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University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

About University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

About UMHB

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas.

Location
Belton is located in the heart of Central Texas 60 miles north of Austin on Interstate 35. Students are a short distance from two beautiful lakes in Texas, numerous golf courses, movie theaters, and great shopping and dining options.

Academics
The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor is currently ranked in Tier One of the U.S. News & World Report as one of America's Best Universities in the Master's West Division.

Student/Faculty Ratio
15:1

Students
Over 3,492 students representing 20 foreign countries. 90% of full-time freshmen live on campus.

Financial Aid
Over 89.1% of our students receive some form of financial aid.

Athletics
NCAA Division III
American Southwest Conference

  • Baseball,
  • Men's and Women's Basketball,
  • Football,
  • Men's and Women's Golf,
  • Men's and Women's Soccer,
  • Softball,
  • Men's and Women's Tennis, and
  • Volleyball

Our Mission

"The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor prepares students for leadership, service, and faith-informed discernment in a global society. Academic excellence, personal attention, broad-based scholarship and a commitment to a Baptist vision for education distinguish our Christ-centered learning community."

Goals

1.Broad-based Education:
  • Provide undergraduate curricula, which enable both traditional and non-traditional students to develop their potentials.
  • Provide graduate curricula which enable students to increase competencies in their fields of specialization.
2.Christian Faith and Intellectual Life:
  • Integrate Christian perspectives and attitudes into the development of character, relationships, vocation and service.
3.Service:
  • Develop and maintain effective relationships with the University's key constituents.
  • Provide appropriate physical facilities, equipment, and educational support services for students, faculty, staff, and administration.
  • Maintain economic stability essential to the University's successful operation.
4.Teaching Excellence:
  • Maintain a highly competent faculty, staff, and administration.
  • Assist students in preparation for their roles in a rapidly changing world.
5.Students as Individuals:
  • Recruit and retain a qualified and diverse student body.
  • Offer quality academic advising, career counseling, and personal counseling services.
  • Encourage appreciation for cultural diversity.

Our History

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor traces its distinguished history to the days when Texas had yet to gain statehood and when Baptist missionary work was just beginning in the partially civilized new territory. As early as 1839, representatives of churches in Washington County issued an appeal to the Home Mission Board of New York to inaugurate a missionary movement in Texas. Missionaries Rev. James Huckins and Rev. William M. Tryon were sent, and soon after, Judge R.E.B. Baylor came to Texas as a teacher, lawyer, soldier and preacher. These leaders inspired the desire for Christian education in the area and, at a meeting of the Union Association in 1841, recommended forming an education society. War prevented action until 1843, when the Texas Baptist Education Society was organized.
 
Tryon and Baylor were appointed to prepare a charter to establish a Baptist university. On February 1, 1845, a charter was granted by the 9th Congress of the Republic of Texas, approved by President Anson Jones at Washington-on-the-Brazos, and the long awaited Baptist university became a reality.
 
The school initially included a Preparatory Division in addition to co-educational classes for college students. In 1851, under the same charter, a Female Department and a Male Department were created, ending co-education. In 1866, the Female Department obtained a separate charter and its own board of trustees.
 
In 1886, due to changing transportation and economics in the area, it was deemed necessary to move both schools. The Male Department consolidated with Waco University in Waco, Texas, retaining the name Baylor University. The Female Department (Baylor Female College since the 1866 separation) moved to Belton, Texas.
 
Since the move to Belton, the school has undergone several name changes including: 1925, Baylor College for Women; 1934, Mary Hardin-Baylor College (named in honor of a benefactor); and 1978, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. In 1971, the oldest college for women west of the Mississippi became co-educational.
 
UMHB's illustrious history includes such notable milestones as starting the first work-study program for women in a college west of the Mississippi (1893); serving as the campus model for the Baptist Student Union (1920); establishing the first school of journalism in a college for women in America and being the second institution in Texas to offer the degree of Bachelor of Journalism (1921); and being recognized as the first Texas Baptist college accepted into full membership in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (1926). Since these auspicious "firsts," UMHB has continued to make history as a leader in the fields of education, business, nursing, and church leadership; in athletics through conference and national play; and in other important areas of campus life. Today, UMHB enjoys a robust student enrollment of more than 2,700 and employs more than 320 full-time faculty and staff committed to Christian higher education.

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