News

Guided by their faculty mentors and supported by the Office of Engaged Learning, Baylor University undergraduates are off to a record-breaking pace for attaining some of the most prestigious and highly competitive fellowships and awards at the national and international level.

Baylor sports fans who have driven around Waco recently have likely noticed some familiar names on signs outside buildings under construction, lots for sale, or other new developments heralding business growth in Waco.

Raynor Campbell (BSEd ’10), Clay Fuller (BBA ’15) and Gregg Glime (BBA ’10) all spent time in green and gold on the baseball diamond or gridiron. When it came time to pursue their next phases of life, each of them chose to call Waco home, and each found their niche in real estate. Today, all three are partners with Waco’s Cromwell Commercial Group and play a meaningful role in commercial development and new business growth in their adopted hometown.

This Monday is a BIG DAY – not just for Baylor, but for the greater Waco community and beyond – as we experience the total solar eclipse. This will be the last total solar eclipse of the century visible in Texas.

With Waco, Texas in the path of totality for the 2024 solar eclipse, Baylor University researchers have a first-hand opportunity to study the effects that people might feel as they witness this once-in-a-lifetime experience. 

Baylor University will join City of Waco and McLennan County partners – in cooperation with the Waco/McLennan County Office of Emergency Management – to conduct a regular test of its Outdoor Warning System (tornado sirens) at 10 a.m. Friday, April 5. The University’s testing period will be from 10 to 11 a.m.

This week is Graduate Student Appreciation Week, a chance to celebrate the 5,500+ graduate students who pursue their calling at Baylor. Although they comprise nearly a quarter of BU’s overall enrollment, their contributions can fly under the radar — but not to those with whom they serve.

More than 1,450 students will volunteer at over 50 sites around Waco during Baylor University’s biannual Steppin’ Out community service event from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 6. A beloved Baylor tradition, Steppin’ Out is a student-led day of community service specifically dedicated to helping Waco residents. 

In the spring of 1945, a group of Baylor students prayed for spiritual renewal for 90 straight days. Their prayers led to a movement that helped inspire ministries on campus and around the world, from the Journeyman mission program to the Passion Conferences.

Last week, hundreds of Baylor students again gathered in Jesus’ name for FM72, a 72-hour on-campus prayer and worship event coordinated by Baylor’s Office of Spiritual Life in conjunction with local churches and campus ministries.

The award-winning Baylor University Symphony Orchestra will make its Bass Performance Hall debut at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, in Fort Worth, Texas. The Baylor Symphony Orchestra will perform a varied and interesting program of music with renowned Maestro Miguel Harth-Bedoya.

Baylor University will host the 30th annual Beall Poetry Festival April 3-5, a distinguished American literary event featuring contemporary poetry with readings, a panel discussion and the Virginia Beall Ball Lecture on Contemporary Poetry.

Easter invites us to reflect upon the glory of our Savior’s resurrection and rejoice in the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. 

This April, Baylor University is joining universities and communities around the country to increase public awareness and prevention education about sexual assault and interpersonal violence during Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM).

Countless women have come through the halls of Baylor before going on to do amazing things. Here’s a look at some Baylor Bears who have made big impacts in education — at Baylor and beyond:

Baylor women’s basketball is headed back to the Sweet 16, thanks to a pair of big NCAA tournament wins this weekend in Blacksburg, Virginia. Head coach Nicki Collen’s squad dominated Vanderbilt on Friday, 80-63, then beat Virginia Tech in front of a feisty home crowd, 75-72, on Sunday night.

Baylor University’s Office of Spiritual Life, in partnership with multiple campus ministries and local churches, will host FM72, a gathering of college students for 72 hours of continuous prayer Sunday through Wednesday, March 24-27, on Fountain Mall at the heart of the Baylor campus. 

Baylor University has announced the naming of the Hankamer School of Business’s Curb Sales Strategy in Sports and Entertainment (S3E) program – formerly known as the Sports Strategy and Sales program – honoring leading music and entertainment executive Mike Curb of Nashville, Tennessee. 

Baylor University's First in Line program  has been selected as the 2024 NASPA Excellence Award Bronze Honoree for First-generation Student Success. The Excellence Awards annually recognize members who are transforming higher education through outstanding programs and innovative services. 

Baylor University’s 2024 senior class has selected Lotte Bostick, J.D., CPA, assistant clinical professor in the Department of Accounting and Business Law at Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business, as the 2024 Collins Outstanding Professor. 

This Sunday begins a very special time in the Christian calendar – the start of Holy Week. At Baylor we are blessed to be ushered into this time of reflection on Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection with FM72, a student-led gathering this Sunday through Wednesday on Fountain Mall in the heart of campus.

Baylor University will celebrate Diadeloso on Monday, April 8, the same day as the total solar eclipse. While much of Dia will be the same, there are some changes and additions you should be aware of before you join in the fun. 

For the ninth time in the last 10 postseasons, both the Baylor men’s and women’s basketball teams are going dancing!

Think about the community you call home. Does its setup encourage you (and those around you) to be active? Is there a track or walking path for adults, or a playscape for kids? Can you ride your bike to work or the store? Is the area walkable?

Dr. Renée Umstattd Meyer (BSED ’00) has built a nationally recognized research career thinking about questions like these, and has put that research to work helping communities across the country better support the health of their residents.

We call ourselves the Baylor Family and that was certainly evident yesterday as the University received approximately 3,500 gifts from individuals who gave so generously and helped us raise more than $2.24 million (and counting) for the annual Baylor Giving Day.

Yang Li, Ph.D., assistant professor of environmental science at Baylor University, has won a competitive NASA Early Career Investigator Program in Earth Science award that supports outstanding scientific research and career development of scientists and engineers at the early stage of their professional careers. 

On the heels of record-shattering applications for Fall 2024, Baylor University is answering the high demand for a Baylor education by welcoming prospective students to the return of an in-person Premiere on Saturday, April 13.

Baylor mathematics chair Dorina Mitrea, Ph.D., explains what makes Pi important.

U.S. News recently recognized Baylor’s learning communities among the top 10 in the nation — just behind schools like Yale, Michigan and Princeton, and ahead of, well, just about everyone else. (The honor ranked Baylor No. 1 in the Big 12, No. 1 among large private universities, No. 2 in Texas and No. 2 among Christian universities.)

Each year, the Collegiate Day of Prayer unites college campuses all over the country in a day of prayer for revival and awakening, concluding with an evening service of prayer and worship on a college campus that is broadcast around the world. This year, Baylor University served as central host site for the Collegiate Day of Prayer service.

In addition to being a leap year, today is a special day as Baylor will host the 2024 Collegiate Day of Prayer live from Waco Hall.

Nearly 75 students and faculty and staff leaders will serve with Baylor Missions over spring break March 2-10, combining faith, service and learning in five international locations while supporting the ongoing efforts of the University’s global partners.

After countless hours of planning, practicing and performing, All University Sing 2024 is in the books. Over the last two weeks, hundreds of Baylor students put their hard work on display performing for thousands of Baylor students, alumni and friends in Waco Hall (plus a streaming audience online for Saturday’s finale).

Gathering on Baylor University’s historic Founders Mall alongside members of the University and Waco communities, the Baylor Board of Regents concluded its regular quarterly meeting today with a ceremonial groundbreaking of the Memorial to Enslaved Persons, one of the recommendations in the final report from the University’s Commission on Historic Campus Representations.

When he came to Baylor from the Philippines in the 1990s, Peter Gape (MA ’91, MA ’94) knew broadly that he wanted to serve internationally. But his time in Waco helped focus that desire, and sparked a calling that led him to leadership in one of the globe’s largest international service organizations — World Vision.

It’s a big week on the Baylor campus as tomorrow we will host a ceremonial groundbreaking at 1:30 p.m. for the future Memorial to Enslaved Persons on Founders Mall. The Memorial will incorporate new areas of reflection, gathering and community that honor Baylor’s complete history and our original campus in Independence.

Baylor University international trade researcher Lourenco Paz, Ph.D., associate professor of economics at Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business, has received the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to Hungary, a prestigious and competitive fellowship of the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Baylor University announced today its new comprehensive partnership with FC Dallas as the club’s exclusive and official higher education sponsor. Included in the partnership, Baylor enters as an associate of the STEAM FC classroom program, FC Dallas’ School of Excellence Camps, and the FC Dallas Soccer Tour. 

When the College Football Playoff Selection Committee gets together this fall to pick the teams for the sport’s first-ever 12-team playoff, there will be two Baylor Bears in the room where it happens — one past, one present.

The past Bear is former interim head coach Jim Grobe, who was named to the committee in 2022. But the current Bear is the one who has fans in the green and gold fired up: Baylor Director of Athletics Mack Rhoades.

As you may know, Baylor University is blessed to serve as the originating site for the 2024 Collegiate Day of Prayer, broadcasting live from the historic Waco Hall on the Baylor campus on Thursday, February 29 at 7 p.m. CT.

As most of you know, I played collegiate basketball and tend to be just a little competitive. Imagine my excitement when logging onto The Wall Street Journal yesterday and reading the following article, "The Small University Endowment That Is Beating the Ivy League," only to find it was all about BAYLOR and our highly successful team in the Office of Investments led by Chief Investment Officer Dave Moorehead. 

More than 230 students have entered projects in the 2024 Heart of Texas Regional History Fair, which will be held Friday, Feb. 16, on the Baylor University campus. Students representing schools from across Central Texas have registered 112 projects in various categories.

The first full dataset from the Global Flourishing Study, a groundbreaking initiative co-directed by Baylor University researcher Byron Johnson, Ph.D., is now available through the Center for Open Science. The GFS project, a five-year, $43.4 million longitudinal study of over 200,000 individuals in more than 20 countries, represents the largest funded research project in Baylor history. 

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has recognized Baylor University as a Fulbright Top Producing Institution for students selected for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

WACO, Texas (Feb. 12, 2024) – More than 250 U.S. cities have made pledges to transition to 100% renewable energy sources by the year 2050. However, in a new study published in the journal Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability, Baylor University researchers found that, despite efforts, the target date to move to fully sustainable energy sources is unrealistic. 

With construction set to begin this summer on the Memorial to Enslaved Persons, Baylor University held a symbolic ceremony today on Founders Mall to transfer custody of its Centennial Time Capsule from the Class of 1945 to The Texas Collection at Baylor.

Coming off the program’s first 40-win season since 2017 — the last time the Bears reached the Women’s College World Series — and returning all but one player from the 2023 roster, the Baylor softball team has big plans for the 2024 campaign, with eyes on a return to Oklahoma City to compete for a national championship.

Judging by my calendar, the semester is definitely in full gear. I have a feeling that most all of you can relate, but here’s something to look forward to … Spring Break is only 22 days away!

Applications for Baylor University have shattered all-time records, as more than 56,000 prospective students have applied to the University for Fall 2024.

As a passionate advocate for the music of early 20th century Black composer Florence Price, Michael Clark, D.M.A., lecturer of piano at Baylor University’s School of Music, makes his solo album debut with Waltzes and Character Pieces of Florence Price, representing the first recording of Price’s complete waltzes.

Our North American Black Bear mascots Indy and Belle celebrated their first birthdays last weekend, and today, it’s Baylor University’s turn! Happy Birthday to Baylor, which celebrates turning 179 years old today as the oldest continuously operating university in Texas.

WACO, Texas (Jan. 31, 2024) – The Center for Public Justice has awarded its prestigious 2024 Hatfield Prize to Baylor University senior mechanical engineering major Jackson Boone and Colby Humphrey, Ph.D., lecturer in political science at Baylor.

January is now busier than ever on the Baylor campus, as we quickly jump from students’ return for the spring semester to celebrating not one, not two, but THREE birthdays — those of our beloved live bears!

***SIREN TEST POSTPONED, REQUIRED TEST OF BAYLOR ALERT SYSTEMS WILL BE CONDUCTED*** Baylor University will join City of Waco and McLennan County partners – in cooperation with the Waco/McLennan County Office of Emergency Management – to conduct a regular test of its Outdoor Warning System (tornado sirens) at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 2. In addition to the siren test, Baylor University will conduct a required test of the multi-tiered Baylor Alert emergency notification system.

Baylor University and the Greater Waco community will join together in celebration of Black History Month in February with a variety of events that embrace history, enrich knowledge and encourage communities to celebrate the diversity within the Baylor family.

WACO, Texas (Jan. 30, 2024) – Baylor University Advanced Japanese students received the International Award for their calligraphy display at the 36th International Kakyou Calligraphy Exhibition in Tokyo, Japan. 

The Baylor Family’s favorite (real) bears are turning 1! I hope you’ll join me for Judge Indy and Judge Belle’s First Birthday block party this Saturday, Jan. 27, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Bill & Eva Williams Bear Habitat. 

Despite frigid weather in Waco this week, it’s been a great start to the spring semester. 

WACO, Texas (Jan. 17, 2024) – Baylor University today officially announced the launch of the Spectrum Management with Adaptive and Reconfigurable Technology Hub (SMART Hub), a Department of Defense Spectrum Innovation Center to conduct multifaceted spectrum research to meet national defense needs.

WACO, Texas (Jan. 16, 2024) – Trena Wilkerson, Ph.D., professor and interim chair of the Department of Curriculum & Instruction in the Baylor University School of Education, has received the 2024 Louise Hay Award from the Association for Women in Mathematics in recognition of her leadership in mathematics education, transformational teaching and mentorship, and her global initiatives and programs.

WACO, Texas (Jan. 15, 2024) – Baylor University will begin the spring semester Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, under normal operations. Temperatures are expected to remain below freezing through Wednesday morning but with no precipitation in the forecast.

Please be aware that Waco, McLennan County and Central Texas will experience a deep freeze from Sunday through Wednesday morning with temperatures remaining below freezing with dangerous wind chills for around 72 hours.

It’s become so commonplace that it must be a Baylor tradition – a cold, arctic blast to welcome students back to Waco for the spring semester!

From Line Camp to Welcome Week to the Baylor Line and the on-campus living experience, Baylor goes above and beyond to help new students feel like they are truly a part of the Baylor Family.

Eyes across the nation are taking notice — the most recent being U.S. News, which this year ranked Baylor in the top five nationally for “first-year experience.”

WACO, Texas (Jan. 10, 2024) – Featured on the cover of this week’s prestigious journal Science Advances, a first-of-its-kind tactile learning device developed by Baylor University chemistry professors to make science accessible to students with blindness or low vision has opened the possibility of the transfer of any scientific data or images for sighted students into functional, thorough formats for students with blindness.

WACO, Texas (Jan. 9, 2024) – Every year, Americans join together on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service – this year on Monday, Jan. 15 – to serve their neighborhoods and communities and through week-long events celebrating the life and legacy of the late civil rights leader. NOTE: Sub-freezing temperatures and dangerous wind chills have canceled some events or altered dates/locations. Monday's community and Truett MLK Day events have been canceled due to the weather.

Happy New Year, Baylor Family! 2024 is already off to a fast start, with this week’s opening of the Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion for both our nationally ranked men’s and women’s basketball teams.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Baylor’s mission has long been to “educate men and women for worldwide leadership and service.” A new survey by TIME magazine says Baylor’s been doing exactly that.

WACO, Texas (Dec. 19, 2023) – Baylor University offices and most facilities will be closed during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays from Friday, Dec. 22, to Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024. The University will reopen on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024. The first day of classes for the spring semester will begin on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024.

WACO, Texas (Dec. 19, 2023) – Individuals with substance and alcohol use disorders experience additional stress during the holidays, which can interfere with their recovery, and may need additional support to abstain from substance use. What can people in recovery do to both abstain and enjoy the holidays? And what can loved ones do to support them?

As the Ferrell Center prepares to host its final regular season Baylor basketball game — Dec. 22, when the men host Mississippi Valley State — a couple of posts on social media got the Baylor Family rolling sharing their favorite memories from 35 years of basketball at the Ferrell.

Not surprisingly, a few themes came up over and over:

WACO, Texas (Dec. 15, 2023) – Gray Media Group and KWTX Television will broadcast an encore presentation of “A Baylor Christmas,” recorded in 2021 from the performances of the Baylor Symphony Orchestra and combined choirs of the Baylor University School of Music.

I can’t believe we are at the end of another year. It’s a time to look forward to all we have to celebrate during the Christmas season — most importantly, the hope we are provided as Christians through the birth of Christ. 

WACO, Texas (Dec. 11, 2023) - New Year's resolutions are often well-intentioned but truth be told, they can be really difficult to keep. We asked Baylor University experts to offer resolution ideas that might be easier for us to sustain while making positive changes in our lives. 

WACO, Texas (Dec. 11, 2023) – Millions of people make resolutions at the beginning of each year to lose weight, quit bad habits, save money, and so on. Unfortunately, many resolutions are quickly broken because they are overly overambitious or unachievable. Two Baylor psychology experts offer tips on setting realistic resolutions with SMART goals.

WACO, Texas (Dec. 11, 2023) – Baylor University has been awarded a  $1.25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to establish an interdisciplinary project that focuses on helping congregations embrace young people with disabilities, mental health challenges and chronic illnesses.

When the State of Texas seeks to honor the state’s top student teacher, they often find that young educator at Baylor. That’s the case again this year — the fifth time in the last seven years!

As we near the end of the fall semester and eagerly anticipate gathering with our families, friends and fellow members of our home churches to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, I wish to share my prayer for the Baylor Family this Christmas season:

A month into the college basketball season, only one school in America has both its men’s and women’s teams ranked in the AP Top 10 — and that school calls Waco home.

WACO, Texas (Dec. 6, 2023) – Baylor Opera Theatre’s production of “Monsieur et Madame Denis” was one of three first-place winners among 87 applicants in the National Opera Association’s 2022-23 Opera Production Competition Division I category, marking the fifth national competition in which Baylor Opera has placed this year.

WACO, Texas (Dec. 6, 2023) – Baylor University has been named to TIME Magazine’s inaugural list of the 100 Best Colleges for Future Leaders, a new ranking that measures universities that excel in nurturing some of the nation’s most highly influential leaders. 

WACO, Texas (Dec. 4, 2023) – Following a nationwide search, Baylor University Provost Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D., announced today that Kevin Sanders, D.M.A., director of the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music at the University of Memphis, has been selected as dean of the Baylor University School of Music. His appointment is effective July 1, 2024.

As the Baylor Family collectively reflects on the coming of Christ in the season of Advent, we also enjoy celebrating Christmas with our students before they prepare for finals and look toward the semester break. 

WACO, Texas (Nov. 29, 2023) –  Baylor University historians Stephen Sloan and Adrienne Cain Darough with Baylor’s renowned Institute for Oral History, share seven simple best practices to help family members begin oral history conversations over the holidays that enrich recollections of the past and capture your family memories.

The list of schools to make U.S. News‘ top 25 for both undergraduate teaching and undergraduate research is a short (and impressive one), filled with schools like Duke, Michigan, Princeton, Stanford, Yale — and Baylor.

It’s amazing how, even when we feel down, stopping and counting our blessings can remind us of how much we have to be thankful for. And we do, indeed, have much to thank God for over the past 12 months at Baylor.

In Psalm 95:2 we read, “Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving.” The psalmist also tells us, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord” (Ps. 92:1). 

WACO, Texas (Nov. 10, 2023) – During its regular November meeting, the Baylor University Board of Regents received a comprehensive update on the University’s Strategic Planning process, which will guide Baylor into the future as a preeminent Christian research university. The Board also approved four new academic graduate degrees and discussed Baylor’s position in the evolving higher education marketplace.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 9, 2023) - In remembrance of all American veterans who have served their nation, Baylor University’s McLane Carillon, located in the tower of Pat Neff Hall, will ring in honor of Veterans Day during a special recital beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, on the Baylor campus. 

While Waco is certainly not on the fall color tour, I have noticed in the past few days that some of our trees are beginning to have glimpses of yellow, orange and rust. What a wonderful reminder of the changing season as we move toward Thanksgiving and Christmas! 

WACO, Texas (Nov. 9, 2023) – Following a nationwide search, Baylor University Provost Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D., announced today that Jeremy Counseller, J.D., The Abner V. McCall Chair of Evidence Law at Baylor, has been selected as dean of the University’s nationally ranked Baylor Law School. His appointment is effective July 1, 2024.

Other Native American students attended Baylor before Margery Lancaster Walker, including Oscar Pete (Chehalis tribe) in 1936 and Dan Tilden (Cherokee) in 1939. But Walker, who graduated with a degree in music education from BU in 1952, is believed to have been Baylor’s first Native American graduate.

It’s hard to believe that almost two years have passed since we celebrated our attainment of Research 1 (R1) status. This designation has proven to be a springboard to even greater research growth since then, and Baylor will remain a strong R1 institution, even as metrics change.

For the 11th time in the last 14 seasons, Baylor men’s basketball will open the 2023-24 season ranked among the nation’s top 25 nationally.

Head coach Scott Drew’s team will begin their final half-season in the Ferrell Center ranked 17th in the coaches poll and 20th in the AP poll — the fifth straight year the Bears have begun play among the top 25.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 31, 2023) – Does a fine-tuned life provide evidence for a multiverse? A Baylor University philosophy professor’s co-authored article on the topic has been judged one of the best academic journal articles published in philosophy in 2022.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 30 2023) – The Mayborn Museum is celebrating Native American Heritage Month in November with exciting performances and lectures from the Native American community. The series will include community conversations with the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes.

Rain tried its best to disrupt Baylor Homecoming 2023, but a little weather can’t stop the Baylor Family from getting together — and Homecoming, as usual, brought back all the memories as thousands of Bears descended upon Waco this past weekend for the annual Baylor Family reunion.

Someone asked about my favorite Homecoming tradition, and I must admit that I don’t have just one – I love them ALL! Our students and staff have done such a wonderful job preparing to welcome Baylor alumni and friends back to campus for the nation’s oldest Homecoming, dating back to 1909.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 24, 2023) – Three finalists for Baylor University’s 2024 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching will present their public lectures in person on the Baylor campus on Oct. 24, Oct. 30 and Nov. 6. In addition, all three lectures will be livestreamed on the Cherry Award’s page at their respective times.

What is it that makes Baylor Homecoming so special? We’ll venture that it’s because Homecoming is a party for everyone. Some Bears return with spouses or children; some, with friends; others on their own. It works no matter how many people you’re bringing with you, or how long you’ve been away. There’s something for everyone, with events for all ages and all stages. Whether it’s the parade that awes the young onlookers, or the bonfire for the teenagers, or the reunions for the more seasoned attendees, the Homecoming schedule is comprehensive.