News

Amanda Porterfield, Robert A. Spivey Professor of Religion at the Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla. will discuss Christianity's popularity at 2 p.m., Monday, Feb. 22, in Bennett Auditorium, located adjacent to Draper Hall at 1420 S. 7th St.

Baylor University is among 52 Christian colleges and universities highlighted in the Green Awakenings Campus Report, released today by Renewal: Students Caring for Creation, a student-led, Christian environmental group. Renewal is a growing movement of young Christians dedicated to caring for God's creation through mobilizing and equipping their campuses to be better stewards of the environment.

Dr. Sam Bowring, researcher in geology and geochronology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will speak at 3 p.m., Friday, Feb. 19, in the Baylor Science Building in Room D.110 on the Baylor campus.

Baylor University College of Arts and Sciences presents the endowed W. Dial Black Family Lecture Series at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18, in room B. 110 of the Baylor Sciences Building (BSB) on the Baylor campus.

Baylor University announces that Kenneth Winston Starr, J.D., current dean of the School of Law at Pepperdine University, has been named the 14th president of Baylor University. Starr was the unanimous choice of both the 14-member Presidential Search Committee and the 10-member Presidential Search Advisory Committee, and was elected unanimously by the Baylor Board of Regents on Feb. 12. Starr was introduced to the campus community by Regents Chair R. Dary Stone, J.D. '77, at a university-wide meeting in the Bill Daniel Student Center on the Baylor campus at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16.

The 57th annual All University Sing competition, a Baylor University tradition that allows student organizations to showcase their musical talents and dancing skills, will take the stage Feb. 18-20 and 25-27. Each performance will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Waco Hall on the Baylor campus.

Kenneth W. Starr, J.D., has had a distinguished career in academia, the law and public service. He has served since 2004 as the Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean and Professor of Law at Pepperdine, where he teaches current constitutional issues and civil procedure. He also is of counsel to the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he was a partner from 1993 to 2004, specializing in appellate work, antitrust, federal courts, federal jurisdiction and constitutional law.

Alice Starr has earned accolades nationwide for her wealth of experience in business, public service and charitable leadership. Mrs. Starr formed Starr Strategies in 2005 to help nonprofit organizations and start-up companies strategize on public relations, marketing and fundraising goals. She has more than 30 years of experience working with businesses to strengthen their visibility and reputation, and she has raised millions of dollars for nonprofits through unique events and strategic marketing campaigns.

The Baylor University Board of Regents today approved a new research-oriented doctoral program - a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering - reflecting the university's commitment to the newly established Central Texas Technology and Research Park, and the park's first project, the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative (BRIC).

The 16th annual Midwinter Organ Conference, presented by the Baylor University School of Music, will begin at 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 14. The conference, which is free and open to the public, will feature concerts, lectures and master classes.

Dr. Ursula Mahlendorf, former women's studies professor at University of California, Santa Barbara, will present her memoir "The Shame of Survival: Working Through a Nazi Childhood" at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15, in the Alexander Reading Room on the Baylor campus.

The National Science Foundation awarded a $394,654 Innovation and Organizational Sciences Program Grant to Baylor University to fund research that explores the impact of religious communities on entrepreneurial behavior.

Baylor Law Professor Mark Osler has joined with a national effort preparing a petition calling on the Obama Administration to commute the sentence of a grandmother serving her 17th year of a 27-year federal prison sentence for a first time, non-violent crack cocaine conspiracy offense.

The People's Law School at Baylor University will return for a fifth year from 8:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20. Hosted by Baylor Law School, the one-day, free event is designed to make the law "user friendly" and to educate members of the community about their legal rights.

Dr. Dennis Bushnell, chief scientist at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia, will be on the Baylor University campus to speak about the future of climate and energy at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15, in room 109 of the Rogers engineering building on the Baylor campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Baylor University's Heavenly Voices Gospel Choir will present "Transitions into Transformation" at Gospel Fest at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, in Waco Hall on the Baylor campus.

Dan Sebastian, senior performance major, has been named one of three international finalists in a prestigious orchestral bass trombone competition.

Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary and the The Kyle Lake Center for Effective Preaching will host ministers and seminarians from around the country for the Winter Pastors' School on Feb. 11-13 on the Baylor campus.

Baylor University's school psychology program has received national approval from the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), one of the specialized professional associations of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) that conducts national program reviews.

Baylor University's Armstrong Browning Library will be filled with its special kind of romance during the 2nd Annual Valentine Extravaganza at 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, at the library's McLean Foyer of Meditation on the Baylor campus.

Ike Vanden Eykel, a Baylor Law alumnus and partner at Koons, Fuller, Vanden Eykel & Robertson PC, has been inaugurated as the Dallas Bar Association's 101st president.

Dr. Diana Garland, dean of the School of Social Work, has been awarded a grant of $24,530 to do research on social work with congregations from The Louisville Institute. Co-investigator is Gaynor Yancey, associate dean for baccalaureate studies and the Professor of Church and Community.

Baylor University has enrolled a total of 13,632 students for the spring 2010, with steady undergraduates retention rates, according to official 12th-day enrollment statistics compiled by the Office of Institutional Research and Testing (IRT).

Bryan Hughes, a member of the Texas House of Representatives, will deliver the keynote address at Baylor Law School's commencement exercises at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, at Waco Hall. Additionally, Amy Renee Bolline, the highest ranking student in the commencement class, will deliver remarks. Baylor Law Dean Brad Toben also will participate in the program and will award juris doctor degrees to the graduates.

The Baylor Trumpet Ensemble and three student trumpet soloists have been chosen to advance to the National Trumpet Competition, to be held March 11-14 at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

Houston lawyer and Baylor Law School alumnus Craig Lewis was sworn in as National President of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) at the organization's National Board of Directors meeting at the MiraMonte Resort and Spa in Indian Wells, Calif., on Jan. 23. Lewis was elected by the general membership of more than 6,400 members, comprised of a balance of plaintiff and defense lawyers, as well as judges. In its 52-year history, Lewis is the fifth National ABOTA President to hail from the Lone Star State.

When President Barack Obama issued a call in January urging "all Americans to educate themselves about all forms of modern slavery and the signs and consequences of human trafficking," a dozen Baylor University students were already planning their effort to fight the crime.

Science investigators will be on the Baylor University campus over the next few weeks as part of the 2010 CASPER Physics Circus, which will be open to the public Thursday, Feb. 11, at the Mayborn Museum Complex on the Baylor Campus. There will be a Spanish performance on Feb. 18 from 5-8 p.m.

Baylor University announced today a significant gift from Bill and Mary Jo Robbins and the Robbins Foundation of Houston in support of the MBA Healthcare Program within Baylor's Hankamer School of Business. The Robbinses' generous gift will help the already successful program and position Baylor and its students as internationally recognized leaders in the fields of health policy, research and education.

The School of Social Work at Baylor University has filled its two inaugural endowed positions established in August 2009. Dennis Myers has been named the Dorothy Barfield Kronzer Professor in Family Studies and Jon Singletary has been named the Diana R. Garland Chair in Children and Family Studies. The positions become effective June 1.

Jerry K. Clements, a 1981 Baylor Law School graduate, board member and president-elect of the Baylor Law Alumni Association and chair of Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP, recently received the Southwest Jewish Congress' Flame of Honor Award in Dallas. The Flame of Honor Award is presented annually by the SWJC to men and women whose qualities of moral courage and love of liberty and service have enriched our community and nation.

Baylor University researchers along with ecologists from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County have developed a new method that measures the impact of human-caused environmental degradation on environmental biodiversity.

Baylor University will host the ninth annual Sacred Harp Sing at 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, in the Piper Great Hall of George W. Truett Theological Seminary on the Baylor campus.

Baylor University's Spiritual Life department hosts Chapel speakers every Monday and Wednesday at 9:05 a.m., 10:10 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. in Waco Hall on the Baylor campus. This month, students will be treated to faith-based professors, writers and U.S. Marines.

The Baylor University Theatre presents The Seagull, Anton Chekhov's celebrated masterpiece, to be performed at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 9-13 and at 2 p.m. Feb. 13 and 14 in the Mabee Theatre.

Dr. Morris George, assistant professor of marketing at Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business, has received the 2010 William R. Davidson Award for Best Article in the Journal of Retailing 2008. The award will be presented at the winter conference of the American Marketing Association Feb. 19-21 in New Orleans.

A Baylor University researcher has used a new search method that he adapted for use on the seafloor to find a potentially massive source of hydrocarbon energy called methane hydrate, a frozen form of natural gas, in a portion of the Gulf of Mexico.

Baylor University's School of Education will host Dr. Robert Birnbaum, Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland, who will present on "The Evolution of Human Leadership" as part of the spring 2010 Distinguished Lecture Series at 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 10, in Roxy Grove Hall,

Nuru International has teamed up with the ONE Campaign-Baylor to address issues of extreme poverty and its effects on terrorism at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 8, in Bennett Auditorium.

Baylor University will welcome several distinguished speakers and performers to campus this spring. Below is a list of the lectures, conferences, symposia, and performances that will be held during February at Baylor.

The Baylor University Association of Black Students (ABS) will host the 23rd annual Black Heritage Banquet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, on the fifth floor of the Cashion Academic Center in Baylor's Hankamer School of Business.

The 2010 State of the Union address may be THE most important speech of President Barack Obama's career. The reason is simple - his presidency hangs in the balance, says Dr. Martin J. Medhurst, co-director of www.PresidentialRhetoric.com and Distinguished Professor of Rhetoric and Communication at Baylor University in Texas.

Two Baylor University researchers have received a $200,000 grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to study a series of compounds that could be toxic against human cancer cells.

Baylor University students are organizing several ways the campus can help the people of Haiti and all those affected by the recent earthquake -- from Student Government collecting donations for immediate relief to the journalism department asking students to "Give the Shirt Off Your Back."

Faculty and students of the Baylor University School of Music will present a concert to benefit the victims of the Haitian earthquake at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, in Jones Concert Hall of the Glennis McCrary Music Building on the Baylor campus. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted by the Salvation Army.

When Paula Gerstenblatt married Thomas Davis in 1980, she heard countless tales of his youth in Mart, Texas. But on Gerstenblatt's first visit there, she found only an overgrown lot where her husband's home once stood. At the library, she found no trace of the city's black heritage. But with Baylor's help, that has changed.

Three professors and one staffer at Baylor University are pooling their musical talents to benefit immediate relief efforts in Haiti.

The Baylor University School of Music will feature Benjamin Britten's "Albert Herring" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28, through Saturday, Jan. 30, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 31, in the Jones Theatre at the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center on the Baylor campus.

Dr. Alan Jacobs, the Clyde S. Kilby Chair Professor of English at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., will present his lecture The End of the Book and the Future of Reading at 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25, in the Alexander Drawing Room on the first floor of Alexander Residence Hall on the Baylor campus. Baylor's Honors College hosts the lecture series, which features scholars, authors and public figures, throughout the year.

Pianist Dan Cavanagh and Yamaha Performing Artist Dave Hagedorn will present a guest jazz recital at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 24, in Jones Concert Hall in the Glennis McCrary Music Building on the Baylor campus.

Dr. R. Larry Todd, musicologist and Arts and Sciences Professor of Music at Duke University, will present "Fanny Hensel: The Other Mendelssohn" at 4 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25, in Meadows Recital Hall at the Glennis McCrary Music Building on the Baylor University campus.

Baylor University's department of chemistry and biochemistry will host Dr. Nathan S. Lewis, The George L. Argyros Professor of Chemistry at The California Institute of Technology (Caltech), as the lecturer for the annual Gooch-Stephens Lectures Series Jan. 21-22. All lectures are free and open to the public and will take place in room B.110 of the Baylor Sciences Building (BSB) on the Baylor campus.

Baylor University will be closed Monday, Jan. 18, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but two events - one before, the other after the holiday - will honor the slain civil rights leader.

In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Baylor University administrative offices will be closed and no classes will be held on Monday, Jan. 18.

Baylor University's history is strongly rooted in the Baptist denomination, which commemorated its 400th anniversary in 2009. As the festivities near an end so does the Baptists 400 Exhibit "So Great a Cloud of Witnesses."

Baylor University's Martin Museum of Art will feature one of its own in a gallery talk at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21, at the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center, 60 Baylor Ave.

Baylor University will test its outdoor public address and indoor voice evacuation systems at 1:30 p.m., Monday, Jan. 18. The public is being notified so that the test will not be confused with an actual emergency.

When was the last time you heard a sermon that tried to connect the dots between science and faith?That's a question that Dr. Donald Schmeltekopf asks -- and promptly answers. "You just don't hear them," said Schmeltekopf, provost emeritus of Baylor University and director of Baylor's Center for Ministry Effectiveness and Educational Leadership. But that doesn't have to be the case.

Baylor University Campus Kitchen (BUCK) will celebrate its first anniversary on Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, as Baylor students prepare, assemble and deliver hundreds of box lunches to volunteers with the Heart of Texas Urban Gardening Coalition on Monday, Jan. 18.

A service of prayer for the people of Haiti will be held at 5:30 p.m. today (Thursday, Jan. 14) in the Paul Powell Chapel at Truett Seminary. This will be a time for the Baylor and Waco communities to gather and pray for all those affected by the recent earthquake in Haiti.

Baylor University has named Dr. Edward B. Burger, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Gaudino Scholar at Williams College in Massachusetts, as the 2010 recipient of the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching, the only national teaching award - with the single largest monetary reward of $200,000 - presented by a college or university to an individual for exceptional teaching.

Baylor University will conclude its year-long celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Baptist faith with a two-night examination of what the next 400 years might hold.

Baylor University's Student Government is asking the Baylor and Waco community to clip and collect Box Tops for Education to benefit J.H. Hines Elementary School in Waco.

Caren Cook Burbach, a Baylor Law School alumna, has been appointed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry as general counsel for the Office of the Governor.

Baylor University will welcome several distinguished speakers and performers to campus this spring. Below is a list of the lectures, conferences, symposia, and performances that will be held during January at Baylor.

Paintings barely larger than postage stamps seem an unlikely means to depict vast landscapes. But John McClanahan, professor and chair of the art department at Baylor University, chose to take on the challenge in his Mini-Landscape #2. It is a horizontal strip of 19 landscapes, each 1 1/2 inches square. That work of art will be among 36 landscapes in McClanahan's McClanahans, a retrospective exhibition Jan. 21-Feb. 27 at the Martin Museum of Art at Baylor University.

Dr. Jacquelin S. Neatherlin, professor and interim graduate program director at the Louise Herrington School of Nursing, passed away Jan. 7 after a long illness. Services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 13, at Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas, with Dr. David Matthews and Dr. Ray Vickery officiating. There will be no visitation. Friends are invited to sign the family guest book at OakCrest Funeral Home, 4520 Bosque Blvd., Waco.

Journey to the Center of the Uterus, a one-woman comedy by guest artist Kathleen Puls Andrade, will be presented at Baylor University's Theatre 11 on Friday, Jan. 15, and Saturday, Jan. 16.

Most people are interested in the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Not Susan Mullally, an assistant professor of art at Baylor University. She focuses her lens on the poor and unknown. Her life-size color photographs of people -- some of them homeless -- and their keepsakes will be shown at an exhibition at Duke University in March and April.

A new Baylor University study funded by the Environmental Protection Agency has found that concentrations of phosphorus above 20 parts per billion (ppb) are linked to declines in water quality and aquatic plant and animal life.

With 2009 in the rearview mirror, Americans are making resolutions for the New Year. Getting physically fit may top the list, but a Baylor University consumer behavior expert suggests that Americans resolve to get in good financial shape in the coming year.

Teen-aged boys are more likely to use tanning booths, take diet pills and have their bodies waxed -- even if they think those activities are unhealthy -- if they are influenced by their peers, according to research by a Baylor University assistant professor of fashion merchandising.

Renowned trial lawyer George Chandler, founder and chairman of Chandler, Mathis & Zivley in Lufkin, Texas, has been named the 2009 Baylor Lawyer of the Year by Baylor Law School. Chandler will be honored at a luncheon on Jan. 15 at the Crown Colony Country Club in Lufkin.

Baylor University has been chosen by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to join the Science Education Alliance, which will engage Baylor students in scientific discovery on a national scale.

Nikki Laing, a Baylor Law School student, was recognized as one of the Top 10 highest scorers in Texas on the CPA exam during swearing-in ceremonies in Austin.

At its Annual Board and Membership Meeting in Austin, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association (TTLA) installed Baylor Law alumnus and Dallas lawyer George "Tex" Quesada as its 2010 president. Quesada follows fellow Baylor Law alumnus Nelson Roach as head of the professional organization comprised exclusively of attorneys whose primary area of practice is representing plaintiffs in the civil justice system.

Kent Muckel has resigned his position as chief investment officer at Baylor University to join global asset management firm Perella Weinberg Partners, as a partner in their Colorado offices.

Carson Runge, a third-year law student from Grand Prairie, was named the Baylor Law School's latest Top Gun on Monday, Dec. 7. Runge won the intrascholastic Bob and Karen Wortham mini-trial competition and took home the "Mad Dog," an 18-inch bronze statuette of Matt "Mad Dog" Dawson, the legendary Baylor Law professor who started the tradition of mini-trial competitions during his tenure as director of Baylor Law's Practice Court Program.

Researchers with Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion have received a two-year, $992,000 grant from the John Templeton Foundation for a first-ever series of studies examining the impact of Scouting in fostering positive youth development and healthy, virtuous behaviors--termed "prosocial behavior."

The Baylor Alumni Association will present two awards during a luncheon on Saturday, Dec. 19, at the Hughes-Dillard Alumni Center. The Price Daniel Distinguished Public Service Award will go to State Sen. Kirk Watson '81, and Melissa Rogers '88 will receive the Abner V. McCall Religious Liberty Award.

A Baylor University historian has uncovered some controversial statements about women's equality written by a Muslim during the period of 1872 to 1900 -- opinions that were at odds with the patriarchal society of his times.

Baylor University's Office of Spiritual Life will present Benjamin Britten's "A Ceremony of Carols" at 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 13, in the Paul W. Powell Chapel at Truett Seminary. The Christmas worship service is open to the public.

Baylor University offices and campus facilities will vary their operating hours during the Christmas and New Year's holidays. University administrative offices will be closed for the Christmas break Dec. 24-Jan 3.

Jeremy Everett, director of the Texas Hunger Initiative of the Baylor School of Social Work, will meet with the San Antonio mayor and executive director of the San Antonio Food Bank on Tuesday, Dec. 8, to find strategies for eradicating hunger in the state by the year 2015.

Mark Osler, who has spent more than a decade studying, testifying on and arguing cases about sentencing crack cocaine offenders, will present "Crackheads, Senators, Money and Power: A Legal and Social History of Crack Cocaine," Monday, Dec. 7, at 7:30 p.m. in room 127 of the Shelia and Walter Umphrey Law Center at Baylor.

Baylor University's Mayborn Museum Complex will host its winter exhibition for 2009 - All Aboard The Mayborn Express - on Dec. 5 through Jan. 3, 2010, in the Thomas E. and Emilyne Weed Anding Traveling Exhibition Gallery.

Be sure your pinky fingers are bent, legs at shoulder width apart -- and absolutely no sword-fighting with the violin bow. Those were a few of the directions Baylor University music students are giving youngsters at bargain-price, after-school lessons in string instruments.

Christmas offers a golden opportunity to go green -- and save a little green -- when decorating your home. "The idea is to focus on going local and natural with decor and to emphasize family togetherness," said Dr. Suzy Weems, chair of the department of Family and Consumer Sciences at Baylor University.

The Baylor University School of Music will host the annual Chamber Singers Concert, part of "Christmas at Baylor," at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6, and at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7 and 8, in the McLean Foyer of Meditation in Armstrong Browning Library on the Baylor campus.

One of Baylor University's top research and service programs will soon make the move to a new downtown Waco office tower, establishing a university presence in the city center and bringing together under one roof some of the world's leading scholar-practitioners in the field of clinical psychology.

The Honors College Lecture Series at Baylor University will host Columbia University Professor Andrew Delbanco, who will speak on "What is College for?" at 4 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 3, in Memorial Drawing Room.

Baylor University officials are responding to a hoax this weekend in which residents living within several blocks of the Baylor campus received bogus notices informing them that their properties were being seized so that Baylor could construct a new football stadium. Baylor police went door to door this afternoon collecting the bogus notices and assuring residents that the University was not involved in the distribution of the notices or the effort that they describe. Police are investigating the matter.

A new half-hour weekly radio show airing on KWBU-FM features the great stories from Texas history found in the rich archives of the largest collection of Texana in the Lone Star State. "Treasures of The Texas Collection" airs on KWBU-FM 103.3 at 1:30 p.m. on Saturdays and 7 p.m. on Sundays.

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The Waco and Baylor communities are welcomed to join in Christmas festivities and listen to the McLane Carillon bells at a recital. The recital begins at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2, in the McLane Carillon in Pat Neff Hall.

Student Activities and the Division of Student Life will host Baylor University's annual "Christmas on 5th Street" Thursday, Dec. 3, with a wide variety of entertainment and activities in the Bill Daniel Student Center (SUB) and Burleson Quadrangle on the Baylor campus. All events are free and open to the public.

The City of Waco, Baylor University and the Waco Mammoth Foundation are proud to announce the grand opening of the Waco Mammoth Site. A public ribbon-cutting with U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards will take place at 1 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 5, at the site, located at 6220 Steinbeck Bend Rd.

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, Baylor University will not hold classes Nov. 25-29, and other university facilities will modify their hours.