted Atkinson, who was the president's pastor for eight years. "He is an active churchman, a deacon in the church, and not just one by name only. He practices what he preaches to his faculty in terms of his churchmanship and in terms of his involvement with students."
___Both Atkinson and Riley agree that the strongest selling point of the university is its faculty and their willingness to engage students in learning both in and out of the classroom.
___"We are known for having a faculty willing to invest themselves in the lives of their students," Riley said.
___"The strength of what's going on at ETBU is our faculty, who first of all have a committed Christian outlook on life," Atkinson added. "That leads them to have a serious caring for the students. And that all starts at the head, at the top. Dr. Riley is committed to hiring Christian faculty. He'd like to hire Baptist faculty. He won't hire non-Christian faculty.
___"We are a distinctly Christian university and an unapologetically Baptist university. Our faculty are expected to practice good churchmanship and good faith, not just show up with lectures. ... That's really what makes our school a Christian school."
___Faculty interaction with students also is enabled by a low student-teacher ratio of 16 to 1. Freshman English classes, for example, are limited to 25 students.
___The reason for that is both social and academic, Riley explained: "If they learn to write, they're going to have a better opportunity to graduate."
___During his tenure, ETBU has focused on a specific mission, Riley said: "Being a first-class baccalaureate-degree-granting institution."
___Several years ago, the university ventured into master's degree programs but found that wasn't a good fit for its resources.
___ETBU's niche, Riley and other leaders concluded, is to provide a residential experience with full-time faculty for bachelor's-level studies in a liberal arts context.
___The university operates no off-campus centers. About 75 percent of students live on campus. The vast majority of those students graduated from high schools within 100 miles of Marshall.
FOOTBALL, soccer and other sports expanded during Bob Riley's decade as president of East Texas Baptist University.
___Eighty percent of students are Baptists, and 75 percent of faculty are Baptists. About 80 percent of faculty hold doctoral degrees.
___Building on these statistics, ETBU's goal is to become one of the top five baccalaureate-degree-granting institutions in the western United States.
___With its low student-faculty ratio, high level of faculty with terminal degrees and an endowment of $45 million, that goal is attainable, Riley predicted.
___The university has experienced nearly a 50 percent growth in enrollment during Riley's 10-year tenure, from 1,050 to 1,500.
___Much of this growth has been driven by an expansion of the athletic program, which also led to an expansion of the music program with addition of a band.
___As part of this strategy, ETBU moved from NAIA Division I to NCAA Division III. Division III schools may not offer athletic scholarships.
___A new gymnasium was built, along with a new football field, soccer field and softball field. The university expanded from three sports--baseball, men's and women's basketball--to 10 by adding football, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's cross country, women's softball and women's volleyball.
___Enrollment growth necessitated additional campus housing, which came this year in the form of a new student apartment complex with 200 beds.
___Religion remains the university's top major, with more than 300 students preparing for some type of vocational ministry. Education and business come in second and third.
___ETBU recruits aggressively in East Texas, going head-to-head with Stephen F. Austin University, its main regional competitor.
___If a student comes to explore ETBU with the sense that God has called him or her to study there, "we're going to do everything we can to get them to enroll at ETBU," Riley said.
___Currently, ETBU offers the second-lowest tuition rate among the eight BGCT-affiliated university.
___University trustees, who are elected by the BGCT, have emphasized financial prudence, Riley said. Except for the new apartment complex, which is a revenue-producing enterprise, the university has no building debt.
___One of the oldest buildings on campus, Scarborough Chapel, currently is being renovated into a multi-level classroom building. The university plans to launch a new capital campaign in 2003 to pay for that and other planned improvements.
___"It's a wonderful day on the campus," Atkinson proclaimed. "Dr. Riley came at a time when we had had some wonderful growth student-wise as well as growth in physical plant. He has stood on the shoulders of those who went before him and reached even higher."
Highlights of ETBU's decade
___Construction of a central walkway on campus.
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