Around the State: Baylor giving campaign tops $1 billion mark

Baylor University’s Give Light Campaign surpassed the $1 billion mark May 13 with a gift from Paula Hurd from Silicon Valley, Calif. The $7 million gift will be recognized through the naming of the Mark and Paula Hurd Floor at the Baylor Basketball Pavilion. Paula Hurd is a current Baylor regent, and her late husband Mark was a Baylor alumnus and regent. The Baylor Basketball Pavilion, which will serve as the new home for Baylor’s men’s and women’s basketball programs, is one of the priority capital projects within the $1.1 billion Give Light Campaign. “We are truly grateful for Paula’s continued commitment to Baylor University and our vision for building toward Baylor’s future,” said Baylor President Linda A. Livingstone. “Three years ago, Baylor University announced Mark and Paula’s leadership through a gift naming the Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center, which effectively launched the public phase of fundraising for the Give Light Campaign. We are truly honored that the Hurd family’s generosity once again marks a significant milestone of $1 billion raised through the campaign. I am grateful for the Hurd family’s generous gift that is helping once again to ensure we have top-tier resources and facilities for our students and the Baylor Family.”

Kenzie Crews from Keller and Edward Funderburke from Austin were named the Citizenship Award winners for 2021 at Wayland Baptist University. Voted on by students and faculty, the Citizenship Award is the highest honor given each year to a Wayland senior male student and female student. Crews, who majored in English education, served as a President’s Ambassador and was a member of Student Foundation, the Baptist Student Ministry leadership team and Council of Student Organizations. Crews was also the student director of Koinonia in 2020. She will start her teaching career next fall at a high school in the Dallas area. Funderburke, who majored in music theater, served on the Student Union Board and was a member of the Wayland Show Choir and International Choir, and he was the president of Student Foundation. He will pursue a master’s degree in education and hopes to teach performing theater arts.

Dallas Baptist University awarded degrees to 554 graduates during four in-person commencement ceremonies May 13-14. The university conferred 333 bachelor’s graduates, 209 master’s graduates, and 12 doctoral graduates. Jurie Kriel of Austin, co-founder of the NXT Move initiative and catalyst for cities for the Lausanne Movement, spoke at two of the commencement services. Mike Simmons, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Cedar Hill; and William Jan Daehnert, associate professor and interim director of the Master of Arts in Student Ministry program at DBU, spoke at the other ceremonies.

Three Howard Payne University students were recognized as Outstanding Delegates during a recent Model United Nations conference hosted in Montreal—Sierra Ross, a senior from Galveston; Joseph Lahmann, a senior from Killeen; and Hallie Burden, a sophomore from Nederland. Madison Tuck, a sophomore from Edgewood, N.M., also represented HPU at the conference and helped lead her committee to a win. The HPU delegation was led by Madeline DuPré, a senior from Leander, and Jacob Lehrer, a senior from Midland. Model United Nations is a diplomatic simulation that uses current world issues to allow students to practice problem-solving. Participants represent various nations as delegates and follow diplomatic procedure, including caucusing, writing position papers and presenting in formal settings, following the model of the United Nations. The international conference included more than 140 students in delegations representing 22 institutions in China, England, Germany, Indonesia and Uganda, as well as the United States and Canada. HPU’s three awards were of a total of six that were presented to the four American institutions represented at the conference.

Sarah Herrington has joined the faculty of the School of Music at Wayland Baptist University as director of choral studies. Herrington spent the last nine years at Lubbock Christian University as an instructor of voice and collaborative pianist. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Wayland in 2000, then went on to earn a master’s degree in vocal performance from Texas Tech University in 2005 and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral conducting from Texas Tech in 2008. She served Wayland previously as an adjunct professor of voice and was director of the Wayland Singing Women and the Spirit vocal ensemble. She has served as accompanist or choral director for area churches, including First Baptist Church in Shallowater and Second Baptist Church in Lubbock. She was director of the regional chapter of the Singing Women of West Texas for Texas Baptists. She also has taught public school and worked as an accompanist and collaborative pianist with the Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Choral Directors Association and Texas Tech University. She and her husband Scott, former Wayland choral director, have two sons.

Pastor Michael Evans of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Mansfield, who also is mayor of Mansfield, will be the keynote speaker for the online Advocacy Day 2021 event at 10 a.m. on May 27. “Advocating for the oppressed” is the theme of the event, sponsored by the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission. Following the keynote address, 10 workshop videos will be available on topics ranging from “Why Pro-Life is Whole Life: Babies, Moms and So Much More” to “Mobilizing the Faith Community for Public Education Support and Advocacy.” To access all the videos, click here, visit the CLC YouTube channel here, or see the CLC Facebook page here.