注意: Classes canceled today due to weather conditions. Check Blackboard for communication from your instructors.
Southwest 浸会大学 first opened its doors in 1878 in Lebanon, Mo.,如西南 浸信会大学. In 1879, the college was chartered by the state of Missouri 和 moved 对玻利瓦尔. Early writings recount a legacy of sacrificial giving 和 extraordinary efforts by Baptists in southwest Missouri to establish 和 maintain the college. 的 创始人Abner S. 英格曼和詹姆斯. Maupin, faced many difficulties as they rode horseback seeking funds, students 和 an ideal college site.
Each spring semester, SBU celebrates Founders Day. It is a time to reflect upon our rich heritage 和 to remember that in 1878, our founding fathers, Ingman 和 Maupin, established Southwest 浸信会大学. Founders Day is an important time when we are challenged to reflect on our past 和 to thank God for the people who have made the success of today possible.
的 college faced many hardships in its early years 和 actually closed from 1910-13 to regain financial solvency 和 to recover from a devastating fire that destroyed the college’s only building. 的 efforts 和 prayers of area supporters 和 Missouri Baptists brought results, 和 the college reopened in 1913 as a two-year junior college.
的 University has maintained its strong 浸信会遗产 through its affiliation with the Missouri Baptist Convention, which provides financial support for the University 和 elects the 25-member board of trustees which governs 该机构. 的 Missouri Baptist Convention approved plans in 1964 for the college to become a senior liberal arts college. 的 first baccalaureate degrees were awarded in 1967. Bolivar citizens donated a 102-acre farm on the southern edge of the city that allowed the college to exp和 beyond the small 10-acre campus located near downtown.
Another milestone occurred in 1981 when the college name was changed to Southwest 浸会大学. In 1995, the University entered a joint nursing education agreement 与圣. John's Regional Medical Center in 斯普林菲尔德, Mo.形成;形成. 约翰的学校 SBU的护理. 这所学校后来成为圣. John's College of Nursing 和 健康 2005年科学展望. St. John's changed its name in 2012, making the name of the college Mercy College of Nursing 和 健康 Sciences of SBU. 今天, College of 健康 Professions maintains a valuable partnership with Mercy 健康 Systems.
Today, SBU is a thriving higher education institution with more than 3,000 undergraduate 和 graduate students enrolled annually. 的 152-acre main campus is located in the southern portion of Bolivar, a community of about 10,300 residents that serves as the county seat of Polk County. Bolivar is located about 25 miles north of 斯普林菲尔德, which is the third-largest city in the state of Missouri after St. 路易斯和堪萨斯 城市. 的 University also operates campuses in 山景城, 萨勒姆 和 斯普林菲尔德, Mo. An 在线校园 2019年新增.
From its inception, the University has been a distinctively Christian 和 Baptist institution in terms of worldview 和 ideological commitments. 基督教的世界观, which is grounded in the Old 和 New Testaments, is the belief that:
的 cornerstone of Baptist tradition is the conviction, based upon biblical principles, that each person has freedom of conscience before both God 和 man. 的影响 of this tradition for Baptist higher education are the: