Texas Tidbits

Posted: 3/02/07

UMHB to ‘doctor’ teachers. The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor will launch its first doctoral program this fall, when it accepts candidates for the doctor of education degree. The new program, approved unanimously by the university trustees, is pending accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. “Moving this university into the realm of doctoral programs has been the desire of many people for many years, and we are pleased to be able to provide this next level of higher education,” university President Jerry Bawcom said. The venture has been named the Leadership in Educational Administration—LEAD—program. In conjunction with the new degree, the university will establish the Center for Leadership, Evaluation, Alignment and Research—CLEAR—to facilitate and support student and faculty research.

Tony Celelli

School of Christian Studies installs Celelli. The South Texas School of Christian Studies installed Tony Celelli as the fourth president in its 30-year history Feb. 1. The school is an independent campus with academic ties to Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon Seminary, Howard Payne University, Texas A&M University and Del Mar College. The school offers certificate programs as well as undergraduate and graduate degrees in Christian studies. Celelli emphasized the importance of the school’s “cooperative spirit” to work through partnerships: “Using our resources in concert with Howard Payne University and Logsdon Seminary, we educate leaders from various religious traditions and ethnicities. In our diversity of relationships, the unity of the gospel prevails.” Celelli, who succeeded Linn Self, earned a master of divinity degree through the school and was an adjunct professor and member of the board of trustees before becoming president. He has been a minister more than 18 years and most recently served on the staff of Second Baptist Church in Corpus Christi.

Matches made in heaven? Try cyberspace. The Baptist General Convention of Texas has launched an upgraded version of Leader Connect, its online resume-matching system. The goal is to improve the connection between churches looking to fill staff vacancies and ministers looking for a place to serve. Leader Connect allows churches with staff vacancies to create position profiles and enables candidates interested in serving in those positions to enter resume information. The system runs matches and sends appropriate resumes to churches for their consideration. A major advantage of the new system is the depth of information used to run the matches. Churches and candidates now are able to create detailed profiles of themselves and of what they are seeking. Leader Connect staff also contact churches and candidates to allow further clarification. Leader Connect is the result of a cooperative effort through the Network for Ministerial Excellence Matching Consortium, formed through a grant from the Lilly Endowment. It has undergone several months of testing and has been revised and customized to fit the needs of Texas Baptists. A church or candidate can log on by visiting www.bgct.org/leaderconnect. Because the new system asks for more information, all churches and candidates who were in the system prior to Feb. 12 must re-enter their information.

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