Partners, January 2021
HIGHER EDUCATION
ABILENE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
ABILENE, Texas — Abilene Christian University’s School of Social Work is partnering with the Community Foundation of Abilene and other organizations to address food insecurity among college students.
Conducted through ACU’s Institute for Social and Community Development, the project will benefit students from all of this West Texas city’s colleges and universities by offering a mobile food pantry, organizers said.
“This is what the institute … is all about: bringing hidden issues to the forefront,” said Malcolm Scott, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work. “Our goal is to face these issues and not shy away.”
This past spring, Shannon Que surveyed ACU undergraduates as part of her master’s thesis and found 27.9 percent of undergraduates reported experiencing food insecurity. Her research defined food insecurity as “the inability to access healthy and nutritious food at all times for all members of your household due to insufficient socioeconomic resources.”
FREED-HARDEMAN UNIVERSITY
HENDERSON, Tenn. — Alumni John W. and Rosemary K. Brown have made another major commitment to Freed-Hardeman University, pledging $15 million over the next five years — the largest gift in the university’s history.
John W. and Rosemary K. Brown have pledged to give $15 million to their alma mater, Freed-Hardeman University.
The announcement was made during FHU’s annual benefit dinner, which raised more than $1.5 million for student scholarships. The total exceeded last year’s amount, despite the challenge of hosting the dinner during a pandemic.
Actor and activist Gary Sinise was the featured speaker, but as one might expect in 2020, it was not the usual speaker presentation. Instead of traveling to Henderson as had been planned, Sinise delivered his remarks live but via video.
Among other projects, the Browns’ latest gift will fund an expansion and renovation of Wallace-Gano Dining Hall and provide seed money to establish a scholarship program for minority students.
The revamped Wallace-Gano Dining Hall will get a new name: the Dr. Elizabeth Saunders Center.
The retired professor of education was the first Black student to graduate from Freed-Hardeman as well as the first Black member of the faculty. She taught at the university for 40 years, retiring in 2018.
OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma Christian University nursing students are serving at hospitals overrun with COVID-19 patients.
Because of the pandemic, many universities, including Oklahoma Christian, completed the fall semester before Thanksgiving. That early finish coupled with the need at hospitals where bachelor of science nursing students enroll in clinicals offered an opportunity for more hands-on experience before graduation.
“We knew that we had to do something to help,” Oklahoma Christian President John deSteiguer said. “Our School of Nursing faculty have been actively collaborating with other leaders … to pave the way for OC BSN to begin clinicals a few weeks early.”
As a result, clinical groups that normally would have started in mid-January began Dec. 7.
