The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor athletic department hosted its third annual TouchDOWNS event in conjunction with Down Syndrome Awareness Month. Texas Baptists’ annual Hispanic Leadership Conference will be held Oct. 25-26 at Dallas Baptist University.

Wayland Baptist University received a $300,000 sustainability grant from the Lilly Endowment’s Youth Theology Network for KALEO, a program designed to foster Christian leadership among high school juniors and seniors. Baylor University has extended the contract of President Linda Livingstone.

Howard Payne University celebrated the presidential inauguration of Cory Hines as the university’s 20th president. The Texas Hunger Initiative announced the launch of the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty,

Hardin-Simmons University’s Cowboy Band welcomed high schoolers from around the region for High School Band Day. Diego Silva, director of the Buckner Family Hope Center at Penitas, was part of the inaugural Faith and Opportunity Fellowship Sept. 16-20 in Washington, D.C.

A pair of Baptist chaplains were among about 350 participants in a Swim Across America fund-raising event Sept. 14 at Lake Ray Hubbard that raised about $250,000 for the Innovative Clinical Trials Center at Baylor’s Sammons Cancer Center.

Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon Seminary named Wally Goodman as director of the Doctor of Ministry degree program and Jeff Johnson as director of the Logsdon Seminary campus in San Antonio.

Physical therapy doctoral students at Hardin-Simmons University donated and customized more than 200 wheelchairs for disabled individuals in Thailand. President Linda Livingstone officially announced Baylor University’s plans to pursue Research 1/Tier 1 classification.

Students at Dallas Baptist University and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor participate in community service. TBM volunteers serve lunch to 1,000 students at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Johnny Shelton, chaplain for the Baltimore Ravens football team and founder of Attitudes In Motion, spoke to faculty and staff at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor University.

The Wayland Baptist University baseball program was named the inaugural winner of the Sooner Athletic Conference’s Champions of Character Team Award.

Members of Howard Payne University’s Concert Choir and University Singers recently performed in Austria.Daniel McAfee was named director of Baptist Student Ministries at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

Students from Texas Baptist-affiliated universities, as well as students at state universities serving through Baptist Student Ministries and Go Now Missions, are on the state, domestic and global mission fields this summer.