By LORETTA FULTON

Construction and instruction will be going on at the same time when students return Monday, Aug. 28, for fall classes at Abilene’s three church-affiliated universities.

Classes and opening chapel services, along with the sounds of power tools and heavy equipment, await students at United Methodist-affiliated McMurry University, Baptist affiliated Hardin-Simmons University, and Churches of Christ-affiliated Abilene Christian University. 

ACU will be first up with an opening ceremony. The university will begin its 118th academic year with the traditional Opening Assembly in Moody Coliseum at 11 a.m. Monday. ACU alumnus Shelton Gibbs IV, state district judge for the 422nd District Court, will give the address to students, faculty, staff, and visitors. 

Opening Assembly also will include the traditional Parade of Flags featuring every nation and U.S. state represented in the student body, faculty, and staff. This year’s parade will feature the flags of 55 nations and 45 U.S. states and territories. 

The Nuclear Energy eXperimental Testing (NEXT) Lab at Abilene Christian University is building a research reactor on Judge Ely Boulevard. ACU is leading the NEXT Research Alliance, which includes Georgia Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University and The University of Texas at Austin. Photo by Loretta Fulton

McMurry will hold its opening chapel service at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 29, in Matthew’s Auditorium in Old Main. Ricky Harrison, a McMurry graduate and the new Director of Religious Life and University Chaplain, will preach and the Chapel Band will provide music. A community lunch in the dining hall will follow chapel. 

“We’ll have tickets for anyone without a meal plan so that everyone can spend time eating and getting to know each other following worship,” Harrison said. 

McMurry is celebrating its centennial year with events scheduled all year.

Construction continues on McMurry University’s reimagined Student Center. The Student Center modernization is a $25 million project that will expand the facility from just over 39,000 to more than 58,000 square feet. The new campus center will include a fitness and wellness center, student success center, chapel, a spirit store, enhanced event spaces and more. Grand opening is scheduled for October during homecoming. Photo by Loretta Fulton

Hardin-Simmons will hold its fall convocation at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 29, in Behrens Auditorium with Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham as guest speaker. A dedication ceremony for the renovated Abilene Hall will follow.

Built in 1948, Abilene Hall has been retrofitted to house HSU’s Engineering Program, which will launch this fall with more than 40 engineering students.

Shelli Presley

McMurry and Hardin-Simmons both have new university chaplains. Shelli Presley has been named Director of Spiritual Formation at Hardin-Simmons University, replacing Travis Craver, who resigned to become vice president of operations at Fat Matt Roofing. Presley previously was Associate Pastor Family Freedom Ministry at Beltway Church.

“With Shelli at the helm of our spiritual formation efforts, I have no doubt that our campus community will flourish in our personal journeys with Christ,” HSU President Eric Bruntmyer said in a statement. “Her arrival marks an exciting chapter in our university’s life as we continue to fulfill our Vision Statement to ‘engage the minds and nurture the spirits of future Christian leaders.’” 

Read more about Presley

A new residence hall awaits Hardin-Simmons University in fall 2024. Work continues on the new 61,000-square-foot, four-story facility with 165 beds and multiple common areas. Photo by Loretta Fulton

Harrison, a 2014 graduate of McMurry University, succeeds Marty CashBurless, who served as chaplain from 2017 until her retirement at the end of June. She, too, was a McMurry graduate.

“Harrison was an outstanding student leader when he was at McMurry. Those leadership qualities have manifested themselves in his subsequent service at divinity school, the church and the community,” McMurry President Sandra Harper said in a statement. “We are looking forward to his innovative leadership as he serves the McMurry University campus in this pivotal appointment.”

Ricky Harrison

After leaving McMurry, Harrison earned a Master of Divinity at Duke University in 2017. While there, he was on staff at Apex UMC Family of Faith Communities in its ministry for youths and families. After graduating from Duke, he returned to Texas and for the past six years has been minister at United Methodist Churches in Wise County.

Read more about Harrison

Loretta Fulton is creator and editor of Spirit of Abilene