News

Every fall, I am excited as new faculty arrive and current faculty return. Students move into residence halls, off-campus houses, and apartments and find their way through a new schedule of classes, clubs, and other activities. There is a rhythm to the academic year that I find rejuvenating.

Fall 2023 is here! Let me give you a bit of a preview of what you can expect for this forthcoming fall semester. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) will disrupt higher education.

ChatGPT told me so.

It must be true.

Much has happened at Baylor since I arrived here four years ago. Together we have navigated COVID-19, reached Carnegie’s highest research status of R1, and doubled graduate student enrollments – while also continuing to deepen our longstanding commitment to providing a transformative undergraduate education in a caring Christian community.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to work alongside you these past four years. We have done amazing work together under the direction of President Livingstone and our strategic plan, Illuminate. At the Spring Faculty Meeting, I summarized some of these accomplishments.

Spring is a time to honor those in the Baylor community with achievements that merit special regard. Promotions are being announced, and the outstanding faculty awards committee assesses nominations for awards that will be announced in the Fall Faculty Meeting (to be held in the new Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center!). The latest Cornelia Marshall Smith Award recipient will be named at the Academic Honors Convocation, and students vote for their selection for the Collins Outstanding Professor Award.

I am pleased to share with you that DeAnna Toten Beard, M.F.A., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Theatre Arts and professor of theatre history and dramaturgy, has been selected as Baylor University’s Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, effective July 1, 2023.

WACO, Texas (March 14, 2023) – Following a nationwide search, Baylor University Provost Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D., announced that Eduardo Contreras Jr., Ed.D., associate provost for international education, diversity and inclusion at the University of Portland, has been selected as Baylor University’s vice provost for global engagement, effective July 1, 2023.

It has been a banner year for Baylor students competing for national awards and fellowships —we have had 14 Fulbright awards, a Churchill Scholarship winner, a Marshall Scholarship winner, a Goldwater scholar, two Boren Scholarship winners, and a Truman Scholarship winner! Only one institution won the Churchill, Marshall, and Truman awards in 2022: Baylor. 

Spring on campus can often be one of transitions, and this year is no exception. 

WACO, Texas (Feb. 8, 2023) – Bradley J. B. Toben, J.D. ’77, has decided to transition as dean of Baylor Law School and return to the faculty, effective July 1, 2023, Baylor University Provost Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D., announced today.

WACO, Texas (Jan. 31, 2023) – Gary Mortenson, D.M.A., dean of the Baylor University School of Music since 2015, announced at a faculty meeting today that the 2023-2024 academic year will be his final year as dean, Provost Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D., wrote in an email to campus.

Welcome back to a new semester! I hope that you found the Christmas holiday season to be one of rest and rejuvenation.

WACO, Texas (Jan. 5, 2023) – Following a nationwide search, Baylor University Provost Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D., announced today that Daniel J. Pack, Ph.D., dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and a 2005 Carnegie U.S. Professor of the Year, has been selected as dean of the Baylor School of Engineering and Computer Science. His appointment is effective June 1.

I hope the conclusion of the fall semester is going well for all of you.  A long break is right around the corner.  You’ve almost made it!

Last month, I was fortunate to take part in the very first Provost’s Conference Series event: Classics and Classical Education in the Black Community. This special gathering was sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Department of Classics at Baylor.

This month, we kick off our annual United Way of McLennan County Giving Campaign. This is a great chance for our faculty and staff to invest in the Waco community. No one is a better reflection of the good work they do than my husband, Mark.

I am excited about our new cohort of faculty! You may have heard – this fall, we welcomed 110 new full-time faculty to campus. Half of these faculty hold tenured or tenure-track positions. Five of these are endowed chairs. This is one of, if not the most, diverse cohorts of faculty in Baylor’s history.

Baylor University announces the twentieth annual Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year Award, to be awarded to a Baylor faculty member who makes a superlative contribution to the learning environment at Baylor, including teaching which is judged to be of the highest order of intellectual acumen and pedagogical effectiveness, research which is recognized as outstanding by the national and/or international as well as local community of scholars, and service which is regarded as exemplary in building the character of intellectual community at Baylor.

Welcome back to campus as we settle in after a busy first month of the academic year. I hope these first few weeks in Baylor’s classrooms and labs have been fruitful.

It’s hard to believe that fall 2022 is just around the corner. I hope your summer has offered new learning opportunities.

Our August commencement ceremony is a big event for our graduate students. On August 13th, nearly five hundred graduate students will be receiving their degrees. Baylor’s graduate programs have grown from 1,112 graduates annually in 2017 to 1,959 annual graduates in 2022.

I am pleased to announce faculty promotions for the 2021-22 academic year.

Sinda Vanderpool, Ph.D., Associate Vice Provost for Academic Enrollment Management, was announced yesterday as the next President and Vice Chancellor of St. Mary’s University in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. 

I am pleased to share with you that Jason R. Carter, Ph.D., vice president for research, economic development and graduate education at Montana State University, has been selected as Baylor University’s Dean of the Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences, effective August 8.

Congratulations to Dr. Les Palich and Dr. Candi Cann, who have both been named Fulbright U.S. Scholars!

I am pleased to share with you that Stephen B. Reid, Ph.D., Professor of Christian Scriptures with Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary, has been selected to serve in a new position as the University’s Vice Provost for Faculty Diversity & Belonging.

As we approach the end of the semester, we are also in the final stages of the hiring season, and there is much good news to report. The quality of this new cohort of faculty is quite simply outstanding.

Education is a risky business. It can change your life.

The spring faculty meeting was such a great opportunity for President Livingstone and me to give a big shout-out to you - the faculty and staff,

Dr. Rachelle Meyer Rogers (Ed.D. 2005), a clinical associate professor in Baylor’s School of Education, assumes the role of ATE president this month after serving as vice president last year. She was elected to the role in the Fall of 2020, chosen by her peers to lead an organization that she calls the “protector” of the teaching profession.

The Office of the Provost is pleased to announce that a new Registrar has been appointed for Baylor University. Michelle Johnson will be joining Baylor after more than 15 years at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California, where she was the Associate Vice President & University Registrar.

Welcome back! I hope you were able to enjoy our crazy warm weather and celebrate Christmas with family and friends

Baylor University has been named a Research 1 university by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, joining the nation’s top-tier research institutions as a doctoral university with very high research activity and elevating Baylor as a preeminent Christian research university.

Discover how a Baylor professor's invention helps bring the benefits of horse riding to children with autism.