Meet the Experts

The expertise of Baylor faculty and representatives who are actively shaping and advancing their disciplines is sought after by their peers and media as well as by University students in academic settings.

In this ongoing series, here are four of the many University representatives called on for insight and understanding on today’s topics by any number of media outlets — from The New York Times and The Washington Post to Christianity Today, CNN and NPR.

Marketing & Sports

Kirk Wakefield, The Edwin W. Streetman Professor of Retail Marketing, also is the executive director of Sports Sponsorship and Sales in Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business. His research in retailing focuses upon sports psychology, team sports marketing, entertainment marketing, and fan and consumer response to pricing and promotional tools. He has conducted fan research in almost every venue in various sports, including the NBA, NFL, MLB, MLS, NHL, and NASCAR. Areas of Expertise: Sports: Marketing, Branding, Psychology • Marketing: Team Sports, Entertainment • Fan and Consumer Response to Pricing and Promotional Tools. Degrees: BA, Southwest Baptist University; MBA, Baylor; PhD, Saint Louis University.

People’s Law School

Patricia Wilson, a Baylor Law School professor since 1993, teaches courses in Family Law and Labor and Employment Law among others. She is a trained mediator and is involved in the Waco community serving on the boards of several nonprofit organizations. Wilson also is a contributing editor for the Family Law section of the State Bar of Texas’ General Practice Digest. Each year, she organizes the People’s Law School, an event for the community to address legal issues and to enhance understanding of the law. Areas of Expertise: Mediation • Public Speaking • Family Law • International Law. Degrees: BA, Purdue University; JD, Northwestern University Law School.

Health Inequality

Matthew Andersson, assistant professor of sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences, researches educational and socioeconomic inequalities in mental and physical well-being as related to childhood, adolescent and adulthood factors. Themes in his work include health behaviors, chronic disease epidemiology, personal social networks, informal elder caregiving, comparative parenthood, parent-child emotional bonds, and public attitudes and reactions toward mental illness. Areas of Expertise: Parent-Child: Bonding, Emotional Bonds • Comparative Parenthood • Health: Behaviors, Inequality • Mental Health and SES • Caregiving for Elderly • Well-Being • Personal Social Networks. Degrees: BA, Knox College; MA, PhD, University of Iowa; Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale University.

Global Health & Health Care Providers

Lori Spies, assistant professor of nursing in Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing, researches hypertension and other non-communicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries, particularly sub-Saharan Africa. Her 2017-18 Global Scholar Fulbright Award allowed her to teach and collaboratively implement a hypertension study in India, Vietnam and Zambia. Her current funded research endeavor focuses on nurse-led interventions for hypertension in Uganda. Areas of Expertise: Global Health • Non-Communicable Diseases • Hypertension • Nursing: Advanced Practice, Leadership. Degrees: BS, MS, Texas Woman’s University; PhD, University of Texas at Arlington.