Around the State: HSU breaks ground for literacy and learning center

Hardin-Simmons University broke ground for its Houston-Lantrip Center for Literacy and Learning May 17. The center will enable HSU to expand its services to Abilene-area students with dyxlexia and provide a home to the university’s new Autism Center. It is named for major donor Mae Houston-Lantrip, a 1947 HSU graduate whose daughter has dyslexia, and it was made possible in part through a challenge grant from the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation. Projected completion of the center’s construction is before the fall 2019 semester.

Before they departed for Christian service around the world, about 200 students and their families gathered May 20 for the Go Now Missions commissioning service at Dallas Baptist University. The commissioning marked the finale to Go Now Missions orientation, when student missionaries spent a weekend in training, prayer and study.

Howard Payne University recognized six students recently for acts of servant leadership on campus and in the community. Spring graduates Josh Dykes of Mount Pleasant and Jordan Pitman of Bangs each received the Nat Tracy Student Leader Award. Juniors Jessica Catlett of Alleyton, Sarah Fernandez of Goliad, Caleb Kostreva of Clifton, Colo., and Emma Reed of Arlington received HPU Servant Leadership Awards.

The East Texas Baptist University Enactus Team partnered with the intellectual and developmental disability clients at Marshall’s Community Healthcore Center to create a soap-making company, Heavenly Scents Soap. Students developed a marketing plan, obtained initial funding, created the website, and they trained clients to make artisanal glycerin and goat-milk-based soap lines to sell to the public through craft shows, boutiques and an online store. Enactus is a network of global business, academic and student leaders committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to transform lives and shape a more sustainable world.

Baylor University President Linda A. Livingstone appointed Brett Dalton as chief business officer, a new position at the university. His appointment is effective July 1. Dalton has been executive of finance and operations at Clemson University in South Carolina, where he managed the institution’s $1.2 billion budget. He also oversaw more than $800 million in capital projects and achieved and maintained the highest bond rating in the history of the university. Dalton earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from Clemson. He and his wife of 30-plus years, Lisa, will move to Waco with their 15-year-old son, Stewart. Their daughter, Mattie, a May 2018 graduate of Clemson, will spend the next year working at George Mason University in Virginia. The Daltons are members of the First Baptist Church of Pickens, S.C., where they taught 3-year-olds Sunday school more than 15 years.

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor named Marv Ee as vice president for campus planning and support services. Ee graduated from the United States Air Force Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering, from the Air Force Institute of Technology with a Master of Science degree in engineering and environmental management, and from Trinity Theological Seminary with a Master of Arts degree in pastoral ministry. He completed 24 years active military service with the U.S. Air Force, achieving the rank of colonel. He and his wife, Jennifer, have been married 20 years and have four children—Japhia,19; Micah,17; Joy, 13; and Malachi, 7.

Anniversary

20^th for James Crawford as pastor of Progressive Missionary Baptist Church in Hearne.