Houston Baptist University
 |
|
| Motto | John 14:6 |
|---|---|
| Type | Private University |
| Established | 1960 |
| President | Dr. Robert B. Sloan, Jr. |
|
Academic staff
|
152 (2014) |
|
Administrative staff
|
231 (2014) |
| Students | 3,160 (Fall 2015) |
| Undergraduates | 2,235 (Fall 2015) |
| Postgraduates | 910 (Fall 2015) |
| Location | Houston, Texas, United States |
| Campus | Urban, 100 acres (0.40 km2) |
| Colors | Blue and Orange |
| Athletics | NCAA Division I - Southland Conference |
| Sports | 17 Varsity Sports |
| Nickname | Huskies |
| Mascot | Wakiza II (Live), Mingo (Animated) |
| Affiliations |
Baptist General Convention of Texas SACSCOC |
| Website | www |
Baptist General Convention of Texas
Houston Baptist University (HBU) is a private Baptist university founded in 1960. It is located in the Southwest Management District (formerly Greater Sharpstown) in Houston, Texas, near the Southwest Freeway. The Cultural Arts Center houses three museums: the Dunham Bible Museum, the Museum of American Architecture and Decorative Arts, and the Museum of Southern History.
Houston Baptist College was created by action of the Baptist General Convention of Texas on November 15, 1960, culminating many years of work and study. The aim of the college founders was the establishment of a Christian college of the highest order in the city of Houston that stressed quality of life and higher education.
In 1952, the Union Baptist Association authorized a committee to study the possibility of locating a Baptist college in Houston. With the assistance and encouragement of the Education Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the committee conducted a survey in 1955. Acting upon information obtained with the endorsement of the Education Commission, the Association approved the concept of establishing a new college. In 1956, the Executive Board of the Baptist General Convention of Texas approved a recommendation that Houston Baptists be given assurance that the Convention would support such a college when the College Committee of the Union Baptist Association had succeeded in acquiring both (1) a satisfactory site for a campus of at least 100 acres, and (2) a minimum corpus of at least $3 million. Of this sum, one and one-half million dollars would constitute a nucleus endowment fund; $1.5 million would be designated for a physical plant. The Union Baptist Association accepted these conditions and endorsed the requirements set up by the state Baptist convention.
In 1957, a Houston land developer, Frank Sharp, offered to sell Union Baptist Association 390 acres (1.6 km2) in southwest Houston for the construction of a college. The Board of Governors of Rice University agreed to lend most of the money needed with the land as collateral. To complete the funding, twenty-five business men, since called "founders", pledged to be responsible for $10,000 each. Therefore, by 1958, a campus site of 196 acres (0.79 km2) was acquired in southwest Houston, and, in 1960, the initial financial goal of repaying the loan was reached as a result of a campaign among the churches. Much of the land was used to build for-profit housing, much of which included the development that will later become the seeds for the Sharpstown community, and the Memorial-Hermann Southwest hospital, land that is still property of HBU.
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