JR Dunn to receive Distinguished Young Alumni Award

PLAINVIEW, TX — JR Dunn, a 2014 graduate currently serving as Wayland Baptist University’s Director of Baptist Student Ministries, will be recognized with the 2024 Distinguished Young Alumni Award.

The presentation comes during Wayland Alumni Association’s Blue and Gold Banquet, which is set for 6 p.m., Friday, Feb. 9, at Trinity Sanctuary on the Plainview campus. The annual banquet is part of Wayland’s four-day Homecoming celebration, which begins with a virtual military alumni reunion on Wednesday.

Wayland’s BSM director since 2020, Dunn earned a degree in Intercultural Missions in 2013. While a student, he served as youth pastor at First Baptist Church of Hale Center. He earned a Master of Divinity degree in Theology and Church Leadership from Baylor University’s Truett Seminary in 2018. From 2015 to 2020, Dunn served as student pastor at Coryell Community Church in Gatesville.

During his time as a Wayland student, the honoree was active in ministry, and he continues to enjoy sharing the gospel with students, having returned to the Plainview campus. He is involved in discipling students and leading them to reach their peers through mission trips and training endeavors. Dunn believes in “service as a form of humility” through sacrifice for others. He has said, “Service is not a sacrifice, but a continuing privilege.”

According to Jeffrey Vera, Director of Alumni Relations, Dunn is one of six individuals to be honored with alumni awards during the banquet. Dr. Vernon Stokes, a 1959 graduate from Lubbock, and Patrick Aland, a 2009 graduate from Lubbock, will be recognized with Distinguished Alumni Awards, while Ben and Bertha Mieth of Glen Rose will be honored with the Distinguished Benefactor Award. Two Joe and Freda Provence Distinguished Lifetime Service Awards will be presented. Libby Cleveland, who has taught math at the university for more than 30 years as part of a teaching career spanning six decades, will be a recipient. Also receiving the award is Freda Provence for whom the award is already named. Provence, a 1974 graduate, served as administrative assistant to several presidents during more than 25 years of serve to the university.

Sarah Wallace, who earned an undergraduate degree in 1999 and a master’s degree in 2019, will be recognized with a B.E.S.T. (Baptist Educators Serving Texans) Award.