Endowed Scholarship named for Dr. Terry Sergeant

On March 25, a crowded room was filled with fellow faculty, former students, family, and Funeral Director’s Life Insurance Company (FDLIC) employees, as Dr. Terry Sergeant, Professor of Computer Science at Hardin-Simmons University, was presented with a scholarship in his name. The scholarship award and ceremony were planned by colleagues Professor Wade Ashby and Kyle Swearingen ’09, FDLIC’s Vice President of Development and former student. “Dr. Sergeant gave every one of his students the ability to think pragmatically and prepared them for the real world,” said Swearingen as he took the podium.

Dr. Sergeant was responsible for over 25 new hires at FDLIC. This was the catalyst to endow a scholarship in his honor. In addition to FDLIC contributing funds, over 22 donors have contributed additional money totaling $14,000 currently in the fund.

Dr. Terry Sergeant came to Hardin-Simmons in 2003. He is somewhat of an overachiever holding not one but three bachelor’s degrees in education, mathematics, and computer science, as well as a master’s and doctorate. Before teaching at HSU, he taught computer science at Ouachita Baptist University, his alma mater, from 1997-2003.

Former Dean and current Associate Provost, Michael Monhollon, had this to say about Terry, “Terry Sergeant is the complete professor. He genuinely likes his students and genuinely cares about their growth as people, as well as their growth as academics and computer scientists. He combines that with pedagogical skill and a prodigious competence in his field based on academic training and real-world experience. It takes nothing away from the other Kelley College of Business and Professional Studies faculty to say that he’s the best hire I ever made. And we’ve made some really great hires.”

If you ask his fellow faculty to describe him, they will tell you he is a quiet, humble servant who makes a difference in the lives of so many students.

He has been an advisor for students in the classroom by modeling a “Go For It” mentality and mentoring students as they work through difficult life situations. If you ask his former students, you will hear descriptions like, “extraordinary amounts of patience” and how he devotes countless hours to discussing and debating the way things work.

President Bruntmyer shared how Dr. Sergeant modeled that same spirit even through his hobbies like mountain biking, where he would challenge HSU’s president to “Go For It” with the next hill around the corner.

“Every student who came to celebrate Dr. Sergeant and every student who contributed to this fund knows that they owe the kind of developer they are today to Dr. Sergeant. I know I do. Thank you for challenging us to think differently,” Swearingen said as he closed out his speech.

To give to the scholarship in Dr. Sergeant’s honor visit HSU’s giving page.