Baylor University’s board of regents passed the school’s annual budget Friday and also named six new regents, including the first two non-Baptist Christians to serve on the board.

One of the two non-Baptists is Tribune-Herald owner Clifton Robinson, a development the paper’s publisher said would not shape its coverage of the university.

The $429 million 2011-12 operating budget is about 6 percent larger than the previous year’s budget. It includes a $22.5 million increase for merit- and need-based scholarships, graduate assistantships and scholarships for graduate students, according to university officials.

Clifton Robinson was named to Baylor University's Board of Regents on Friday.

As part of the scholarship initiative, $2 million will help “financially support students with a cumulative (grade point average) of 3.0 or better who demonstrate continuing need,” a Baylor release said.

The regents also boosted personnel dollars to “support approximately 19 new full-time faculty positions, 43 replacement faculty positions and 31 new staff positions” and support merit-based raises for current faculty and staff, bigger stipends for graduate students and more money to pay student workers.

The six new regents begin three-year terms on June 1. In addition to Robinson, the other five are:

*  Frisco oilman Jay Allison, who got his bachelor’s degree from Baylor in 1978 and graduated from Baylor Law School in 1981. Allison is president, CEO and director of Comstock Resources Inc.

*  Marshall oilman Kenneth Carlile, a 1969 Baylor alumnus who earned two graduate degrees from the school, including a doctorate in 1996.

He is the co-chairman of The Carlile Companies and co-owner of Camterra Resources.

*  Jerry Clements, a 1981 Baylor Law School alumnus, is CEO and chairman of the Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell law firm in Austin.

*  Mark McCollum, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Halliburton in Houston. McCollum graduated from Baylor in 1980.

*  Milton Hixson, a 1972 graduate, chief executive office of Austin financial planning and investment firm Financial Management Professionals Inc. Hixson was selected for the school’s board by the Baptist General Convention of Texas last fall.

The choices of Carlile and Robinson, neither of whom are Baptist, come on the heels of a February meeting in which regents opened up board membership to Christians of other denominations.

“We’ve got an unusually high-profile set of new regents,” said board chairman R. Dary Stone after the board wrapped up their meeting Friday.

Referring to Carlile and Robinson as “fellow Christian regents,” Stone noted both men’s generous gifts to the university.

“The opportunity to finally get these guys inside the leadership tent is pretty historic for Baylor,” he said.

On Friday, Tribune-Herald publisher Donnis Baggett issued a statement that Robinson’s place on Baylor’s governing board wouldn’t change the paper’s approach as it relates to the university.

“His appointment will have no effect on our coverage of Baylor,” Baggett said. “Since the day he bought the Trib, Clifton has continually pushed our staff to publish a great newspaper worthy of this community. He would be disappointed if we shirked our duty to cover Baylor as thoroughly and professionally as possible.”

“A newspaper is duty-bound to cover the institutions within its community fairly, thoroughly and accurately,” he said. “We do that every day — not only with news from Baylor, but from throughout our community. We will continue to operate that way.”

New leadership

Stone also announced that Austin lobbyist and former State Rep. Neal T. “Buddy” Jones will take over as board chairman in June and Robert Beauchamp of Houston will begin serving as vice chairman. The terms for both men will be one year.

Four regents are leaving the board: Stan Allcorn, Wes Bailey, Stephen Carmack and Harold Cunningham.

In other business, the regents voted to establish the Robbins Institute for Health Policy and Leadership in the Hankamer School of Business.

The institute expands on the Robbins MBA Health Care Program, according to Scott Garner, a senior lecturer in economics and the coordinator of the program.

“This gift enables to expand to pick up new students, expand our reach and also expand our health-policy research,” Garner said.

mshapiro@wacotrib.com

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