A Heart for Students

Baylor University places a priority on every student’s holistic well-being, from creating a sense of belonging to meeting their spiritual needs. That’s why when students move into one of Baylor’s residence halls, among the first people they will meet is a resident chaplain.

Baylor offers a wide variety of pastoral care services through the Office of Spiritual Life. For many students, the face of that programming is each residence hall’s resident chaplain. These are students at Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary who are passionate about pastoral care and meeting others wherever they’re at in their spiritual journey.

As their name implies, resident chaplains live next door, so to speak, to Baylor students who are making a second home on the Baylor campus. “Our chaplains want to be your friend. Our chaplains want to get to know you,” said Tyler Conway (M.Div ’18), assistant director for pastoral care at Baylor. “They’re also there to really sit and listen primarily to whatever concerns you have.”

A resident chaplain is an intentional presence, and someone who can point to resources on campus — from helping students set up counseling appointments to finding academic resources — or respond to a crisis in the instance that a student is in the hospital or emergency room or needs support after losing a loved one.

Conway said each resident chaplain can meet the need of belonging for students, regardless of their background. “I like to think of them as interfaith chaplains. And what I mean by that is chaplains who can care for any faith tradition,” Conway said.

What’s the most important thing Conway wants current and prospective Baylor students to know about their resident chaplain? “You can just be yourself,” he said.

“They may not have the answers all the time, but they’re there to truly care for you and to also know their own limitations and know how to direct you to resources that might be more helpful to you,” he added. “A chaplain can be a really easy person to talk to first and foremost if you don’t know where to go at all.”