Baylor Welcomes New Deans

After nationwide searches, Baylor appointed two new deans: Jeremy Counseller, M.B.A. ’00, J.D. ’00, The Abner V. McCall Chair of Evidence Law at Baylor, has been selected as dean of the University’s nationally ranked Baylor Law School; and Kevin Sanders, D.M.A., director of the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music at the University of Memphis, has been selected as dean of the Baylor University School of Music.

Counseller will succeed Dean Emeritus Brad Toben, J.D. ’77, who returned to the Baylor Law faculty at the end of the 2022-23 academic year after a 31-year tenure as dean of Baylor Law.

“Professor Counseller knows Baylor Law well — both its strengths and its opportunities for growth and improvement,” Provost Nancy Brickhouse, B.A. ’82, Ph.D., said. “He has articulated a vision for Baylor Law that is ambitious and aligned with that of Baylor University. The campus community also knows Professor Counseller very well and expressed overwhelming support for his vision and his leadership. Professor Counseller has the courage and mandate to lead Baylor Law into the future, preparing lawyers and producing scholarship informed by Christian perspectives on service and leadership.”

Counseller joined the faculty of Baylor Law in 2003. He graduated from Baylor Law with honors and was a member of the Baylor Law Review, the Order of the Barristers and the interscholastic moot court and mock trial teams. He also earned an M.B.A. from Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business and a B.A. summa cum laude from Stephen F. Austin State University.

As director since January 2020, Sanders led the Scheidt School of Music through a transformational time with the planning, construction and grand opening of the Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center, overseeing 300 events per year with more than 80 faculty and staff, more than 400 students and a satellite campus in Jackson, Tennessee.

“I am delighted that Dr. Sanders will be joining Baylor as dean of the School of Music,” Brickhouse said. “I am impressed with his innovative thinking and his accomplishments at the University of Memphis. I have no doubt that we will all benefit from his creative, interdisciplinary ideas. He is an accomplished leader and a talented musician who is drawn to Baylor by our dual commitment to faith and renowned music performance programs.”

Sanders graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy and earned his bachelor’s degree in music from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, a Master of Music from the Juilliard School and his Doctor of Musical Arts from Michigan State University.

Both new deans’ appointments are effective July 1, 2024.