News

WACO, Texas (Dec. 5, 2023) – Dorina Mitrea, Ph.D., department chair and professor of mathematics at Baylor University, was named a 2024 Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, one of only four mathematicians from Baylor to be honored with the prestigious designation.

WACO, Texas (Dec. 4, 2023) – Following a nationwide search, Baylor University Provost Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D., announced today that Kevin Sanders, D.M.A., director of the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music at the University of Memphis, has been selected as dean of the Baylor University School of Music. His appointment is effective July 1, 2024.

As the Baylor Family collectively reflects on the coming of Christ in the season of Advent, we also enjoy celebrating Christmas with our students before they prepare for finals and look toward the semester break. 

WACO, Texas (Nov. 30, 2023) – Baylor University today announced the recipients of the 2024 Baylor Alumni Awards, which honor individuals who embody the distinctive mission of the University and their remarkable achievements. A celebration honoring this year’s recipients will be held on campus Feb. 23, 2024.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 29, 2023) –  Baylor University historians Stephen Sloan and Adrienne Cain Darough with Baylor’s renowned Institute for Oral History, share seven simple best practices to help family members begin oral history conversations over the holidays that enrich recollections of the past and capture your family memories.

The list of schools to make U.S. News‘ top 25 for both undergraduate teaching and undergraduate research is a short (and impressive one), filled with schools like Duke, Michigan, Princeton, Stanford, Yale — and Baylor.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 29, 2023) – Baylor University President Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D., announced today that Curtis Reynolds, vice president for business affairs at the University of Florida, will join the University as vice president of business and finance and chief financial officer, effective March 1, 2024.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 27, 2023) – The Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities within the Baylor University School of Education announced today that it will join With Ministries on a new program called Worship as One: Learning with Children with Disabilities about Worship and Prayer. Lilly Endowment Inc. is supporting the program with a $300,000 grant to With Ministries. 

WACO, Texas (Nov. 27, 2023) – The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a five-year, $3.37 million research grant to Baylor University, Blackfeet Community College (BFCC) in Browning, Montana, and Montana State University-Bozeman to explore how the resiliency of the Blackfeet American Indian community could mitigate the health effects related to historical and childhood trauma.

It’s amazing how, even when we feel down, stopping and counting our blessings can remind us of how much we have to be thankful for. And we do, indeed, have much to thank God for over the past 12 months at Baylor.

In Psalm 95:2 we read, “Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving.” The psalmist also tells us, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord” (Ps. 92:1). 

WACO, Texas (Nov. 14, 2023) – Leading Baylor University positive psychology researchers, Sarah Schnitker, Ph.D., and Jo-Ann Tsang, Ph.D., who specialize in the study of gratitude, have identified three science-based mechanisms that can cultivate gratitude and improve empathy. This work is especially timely during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 10, 2023) – During its regular November meeting, the Baylor University Board of Regents received a comprehensive update on the University’s Strategic Planning process, which will guide Baylor into the future as a preeminent Christian research university. The Board also approved four new academic graduate degrees and discussed Baylor’s position in the evolving higher education marketplace.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 9, 2023) - In remembrance of all American veterans who have served their nation, Baylor University’s McLane Carillon, located in the tower of Pat Neff Hall, will ring in honor of Veterans Day during a special recital beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, on the Baylor campus. 

WACO, Texas (Nov. 9, 2023) – Beth Allison Barr, Ph.D., The James Vardaman Professor of History and author of “The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth” has been recognized on the Michael Ramsey Prize 2023 Longlist of 13 books being considered for the award. 

While Waco is certainly not on the fall color tour, I have noticed in the past few days that some of our trees are beginning to have glimpses of yellow, orange and rust. What a wonderful reminder of the changing season as we move toward Thanksgiving and Christmas! 

WACO, Texas (Nov. 9, 2023) – Following a nationwide search, Baylor University Provost Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D., announced today that Jeremy Counseller, J.D., The Abner V. McCall Chair of Evidence Law at Baylor, has been selected as dean of the University’s nationally ranked Baylor Law School. His appointment is effective July 1, 2024.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 8, 2023) – Baylor University was recognized today by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption as one of the nation’s top education institutions offering robust adoption benefits programs.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 7, 2023) – Baylor University is partnering with local schools on National STEM Day (Wednesday, Nov. 8) to provide engaging science presentations for area students and teachers and connect Baylor researchers in the community, all to encourage an affinity for science, technology, engineering and math in local students.

Other Native American students attended Baylor before Margery Lancaster Walker, including Oscar Pete (Chehalis tribe) in 1936 and Dan Tilden (Cherokee) in 1939. But Walker, who graduated with a degree in music education from BU in 1952, is believed to have been Baylor’s first Native American graduate.

Debbie Chou, B.S.Ed. ’23, is the fifth Baylor student teacher in recent years to be named the state’s Clinical Teacher of the Year.

Strong teams are great at recruiting, and Baylor has been blessed to land multiple “top recruits” in the university’s pursuit of excellence — not just in athletics or the student body, but among the faculty, as well.

Building on an already strong faculty lineup, the recruitment of new faculty in endowed chair roles is a significant focus of Illuminate and Give Light, with the goal of attracting nationally recognized experts into prestigious academic positions at Baylor. These efforts have proven successful — and they’re not done yet. The dividends of the Baylor Family’s generosity in the successful Give Light campaign continue to manifest in a multitude of ways, including the recruitment of elite faculty to Baylor.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 3, 2023) – November marks the beginning of the holiday season, which is full of holiday festivities and feasts. As consumers head to grocery stores and farmers markets for ingredients for those family meals, they will be faced with a choice: Organic or conventionally farmed produce? What impact does that choice have on human health? 

It’s hard to believe that almost two years have passed since we celebrated our attainment of Research 1 (R1) status. This designation has proven to be a springboard to even greater research growth since then, and Baylor will remain a strong R1 institution, even as metrics change.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 31, 2023) – Does a fine-tuned life provide evidence for a multiverse? A Baylor University philosophy professor’s co-authored article on the topic has been judged one of the best academic journal articles published in philosophy in 2022.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 30 2023) – The Mayborn Museum is celebrating Native American Heritage Month in November with exciting performances and lectures from the Native American community. The series will include community conversations with the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes.

Rain tried its best to disrupt Baylor Homecoming 2023, but a little weather can’t stop the Baylor Family from getting together — and Homecoming, as usual, brought back all the memories as thousands of Bears descended upon Waco this past weekend for the annual Baylor Family reunion.

Please join us on Thursday, December 7, 2023 at 11:00am in the Paul W. Powell Chapel at Truett Seminary for a service of prayer and worship at Lift Up Your Hearts. A complimentary fellowship luncheon for faculty and staff will follow in the Great Hall. Registration is now open.

Someone asked about my favorite Homecoming tradition, and I must admit that I don’t have just one – I love them ALL! Our students and staff have done such a wonderful job preparing to welcome Baylor alumni and friends back to campus for the nation’s oldest Homecoming, dating back to 1909.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 26, 2023) – Baylor University today announced a $2 million gift from Scott and Susan Orr of The Woodlands, Texas, establishing the Scott & Susan Orr Family Endowed Chair in Medical Humanities & Christian Faith to support teaching, mentorship and innovative research in the Medical Humanities Program within the College of Arts & Sciences.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 24, 2023) - Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary has announced the appointment of Jared E. Alcántara, Ph.D., as director of the Kyle Lake Center for Effective Preaching alongside the Lilly Endowment Inc. award of $1.25 million grant to support Truett Seminary’s initiative focused on minoritized preaching for the good and growth of the Church.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 24, 2023) – Three finalists for Baylor University’s 2024 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching will present their public lectures in person on the Baylor campus on Oct. 24, Oct. 30 and Nov. 6. In addition, all three lectures will be livestreamed on the Cherry Award’s page at their respective times.

In 1909, Baylor hosted the first collegiate homecoming celebration in the nation. This week, we again renew that tradition, as the Baylor Family returns to campus to “catch that Baylor spirit again,” as President Samuel Palmer Brooks famously wrote more than a century ago.

Homecoming, more than any other weekend of the year, is all about family. It’s about seeing old friends, recalling fond memories, sharing those stories with the next generation, and celebrating together as one. It’s the very best example of why we call this “the Baylor Family.”

Dr. Mona Minkara, a bioengineering professor at Northeastern University in Boston, was in Waco last week — a long way from the campus she calls home.

The reason for her trip? To join Baylor Chemistry’s Dr. Bryan Shaw in his lab, demonstrating to students from the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI) what she longed to hear at their age.

Baylor’s relationship with Waco is so important to us as we serve our community in partnership with leaders and organizations that strongly believe in the potential of our city, rallying cross-campus and city-wide resources that allow all to prosper and flourish.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 18, 2023) – Baylor University’s renowned Armstrong Browning Library and Museum will host Kristen Pond, Ph.D., associate professor of English and The Margarett Root Brown Chair in Robert Browning and Victorian Studies, as she presents the 2023 Benefactors Day lecture, “It's Okay to Talk to Strangers: Charles Dickens and Charlotte Brontë on Enchanting Encounters."

WACO, Texas (Oct. 17, 2023) – Baylor University’s Institute for Faith and Learning will host its annual Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture, which this year focuses on the theme, Called Together In an Age of Discord.

Last year, Baylor appeared for the first time on a prestigious list for university innovations, debuting at No. 99 among the Top 100 U.S. Universities Granted Utility Patents. The list, published by the National Academy of Inventors, highlights the role of universities in American innovation.

This year, Baylor jumped all the way to No. 75 among the top 100 — a 24-spot jump that highlights a busy 12 months for Baylor researchers. 

WACO, Texas (Oct. 16, 2023) – Baylor University announced today the launch of the Baylor Research in Growth and Human Thriving Science (BRIGHTS) Center, a multidisciplinary center designed to catalyze research related to the science of human flourishing.

As we head into fall break and focus on midterms right around the corner, I know many students’ stress levels tend to go up. But here’s one simple change that can help reduce stress: Improving sleep.

As Baylor pursued and received R1 research recognition, leaders across the university noted it was about more than mere prestige; it was about having a “seat at the table,” where Baylor professors could bring a Christian research university’s viewpoints and ideas into settings where real impact can take place.

The litany of significant awards, appointments and assignments Baylor sciences faculty have received in recent months suggest that dream is coming true.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 11, 2023) – Baylor University has received its first-ever Fulbright-Hays grant that will assist the University in strengthening its East Asian language programs (Chinese, Japanese and Korean) and Asian Studies program.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 10, 2023) –The Department of Entrepreneurship and Corporate Innovation within Baylor University’s nationally ranked Hankamer School of Business moved up to No. 3 in the world and the highest-ranked program in Texas for research productivity in the 2023 TCU Global University Entrepreneurship Research Productivity Rankings, the only research-focused ranking of entrepreneurial programs.

Baylor isn’t just beloved by its students and alumni; it’s also a special place for the faculty and staff who work here.

The latest evidence comes in the results of the annual “Great College to Work For” survey, which — for the 12th time in 13 years — found Baylor earning honor roll status.

In October we are joining our 180 fellow members of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) in celebration of Christian Higher Ed Month. From academics to student life and more, our faith animates all that we do here at Baylor. 

WACO, Texas (Oct. 3, 2023) – With health experts expecting another intense flu season, Baylor University Health Services will host five mobile flu vaccination clinics for students, faculty and staff at locations throughout campus in October and November.

WACO, Texas (Sept. 28, 2023) – Baylor University and the Waco communities will have the opportunity to hear from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin during this year’s Beall-Russell Lecture in the Humanities at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 2, in the Grand Ballroom of the Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center, 905 S. University Parks Drive. The lecture is free and open to the public, but registration is requested.

I am excited to share with you that Baylor will be the host site for the 2024 Collegiate Day of Prayer on Thursday, Feb. 29. The annual event is an evening worship and prayer service focused on college students and live streamed around the world. 

WACO, Texas (Sept. 28, 2023) – Baylor University will serve as the originating site for the 2024 Collegiate Day of Prayer broadcast, the University announced on Thursday. The Collegiate Day of Prayer is an evening worship and prayer service focused on college-aged students, traditionally held on a university campus and live-streamed around the world.

WACO, Texas (Sept. 28, 2023) – Baylor University researchers along with City of Waco leaders in sustainable infrastructure are among the 19 teams advancing to stage 2 of the Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC), a national research and action competition focused on rapidly transitioning emerging technologies and concepts into a local community to address their long-standing challenges.