Around the State: Global Hunger Relief Run; UMHB names dean of College of Visual and Performing Arts

About 200 participants in the Global Hunger Relief Run, scheduled during the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Dallas, raised more than $6,000 to support hunger relief projects around the world. Through the registration fees paid by the runners, the event raised about $1,000 more than last year’s inaugural run in Phoenix. Eighty percent of Global Hunger Relief funds are used overseas through the work of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board and Baptist Global Relief. The North American Mission Board distributes the other 20 percent of the money with the help of Baptist state conventions. The Baptist General Convention of Texas was among the sponsors of the 2018 Global Hunger Relief Run.

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor named Kathryn Fouse dean of its College of Visual and Performing Arts, effective July 2. She earned her undergraduate degree from Baylor University and her master’s degree from Southern Illinois University. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance degree from the University of North Texas. Fouse arrives at UMHB from Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., where she has served as professor of piano and associate dean for the Division of Music since July 2011. Prior to her time at Samford, Fouse was the faculties of the University of North Texas, Texas Wesleyan University, Collin County Community College and Lon Morris College.

During the most recent fiscal year—and the first year Linda Livingstone was president of Baylor University—the school raised more than $113 million in gifts. It marked the seventh consecutive year Baylor surpassed the $100 million benchmark in fund-raising. The $113 million was a 12 percent increase over the previous year and the second-largest fund-raising total in Baylor’s history. It also marked an 8 percent increase in the number of donors. New gifts and pledges from Baylor alumni increased by 27 percent over the previous year, totaling more than $62 million. The total value of gifts and pledges made to Baylor’s endowment increased by 70 percent over the year before, and the total amount designated for student scholarships saw a 48 percent increase.

Houston Baptist University received a $2.5 million gift from the Cullen Trust for Higher Education for its College of Engineering. Funds will go toward recruiting and hiring faculty members, student recruitment and equipping laboratories with resources. The College of Engineering also received a $750,000 gift from the William Stamps Farish Fund to support its cyber security programs. The award will be distributed over three years, and will support the development costs of hiring new faculty members, purchasing equipment, and generally supporting the program during its initial years. To date, the college has received more than $3.7 million and aims to launch in the fall semester. Pending final approval from the regional accrediting agency, tracks of study will lead toward a Bachelor of Science in Cyber Engineering degree, a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering degree and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science degree.

Baylor University received a $1.6 million gift from the Waco Scottish Rite Charitable Foundation that will create a permanent endowment for Camp Success, a free intensive summer language and literacy intervention program for children through the department of communication sciences and disorders in Baylor’s Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences. Baylor launched Camp Success in 2003, with contributions of both time and resources from members of the Waco Scottish Rite. Since then, the four-week summer camp has been offered annually at no cost to participants. This year, 48 graduate students will work alongside faculty, with support from undergraduates, to provide evaluation, therapy and pre/post-testing for children ages 5 to 17 with language and literacy disorders that affect vocabulary, word relationships, sentence structure, sound structure, reading, writing and spelling. Camp Success clients receive approximately 50 hours of one-on-one therapy—equivalent to a full year’s worth of intervention in many school districts. The children represent diverse cultural and economic backgrounds. Camp Success graduated 84 children last summer. This year, 96 children will participate in the program.

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football player Haston Adams was voted the 2017-18 American Southwest Conference Male Athlete of the Year. Adams is UMHB’s 11th ASC Athlete of the Year, more than any other conference school. Adams, a senior defensive tackle from Beckville High School, earned ASC Defensive Player of the Year honors after leading UMHB to a 14-1 record and an NCAA Division III National Runner-Up finish. He is a two-time All-American, two-time All-Region and three-time ASC All-Conference selection. Adams played for four ASC Champions and four NCAA postseason qualifiers during his career and was a key member of the 2016 NCAA Division III National Championship team. UMHB posted a 51-4 overall record in his four seasons with the program. Adams was invited to the Arizona Cardinals rookie minicamp this spring.