DBU Launches Campaign to Begin First Residential College

Transform Campaign Update - Dallas, TX

Dallas, TX – DBU launches construction of its first Residential College for students, a learning/living community who will focus on the concept of Christian servant leadership and how that impacts a variety of vocations.

The Residential College is the driving force behind DBU’s Transform Campaign, an $8.5 million project that will begin construction Fall 2017 and open its doors in Fall 2019.

“At this time in our history,” stated DBU President Dr. Adam C. Wright, “we sense the Lord leading us to advance our mission to the next stage, and the Transform Campaign will enable us through this new endeavor.”

Residential colleges have a tradition spanning back to the founding of the English college system in Oxford and Cambridge. Modern expressions of this concept are known as Living-Learning Communities, where students of similar vocational callings live in a residential area with a faculty mentor and participate in planned activities throughout the course of their time in college.

DBU’s Residential College will focus on the concept of Christian servant leadership, and will be home to students from a wide-range of potential careers. Students studying history, medicine, education, business, ministry, or communication, just to name a few, will live together in the Residential College, engaging in Bible study, community meals, travel study, and guided discussions. The students will live in their own, uniquely designed housing units, which will provide young men and young women community within a community, allowing for personal and intentional education.

The new section of campus will be named Ford Village, a 20-acre area of land on the east side of the campus that will house up to 500 additional students on campus, in addition to providing new academic and community facilities. This construction is made possible thanks to the generous support of John and Nita Ford, long-time friends of the University.

“We believe that God has called DBU to prepare students who will transform the world, all for His glory,” explained Dr. Wright. “This development will be accomplished through an intense focus on the principles of servant leadership and how those ideas shape each students’ vocational calling.”

Construction on Phase 1 of the Transform Campaign will begin this Fall, and the Residential College is set to open Fall 2019. Students will be able to apply to the Residential College beginning in Spring 2019.

For more information about the Transform Campaign, please visit www.dbu.edu/transform, or contact Jeffrey Johnson, DBU Vice President for Advancement, at (214) 333-5759 or jeff@dbu.edu.

Written by Dr. Blake Killingsworth

Dr. Blake Killingsworth is the Vice President for Communications at Dallas Baptist University.