hsu_dedication_10603

Posted: 9/25/03

The Elwin L. Skiles Social Sciences Building.

Hardin-Simmons University dedicates
science building, rededicates music hall

ABILENE—Hardin-Simmons University dedicated its state-of-the-art Elwin L. Skiles Social Sciences Building and rededicated its historic Caldwell Music Hall after classes resumed this fall.

The festivities helped kick off a semester in which Hardin-Simmons celebrated achieving Tier One status in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2004 ratings of comprehensive universities in the Western United States.

HSU's Caldwell Music Hall.

James Flamming, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Richmond, Va., speaks during the ceremonies.

The Abilene school, one of eight universities affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, also recorded its second-highest enrollment, with 2,333 students on campus this fall.

The Skiles Building is named after HSU’s 11th president, who led the university from 1966 to 1977 after serving as pastor of First Baptist Church in Abilene.

The $3.6 million, 23,250-square-foot building houses seven classrooms and lecture halls, plus faculty and staff offices. It is home to the Cynthia Ann Parker College of Liberal Arts and classes in leadership studies, political science, legal studies, social work, sociology, criminal justice, history and philosophy.

The building features the Lawrence Clayton Round Table Room, the Tom Womble Courtroom, a replica of a legislative hearing room and a Hall of Leaders.

Skiles’ children, Elwin L. Skiles Jr., Ann McGinty and Sarah Zachry, pledged a $1 million lead gift toward the facility. Other major donors include the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation of Tulsa, Okla.; the Dodge Jones Foundation of Abilene; the Mays Foundation of Amarillo; the Myer Foundation of Plainview; and the O’Donnell Foundation, McDermott Foundation and Texas Instruments, all of Dallas.

Caldwell Music Hall, built in 1924, is listed as a national site for historic places. Extensive renovation restored numerous original features of the building, including a stained-glass skylight, columns and masonry work.

HSU also opened Linebery Boulevard and the Linebery Memorial Clock Tower as a primary entrance on the east side of campus. The clock tower and boulevard were made possible by the Scarborough-Linebery Foundation of Midland, which also provided a gift to endow HSU’s Six White Horses program.

HSU President Craig Turner noted the university climbed one level in the U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings. Its Tier One standing places it among the top comprehensive universities, which offer master’s degrees, in the West. Hardin-Simmons is the lone BGCT university with a Tier One rank.

The 2,333 students on campus this fall reflect a 3 percent increase—42 students—over registration for fall 2002, reported Shane Davidson, associate vice president for enrollment services.

The university’s 600 new students mark a five-year high, and retention of last year’s students is up 5 percent, he said.

Reported by Charles Richardson, director of media relations for Hardin-Simmons University