Abilene Christian University
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Abilene Christian University (ACU) is a private university located in Abilene, Texas, affiliated with Churches of Christ. ACU was founded in 1906, as Childers Classical Institute. ACU has an annual enrollment of about 5,000 students from across the United States and 60 nations.

History

Abilene Christian University grew from an idea held by A. B. Barret and Charles Roberson to form a school in West Texas. The Church of Christ in Abilene agreed to back the project. J. W. Childers sold Barret land and a large house west of the town and lowered the price with the stipulation that the school would be named in his honor. Childers Classical Institute opened in the fall of 1906, with 25 students.

ACU's Bible Building and Bell Tower

When Jesse P. Sewell became president of the institute in 1912, the school began using "Abilene Christian College" on all its printed material. In 1920, the school paid the Childers family $4,000 and formally changed the name.

The Optimist, the university's student-run newspaper, was founded in 1912. The Prickly Pear, the school yearbook, was founded in 1916. The campus literary-arts magazine (now The Shinnery Review, formerly The Pickwicker) has been in production since 1933.

In 1927, with the help of a $75,000 contribution from the city of Abilene, the board of trustees purchased 680 acres (2.8 km²) northeast of Abilene. In addition, residents donated 75 acres (304,000 m²) of adjoining land. The new campus opened in the fall of 1929.

From the time of its founding to the present, the university has been governed by a board of trustees made up of members of the Churches of Christ. Abilene Christian University is the largest organization in the United States that has time set aside each day for chapel. Chapel attendance is required, absent an approved exemption, and those students failing to meet the requirement over a period of more than one semester may be subject to suspension.²

Abilene Christian University first received school accreditation in 1971 when it became an accredited member of the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.³

Amberton University, previously Amber University, was created as an extension campus of Abilene Christian University. It was launched in Mesquite, Texas in 1971, moving to Garland, Texas in 1974. It became a separate institution as Amber University in 1982, and was rechristened Amberton University in 2001. Like Abilene Christian University, Amberton remains affiliated with the Churches of Christ.

On February 22, 1976 the name was changed to Abilene Christian University. The school celebrated its centennial in the 2005-06 school year.

The school established an NPR station, KACU-FM in 1986. Initially, the community was concerned that the school might use the station for proselytizing, and for the station's first 10 years, an advisory board composed of community members served to monitor the station against this possibility.⁴ On October 18, 2008, the school hosted a live broadcast of NPR's long-running "A Prairie Home Companion" radio show from the campus' Moody Coliseum.⁵⁶

On February 26, 2008, it was announced that all incoming freshman classes would receive a free Apple iPhone or an iPod Touch. This decision was the result of a study to find out the viability of iPhone and iPod for academic purposes. ACU was reported as the first university in the nation to embrace this opportunity to further education through the accelerating communication movement.⁷ In August 2008, ⁸ Campus Technology magazine named ACU "Innovator of the Year" in the mobile learning category for this "ACU Connected" initiative.

An extensive history of the university and its involvement in the world has been consolidated into a single volume work by Dr. John C. Stevens, a former ACU president. The book is called No Ordinary University.

Mission statement

"The mission of Abilene Christian University is to educate students for Christian service and leadership throughout the world."

Traditions

• Sing Song. Since 1957, this annual competition in mid-February has featured student groups of 30-100 people, singing themed a cappella medleys, usually satirical. Originating as a fund-raiser for the school, the modern event has developed into a major show for which each group assembles costumes related to their act's theme, such as weight loss, Coca Cola, Adam and Eve, or forest fires. Often the costumes involve a mid-performance quick-change to a second costume — such as the 1987 acts in which grapes turned into raisins or bananas peeled to reveal Carmen Miranda — or elaborate choreography within the risers, as when the 1983 freshman class act recreated a Pac-Man screen and manipulated their costumes so that the character appeared to move around the screen.⁹¹⁰
• Summit. Referred to as Lectureship until the 2008 school year. Begun in 1918, this annual program gathers thousands of attendees for lectures and workshops on religious topics connected with a biblical theme that changes each year. After many years of following directly after Sing Song, the lectureship moved in 2006 to a September event, in part to spread out the events that bring the most visitors to campus and also to take advantage of the more stable autumn climate, as winter storms and rain had hindered attendance on multiple occasions.
• Spring Break Campaigns. Hundreds of students participate each year in missionary or community-service programs of 7-10 days in various parts of the United States and, some years, other nearby countries.⁹
• Welcome Week. Modeled on a program at Baylor University, this event for the integration of incoming first-year and transfer students provides small-group study programs, social activities, and information fairs in the week preceding the beginning of the fall semester.
• Homecoming. Like most residential U.S. universities, the campus hosts a celebration each fall for alumni to return for a parade, class-year and organizational reunions, and musical theater.⁹

Athletics

• Abilene Christian has been in the Lone Star Conference (LSC) of Division II of the NCAA since 1973. In 2007, the conference included 33 ACU current and former student athletes in its 75-member all-sports team commemorating the conference's 75th anniversary.¹¹ Overall, ACU is fourth in NCAA history in team national championships won with 53, trailing only UCLA, Stanford and USC.^{citation needed}
• The Wildcats were NAIA national football champions in 1973 and 1977.^{citation needed} Nine ACU football players were included in the LSC's 75th-anniversary list of top players in conference history.¹¹ Also in 2007, ACU posted one of the greatest offensive seasons in NCAA Division II football history, leading the nation in scoring and in points per game.^{citation needed} At the close of the previous season, the Wildcats were ranked No. 20 in the nation in the American Football Coaches' Association Top 25 poll for Division II teams.^{citation needed}
• The men's track program has won 15 outdoor national track championships: four when competing in the NAIA and eleven in NCAA Division II. In indoor competition, the program has won nine national championships: one in NAIA and eight in NCAA Division II.^{citation needed}
• Ove Johansson kicked the longest field goal in college football history (69 yards) in 1976, 6 yards longer than the current NFL record.¹²
• Olympic athletes from ACU include Bobby Joe Morrow, three-time 1956 gold medal winner; Earl Young, 1960 Olympic gold medalist in the 4x400 relay; Billy Olson, who made the 1980 and 1988 U.S. teams but did not compete in 1980 due to President Carter's decision to boycott the Games; Yolande Straughn, who competed in 1988 for Barbados; and *James Browne, 1988 competitor for Antigua.¹¹

Social clubs

The school has a number of student organizations called "social clubs" that are equivalent to a fraternity or sorority on other college campuses; chapters of national Hellenic societies, however, are not permitted. The main goal of these social clubs is to help in service to the surrounding communities and the school itself.^{citation needed} Clubs also participate in intramural sports and Sing Song.

Current social clubs include the men's groups Frater Sodalis, Galaxy, Gamma Sigma Phi, Pi Kappa, Sub T-16, and Trojans; and women's clubs Ko Jo Kai, Sigma Theta Chi, Alpha "Kai" Omega (not to be confused with Alpha Kai Omega), Delta Theta, and GATA.

Presidents

• Allen Booker Barret (1906-08)
• H. C. Darden (1908-09)
• Robertson Lafayette Whiteside(1909-11)
• James F. Cox (1911-12)^[1]
• Jesse Parker Sewell (1912-1924)
• Batsell Baxter (1924-1932)
• James F. Cox (1932-1940)
• Don H. Morris (1940-1969)
• John C. Stevens (1969-1981)
• William J. Teague (1981-1991)
• Royce Money (1991-present)

Notable alumni

• Gordon Bethune, former CEO of Continental Airlines
• James Browne, Olympic long jumper from Antigua
• Nelson Coates, Emmy-nominated film production designer¹³¹⁴¹⁵
• Randall "Tex" Cobb, professional boxer, actor
• Bonnie Curtis, film producer
• Jody Dean, news anchor of KTVT-TV, Dallas, Texas
• Holly Dunn, country music artist, painter
• James Hill, professional football player
• Robert D. Hunter, member of the Texas House of Representatives, District 71, (1986-2006)
• Ove Johansson, Swedish-born American football fieldgoal record setter
• Jeff Knipp, film production designer
• John Layfield, professional wrestler
• David Leeson (1978), co-winner of 2004 Pulitzer Prize (previously nominated in 1986, 1990, and 1995)¹⁶ and winner of the Edward R. Murrow and National Headliner Awards¹⁷
• Cindi Love, executive director of Metropolitan Community Church¹⁸¹⁹
• Max Lucado, best-selling Christian author
• Danieal Manning, professional football player
• Bobby Joe Morrow, Olympic sprinter, won three gold medals in the 1956 Games
• Wilbert Montgomery, professional football player
• Billy Olson, Olympic pole vaulter (1988 Summer Olympics, U.S. team for boycotted 1980 Summer Olympics); held several world records, including first 19-foot indoor pole vault — vaulted for AHS and ACU^2021222324
• Cline Paden (1947), Church of Christ missionary, founder of Sunset International Bible Institute in Lubbock
• Ted Poe, former Harris County, Texas, judge; member of the United States House of Representatives
• Kevin Price, host of the Houston Business Show on CNN 650 and publisher of [HoustonBusiness.com Houston Business Review
• Jack Scott, California state senator
• Jeev Milkha Singh (1996), professional golfer from India²⁵¹¹
• R. Gerald Turner, president of Southern Methodist University
• Aaron Watson, country music singer
• Allen Wilson, football coach
• Earl Young, 1960 Olympic gold medal winner in 4X400 relay
• Paul Stelzer, Co-Director of the Heart Valve Center and a senior surgeon in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital, and a Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, whose experience with the Ross procedure is considered among the most extensive in the world.²⁶

Notable former students

• Ronnie Dunn, singer and songwriter - one half of Brooks & Dunn
• Micah P. Hinson, singer and songwriter
• Daniel Johnston, singer and songwriter - attended ACU in his first year of college

Notable professors

• Everett Ferguson, Patristics scholar and noted author
• Douglas A. Foster, Professor of Church History, editor of the Stone-Campbell Encyclopedia
• Arlie J. Hoover, History Scholar and Noted Author
• Gary D. McCaleb, professor of management and founder of Center for Building Community; former mayor of Abilene

Zona Luce Building - original 1929 school house, now home of the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences	ACU Police Headquarters on Campus Court	Sewell Auditorium - built in 1929, original home of daily chapel	University Church of Christ on EN 16th St
McDonald Hall for freshman women	Nelson Hall for freshman women	Gardner Hall for freshman women	Sikes Hall for sophomore women
Williams Performing Arts Center, built in 2003	Williams Performing Arts Center glass atrium	A view of the WPAC and the Business Building from across the pond	Moody Coliseum, home of daily chapel and Sing Song, as well as sporting events and concerts
Brown Library	ACU Tower of Light and Bible Building Atrium

Notes

External links

• ACU official site

Footnote

• ^[2] When James Cox's wife became ill, his brother, Alonzo B. Cox, filled in for him to finish the term.