Texas Tidbits: Baylor medical scholarships

Foundation gift funds Baylor medical humanities scholarships. The DeBakey Medical Foundation gave Baylor University $500,000 to expand an endowed scholarship in medical humanities. Students awarded the scholarship are designated DeBakey Scholars to carry on the legacy of a family that revolutionized the medical field. Michael DeBakey was a founder of cardiovascular surgery who pioneered coronary artery bypass, helped develop Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals to accommodate wartime wounded more quickly, and helped establish the Veteran’s Administration Medical Center Research System. Lois and Selma DeBakey both are professors of scientific communication at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and pioneered the field of medical communications education.

Texas Baptist universities honored for community service. Dallas Baptist University, East Texas Baptist University and Hardin-Simmons University were named to the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. DBU was given the additional honor of being included in the Honor Roll with Distinction list, something only three other schools in the state accomplished. Launched in 2006, the honor roll highlights the role colleges and universities play in solving community problems and recognizes institutions that achieve meaningful, measurable outcomes in the communities they serve. Of the 690 schools named to the 2013 honor roll, 27 are in Texas.

Howard Payne names VP. Howard Payne University appointed Randy Yeakley vice president for development, effective March 18. Yeakley will oversee the annual fund, programmatic fundraising and other operations at the university’s Harrison House and will serve on the administrative council. Yeakley has been director of research, corporate and foundation giving at LeTourneau University in Longview since 2005. Yeakley earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from HPU and holds a master’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology from Lamar University. He and his wife, Leslie, have two sons, Nicholas, 25, and Richard, 22.

Doctoral program planned at UMHB. The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor plans to offer a doctor of physical therapy degree program, proposed to begin in fall 2014.  The university will seek to develop a program that complies with the requirements of the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education. There are 11 accredited programs in Texas. The doctor of physical therapy degree program would be UMHB’s second doctoral program. It has offered the doctor of education degree since 2007.

Expanded role for Baylor president’s chief of staff. Baylor University President Ken Starr expanded the role of his chief of staff, Karla Leeper, to include new responsibilities as vice president for executive affairs. While continuing to manage the president’s office, Leeper will assume responsibility for the office of governmental relations and Baylor event services.