Texas Tidbits

U.S. News honors Texas Baptist schools. Baylor University ranked in the top tier—No. 79 out of 262 schools—in the annual U.S. News and World Report list of top national universities. In that category, Baylor ranked third in the Big 12 and fifth in Texas universities. Among individual programs ranked by the magazine, Baylor’s undergraduate engineering program moved up to No. 11 among schools which only offer bachelor’s or master’s degrees in the field, while the entrepreneurship program ranked No. 15. The Hankamer School of Business ranked as the No. 57 undergraduate business program in the country. In the western division of the regional universities category, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor ranked No. 30, Hardin-Simmons University ranked No. 32, Houston Baptist University ranked No. 50, Dallas Baptist University ranked No. 51, and Wayland Baptist University ranked No. 62. Howard Payne University ranked No. 2 among regional schools in the magazine’s “Best Colleges, Best Values” category. 

Baylor, HSU named ‘best in the west.’ Baylor University in Waco and Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene were among the 120 colleges and universities named by The Princeton Review in the “best of the west” section of its website, “2011 Best Colleges: Region by Region.” In addition to 120 schools in 15 western states, The Princeton Review also designated 218 colleges in the Northeast, 152 in the Midwest and 133 in the Southeast as best in their locales. Collectively, the 623 schools named regional bests constitute about 25 percent of the nation’s 2,500 four-year colleges. For this project, The Princeton Review asks students to rate their own schools on several issues—from the accessibility of their professors to quality of the campus food—and answer questions about themselves, their fellow students and campus life. Baylor University also ranked No. 10 nationally in the “most religious students” category.

HSU, UMHB named ‘military-friendly’ schools. G.I. Jobs magazine has named Hardin-Simmons University and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor to its list of military-friendly schools. The designation means the two Texas Baptist universities rank among the top 15 percent of schools across the nation in doing the most to embrace America’s veterans and military personnel as students. Criteria for making the list include efforts by universities to recruit and retain military and veteran students. The designation also takes into account a school’s ability to be flexible if military personnel are called to active duty.

Correction: A name was omitted from the list of Texans tapped for service on committees and commissions of the Baptist World Alliance published in the Aug. 16 Baptist Standard print edition. Thomas Sanders, director of the childhood ministry program at Dallas Baptist University and member of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, was elected to serve on the Commission on Theological Education and Leadership Formation.