Baylor News Briefs
Baylor professors named to list of 100 inspiring nurses
Two Baylor professors in the Louise Herrington School of Nursing in Dallas—Dean Shelley Conroy, EdD, and Assistant Professor Claudia Beal, PhD—are on the list of 100 inspiring nurses to watch in 2014 on Online LPN to RN, a website that provides information on nursing education and careers.
The site acknowledges that competition for practicing nurses and nurse education is intimidating and that it’s important to young nurses and students to have nursing role models. The list is not a ranking of nurses, but is “meant to honor 100 dedicated nurse educators who have succeeded in carving out a place for themselves in the changing nurse landscape.”
Conroy began at Baylor when she became dean in January 2012, having already been established as a veteran administrator and educator in the field of nursing. As the list’s editor notes, “From leading study abroad trips to working on research endeavors, her experience is hard to match in nursing higher education.”
Beal’s research, translation science and ethics courses in the nursing school’s graduate program are designed to teach students to incorporate scientific research into their practice in order to provide their patients with up-to-date treatment.
“I love teaching these bright and dedicated future advanced practice nurses,” Beal said. “With the many changes that our health care system is undergoing, and the advent of the Affordable Care Act, advanced practice nurses will be at the forefront of providing quality patient care.”
Conroy said that nursing “is a profession that requires a strong academic preparation with grounding in the sciences and liberal arts … such as the one you receive at Baylor University.
Baylor Waco Stadium Authority Established to Lease New Stadium Year Round
The Waco City Council has established the Baylor Waco Stadium Authority, a city- appointed board that will provide general oversight of non-Baylor events at the University’s new McLane Stadium. The Baylor Waco Stadium Authority will be governed by a board of local citizens and will assume authority for non-Baylor events when the stadium opens in fall 2014.
“There are so many exciting things happening in our community right now, and the stadium represents a powerful and highly visible symbol of remarkable forward progress in our city,” Stadium Authority board member Glenn Robinson said. “As a year-round resource and attraction, we think the new stadium provides a tremendous opportunity for us to showcase our city and serve our citizens. We look forward to helping make the stadium a ‘go-to’ destination not only for those in our community but for those across our state.”
“From the beginning, Baylor and Waco have worked together to ensure the stadium complex is a vital part of Waco and Central Texas, helping to enhance economic development in the riverfront area and contributing to quality of life for our community,” said Reagan M. Ramsower, BBA ’74, MS ’76, senior vice president for operations and chief financial officer at Baylor. “We are appreciative of the enthusiastic support of Waco council members, city and community leaders and local residents for the stadium, which will serve as a premier, year-round events center for the people of Waco.”
SMG, a worldwide leader in venue management, and Dallas-based ClubCorp, a leading owner-operator of private golf and country, business, sports and stadium clubs in North America, will provide services for the new stadium.
SMG will provide pre-opening services for the University’s new stadium, manage the venue during non-game day events, and book and manage all non-Baylor events to be held at the facility. SMG currently works with several collegiate venues, including John Paul Jones Arena at the University of Virginia, Peterson Arena at the University of Pittsburgh, Yulman Stadium at Tulane University and Iowa State Center at Iowa State University.
ClubCorp’s plans include operating a private member club restaurant at the stadium that will provide members a full-service, fine dining experience. ClubCorp operates several alumni clubs in stadiums across the country, including The Texas Tech Club in Lubbock, the University of Texas Club in Austin and the Boston College Club. ClubCorp also operates several well-known business clubs in major U.S. cities, such as the Tower Club in Dallas, the Houston Club, The Commerce Club in Atlanta, The University Club Atop Symphony Towers in San Diego and The Metropolitan Club in Chicago.
Baylor among select universities to offer philanthropy course
This fall, Baylor students will have the opportunity to participate in The Philanthropy Lab, a full-credit course in which students learn not only the history and philosophy of giving back but also gain practical experience in donating money to a worthy local cause.
Baylor learned in December that it would enter into a partnership with the Fort Worth-based Once Upon a Time Foundation, which began The Philanthropy Lab program in 2011. Since its founding, The Philanthropy Lab has given more than $2.5 million to build philanthropy education at select U.S. universities. Baylor will offer its first Philanthropy Lab course, Philanthropy and the Public Good, in fall 2014.
Dr. Andy Hogue, lecturer in political science and director of Baylor’s Civic Education and Community Service Program, will teach the Philanthropy Lab course.
Baylor’s Philanthropy Lab class will receive between $50,000 and $100,000 based on course enrollment to distribute to deserving nonprofit organizations following the class’s semester-long evaluation process that involves research, comparison, site visits and debate.
Hogue said students will work closely with interested nonprofits to assess community needs in key areas such as homelessness, food insecurity, education, health and wellness and multigenerational poverty, evaluate the potential impact of financial giving and engage in a process of discerning how most effectively to distribute the funds.
As the 14th partner, Baylor will join current Philanthropy Lab institutions Harvard University, Middlebury College, Northwestern University, Princeton University, Stanford University, TCU, UCLA, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, University of Texas at Austin, University of Virginia and Yale University.
Official Baylor plaid now available for the ‘dapper Bear’
Baylor’s traditional green and gold is now available with a twist; in fact, you may have already spotted it adorning the necks of President Ken Starr, First Lady Alice Starr or men’s basketball coach Scott Drew.
Baylor University now has an official plaid—designed by a Baylor Bear, sold by Baylor students and available for purchase through Dapper Bear Clothiers.
An official plaid has been in the making for nearly a decade. Jayne Fader, a senior lecturer in Baylor’s Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, has charged students with making green-and-gold plaid designs for the last nine years in hopes that Baylor would someday have an official plaid.
Last year, Betsy Robinson, BA ’71, wife of Baylor Regent Clifton Robinson, BBA ’63, enlisted the help of Fader and Alice Starr to create an official Baylor plaid that could be trademarked. They settled on a design by Hannah Maynard, BS ’13, and selected three Baylor students in the Accelerated Ventures Program—seniors Claire Major, Hob Howell and Jackson Wren—to market and sell the products. The trio started Dapper Bear Clothiers to sell the plaid design and meet the need for “stylish, high-quality apparel and accessories for the Baylor community.”
See more at dapperbearclothiers.com.
Institute for Oral History introduces online audio files
The first full-length audio files of transcribed interviews in the Baylor University Institute for Oral History are now available for online listening and research.
The Institute announced in late October that the mp3 files and transcribed interviews with Roger Conger, a former Waco mayor and recognized local historian, and Maggie McLennan Gibbons, the daughter of a freed slave, were selected to be the initial files posted because of their ties to Waco and McLennan County.
Dr. Thomas L. Charlton, BA ’59, the founding director of the Institute, conducted six interviews with Conger from 1975-77. Conger is the author of A Pictorial History of Waco, The Best of Brann the Iconoclast, and Texas Rangers Sesquicentennial Anniversary: Pictorial Edition, among others.
Conger oversaw the interview with Gibbons in 1968. Gibbons was 83 years old at the time of the interview. Her father, Dan McLennan, was a freed slave from the McLennan family, from which McLennan County draws its name.
Prior to 2007, oral history interviews were recorded on analog reels and cassette tapes. Baylor’s Ray I. Riley Digitization Center converted the Conger and Gibbons interviews to digital format.
Steven Sielaff, BA ’02, MA ’03, research assistant with the Institute for Oral History, noted that in previous years such items would be sent off campus to be converted and would need to be funded by grant funds or budget “remainders.” However, technical and personnel growth within the Digitization Center in recent years has allowed the collaboration to achieve greater gains.
“Mass production and upload of the online audio is down the road still, as we have to convert our preservation audio files into something more suitable for a browsable database,” he said. “This is something, of course, we are working toward, and something I specifically see as an evolving part of our mission here at the Institute for Oral History.”
Visit baylor.edu/oralhistory for more on this and other Oral History projects.
Baylor Bear Foundation Membership Approves Merger Proposal
In a near-unanimous vote, the Baylor Bear Foundation membership approved the plan to merge the BBF with Baylor University, dissolving its 501c3 status, effective June 1. “We were pleased with the results of the vote, which overwhelmingly supported the transition, and we are excited about the future of the Bear Foundation as part of the University operations,” said BBF President Mark Petersen, MBA ’84, part of the Executive Committee that had unanimously supported the proposal. “While nothing changes in the operation of the Bear Foundation, we are pleased that the BBF will gain the additional benefits of representation on the Baylor Regents’ Athletics Committee and, on a rotating basis, non-voting representation on the Baylor Board of Regents.”