Newsbriefs

Honors College LLC to transition to residential college
Beginning with the fall 2008 semester, Baylor University's Honors College Living-Learning Center will transition into an Honors Residential College.

The Honors Residential College will be home to 320 men and women, who will reside in Memorial and Alexander residence halls. Dr. Sarah-Jane Murray, assistant professor of medieval literature and French, already serves as a faculty member in residence and will transition into the role of faculty master. 
Honors College and Campus Living and Learning officials said residential colleges are especially attractive to students who are looking for a four-year residential experience that integrates their curricular and co-curricular lives.

University Libraries getting greener
In an effort to help Baylor's campus become more environmentally friendly, Pattie Orr, vice president for information technology and dean of libraries, is leading University Libraries' charge to make things "greener" and serve as an example for the Baylor community.
Many printers around campus now print double-sided by default, which has already saved over 110,000 pages more than last fall as of October 1. In addition to the introduction of duplex printing, University Libraries is ensuring that recycling boxes are near every PawPrints station, testing different grades of post-consumer paper and participating in a University-wide sustainability committee.

Cherry Award finalists give lectures
In October, Baylor welcomed to campus the three celebrated scholar/teachers selected as finalists for the $200,000 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching. The winner will be announced this spring.
The three finalists are:
• Dr. George E. Andrews, the Evan Pugh Professor of Mathematics at Pennsylvania State University
• Rudy Pozzatti, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts at the University of Indiana at Bloomington
• Dr. Stephen D. Davis, Distinguished Professor of Biology at Pepperdine University

Baylor team distinguishes itself at MOAS competition
Baylor's Model Organization of American States team brought home several awards while competing with 15 other universities from Texas and Mexico at the World Affairs Council of San Antonio Model Organization of American States Competition held Nov. 1-3 at St. Mary's University. This was the 11th consecutive year that Baylor competed in the conference, which simulates the activities of the OAS and its committees by allowing participants to assume the roles of diplomatic representatives to the OAS.
Award winners were Alyssa Engle, a Latin American studies major from Park Ridge, Ill.; Krystal Dau, an international studies major from Las Vegas; Joshua Hyles, an archaeology/history major from Corsicana, Texas; and Elizabeth Russell, an international/Asian studies major from Ponte Vedra, Fla.
The visit of the current Secretary General of the Organization of American States, José Miguel Insulza, was the highlight of the competition.

Search for new head football coach underway 
One day after the conclusion of Baylor's 2007 football season, Director of Athletics Ian McCaw announced that Guy Morriss will not return as the Bears' head football coach in 2008. 
"I want to publicly express my appreciation to Coach Morriss for his contributions to the Baylor football program over the past five years," McCaw said. "The football program is on a more solid foundation than it was when he arrived at Baylor."
In five seasons at Baylor, Morriss registered an 18-40 overall record, including a 3-9 mark in 2007. His most successful season along the Baylor sideline came in 2005, when the Bears finished 5-6 overall and barely missed being bowl-eligible after dropping a pair of overtime games at Texas A&M and Oklahoma.
"The Board of Regents and I have the utmost confidence in Ian McCaw's leadership in the search for our new head football coach," Baylor President John M. Lilley said. "I have asked Ian to work expeditiously to locate the best candidate to lead Baylor Football into a new era. I look forward to receiving his recommendation soon."

Interior design students honored 
Baylor University interior design students earned first and second place awards at the Texas Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers Student Design Competition on Oct. 27 in Dallas.
"The awards show that Baylor interior design students are producing quality design, that we are competitive with other interior design programs across the county," said Michelle Brown, professor of interior design at Baylor.
Kristin Rose, a senior from Marlin, Texas, won first place in the residential design category for her rocky mountain retreat design. She designed a single-family residence, which had to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Rose also received a $250 cash prize for her win.
Seniors Rebecca Taddia, Jaime Mulder and Rose Lugo won second place awards in the residential design category for their luxury loft design. Lugo, Rose and senior Sara Roskam won second place in the commercial design category.

Student awarded ISI fellowship
The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) has selected Shane Slowey, a junior University Scholar from Bryan, Texas, as one of its 50 Honors Fellows for 2007. Founded in 1953, the ISI is a national educational organization headquartered in Wilmington, Del., and each year its Honors Program selects the nation's most talented undergraduates to participate in a yearlong program of educational enrichment.
Slowey attended a weeklong ISI summer conference in Québec City. ISI Honors Fellows at this conference explored the values and ideas that animate the Western tradition in relation to contemporary politics. Slowey had the opportunity to engage in debate and discussion led by outstanding faculty mentors from numerous colleges and universities.
"The ISI Honors Program is a unique mentoring program offering our most talented undergraduates opportunity to engage in high-level, one-on-one debate with elite university faculty. Such mentoring opportunities are rare in the modern academy," said John Joseph Shanley, director of the ISI honors program.
Slowey will receive continued direction from his faculty mentors. The ISI faculty mentors and staff will provide one-on-one professional assistance, including information about internships, job opportunities, graduate and professional programs, and related concerns.