Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU) is a private Baptist university in Shawnee, Oklahoma. It was established in 1910 under the original name of The Baptist University of Oklahoma. OBU is owned and was founded by the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.
History A commission to plan the founding of a co-educational Baptist University in Oklahoma was established by the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma in 1906 (one year prior to Oklahoma statehood) while in session in Shawnee.Randall Herbert Balmer, Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism: Revised and expanded edition, Baylor University Press, USA, 2004, p. 508 At the second annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma (BGCO) at Ardmore in November 1907, the Baptist Education Commission unanimously passed a resolution stating its sense that "as soon as practicable a new Baptist University be established". A board of trustees was elected soon thereafter in 1907. A site for the university was sought, and from 1908–1909 negotiations were held with entities in El Reno, Lawton, Chickasha and Oklahoma City without reaching agreeable terms.
At the 1910 annual meeting of the BGCO in Enid, the trustees reported that Shawnee had been selected as the site of the new university and that an incorporation certificate for "the Baptist University of Oklahoma" had been issued by the State of Oklahoma on February 9, 1910.Galen Culver, Founders Day: OBU celebrates its tenuous beginnings in 1910, kfor.com, USA, February 8, 2023
Plans for the administration building had been drawn and a contract for construction of the building had been signed on June 3, 1910. The total estimated cost to construct, equip, and furnish the building was $140,000 (equivalent to approx. $4.4 million in 2023).
In 1915, Shawnee Hall housed faculty, staff, classrooms, library, an auditorium which doubled as a gymnasium, and the women's dormitory. Shawnee Hall did not house male students, as they were housed in two privately owned off-campus homes, known as "Hill Hall" (located half of a block south of the intersection of Kickapoo and MacArthur streets) and "Douglas Hall" (located on south University street where Bailey Business Center now stands). Shawnee Hall did not provide enough space for women's housing, therefore, in 1916 ground was broken on a new dormitory for women. The new residential unit was opened in 1917 and named Montgomery Hall, in honor of Dr. and Mrs. D.M. Montgomery, who provided significant financial support for the project. Montgomery Hall served as a dormitory, the fine arts center, the student center, and the location for administrative services. The original Montgomery Hall was located between Shawnee Hall and WMU Memorial Dormitory on the campus oval. The building was removed in 1989 due to structural concerns and a new Montgomery Hall was located on south University street west of the Bailey Business Center. From 1919 to 1928, campus facilities consisted of three buildings, Shawnee Hall, Montgomery Hall, and the combination men's dormitory and gymnasium. In the mid 1920s under the leadership of Berta K. Spooner; Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Oklahoma Women's Missionary Union, Baptist women of Oklahoma recognized the need for a new dormitory for women on Oklahoma Baptist University's campus. After a fundraising effort to procure sufficient financial support for the new dormitory, groundbreaking occurred in 1927 for the new facility. When WMU Memorial Dormitory opened in 1928, the building housed rooms for 200 female students, the university dining hall, parlors, assembly rooms, a recreation room, an infirmary, and a swimming pool. Due to the challenges of "The Great Depression" in the late 1920s to the 1930s, it would be another decade before another building was constructed on campus.
On 14 January 1964, during final examinations week, the school narrowly missed disaster when a man flew a small airplane into Shawnee Hall. The man was a former student of the university who had been hospitalized for mental health problems. He rented the aircraft at Tulsa Airport; once airborne, he radioed Shawnee Airport to report his intention to crash into OBU's administration building.
Authorities evacuated Thurmond Hall, which had been the university's administration building since 1954, and moved students to Shawnee Hall, the primary classroom building, which had been the administration building prior to 1954. Police shot at the approaching aircraft before the pilot flew into one of the few empty classrooms in the building. The pilot was killed and the exterior impact area along with two classrooms were badly damaged. None of the 300 students, faculty, or other staff was injured. The pilot's son witnessed the crash.
Today, Shawnee Hall bears the scars of this incident. Although all damage has been repaired, the brick and mortar on the south side of the building is discolored in one area on the third floor when Shawnee Hall is viewed from the campus oval.
Enrolment passed 2,000 for the first time in 1989 and a record enrollment of 2,440, with 2,011 on campus, was set in 1994. In 1999, acquisition of land north of the campus enlarged OBU property from 125 to approximately . Under President Mark Brister, by 2005, the university's endowment exceeded US$80 million. In 2007, OBU's International Graduate School opened in Oklahoma City, offering a master's of business administration degree. Acquisition of 10 additional acres of land at the southwest edge of the campus in 2008 increased OBU's property to , and in 2010, the university celebrated its first centennial.
The university was granted an exception to Title IX in 2014 which allows it to legally discriminate against LGBT students for religious reasons. A student LGBT group called Bison 4 Equality protested the Title IX exemption. Oklahoma Baptist University was ranked among the "Absolute Worst Campuses for LGBTQ Youth" in the US by Campus Pride in 2021.
In 2019, it received the St. Gregory's University campus as a donation from Hobby Lobby.Carla Hinton, Hobby Lobby donates former Catholic university to OBU, oklahoman.com, USA, December 12, 2019 However, this real estate was later traded in a land swap.
In 2020, a campus was established at the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center prison in Lexington, Oklahoma.Chris Forbes, OBU art and prison divinity students transform prison walls into a sacred hall for study of the word, baptistmessenger.com, USA, June 8, 2022
The campus was struck by very large, multiple-vortex tornado on April 19, 2023. Many buildings were heavily damaged, including large brick institutional buildings that suffered significant roof and exterior wall damage. The tornado was rated high-end EF2 with winds of .
Presidents
James M. Carroll, 1910–1912 Frank M. Masters, 1915–1919 Judson A. Tolman, 1919–1921 John B. Lawrence, 1922–1926 Warren W. Phelan, 1926–1930 William Cooke Boone, 1930–1932 Hale Virginus Davis, 1932–1934 John Wesley Raley, 1934–1961 James R. Scales, 1961–1965 Grady C. Cothen, 1966–1970 Robert Lynn (interim), 1971 William G. Tanner, 1972–1976 E. Eugene Hall, 1977–1982 Tom Terry (interim), 1982 Bob Agee, 1982–1998 Mark Brister, 1998–2007 John W. Parrish (interim), 2007–2008 David W. Whitlock, 2008–2018 C. Pat Taylor (Interim), 2018–2018 Will Smallwood (Acting), 2019 Heath Thomas, January 2020–Present
Academics
Graduate degrees OBU offers two graduate degrees through the OBU Graduate School, based in downtown Oklahoma City.
On February 20, 2012, The OBU Graduate School announced plans to relocate from Oklahoma City's Triangle District to the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma building, located at 3800 N. May Avenue in Oklahoma City, in May 2012. The Graduate School has been located in the Momentum Building at 111 N. Harrison in downtown Oklahoma City since January 2007. The move will not affect the time frame of the existing cohorts in the Graduate School's programs. Dr. Scott Harris, director of the OBU Graduate School, cited the reasoning behind the move as more classroom space for existing and future programs, easier access in Oklahoma City concerning location (near Interstate 44 and Lake Hefner Parkway), and other educational endeavors.
Undergraduate core curriculum In addition to courses on the Bible and in science, all students take courses in OBU's distinctive Western Civilization sequence, which includes a freshman-level course on ancient Greek literature and culture and then the sophomore-level, twelve credit hour, team-taught courses on the history and literature of the Western world from the Roman republic to today. The purpose of the Western Civilization sequence has been described by faculty member Benjamin Myers: "Knowledge of Western civilization—a true knowledge of its change and continuity over time—gives the student room to breathe intellectually, morally, spiritually, and emotionally. It frees the student from the tyranny of the moment, from merely fashionable, inevitably superficial ways of being in the world. Life in the fullness of time is a life more abundant than living in the prison of the moment."
Campus
Location OBU is located in northwest Shawnee, Oklahoma. The OBU campus, referred to as "Bison Hill" because a majority of the university is located on a small hill, contains over 30 buildings on . The campus is bordered by N. Kickapoo Street to the east, W. Midland Street to the south and N. Airport Drive to the west. W. McArthur Street runs through the north side of the campus, with the main campus lying south of the street and residential and athletic areas to the north.
In December 2018 the sale to Hobby Lobby of the Shawnee campus of the bankrupt St. Gregory's University, located at 1900 West MacArthur, was approved by the bankruptcy court. The campus, less than a mile to the west along MacArthur from the main OBU campus, was leased to OBU. In May 2019, OBU renamed the former St. Gregory's property the "OBU Green Campus" both in honor of the Green family, owners of Hobby Lobby, and in reference to the color green, one of the university's official colors. In December 2019, Hobby Lobby and the Green family donated the campus to OBU. However, in June 2024, OBU transferred the Green Campus to St. Gregory's Abbey, in exchange for other land owned by the Abbey.
Dr. John Wesley Raley Chapel
Constructed in 1961, the chapel is, from the top of the spire to ground, tall. As a result, the chapel's spire can be seen from several miles away on a clear day and is usually used as a symbol of OBU. The chapel was named in honor of John Wesley Raley, longest serving president of OBU, from 1934 to 1961, who then served as chancellor of OBU until his death in 1968.
Raley Chapel is home to two separate auditoriums. The Andrew Potter Auditorium has a seating capacity of 2,000 and features the 56-rank Van Deren Memorial Organ. On the lower floor, the W.R. Yarborough Memorial Auditorium seats 400. The Mabee Fine Arts Center in Raley Chapel houses music classrooms, studios, rehearsal rooms, and the office of the dean of the College of Fine Arts. Among the instruments in Raley Chapel is the McGavern Harpsichord, a two-manual French instrument constructed in 1974.
Along with the auditoriums, there are several classrooms on the northern side of Raley Chapel, including a small banquet hall named in honor of Helen Thames Raley, wife of John Wesley Raley.
On December 21, 2011, work began on the windows in the spire of Raley Chapel. AT&T reached an agreement with OBU to install a cell phone antenna in the chapel's spire. The existing glass and aluminum framing could potentially interfere with the antenna transmission, leading to the replacement project.
Shawnee Hall