News

Readers browsing Amazon for new books in mid-April found a Baylor professor’s new release among the overall top 50 on the site — a week before it was even officially released. The title? The Making of Biblical Womanhood, by history professor (and Baylor alumna) Beth Allison Barr (BA ’96). Reviewing both the Bible and centuries […]

This year’s COVID-condensed spring calendar didn’t have room for a full day off, the way Diadeloso is traditionally celebrated. But the spirit of Dia must live on — and Baylor found a way, with a week-long series of evening activities informally dubbed “Semana del Oso”! Each night last week, campus hosted traditional (in-person!) Diadeloso activities. […]

For the second time this month, Baylor Athletics has brought home a national championship. Three weeks ago today, we were celebrating men’s basketball title game blowout of undefeated Gonzaga. On Friday, Baylor acrobatics and tumbling added to their already-full trophy case by winning their sixth straight national title — extending an incredible run of dominance […]

Since 1888, the Baptist Standard has been the newspaper of record for Baptists in Texas (and beyond), bringing a journalistic approach to covering stories connected to Baptist life. Given Baylor’s distinct Baptist heritage, it’s only natural that this would be the place where historic issues of the Baptist Standard would find new life. Baylor University […]

Last week, Baylor announced a nationwide search to fill five new endowed faculty positions — big news in the academic world, and a big step forward towards fulfilling the dreams of Baylor’s strategic plan, Illuminate. Those outside academia, however, are quite likely wondering just why this is such a big deal. What is an endowed […]

On Sunday in Fort Worth, Baylor athletics brought home its fourth Big 12 championship in the last two months. Hot on the heels of Baylor basketball’s success, Baylor men’s tennis won its 14th regular season Big 12 title. To put that in perspective, the league’s next two most successful tennis programs, Texas and TCU, have […]

Late last month, Baylor announced the finalists for the university’s 2022 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching. (If you’re unfamiliar with the Cherry Award, it’s a unique honor — not only honoring professors for great teaching, but investing in their work with a gift of $250,000. It’s the largest monetary gift for teaching presented […]

It’s been an interesting year for both Baylor volleyball and collegiate volleyball as a whole, thanks to (what else?) COVID-19. Traditionally a fall sport, the NCAA elected to move the volleyball postseason tournament to spring, and many conferences followed suit and moved their entire seasons to the spring. The Big 12, like the ACC and […]

When Baylor released the report and recommendations of the Committee on Historic Campus Representations last month, most attention was (rightly) placed on the committee’s historical study of Baylor’s connections to slavery and the Confederacy and their recommendations for what changes could/should be made to better tell the full story of our university’s history. The university […]

In the past month alone, four Baylor Bears have been named as presidents of universities across the nation! The run began with the naming of Dr. Diana Lovell (BA ’89) as president of Southwestern Oklahoma State University on March 3. A week later. Dr. Beck Taylor (BBA ’92, and a former Baylor business professor — […]

One of the many, many fun parts of Monday night’s Baylor basketball national championship was seeing so many prominent Bears celebrating the win on social media. Some of them were in the arena, cheering on the Bears right there in Indianapolis. For instance — NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III (BA ’10) was there with his […]

Eighteen years ago, it all began with a simple press conference. Now, here we are: the Baylor Bears are the 2020-21 NCAA men’s basketball national champions!!!! In what was billed as a “historically good” national title game match-up, head coach Scott Drew’s Bears blew out national No. 1 seed (and previously undefeated) Gonzaga, 86-70, to […]

Baylor men’s basketball is headed to the national championship!!!!! Before we continue, take a minute and let that sink in. Then, consider this — head coach Scott Drew’s squad just might be playing its best basketball of the year — and at exactly the right time. Baylor raced out to a 25-point lead in the […]

We’re used to doctors prescribing medicine when patients need it — but what about prescriptions for exercise, or fresh vegetables? That’s just one of the areas being studied by Dr. Kelly Ylitalo (BS ’04) — a Baylor alumna, associate professor in BU’s Department of Public Health, and a rising star as a researcher and epidemiologist. […]

In the U.S. Air Force, there’s no larger combat wing than the 18th Wing — and the leader of the Air Force’s “Keystone of the Pacific” is a Baylor Bear. Brigadier General Joel Carey (BA ’92) was named commander of the 18th Wing in 2019 after distinguishing himself over nearly three decades of Air Force […]

It wasn’t a dream; Baylor men’s basketball is, indeed, headed to the Final Four. We’ve gotten used to sustained excellence from the program under head coach Scott Drew, whose teams have now racked up nine NCAA appearances in the last 13 full seasons, with five Sweet 16s and three Elite Eights (plus an NIT championship […]

Kevin Pranoto (BS ’11, MDiv/MSW ’16) and Travis Aune (BBA ’19) attended Baylor at different times and studied different things. But in 2019, their paths crossed at Mission Oak Cliff (MOC) — and definitely for the better. For 70+ years, MOC has served Dallas families with its food pantry, but the organization faced a harsh […]

Whether it be a global pandemic, financial hardships, or grief, challenges inevitably arise in life. For students, such stressors are the leading impediment to academic success — which can affect motivation, concentration, and the ability to positively interact with others in the campus community. Thankfully, mental health awareness is growing, and prompting others to talk […]

Only three schools have both their men’s and women’s basketball programs still going as the Sweet 16 begins: Michigan, Oregon — and Baylor. The Baylor men, seeded No. 2 overall in this year’s NCAA tournament, looked more and more like their pre-COVID selves as they rolled past Hartford in the first round, 79-55, and then […]

It was a surprise encounter with another Baylor alumna that led Katie Norris (BSFCS ’08) to begin her nonprofit organization, Fotolanthropy, more than a decade ago. Kara Wilkerson (BA ’05, MSEd ’10) had a son who had been diagnosed with a tumor, and in desperation, contacted Norris — and, in her words, “My world stopped.” […]

For a year now, the coronavirus pandemic has thrown challenges at virtually every aspect of Baylor’s approach to education. Thankfully, countless individuals across campus have worked tirelessly for the past year to ensure Baylor could continue serving and loving its students. After years of doing things a certain way, faculty reworked classes overnight to allow […]

March is Women’s History Month, a time for intentionally celebrating and studying the vital roles women have played in American history. That makes this the perfect time to dive into new books, podcasts and other resources to learn more about this often under-considered side of our country’s past. Dr. Andrea Turpin is an associate professor […]

Last summer, Baylor’s Board of Regents established a Commission on Historic Campus Representations to review the history of the university, its founders, and its early leaders for connections to slavery and the Confederacy. The Commission spent the next six months looking at Baylor’s history and developing a series of recommendations on how the university can […]

Baylor graduates make an impact in virtually any field you can think of; this year’s Baylor Alumni Award winners are no different, with recipients leading the charge in everything from medicine and the arts to community and public service. Congratulations to this year’s honorees (click on each name to learn more): Alumnus of the Year: […]

When the buzzer sounded in the Lady Bears’ last appearance in the NCAA tournament, they celebrated. A dramatic win over Notre Dame in Tampa in 2019 clinched the program’s third national championship under head coach Kim Mulkey. And while COVID-19 has led to plenty of changes since then (including the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA […]

Nine times under head coach Scott Drew, Baylor men’s basketball has heard its name called on Selection Sunday for an NCAA Tournament bid — but for the first time in program history, Baylor will begin March Madness as a No. 1 seed, earning the top slot in the South Region for 2021. Baylor fans don’t […]

The Rev. Dr. Kenyatta Gilbert (BA ’96) — professor of homiletics at Howard University School of Divinity, nationally recognized expert on African American preaching, and a Baylor Bear — has one concrete message he hopes to share in his writing, preaching and teaching. “I want to remind humans that God values us, honors our faith […]

Each week, The New York Times publishes a recommended reading list, featuring books of all shapes, sizes and subjects. This week’s list is quite diverse topic-wise: a romantic comedy, a memoir on race — and a biography written by one of our very own faculty members. Calhoun: American Heretic, written by Baylor history professor Robert […]

Dr. Devan Stahl’s call to bioethics began with her own experience as a patient. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis as a young woman, she recognized aspects of the healthcare system that could be improved — most notably, the ways doctors and decision-makers communicated with (and considered) people with disabilities. Stahl, an assistant professor of religion, joined […]

The stories of “boom to bust” for college and pro athletes after their playing careers end are legion. Vinnie Johnson, Baylor Class of 1980, is not one of those. Johnson — a two-time all-American at Baylor, one of the greatest sixth men in NBA history, and our pick as the greatest Baylor alum in NBA history […]

Shout it from the rafters — Baylor men’s basketball is the 2020-21 Big 12 Conference champion! The Bears beat No. 6-ranked West Virginia on the road Tuesday — in overtime — 94-89 to clinch the program’s first conference title in 71 years. Some stories about the game focused on the rust head coach Scott Drew’s team is […]

It appears there are now three great certainties in life: death, taxes, and Baylor women’s basketball winning the Big 12. Yes, the Lady Bears won their 11th straight regular season Big 12 title this week, extending their decade of dominance over the league. The run is the longest active streak in the nation, and the […]

While sources differ, Baylor was one of the first (perhaps the very first) institution west of the Mississippi River to admit women. And in 1855 — just a year after BU’s first graduating class — Mary Gentry Kavanaugh became the first woman to earn a degree from Baylor University. Though the university was still young, […]

As one Baylor student put it, “Black history is not just for Black people. Black history is American history, so I want to make sure that we’re able to share it, and engage with it.” That effort doesn’t end just because the calendar has rolled from February (and Black History Month) on into March. In […]

February is Black History Month, a time for intentionally learning more about the roles African Americans have played in our nation’s history. One approach is to read up on Black history in the U.S.; Baylor history professor Ronald Johnson put together an excellent list of resources. Another approach is to dive into some of the outstanding […]

With COVID-19 vaccine distribution increasing each day, there’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel — and Baylor nursing students are helping that light shine even brighter. This spring, 120 senior-level, second-semester nursing students (and faculty, too) from the Louise Herrington School of Nursing (LHSON) are helping administer the COVID-19 Moderna vaccine here […]

Thanks to technology, the world is connected in a way and at a speed that has never been possible before. Such progress offers conveniences not even imaginable some 20 years ago — but also a new category of threats. As data breaches and other IT security issues continue to make headlines, Baylor is dedicated to […]

Just off Fountain Mall sits a peaceful garden plot, complete with gorgeous landscaping and bold granite markers. The space is Baylor’s National Pan-Hellenic Garden, a place to recognize historically Black Greek-lettered groups on campus. The markers represent fraternities and sororities within the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), often referred to as the “Divine Nine.” The NPHC […]

The top two indoor pole vault records in NCAA history now belong to a Baylor Bear. KC Lightfoot, a junior on the Baylor track and field team, is off to an incredible start in 2021, setting the NCAA men’s indoor pole vault record — then besting that mark just two weeks later. “It’s been a […]

For so many people, college is the time of life when they first fall in love with coffee. Early morning classes, various student activities, dozens of new friends, and test after project after test… All can quickly lead to coffee being an absolute necessity. Lucky for us, Waco has no shortage of coffee shops — […]

The NBA traces its founding to 1946, when a group of hockey owners decided to start a basketball league. Three years later, that league merged with another entity, and the “National Basketball Association” was born. That same year, 1949, also saw the first Baylor Bear play in the NBA: Red Owens, who debuted that season […]

February is Black History Month, a time for intentionally recognizing the contributions that African Americans have made to our nation’s history. Sure, we learned the basics about Frederick Douglass and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in school — but there are so many other people and stories that aren’t as well known, but deserve to […]

The last time Baylor entrepreneurship WASN’T among the nation’s top 10 programs, today’s freshmen had barely started elementary school. Yes, for the 12th straight year, Baylor’s undergraduate entrepreneurship program is a consensus top-1o national pick in the field. It’s ranked No. 7 in the country by The Princeton Review and Entrepreneurship magazine, and No. 8 […]

Several years ago, Baylor business professor Stacie Petter and then-doctoral candidate Laurie Giddens (MSIS ’02, PhD ’17) bonded in a Baylor classroom over their shared passion to fight human trafficking. They knew their discipline, information systems, could be a tool in that fight, but weren’t sure exactly how to blend their work with their desire […]

While the Baylor Family is understandably focused on Baylor’s two top-10 basketball teams, the No. 2-ranked Bears and No. 8-ranked Lady Bears are far from the only top teams on campus as we head into the spring. Seven of Baylor’s spring sports are ranked in the Top 25 — including a pair sitting at No. […]

In a film career that’s spanned three decades, Baylor alum John Lee Hancock (BA ’79, JD’ 82) has written and/or directed such hit movies as The Blind Side, The Rookie, and Saving Mr. Banks. Now, almost one year after his last release, Hancock is behind the camera once again for his 12th feature film, The […]

Can you believe it? Joy, the elder of our two beloved American black bears, is celebrating her 20th birthday today! Joy — officially Judge Joy Reynolds — was born on Jan. 27, 2001; her sister, Judge Sue Sloan (“Lady”), was born a year and four days later (Jan. 31, 2002), and so turns 19 later this […]

“Stones, bones, and Indiana Jones.” That’s what many people think of when they hear the word “anthropology,” says Baylor anthropology department chair Michael Muehlenbein. But the discipline — better summarized as “the study of humans” is a broad field, as demonstrated by Dr. Muehlenbein’s own expertise in infectious diseases (including COVID-19). Muehlenbein came to Baylor in […]

For the past several years, Baylor alumna Whitney Reynolds (BA ’07) has made it her mission to highlight do-gooders through her talk show, The Whitney Reynolds Show, seen primarily in the Chicago area. Now, the show is going national, thanks to a syndication deal that includes PBS stations in Los Angeles, Denver, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. […]

What impact does urban pollution have on thunderstorm activity? The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) wants to know — and is enlisting the services of two Baylor environmental science professors as part of a massive three-year project to learn more. Drs. Rebecca Sheesley and Sascha Usenko each serve as associate professors of environmental science at […]

While most Baylor students were wrapping up finals and planning their Christmas break last month, two Bears were earning major national awards for their academic accomplishments. Sophia Fulton, a senior in the Business Fellows program at Baylor, was awarded the Charles B. Rangel Graduate Fellowship. Endowed by the U.S. Department of State, this highly competitive […]

For the seventh year in a row, Baylor student-athletes have led the Big 12 Conference in Graduation Success Rate (GSR) — the 12th time in the last 14 years that the Bears have finished either first or second in GSR. But it doesn’t stop there. Not content with simply extending their run of dominance, Baylor […]

Baylor recently announced that, beginning in late January, all faculty, staff and students will be tested for COVID-19 every week. Yes, that’s a lot. And testing fatigue is real. So why is Baylor making this move? The short answer: So that everything else about campus life — from classes to extracurriculars — can be as […]

Sunday morning, it started snowing in Waco — a rare occurrence, but not unheard of. And then it kept coming down, and kept coming, and kept coming — and by 6 p.m., Waco had officially received 4.4 inches of snow, the most since January 1982. As Baylor Bears, we are blessed to have a beautiful […]