Cultural and Social Enrichment

The University Honors Program at Dallas Baptist University is fundamentally concerned with building the kind of friendships and intellectual community that makes excellent learning and significant life change possible.  This takes place in the classroom, but also in extracurricular events that are designed to expose you to great thinkers and to help you engage our culture and its worldview.

Friday Symposium

The Friday Symposium is an interdisciplinary lecture series that meets weekly on campus. It meets for one hour nearly every Friday at noon in Rogers Theater (LL-14) in Pilgrim Chapel. You can bring your lunch and simultaneously feed your body and mind. The purpose of the Friday Symposium is to stimulate meaningful conversation about topics of classic and contemporary importance and to do so from the vantage point of Christian conviction. Symposiums feature DBU faculty, guest lecturers, and alumni.

Fall Retreat

We offer an annual fall study retreat, as well as an annual spring conference, and these two events are considered essential to your participation in the UHP.  The annual faculty-student retreat is a chance for UHP students and faculty to gather together for a few days and explore important topics that shape our lives and faith. Typically, the retreat gathers at the DBU Hospitality House at the Mt. Lebanon Encampment and invites a noted speaker.  You are required to attend the retreat at least two times, preferably your first and second year in the program.

Paideia Research Forum (PRF)

The annual Paideia Research Forum partners with a different academic area each year to explore a particular academic area and its relationship to faith and culture. PRF in past years has been addressed by individuals such as:

  • Os Guinness
  • James K. A. Smith
  • Vince Bacote
  • Nigel Cameron
  • Paul Marshall
  • Katherine Hayhoe
  • Amy Sherman

The forum includes undergraduate student presentations on Saturday morning, and our keynote speaker gives three lectures: one on Friday and two on Saturday. Student papers cover a wide range of topics and typically involve research done for classes while here at DBU. Professors sometimes nominate outstanding papers by their students for the conference. 

DOXA Literary Festival

The annual DOXA Literary Festival is an opportunity for students to present publically their original fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, as well as perform their original songs. The festival always invites writers of Christian faith to address a topic of their concern. The writers will also read from their work. In past years, the festival has been addressed by individuals such as:

  • Luci Shaw
  • Scott Cairns
  • Paul Willis
  • Tania Runyan
  • Erin McGraw

DOXA events include a songwriting contest and performance on Friday night, undergraduate student presentations on Saturday morning, as well as our guest speaker, who gives two presentations: one on Friday and one on Saturday. The festival includes a competition in each category, and awards in Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction, and Song Writing. 

Southwest Conference on Christianity and Literature

In the Fall of 2020, Dallas Baptist University will be hosting the Southwest Conference on Christianity and Literature. The Conference on Christianity and Literature is an interdisciplinary society committed to exploring the relationship between Christianity and literature. Established in 1956, CCL is dedicated to scholarly excellence and collegial exchange and involves hundreds of members from several academic institutions and religious traditions. The conference will be open to the public, and all students, as well as honors students, are encouraged to participate. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Paul Wadell, and the theme of the Fall 2020 Conference is "The Art of Spiritual Friendship."

 

(Co-Sponsored by the English Department)