Around the State: HSU hosts annual Western Heritage Day

Hardin-Simmons University expects about 3,000 students from schools throughout the Big Country region for its annual Western Heritage Day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 27. The educational event includes booths, exhibits and life demonstrations depicting life on the Texas frontier in the 1880s.

Tamiko Jones (left), executive director-treasurer of Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas, welcomes new officers (left to right) Jackie Evans Faughn, president; Brenda Bourgeois, vice president; and Lynn Montgomery, recording secretary. (WMU of Texas Photo)

Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas elected Jackie Evans Faughn of First Baptist Church in McKinney to a one-year term as president during the annual meeting and missions celebration, April 21-22, at Hunters Glen Baptist Church in Plano. Other officers elected were Brenda Bourgeois of Southcrest Baptist Church in Lubbock as vice president and Lynn Montgomery of Mount Olivet Baptist Fellowship in Tyler as recording secretary. The weekend event included special-interest workshops, missions discipleship training and visits with missionaries. Project: Start, a ministry of the intercultural ministry of Texas Baptists, collected donations to support refugee families in the Dallas area, a Mary Hill Davis Offering-supported ministry. The Project: Start Refugee Resource Center focuses on helping refugees and seeks to connect them with life, career, personal and spiritual assistance.

East Texas Baptist University senior Mollie Dittmar is presented with flowers by Holly Edwards, assistant vice president for student engagement and dean of students,at the 76th annual Senior Girl Call-Out. (ETBU Photo)

Mollie Dittmar of Buffalo was honored April 21 during East Texas Baptist University’s 76th annual Senior Girl Call-Out. Selected by a faculty and staff vote, one senior female student is “called out” each year for her exemplary Christian character, social consciousness, personal poise, academic achievement and spiritual vision. Dittmar is a secondary math education major and a member of the ETBU women’s basketball team who recently was named the 2022-23 ASC Sportsmanship Athlete of the Year. She has served on ETBU’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes leadership team, as well as a Tiger Camp leader each fall. At the Marshall campus of Mobberly Baptist Church, she teaches a preschool Connect Group and serves on the college ministry leadership team. She also will serve as the church’s children’s ministry apprentice this summer.

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor will offer a Bachelor of Arts degree in religion and public life, beginning in the fall 2023 semester. The religion and public life major is designed for students who are passionate about justice and wish to serve beyond the local-church setting. This degree explores the complicated intersection between religion and American culture from historical, theological and sociological perspectives. The Bachelor of Arts degree in religion and public life is one of several new undergraduate degrees UMHB will offer in the fall. A Bachelor of Science degree in social data analytics piloted last fall officially will be added to the new programs offerings in the fall semester. The other new programs are Bachelor of Science degrees in bioinformatics, cybersecurity, neuroscience, educational advocacy and information systems.

Baylor University named Mikeal Parsons, who has taught in the religion department since 1986, as university distinguished professor. The title is bestowed on faculty for outstanding achievement in scholarship and creative activity, national and international recognition in their discipline and mentorship of colleagues and students. In nearly four decades on the Baylor faculty, Parsons has written or edited more than 30 books and 60 peer-reviewed articles and essays, and he has supervised about 30 doctoral dissertations.

Houston Christian University—formerly Houston Baptist University—named Lynn H. Cohick as distinguished professor of New Testament and director of Houston Theological Seminary. Cohick, who begins work June 1, will direct the new Doctor of Ministry degree program. “We are thrilled to have Lynn Cohick join the theology faculty of Houston Christian University. Her presence as a scholar, leader, teacher and mentor in the School of Christian Thought will not only add to the visibility of the university and the seminary, but have a significant impact on churches near and far, beginning in Houston,“ President Robert Sloan said. Cohick previously was provost and dean of academic affairs at Northern Seminary, where she developed the school’s Doctor of Ministry program and led the Center for Women in Leadership. She also has served at Wheaton College and Denver Seminary. She earned her undergraduate degree from Messiah College and her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.