Missouri Baptist University
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Missouri Baptist University is a coeducational university located in St. Louis, Missouri and has an enrollment of 1010 undergraduates and 722 graduate students. In August 2002, the Missouri Baptist College was officially renamed Missouri Baptist University. In spring 2007, a new student center/coffeehouse was opened. The University is currently campaigning toward a sports and recreation complex.
[edit] History
In 1957, a growing need for an evangelical Christian institution in the St. Louis area prompted the opening of a campus extension of Hannibal-LaGrange College at Tower Grove Baptist Church. Sixty-eight students were enrolled that inaugural year.
Classes for the extension center, also known as St. Louis Baptist College, met in the activities building of Tower Grove Baptist Church. In 1964, Missouri Baptist College was chartered as an evangelical Christian, four-year liberal arts college. Under the auspices of Hannibal-LaGrange College and the direction of its president, Dr. L.A. Foster, Bible courses were offered for pastors and laymen. During the second term, several liberal arts courses were requested and provided. Student influence, along with organizational work of St. Louis Baptist leaders, pastors and laymen, influenced MBU’s charter. The first meeting of the Board of Trustees for Missouri Baptist College was held in January 1964. Dr. Frank Kellogg served as the first chairman of the Board of Trustees and later as the second president.
In July of 1964, leaders acquired the site of MBU’s main campus, metropolitan land near Interstate 270 and Highway 40 in West Saint Louis County. In September of 1968, 186 students began classes, more than tripling the institution’s size in just over a decade. In May of 1973, Missouri Baptist College graduated its first class of twenty-nine students, each earning a Bachelor of Arts degree.
In 1980, Missouri Baptist College began a new chapter of its life with the completion of the Pillsbury-Huff Residence Halls, converting from a commuter campus to a residential institution. In the fall of 1986, MBC began offering courses in both Jefferson and Franklin counties.
In April 2000, the College was approved to offer the Master of Science in Education. Today the MBU graduate program includes a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Arts in Christian Ministry and an expanded offering of its initial graduate program, the Master of Science in Education.
In the spring of 2002, the campus completed the Spirit of Excellence campaign with the dedication of the new $10 million Pillsbury Chapel and Dale Williams Fine Arts Center. The building, encompassing more than 58,000 sq ft (5,400 m²) acts as a host to musical, religious, business, educational and community events. The Spirit of Excellence campaign also led to the renovation of the Thomas and Virginia Field Academic Hall, a much larger cafeteria and bookstore, a new student lounge, an improved computer lab and numerous offices and classrooms. Also in 2002, Missouri Baptist College became Missouri Baptist University. In the fall of 2005, MBU’s enrollment reached an all-time high of 4,460 students. At its thirty-fourth commencement exercises, MBU conferred 579 degrees, yet another MBU record. During the summer of 2007, MBU's Jung-Kellogg Library was renovated.
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