Four Baylor Professors Designated Master Teachers

Contact: Lori Fogleman, 254-709-5959
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Baylor University President Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D., announced today that the lifetime designation of Master Teacher – the highest honor granted to Baylor faculty for sustained excellence in teaching – has been conferred on four Baylor faculty members:

• Kevin D. Dougherty, Ph.D., professor of sociology, College of Arts & Sciences; 
• Andrew P. Hogue, Ph.D. ’09, M.A. ’05, associate dean for engaged learning and senior lecturer of public affairs, College of Arts & Sciences; 
• Wiff Rudd, B.M.Ed. ’77, M.M., professor of trumpet, School of Music; and 
• J. Lenore Wright, Ph.D., M.A. ’95, professor of interdisciplinary studies and philosophy, Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, Honors College.

The four professors are among a select group of only 33 Baylor faculty designated as Master Teachers since 1982.

“It is a distinct honor to confer the lifetime Master Teacher designation upon these four outstanding faculty members,” President Livingstone said. “These newly designated Master Teachers are deservedly among the ranks of some of Baylor’s greatest teachers, who all deeply value undergraduate teaching and graduate learning while engaging their students in the transformative experiences that distinguish a Baylor education. We appreciate their years of dedication, commitment to teaching and service and providing mentorship both within and beyond the classroom.”

The appointments are based on the profound impact of faculty members in the classroom and on students’ lives as judged by the record of the faculty members’ achievements and the observations of the various nominators. Nominations may be made by former students of the nominated faculty member or by current or former staff, faculty or administrators personally familiar with the nominated faculty member’s record of teaching achievements and other contributions to teaching.

Master Teachers represent these qualities:

• Knowledge and use of effective and engaging pedagogy.
• Advocacy for teaching and learning, as reflected by characteristics such as:
  • Passion for teaching and learning.
  • Engagement of students – mentoring undergraduates and/or graduates in research, active learning classes, group work, service-learning and/or community-based learning.
  • Impact beyond the nominee’s own courses, such as curricular development, mentoring of other faculty colleagues, publications, presentations or web resources.
• Sustained (minimum 10 years at Baylor University) commitment to teaching excellence.

Kevin D. Dougherty, Ph.D., Master Teacher, professor of sociology, College of Arts & Sciences

Nearly every semester, Professor Kevin Dougherty steps into a packed classroom of students clamoring to get a seat in his Introduction to Sociology course. His highly interactive – and highly rated – survey course on basic concepts in the field of sociology routinely enrolls more than 250 students.

“I love to learn. And I love to learn with others,” Dougherty said. “Every semester, I welcome a new set of friends to explore our place in society and our potential for making society a better place for all. I am honored to know that my teaching has a lasting impact on students. My students likewise have a lasting impact on me.”

Dougherty’s path to academia – and his passion for teaching – began with a high school speech teacher and a college business professor at George Fox University, where he earned his B.A. summa cum laude in communication arts.

“As a high school sophomore, I took speech with Mr. Paul Halupa. He told me that I had a gift for public speaking, which led me to major in communication in college,” Dougherty said. “As a college junior, I took an Introduction to Business course as an elective. Professor Raymond Gleason was a successful CEO who exited the company he founded to train future business leaders. He taught with a passion that was contagious. He told me to find and pursue my passion. These words have guided my career in research and teaching.”

An award-winning teacher and researcher, Dougherty earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in sociology at Purdue University, taught at Calvin University and joined the Baylor sociology faculty in 2005. His distinctive teaching has been honored with Baylor’s Outstanding Professor Award in 2010 and 2015, and he was named to the 2011 cohort of Baylor Fellows, a program of Baylor’s Academy for Teaching and Learning that brings together innovative teachers for a year of conversation and collaboration. In addition to teaching undergraduates, he leads graduate seminars on teaching and religious organizations. At the University level, Dougherty serves as committee chair for the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching, an award program designed to honor great teachers, stimulate discussion in the academy about the value of teaching and encourage departments and institutions to recognize their own great teachers.

Dougherty’s research focuses on religious organizations, and he has written on religious leadership, religious affiliation, racial diversity in congregations, congregational growth and decline, religious higher education and the impact of religion on other realms of social life. His published research appears in leading academic journals and has been covered by major news media, including CNN, National Public Radio and USA Today. Funding for his research has come from the National Science Foundation and Lilly Endowment Inc. 

Dougherty also is part of a Baylor research team leading the Baylor Faith and Character Study, a longitudinal study to track the long-term impact of a Baylor education on a person’s faith and character development from when they arrive at Baylor to 10 years after graduation. Findings inform practices at Baylor and other Christian colleges and universities, including understanding today's students, the view of Chapel, working with campus ministries/local churches and more.

Andrew P. Hogue, Ph.D., Master Teacher, associate dean for engaged learning and senior lecturer of public affairs, College of Arts & Sciences

Professor Andy Hogue’s path to academia began when he encountered a young American Literature teacher named Debbie Debenport his junior year of high school in South Carolina. She was a Baylor graduate and a masterful teacher who sparked his imagination, curiosity and lifelong love affair with books and ideas. He went to earn his B.A. from Clemson University, where he was shaped by another great teacher in Dr. Andrew Billings, followed by an M.A. and Ph.D. from Baylor and the executive program in design thinking at Stanford.

Hogue began his teaching career as assistant professor of American politics and director of public service internships at Whitworth University and returned to Baylor in 2011 to join the political science faculty and direct what is now the Philanthropy & Public Service Program. Today, he serves as associate dean and senior lecturer and directs the Office of Engaged Learning, which facilitates programs in civic and global learning, undergraduate research, leadership and character formation, and major fellowships and awards.

“The Master Teacher designation is the honor, truly, of a lifetime. Baylor has been so very good to me, and I still sometimes can’t believe that this is the plot of earth I am privileged to tend and this is the work I am privileged to do,” Hogue said. “Our students: my goodness! Their energy to improve the world seems boundless, and all they ask of us, in earnestness, is to show them how. Baylor has given me generous latitude to heed that call, to experiment and explore and push the boundaries of the traditional classroom so our students might depart from us better equipped to help humanity flourish. I couldn’t ask for a vocation more fulfilling than that.”

Throughout his career, Hogue has taught courses on a range of public affairs, including philanthropy and civil society, social innovation and politics, and has served three times as director of the Baylor in Maastricht program and visiting faculty at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. His experiential courses on philanthropy have awarded more than $1.2 million in grants to nonprofit organizations locally and around the world while helping students learn about social challenges, contribute to the work of community building and cultivate a lifelong commitment to strategic generosity. He now co-teaches that course with one of his former students.

Hogue’s efforts through the Office of Engaged Learning have helped the University expand undergraduate research, civic engagement and other experiential learning opportunities, and Baylor has enhanced its profile nationally as increasing numbers of students bid for and win major fellowships such as the Fulbright, Marshall, Churchill and Truman. 

His scholarship focuses on how we achieve the common good. He is author of Stumping God: Reagan, Carter, and the Invention of a Political Faith, Navigating the Future: Traditioned Innovation for Wilder Seas (with L. Gregory Jones), and two forthcoming books, No One is Coming to Fix It: On Hope & Everyday Citizenship and Teaching Philanthropy (with Ronald Pitcock). 

Hogue credits three women as his most important teaching mentors: Dr. Julia Stronks, his former colleague at Whitworth University; Dean Elizabeth Vardaman, his predecessor as associate dean at Baylor; and Tiffany Hogue, J.D., B.A. ’95, his spouse, with whom he has co-taught three Baylor courses. “Each modeled excellence, authenticity and unwavering commitment to the success of their students,” he said.

Wiff Rudd, B.M.Ed. ’77, M.M., Master Teacher, professor of trumpet, School of Music

Professor Wiff Rudd has been a distinguished member of Baylor University’s School of Music since 2002, serving as Professor of Trumpet and Brass Area Coordinator. Prior to his tenure at Baylor, he held teaching positions at Oklahoma Baptist University and the University of Arkansas. 

Throughout his career, Rudd has earned numerous accolades for his exceptional contributions to teaching and performance. In 2010, he was honored with Baylor’s Outstanding Faculty Award for Teaching and named the Centennial Professor, a distinction that provided a grant for his first book, Collaborative Practice Concepts. This was followed by the publication of Side by Side: Building and Sustaining an Effective Community in the Music Studio. Both works have been embraced worldwide by music educators passionate about fostering collaboration and a positive culture with students and colleagues.

In 2021, Rudd received Baylor’s Elizabeth Vardaman Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduates. The following year, the International Trumpet Guild honored him with its prestigious Award of Merit, celebrating his profound impact on the art of trumpet playing through performance, teaching, publishing and research.

A Yamaha Performing Artist/Clinician since 1986, Rudd is a passionate advocate for music education and remains committed to inspiring and encouraging the next generation of musicians. His students have achieved notable success, attending premier graduate programs and music festivals, securing teaching positions in leading public school and university music programs and performing with prominent symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles, and military bands across the country. The Baylor Trumpet Studio has excelled in competitions, earning top individual and ensemble prizes at the National Trumpet Competition and International Trumpet Guild events. Since 2009, 14 Baylor trumpet ensembles have placed at NTC, including six first-place titles. Most recently, Lux Brass earned second prize in ITG’s Chamber Music Competition in 2023, followed by Baylor Gold’s first-place finish in 2024.

“This award is a profound and unexpected honor,” Rudd said. “As teachers, our focus is less on ourselves or on any accolades we might receive, but rather on the growth, well-being and success of our students. We strive to be worthy of their trust, pouring our hearts into guiding and inspiring them, with the hope and prayer that our efforts will be enough. I am deeply humbled and thankful for the incredible opportunities Baylor has provided and for the extraordinary teachers and colleagues who have shaped my journey by giving so generously of themselves. I hope this recognition, a true surprise, will be a testament of our shared dedication to our treasured students.”

Rudd also is a highly sought-after performer and educator, performing and teaching on five continents while participating in over 3,000 concerts. He has presented clinics and performances at more than 300 universities and conservatories and has appeared at leading music events, including the National Trumpet Competition, International Trumpet Guild Conferences, the Midwest Clinic, the Texas Music Educators Association Conference, Music Educators National Conference and Music for All.

From 1985 to 1993, Rudd toured internationally with the Dallas Brass. He is a founding member and manager of Rhythm & Brass, established in 1993, and performs with the Baylor Brass faculty quintet. Together, these ensembles have released 11 recordings spanning a wide array of musical styles. He also serves as principal trumpet of the Waco Symphony and the New Hampshire Music Festival, and he has performed with renowned orchestras, including those in Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, Austin, Louisville, Kentucky, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

J. Lenore Wright, M.A. ’95, Ph.D., Master Teacher, professor of interdisciplinary studies and philosophy, Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, Honors College

After growing up in a small rural town in Kentucky, Professor Lenore Wright’s introduction to undergraduate scholarship began at Morehead State University, 30 miles from her hometown. Intent on a pre-law track, she switched her major to philosophy after taking an introductory course taught by her undergraduate mentor, the late Dr. George Mac Luckey Jr. An outstanding, award-winning teacher, Mac – as he was known – was immersed in the world of teaching and learning, ranging from student engagement to best teaching practices. Mac introduced Wright to effective teaching practices and to the scholarship of teaching and learning when she co-taught Honors courses with him as a Peer Advisor. 

Today, Wright is not only an award-winning teacher in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC) but has had a profound impact on Baylor’s steadfast commitment to undergraduate teaching as director of the Academy of Teaching and Learning from 2011 to 2024. In 2024, she was honored for her ATL service with Baylor’s Outstanding Faculty Award for Significant Contributions to the Academic Community. She received another Outstanding Faculty Award in 2009 for Distinctive Teaching.

“The high value Baylor places on teaching and learning, combined with the University’s extraordinary number of excellent teachers, makes the appointment as Master Teacher the highest honor of my career,” Wright said. “I am confident that Baylor’s institutional commitment to teaching and learning will continue to motivate me to become the best teacher I can be and a teacher who helps others fall in love with teaching and learning.”

Wright attributes her long tenure as ATL director to Mac’s influence, as well as other Baylor faculty members who shaped her thinking about teaching, including Andy Arterbury, Bob Baird, Ray Cannon, Tom Hanks, Carolyn Korsmeyer, David Longfellow, Keith Schubert, Anne-Marie Schultz and Doug Weaver. “Several of these faculty have been designated Master Teachers. I am honored to share this appointment with them, and I hope to contribute to the legacy of great teaching they have helped advance and sustain at Baylor University,” Wright said.

In 1994, Wright completed her master’s degree in philosophy degree at Baylor, followed by a Ph.D. at State University of New York (SUNY). She returned to Baylor in 1998 as assistant director of the BIC and began on tenure track in 2003 with the BIC program in the Honors College, ascending to full professor and into a tenure as ATL director. Her scholarly interests include theories and modes of self-representation and feminist philosophy. She teaches several classes in the BIC, including World Cultures III and Examined Life III. In addition, she is the author of two books: Athena to Barbie: Bodies, Archetypes, and Women’s Search for Self and The Philosopher’s ‘I’: Autobiography and the Search for the Self and has published widely in select philosophy journals. In her professional life, however, nothing means more to her than teaching.

“My teaching aims to generate individual growth and group collaboration. When my courses unfold as planned, they produce ongoing mentoring relationships and meaningful learning communities. Proverbs 27:17 – the principle of ‘steel sharpening steel’ – is apropos of being named a Master Teacher,” Wright said. “Generous faculty colleagues have expanded my ability to teach well; engaged student colleagues have deepened my desire to teach well. Because I judge my professional success by the achievements of my students, no role is no more significant to me than the teaching role.”

Wright serves as a regular reviewer for Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, the International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics and Feminist Philosophy Quarterly. Engaged in the scholarship of teaching and learning, she has published in Teaching Philosophy and the Journal of Interactive Instruction Development. She is the co-editor of Called to Teach: Excellence, Commitment, and Community in Christian Higher Education and serves as an Ombudsperson for the American Society for Aesthetics.

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. Learn more about Baylor University at www.baylor.edu.