Houston Christian University (HCU), formerly Houston Baptist University, is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul c ...

university in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. It is affiliated with the

Baptist General Convention of Texas The Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) is the oldest surviving Baptist convention in the state of Texas. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Baptist World Alliance. In 2009, the BGCT began to also go by the name ...

(

Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The wor ...

). Its Cultural Arts Center houses three museums: the Dunham Bible Museum, the Museum of American Architecture and Decorative Arts, and the Museum of Southern History.

History

The university was founded in 1960 by the

as Houston Baptist College. In 1973, it became a university. The university announced a name change from Houston Baptist University to its current name in September 2022.

Accreditation

It is affiliated with the

(

Campus

It is located in Sharpstown Section 3A, within the

Southwest Management District Southwest Management District, formerly Greater Sharpstown Management District, is a district in Houston, Texas, United States. The district is split into 6 neighborhoods: Sharpstown, Chinatown, Mahatma Gandhi District/Little India, Westwood, H ...

(formerly Greater Sharpstown) in

, near the Southwest Freeway.Districts
."

Greater Sharpstown Management District Southwest Management District, formerly Greater Sharpstown Management District, is a district in Houston, Texas, United States. The district is split into 6 neighborhoods: Sharpstown, Chinatown, Mahatma Gandhi District/Little India, Westwood, H ...

. Retrieved on August 15, 2009. According to the Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, the land housing HBU is in the

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Aust ...

area.Rodriguez, Lori.
Opinions vary over naming the growing Asian community on Houston's southwest side
"

See map
Alternate version without Chinatown map:
DIVERSITY DEBATE / Chinatown outgrowing name / Opinions vary over naming the growing Asian community on Houston's southwest side
." ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

''. Wednesday May 9, 2007. A1.

Campus housing

The Reuben & Rebecca Bates Philips Residence Colleges for Men and Women are two separate residence hall facilities for freshmen, with each serving one gender. The Sadie & Doug Hodo Residence College is the largest single residential building on campus that houses both genders on opposing sides of the building. Husky Village, seven apartment buildings with various layouts, are usually reserved for the university and house mostly upper classmen and staff.

Community life and worship

Eighty Community Life and Worship Credits (''CLW Credits'') are required for graduation from HBU. Transfer students are also allotted 0.75 CLW Credits for each credit hour transferred into the university. CLW Credits may be accrued from a variety of opportunities including: campus service, a weekly traditional chapel service known as Convocation, a weekly student-led contemporary worship service known as Quest, small group Bible studies, lecture series and through the Assisting Communities Through Students office which coordinates community service and volunteer work in the Houston community. The on-campus "Community Life and Worship" biyearly magazine lists the different opportunities through which students may earn CLW Credits. The spiritual life office also awards credits for students who participate in church or university sponsored mission trips. The university applies a 2017 exemption of aspects of

Title IX Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educat ...

which prevents the forceful of accommodation of

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

students on religious grounds. University president Robert Sloan has stated that special civil rights protections for people who engage in homosexuality are unnecessary because like "a tendency towards arson or theft" homosexuality is a sinful tendency that stems from a person's individual and therefore chosen "behavior."

Athletics

The Houston Christian athletic teams are called the Huskies. The university is a member of the Division I level of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA), primarily competing in the

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it ...

for most of its sports since the 2013–14 academic year; while its men's soccer team competes in the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to most of t ...

(WAC). The Huskies previously competed the D-I

Great West Conference The Great West Conference (GWC) was an NCAA college athletic conference in the continental United States. Originally a football-only league, it became an all-sports entity during the 2008–09 season. The GWC stopped sponsoring football followi ...

from 2008–09 to 2012–13 after spending one season as an NCAA D-I Independent during the 2007–08 school year (since returning back to NCAA D-I as a transitional member); in the

Red River Athletic Conference The Red River Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The conference's 13 member institutions are located in Texas, Louisiana, and New Mexico. History T ...

(RRAC) of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

(NAIA) from 1998–99 to 2006–07; and as an NAIA Independent from 1989–90 to 1997–98. Houston Christian's (HCU) official school colors are royal blue and orange. HCU competes in 17 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer and track and field (indoor and outdoor); while women's sports include basketball, beach volleyball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, track and field (indoor and outdoor) and volleyball.

Football

Houston Christian's American football program began in 2013.

Baseball

The HCU baseball team participated in the 2015 NCAA Baseball Tournament, winning the Southland Conference tournament championship in Sugar Land, Texas, and advanced to the Houston Regional, hosted by the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

. The Huskies also won the Great West's final championship at the 2013 GWC Baseball Tournament.

Women's soccer

The HCU women's soccer team participated in the 2014 NCAA Tournament, winning the Southland Conference tournament championship in Beaumont, Texas, before falling to No. 5 Texas A&M in the first round. The HCU women's soccer team made their second appearance in the NCAA tournament in 2016 after winning the Southland Conference tournament championship in Corpus Christi, Texas. They fell to No. 1 Stanford in the first round.

Women's basketball

During the 2016 Southland Conference women's basketball tournament, senior Anna Strickland posted 21 points, 31 rebounds, eight assists, and seven blocked shots in the Huskies' first-round loss to Lamar University. Her 31 rebounds broke the Southland Conference single-game record, established a new tournament record, and were the most rebounds in Division I women's basketball in 2016. Strickland's all-around stat sheet has not been achieved in men's or women's Division I basketball or the NBA in the past twenty years.

Men's soccer

Two student athletes have earned

CoSIDA College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) is an organization that focuses on professional development and support for sports information directors at all levels. It offers awards, scholarships, and grants in support of SIDs and pros ...

Academic All-American status: volleyball's Allison Doerpinghaus and men's soccer's Bryan Brody. Both students earned the honor in 2015. They join numerous student-athletes who have earned CoSIDA Academic All-District and academic all-conference honors, and numerous Academic All-American at the NIAA level.

Achievements

Notable NCAA D-I athletic achievements: * 1983 NCAA high-jump champion, Ricky Thompson; t-32nd place in the 1983 Track & Field Championships * Alma Mater of European Tour great Colin Montgomerie * 1983-84 Men's basketball team participated in the NCAA tournament in the play-in game vs. Alcorn State; 1983-84 Men's basketball team led the entire NCAA in team field-goal percentage, shooting 55.2% - this is also tenth all-time in NCAA history * Participants in the NCAA men's golf championships in 1984, 1987 (5th place), and 1988 * Participants in the NCAA men's gymnastics championships in 1982 (10th place) and 1987 (7th place); 1987 men's gymnastics (Rings) champion, Paul O'Neill * 1982, 83, 84, 85 Trans-America (now Atlantic Sun) Men's soccer Champions, and conference tournament champions in 82, 84, and 85 * 1982, 83, 84, 85 Trans-America (now Atlantic Sun) men's cross country champions; individual titles won by Charlie Foreman (83 & 84) and Magnus Fyhr (85) Notable NAIA athletic achievements: * 2007 NAIA Baseball World Series, third place; 2007 Baseball Region VI Champions * Participants in NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament ten straight seasons from 1997 to 2007 * Dwight Jones II, son of Dwight Jones Sr. who played on the 1972 USA Olympic Silver medal basketball team in Munich, was drafted by the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Developmental League as well as the East Kentucky Miners in the CBA draft
/ref>

Gallery

File: Cac.wide.web.JPG, Morris Cultural Arts Center and Belin Chapel File: HBUAthleticCenter2.jpg, Athletic Center File: HBU CIMG0209.JPG, Brown Administrative Complex

Notable alumni

* Voddie Baucham, Jr. Pastor, preacher, author, apologist, and current Dean of Theology at African Christian University * Van G. Garrett, Poet * Colin Montgomerie, Professional Golfer * Elliot Segal, DJ host of Elliot in the Morning (did not graduate) *

Jerreth Sterns Jerreth Sterns (born July 1, 1999) is an American professional Canadian football wide receiver who plays for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL. He played college football at Houston Baptist before transferring to Western Kentucky. Hig ...

, NFL Player *

Bailey Zappe Bailey Michael Zappe (, ) (born April 26, 1999) is an American football quarterback for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played his first three seasons of college football at Houston Baptist and used his la ...

, NFL Player

References

External links

*
Houston Christian athletics website
{{coord, 29.694, -95.515, type:edu_region:US-TX, display=title Universities and colleges affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas Universities and colleges affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention Universities and colleges in Houston Educational institutions established in 1960 Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools 1960 establishments in Texas Council for Christian Colleges and Universities Private universities and colleges in Texas