Southwest Baptist University


Southwest Baptist University is a private Baptist university in Bolivar, Missouri. It is affiliated with the Missouri Baptist Convention, which is part of the Southern Baptist Convention. In 2019, it had a total enrollment of 3,280 students attending at one of SBU's four Missouri campuses in Bolivar, Mountain View, Salem, or Springfield.

History

Abner S. Ingman and James R. Maupin founded Southwest Baptist College in 1878 in Lebanon, Missouri. The Lebanon campus originally had an enrollment of 60 students and six faculty. The college lasted one year before the city decided it no longer wanted it. When news got out that the college would be moving, the communities of Aurora, Monett, and Bolivar in southwest Missouri attempted to attract the college. In 1879, the state of Missouri chartered the school and it moved to Bolivar, Missouri. The college went through many financial difficulties in the early part of the twentieth century.
On June 1, 1910, at 11:00 am., the fire that would destroy the campus started. The fire broke out under suspect circumstances, leading some to believe arson was the cause. Bolivar citizen firefighters tried to put out the fire, but the water supply ran dry and at 2:00 pm the fire engulfed the whole campus. Losses were estimated at $20,000. The college was rebuilt, and reopened in 1913.

Campus history

When it reopened in 1913 as a junior college, Southwest Baptist College consisted of four buildings, three of which still stand on the Stufflebaum campus. Among the buildings still standing from the original Stufflebam campus are Casebolt Apartments, Memorial Hall, and Ingman Hall.
On March 26, 1962, a fire destroyed Pike Auditorium. Students and townspeople saved eight pianos and almost all of the sports equipment from the locker rooms of the multipurpose building at that time. Pike Auditorium was the only building destroyed by the fire. The fire became a turning point in the history of Southwest Baptist. The newly elected president, Dr. Robert E. Craig, used the event to stimulate the buying of of farmland south of Bolivar. This farmland expanded into the Shoffner Campus on which Southwest Baptist University resides today.
The Shoffner campus, located approximately a quarter-mile south of Stufflebaum campus, was first used in 1962 with the opening of Beasley Hall. Within ten years, Landen Hall, Leslie Hall, the Goodson Student Union, and the Wayne and Betty Gott Educational Center were opened. In 1977, Mellers Dining Commons was opened, adjoining the Goodson Student Union.
In 1981, the Gene Taylor National Free Enterprise Center was opened to facilitate the College of Business and Computer Science. This was the same year in which Southwest Baptist College became Southwest Baptist University. In 1989, the Sells Administrative Building was completed to accommodate the growing administrative department of Southwest Baptist University.
In 1992, the Wheeler Science Center opened, giving the science department a facility capable of housing hundreds of students. The school of Physical Therapy was located in this building until it moved to a nearby, offsite location.
In 1995, SBU agreed with St. John's School of Nursing, a traditionally Catholic institution, to form St. John's School of Nursing of Southwest Baptist University located in Springfield, Missouri. It has since been renamed the Mercy College of Nursing and Health Sciences of Southwest Baptist University.
The Wayne and Betty Gott Educational Center was renovated in 1998 to accommodate classroom needs. The campus library moved to what is now the Jester Learning and Performance Center, and was renamed the Harriet K. Hutchens Library, which opened in 1996. The rest of the Jester Learning and Performance Center was completed in 2001. It currently houses the Davis-Newport Theater, the Department of Language and Literature, the Department of Art and the Bob R. Derryberry School of Communication Arts.
The most recent addition to the Shoffner campus is the Jane and Ken Meyer Wellness and Sports Center. It opened to students in January 2005. This facility houses an indoor track, intramural gym, fitness center, pool, café, racquetball courts, rock wall, and Hammons Court, the home of Bearcat Basketball.

Presidents

Presidents listed in chronological order.
  1. James R. Maupin
  2. Abner S. Ingman
  3. Julius M. Leavitt
  4. W. H. Burnham
  5. Robert E. L. Burks
  6. Asa Bush
  7. James R. Rice
  8. Ernest W. Dow
  9. Joseph Rucker
  10. J. E. Austin
  11. Charles W. Fisher
  12. B. W. Wiseman
  13. John C. Pike
  14. John W. Jent
  15. Courts Redford
  16. Samuel H. Jones
  17. John W. Dowdy
  18. Robert E. Craig
  19. James L. Sells
  20. Harlan E. Spurgeon
  21. Charles L. Chaney
  22. J. Edwin Hewlett, Jr.
  23. Wayne Gott
  24. Roy Blunt
  25. C. Pat Taylor
  26. Eric A. Turner

    Academics

Southwest Baptist University Colleges include:
Southwest Baptist University athletic teams compete in the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Valley Conference. SBU previously competed in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association until in the spring of 2019 and will begin regular season competition for all sports in the GLVC beginning in the 2019-20 season. The university currently fields 18 NCAA Division II varsity sports. SBU was also one of the first schools to establish a varsity collegiate esports team and is a charter member of the Collegiate Esports Association. SBU added a Cheer and STUNT team beginning in the 2018-19 season.

Notable alumni