Around the State: DBU students serve at Cornerstone Church

Twenty-one student volunteers from Dallas Baptist University served at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Dallas during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. Pastor Chris Simmons and his team divided students into groups to help organize and clean the church’s canned food pantry, serve meals to the unhoused, complete a landscaping project near the church, and build shelves at Cornerstone’s nonprofit grocery store, Southpoint Community Market. DBU students also gathered on campus for the annual Unity Walk and prayer service. Pastor Bertrain Bailey of St. John Baptist Church in Dallas recited King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

East Texas Baptist University’s School of Nursing was renamed the Teague School of Nursing in recognition of benefactor and alumnus Jim Teague and two nurses who were important in his life—his late wife Norma Raye Teagueand his late mother Hilda Harris Teague. “We are indebted to Mr. Teague, and ever so grateful for his generosity and devotion to the ETBU Family in helping advance the institution in educational impact and elevate the business school and nursing school in academic reputation,” ETBU President J. Blair Blackburn said. “His benevolent gifts stand as a milestone in the life of this university. Future business and nursing students and graduates of ETBU will be impacted in mind, body, and spirit because of his Kingdom investment in the intellectual development and spiritual formation of ETBU Tigers and their faculty.”

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor will recognize the Cru football team during a Feb. 8 celebration in Belton for winning the 2021 NCAA Division III National Championship title. The gates open at Crusader Stadium at 5 p.m., and the program begins at 5:30 p.m. Once the program on the football field is complete, a “meet and greet” with the players and coaches is scheduled for 6 p.m. inside the Bawcom Student Union.

Two associate professors in Baylor University’s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work have received a John Templeton Foundation grant to assess religion and spirituality competencies in mental health graduate education. Holly Oxhandler and Clay Polson received the $843,647 grant and will lead one of the four teams within the larger Spiritual and Religious Competencies Project at the University of Southern Alabama. The team will survey about 10,000 full-time graduate faculty in accredited programs across the country who teach within the four main mental health disciplines—psychology, counseling, marriage and family therapy, and social work. “Ultimately, our hope is that the findings from this survey will serve graduate faculty across these disciplines as they seek to best equip the next generation of mental health care providers,” Oxhandler said. “We also hope these findings indirectly serve future graduate students in these professions and, most importantly, mental health clients seeking help.”

Houston Baptist University appointed Mike Rome as dean of the Archie W. Dunham College of Business and director of academic partnerships for the university. He served most recently as interim director of the McNair Center for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise at HBU. “In the past year as Mike Rome has given leadership to the McNair Center, his energy, engagement, and passion to help HBU better serve our students and the future of entrepreneurship in our country have proven to be invaluable. We are grateful that he will be able to carry forward and even expand his contributions in our campus community and our city for many years to come through this pivotal role,” said HBU President Robert Sloan. Previously, Rome was senior partner at Allen Austin, where he gave joint leadership to the board, CEO and private equity practices as well as consulting in the life sciences, industrial, professional services and financial services practices. He also has been CEO and principal at Chilton Capital, the CEO of Texan Capital and senior partner at Bridgeway Capital. Rome earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Kansas and has studied portfolio management at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business and behavioral finance at Harvard University.

Emily Brown, a Howard Payne University senior from Brownwood, has been selected as a recipient of a CIC/UPS Scholarship provided by Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas and its national partner, the Council of Independent Colleges. Brown is a member of the Alpha Psi Omega theater organization and is a part of the Servant Artist Program, a group at HPU dedicated to using members’ talents and abilities in service of others.

Kate Rojales of Milton, Ga., a senior chemistry major at Baylor University, is among 18 recipients of the Churchill Scholarship in mathematics, science and engineering, announced by the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States. The 18 scholarship recipients were selected from among 125 nominees from 80 participating institutions. Rojales, who conducts research as an undergraduate in inorganic chemistry, is the second Churchill Scholar in just two years of Baylor’s participation in the program. The Churchill Scholarship provides funding to American students for a year of master’s study at Churchill College in the University of Cambridge. The scholarship will cover full tuition, a stipend, travel costs and the opportunity to apply for a $2,000 special research grant at Cambridge.