Accrediting body approves ETBU and Carroll merger

The pending merger of East Texas Baptist University and B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary passed another milepost when a major regional institutional accrediting agency granted its approval.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges board of trustees on June 13 approved the merger and doctoral level status change for ETBU following an on-site review and recommendation of its substantive change committee.

“I applaud the work of ETBU and B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary faculty and staff, who collaborated over the past two years to create this opportunity for the merger and ETBU’s doctoral level status change. We are moving forward in the process of merging operations of Carroll Seminary into the university,” ETBU President J. Blair Blackburn said.

“We are grateful to the East Texas Baptist University board of trustees and B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary President Gene Wilkes and the Carroll board of governors for their leadership and support to advocate and affirm the vision and processes for the consolidation of Carroll Seminary as a part of ETBU.”

In February 2023, the governing bodies of ETBU and what was then the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute approved resolutions authoring an exclusive agreement to merge the administrative and academic operations of B.H. Carroll as part of ETBU.

Under the agreement, the institute became B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary and will be embedded in ETBU.

At that time, B.H. Carroll was accredited to award master’s degrees and doctoral degrees by the Association of Theological Schools and the Association of Biblical Higher Education. ETBU was accredited by the SACS Commission on Colleges to award baccalaureate degrees and master’s degrees.

‘Train men and women called to serve Christ’

Gene Wilkes, president at B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary, applauded the action by the SACS Commission on Colleges board, and he expressed appreciation to Blackburn and ETBU Provost Thomas Sanders.

“This most recent affirmation is one more piece of evidence of God’s favor as we follow him into our shared future. I am grateful to Drs. Blackburn and Sanders for their servant leadership throughout this journey and the partnership they provide for Carroll’s faculty and staff,” Wilkes said.

“The embedding of Carroll Seminary into such a quality university as East Texas Baptist will maximize our mission to train men and women called to serve Christ and his church.”

Last month, Texas Baptists’ Theological Education Council and Institutional Relations Committee endorsed the nine master’s degree programs, the doctor of ministry degree and the three Ph.D. degree programs that will be offered by B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary at ETBU. The doctor of ministry degree and doctor of philosophy degrees offered by B.H. Carroll will mark the first doctoral degrees granted by ETBU.

With the accrediting agency’s approval and the upcoming final votes by the board of the two institutions in July, students pursuing the degrees approved by the council and the Institutional Relations Committee will qualify for ministerial financial assistance through the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

“ETBU welcomes B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees and donors into the ETBU family. With God’s vision and plans revealed to us, the merger consolidation strengthens Carroll Seminary’s kingdom impact in educating and training theological and ministry leaders for generations to come,” Blackburn said.

“Our investment in graduate theological education and equipping pastors, ministers, missionaries, chaplains, Christian scholars and Christian organizational leaders for the kingdom will have new reach and trajectory, as ETBU expands its theological academic programs as a Level VI institution of higher learning.”