Howard Payne University

Infobox University
name = Howard Payne University


motto = "Where Everybody is Somebody"
established = June 20, 1889
type = Private university
president = Dr. Lanny Hall
city = Brownwood
state = Texas
country = USA
Staff =
students = 1,400
free = $39.9 million
free_label = Endowment
campus = Downtown Brownwood, TX
mascot = Yellowjacket
colors = Gold and Blue
website= [http://www.hputx.edu/ http://www.hputx.edu]

Howard Payne University is a four-year private university located in Brownwood, Texas. The current president is Dr. Lanny Hall.

Currently the university enrolls 1,400 full-time students. Howard Payne is known for both the Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom and its Christian Studies program.Fact|date=June 2007 The university is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

HPU founders named the college after Edward Howard Payne, a Missouri resident. Payne, brother in law to John David Robnett, the college's founder, gave the lead monetary gift to start the university.

HPU offers more than 50 majors, minors and pre-professional programs within six schools: Science and Math, Business, Christian Studies, Education, Music and Fine Arts, and Humanities.

Athletic programs include NCAA Division III football, women's volleyball, men's and women's basketball, women's softball, men's baseball, track, and tennis. The HPU mascot is a Yellowjacket named "Buzzsaw".

Past presidents

# Dr. A. J. Emerson 1890 -1893
# Dr. John D. Robnett 1893- 1896
# Dr. James H. Grove 1896- 1908
# Dr. John S. Humphreys (Acting President) 1908-1910
# Dr. Robert H. Hamilton 1910-1911
# Dr. John S. Humphreys 1911-1913
# Dr. James M. Carroll 1913-1914
# Dr. Anderson E. Baten (Vice President & Acting President) 1915-1917
# Dr. Judson A. Tolman 1917-1919
# Dr. L. J. Mims 1919-1922
# Dr. William R. Hornburg (Vice President & Acting President) 1922-1923
# Dr. Edgar Godbold 1923-1929
# Dr. Thomas H. Taylor 1929-1955
# Dr. Guy D. Newman 1955-1973
# Dr. Roger L. Brooks 1973-1979
# Dr. Charles A. Stewart (Chief Executive officer) 1979-1980
# Dr. Ralph A. Phelps, Jr. 1980-1985
# Dr. Don Newbury 1985-1997
# Dr. Rick Gregory 1997-2002
# Dr. Russell Dilday (Interim President) 2002- 2003
# Dr. Lanny Hall 2003 - present

Founding and History

Baptist leaders in Brown County saw a need for a Baptist institution of higher education. At HPU's 1889 founding, sister Baptist school Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, would not exist until 1891 and many found travel to another sister Baptist school, Baylor University in Waco, Texas unfeasible. Late nineteenth century travelers found travel methods unreliable at best and placed themselves at risk of attack from American Indians of the Comanche tribe native to the area. Texas recorded its last Indian attack in the early twentieth century near Santa Anna, Texas.

Daniel Baker College, a Presbyterian institution, began operation near the time local Baptists founded Howard Payne. Ironically, DBC backers began construction on a piece of land directly behind where Howard Payne's Old Main Hall would stand and eventually moved the foundation to the NE corner of Austin and Coggin Avenues. DBC and Howard Payne merged in 1953 after DBC fell into financial difficulties, and after extensive renovation, DBC's main building became the Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom building in 1969.

After initial financial difficulties related to the 1890s financial panic, Howard Payne joined the system of colleges and universities funded by the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The BGCT operated Howard Payne as a junior college from 1900 until 1914, when it regained four-year status.

Dr. Thomas Taylor took office as university president in 1929 shortly before the stock market crash which began the Great Depression. Taylor kept Howard Payne open when other rural, private colleges failed by challenging faculty members to work without pay and house students in their homes without compensation. At the end of the faculty prayer meeting in which Taylor issued the challenge, most faculty members tore up their contracts and agreed to work without pay until the college began operating in the black.

Taylor's successor, Guy D. Newman, took office in 1955 and before retiring from the post in 1973, created the Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom and built most of the campus buildings still in use today.

In 1974, the BGCT recognized Howard Payne's broad academic scope and approved a name change in the school's charter, from "Howard Payne College" to "Howard Payne University."

In 1984, Old Main Hall, the building symbolic of HPU, burned to the ground during finals week. Although the Brownwood Fire Department headquarters sit across the street from the HPU campus, a prank caller phoned in a false alarm in Bangs, a small town 8 miles from the Brownwood city limits, to which the department responded. Before the crews could return to Brownwood, fire completely consumed the 95-year-old building.

Athletics

The school supports an active athletic program for both men's and women's competition in the NCAA Division III. The school is currently a member of the American Southwest Conference.

National Championship teams

Howard Payne University teams achieved national championship status in 1957 and 1964 in NAIA Cross Country, and in 2008 with NCAA Division III Women's Basketball. [http://www.hputx.edu/s/668/howardpayne.aspx?sid=668&gid=1&pgid=871 Howard Payne University Athletics] ]

Football

Football began at Howard Payne in 1903. Gwinn Henry was named the first head coach in 1912 and coached for two seasons. [ [http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_iii/asc/howard_payne/coaching_records.php Howard Payne Football records] ] The current coach is Steve Fanara. Fanara is in his first year as a head coach, and previously served as Howard Payne's defensive coordinator.

Campus life

tudent organizations

tudent elected organizations

Student Government Association, Class Organizations

ervice/pledging organizations

* Alpha Delta Kappa
* Alpha Psi Omega
* Chi Alpha Omega (women's christian sorority chartered in 2002; not the male fraternity)
* Delta Chi Rho
* Delta Pi
* Iota Chi Alpha
* International Student Association
* Kappa Kappa Psi - Zeta Beta
* Phi Kappa Chi
* Sigma Alpha Iota - [http://orgs.hputx.edu/saihpu/ Lambda Epsilon]
* Student Activity Council
* Student Foundation
* Tau Beta Sigma
* Zeta Chi Fraternity
* Zeta Zeta Zeta

Honorary organizations

Gamma Beta Phi, Sigma Beta Delta

Departmental organizations

Beta Beta Beta,
Pi Gamma Mu, SIFE, Social Work Club, Student Speaker Bureau, Athletic Organizations, Cheerleaders, Stingers Drill Team,HPU Yellow Jacket BandGold Coats

Religious organizations

*Baptist Student Ministry
*Fellowship of Christian Athletes
*La Hora Bautista
*Ministerial Alliance

Photo gallery

Notable alumni

*Cynthia Clawson, who is a multiple Dove Award and Grammy Award winning contemporary Christian music artist.
*Ray Hildebrand, half of the duo of Paul & Paula. Jill Jackson (Paula) also attended Howard Payne but did not graduate.
*Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian.
*Gene Street, President and CEO of Consolidated Restaurant Companies, Inc., Dallas, Texas. Founder of country-cooking concept Black Eyed Pea and director of the Texas Embassy cantina in London
*George E. "Buddy" West, state representative from Odessa, 1993—2008

References

External links

* [http://www.hputx.edu/index.aspx University website]
* [http://www.hputx.edu/s/668/howardpayne.aspx?pgid=1013 History of HPU]