News

WACO, Texas — Family Ministry: A Comprehensive Guide, by Baylor University professor Diana Garland, has been named the 2000 Book of the Year by the Academy of Parish Clergy. The award was given at the academy’s annual conference May 9-11 at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Neon lights, static electricity and sound waves welcomed 100 Tennyson Middle School seventh-graders to Physics Circus 2000, a day of educational entertainment coordinated by the Center for Astrophysics, Space Physics and Engineering Research (CASPER), a partnership between Baylor University and Texas State Technical College.

Baylor University is again ranked among the nation's top 100 colleges and universities awarding degrees to Hispanics, according to the May 2000 rankings released by The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education.

Baylor University recognized faculty members and administrators who are retiring this academic year, during the university's commencement ceremonies Saturday, May 13, at the Ferrell Center in Waco.

Baylor University recognized nine faculty members who were named the recipients of Outstanding Professor and Teaching Awards, during the university's commencement ceremonies Saturday, May 13, at the Ferrell Center in Waco.

Baylor University's Office of Church Relations presented its first W. Winfred Moore Awards for Lifetime Achievement in Ministry during the university's commencement ceremony Saturday, May 13, in the Ferrell Center in Waco.

The Center for Astrophysics, Space Physics and Engineering Research (CASPER), a joint venture between Texas State Technical College and Baylor University, will join a growing nationwide effort to attract students to science through entertaining, educational demonstrations with a Physics Circus for more than 100 seventh-grade students and their teachers from Tennyson Middle School from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, May 12, on the TSTC campus.

WACO, Texas -- Baylor University President Robert B. Sloan Jr. announced today that Dr. William Mitchell, professor of political science at Baylor, has been named the Jo Murphy Chair in International Education and director of the Center for International Education. Mitchell succeeds Dr. James W. Vardaman, professor of history and master teacher, who is retiring.

Patrick Dunigan, a Baylor University public service officer since 1991, graduated from the Waco Police Academy April 14 and has been commissioned as a police officer after being certified by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Education. Dunigan is the third Baylor officer to graduate from the academy, raising the number of commissioned police officers on the force to 20.

With two Baylor graduation ceremonies, NCAA Tournament tennis, and TAPPS state championship baseball and softball games taking place Saturday, May 13, at venues along University Parks Drive, Baylor public safety officials are strongly encouraging that people planning to attend these events leave in plenty of time and be prepared for traffic congestion near the Ferrell Center.

WACO, Texas -- Church leaders and lay members, administrators and professional staff members of faith-based agencies and students will examine ways congregations can strengthen families and communities during the second annual "Hand in Hand: Family, Church and Community" conference. Sponsored by Baylor's Center for Family and Community Ministries, the George W. Truett Theological Seminary and Buckner Baptist Benevolences, the conference will run May 18-19 in various rooms in the Bill Daniel Student Center.

Baylor University President Robert B. Sloan Jr. has announced the appointment of Dr. R. Alden Smith, associate professor and chair of Baylor's department of classics, as director of the University Scholars Program. He succeeds Dr. Bruce C. Cresson, who is retiring.

Brazos Valley Public Broadcasting Foundation and KWBU-FM 107.1 launched the countdown to National Public Radio service for Central Texas at a Tuesday rally on the Baylor University campus. The station plans to begin airing NPR programming on July 1.

Dr. Nikolas Gvosdev, associate director of the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies and assistant professor at Baylor University, has had his first book published by McMillan Press. Imperial Policies and Perspectives Towards Georgia: 1760-1819 is based on Gvosdev's doctoral dissertation, which he completed in 1996 at Oxford University.

Two prominent Baylor University alumni -- one a longtime San Antonio pastor with a successful television ministry, and the other a former Baylor Law School dean known as one of "Texas' legal giants" -- will receive annual awards during spring commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 13, at the Ferrell Center. The Baylor Alumni Association will present the George W. Truett Distinguished Church Service Award during the 9:30 a.m. ceremony and the Price Daniel Distinguished Public Service Award during the afternoon ceremony at 3 p.m.

Baylor University's Gov. Bill and Vara Daniel Historic Village will host "Slap, Swat and Stomp," a program that focuses on 19th-century approaches to pest control, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 13.

Dr. J. Bradley Creed, professor of Christian history and dean of Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary since January 1996, will step down from his administrative post effective June 1. Creed, one of the first professors hired before the seminary opened in the fall of 1994, will remain on the faculty and return to the classroom next January following a sabbatical.

Baylor University regents today adopted a $237 million operating budget for 2000-2001, elected officers, named six new regents to the board, and approved a resolution designating retiring Chancellor Herbert H. Reynolds as president emeritus, effective June 1.

Baylor University will confer degrees on approximately 1,400 graduates during spring commencement exercises Saturday, May 13, in the Ferrell Center.

The department of educational administration will host a Cinco de Mayo luncheon from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Friday, May 5, in the Barfield Drawing Room in the Bill Daniel Student Center.

Baylor University's Gov. Bill and Vara Daniel Historic Village, part of the Strecker Museum Complex, will host a variety of summer programs for 2-year-olds to children entering the eighth grade.

Dr. William "Will" Vernon May Jr., a 1969 Baylor graduate and currently interim dean of the College of Music at the University of North Texas, has been appointed dean of Baylor University's School of Music by Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr. The appointment, which follows a two-year nationwide search, is effective Aug. 1.

Children ages 2-18 can learn about a variety of topics, from plants and bugs to aeronautics, during Strecker Museum's summer programs. Three one-week sessions will be held on June 12-16, June 19-23 and June 26-30 at the Ollie Mae Moen Discovery Center. Additionally, there will be one-week classes for children 2 and 3 years old and in fourth, fifth and sixth grade.

Torie Johnson, a resident of Gatesville and junior at Baylor University, has been named editor-in-chief of The Baylor Lariat, the university's student newspaper, for the 2000-2001 academic year.

WACO, Texas -- Stacey Meineke, a resident of Katy and junior at Baylor University, has been named editor of The Baylor Round Up, the university's student yearbook, for the 2000-2001 academic year. As editor, she will receive the Taylor/Anderson scholarship, which is a full tuition scholarship awarded to the Round Up editor annually by Taylor Publishing Co. in Dallas and Jim and Anne Anderson of Austin.

Business magazine editor and former two-time Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes addressed several of his key campaign issues - the economy, lower taxes, and social security and education reforms - at the President's Forum Lecture Thursday, April 27, at the Ferrell Center.

Dr. Christopher Kearney, assistant professor in Baylor University's biology department, has been selected by the senior class as the recipient of the Collins Outstanding Professor award.

Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr. today released the following statement:

Thousands of Baylor students, faculty and staff invaded the McLane Student Life Center and Intramural Fields Thursday, April 13, for Diadeloso, Baylor's annual student holiday.

Amber was killed in an automobile accident near Fort Worth on Friday evening, April 7. Her funeral will be Wednesday at 1 p.m. at Grandview Funeral Home in Pasadena, Texas.

The Guarneri String Quartet will perform at 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 11, in Roxy Grove Hall on the Baylor University campus.

Can a religiously affiliated university be both faithful and free academically? Can an institution be forward-looking in the search for new ideas and innovative insights and at the same time be a faithful guardian of the ancient traditions revealed in Torah, in Gospel, in scripture?

Baylor University's Law School, Nursing School, and its speech pathology, physical therapy, health services administration and entrepreneurship programs are featured in the "Best Graduate Schools for 2001" rankings published today by U.S. News & World Report.

"Leaving Louisiana Tech is one of the hardest decisions I've ever made," said Mulkey-Robertson. "But this opportunity at Baylor is both exciting and professionally challenging. Because of its administrative support, Baylor is where I feel my career can further develop and where Randy and I can best raise our children."

Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business recognized successful students, faculty and staff at the school's annual awards banquet held Monday, March 27.

Baylor is the site for "Exploring Boundaries: Academic Freedom at Religiously Affiliated Colleges and Universities" March 31-April 2, a national conference sponsored jointly by Baylor, the American Association of University Professors(AAUP), the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature.

The sixth annual Beall Poetry Festival will bring four acclaimed contemporary American poets and a noted literary critic to the Baylor University campus March 27-30 for four days of poetry readings, panel presentations and The Virginia Beall Ball Lecture on Contemporary Poetry.

Steve Forbes, former Republican presidential candidate and business magazine editor who popularized the idea of a "flat tax," will visit Baylor University on Thursday, April 27, as part of the President's Forum lecture series. His speech will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Ferrell Center.