Houston Baptist University received $15 million from Archie W. and Linda Dunham—the largest single gift in the university’s history. It will fund scholarships and provide assistance for the Dunham Bible Museum, and HBU President Robert Sloan announced the naming of the Archie W. Dunham College of Business in their honor. “We have long been blessed at HBU to be able to point our students to Archie and Linda Dunham as examples of the transforming power of Christian faith and Christian influence in the world,” Sloan said. “Archie and Linda Dunham represent everything we celebrate at HBU—Christian faith, character, service to others, generosity and excellence in all the things that truly matter.” Dunham is the nonexecutive chairman of Chesapeake Energy. He served as chairman, president and chief executive officer of Conoco, then as chair of ConocoPhillips. The Dunhams serve on the HBU President’s Leadership Council, and they are members of Second Baptist Church in Houston.
Baylor regents approve doctorate, OK new sports center. Baylor University’s board of regents voted to establish a new Ph.D. program in entrepreneurship in the Hankamer School of Business and approved $1.1 million for the design and construction of the Simpson Strength and Performance Center in the Simpson Athletics and Academic Center. Baylor will become only the seventh U.S. university accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business to offer a doctoral program specific to entrepreneurship. The Simpson Strength and Performance Center will be located in the renovated and expanded weight room in the Simpson Athletics and Academics Center. The project will include new space dedicated to sports nutrition and applied performance, along with equipment and technology upgrades. In other board action, Baylor regents approved a 2015-16 budget of $560.7 million that reflects an increase of 2.4 percent over the current budget. It includes an additional $17.7 million to support scholarships for undergraduates, graduates and professional students, and graduate assistantships.
Inmates complete seminary prison program. This month, 33 inmates in the Darrington Unit—a Texas Department of Criminal Justice maximum-security prison in Rosharon—made history when they received bachelor’s degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, becoming the inaugural graduating class of the state’s first seminary prison program. The program began in fall 2011. Each year since, a new class of 40 students has been added to the program, with 114 currently enrolled. This summer, about two-thirds of the graduates will be transferred to six maximum-security facilities in Huntsville and Tennessee Colony to replicate the program. The rest will remain at Darrington to mentor underclassmen.
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