Wayland Baptist University

History

In 1906, James Henry Wayland and his wife offered US$10,000 and 25 acres (100,000 m2) of land in Plainview if the Staked Plains Baptist Association and the citizens of the city would raise an additional $40,000. In 1910, the school offered its first classes, though the administration building was incomplete. During the school's first term, a total of 225 students were taking classes in primary education through junior college. After a public school system was well established in Plainview, the elementary grades were discontinued. Wayland Baptist was admitted to the American Association of Junior Colleges in 1926 and would later be approved as a senior college by the Texas Department of Education and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Texas Education Agency for teacher education training.

The school is the oldest institution of higher education in continuous existence on the High Plains of Texas. When a run on the banks during the Great Depression threatened to close the school, George W. McDonald, the fifth president of the school, other administration officials, and faculty agreed to forgo pay to continue educating students, trusting God to supply their needs.

The school admitted no Black students until 1951, when a teacher, Annie Taylor of Floydada, Texas, asked the college whether she could fulfill continuing education requirements at the college. She enrolled with the consent of James W. "Bill" Marshall, the school's sixth president, making Wayland the first four-year liberal arts college in the former Confederate states to integrate voluntarily. This action came three years before the Supreme Court banned public school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education.

In 1979, Wayland opened its first campus outside Texas, in Hawaii. Ten satellite campuses are now located throughout the US.

In 2013, Wayland was ranked as the #72 university in the West Region by US News.

In 2015, Wayland applied for and was granted an exception to Title IX allowing the university to discriminate against LGBT students for religious reasons. In 2016, the organization Campus Pride ranked the college among the worst schools in Texas for LGBT students.

On July 1, 2024, Donna Hedgepath became the fourteenth president and the first woman to serve in the role.

Schools

School of Math and Sciences

The School of Mathematics and Sciences at Wayland Baptist University administers all mathematics and science courses taught on the Plainview campus and also those taught online. Degrees are offered in math, math education, biology, molecular biology, chemistry, and geology, along with several preprofessional service course areas such as prenursing and pre-engineering. Currently, the school has 15 faculty members—6 math and 9 sciences, with three emeritus faculty. The School serves over 400 students each semester. On average, 20 to 30 students graduate with degrees from the school each year.

Initially, math and science courses were taught in several temporary locations on the WBU campus. Eventually, they, along with most other courses, were taught in Gates Hall, and later also in the library. The Division of Math and Science was formally designated in the 1940s. Science courses were moved to refurbished army barracks located on the north side of the campus in the 1960s. The Moody Science building was constructed in the early 1970s from a generous grant from the Moody Foundation. Several of the features in the new building were designed by faculty members. Since its completion, all Plainview campus math and science courses have been held there. In 2005, the university structure was reorganized, and the Division was redesignated as the School of Mathematics and Science. The School is housed in the Moody Science Building at 1900 W 7th Street, Plainview, Texas 79072.

List of schools

School of Behavioral and Social Sciences

School of Business

School of Christian Studies

School of Education

School of Creative Arts

School of Humanities and Leadership

School of Mathematics and Sciences

School of Nursing

External campuses

Amarillo, Texas

Lubbock, Texas

Kapolei, Hawaii

Phoenix, Arizona

San Antonio, Texas

Sierra Vista, Arizona

Wichita Falls, Texas

American Samoa

Athletics

The Wayland Baptist athletic teams are called the Pioneers. The university is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing in the Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC) since the 1994–95 academic year. The Pioneers previously competed as an NAIA Independent from 1978–79 to 1993–94; and in the Texoma Athletic Conference from 1970–71 to 1977–78.

Wayland Baptist compete in 17 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, track and field and wrestling; women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, track and field, volleyball and wrestling; and co-ed sports include cheerleading and eSports. Until 2018, Wayland Baptist was the only college in Texas to offer a wrestling program.

Football

On April 1, 2010, Wayland Baptist announced its intention to bring back the football program and join the Central States Football League (CSFL) in 2012. On December 8, 2010, the Pioneers introduced Jeff Lynn, former head coach of New Mexico Military Institute, as the first head coach in over 70 years. On April 24, 2011, Lynn stepped down from head coach because of family reasons. He would be replaced by former Lubbock Coronado High School coach Butch Henderson. The football team has competed in the Sooner Athletic Conference since the 2017–2018 season which was the first season the SAC added football. The Pioneers all-time record is 34–83, as of the 2023 season.

Cross country/track and field

The cross country and track and field program have won a total of 14 national championships. The programs compete at notable track meets and cross country events such as the Cowboy Jamboree, Texas Relays, Drake Relays, and the Michael Johnson Classic. In 2012, Wayland's men's track team won the NAIA National Championship by a margin of 38 points, which was the largest margin of victory in 23 years. Four Wayland athletes won individual championships, in addition to Wayland winning the 4x400 relay championship.

Women's basketball

Wayland's women's basketball program, The Hutcherson Flying Queens, has the distinction of being the winningest team in women's collegiate basketball history. On November 30, 2017, during the 2017–2018 season, the Flying Queens posted their 1,600th win, 300 plus more wins than any other women's collegiate basketball team in US history. By the end of the 2016–2017 season, Tennessee who leads all NCAA DI schools, had 1,252 wins, followed by Louisiana Tech with 1,199 and Connecticut with 1,118. Wayland had 1595.

The Wayland women's basketball team has also distinguished itself in the following ways:

The Flying Queens are the only team in collegiate basketball history (men or women) to record a 131-game consecutive winning streak (1953–1958). In 2013, the 1953–58 teams were honored as "Trailblazers of the Game" by the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame for the 131 game-winning streak. The team is featured in a documentary entitled Flying Queens: A Basketball Dynasty, directed by Kellie Mitchell and produced by Aperture Art Productions.

From the 1948–1949 season through 2017–2018 season the Flying Queens posted 1622 wins against 562 losses for a winning percentage of .743. In this 69-year period, the Wayland Team averaged 23 wins per season.

The Wayland Team has won 19 National Championships.

The Flying Queens' program has had eight individuals inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Members of the Wayland Hutcherson Flying Queens have received 212 All-American Awards from various organizations, excluding NAIA Scholar Athletes and a COSIDA Academic Award.

Since the 1948–1949 season, when Wayland began keeping official statistics on the Queens, the Wayland Team has had the following affiliations:

AAU (Amateur Athletic Union): Between the 1948–1949 season through the 1976–1977 season, Wayland competed in AAU women's basketball and was one of only a few colleges to compete in this classification, as teams were primarily industrial and basically professional. The Wayland Team won 10 National AAU Championships, placed second nine times, and third three times. Wayland Team members received 88 AAU All-American Awards.

Notable alumni

Allison Black, U.S. Air Force officer

Matt Brown, a football and track and field coach at Idalou High School, who is a gold and bronze winner in the Parapan American Games. He lost his left leg was amputated above the knee in an industrial accident in 2005.

Michael E. Fortney, U.S. Air Force Major General

Barry Loudermilk, U.S. Congressman for Georgia's 11th congressional district, 2015–present

Tamyra Mensah-Stock, World Championship and Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling.

Devon Morris, former track and field athlete for Wayland Baptist University, ran for Jamaica in the 1988 Summer Olympics. Also, he won the IAAF indoor world championship with a 400 time of 45.49 sec.

Marshall Nelson, basketball player

Grady Nutt, Baptist preacher and humorist

Lometa Odom, women's basketball player

Brandon Schneider, current women's head basketball coach at The University of Kansas; previously at Stephen F. Austin State University and Emporia State University

Marsha Sharp, former head coach of the Texas Tech Lady Raiders basketball team, graduated in 1974 from Wayland.