The Latest from Baylor

Students in Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business gain practical experience and enduring values that prepare them to make a difference.

Chartered by the Republic of Texas on February 1, 1845, Baylor University began with a bold vision—to educate leaders who would shape a young and rapidly changing state. Today, Baylor stands as the oldest continuously operating university in Texas, a distinction earned through generations of innovation, service, and faithful leadership. 

When it comes to pioneering education and ground-breaking research, Baylor has always been on the cutting edge.

Baylor University boasts the “just-right” fit that attracts some of the most academically prepared applicants.

The impact of a Baylor education often reaches beyond the walls of the classroom. For Cade Kegerreis (B.F.A. ’17), it remains visible on the walls of the University and Waco itself.

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

Baylor alumna Ashley Killough followed stories during her time at Baylor, during her Fulbright year in Armenia, and during the 2016 presidential campaign for CNN. Now, she's finding new stories at CNN Dallas.

Print Issues

Summer 2026

Summer 2026 - Cover

Featured in this Issue

Students in Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business benefit from programs designed to enhance leadership skills.

Baylor Student Life cultivates a second-year experience for students to help guide their path to graduation and beyond.

The Global Flourishing Study is equipping families and organizations with the real-world tools to build conversations and communities where “the whole person” can thrive.

Previous 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

There’s a Baylor experience that bridges high school debaters and aspiring basketball players, and connects future engineers with burgeoning musicians. That experience? Summer camps, on campus at Baylor.

For generations now, the Baylor campus has remained lively over the summer as camps like the Summer Debate Workshop or the Moody School of Education’s Talent Identification Program camps (just to name a couple) welcome future college students. Here, they get a taste of college life, from classrooms to dining halls to residence halls.

If you’re looking for law school education that truly prepares you for the courtroom, you can’t do much better than Baylor Law School. Earlier this year, U.S. News ranked Baylor Law’s trial advocacy program No. 3 in the nation — the program’s 17th straight year among the top five in the country.

In the science community, being named as a fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is one of the more prestigious professional nods a researcher can achieve — not unlike election to a hall of fame in the world of sports.

Past AAAS Fellows include names like Thomas Edison and W.E.B. DuBois, along with a roster of scientists who have made significant contributions to their field. That list includes four current Baylor faculty, two of whom — Dr. Dwayne Simmons (biology) and Dr. Samuel Urlacher (anthropology) — were named among the 2025 class of AAAS Fellows.

Baylor already ranked No. 1 in Texas for most Fulbright scholars — and this year, 12 more BU students get to add their names to that list.

Each of those Bears is headed overseas as part of the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program, studying and teaching in countries ranging from Germany and France to South Korea and Taiwan. Two more BU students earned similarly prestigious Rotary Global Grant Scholarships, which will fund their graduate studies in the U.K.

And that’s not all… Three Baylor professors have also earned Fulbright recognition, with awards providing them unique research experiences in South Africa, Antarctica, Slovakia and Brazil.

 

To understand why scientists are interested in white dwarf stars, it helps to think of fossils, or rings on a tree.

Dr. Barbara Castanheira, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Baylor, has long studied white dwarf stars — the dense, collapsed core of a dying star. White dwarf stars are of interest to scientists, perhaps somewhat counterintuitively, because they can tell us about early star formation despite being in the final stages of their life cycle — a cycle which lasts billions of years, beyond the scope of human study from start to finish. As opposed to the bright stars visible in the sky, white dwarf stars have shrunk in size and no longer actively produce energy. As their remaining energy burns out, they have a story of great interest to science.

Baylor Media Releases

More News Releases
June 9, 2026
Michael K. Scullin, Ph.D., presents his TEDxBaylor University talk

Baylor University is proud to announce that the TEDxBaylor University talk – The Eight-Hour Sleep Challenge During Finals Week” – by Michael K. Scullin, Ph.D., has been selected as an Editor’s Pick. 

June 9, 2026
Students with Baylor Line jerseys over the shoulders walk through the still-standing pillars of the original campus

From June through July, incoming Baylor students and their families will descend upon campus and the University’s hometown of Waco during New Student Orientation and Baylor Line Camp.

May 27, 2026
AI and ethics graphic

(ATHENS, Greece) – A new multi-university academic consortium, including researchers from Baylor University, has found AI models have significant biases and gaps when it comes to addressing faith and religion.

May 21, 2026
Dusk over Baylor's Pat Neff Hall with a gold bell tower and spires of Old Main.

The Baylor Board of Regents celebrated the University’s second-best fundraising year ever, a growing endowment and continued success of the Extend the Line scholarship initiative.

May 18, 2026
Medical Research Laboratory for Test and analysis

It's National Cancer Research Month, and Baylor researchers are leading the way on trailblazing approaches to effective therapies for some of the most aggressive cancers.

May 14, 2026
Green, gold and white mums, stately lives oaks and historic Pat Neff Hall on the Baylor University campus

Baylor University’s core curriculum again has earned an “A” for the excellence of its core requirements from ACTA's "What Will They Learn?" project.

May 12, 2026
Jay Pulliam, Ph.D.

Jay Pulliam, Ph.D., will explore Antarctic ice shelf dynamics and the ancient geological connection between Antarctica and Africa.

May 8, 2026
Bear-ly Used

As Baylor University students prepare to move out of residence halls at the end of the spring semester, a campus-wide, student-led initiative is ensuring that usable items are not thrown away.

April 30, 2026
Outstanding Faculty 2025-2026

Twelve Baylor professors have been honored with Outstanding Faculty Awards for exceptional teaching, scholarship and contributions to the academic community.

April 28, 2026
5-member country band Old Dominion will play September 18, 2026, at Baylor University's Foster Pavilion.

One of mainstream country music’s most popular live groups, Old Dominion is headed to Baylor University’s Foster Pavilion for an electrifying show on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026.

April 27, 2026
Hadza man walks through bush

Baylor anthropologist Duncan N.E. Stibbard-Hawkes, Ph.D., led a study of the Hadza and found that relatively equal outcomes are often maintained through “demand sharing.”

April 15, 2026
Opening tour of ARKTOS facility at Baylor University

The Arctic Acclimatization & Sleep Optimization (ARKTOS) Research Center will advance collaborative research and testing on the impact of multi-stressor Arctic environments.