Newsbriefs

Former Texas Gov. Ann Richards was the guest speaker at the Public Leadership Series lecture April 15, held in conjunction with Mortar Board's Women's Day.
Dr. Stephen Prickett, Regius Professor Emeritus of English Language and Literature at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and a visiting scholar at Duke University, has been named the new director of Baylor's Armstrong Browning Library, to begin Aug. 1.
Dr. David Solomon, the H.B. and W.P. White Director of the Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame, was the keynote speaker for a Colloquy on "The Baptist and Christian Character of Baylor," held in mid-April to honor Dr. Donald D. Schmeltekopf, who retired in May as provost and vice president for academic affairs. The event was sponsored by Baylor School of Law and the Council of Deans.
The inaugural Philanthropy Banquet, held in March, honored five new members of the silver and gold levels of the Judge R.E.B. Baylor Society, members of which have given cumulative gifts to Baylor of more than $2 million. Silver level honorees were the Frank W. and Sue Mayborn Foundation and the Robert A. Welch Foundation. Gold level inductees were John and Eula Mae Baugh, Baylor Health Care System and Houston Endowment Inc.
The April 2003 issue of Entrepreneur magazine named Baylor's entrepreneur program as one of the 50 best in the nation. In the magazine's alumni evaluations, it was ranked second in the country.
Turner W. Branch was named Baylor's 2003 Lawyer of the Year at the annual Law Day banquet April 12. He and his wife, Margaret, founded the Branch Law Firm in Albuquerque, N.M., in 1966. He received his law degree in 1963 from Baylor, where he was a section editor of the Baylor Law Review and received the T.R. McDonald Award as the outstanding student.
Several Baylor graduate programs were highly ranked in the U.S. News & World Report's "2004 Best Graduate School" issue. The Law School's trial advocacy program was 11th (up five spots from last year); overall, the Law School was 51st; Hankamer's Executive MBA program ranked 21st, tying with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the master's degree program at the Louise Herrington School of Nursing ranked 58th; the School of Education ranked 63rd in its first appearance in U.S. News; the joint Baylor-U.S. Army master's program in health services administration was rated 20th, up six places from last year; and another joint program, the master of physical therapy degree at Fort Sam Houston, ranked 13th; the speech-language pathology program was 46th; and the doctoral program in clinical psychology (PsyD) was 82nd.