OUACHITA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY

'Ouachita Baptist University' is private, liberal arts, undergraduate institution.

Contents

Location

Historical Notes

Academics

Athletics

Academic Buildings

Dorm Life

Student Life

Beliefs

Notable alumni

External links

Location

Ouachita Baptist University (OBU) is located in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Arkadelphia is approximately 65 miles southwest of Little Rock and approximately 73 miles northeast of Texarkana. Arkadelphia has a population of over 10,000. The school is named for the Ouachita (pronounced Wash'-uh-taw) River which forms the eastern campus boundary.

Historical Notes

OBU was first opened on September 6, 1886 and has operated on a daily basis since that date. It was originally located on the campus of Ouachita Baptist High School. Its present location is on the former campus for the Arkansas School for the Blind, which relocated to Little Rock. Its first president, Professor J. W. Conger, was elected on June 22, 1886. The organization was originally founded as Ouachita Baptist College. In 1965, the status and name were changed to OBU due to expansion of the curriculum.
In 1949, the original Old Main building, used as the administration building and library, was destroyed by fire caused by a bolt of lightning. This occurred the evening after graduation, so students (including many World War II Veterans) helped to rescue most of the books from the library.
On April 6, 2006 the OBU Board of Trustees unanimously selected Dr. Rex Horne, former pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, to serve as the fifteenth president of Ouachita Baptist University.
Ouachita has been in relatively constant construction for the last decade. A new state of the art science center, the Harvey Jones Science Center, opened in 1997. Hickingbotham Hall which houses the Frank D. Hickingbotham School of Business opened in 2006. In 2007, Ouachita began planning construction on at least 2 new dorms, and a new river view entrance to the campus.

Academics

Ouachita was ranked in the top five by U.S. News and World Report for best comprehensive colleges in the South for the sixth consecutive year in 2007.
Ouachita offers class credit on the traditional hour system. A class is weighted based on lecture and instruction time. A one hour class that meets three times a week, or a 90 minute class meeting twice weekly, earns three credits. A class that meets twice a week for one hour is worth two credits. Science classes often include laboratory sessions. A science course meeting three times a week for one hour, with one three-hour lab session is weighted for four credits, while Organic Chemistry, which meets for lecture three times and for lab twice weekly, is the schools only five credit class.
A degree at Ouachita requires 24 credits in a specific degree area, though some plans require up to 60 credits in a specific area. In addition, a CORE curriculum must be met. In keeping with the schools Liberal Arts affiliation, the CORE curriculum emphasizes diverse education, including religion, science, mathematics, and the humanities.
Ouachita houses 64 degree programs in eight academic schools: School of Interdisciplinary Studies, Frank D. Hickingbotham School of Business, Chelsey and Elizabeth Pruett School of Christian Studies, Michael D. Huckabee School of Education, School of Fine Arts, School of Social Sciences, J. D. Patterson School of Natural Sciences, and School of Humanities.
The typical degree offered by OBU is a Bachelor of Arts, or a BA. The school also offers degrees more focused within a specific school, such as a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) or a Bachelor of Music (B.M.) A Bachelor of Science degree requires completing a degree plan from a major within the school of science, as well as a lengthy 20 credit minor (a typical minor is 16 credits) from another science major. A Bachelor of Music requires nearly 60 credits from the School of Music, including a senior project, generally a recital of some form.

Athletics

OBU competes in the Gulf South Conference in sports and maintains NCAA Division II status in major sports.
The Ouachita swimming and diving teams are often strong competitors in the New South Intercollegiate Swim Conference. In 2007, the men's team finished sixth in the nation, while the women's team finished eighth in the nation. Ouachita's baseball team is also a strong presence in the Gulf South program. The team was ranked first in the nation and hosted the regional tournament in 2007.
Men's varsity sports include football, basketball, baseball, swimming and diving, tennis, golf, and soccer. Women's sports include basketball, swimming and diving, volleyball, cross country, and softball.
One unique characteristic of Ouachita athletics is the intense crosstown rivalry with Henderson State University, a public university located across a small ravine from the Ouachita campus. The closely-contested "Battle of the Ravine" between the two universities is one of the oldest rivalries in college sports. The teams first met on the gridiron in 1895. As of 2007, the football series was tied.

Academic Buildings

Ouachita has nine academic buildings which house the various schools and academic programs:
Verser Hall and the Jones Performing Arts Center houses the theatre department. JPAC also is the site of many events throughout the year, including concerts, musical and theatre productions, and the weekly chapel program.
Moses Provine Hall is home to OBU's visual arts department.
Mabee Fine Arts is the site of the music and mass communication departments.
McClellan Hall is home to most of the School of Social Sciences and the Huckabee School of Education.
Lile Hall houses the humanities program, as well as the history department.
Hickingbotham Hall houses the Hickingbotham School of Business.
The Harvey Jones Science Center is home to the Patterson School of Natural Sciences.
Berry Bible Building houses the Pruett School of Christian Studies.
Additionally, there are conference centers, administrative buildings, two school libraries, and a commons area for dining on campus. There are also eight 24- hour computer labs around campus for student use, though some are major-specific.

Dorm Life

Ouachita students live in one of ten dorms on campus, or one of five apartment complexes. Male and female students are not allowed to visit dorm rooms of the opposite sex, except during special visiting hours arranged three times a week. Lobby visitation is permitted during the day, but usually ends around 11 p.m. There is no alcohol permitted in dorm rooms even for students over the age of 21.
Men's dormitories include Daniel Hall North(Freshmen) and South, Ernest Baily Hall (varsity athletes), Conger Hall (varsity athletes), and Anthony Hall (upperclassmen only). Upperclassmen may also live in the other dormitories.
Women's dormitories include Francis Crawford Hall (Freshmen), O.C. Bailey Hall, Flippen-Perrin Hall, and Maddox Hall (upperclassmen only).
Upperclassmen may apply to live off campus in school-owned apartments beginning their junior year. There are five apartment complexes: OBU Apartments, Caddo Apartments, Lancelot Apartments, Pine Square Apartments, and Starlite Apartments.
Only students who have family in the area, or who are over the age of 22, are allowed to live off-campus.

Student Life

Ouachita does not allow nationally-affiliated social fraternities or sororities but has local fraternities and sororities euphemistically called "social clubs." Sororities include Epsilon Epsilon Epsilon(called EEE), Chi Delta, Pi Kappa Zeta, Chi Chi Chi(called Tri Chi), and Chi Rho Phi. Fraternities include Rho Sigma, Sigma Alpha Sigma, Beta Beta, Kappa Chi, Eta Alpha Omega and Chi Iota Sigma. The social clubs provide most of the campus social life, including Tiger Tunes, an annual musical show presented on Homecoming Weekend.
A wide variety of academic, scholastic honorary, and professional clubs and organizations are available to students. The Campus Activities Board hosts several activities each year, including free movies, Spring Fling, concerts, benefits, and more. The Student Senate is the student governing body.
Several intramural sports are available for both men and women, including football, basketball, softball, racquetball, volleyball, dodgeball, indoor hockey, and tennis. Ouachita intramural teams compete in state and regional tournaments.

Beliefs

OBU is affiliated with the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. Ouachita is dedicated to Christian and educational excellence. The school's Baptist roots are furthered in two mandatory classes that are part of the CORE curriculum: Bible Survey and Bible Interpretation. Seven credits of Chapel are also required to graduate. Chapel credit is earned by attending at least 12 chapel programs during a semester.

Notable alumni

★ Eva Ware Barnett - composer of "Arkansas," Arkansas state anthem

★ TJ Bingham - Former NFL player

★ Shelley Breen, Heather Payne, Denise Jones, and Terry Jones of Christian pop music group Point of Grace

★ Winston Bryant - Attorney General of Arkansas, 1990 to 1999

★ Lauren Davidson - Miss Arkansas 2002

★ Lacy Flemming = Miss Arkansas 2004

★ Leon A. Green - notable legal scholar, dean of Northwestern University School of Law

★ Cliff Harris - former All-Pro Dallas Cowboys safety

★ Frank D. Hickingbotham - founder of TCBY, international frozen yogurt and ice-cream franchise

★ William J. Holloway - Governor of Oklahoma, 1929 to 1931

★ Mike Huckabee - Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007, current candidate for President

★ Susan McDougal - involved in Whitewater scandal, author of ''The Woman Who Wouldn't Talk''

★ William Miller - professional football player in the Canadian Football League and the USFL.

★ Nell I. Mondy - biochemist and international expert on the potato

★ Rex Nelson - Federal Alternate Co-Chairman of the Delta Regional Authority (federal government)

★ Tommy Patterson - former NBA forward for the Baltimore Bullets

★ Beth Anne Rankin - Miss Arkansas 1994

External links

★ Ouachita Baptist University

★ Ouachita Tigers