In 1908, the Wayland Literary and Technical Institute was chartered after a pioneer physician named Dr. James Henry Wayland and his wife donated $10,000 and 25 acres of land to the establishment of the school. Alongside his beliefs of the importance of formal education, Dr. Wayland worked in conjunction with Staked Plains Baptist Association to form an institute who taught the principles of faith within education. The first ever class held by the institution enrolled 241 students all eager to learn. By 1911, the first student to graduate from what we know today as Wayland Baptist University was named Elmer Childress. The school formed into a four year college in 1948 but initiated an international student program beforehand and accumulated the highest percentage of international students in the country.
Today, Wayland Baptist University offers people the opportunity to earn their degree from them in six states and online. The year of 2016 brought about the university’s first doctoral program which is the Doctor of Management Degree. The main location is in Plainview, TX, but additional locations of campuses include Texas include Amarillo, Lubbock, Wichita Falls, and San Antonio. Wayland Baptist also has campuses located in Albuquerque, NM, Anchorage and Fairbanks, AK, Sierra Vista and Phoenix, AZ, and Hawaii.
The university offers athletics for men and women, and even has a coed eSports program for those who prefer to play their sports through a screen. With their wide variety of athletic departments, you are sure to find something that catches your eye. If you are a man interested in sports and are attending Wayland Baptist University, you can look forward to the opportunity to join sports organizations including football, baseball, basketball, soccer, golf, cross-country, and track and field. Women enrolling in the university can join volleyball, wrestling, basketball, soccer, golf, cross-country, and track and field.
Maybe sports aren’t your thing and that is ok! Wayland Baptist University also offers students the opportunity to join student organizations encompassing a wide variety of pursuits. Are you an avid fan of bowling or other sports, but don’t feel like taking it too seriously? Good news, the university offers intramural sports with an even broader range of activities. Step into the world of online gaming and join Call of Duty or Madden tournaments offered by the university. You can also join spoons, spades, and dominos tournaments as well. It’s hard to see where someone wouldn’t be able to find their niche with all the available student activities Wayland Baptist has to offer.
The mission of Wayland Baptist University as a whole is to “educate students in a Christian environment,” yet each individual school has their own goals and purposes. These include the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences, School of Business, School of Christian Studies, School of Creative Arts, Don A. Williams School of Education, Schools of Language and Literature, Kenneth L. Mattox School of Mathematics and Sciences, and the School of Nursing. With all of these different schools and areas of interest to look into, you are sure to find something that sparks your interest and sets off the fiery passion in your heart.
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