The Latest from Baylor

For world-class concerts and entertainment, Baylor University and the City of Waco are establishing the Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion and Waco, Texas, as the premiere mid-market experience.

Residence halls at Baylor provide a foundation for student success in and out of the classroom through a caring community.

For someone who feels a personal mission to make the world a better place for children, there may be few better fits than Feed the Children, a global nonprofit which seeks to end childhood hunger. All of this made a significant opportunity at the organization just right for Emily Callahan (BA ’00), a Baylor alumna and longtime non-profit leader whose personal mission dovetailed with the organization she now leads.

 

Baylor University’s success for highly competitive fellowships and awards continues to skyrocket as a record 23 Baylor students and recent alumni have been selected for 2025-2026 Fulbright U.S. Student Grants. 

Congratulations, Class of 2025 — you did it!

This weekend, more than 4,000 Bears — the largest class in Baylor history — celebrated earning their degrees, the culmination of the Baylor experience. Thousands of their friends and family filled the Ferrell Center for each ceremony, and countless more watched online and joined in the celebration via social media to honor BU’s newest graduates.

David M. Szymanski, Ph.D., will join Baylor University on May 27 as The William E. Crenshaw Endowed Dean of the nationally ranked Hankamer School of Business.

Harmon and Lea Kong's gift to Baylor establishes the Kong Family Endowed Presidential Fund for Student Care and the Kong Family Endowed Fund for Faculty Development.

Print Issues

Summer 2025

Baylor Mag Summer 2025 Cover

 

Featured in this Issue

For world-class concerts and entertainment, Baylor University and the City of Waco are establishing the Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion and Waco, Texas, as the premiere mid-market experience.

Residence halls at Baylor provide a foundation for student success in and out of the classroom through a caring community.

The annual Alumni Awards honor graduates who advance Baylor’s mission in their careers and lives.

Undergraduate certificate programs offer students a flexible pathway to gain specialized skills and increase the value of their degree. 

Past Issues

Baylor Connections

A weekly podcast introducing the Waco community to the people behind Baylor’s teaching, research and distinct role in higher education.

Soon, hundreds of students will embark on Baylor summer missions trips, spanning the globe to serve others and share the love of Christ. Becky Kennedy, Assistant Dean for Spiritual Life and Missions and Associate Chaplain in Baylor Spiritual Life, shares the impact of discipline-specific mission trips that form students as they serve.  

For Baylor students, career success begins when they set foot on campus, with the help of the Baylor University Career Center. Baylor’s placement rate of 91 percent is one of the best in the nation, and its approach is student-centered, walking alongside students and helping them define success. Michael Estepp, newly appointed Assistant Vice Provost in the Career Center, showcases the approach that helps students successfully pursue their calling.

Archaeologist and anthropologist Julie Hoggarth heads to Belize this week to continue her nationally recognized research on ancient Maya cultures, uncovering what their experiences can teach us today. Hoggarth was recently recognized as a prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow, and she takes listeners inside the findings that yield new insights from her digs.

Baylor Proud

Baylor Proud Blog

Among the many draws to Baylor University is the chance to learn from elite faculty members at a Christian research university.

There are plenty of ways to measure this, from having dozens of faculty recognized among the nation’s most cited researchers to the University’s attainment of a top-30 national ranking for both undergraduate teaching and research. Another sign of Baylor’s elite faculty: the many researchers recognized as fellows in their fields.

Baylor Track & Field’s legacy of Olympians, national champions and record-setters sets a high standard — a standard that this year’s athletes upheld and extended.

Two Bears claimed national titles in individual events this spring, Baylor won three of four Big 12 Performer of the Year honors, and a host of Bears brought home all-America honors as head coach Michael Ford’s teams closed out another successful season last week.

Since graduating from Baylor four decades ago, Doug Rogers (BFA ’82) has truly had a fairy tale career.

From Friends and The Drew Carey Show, to Shrek and Tangled, to the castles at Disney Shanghai and Hong Kong (pictured above left), to Turning Point Ministries’ Why the Nativity?, he’s seen a myriad of projects come to life.

We could write a month’s worth of posts about recent Baylor graduate Kristen Nakamura (BA ’25). She was a Getterman Scholar, and a University Scholar studying English and math with a minor in creative writing. An award-winning poet whose Honors thesis and undergraduate research included translating the post-WWII haiku shared between her Japanese-American great-grandmother and her twin sister. Tutor. Piano teacher. BRH Choir member. Mission trip veteran. HRC College Council. Summa cum laude graduate. Phi Beta Kappa. Fulbright ETA recipient to Indonesia.

But for all of those honors, what Nakamura really wanted to talk about was the community and sense of belonging she found at Baylor.

For some, college is just about getting a piece of paper that, after four years, will help land a job. And while that’s important, the Baylor experience is about so, so much more.

Baylor Media Releases

More News Releases
June 10, 2025
Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics

International prize recognizes CERN collaborators, including four Baylor physicists, for groundbreaking discoveries at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland.

June 4, 2025
Baylor Awards Roundup 2025

Thirty-four Baylor students and recent alumni from across the disciplines have received some of the most prestigious awards for STEM research, public policy and diplomacy, critical language study and more. 

June 2, 2025
Dr. Charley Ramsey, University Chaplain and Dean of Spiritual Life at Baylor University, stands with a live oak tree and Waco Hall in the background

Charles M. Ramsey, Ph.D., B.A. ’97, M.A. ’00, associate University Chaplain and director of campus ministries and church connections, has been selected as University Chaplain and Dean of Spiritual Life, effective June 9. 

June 2, 2025
The word Hope in colorful stained glass.

Baylor University, The Congregational Collective and Harvard Medical School partner to innovate equipping congregations to become community hubs for mental health engagement.

May 28, 2025
Global Flourishing First Wave Release

The first-wave findings of the Global Flourishing Study have attracted coverage from across the globe, including major media outlets ranging from The New York Times to National Geographic.

May 22, 2025
global sitting among shipping boxes

Supply chain expert Adé Oyedijo, Ph.D., explains the three primary ways tariffs are affecting the global supply chain and how tariffs can be used to promote ethical supply chain practices. 

May 20, 2025
Photo composite of 20 Baylor students and recent alumni who have won the Fulbright. Also includes Baylor's badge as a Fulbright Top Producing Institution

Baylor University’s success for highly competitive fellowships and awards continues to skyrocket as a record 23 Baylor students and recent alumni have been selected for 2025-2026 Fulbright U.S. Student Grants. 

May 15, 2025
David Szymanski, dean of Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business

David M. Szymanski, Ph.D., will join Baylor University on May 27 as The William E. Crenshaw Endowed Dean of the nationally ranked Hankamer School of Business.

May 15, 2025
Yellow flowers on the grounds of Pat Neff Hall on the Baylor University campus.

Harmon and Lea Kong's gift to Baylor establishes the Kong Family Endowed Presidential Fund for Student Care and the Kong Family Endowed Fund for Faculty Development.

May 13, 2025
Michael E. Young, Ph.D.

Michael E. Young, Ph.D., professor of psychological sciences and graduate program director at Kansas State, has been selected as Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School.

May 9, 2025
Jeff Dunham ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Legendary comedian Jeff Dunham will bring his new North American Tour ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE to the Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion, Waco’s new premier concert venue, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3.

April 30, 2025
The gold bell tower atop Baylor University's Pat Neff Hall with blue skies

The Institute for Global Human Flourishing places Baylor as an epicenter for global flourishing research/practice alongside research partners at Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program.