Newsbriefs

Amarillo couple named Parents of the Year

Amarillo residents and Baylor graduates Randy and Stacy Sharp were honored as Baylor's Parents of the Year for 2004 during the halftime ceremony of the Baylor-North Texas football game Sept. 25. Both received BBAs in 1976. Randy is treasurer and property manager of Mays Investment Co. and Stacy serves as the company's president. 
All four of their children are Baylor-ites. Their oldest daughter, Meridith Sharp Genuchi, received her bachelor's degree in business administration and a master's of accountancy in 2002. Her husband, Matthew Genuchi, received his bachelor's degree in 2002. Austin is a senior majoring in business and environmental studies, Troy is a junior business major and McKay is a freshman business major.
The Sharps serve as co-presidents of the Amarillo chapter of the Baylor Parents League and are life members of the Baylor Alumni Association. They also are members of the Development Council, Old Main Society, Baylor Bear Foundation and the Student Foundation 35th Anniversary Endowment Leadership Team. 
For more information, contact Judy Maggard, director of parent programs, at (254) 710-2561.

Smith new Honors director

Alden Smith, chair of the classics department and director of the University Scholars Program, has been named director of the Honors Program and associate dean in the Honors College. He replaces F. Ray Wilson II, longtime professor of biology, who died in July. Smith joined the Baylor classics faculty in 1994 and has served as chair since 1999 and University Scholars Program director since 2000.

First Families of Baylor Award

The five generations and 34 members of the Tanner family who are Baylor alumni were honored with the First Families of Baylor Award Sept. 24 in Waco Hall. The annual award, created in 1980 by the Baylor Alumni Association, recognizes a multigenerational alumni family that has shown continuing interest in and support of Baylor. First-generation alumni include John Stephenson Tanner Jr., an 1890 Baylor graduate who earned a master's degree in 1892 and later taught Greek, Hebrew, Old and New Testament and math at Baylor. His first wife, Lida Hinds Tanner, died four years after graduating from Baylor in 1892. His second wife, Mary David Barton Tanner, and mother of his three children earned a master's degree from Baylor in 1892. Their son, John S. Tanner, was permanent president of the Class of 1922, an inductee in the Baylor Athletic Hall of Fame and a member of the board of trustees of both Baylor University and Baylor College of Medicine. Twelve family members comprise the third generation of students.

CRIAD director awarded grants

The U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women has awarded a $700,000 grant to Byron Johnson, professor of sociology and director of the Center for Religious Inquiry Across the Disciplines at Baylor. The grant helps continue to develop the National Domestic Violence Fatality Review Initiative, which provides training and technical assistance support to host national training conferences to establish fatality review teams within state and local jurisdictions and the military. These review teams provide a way of reviewing domestic homicides with the underlying objectives of preventing them in the future, preserving the safety of battered women and holding accountable both the perpetrators of domestic violence and the multiple agencies and organizations that come into contact with the parties. Johnson received a similar Justice Department grant of $119,025 in June to help establish fatality review teams within the military.

HSB's Taylor named associate dean

Beck A. Taylor, associate professor of economics and director of graduate programs in economics, was appointed to the newly created position of associate dean for research and faculty development. Taylor has been serving as the chair of the committee responsible for accreditation issues related to scholarship and faculty development and will continue leading this function as part of his new duties.

L1s set records

The 66 students who entered Baylor Law School in fall 2004 had the highest GPA range (3.97 to 3.74) and highest median LSAT score (162) in the school's history. The class also includes the highest proportion of women (38 or 57.6 percent).