Around the State: HPU students aid Costa Rica orphanage

Thirteen Howard Payne University students, faculty and staff members visited Costa Rica to work at the Hogar De Vida orphanage in Atenas and participate in an immersive cultural experience. Carla Hawkins, then assistant professor of Spanish, and Keith Platte, director of HPU’s Baptist Student Ministry, led the 11-day trip that included students from Spanish courses and BSM mission volunteers. In addition to serving three days at Hogar De Vida, the group visited Cahuita along the eastern coast, experiencing the Caribbean culture, and spent time in the central mountainous region of Costa Rica at Paraíso and in San Jose, Costa Rica’s largest city. Activities included guided tours of the mountain ranges, coffee plantations, art and history museums, churches and marketplaces.

Dallas Baptist University doctoral students visit with Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, former student ministries and evangelism specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and director of youth programming at Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center. (Photo by Greg Hollabaugh)Thirty-nine doctoral students at Dallas Baptist University participated in the 10th annual weeklong seminar in Washington, D.C. The seminar is designed for second-year doctoral students pursuing degrees in leadership studies or educational leadership. Students explored leadership disciplines through the lives of historical figures, toured historic sites, worshipped at the Washington National Cathedral and heard from contemporary leaders in business, politics and education. They also spent one day in Philadelphia, where they toured Independence Hall and another day at Civil War battlefields of Antietam and Gettysburg.

The Chronicle of Higher Education named Baylor University to its “Great Colleges to Work For” honor roll for the fifth consecutive year. The survey results recognize the universities and colleges that get top ratings from their employees on workforce practices and policies. Of the 42 national universities awarded Honor Roll status, Baylor is one of only three schools in the large university category—10,000 or more students—to achieve recognition in 11 of the 12 categories honoring specific best practices and policies. 

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges approved Wayland Baptist University to begin offering the doctor of management degree program online next summer. The program focuses on practical application of management practices and is designed for working professionals. The 60-hour degree will be offered completely online and will consist of 10 11-week terms, with students taking two classes each term. 

Baylor University received a $10 million gift to the department of communication sciences and disorders. Made by Baylor alumni who wish to remain anonymous, the gift will be used to enhance leadership, program and faculty development; extend funding for research, collaborations and community engagement; and significantly expand the capacity of the graduate program. As a component of Baylor’s newly formed Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences, the department encompasses speech language pathology, audiology and deaf education and has graduated more than 1,200 speech-language pathologists. The gift’s most immediate and visible effect will be the relocation of the department of communication sciences and disorders from Neill Morris Hall to the Cashion Academic Building, which will be renovated for the program’s needs. Approximately 18,000 square feet on the building’s first floor will provide space for clinical work, while classroom and lab space will be made available on another floor. Faculty offices located in the adjoining Hankamer Building, formerly home to the business school, will afford greater opportunity for collaboration among faculty members and easy access to students.