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.
Civics Education
Dr. Brooke Blevins, assistant professor of social studies education and coordinator of Baylor’s secondary social studies education program, is recognized for her social studies education work, focusing on civics education, civics pedagogy and multicultural issues in education. A former secondary education teacher, Blevins has a passion for equipping teachers with needed resources to engage in humanizing social studies education. She is co-founder and co-director of the iEngage Summer Civics Institute. Her research has won several awards and been published in various journals. She is a member of the Social Studies Inquiry Research Collaborative (SSIRC).
Historical Perspectives of Religion
Dr. Thomas S. Kidd, associate director of Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR) and Distinguished Professor of History, is co-director of the program on historical studies of religion. Kidd is a noted expert on the history of evangelicalism and Baptists in America, 18th-century North America, and American Founding Fathers Benjamin Franklin and Patrick Henry. He authored or co-authored seven books, most recently American Colonial History: Clashing Cultures and Faiths (Yale University Press, 2016). Kidd has written for several media outlets, including C-Span, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, and he blogs for The Gospel Coalition.
Debunking Food Myths
Dr. Janelle Walter, professor of family and consumer sciences, is a Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Her areas of expertise include nutrition, food acceptability, experimental foods, meal management, barriers to home food preparation, adolescent eating behaviors, and methods of teaching family and consumer sciences. Walter, who has taught at Baylor for 34 years, has written for the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, and her expertise was sought by Newsweek earlier this year for an article about dietary practices. Her previous work experience includes a year as nutrition consultant for the State Board of Education.
Role of Physical Activity
Dr. Paul Gordon, professor and chair of the Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation (HHPR), is an expert on physical activity and lifestyle-based research related to obesity and its co-morbidities across the lifespan. He joined Baylor in 2013 and carries more than 25 years of experience in academics and medicine. Gordon’s research expertise has been nationally recognized numerous times, most notably by Expertscape. He has served as a study section reviewer for various federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).