Around the State: Nurses from Vietnam visit Baylor nursing school; ETBU grad bound for Oxford

Baylor University’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing recently welcomed nurses from Nam Dinh University of Nursing in Nam Dinh, Vietnam, for a graduate nursing visitor program. Two years ago, the two schools signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a cooperative relationship in international nursing education. The Vietnam delegation included the dean of the graduate program, a faculty lecturer, a staff translator from Global Ventures and five graduate nursing students. While in Texas, the group met with leaders from Baylor Scott & White Health in Dallas, McKinney and Plano, as well as Medical Center of Plano, Baylor Heart and Vascular Hospital, and Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. Soon after the Vietnamese group returned home, several faculty members from the Louise Herrington School of Nursing traveled to Vietnam to lecture at Nam Dinh University of Nursing, at an international conference in Hanoi and at the National Women’s Hospital.

Zach Whitlow Zach Whitlow of McKinney, who graduated May 7 from East Texas Baptist University with a bachelor’s degree in religion, will participate in a summer workshop at Oxford University. Whitlow, youth minister at Central Baptist Church in Marshall, was selected for the program based on the expertise he demonstrated in New Testament Greek as an undergraduate student. He will take part in the Logos in Oxford workshop on biblical texts, vocation and the Christian mind June 1-15 at St. Hugh’s College.

Howard Payne University’s New Braunfels Center will host the HPU 5000 May 14. The 5K run/walk race will begin at 8 a.m. at Pavilion 5 in New Braunfels’ Landa Park. All proceeds from the race will go toward the center’s new facility, currently under construction. Entry fees are $25 for early registration and $30 on race day. To register for the race, click here. 

“Blessed are the Peacemakers” is the theme of a fund-raising dinner for the No Mas Violencia ministry, May 27 at Lake Arlington Baptist Church in Arlington. Registration begins at 6:30, and the dinner and celebration is scheduled from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., with music by Keron Jackson and a presentation by David Balyeat, founding president of No Mas Violencia. Cost is $50 per person or $400 per table. Reservations requested by May 18. For more information, click here.

The University of Mary-Hardin Baylor recognized Leroy Kemp, professor of Christian studies, who retired after 32 years on the faculty. Kemp held the Brisco Chair of Religion and Life at UMHB. For 20 years, he was pastor of First Baptist Church in Belton.

Hardin-Simmons University President Lanny Hall confers an honorary doctor of divinity degree on Baptist statesman Emmanuel McCall. Also participating in the ceremony are Larry Baker (left), director of the doctor of ministry program at HSU, and Donald Williford, dean of Logsdon Seminary. (HSU Photo)Hardin-Simmons University awarded an honorary doctorate to Emmanuel McCall, Baptist statesman and civil rights leader. McCall was moderator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, vice president of the Baptist World Alliance, executive staff member of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Home Mission Board and founding pastor of Christian Fellowship Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga. He has been an adjunct professor at Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology since 1996 and was a former adjunct professor at Hardin-Simmons’ Logsdon Seminary.

Jim Denison (center), president of the Denison Forum on Truth and Culture, received the Tom Landry Leadership Award from Dallas Baptist University. Presenting the award are DBU board of trustees member Mike Arnold (left), president of Arnold Stone and CEO of Texas Construction Aggregates, and U.S. Congressman Sam Johnson, recipient of the first Tom Landry Leadership Award in 2007.Dallas Baptist University presented Jim Denison, president and co-founder of the Denison Forum on Truth and Culture, the Tom Landry Leadership Award, named in memory of the former Dallas Cowboys coach. Denison speaks and writes on cultural and contemporary issues and produces a daily column distributed to more than 113,000 subscribers in 203 countries. He is resident scholar for ethics with Baylor Scott & White Health, a senior fellow with the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative and senior fellow for global studies at DBU, where he helps lead the Institute for Global Engagement.

Three faculty members at Baylor University’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing—(left to right) Shelley F. Conroy, Melissa Neathery and Claudia Beal—were named among the DFW Great 100 Nurses.A panel of professionals selected three faculty members at Baylor University’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing to be named among the DFW Great 100 Nurses. Shelley F. Conroy, dean of the school; Claudia Beal, assistant professor; and Melissa Neathery, clinical assistant professor, were selected from among more than 800 nominees. George Brown from Baylor Scott & White Health-Plano, a leadership and innovation online student at the nursing school, also was included among the DFW Great 100 Nurses. Conroy, Beal and Neathery join eight other nursing school faculty previously named to the list.

Howard Payne University students recently recognized for their servant leadership were (left to right) Kelsan Wolverton, TaShana Hooker, Xavier McFalls, Dillon Hughes, Jaclyn Bonner and Joshua Dykes.Howard Payne University recognized six students for their servant leadership. Xavier McFalls, a senior from Amarillo, and Kelsan Wolverton, a senior from Lampasas, received the Nat Tracy Servant Leader Award, established in 1998 to honor the memory of the longtime Bible professor at HPU. Four juniors—Jaclyn Bonner from Lytle, Joshua Dykes from Mount Pleasant, TaShana Hooker from Carrollton and Dillon Hughes from Plano—received HPU Servant Leadership Awards. Established in 2007 by the Moore Foundation and Barney II Foundation, the HPU Servant Leadership Award recognizes student excellence in the areas of leadership and service. A $1,000 scholarship is provided to each recipient of the award, and each student designates $250 of the scholarship award to be given to his or her chosen charity.

The third annual Texas Baptist Golf Classic, held at the Dallas Athletic Club in Dallas, raised about $15,000 for Texas Baptists’ Counseling Services. The event drew 261 participants. Proceeds will provide financial assistance to help ministers and their families connect with a network of about 170 counselors across the state. 

Dan Humeniuk, assistant professor of social work and chair of Howard Payne University’s department of criminal justice, social work and sociology presents the HPU Social Work Advisory Board’s Spirit of Social Work Award to Becky Smith.Howard Payne University’s social work advisory board recently presented its Spirit of Social Work Award to Becky Smith of Brownwood. The award is bestowed annually upon an individual whose career reflects an outstanding contribution to the social work profession or to the field of human services in general. Smith, who works at Senior Care of Brownwood, graduated from HPU in 1997 with an undergraduate degree in social work. She began supervising social work field interns in 2002 and, in that capacity, has overseen nine HPU undergraduate students and one graduate student from The University of Texas at Arlington.

Anniversaries

Clay Searsy, 10th, as worship pastor at PaulAnn Baptist Church in San Angelo

Kevin Ray, fifth, as minister of education/administration at First Baptist Church in San Angelo