Sacrifices made college dream reality
As the first physician to permanently establish a practice on the high plains of West Texas, Dr. James H. Wayland had a dream of bringing more than medicine to the people. He saw the need for an institution of higher learning based on teaching Christian principles.
A native of Missouri, Dr. Wayland graduated from the Kentucky School of Medicine and moved to Texas in 1883. After a serious bout of typhoid fever and chronic allergies, he and wife Sarah moved to Plainview in 1891 for the climate. He set up a medical practice covering a more than 250-mile radius, stretching from Amarillo to Lubbock and eastern New Mexico to Childress.
Dr. Wayland prospered through his practice, a drugstore he operated and a small cattle ranch. As more pioneers settled the area, he saw the growing need for education.
The couple donated $10,000 and 25 acres of land to start the college, asking area churches to help. In 1908, the school was chartered as Wayland Literary and Technical Institute by the State of Texas.
In 1910, the name was changed to Wayland Baptist College.
Classes began in the fall of 1910 in the one building on campus. Thus was born a liberal arts institution steeped in tradition and heritage that has been a pioneer in the field of education, paving the way for integration, women’s athletics and other areas throughout its existence.
From the start, Wayland has believed in making dreams reality.
University built on foundation of faith
From its birth, Wayland Baptist University was a dream come true for a Baptist doctor who longed for the people of the High Plains of Texas to have a place to earn an education. But his charge was specific: he wanted that institution to be a place where knowledge was shared in the context of faith in Christ.
Dr. Wayland’s initial gift was presented as a challenge to area churches in the Staked Plains Baptist Association to match his gift as a showing of their commitment to a Baptist school in the region. They met the challenge and symbolically married themselves to the new college.
Not much has changed since those days. The churches and associations surrounding Wayland have supported her for more than a century, sending financial support through the Cooperative Program or in direct gifts to student scholarships as well as sending their own students to study here.
In turn, Wayland has seen the churches as one of its primary constituents, providing students and faculty for their ministry teams, sending out revival teams and performing groups, helping with youth events and hosting events on campus for area youth to learn and grow spiritually.
Just a few years into its existence, the university started the Panhandle-Plains Pastors’ and Laymen’s Conference, bringing in guest speakers and musicians for a time of learning and renewal for area churches. In 2009, that event will celebrate its 88th year as one of the longest running such events.
On our campuses, faith is still alive, with the Baptist Student Ministry and chapel services weekly in Plainview. On the external campuses, spiritual emphasis weeks help spotlight that faith heritage. Systemwide, a policy of hiring Christian employees who uphold Wayland’s mission to provide a distinctively Christian environment keeps Dr. Wayland’s vision going.
Employees sacrificed much for success
From Dr. Wayland’s initial gift of land and money to found the college, Wayland has been blessed with individuals who believed so strongly in the vision and mission of this university to make sacrifices to see her succeed.
Dr. I.E. Gates, the first president of Wayland, arrived when the administration building was not completed, and he thrust himself wholeheartedly into the role of leader and development officer.
“Wherever I may go and whatever I may do, I shall remember the six years of toil and sacrifice we had together in establishing what I deem a great college,” said Dr. Gates in his resignation letter, having raised $250,000 for the college.
In 1932, the college faced another crisis as all of Wayland’s money vanished when the banks closed. The board of trustees met with President George McDonald, feeling the school would have to close. But McDonald pulled together the Wayland faculty, asking who would stay without pay. All but one agreed, and any money that came in was divided among the staff after bills were paid. Meals were served on campus with food donated or received as payment for students’ tuition, and no one went hungry.
As the economy has ebbed and flowed and the purse strings have been tighter at times than others, Wayland has lived through lean days when closure threatened. Were it not for courageous leaders who gave all, employees who remained loyal, and donors who made their own sacrifices to support a place that God had his hand upon.
Great has been His faithfulness over all these years!
Wayland pioneered in many areas
While Wayland was not the first college to be built in Plainview, it has stood has the oldest educational institution in continuous existence on the High Plains of Texas, proving the fortitude of those who led and learned here.
Along the way, though, this little school in West Texas has proved to be a giant in areas that were vital to its growth and existence and literally changed the world for many.
In 1951, in response to a request from Floydada teacher Annie Taylor, the university under President Bill Marshall voted to voluntarily integrate and admitted five black students that summer for continuing education, making Wayland the first four-year liberal arts college in the former Confederate states to do so. That next year, more black students would enroll and enrich the school’s student population, though some predicted its demise after the controversial decision.
Just a few years earlier, Marshall had garnered much attention by banning smoking by Wayland students, long before the U.S. Surgeon General issued a warning about smoking. That move also resulted in enrollment growth.
With a background in foreign missions, Marshall initiated a program to bring international students to Wayland, resulting in the school at one time having a larger percentage of such students than any other American college or university.
Wayland has also been a pioneer in women’s sports, boasting a nationally-known basketball program long before it was common. The university’s move to open external campuses, beginning in 1974 in Wichita Falls, was also rare at the time, marking a belief that adult and military students deserved the Wayland experience.
Service is standard at university
With its roots in the Christian faith, Wayland Baptist University could not help but become a center for servant leadership and service to its community and beyond.
Within its first few years of founding, the college formed the Volunteer Mission Band, a large group of students who traveled on weekends to preach, lead music, sing and serve at churches all over. While being a great hands-on training exercise for Wayland’s ministerial students, the Band was also a great service to churches who could not afford to bring in guest ministers for revivals or pulpit supply.
That group was active for a number of decades, and current students participate in similar activities through the Office of Church Services and the Baptist Student Ministry. Student groups can be found ministering in area nursing homes, low-income housing complexes and other locations, serving as the presence of Christ to the community.
Beyond Wayland’s walls, a focus on missions has taken students from hurricane cleanup in New Orleans to beachside evangelism in South Padre Island and far beyond. Students regularly serve on summer missions around the world and impact teams from WBU have traveled to Russia, Kenya, Germany and other locations to work, serve and spread the Gospel message.
In the past few years, an emphasis on giving back to the community has resulted in the annual Degree of Difference Day in which nearly 300 students and employees have joined forces to do service projects for churches, nonprofit entities and others in Plainview for one day. The impact – on both participants and recipients – has been amazing and many have been bitten by the service bug.
Arts are strong part of university life
Students with a need to express themselves find plenty of opportunities in the Fine Arts at Wayland Baptist University.
Two thriving, growing academic schools offer degrees in a variety of fields from music education to mass communications. But they also offer performance groups and hands-on experiences that enrich a student’s academic training and allow them to share their unique talents.
It’s been a tradition at Wayland since day one, when the first academic school year offered classes in voice, piano and art. It was important then to offer a liberal arts education where students were well rounded, and it remains vital to who Wayland is.
While band and choir have been around for decades, the more well-known groups at Wayland came later. The International Choir was founded by Dr. Shelby Collier in 1949, offering a unique platform of performing works from around the world dressed in costuming to match.
That group enjoyed great notoriety and performed far and wide, and while today’s group is no longer in costume, the International Choir remains Wayland’s premier vocal group. A smaller vocal ensemble, Spirit was formed in 1975 and has traveled extensively to respresent WBU with a more contemporary program of gospel and popular songs.
Wayland’s theatre department boasts an active group who produce three plays each year and a series of short plays directed by students, titled “Shorts.” The group has also traveled and entertains full houses regularly in the hands-on lab for theatre students.
The visual arts department produces talented artists in various mediums and coordinates an art galleryon campus exhibiting works of noted regional artists, students and faculty and others, a popular venue for many.
Athletes excel on, off playing field
Throughout its long existence, Wayland has enjoyed great success and notoriety in the athletic arena, and her athletes and coaches are still revered by many as the best in their field.
Probably the best known entity is the Flying Queens women’s basketball team, who secured national attention when Claude Hutcherson began sponsoring and piloting the team to its games around the country. The Queens remain one of the winningest programs (1,300+) and maintain a record for consecutive wins with 131 in the 1950s. Their longtime coach, Harley Redin, was influential in bringing changes to the women’s game and is hailed as one of the all-time greats of the game far beyond WBU. Many Flying Queens have gone on to have successful coaching careers of their own.
Wayland’s track and field programs have boasted nine NAIA national championships, dominating the 1980s, and current athletes continue to break school records.
Wayland also fields a men’s basketball team, which finished as national runner-up in 1985 and has returned to national tourney appearances in recent years.The men’s golf program continues to grow and excel, finishing second in the nation in 2007 and earning accolades with the Champions of Character Award.
Women’s volleyball competes in the Sooner Athletic Conference well, as does Pioneer Baseball. And women’s soccer is in the growing stages as the newest offering on campus.
Wayland’s athletes are top caliber off the court as well, and two have received the nationwide Dr. Leroy Walker Sportsmanship Award from the NAIA since its inception in 1999.
External campuses extend mission, opportunity to adults, military
Good things must be shared, and that belief first led Wayland to consider distance learning opportunities in the late 1940s with a language institute in Guadalajara, Mexico.
A few decades later, Wayland began offering courses to law enforcement officers in Lubbock as part of a special federal grant providing for their continuing education.
In 1974, however, Wayland made a more permanent move by establishing the first external campus location on Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. Invited by the military to provide educational opportunities to their personnel and families, the campus flourished and Wayland’s reputation grew among Air Force officials and airmen alike. The Bachelor of Science in Occupational Education degree, which allows adult students to earn credit hours based on previous job training or experience and allowed for a wide breadth of majors, became popular among servicemen and women who struggled to pull together credits from various universities as they were transferred or deployed.
With that popularity and success came more requests from the U.S. Armed Forces, and campuses were established in Lubbock, Amarillo and Aiea, Hawaii, by the end of the decade. The campuses established a schedule offering night classes in a quarterly format, allowing students to accelerate their degree completion and work around daytime jobs.
Over the years, the growth trend would continue, with Wayland adding campuses in San Antonio (1984), Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska (1985), Phoenix, Arizona (1991), Sierra Vista, Arizona (1997), Clovis, N.M. (1997) and Albuquerque, N.M. (1999).
That same year, Wayland began a partnership with the Kenya Baptist Theological College, sending professors for three-week stints to teach courses toward an associate’s degree in religion. In the summer of 2003, the first Wayland degrees were granted in Kenya.
In the next few years, the university received approval to offer the full course load for a bachelor’s degree, and more professors began visiting the East African nation. In the summer of 2008, the first bachelor’s degrees will be awarded in Kenya, opening new doors to native residents who often serve as bivocational pastors in their countries.
The newest external campus was opened on Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma in 2001, and the university began offering classes through the Internet on the “Virtual Campus” that same year. In 2006, the university offered its first online degrees, opening master’s degrees in education, religion and business to a new audience of learners.
Currently, nearly 2,500 students are enrolled in online courses and the first completely online bachelor’s degrees are slated to be offered in the near future.
Flexibility and creativity are the bywords for external campus personnel, who must be willing to work around ever-changing military regulations and deployments and be sympathetic to adult students who juggle the demands of schoolwork with full-time jobs and family responsibilities.
At the same time, they’ve embraced the university’s mission of providing education within a distinctively Christian environment, seeing those campuses as extended arms of the gospel message.
Students’ lives have been changed, dreams of new careers or career advancement have become realities, and the body known as the Wayland family grows richer.
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