News

Almost six years ago — Nov. 2, 2018 — we wrote about the public launch of “Give Light,” Baylor’s new fundraising plan aimed at helping the university reach some of its strategic, long-term goals.

The goal: $1.1 billion to support increased student scholarship support, more endowed faculty positions, area-specific funds for research and other projects, and capital projects such as renovating Tidwell Bible Building, expanding Memorial and Allen halls to grow the Honors Residential College, a new welcome center, a new basketball arena, and a new football operations center.

Earlier this month, the university announced the successful conclusion of Give Light. So, how did the campaign do?

Baptist Student Ministry (BSM) is getting a new space on Baylor’s campus!

This spring, Baylor deeded over land for a new BSM center to the Baptist General Convention of Texas, which is working to complete fundraising for the new facility. The new center (see the rendering above) will be built at the corner of South Fourth Street and Daughtrey Avenue — near East Village and the Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation.

Baylor University will join with the Greater Waco community in celebration of Juneteenth, a national holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.

Sungseek Moon, Ph.D., The Carl and Martha Lindner Endowed Chair for Global Studies and professor at Baylor’s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work, has been selected as a 2024-2025 Fulbright U.S. Scholar to Kenya, joining an elite group of scholars who have received the prestigious and competitive fellowship from the U.S. government’s premier international educational exchange program.

For two decades now, Baylor’s Mayborn Museum has been a beacon of curiosity and discovery, illuminating the path to knowledge for Bears and Wacoans alike with its unique blend of history, science and education.

It was 20 years ago this summer — May 14, 2004 — that the Mayborn was officially dedicated in its new home along University Parks Drive. But the museum’s history dates much further back — almost to the university’s very beginning.

Baylor University’s Give Light comprehensive philanthropic campaign has raised a historic $1.5 billion, an achievement that shattered its initial $1.1 billion goal and concluded Give Light as the most successful comprehensive fundraising campaign in Baylor’s 179-year history, the University announced today. 

I know Baylor has a beautiful campus. You know Baylor has an incredible campus. But it’s always fun when others recognize the allure of Baylor’s campus, as well.

This spring, two notable sources — Architectural Digest and U.S. News — each included Baylor on their lists of the nation’s most beautiful college campuses.

In 2019, Baylor set a school-record with seven Fulbright scholarship recipients — part of the nation’s flagship program for international graduate study and education. In 2022, Baylor doubled that record with 14 Fulbrights.

Now, just two years later, a new school record has been set — again — as 18 (!!!) Baylor students and recent alumni have won prestigious Fulbright awards for 2024. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Baylor University is ranked No. 80 on the Top 100 U.S. Universities Granted Utility Patents in 2023, a list published by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Published annually, this ranking serves to highlight and celebrate U.S. universities that play a large role in advancing innovation and invention in the United States.

Though summer’s only just begun, it won’t be long before students are streaming to Waco for the start of a new school year.

Baylor is known for its incredible student experience — and a look at what students can expect during their first 100 days on campus illustrates that beautifully:

Baylor University planetary geophysicist Peter B. James, Ph.D., assistant professor and founder of the Planetary Research Group at Baylor, has been recognized by NASA with the 2023 Planetary Science Early Career Award (ECA). 

For almost 20 years, legendary music executive Mike Curb has supported what was previously known as the Sports Strategy and Sales (S3) program in Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business. In honor of his longtime support, the S3 program has been renamed the Curb Sales Strategy in Sports and Entertainment (S3E) program.

Last week, business leaders and business researchers came together at Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business to dive into an important topic. They weren’t there to discuss revenue or industry disruptions; instead, they came to talk about faith — specifically, what it means to be a Christian leader in the workplace.

Over parts of two days, businesspeople of all levels took part in the first-ever Armes Family Christian Leadership in Business Summit, which featured presentations from a series of keynote speakers along with interactive panel discussions on the integration of faith and topics like innovation, inclusion, and ethics. Held May 16-17 inside Baylor’s Foster Campus for Business and Innovation, the event brought together CEOs, founders, leading researchers and others to talk about living out one’s faith in the workplace.

For individuals and families with developmental disabilities, the need is clear. Estimates show that one out of every seven students lives with a disability that affects his or her relationship to learning.

With the record-breaking support of our alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students and friends, Baylor University exceeded our Give Light campaign goal. Because of you, Baylor’s future is bright! 

A new era of Baylor basketball on the Brazos began in 2024 with the Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion opening as the state-of-the-art home of the championship-winning men’s and women’s basketball programs.

The roar of the Baylor faithful echoed through the rafters of the freshly minted Foster Pavilion during the Feb. 18 women’s basketball showdown with Texas Tech, not just for another dominating victory, but for a legendary homecoming.

The Air Force ranks include more than 61,000 officers; only 108 of those have reached the rank of brigadier general. In December, Baylor graduate Randall Cason Jr. (BS ’95) joined that esteemed group — and he chose to return to his alma mater to mark the occasion.

As the spring 2024 semester concludes, Baylor University is celebrating a phenomenal year for Baylor students and recent alumni earning prestigious and highly competitive fellowships and awards, including a record-extending 18th Fulbright Scholarship.

Carroll Dawson, B.S. ’60, is often on the sidelines at the Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion cheering on Baylor’s basketball teams that he has supported as a player, coach and fan.

The proverbial chip on the shoulders of the 1974 Baylor football team loomed large, as the Bears were preseason favorites to finish at the bottom of the Southwest Conference.

After living through a rare, non-genetic ovarian cancer diagnosis in 2016, Jess Wedel, B.S.W. ’11, was encouraged by her mother, Valari, to continue their shared passion for mountain climbing. 

Sixty families in rural northern Sierra Leone’s Tonko Limbo Chiefdom have seen their lives and livelihoods transformed, due in large part to Paul Conteh, M.S.W. ’15

After Jimmy Garza, Jr., B.B.A. ’97, ran into someone wearing a Baylor T-shirt in Washington, D.C., he saw it as a sign to reconnect with his alma mater. 

Not one, not two, but three recent Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences graduates are making an impact in pro sports just a few years after earning their Baylor diplomas.

Updates from the Baylor Family

Garritt J. Tucker, Ph.D., The Eula Mae and John Baugh Chair in Physics, is part of a multi-institution, interdisciplinary effort to discover new materials and create innovative pathways for advancing materials performance under extreme conditions. The $12.5 million research team was funded through the Department of Energy (DOE) for the next five years.

While honors are meaningful, what John L. Wood, Ph.D., finds most rewarding is mentorship and playing a role in the day-to-day transformation that takes place within students.

Fellowships from the American Mathematical Society and American Physical Society are elite honors bestowed only on faculty who have made significant and longstanding contributions to their disciplines

Meet four Baylor alumni making a difference in the world of higher education.

Top-ranked Bears continue to grow the sport — and fan following.

The dynamic landscape of college athletics enters a new era.

Marking 20 years of sparking curiosity and inspiring lifelong learning, the Mayborn Museum at Baylor University celebrated its milestone anniversary by officially unveiling and dedicating a life-size landmark for the community – stunning bronze Mammoth sculptures that stand as timeless symbols of the Mayborn Museum’s commitment to inspire and educate generations.

Two former Baylor volleyball players are ready to take flight in the professional ranks. 

A Conversation with Jason Diffenderfer, Vice President for University Advancement
 

Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary reaches students in Houston and San Antonio.

Baylor’s social media team invites students on campus to sit down for a moment and reflect on what Baylor means to them.

Baylor University and Frisco-based Major League Soccer franchise FC Dallas launched a comprehensive partnership that makes the University the club’s exclusive higher education sponsor.

Baylor’s endowment performance tops the list in growth.

Baylor’s premier aerospace engineering club, Aero at Baylor, has its eyes in the clouds — and for good reason. 

Baylor has been named among the nation’s best universities for developing future leaders according to TIME Magazine.

Baylor students have earned highly competitive major fellowships and awards during this record-setting year.

Prayer has a distinctive role on Baylor’s campus in Spring 2024 through national and local prayer events.

With dreams of medical school on the horizon, applicants know that competitive advantages are incredibly important.

Traveling along I-35 this summer? Plan a stop at the Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center — your summer travel hub.

More than 2,000 Baylor students are the first in their families to attend college. Baylor’s First in Line program exists to help these students navigate all aspects of college.

For more than 165 years, Baylor Law has been known for preparing practice-ready lawyers dedicated to professional excellence.

Baylor faculty and staff produce amazing digital content available in the form of podcasts and other online platforms.

Baylor University partners with Colorado-based Publication Printers in innovative reforestation initiative.

Baylor faculty and staff produce amazing digital content available in the form of podcasts and other online platforms.

For the seventh time in program history — all under head coach Glenn Moore — Baylor softball is headed to the NCAA Super Regionals!

The Bears are one of the last 16 teams standing after winning three of four games at the Lafayette Regional last weekend, including a pair of victories over the host team, No. 13-ranked Louisiana.

Baylor+, the all-access subscription streaming platform of Baylor Athletics, launched in Fall 2023, providing Baylor fans with even more premium video content and original storytelling. 

A Baylor research team is advancing technologies to support the U.S. Army in manufacturing new products and repairing damaged parts for mission-critical components in aircraft, vehicles and more.

Biochemist Bryan Shaw and his team of researchers are pursuing advances that make laboratory spaces more accessible to those with different abilities. 

Researchers at Baylor are working to revolutionize the communication spectrum by developing an entirely new approach to wireless transmission.

In the summer months, Baylor students eagerly apply themselves to pursuits that amplify their academic studies.

During its regular May meeting, the Baylor University Board of Regents approved the University’s 2024-2025 operating budget, voted on Board and committee leadership and elected new at-large Regents – including a former Waco mayor and a top Texas healthcare executive who also has ties to the city.

Looking to make it to the big leagues? Sure, you could be a first-round pick… or, you could earn a graduate degree from Baylor’s Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences.

Not one, not two, but three recent Robbins College grads have reached the pinnacle of pro sports just a few years after earning their Baylor diplomas — in athletic training, nutrition sciences and physical therapy:

In the past 10 years, Baylor University has seen unprecedented growth and change to the institution’s physical footprint, with more than $285 million given to support capital projects through the Give Light Campaign.

The academic year is complete: finals graded, books returned, students graduated — and Baylor faculty honored! Congratulations to this year’s Baylor professors of the year:

Baylor Law earns top national honors for practical training

Congratulations, Class of 2024 — you did it!

This weekend, more than 3,500 Bears walked the Ferrell Center stage to receive their hard-earned diplomas. Thousands of their friends and family filled the Ferrell Center for each ceremony, and countless more watched online and joined in the celebration via social media to honor Baylor’s newest graduates.

When the world came to a halt in Spring 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, high school students around the country lost the opportunity to walk the stage at graduation.

Four years later, having overcome countless unknowns and challenges, those students are ready to finally take that step as the Class of 2024 graduates from college. Kayla Carmer is one such student.

The first time Auldynn Chambers heard someone suggest he consider pursuing his doctorate after graduating from Baylor, his immediate thought was, “Only really smart people get Ph.D.s. I’m not smart enough to do that.”

Soon, Chambers will be doing just that, and pursuing a passion he discovered at Baylor — artificial organ development.

When Stephanie Mendoza (BBA ’21) was in high school at Waco’s University High, she had no idea where she wanted to go to college, or what she wanted to do when she got there.

The first question seemed solved after she attended a two-week overnight camp at Baylor — but unfortunately, her family couldn’t make the finances work, and she headed to McLennan Community College instead. There, she discovered her way into Baylor: a full-ride transfer scholarship from the Waco Foundation, given to three top MCC students each year.

Every spring, the Baylor Family bids happy retirement to professors and staff who have dedicated their professional lives to the university and its students. It’s always a bittersweet mix — sadness in seeing them go, happiness for a well-deserved next step — but we wish them all well in the next phase of their lives.

Here, we honor some of the longest-serving and most recognizable professors who are retiring this year — men and women whose faces will be missed, but whose impact will not be forgotten:

The 2024 graduating class of Baylor University's McNair Scholars Program is set to soar as students continue on to prestigious graduate programs and national and international fellowships. 

Yesterday’s news about Harrington House‘s time coming to an end got us thinking back on the home’s history, as it has a long and winding connection with Baylor (dating back even before it came to be Baylor property).

The two-story Victorian home has stood since 1894 on Eighth Street, just across from where Collins Residence Hall stands today.

Baylor University students continue to earn highly competitive major fellowships and awards during a record-setting year in which they have earned the Fulbright, Goldwater, Critical Language and Churchill scholarships. Now students can add a Boren Scholarship, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships (NSF GRF) and the GEM Fellowship to the list.

Baylor University faculty members Julie Hoggarth, Ph.D., associate professor of anthropology, and Jeffrey C. Petersen, Ph.D., professor of sport management, have been selected to receive the 2024 Centennial Professor Awards for summer research projects on the impact of drought on the Mayan collapse and the expansion of administrative staff within collegiate sports, respectively. 

Looking for practical training that will prepare you to practice as a lawyer? You can’t do any better than Baylor Law School — literally.

So says a new ranking from preLaw Magazine, which put Baylor at No. 1 in the nation for practical training.

Chances are, if you attended Baylor, you have memories of studying in Moody and/or Jones libraries. Maybe you remember late nights preparing for a paper or exam, or the fun of running into friends and then having to make yourself get back to work.

Baylor’s libraries have long been a sort of academic community square, and that’s never been more true than today. As the ways students use libraries has evolved, Baylor Libraries has adapted to meet the needs of today’s Bears. Here are four examples:

Baylor University has been selected by the Institute of International Education (IIE) to receive an IIE American Passport Project grant that will enable up to 25 Baylor students to obtain their first U.S. passport and open the pathway to study abroad.

On Saturday, Baylor Acrobatics & Tumbling won its ninth — NINTH!!!!!!!!! — straight national title! The win extends a run that dates back to 2015 (there was no championship in 2020 due to COVID). Over those 10 seasons, head coach Felecia Mulkey’s squad has gone a mind-boggling 98-2, including a current 38-meet winning streak.

High school students choosing a college are often looking for a school big enough to offer their desired major and extracurriculars, but small enough where they feel like a person, not a number.

That’s a niche Baylor fills in higher ed — a caring community regularly recognized for students’ academic and social experience and opportunities, all built on a foundation of Christian faith. That sort of support and care is a big reason why a recent national survey of parents named Baylor the No. 2 most-trusted major university in the country.

Baylor University’s Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies in the Baylor School of Music has been awarded a four-year $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. as part of its Strengthening Ministries with Youth Initiative. 

A record 16 Baylor University students and recent alumni have been selected for Fulbright U.S. Student Grants from the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program that offers students grants to pursue graduate study, conduct research or teach English abroad.

After a three-year hiatus after the pandemic, the Baylor Community Garden is back and thriving through the collaborative efforts of more than 700 students, faculty and staff, the garden has blossomed into a “site of transdisciplinary environmental discovery, creativity and community health."

More than 2,000 Baylor students are the first in their family to attend college. Baylor’s “First in Line” program exists to help these Bears navigate all aspects of college — from academics to student life to finances and beyond.

Word of First in Line’s successes is getting out; the program was recently honored by NASPA, an international student affairs organization, with a 2024 Excellence Award for first-generation student success.

Stephen Sloan, Ph.D., professor of history and the director of the Institute for Oral History at Baylor University, was honored as the 2024 Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year at the annual Academic Honors Convocation on April 19. 

It only makes sense that a university whose motto reads “Pro Ecclesia, Pro Texana” — “for the Church, for Texas” — would build programs designed specifically to serve the Church, both close to home and around the world.

And that’s exactly what you’ll find, all across Baylor’s campus — efforts designed specifically to build up and support pastors, congregations, theologians, and other parts of the body of Christ. Here’s just a sampling:

Last fall, Baylor was named among TIME magazine’s top 40 colleges for future leaders. In their research, the publication’s editors studied the resumes of 2,000 U.S. leaders to see where they got their start — with Baylor standing out among the nation’s best.

That’s certainly true in the field of education, where countless Baylor alumni are serving as principals, deans, superintendents, etc. In the world of higher ed, almost 40 Baylor Bears are the top executives at colleges and universities around the world; here’s a quick rundown of those currently serving as presidents and chancellors:

Alagu Subramanian, B.A. ’23, a University Scholar with concentrations in biology, medical humanities and business administration, is Baylor University's fourth consecutive Churchill Scholar, an unprecedented achievement for the prestigious and highly selective scholarship in science, mathematics and engineering.

Baylor University mourns the death of beloved alumna and unofficial Independence historian Lanella Spinks Gray, B.A. ’54, of Houston on April 6. Gray, who was known as ‘Miss Baylor,’ became well known among Baylor’s students while serving as host to Baylor Line Camp groups visiting the University’s original campus site in Independence, Texas.

Sarah Kienle, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology at Baylor University, has received the prestigious Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.

Twelve Baylor University professors have been honored with Outstanding Faculty Awards for teaching, scholarship and contributions to the academic community for the 2023-2024 academic year.

Spring in Central Texas can be a beautiful season with abundant wildflowers, outdoor sporting events and bright blue skies – but it also can bring an increase in severe weather, including thunderstorms with lightning, hail, strong winds, heavy rains and heightened tornado risks.

The demand for a Baylor education has never been higher. We saw that last fall, when the university received more than 56,000 applications for Fall 2024 — and we saw it again Saturday, when more than 6,000 prospective students and family members were on campus for Premiere.

During Eclipse Over Texas on Monday, 50+ representatives of Baylor’s Department of Physics were on hand at McLane Stadium to assist and educate those in attendance. We asked a couple of them — Dr. Lorin Swint Matthews (BS ’94, PhD ’98) and Dr. Barbara Castainheria Endl — to help us understand what we saw during the eclipse.

Baylor University today announced a $1.5 million gift from the family of George Heilmeier through the Heilmeier-Jarvie Family Foundation, of Plano, Texas, establishing The George Heilmeier Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering to attract, retain and support innovative research and teaching within the School of Engineering and Computer Science.