Howard Payne University students and personnel participated in the third annual William B. Dean, M.D. Lecture Series and Community Impact Day last Wednesday. More than 380 volunteers worked on various service projects with 22 community organizations.
“Each year, this event is an opportunity for our university to give back to our community,” said Dr. Cory Hines, HPU president. “It’s also a very tangible way we can live out HPU’s core value of being called to service.”
HPU volunteers served with the American Legion; Boys and Girls Club of Brown County; Brown County Christian School; Brown County Museum of History; Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce; Brownwood Area Community Garden; Brownwood Lyric Theatre; Brownwood Public Library; CASA in the Heart of Texas; Center for Life Resources; City of Brownwood Parks and Recreation; City of Early; Corinne T. Smith Animal Center; Greenleaf Cemetery; Heart of Texas Good Samaritan Ministries; Brownwood Coliseum; Lehnis Railroad Museum and Visitor Center; Pearl Griffin Memorial Latch Key Program; Rocky Creek Baptist Church; Staley Cemetery; Texas A&M Agrilife Extension/4-H Center; and the Vicksburg. Projects included painting, landscaping, picking up trash and cleaning facilities.
“This day is such a wonderful opportunity for faculty and staff to work alongside our students to benefit our community,” said Dr. Nathan Penland, HPU’s vice president for student experience. “I am thankful for the leadership on campus to organize it, but also the willingness of organizations within Brown County to prepare and host.”
Chris Ewen, a senior from May majoring in CIS system development, was a member of the group serving at Center for Life Resources and enjoyed the opportunity to meet other members of the HPU family.
“My service group included lots of people I hadn’t met or wasn’t very familiar with,” he shared. “Serving alongside them gave me perspective into how expansive, but also how close-knit, the HPU family can be when we work together.”
The William B. Dean, M.D. Lecture Series featured Dr. Jimmy Dorrell, co-founder and president emeritus of Mission Waco. Dr. Dorrell spoke at HPU’s Wednesday morning Chapel service and addressed HPU personnel at a luncheon prior to the service projects.
In 2021, HPU was awarded a $200,000 grant by the Dean Foundation to establish the annual service event. The Dean Foundation is chaired by Dr. David A. Dean, son of the late Dr. William B. Dean, distinguished Dallas-area pediatrician and trailblazer in conditions affecting children such as dyslexia and polio. Dr. David A. Dean serves as chair of the North Texas Crime Commission as well as president and CEO of the public policy consultancy Dean International, Inc. He served the State of Texas for more than a decade as general counsel to Democratic Governor Dolph Briscoe and Republican Governor William P. Clements, Jr. He also served as Texas Secretary of State under Governor Clements. He earned the Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Southern Methodist University and the Juris Doctor degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
The annual event is open to any non-profit organization in the greater Brown County area. Information about HPU’s 2025 William B. Dean, M.D. Lecture Series and Community Impact Day will be released closer to the event date.
