Over the past several years, chemistry and biology students at the university have been working with a variety of plants and the impact they could have on treating breast cancer. In particular, they are working with the 4T1 breast cancer cell line, which is a mouse cell line, according to senior chemistry and molecular biology student Taylor Eaves. Eaves is from Phoenix, Ariz. and recently completed his Honors Program thesis project which involved research with rosemary. Other students are working with ginger and bloodroot.

According to Dr. Gary Gray, professor of chemistry and Eave’s project advisor, the 4T1 cell line made sense for the university. The cells grow in culture easily and are well suited for work by undergraduates, they are safe to handle and they represent a good system for conducting research.

“You can inject the cells into the host mouse and tumors grow as if the mouse has cancer, and the beauty of that is that it’s a perfectly set clock,” Gray said. “You inject the cells; you’ll have a palpable tumor with three to five days; within two weeks you’ll see the metastatic progression of the cancer; and it follows the same landmarks, but in a much shorter time frame, as human breast cancer does. So, it’s a nearly perfect model of stage-4 cancer, the advanced stage that no longer responds to hormone therapy and is basically out of control.”

Dr. Adam Reinhart, professor of biological sciences and chemistry, explained that the direction of the university’s research was driven by two things. The first, he said, was the student research component.

“We’re in a unique position at Wayland not to have to do research just to further my career along,” he said. “The reason we do research here is to really help students learn how to do science. So that, in many ways, is why we picked these projects. They’re very well adapted to having students do the work.”

The other driving force was a concern over the fear that centuries of knowledge about natural medicine could be lost if researchers do not begin working to preserve it.

“We’re within a generation, probably, of having most of that knowledge lost because as more modern medicine starts to be available (in Third-World regions) the people that have had a long history of working with medicinal plants have started to lose that. They’re not passing it on to their kids,” Reinhart said.

Wayland has a certified degree program in Kenya and regularly sends professors to teach a variety of classes. Reinhart spent a sabbatical in 2007 teaching at the Kenya campus and it was through that experience that he truly began to see the potential for student research projects on the main Wayland campus in Plainview.

“The project came about in about 2005 when I was really looking for a project that could involve a bunch of students that also had something where we could get some meaningful results,” he said.

As he spent his time in Kenya, he explained, the students there were responsible for collecting different kinds of native medicinal treatments that they would use to treat various kinds of inflammation.

“We were already starting to look at some plant extracts with the possibilities of them killing cancer cells,” Reinhart said, adding that at first researchers were looking at prostate cancer because there is a plant in Kenya — Prunus africanum, or African plum — that has been used historically for treating swelling of the prostate and also had the possibility of treating prostate cancer.

From there, the research moved to other types of cancers and as students took on the initiative one suggested that they consider the mouse cell line.

In particular, the students are looking at plants that have been known to affect inflammation because often cancer cells have elevated inflammatory responses, Reinhart said.

“There is an enzyme called COX-2 (Cyclooxygenase-2) that seems to be at a higher level in a lot of cancer cells. So, we started looking at drugs that were anti-inflammatories and tried to look to see if they also had anti-cancer possibilities. That’s what led to all this,” the professor said, adding that the breast cancer research project is funded, in part, through a $25,000 per year grant to the chemistry department from the Welch Foundation in Houston.

From that beginning, students who come through the program have had the opportunity to advance the long-term projects through research they can do during their time at the university. For Eaves, the choice of which project to work with was based on time constraints. He is a part of the university’s Honors Program and as such, must complete a thesis project. When it was determined that his initial choice was going to require more semesters of work than he had available, he was able to pick up on a branch of the research with Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) that had been started but not completed.

Eaves said researchers already had determined that rosemary was killing cancer cells, “and we wanted to determine how they were doing it.”

He spent the spring doing a literature search and began his research in the fall. He chose carnosic acid and ursolic acid as standards because the literature search showed that those were killing cancer. They had been used on skin and oral cancers, but never on breast cancer. He began to look at them in relation to that and in the course of his work found two components, tentatively named Band 5 and Band 8, which were effective at killing cancer cells. Through using thin-layer chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography and ultraviolet visible spectrum tests, he was able to determine that Band 8 most likely was carnosic acid. However, he was not able to identify Band 5.

“It didn’t match any of the standards and, in fact, it just kind of did its own thing but it was killing the cells, just like Band 8,” he said.

Gray explained that the critical part of the research is determining how the compounds kill the cancer cells. That is important because the process needs to result in programmed cell death, not necrosis which is simply the poisoning of the cell and is indiscriminant.

“If the cell death is caused by a simple poisoning process, we call that necrosis, that’s not useful as a drug because that means it’s going to kill anything,” he said, adding that the students want to isolate the compounds that only kill cancer cells.

He explained that all cells eventually go through a process of programmed cell death as they age. Parental cells divide to produce daughter cells, but eventually “the machinery wears out” and the parental cell will basically initiate its own death process. The idea is to use the compounds from the plants the teams are researching to induce cancer cells to initiate that self-destructive process.

Gray said the beauty of the research is that it is using plants that are safe for normal, healthy human consumption.

“These are plants that were used as food sources: Rosemary, ginger, turmeric — turmeric is used to make mustard, it is the yellow color in mustard — so these are plants that have been eaten for millennia, in some cases, and have no known bad effects to anybody, unless they just happen to be that one person who happens to be allergic to them,” Gray said, adding that the science department is not aware of any clinical studies that show the spices, in particular, have any bad effect on normal healthy cells.

Gray said the university has created a very workable template for examining potential plants for their cancer-fighting potential. At this point, for the most part, the students are now able to run plants through that template and make the appropriate determinations. Other plants that have showed promise are ginger and bloodroot.

The research teams are made up of biology and chemistry students who handle different aspects of the projects as their discipline allows. Joining Eaves in the research work are Libby Saultz, Jarrett Ross and Trevor Burrow.

Saultz is a senior molecular biology major from Amarillo who is the lead student researcher for a team working on one of the projects that is looking at how Zingiber officinalea (ginger root) and Sanguinaria Canadensis (bloodroot) are impacting the 4T1 cell line. Saultz said working together with other research groups is beneficial to their overall education.

“The chemistry students are in on it and the biology students,” Saultz said. “We work together and will be here (in the lab) until late hours of the night and see each other’s results and get excited.”

Eaves’ said the next step for the team will be to identify Band 5 and determine exactly how the compounds are killing the cancer cells. That work will be for someone else, though, as Eaves is set to graduate.

Gray said that the hope of he and his colleagues in the School of Mathematics and Sciences is that the students will find a new cancer-fighting tool through their work and Reinhart said the reality is they may have already. When asked what the chances were that Wayland students could find something that gets the attention of the greater scientific community he was quick with his answer.

“I know we already have,” he said. “We have presented this work at a number of national meetings and had very good discussions with people doing human cancer research. We’re pulling molecules out of ginger root. We don’t know what they are yet, but it’s pretty clear that their not the standard ones that people have worked with.”

Ultimately, that kind of positive professional exposure is what the school wants for its students. Reinhart pointed out that in most undergraduate programs the students do fairly routine work that rarely makes it beyond undergraduate level presentations. Wayland’s students are getting much better exposure than that, he said.

“We’re able to take students and go to national meetings and present this work, not in an undergraduate category, but in the open format where people all over the world will see it,” he said. “A long-term impact on our students has been the success they have enjoyed in graduate school and medical school. These experiences have given them a leg up on getting into post-graduate work.”

The 2013 Female Citizenship Award winner is Libby Saultz.

A native of Amarillo, Libby is the daughter of Sharon and David Saultz. She came to Wayland after graduating from Amarillo High School in 2009. She will graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in molecular biology and a minor in mathematics this spring. While at Wayland, Libby has been an active member of the American Chemical Society, the Mathematical Association of America and Student Foundation.

The Male Citizenship Award winner for 2013 is Keenan Harris.

A native of Perryton, Keenan is the son of Keith and Dorla Harris. He came to Wayland after graduating from Perryton High School in 2009 and will graduate this spring with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematic education and a minor in History. While at Wayland, Keenan has served as a President’s Ambassador and been involved with recruiting for the School of Education. He has been a student leader for Koinonia and other events on campus. Keenan is currently the college minster and leads music at Colonial Baptist Church and he coaches track at Plainview Christian Academy.
The Association of Former Students also recognized an outstanding male and female student as Freshman of the Year as voted on by the Wayland faculty and staff. Laura Castillo, of Plainview, was named Freshman Woman of the Year and Brandon Argueta, also of Plainview, was named Freshman Man of the Year.

Wayland also recognized students with other special awards. Award winners were:
Spinning Wheel Awards: Philip Avants, Katie Bice, Lorenzo Dolphus, Janelle Durrough, Krista Lennox, Angela Lichtie, Nicholas Morales, Aubrey Pedigo, Jenna Swift and Lance Williams.
Senator of the Year: Jaclyn Alford
Religion: Thomas Estes
Religious Education: Laremy Simmons
Recreation and Camp Management: Jessica Martinez
Timothy Award: Matt Molina
English: Rebekah Brown
Spanish: Tim Stone
German: Caitlin McCulloch
Chinese: Lindsay Inscore
Latin: Amanda Page
Biology: Libby Saultz
Chemistry: Jessica Kenneson
Mathematics: Caleb Schumacher
Geology: Hunter Green
Political Science: Michael Holubik
Justice Administration: Ian Mather
Sociology: Brianne Anderson
Psychology: Alyson Lockhart
History: Rachel Laue
Elementary: Carissa Clower
Secondary Education: Victoria Herbert
Middle School Education: Jancee Cotton
Special Education: Krisann Earp
Exercise and Sport Science Education: Trevor Burkhead
Exercise and Sport Science Fitness Management: David Cone
Accounting: Rebecca Day
Business Administration: Scott Langford
Management Information Systems: Samantha Garcia
Management: Ashley Rima
Marketing: Caitlin Walker
Economics: Anders Ellingsberg
Finance: Maria Carrillo
International Management: Nathalia Valencia
Excellence in Art: Monte Ratchford
Piano Award: Andrea Hamric
Vocal Music Award: Christopher Kirby
Choral Music Education: Gerardo Olivares
Church Music: Benjamin Ufford
Instrumental Music Education: Clint Lockhart
Theory and Composition: Brian Spruill
Excellence in Theatre: Coleman Scroggins
Excellence in Communication Studies: Rachel Smith
Excellence in Media Communications: Jordan Herrod

Who’s Who Award: Angel Azua, Hildon Boen, David Brousseau, Rebekah Brown, Hailey Budnick, Trevor Burrow, Connor Carpenter, Charles Carr, Carissa Clower, David Cone, Jancee Cotton, Rebecca Day, Catherine Dunn, Kendra Dunn, Taylor Eaves, Anders Ellingsberg, Thomas Estes, Matthew Evans, Samantha Garcia, Keenan Harris, Victoria Herbert, Angel Hernandez, Jordan Herrod, Michael Holubik, Lindsay Inscore, Sarah Johnson, Jessica Kenneson, Chris Kirby, Scott Langford, Rachel Laue, Angela Lichtie, Clint Lockhart, Elizabeth Miller, Matthew Molina, Gerardo Olivares, Amanda Page, Monte Ratchford, Jon Riddle, Ashley Rima, Damaris Rios, Michelle Ritter, Jarrett Ross, Libby Saultz, Caleb Schumacher, Coleman Scroggins, Joanna Shutts, Brian Spruill, Morgan Switzenber, Ben Ufford, Devin Valentine, Caitlin Walker, Lance Williams, Jenna Wilson, Kaylie Young

Pioneer Scholars: Taylor Eaves, Thomas Estes, Keenan Harris, Victoria Herbert, Lindsay Inscore, Angela Lichtie, Alyson Lockhart, Clint Lockhart, Ian Mather, Ashley Rima, Libby Saultz, Brian Spruill, Jenna Wilson.

Rachel Laue - President's Ambassador

This fall, Laue’s paper “Fighting the Cold War at a Baptist College: Anticommunism in the Wayland Baptist College Trailblazer,” will be published in the West Texas Review, the journal for the West Texas Historical Association that is based at Texas Tech University.
“It’s not often that an undergraduate can even get a paper considered for publication, much less published,” Laue said.

The history major from Great Falls, Mont., wrote the paper for her historical methods class, looking at anti-communist sentiment in the college newspaper during the cold war. At that time, college campuses were typically more politically involved than they are today. As a result, Laue found no shortage of opinions being published in the Trailblazer, Wayland’s student newspaper.

“They were probably more opinionated than a newspaper staff should be,” Laue said. “There were some pretty considerable biases in their articles.”

While Laue found looking at the history of Wayland fascinating, it was her own history that almost kept her from attending college. By every definition of the word, Laue is a non-traditional student, although you wouldn’t know it unless she told you.

“I didn’t go to college at age 18 like everyone else,” she said. “I was 22 when I came here. It hasn’t really been awkward for me because I blend in. I look young.”

Being the first member of her immediate family to attend college, Laue was on her own to find the right fit. It was only in a last-ditch internet search that she found a school that was affordable and offered everything she was looking for in a university.

Born in Missouri, Laue spent her childhood moving back and forth between Missouri and Montana, on nearly a yearly basis. The second of four children, Laue said the constant movement and being home-schooled made it hard to make friends.

“There were a lot of places we lived where I didn’t know anyone. We didn’t go to school, so we didn’t meet people. A lot of places we lived, I only knew my family. That was it,” she said.

Laue explained that her family moved so much partly to look for work and partly because “they were just restless souls.” She said her family was poor and everyone had to work to make ends meet. That meant she had to stay at home and help raise her younger brother and sister.

“I was my siblings caretaker for about nine years, until they were old enough be left alone,” she said.

At the age of 22 Laue finally had a chance to do something she wanted to do – go to college. She began looking in the south – to find a warmer climate, she said – for a faith-based college.

“I decided I would like to go to a Christian college. I didn’t want to deal with having a drunken roommate at 4 o’clock in the morning. Which may or may not happen. …,” she grinned.

Being raised a Baptist, she was looking for Baptist schools first, but the expense of private education was keeping her from finding a suitable school.

“Private institutions are usually really pricey,” Laue said. “I had almost given up and finally, just one last Google search and Wayland came up. I hadn’t seen it in any other search I had done. I think I just put in Baptist Colleges and there it was.”

The next fall, Laue started college as a 22-year-old freshman. She found enough funding to pay for school and chose to live in the dorm with the younger students.

“There were still people around my age,” she said. “I was 22 and 23 and there were still a lot of seniors and older students around. My junior year was the first one where I thought, ‘they are so young.’ There started to be a significant gap.”

Laue’s junior year was also the year she fell victim to a mysterious illness that ended up forcing her to stay home for the entire spring 2012 semester. The onset of the illness, the main symptom of which was extreme exhaustion, was in the fall of 2011 when she missed an entire month of classes.

“I got really sick. They couldn’t figure out what was wrong,” Laue said. “I did kind of rally enough to finish the semester, but when I went home, the doctor said I couldn’t come back to school.”

Laue returned in the fall of 2012, but still feels the effects of the illness.
“I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to stay because I felt so bad,” she said. “I have been doing better this semester. I’m not sure what the difference is. I’m a medical anomaly, apparently.”

Laue picked up where she had left off the previous year. She serves as a President’s Ambassador, an elite group of students hand-picked to represent the Office of the President and the Offices of Advancement at various functions on and off campus. She also has been named to several academic honor societies and was selected this fall to represent the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences as its research champion.
Laue plans to graduate in December and then continue her education in graduate school studying history and archeology. She has a heart for missions and hopes to one day visit the “deepest, darkest jungles of Africa.” An historian by choice, Laue is a writer by nature. She has always been interested in journalism and considered majoring in it before deciding to focus on history. A member of the Sigma Tau Delta literary honor society, Laue pursues creative writing as a hobby. Just don’t ask her about her poetry.

“I don’t do poetry. My poetry is really bad,” she said. “April is a poem-a-day month. I’ve been trying to do that and it is horrible.”

Still, she is currently writing a western, a fantasy story and a “Bridgett Jones” type novel about being a single girl. … And she says she didn’t inherit her parents “restlessness.”
“Maybe I’m a little free-spirited,” Laue laughed. “It just manifests itself a little differently.”

According to Dr. Sammy Van Hoose, an associate professor of business at Wayland and the group’s faculty sponsor, the 10 regions are not named and teams are free to compete in any region they choose. Wayland’s team competed against 33 other teams from Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas, and by winning the regional championship, earned the right to advance to the national competition later in the year.

According to its Website, www.enactus.org, the organization is “a community of student, academic and business leaders committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to transform lives and shape a better more sustainable world.”

Enactus comes from the words “entrepreneurial,” “action” and “us.”

Wayland team members are: Charles Carr (president), Christine Borges, Maria Carrillo, Rosaura Luevano, Celia Juarez and Phoung Voung.

Van Hoose said the organization did a number of fundraisers through the course of the year to raise money to attend the competition and put in a total of approximately 13,000 volunteer hours in service to Plainview and the surrounding communities. In the process, they worked with small businesses, the Plainview Chamber of Commerce and other municipal and business organizations.

Van Hoose said that as part of the competition, the team highlighted three of its projects from the current year.

The first was a series of computer competency courses in which students tutored area residents in needs ranging from computer basics to more advanced computer operations.

The second project involved team members working with a family farm in rural Hale County, helping them upgrade their computer and internet system. As part of the process, the farmers purchased some agricultural software and the students installed it and helped implement it. Van Hoose said that in addition to saving the farmers approximately $100,000 in their farming operation, it also allowed them to save approximately 3 million gallons of water a month.

Finally, Van Hoose said the team highlighted its drug drop-off program. Through that program, area residents are allowed to bring any type of medication or pharmaceutical to a collection point and leave it, no questions asked. The process is overseen by Wayland Baptist University police who then work with the Plainview Police Department to destroy the material in a way that is EPA approved. The sponsor explained that by taking advantage of the drop-off program, drugs can be disposed of in a way that prevents them from leaching into the water system or in other ways damaging the environment. While the program started out slowly a few years ago, Van Hoose said over the past year Enactus has taken in more than 900 pounds of drugs and medication.

As regional champions, the team advances to the 2013 Enactus U.S. national Exposition in Kansas City, Mo., May 21-23.

Eaves, a senior chemistry major from Buckeye, Ariz., gave a brief synopsis of his honors project, “Purification and Characterization of 4T1 Breast Cancer Cell Cytotoxins from Rosmarinus officianlis.” In his project, which is under the direction of Wayland chemistry professor Dr. Gary Gray and is part of a larger one being undertaken by the School of Math and Science, Eaves was attempting to determine if compounds taken from rosemary could be used in fighting breast cancer. Through the use of thin-layer chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography, he was able to evaluate compounds extracted from powdered rosemary root against standards (carnosic acid and ursolic acid). One compound (Band 8) was found to be effective in killing 4T1 breast cancer cells and based upon its chromographic behavior, Eaves was able to determine that Band 8 likely is carnosic acid. That would suggest that carnosic acid could be used as a cancer treatment.

In a presentation during Spring Research Day later in the afternoon, Eaves explained that the next step will be to determine how the compound is killing the cancer cells.

Hannah Wells, a senior English major from Plainview, gave a brief presentation of her honors project, “In the Midst of Years.” The project, which was begun under the direction of Dr. Ashley Faulkner and completed under the direction of School of Language and Literature’s dean, Dr. Cindy McClenagan, is a creative writing project made up primarily of her poetry.

Smith, who spent four decades teaching English and foreign languages at Wayland, came to Texas from Germany as an Army bride. After relating the impact of German immigrants on culture and society in the United States, Smith pointed out that every person and every institution has a story to tell. Among others, Smith said, Wayland’s stories include past professors such as Dr. Sherman B. Neff, one of her favorite English professors when she was a student at Wayland. She explained that in addition to his expertise in the classroom, he took a great interest in his students’ continued success beyond his courses. She also spoke of Dr. Dorothy McCoy, a former mathematics professor who also was passionate about missions and left her estate to the university and her local church as a legacy.

Smith told the students to enjoy their time at Wayland and to understand the legacy they have and the wonderful environment that Wayland represents. She illustrated her point with a final story.

She told of a student of hers from several years back who had been thrilled about completing his time at Wayland and moving on to a larger university.

“A year later,” she said, “I bumped into him on the first floor of Gates Hall. I said, ‘Xavier, hi, how are you? How’s it going?’ and he said, ‘I am coming back to Wayland.’

“ ‘That’s great. Why?’ I asked.

“ ‘Well, you just called me by my name. I was in what I thought was my dream school for a whole year, and not one person ever called me by my name.’

“Wayland has many great stories to tell, about faculty, administrators, but especially its students. So how about adding your name, your stories, your pride to the list,” she concluded.

The luncheon also included recognition of Kathlyn Magallan, who presented the winning design for the honors medallions.

Members of Wayland’s honor societies are:

Honors program participants (under the direction of history professor Dr. Niler Pyeatt): David Brosseau, Hannah Wells, Madison Abbott, Lauryn Bruggink, Joshua Tavares, Christopher Woodcook, Taylor Eaves, Brian Adamson, Jessica Kenneson, Carlos Camarena, Sarah Van der Linden, Michael Holubik, Trevor Burrow, Haley Bonner, Laura Garrison, Emileigh Willems, Rachel Laue, Erin Miller, Sara Flinn, Ashley Price and Rachel Peters.

Alpha Chi (a national honor society sponsored by professor of counseling and psychology Dr. Perry Collins): Rebekah Brown, Charles Carr, Lauren Huckabee, Hailey Budnick, Jancee Cotton, Amber Riley, Rachel Laue, Meagan Dixon, Caitlin Walker, Jennifer Coble and Ian Mather.

Alpha Mu Gamma (foreign languages, sponsored by Spanish professor Dr. Joshua Mora): Yanna Elliot, Garrett Phillips, Sarah Johnson, Justin Sproles, Angel Hernandez, Lindsay Inscore, David Brosseau, Christopher Woodcook, Caitlin McCulloch, Maria Carillo, RaeLeigh Hurst, Ginny Staton, Meagan Dixon and Jessica Martinez.

Alpha Psi Omega (theater, sponsored by the dean of the School of Fine Arts, Dr. Marti Runnels): Elizabeth Miller, Kristofer Bransom, Coleman Scroggins and David Brosseau.

Kappa Delta Pi (teacher education, sponsored by education professor Dr. Jo Beth DeSoto): Lauren Huckabee, Katelyn Johnson, Haley Lunsford and Aubrey Pedigo.

Phi Alpha Theta (history, sponsored by associate professor of history Tom Ray): Heather Gerszewski, Lindsay Inscore, Rachel Laue, Claire Jacobsma, Rebekah Brown, Doris Terrell and Michael Holubik.

Psi Chi (psychology, sponsored by Dr. Perry Collins): Emma Taylor, MacKenzie Rice, Meghan Swanson, Ginny Staton, Brenda McCartie and Krista Campbell.

Sigma Beta Delta (business, sponsored by associate professor of business Dr. George Valentine): Ashley Rima, Jessica Salazar, Samantha Garcia, Caitlin Walker, Matthew Molina and Maria Carrillo.

Sigma Tau Delta (English, co-sponsored by Dr. Cindy McClenagan and assistant professor of English Dr. Laura Brandenburg): Brian Spruill, Amanda Page, Victoria Herbert, Jenny Aldred, Rachel Laue, Kelsey Wright, Lindsay Inscore, Leigh Moreno, Becca Davis, Haley Bonner, Elizabeth Miller, Kaylie Young, Hannah Wells, David Brosseau, Heather Gerszewski, Jaclyn Alford, Alexa Taulbee, Rebekah Brown, Caitlin McCullock, Levonne Castillo, Hannah Goble and Lance Williams.

Draper garners prestigious recognition

PLAINVIEW — Wayland Baptist University sophomore Christion Draper has known from an early age what he wanted to do with his life – and it wasn’t the typical dream of adolescent youth. Draper wants to sing opera.

“I know I want to gig,” Draper said. “I want to go to some opera house and just tear it up on stage and leave it all out there. I want to sing in Sydney (Australia). I want to sing all over the world and be in every single opera I can be in for the baritone role.”

It is Draper’s insatiable love of music that led to his being selected to represent the WBU School of Music in the prestigious Texas Association of Music Schools scholarship competition at which Draper was named the grand-prize recipient.

A charismatic soul, Draper quickly made a name for himself on the Wayland campus. Hungry for knowledge, his professors took note of his willingness to learn and his passion for music.

“He is so excited to be a music scholar,” said Dr. Ann Stutes, Dean of the School of Music at Wayland. “He loves performing, but he also loves learning. When we have students in our classes who enjoy learning as much as he does, it makes our jobs incredibly worthwhile.”

Not only is Draper a model student, but his professors also realized that he is phenomenally talented. As a result, Draper was nominated as the school’s representative in a scholarship competition hosted by the Texas Association of Music Schools.

Stutes explained that a generous donation from the Clara Freshour-Nelson family funds the scholarship competition. The gift was given to the state organization due to the family’s desire to give music students from across the entire state a chance to earn scholarship money. As a result, TAMS set up three competitions, for two-year schools, four-year private institutions and four-year public institutions.

“Every school that is a member of TAMS is allowed to nominate one true second-semester freshman for the scholarship competition,” Stutes said.

The contestants compete and scholarships are awarded based on musical performance and need. Stutes, who judges the two-year and four-year public schools competitions, said the judging committees generally award multiple scholarships in each category depending on how many students they feel are worthy. The judging committee also names a single grand-prize recipient for each of the three categories.

Draper was nominated by the School of Music and submitted an essay and a 10-minute recording of his music. As a result, he was named the grand-prize recipient for the four-year private schools competition, competing against music students from schools such as Baylor, Southern Methodist and Texas Christian University.

“Christion is probably one of the finest vocal students we have ever had at Wayland,” Stutes said.

As a grand-prize winner, Draper will be invited to perform at the TAMS meeting in January.
“I get flown to Austin to sing for all the deans in Texas. I get to put on a mini concert. It’s very prestigious. They are flying in my family, my accompanist, my voice teacher and my fiancée by then … probably,” Draper said with a smile.

His girlfriend/fiancée, Andrea Hamric, has also been recognized as a scholarship winner at the TAMS competition.

Draper said he plans to complete his degree in opera at Wayland then continue his education, earning a doctorate in vocal performance.

“We know he is going to go on from this institution and – what we like to say around here – make the world a better place through his music,” Stutes said.

During the Homecoming Chapel, Director of Alumni Development Danny Andrews recognized Charles and Mary Abercrombie with three honors, including an endowed scholarship established by the couple’s four children. The Abercrombies were also presented with the Distinguished Benefactor Award and the Keeper of the Flame Award, recognizing individuals for significant donations to the university.

Although the couple did not attend Wayland, two of the four children did. Dr. Gary Abercrombie (wife, Janice), of Plainview, and his sister, Trisha Worthen (husband, Bill), both graduated from the university and currently Dr. Abercrombie serves as the chairman of the Wayland Baptist University board of trustees.

The couple’s other children are Carolyn Rollins (husband, Dale) and Jana Carver (husband, Terry).

The Joanne Bowers Chemical Education Endowed Scholarship was dedicated during a special reception held in the Moody Science Building. The scholarship was in recognition of Bowers’ 50-plus years of service through chemical education, teaching at the high school and collegiate levels. Joanne Bowers is married to Dr. J. Hoyt Bowers, longtime science faculty member at Wayland, and the couple has a son, Mark, and two grandchildren.

Other scholarships were dedicated at a special luncheon. The Weldon and Betty Beckner scholarships honor Dr. and Mrs. Beckner who graduated from Wayland Baptist College in 1955, Betty with a B.A. in English and Dr. Beckner with a B.S. in business administration. Following a brief experience as a bookkeeper, Dr. Beckner chose to become an educator and completed 52 years as an educator and educational administrator at the elementary, secondary and university levels, including a return to Wayland as a vice president.

Because they recognize the extreme shortage of male elementary school teachers and the special needs of rural schools, the first of their two scholarships is designed specifically to encourage young men with a faith-based background to become elementary school teachers in rural communities.

Along with their professional careers, the Beckners have enjoyed a lifetime of participation in church music programs. In light of that, the couple’s second scholarship is designed to help students at Wayland who feel God’s call to serve in the music ministry.

Dr. Fred and Sally Meeks were recognized with the endowment of a scholarship that will benefit students at Wayland who plan to pursue vocational Christian ministry. Dr. Meeks served as a pastor before entering education. He taught courses in Bible, theology and Christian ministry for 21 years at Wayland and held the position of Dean of the Division of Religion and Philosophy. He now serves as the director of the Logsdon Seminary Lubbock Program.

Sally Meeks is a registered nurse who served in various hospitals and public schools. She retired as school nurse at Plainview High School in 2006. The couple has two daughters, Marnie and Meredith.

Loren Phillips of Lubbock established the Garland L. and Waty D. Phillips Endowed Scholarship in honor of his parents out of gratitude for their love, provision and Christian influence on his life. Garland Phillips was a native of Rotan and worked for Vulcan Materials in Denver City. Mrs. Phillips was a native of Emory, Texas and was a homemaker.

Because music was an integral part of the family’s life, the scholarship is intended to benefit Wayland students whose passion is to minister to the church through Christian music.

The university also recognized the Browning family for a series of scholarships established based on a generous in-kind gift, including the Hollis W. and Venita Browning Scholarship. Hollis and Venita Browning were married in 1928 and were owners of cotton gins, ice plants and grocery stores, while also being engaged in farming. Hollis died in 1967 and Venita in 1998.

Four other scholarships were named in honor of other members of the Browning family, including the Jean Lee II and Sandra Sioen Browning Scholarship, the Paul and Kathryn Browning Holloway Scholarship, the James and Karen Browning Higgins Scholarship, and the John T. and Alicia S. Browning Scholarship.

The members of the Browning family have been valuable members of the community and the West Texas region serving through business and career fields, as well as in various churches. All of the Browning scholarships are dedicated to assist students seeking a quality Christian education.

Rick Ross, a senior from Muncy, Ind., received second place for his mathematics talk concerning a graph theory problem on which he is preparing an honors thesis. Hailey Budnick, a senior from Missouri City, and Jessica Kenneson, a junior from Wiggins, Colo., presented a poster on their research project identifying an alternative and more cost effective way to identify and analyze enzymes. Dr. Robert Moore, assistant professor of chemistry, said their specific research deals with analyzing an enzyme that plays a role in the tuberculosis organism’s ability to adapt and mutate. However, he feels their discovery of an alternative method could be hugely beneficial to small schools with tight research budgets.

“What is currently available is way outside of the price range and capabilities of what a small school can afford,” Moore said. “Their alternate way is much cheaper and we expect it to be just as good as what is already out there. It could end up saving universities tens of thousands of dollars.”

Moore said participation in these types of conferences continues to display the outstanding undergraduate research that is being conducted by Wayland students. Among the 12 schools represented, Wayland was recognized as having the largest contingent of students at the conference, prompting conference organizers to take note of the school’s participation.

“The organizer of the conference spoke with me about the research being done at Wayland,” Moore said. “That we would have such a showing must indicate that we are doing some good research.”
Other schools participating in the conference included Texas Tech, UT-El Paso, UT-Permian Basin, West Texas A&M and Sul Ross. Moore said there is a large amount of support for these types of conferences focusing on STEM fields of study. He said STEM emphasis grew in the late 1950s and early 60s after the Russian satellite Sputnik was launched into space, and while some interest died out over the years, he has seen and increased emphasis on the STEM fields in recent years with “pretty big incentives” for teachers and schools specializing in those fields of study.

The Midland conference was specifically for undergraduate research, giving students the opportunity to present research findings in their specific field. Moore said they saw presentations on everything from biochemistry, water purification and abstract algebra to using mathematical modeling to predict zombie outbreaks.

Wayland took nine students to the conference with all three who presented winning award recognition. Moore said the introduction to these conferences is good for students in that it gets them interested in possible research projects.

“For us to have everyone who presented win prizes, it really shows that among all these other universities, we are doing some good stuff,” Moore said.

He also said these conferences provide an opportunity to network with other research supervisors with the possibility of future collaboration between schools. Wayland students will next attend the Texas Academy of Science meeting scheduled for Feb. 28 – March 2, 2013.

The SHRM is the nation’s premier professional organization for human resource management. The curriculum guidebook and templates were designed by the organization to define the minimum HR contest areas that should be studied by students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Throughout the world, only 225 educational institutions have been acknowledged by the SHRM as being in alignment with its suggested guidelines. According to WBU Associate Dean of the School of Business Dr. Charles Starnes, Wayland is now one of fewer than 20 institutions throughout the United States that have graduate programs that align with SHRM guidelines.

Starnes said the announcement comes after an extensive process that involved all of Wayland’s graduate business professors who teach HR management courses. Each had input to determine the best way to adapt curriculum to meet the guidelines.

“It was about a three-year process to achieve alignment to the adjustments of curriculum and degree requirements,” Starnes said. “The process started with an initial evaluation by SHRM a little more than three years ago. They said our program was good, but options were available to students that would allow them to miss key elements if they earned our degree.”

Starnes said the elements of curriculum involve the study of things such as benefits, compensation, labor relations, training, career development, legal requirements for HR managers and other elements that lend themselves to an organization functioning through its employee base.

Wayland will now be listed on the SHRM website as one of the institutions whose program is in alignment. The Master of Arts in Management program is offered as a face-to-face program or completely online. Students may also get a blended or hybrid program through which courses are offered both face-to-face and online.

For more information on Wayland’s Master of Arts in Management program, contact the School of Business at 806-291-1020.