Helping Students Answer Important Questions
In Arkansas, one would be hard pressed to find a base of alumni and supporters as dedicated to their school as those of Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia.
One of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the state, Ouachita is also one of the state’s most iconic. It has served as a leading voice of faith-based education in Arkansas since its founding almost 150 years ago. This year, it was voted by readers to Arkansas Money & Politics’ annual list of “Most Admired Companies” in the four-year college or university category.
“Ouachita has been part of the fabric of Arkansas since its founding by Arkansas Baptists in 1886 with a vision for Christian higher education,” said Ben Sells, the university’s 16th president. “Two-thirds of our students come from Arkansas, and we’ve graduated generations of teachers, doctors, pastors, business leaders and public servants who have shaped communities across the state.”
Ben Sells
Ouachita graduates have excelled across the spectrum of business, politics and sports. Notable alumni include three governors — Sarah Huckabee Sanders (current), Mike Huckabee (1996-2007) and William Holloway of Oklahoma (1929-1931) — as well as former Dallas Cowboy and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Cliff Harris, noted Baptist minister and ethicist the Rev. H. Dale Jackson, National Baseball Hall of Famer Travis Jackson (New York baseball Giants, 1922-1936), renowned national legal scholar Leon Green and scores of Arkansas legislators.
Not to mention, of course, the mega-successful Christian pop band, Point of Grace, got its start on campus during the early 1990s, the original lineup composed entirely of Ouachita students.
Many from outside the state know Ouachita for its role in The Battle of the Ravine the Tigers’ annual football game with crosstown (actually, cross-highway) rival Henderson State University, played on the final week of the regular season. The rivalry has been featured on ESPN and is considered the most notable among NCAA Division II schools.
Ouachita’s acclaimed campus and its penchant for churning out state leaders makes it an attractive draw for families who want to continue a faith-based education and enjoy the quirks and perks of a four-year traditional, on-campus experience.
“The Battle of the Ravine is one of the oldest rivalries in college sports, and events like Tiger Tunes draw thousands while raising money for scholarships,” Sells said, “but what really keeps Ouachita rooted is relationships. Families send their children here because someone they trust came to Ouachita and had a life-changing experience. That cycle of trust and transformation, repeated across 140 years, is what makes Ouachita genuinely Arkansas.”
It is that on-campus experience that helps Ouachita stand out among its peers. Ninety-five percent of Ouachita students live on campus, and Sells said that is central to what the university has always been.
“The four-year residential experience is something we believe in,” he said. “It works best when students aren’t just attending classes but living, growing and being challenged together. The shared experiences of social clubs, our version of Greek life, and chapel and intramurals and late-night conversations in the residence halls — those things shape character in ways that can’t be replicated online or compressed into two years. We’re committed to that model because we’ve seen what it produces.”
Affiliated with the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, Ouachita also exists to offer a Christian-focused liberal arts education.
“We believe life is lived most fully in response to the love of Jesus Christ,” Sells said. “The most important questions a college student can wrestle with aren’t just career questions but questions of meaning, purpose and character. A Christian liberal arts education gives students the framework to answer those questions well and see how faith shapes every class they take. Students leave Ouachita not only prepared to join the workforce but formed for a lifetime.”
Ouachita currently enrolls about 1,800 students, a number that has served as something of a sweet spot for a university that intentionally remains cozy. In addition to the broad success experienced by Ouachita grads after they leave Arkadelphia, the school boasts high retention and graduation rates.
Plus, the personal attention afforded Ouachita students is intentional and not just a function of the school’s size, Sells added.
“Our high placement rate reflects years of faculty and staff investing in students individually, connecting them to internships, research opportunities and professional networks that open doors,” he said. “We often say Ouachita is a place where professors know your name, but it’s not just professors,” Sells said. “If a student struggles — academically, personally, socially — there’s an advisor who notices, a counselor who reaches out, a residence hall director who follows up. The community of friends they find here invests in each other.”
