News

Baylor University facilities will alter their operating hours during Fall Break this Friday through Sunday, Oct. 21-23. Classes will not be in session on Friday, but all administrative offices will be open.

Despite recent good economic news, the outlook for the U.S., Texas and Waco economies in 2006 is uncertain. Leading experts on investment markets and the U.S. and Central Texas economies will focus on the future at the 2006 Economic Forecast Luncheon co-sponsored by the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce and the Baylor University Hankamer School of Business. The event will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, in the Galloway Suite at Floyd Casey Stadium.

Dr. Robert Brown, Institute Professor in the department of physics at Case Western Reserve and finalist for Baylor University's Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching, will discuss MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) technology at a public lecture Wednesday, Oct. 19.

Family businesses from across the state of Texas are slated to be honored Thursday, Nov. 3, at the 16th annual Texas Family Business of the Year® Awards banquet on the Baylor University campus.

Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business will be conducting the seminar series "RFID Integrated Supply Chains," about the use of Radio Frequency Identification in business applications, from Oct. 21-22.

Beloved Baylor alumnus and ardent Baylor sports fan Judge Bill Logue passed away Wednesday night at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco. He was 81.

Baylor University will host its annual Business Ethics Forum - "Benjamin Franklin: Entrepreneurship, Effectiveness, and Ethics" - on Nov. 1-4 at the Hankamer School of Business. The forum will concentrate on ethical issues in the workplace today and will feature several distinguished guest speakers.

Baylor fans can cast their vote for Bruiser for Capital One Mascot of the Year and meet two former Baylor football greats, when Capital One's Mobile Mascot Tour makes a stop at Snickers Touchdown Alley prior to this Saturday's Baylor-Nebraska game at Floyd Casey Stadium.

Celebrated musical theater star Marin Mazzie will perform in concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21, in the Jones Theater at the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Building on the Baylor University campus. Mazzie's performance is in conjunction with the Horton Foote American Playwrights Festival.

The annual Battle of the Bands, sponsored by Kappa Delta and the Place 2BU, will take place on Friday, Oct. 14, at 8 p.m. in the SUB Bowl.

IRVING, Texas-- ExxonMobil announced today that $1.6 million has been contributed in departmental grants to 88 colleges and universities, including Baylor University, to support various academic programs.

Dr. William R. Cook, Distinguished Teaching Professor of History at State University of New York at Geneseo and finalist for Baylor University's 2006 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching, will deliver a lecture at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, in Morrison Hall room 100. Cook's lecture, "The Head of St. Catherine," is free and open to the public.

Theater professionals from across the nation will gather at Baylor University to honor award-winning playwright Romulus Linney at the second Horton Foote American Playwrights Festival. The event also includes the American Actors Company presentation of Linney's "Heathen Valley" Oct. 14-23 at the Mabee Theater in the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center.

The theologian and author well known for The Message, his translation of the Bible in the language of today, will present the annual Parchman Endowed Lectures Oct. 18-20 at Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary.

The Martin Museum of Art at Baylor University will host two outstanding Biblical art exhibitions that include the work of renowned Jewish and Christian artists such as Marc Chagall and Rembrandt.

Every team needs an assist, and the Baylor University men's and women's basketball teams received a tremendous boost from Jack and Martha Whetsel of Georgetown, Texas. The Whetsels made the lead gift for a new practice facility for the basketball program, which will be named the Lt. Jack Whetsel Jr. Basketball Practice Facility in memory of their son.

Baylor University's Institute for Faith and Learning will sponsor a conference that examines health care ethics issues that are frequently faced by doctors, nurses and health care administrators. The conference, which runs Oct. 13-15, will feature prominent experts in medical and health care ethics with credentials in law, medicine, philosophy and theology.

Alpha Tau Omega and Place 2BU are teaming up to host the first-ever bed races at Baylor University from 4 to 7 p.m. on Oct. 8. The races will take place on campus on the 5 St. stretch from Morrison Hall to Fountain Mall. There are "bed races" throughout the country at other schools, but this is Baylor's first time to host such an event.

Standouts from one of the best football teams in Baylor's 100 plus year history reunite for an hour of stories and memories in "Cotton Bowl Bound, The 1980 Baylor Bears."

A newly revised and expanded book explores how Victorian fantasy literature flourished in opposition to the repressive social and intellectual conditions of the time.

Three of Baylor University's resident "sticklers" for correct punctuation will lead book reviews and discussion groups this fall on Eats, Shoots & Leaves, the runaway bestseller written by the witty British author Lynne Truss.

Visit the Mayborn Museum Complex from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 8 for "A Day in the Village." Guests can enjoy some old-fashioned fun in the Gov. Bill & Vara Daniel Historic Village.

A noted scholar on constitutional law and history will deliver the annual Robert T. Miller Professorship Distinguished Lecture Series at Baylor University.

Baylor University's Center for International Education and the Latin American studies program will host Dr. Ignacio Lopez-Calvo at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, in Draper Auditorium, room 116. Lopez-Calvo will present a lecture titled, "The Chinese in Cuba: From Early 'Coolieism' and Erasure to a Newfound Cultural Presence" as part of the annual Global Issues Lecture Series.

Baylor University's School of Education will host the first state collegiate level conference for prospective middle school teachers in the history of the National Middle School Association. "Focus on the Middle" will be held Sept. 30-Oct. 1 at Baylor's Bill Daniel Student Center.

Leading scholars and officials from Canada, the United States and Latin America will examine the nature of Western Hemisphere trade agreements, their implications for hemispheric relations and the multilateral trading system at the Free Trade in the Americas Conference on Oct. 6-7 at Baylor University.

Punctuation abusers beware: Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, is coming to Central Texas. The Baylor University Libraries are hosting Truss at the fourth annual Ferguson-Clark Author Series at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, in Waco Hall.

Is choosing when to die ever moral? Dr. Robert Baird, professor of philosophy at Baylor University, will discuss that complex and controversial question at the Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year lecture at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, in Kayser Auditorium in the Hankamer School of Business. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Some of Baylor University's most gifted students will showcase their considerable musical and improvisational talents this month in "After Dark at the Hippodrome," an entertaining variety revue that also will raise funds to benefit students in Waco ISD's performing arts program.

Cookies and Blossoms, the popular monthly event that showcases on of Baylor University's outdoor beauty spots, will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30, at the Erica Cummings Memorial Prayer Garden outside the Baylor Sciences Building. Homemade brownies of various kinds and lemonade will be served. The event is sponsored by facility services.

Organizers of this Saturday's Balloon Glow and Concert have cancelled the event because of concerns about severe weather produced by Hurricane Rita.

Baylor University's chapter of the Association of Black Students in association with the Big XII Council on Black Student Government will sponsor a candlelight vigil and relief fundraiser for the victims of Hurricane Katrina at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, in front of the Bill Daniel Student Center.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Baylor University's School of Social Work and the university's medical humanities program will sponsor a lecture on suffering and hope as seen through the humanities. Dr. Andrew Achenbaum, professor of history and social work at the University of Houston, will lecture on "Efficacy of Illness Narratives in Times of Suffering and Hope" from 3 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, in Kayser Auditorium in the Hankamer School of Business. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Dr. Carl G. Vaught, a 1961 Baylor University graduate who returned in 1998 as a distinguished philosopher, died Sunday, Sept. 18, at a Waco hospital. He was 65. A campus memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, in Miller Chapel in the Tidwell Bible Building.

Two of the Baylor University's major instrumental groups will perform a joint concert at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 26, in Jones Concert Hall, located within the Glennis McCrary Music Building.

Alfred Reed, a Baylor University music graduate who gained fame around the world for his compositions and arrangements for band, died Sept. 17, at the age of 84.

Well-known author and speaker Donald Miller will address Baylor University students during Chapel at 10 and 11 a.m. Monday, Sept. 19, in Waco Hall.

Baylor Theatre will present Thornton Wilder's "Our Town," beginning at 7:30 p.m., Sept. 22-25 and Sept. 29-Oct. 2. Matinees will run at 2 p.m. on Sept. 25 and Oct. 2 in the Jones Theatre of the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center.

Suffering and hope will be the focus for a one-day workshop geared toward social work professionals and students. The eighth annual Preston M. Dyer Workshop, sponsored by Baylor's School of Social Work, will take place from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22, at Region 12 Education Service Center in Waco.

Faculty and students of the Baylor University School of Music will join forces on Friday, Sept. 16, to present a gala concert to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Jones Concert Hall, located in the Glennis McCrary Music Building.

Baylor University has been awarded membership in the Universities Space Research Association, a private non-profit organization established by the National Academy of Sciences. The independent consortium, established in 1969, is comprised of 97 U.S. universities offering graduate programs in space sciences or aerospace engineering.

The Baylor Symphony Orchestra will present an exciting new percussion concerto--plus two masterpieces by Brahms and Beethoven-- at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22, in Jones Concert Hall, located within the Glennis McCrary Music Building.

Baylor University admission services and several student organizations are working together to host hundreds of prospective students and their parents for Fall Premiere on Saturday, Sept. 17.

She has been lowered into a well to recover a body; walked straight to a cadaver when infrared cameras failed to locate it; has been known to order sickened law enforcement agents to leave a grisly crime scene for fear of contamination; and has munched on a ham sandwich when examining human remains.

Myles and Gayle Smith of Edmond, Okla., have been selected as Baylor University's Parents of the Year for 2005. The couple was honored during the halftime ceremony of the Baylor vs. Samford football game Sept. 10 in Waco, Texas.

Scholars from through out the world will celebrate the life and works of George MacDonald, the founder of religious fantasy, at a four-day conference presented by Baylor University's Armstrong Browning Library. "George MacDonald and His Children: the Development of Fantasy Literature" will take place Friday through Monday, Sept. 16-19.

A remarkable quartet of percussionists, known as So Percussion, will launch the 2005-2006 Distinguished Artist Series at Baylor University.

The Baylor University Board of Regents took no action today relative to the search for a new president after Interim President William D. Underwood informed the search committee that he did not wish to be considered for the position. Following a report from the Presidential Search Committee to the full board, Regents Chairman Will Davis announced the search process for a president will continue.

As the Gulf Coast reels from one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history, Baylor University has opened its doors - and several students and faculty members have opened their homes - to more than two dozen students who have been displaced from their institutions because of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Baylor University has enrolled the largest, most accomplished and most diverse freshman class in the university's history, according to official 12th day enrollment statistics compiled by the Office of Institutional Research and Testing.

Dr. Terry S. Maness, dean of the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University, has announced the appointment of Dr. John F. (Jeff) Tanner to the position of associate dean for research and faculty development.

The RiteCare Language and Literacy Conference, to be held Sept. 30 through Oct. 1 on the Baylor University campus, will bring nationally recognized language and literacy specialists to a setting where area parents, educators, physicians and other professionals can meet with them.

Starting next week, Baylor University students will be able to work around the clock in designated areas of Moody Memorial Library. On Sept. 11, the special "24/5" hours of operation will begin for the Moody Garden Computing Facility, the Prichard Family Information Commons, the Allbritton Exhibits Foyer, the Java City area and the Harvey Garden.

Parents of Baylor University students can discover the "Baylor experience" through various activities throughout Parents Weekend Friday, Sept. 9, and Saturday, Sept. 10, on the Baylor campus.

Tommy Woodard and Eddie James, also known as the "Skit Guys," will speak at Baylor University during chapel services at 10 and 11 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7, in Waco Hall.

Two Baylor professors are exhibiting their artwork in the Martin Museum of Art from Sept. 2 through Oct. 8. Susan Dunkerley, assistant professor of art, and Karl Umlauf, Artist-In-Residence, are presenting new work inspired by their most recent sabbaticals.

Distinguished speakers visiting Baylor University this fall will discuss a variety of topics, ranging from fantasy literature to medical ethics, global Christianity to punctuation "sticklers," and Mars exploration to free trade in the Americas.

Baylor University will celebrate Constitution Day from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 14, with a panel discussion that examines religion, the Constitution and 9/11. The panel will focus on a number of vital questions such as whether the U.S. has a national religion and whether one is permitted under the Constitution; whether religion influenced the reaction to 9/11; and whether religion in the U.S. is different post-9/11.

Baylor University's School of Social Work will hold a convocation celebrating its new independent status as an academic school at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, in the Paul Powell Chapel at George W. Truett Theological Seminary.

The Baylor Alumni Association will present the First Families of Baylor Award to four generations of the Shelton family on Friday, Sept. 9, during the 7 p.m. performance of After Dark in Waco Hall.

The Baylor University choirs will present their annual Parents' Day concert at 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9, in Jones Concert Hall, located within the Glennis McCrary Music Building. This year's event -- a benefit for the victims of Hurricane Katrina -- will feature Baylor ShowTime! (led by Leta Horan), Concert Choir (Jeffery Ames), Women's Choir (Michele Henry), Men's Choir (Randall Bradley) and A Cappella Choir (Donald Bailey).

Baylor University's presidential search committee will bring its recommendation to the board of regents meeting in executive session on Friday, Sept. 9.

Stephen Hager, horn professor at Texas State University in San Marcos, will present a guest recital at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15, in Roxy Grove Hall. He will be joined on stage by his wife, harpist Patricia Hager, and by one of his colleagues at TSU, pianist Frances Webb.

Baylor University's Martin Museum of Art has received some divine help from a group of art lovers. The newly formed Martin Museum Art Angels will lend their support and fundraising abilities to the museum as a way to help with conservation, with the purchase of new pieces for the permanent collection and with boosting the museum attendance.

Baylor University faculty experts are available to the media on various topics surrounding Hurricane Katrina and its devastating aftermath on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Baylor University is working with upper-level undergraduate students who have been displaced from their institutions because of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina so they can continue their education.

"Bruiser" from Baylor University has been named to the fourth annual Capital One All-America Mascot Team, made up of 12 lovable, hard-working and oddly-proportioned characters deemed the best of the beasts. Now, Bruiser is up for an even bigger challenge as he goes on to compete for the most coveted title in the land -- "Capital One Mascot of the Year."

Baylor University is currently working on a number of responses to Hurricane Katrina and its devastating impact on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Baylor University will host faculty, staff and students for Bear Growl beginning at 5 p.m. this Thursday, Sept. 1, at Fountain Mall on Baylor's campus. This all-university event is an effort to promote fall sports, including cross country, equestrian, football, soccer and volleyball.

Baylor University Press recently released a book that examines how to retool classical education to meet distinct American education needs. "The Grammar of Our Civility: Classical Education in America," by Lee T. Pearcy, makes the case for the value of classical studies in contemporary U.S. society.

Baylor graduate and former adviser to President Bush, Don R. Willett of Austin, has been appointed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry to fill the vacancy on the Texas Supreme Court created by the recent confirmation of Baylor law graduate Justice Priscilla Owen to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

As the country grapples with record-high oil and gasoline prices, Baylor University researchers have been awarded a $373,000 research grant from the Department of Agriculture to make fuel-grade ethanol out of fiber using cornstalks and hard and soft wood.

A new Texas state law that goes into effect Sept. 1 will benefit both a Baylor University academic program and Texas law enforcement agencies. The Texas House and Senate passed legislation (SB 995, HB 2180) allowing Baylor's forensic science program to establish a decomposition facility to provide reliable data to state law enforcement for crime scene investigations.

Tenor Nagyoung Kang, who is in residence at Baylor University this year as Visiting Professor in the School of Music, will present a guest recital at 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18, in Roxy Grove Hall, as part of the Harvest Moon Festival, the east Asian equivalent of Thanksgiving.

A recently released book by Baylor University Press shows how Jewish Halakhah (law) and Aggadah (narrative) fit together to form a robust and coherent covenant theology--one directly concerned about this world.

Baylor University is one of the nation's best institutions for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review. The New York-based education services company features Baylor in The Best 361 Colleges, the 2006 edition of its annual "best colleges" guide.

Baylor University tied for 78th place out of 248 top national doctoral-granting universities in the 2006 edition of America's Best Colleges survey released today (Aug. 19) by U.S.News & World Report. Last year, Baylor was ranked 84th.

With its stained glass windows and magnificent architecture, Baylor's Armstrong Browning Library has a gorgeous interior. But during the waning days of summer, the building's outside also is fantastic, thanks to the profusion of Butterfly Roses. Faculty, staff and students can admire these lovely flowers while nibbling homemade goodies at the August Cookies and Blossoms party.

Baylor University officials have announced that the anthropology division, which has been part of the department of sociology and anthropology, the forensic science program, which has been embedded in the anthropology program, and the Institute of Archaeology have been combined into the department of anthropology, forensic science and archaeology. The change took effect Aug. 1.

Hundreds of Baylor volunteers, including Interim President Bill Underwood, welcomed the record-breaking Class of 2009 to campus on Aug. 19.

Baylor University will welcome the class of 2009 to campus Aug. 18-21 with its traditional Welcome Week activities for incoming freshmen and transfer students. The four-day schedule will include mixers, seminars and small group sessions as well as several social activities to help introduce students to Baylor. Classes will begin Monday, Aug. 22.

District and county attorneys from all over the Lone Star State are attending courses at Baylor Law School's Sheila and Walter Umphrey Law Center. Sponsored by the Austin-based Texas District & County Attorneys Association (TDCAA), the first week-long program is focusing on advanced trial advocacy skills for felony trial prosecutors. The second program, scheduled for Aug. 15-18, will offer an advanced appellate advocacy school for appellate prosecutors.

Baylor University will confer degrees on more than 500 graduates during summer commencement exercises at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 13, in the Ferrell Center on the Baylor campus.

Camp Success, the language and literacy summer camp sponsored jointly by Baylor University and the Waco Scottish Rite Bodies, graduated 55 students, ages five to 18, Aug. 9 from the 2005 program. A crowd of more than 200 people gathered at the Waco Scottish Rite building to celebrate the successful culmination of the intense summer literacy program.

Dr. Daniel E. Wivagg, professor of biology and director of undergraduate studies, died Aug. 10 at the age of 61. Wivagg taught at Baylor University from 1979 until the present.

Baylor University announced today gifts from Brazos Higher Education Service Corporation Inc. of Waco, Texas, that will provide for the establishment of the Brazos Higher Education Endowed Scholarship Fund in the Baylor School of Law and the Brazos Higher Education Endowed Scholarship Fund in the Hankamer School of Business.

One of the most innovative places of worship in Texas today - the Western Heritage or "Cowboy Church" - will be the focus of the Fellowship of Cowboy Churches Conference to be held Aug. 20-21 at Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary. The event will feature workshops, worship and a concert by the legendary Light Crust Dough Boys.

Baylor University Interim President William D. Underwood today announced the appointment of Dr. Byron Weathersbee, co-founder and president of Legacy Family Ministries, as interim university chaplain, effective Aug. 15.

For the first time in its history, the Baylor Alumni Association will present the Abner V. McCall Humanitarian Award to a couple. The award will be presented during Baylor University's commencement exercises at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 13, to Dr. C.R. "Dick" Hurst and Jesmarie Harvey Hurst in recognition of their lifestyle of service.

President George W. Bush is scheduled to welcome Colombian President Alvaro Uribe at his Crawford ranch on Thursday. While the White House has not announced a specific agenda for the meetings, a Baylor University political science professor said he expects terrorism, drug trafficking, and trade to highlight the discussions between the two presidents.

Congress passed its 2006 Interior Appropriations bill last week with $200,000 earmarked for a Baylor University study of Lake Whitney salinity levels. Rep. Chet Edwards, a senior member of the Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittee, also included $500,000 under the 2006 Energy and Water Appropriations bill for the Baylor program, which passed the House in May and is set for negotiations with the Senate.

Frodo might never have made his epic journey through Middle Earth, and Narnia might have a remained a kingdom only in C.S. Lewis's imagination without the inspiration of George McDonald, the founder of the literary genre, religious fantasy. To honor the Scottish author on the centenary of his death, the Armstrong Browning Library at Baylor University has planned a MacDonald conference Sept. 16 -19 at the library.

Baylor University, in conjunction with the Mayborn Museum Complex and The Waco Tribune-Herald, will host "Presidential Retreat: Images of George W. Bush at Baylor, Waco and Crawford," an exhibition from Aug. 5-Sept. 30 that features photographs of President George W. Bush during his visits to Central Texas.

Jana Allen, director of Baylor University's Executive MBA Program in Dallas, has been elected to serve as the next chair of the Executive Council Board of Trustees for the Executive MBA Council.

The Waco Scottish Rite Bodies presented two checks totaling $81,000 to Camp Success and Baylor's language and literacy clinic, during a ceremony Wednesday on the Baylor University campus.

Dr. Joel C. Gregory - Texas Baptist pastor, former president of the Baptist General Convention Texas, publisher and founder of Gregory Ministries - has been appointed professor of preaching at Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary for the academic year 2005-2006.

More than 50,000 leaders and emerging leaders across North America are expected to attend The Leadership Summit 2005, an annual gathering of church and business leaders Aug. 11-13. Baylor University's Waco Hall will host a satellite location of the summit, originating from Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill.

Thirty-two graduates of Baylor University School of Law are scheduled to receive juris doctor degrees during commencement ceremonies at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 30, in Jones Concert Hall at the Glennis McCrary Music Building.

The Waco Scottish Rite Bodies will present a total of $82,000 to Camp Success and the Baylor University language and literacy clinic at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 27, in the Neill Morris Building on the Baylor campus. Claude Ervin, chair of Waco Scottish Rite Bodies and Harold E Jackson Jr., chair of the Waco Scottish Rite Charitable Foundation, will present a $57,000 check for Camp Success and $25,000 for teacher salaries to operate the communication disorders clinic this fall at Baylor. Grant Teaff, who served as honorary chair for the Scottish Rite Charitable Golf Tournament in spring 2005, also will attend.

The nearly 200 Baylor University students and faculty participating in study abroad programs in England have all been reported safe, after minor explosions struck three London Underground stations and a bus during the lunch hour July 21.