News

WACO, Texas (Dec. 5, 2023) – Dorina Mitrea, Ph.D., department chair and professor of mathematics at Baylor University, was named a 2024 Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, one of only four mathematicians from Baylor to be honored with the prestigious designation.

WACO, Texas (Dec. 4, 2023) – Following a nationwide search, Baylor University Provost Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D., announced today that 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. His appointment is effective July 1, 2024.

WACO, Texas (Dec. 3, 2023) – Baylor University researchers and faculty experts were featured in national and local media stories about common sleep myths, the ways universities are responding to the challenges first-generation students face in the college application process, and how a team of Baylor engineers is partnering with the City of Waco on more efficient, energy-producing technology that could breathe new life into waste gases produced by the city landfill.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 30, 2023) – Baylor University today announced the recipients of the 2024 Baylor Alumni Awards, which honor individuals who embody the distinctive mission of the University and their remarkable achievements. A celebration honoring this year’s recipients will be held on campus Feb. 23, 2024.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 29, 2023) –  Baylor University historians Stephen Sloan and Adrienne Cain Darough with Baylor’s renowned Institute for Oral History, share seven simple best practices to help family members begin oral history conversations over the holidays that enrich recollections of the past and capture your family memories.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 29, 2023) – Baylor University will join City of Waco and McLennan County partners – in cooperation with the Waco/McLennan County Office of Emergency Management – to conduct a regular test of outdoor tornado sirens, beginning at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 1. The University’s testing period is from 10 to 11 a.m.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 29, 2023) – Baylor University President Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D., announced today that Curtis Reynolds, vice president for business affairs at the University of Florida, will join the University as vice president of business and finance and chief financial officer, effective March 1, 2024.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 27, 2023) – The Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities within the Baylor University School of Education announced today that it will join With Ministries on a new program called Worship as One: Learning with Children with Disabilities about Worship and Prayer. Lilly Endowment Inc. is supporting the program with a $300,000 grant to With Ministries. 

WACO, Texas (Nov. 27, 2023) – The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a five-year, $3.37 million research grant to Baylor University, Blackfeet Community College (BFCC) in Browning, Montana, and Montana State University-Bozeman to explore how the resiliency of the Blackfeet American Indian community could mitigate the health effects related to historical and childhood trauma.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 26, 2023) – Baylor University researchers and faculty experts were featured in national and local media stories about the 2024 total solar eclipse, the science of gratitude and the connections between food, creation and faith. 

WACO, Texas (Nov. 19, 2023) – Baylor University researchers and faculty experts were featured in national and local media stories about how a leaf’s visual characteristics can help tell its story, the importance of understanding the systems behind AI and the path forward, and a remarkable $5,000 putt at a Baylor basketball game that caught the attention of national TV morning show.  

WACO, Texas (Nov. 14, 2023) – Baylor University will conduct a maintenance test of its outdoor tornado sirens at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15. The University’s testing period is from 10 to 11 a.m.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 14, 2023) – Leading Baylor University positive psychology researchers, Sarah Schnitker, Ph.D., and Jo-Ann Tsang, Ph.D., who specialize in the study of gratitude, have identified three science-based mechanisms that can cultivate gratitude and improve empathy. This work is especially timely during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 13, 2023) - Baylor University and TCU have formalized their century-long football rivalry through the commissioning of a trophy and officially naming the game after a months-long initiative led by the student governments of both universities. The Bluebonnet Battle will commemorate the 119th meeting of the football teams on Nov. 18 in Fort Worth, when Baylor-TCU overtakes Texas-Texas A&M to become the longest-standing college football rivalry in the state of Texas.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 12, 2023) – Baylor University researchers and faculty experts were featured in national and local media stories about how technology, staff and space were key to the success of Baylor’s Black Gospel Music Preservation Project, sharing the affinity for science, technology, engineering and math with Waco-area students and a rock-climbing Baylor professor who broke his second Guinness World Record.  

WACO, Texas (Nov. 10, 2023) – During its regular November meeting, the Baylor University Board of Regents received a comprehensive update on the University’s Strategic Planning process, which will guide Baylor into the future as a preeminent Christian research university. The Board also approved four new academic graduate degrees and discussed Baylor’s position in the evolving higher education marketplace.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 9, 2023) - In remembrance of all American veterans who have served their nation, Baylor University’s McLane Carillon, located in the tower of Pat Neff Hall, will ring in honor of Veterans Day during a special recital beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, on the Baylor campus. 

WACO, Texas (Nov. 9, 2023) – Beth Allison Barr, Ph.D., The James Vardaman Professor of History and author of “The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth” has been recognized on the Michael Ramsey Prize 2023 Longlist of 13 books being considered for the award. 

WACO, Texas (Nov. 9, 2023) – Following a nationwide search, Baylor University Provost Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D., announced today that Jeremy Counseller, J.D., The Abner V. McCall Chair of Evidence Law at Baylor, has been selected as dean of the University’s nationally ranked Baylor Law School. His appointment is effective July 1, 2024.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 8, 2023) – Baylor University was recognized today by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption as one of the nation’s top education institutions offering robust adoption benefits programs.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 7, 2023) – Baylor University is partnering with local schools on National STEM Day (Wednesday, Nov. 8) to provide engaging science presentations for area students and teachers and connect Baylor researchers in the community, all to encourage an affinity for science, technology, engineering and math in local students.

Debbie Chou, B.S.Ed. ’23, is the fifth Baylor student teacher in recent years to be named the state’s Clinical Teacher of the Year.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 5, 2023) – Baylor University researchers and faculty experts were featured in national and local media stories about the importance of Black gospel music in bridging racial divides, origins of Halloween, and the prominence of Texas in horror films. 

WACO, Texas (Nov. 3, 2023) – November marks the beginning of the holiday season, which is full of holiday festivities and feasts. As consumers head to grocery stores and farmers markets for ingredients for those family meals, they will be faced with a choice: Organic or conventionally farmed produce? What impact does that choice have on human health? 

WACO, Texas (Nov. 2, 2023) – Baylor University will join City of Waco and McLennan County partners – in cooperation with the Waco/McLennan County Office of Emergency Management – to conduct a regular test of outdoor tornado sirens, beginning at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 3. The University’s testing period is from 10 to 11 a.m.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 31, 2023) – Does a fine-tuned life provide evidence for a multiverse? A Baylor University philosophy professor’s co-authored article on the topic has been judged one of the best academic journal articles published in philosophy in 2022.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 30 2023) – The Mayborn Museum is celebrating Native American Heritage Month in November with exciting performances and lectures from the Native American community. The series will include community conversations with the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 29, 2023) – Baylor University researchers and faculty experts were featured in national and local media stories about Baylor students “Steppin’ Out” to serve the Waco community, how maternal incarceration affects adolescents’ sleep patterns, dietary behaviors and physical activity, and what goes into making sure the operations of Baylor’s men’s and women’s basketball programs run smoothly.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 28, 2023) – The Baylor University Homecoming Bonfire has been rescheduled for tonight at 8 p.m. - weather dependent - on Fountain Mall.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 22, 2023) – Baylor University researchers and faculty experts were featured in national and local media stories about the importance of work-life balance, the reenactment of historical events and an insider view of Baylor campus events.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 26, 2023) – Baylor University today announced a $2 million gift from Scott and Susan Orr of The Woodlands, Texas, establishing the Scott & Susan Orr Family Endowed Chair in Medical Humanities & Christian Faith to support teaching, mentorship and innovative research in the Medical Humanities Program within the College of Arts & Sciences.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 24, 2023) - Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary has announced the appointment of Jared E. Alcántara, Ph.D., as director of the Kyle Lake Center for Effective Preaching alongside the Lilly Endowment Inc. award of $1.25 million grant to support Truett Seminary’s initiative focused on minoritized preaching for the good and growth of the Church.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 24, 2023) – Three finalists for Baylor University’s 2024 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching will present their public lectures in person on the Baylor campus on Oct. 24, Oct. 30 and Nov. 6. In addition, all three lectures will be livestreamed on the Cherry Award’s page at their respective times.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 18, 2023) – Baylor University’s renowned Armstrong Browning Library and Museum will host Kristen Pond, Ph.D., associate professor of English and The Margarett Root Brown Chair in Robert Browning and Victorian Studies, as she presents the 2023 Benefactors Day lecture, “It's Okay to Talk to Strangers: Charles Dickens and Charlotte Brontë on Enchanting Encounters."

WACO, Texas (Oct. 17, 2023) – Baylor University’s Institute for Faith and Learning will host its annual Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture, which this year focuses on the theme, Called Together In an Age of Discord.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 17, 2023) –  World Menopause Day is recognized on Oct. 18, and one Baylor University researcher has been on a 20-year mission to identify safe and effective options to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to help women find relief from hot flashes and improve sleep and well-being during the menopause transition.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 16, 2023) – Baylor University announced today the launch of the Baylor Research in Growth and Human Thriving Science (BRIGHTS) Center, a multidisciplinary center designed to catalyze research related to the science of human flourishing.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 15, 2023) – Baylor University researchers and faculty experts were featured in national and local media stories about the grand reopening of The Store food pantry on the Baylor campus, the influence of Black gospel music on other genres and Baylor research about how taking a short mid-morning break during the workday helps lessen stress, fatigue and burnout.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 11, 2023) – Baylor University has received its first-ever Fulbright-Hays grant that will assist the University in strengthening its East Asian language programs (Chinese, Japanese and Korean) and Asian Studies program.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 11, 2023) – Research has demonstrated that increased stress and all-night study sessions can lead to lower cognitive functioning and test scores, adding even more pressure on college students. 

WACO, Texas (Oct. 10, 2023) –The Department of Entrepreneurship and Corporate Innovation within Baylor University’s nationally ranked Hankamer School of Business moved up to No. 3 in the world and the highest-ranked program in Texas for research productivity in the 2023 TCU Global University Entrepreneurship Research Productivity Rankings, the only research-focused ranking of entrepreneurial programs.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 8, 2023) – Baylor University researchers and faculty experts were featured in national and local media stories about treating pediatric respiratory infections, help churches welcome and embrace persons with disabilities and how oral history helps “democratize the historical record” by collecting information from people underrepresented in traditional archives.

Baylor horror film expert lists 10 movies that give thrills without too much of the chills.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 6, 2023) – Baylor University will join City of Waco and McLennan County partners – in cooperation with the Waco/McLennan County Office of Emergency Management – to conduct a regular test of outdoor tornado sirens, beginning at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 6. The University’s testing period is from 10 to 11 a.m.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 4, 2023) – The summer blockbuster Barbie made a big impression on both moviegoers and critics alike. Three faculty members from Baylor University will offer their ideas and takeaways from the film during Living in a Barbie World: A Panel Discussion at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10. 

WACO, Texas (Oct. 3, 2023) – With health experts expecting another intense flu season, Baylor University Health Services will host five mobile flu vaccination clinics for students, faculty and staff at locations throughout campus in October and November.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 2, 2023) – The noonday sky will put on a spectacular show Saturday, Oct. 14, as the annular solar eclipse will be visible in North America for the first time since 2012. Unlike a total solar eclipse, an annular eclipse means that the outer corona of the sun will be visible, producing a beautiful “Ring of Fire.” 

WACO, Texas (Oct. 1, 2023) – Baylor University researchers and faculty experts were featured in national and local media stories about the invisible labor” of adult daughters, how filmmakers have used a horror framework to explore the fears and nightmares of their societies, and the role of faculty preparing and mentoring graduate students for excellence in research and teaching.

WACO, Texas (Sept. 28, 2023) – Baylor University and the Waco communities will have the opportunity to hear from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin during this year’s Beall-Russell Lecture in the Humanities at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 2, in the Grand Ballroom of the Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center, 905 S. University Parks Drive. The lecture is free and open to the public, but registration is requested.

WACO, Texas (Sept. 28, 2023) – Baylor University will serve as the originating site for the 2024 Collegiate Day of Prayer broadcast, the University announced on Thursday. The Collegiate Day of Prayer is an evening worship and prayer service focused on college-aged students, traditionally held on a university campus and live-streamed around the world.