Q&A with Baylor University's Newly Appointed Provost

You are a Texas native and Baylor alumna; how do you feel about your return?

I am absolutely delighted to be joining Baylor, particularly under the leadership of President Livingstone. I love Baylor. It’s played a very significant role in my personal life, and I feel like this is a homecoming of sorts.

You’ve been in the provost role previously, why provost?

I love the provost role. The provost is really at the academic heart of the institution and is closest to the faculty and the students, and that’s why I love the role and why I feel so blessed to be asked to play that role at Baylor University, a university that has meant so much to me, both personally and professionally.

The University sought a provost with a commitment to diversity. What does that commitment mean?

What I want to do is to work with the deans to put in place plans to assure that we have a strong, diverse hiring pool, that we’re really taking diversity seriously, that there’s good training for search committees so that we know how to conduct searches in ways that attract diverse candidates, and that we support them once they get here. We want to retain the faculty that we attract, and we also want to make sure that they reach their own aspirations, that they’re incredibly productive and align well with the Christian mission of Baylor University.

How will Baylor’s Christian commitment impact the University’s research goals?

There is a huge opportunity at Baylor because we aren’t like other institutions. I think the thing that was really key to me was the inspiration of Illuminate and how that describes Baylor’s aspirations for the future. I really think the world needs Baylor, and needs Baylor to be a voice at the table, a Christian voice, in some of the most challenging problems of the day. Having Baylor as a great research university showing the way for the ethical use of technology and for data analytics, I think is incredibly important at this time. Our students are the heart of the institution, and engaging them in these big questions of the day, and showing them an exemplar of excellence in Christian education is something that I do find incredibly inspirational.

What is the key to making sure Baylor can reach the goal of R1 designation?

It’s important for this not to be seen just as a STEM effort, this is an all-university effort. And the value that a university gets from the R1 designation is a value for the entire university. We have to grow the institution as a whole, because that’s what brings everybody along. Everyone will have a place in Illuminate to play a role in terms of the enhancement of Baylor as a Christian research university.