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The Paul and Gladys Faulkner Center for Marriage and Family will provide speakers, events and other resources for the Abilene Christian University community as well as the local Abilene area and beyond. 

The center will be partially funded by the newly established Paul and Gladys Faulkner Center Endowment. Both the endowment and the center honor Dr. Paul and Gladys Faulkner. Paul, a longtime preacher, counselor, professor, author and entrepreneur, died July 5, 2022, at age 92. His wife, Gladys, died in 2016.

Paul is perhaps best known for the Marriage Enrichment Seminar he began with his college roommate and friend, the late Dr. Carl Brecheen, also a longtime faculty member at ACU. Paul was a licensed marriage and family therapist and a clinical and supervisory member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, founding the Marriage and Family Institute at ACU in 1979. In 1974, he and Brecheen conducted their first Marriage Enrichment Seminar. Five years later, a seminar at the Abilene Civic Center that drew 1,600 in attendance was videotaped and became part of a video series that was seen by more than 2 million people worldwide. Seminars were conducted in 33 states and seven countries over 32 years.

“Thanks to the generosity of donors to the endowment, we’re able to build on the enduring legacy that Paul Faulkner began in marriage and family ministry,” said Dr. Heidi Morris, associate professor of marriage and family studies. “The Faulkner Center will focus on promoting and strengthening the formation and commitment of marriages, families and healthy relationships.”

Plans for the new center, which will be part of ACU’s Department of Marriage and Family Studies in the College of Biblical Studies, include the endowed Brecheen-Faulkner Speaker Series; outreach to churches and ACU alumni; events for the Abilene community and ACU Dallas; and other resources in the area of families and relationships. More details about the center’s kickoff efforts will be announced this upcoming academic year. 

Make a gift to the Paul and Gladys Faulkner Center for Marriage and Family.

— Wendy Kilmer
Aug. 14, 2022