Baylor in the News – July 9-15, 2023

Contact: Baylor University Media & Public Relations, 254-710-1961
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WACO, Texas (July 16, 2023) – Baylor University researchers and faculty experts were featured in national and local media stories about how worship leaders pick music for services, narrowing the gap between SNAP benefits and the increasing cost of a meal and the history of tie-breaking votes in the Senate by the Vice President.

July 10, 2023

Washington Times: Thousands of Black churches could face Southern Baptist Convention expulsion over women pastors

Doug Weaver, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Religion and professor of Baptist studies at Baylor, is quoted in this article about new rules with the Southern Baptist Convention that could disenfranchise as many as 4,000 Black churches with women pastors.

July 11, 2023

Religion News Service: Few worship leaders avoid Hillsong, Bethel songs — despite controversies and scandal

Shannan Baker, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in music and digital humanities at Baylor’s Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies, was among a research team that looked at how worship leaders pick music for services — at a time when a handful of megachurches dominate the market.

CGTN-TV America: The Heat: NATO Summit

VIDEO: Sergiy Kudelia, Ph.D., associate professor of political science at Baylor, is among a panel of experts discussing Ukraine’s NATO membership as China warns the alliance against provoking confrontation.

July 12, 2023

KWTX-TV (CBS/Waco): Baylor summer program helps improve elementary students’ math skills

VIDEO: Some elementary students are spending their summer improving their math skills through the Baylor School of Education’s Mathematics for Early Learners Academy (MELA). MELA director Sandi Cooper, Ph.D., professor and associate chair of curriculum and instruction at Baylor, was interviewed.

JD Journal: Law Schools Defying Expectations with High Bar Exam Pass Rates in July 2023

Baylor Law is among the top 25 law schools that have demonstrated exceptional performance on the bar exam, as revealed in recent paper, “The Secret Sauce: Examining Law Schools That Overperform on the Bar Exam,” by Professors Christopher J. Ryan Jr. of Louisville Law and Derek T. Muller of Iowa Law.

July 13, 2023

Best Colleges: Baylor School of Nursing Uses $1.5 Million Gift to Establish Chair in Mental Health

Baylor's Louise Herrington School of Nursing (LHSON) received a $1.5 million gift from the School’s namesake to initiate its first endowed chair – The Louise Herrington Endowed Chair in Mental Health – that will advocate for mental health and research while endorsing advanced practice nursing degrees.

Urban.org: Does SNAP Cover the Cost of a Meal in Your County?

Craig Gundersen, Ph.D., The Snee Family Endowed Chair at the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty and professor of economics, is among three researchers with The Urban Institutes that compared the cost of a modestly priced meal with the maximum SNAP benefit before and after the USDA’s fiscal year 2023 cost-of-living adjustment took effect in 2022 to determine whether the adjustment helped narrow the gap between SNAP benefits and the increasing cost of a meal.

July 14, 2023

Baylor Connections: Ryan McManamay

AUDIO: When flooding in Yellowstone stalled a family vacation, Ryan McManamay turned his attention to those impacted by the disaster. McManamay, an associate professor of environmental science at Baylor, earned a grant to survey business owners around the park to determine the floods’ impact on their business. That data sheds light on the role of natural resources on the communities around them. In this Baylor Connections, he tells the story behind the project and shares a broader vision for the role of places like Yellowstone National Park as critical infrastructure.

TIME: The History Behind Kamala Harris Matching the 191-Year-Old Record for Tiebreaking Votes

This article about Vice President Kamala Harris’s recent vote that tied a 191-year-old record for casting the most tiebreaking votes in Congress quotes Robert Elder, Ph.D., associate professor of history at Baylor and author of “Calhoun: American Heretic,” a biography of Vice President John C. Calhoun. Calhoun made his 31 tiebreaking votes in almost eight years as VP for John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson from 1825-1832.

The Pagosa (CO) Springs Sun: Tickets available for jazz under the stars at Keyah Grande

Several Baylor School of Music faculty and students will perform a series of jazz concerts as part of the Mountain Light Music Festival at Keyah Grande in Pagosa Springs, Colo., July 26-July 28.

ABOUT BAYLOR MEDIA & PUBLIC RELATIONS

Baylor's Office of Media and Public Relations (M&PR) supports the University's Illuminate strategic plan as a top Christian research university by focusing on faculty research and expert opinions, innovative teaching, major awards and recognition, and community involvement. Through its media training workshops, the Baylor M&PR team develops faculty experts to effectively communicate the impact of their research or speak as subject-matter experts into national trends and conversations with media outlets, through Hot Topics and on the Baylor Connections podcast. Our faculty expert directory is available on the M&PR website.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked Research 1 institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 20,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.