Honors College Spotlight

Don't Ask What You Can Do With Your Education, Ask What It Will Do With You
[1/10/2012]
Jamie Gianoutsos Jordan ('06), Bachelor of Arts in both Political Science and Great Texts, is an Honors College alumna who returned to campus in fall 2011 to address prospective students at Invitation to Excellence. Full copy of Jordan's speech ("Don't Ask What You Can Do With Your Education, Ask What It Will Do With You")

Upon graduation, Jordan went on to Queen's University Belfast in Ireland to earn her master's in English, and then to the University of Cambridge in England to earn her master's in history. She is now at Johns Hopkins University pursuing a doctorate in history with an emphasis in British intellectual history from 1500-1800.

Jordan was awarded the Marshall Scholarship, a prestigious award that fully funds up to 40 students per year to study in the United Kingdom. The scholarship covers university fees, living expenses, an annual book grant, research and daily travel grants, fares to and from the United States and, where applicable, a contribution toward the support of a spouse. Jordan's award covered both her master's degrees.
(FULL STORY)

Christian universities can produce wise people, not just trained workers
[11/8/2011]
"Educating for Wisdom in the 21st Century," an event sponsored by Baylor's Institute for Faith and Learning, drew more than 120 presenters from across the globe who examined how to instill wisdom through higher education. The article quotes Dr. Douglas Henry, associate professor of philosophy in Baylor's Honors College.
(FULL STORY)

HC Welcomes Headmaster of Glendale Preparatory Academy for Guest Lecture
[11/7/2011]
David Williams, Headmaster of Glendale Preparatory Academy of the Great Hearts Academies, will speak about liberal education and teaching opportunities at the Great Hearts schools at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8, in the Drawing Room of Baylor's Memorial Residence Hall, 1425 S. Seventh St.

The Great Hearts Academies is a consortium of public charter schools in the Phoenix area. The schools have a low student-to-teacher ratio and are focused on the classics and liberal arts.
(FULL STORY)

Scholar explores Talmudic law, Jewish tradition
[11/7/2011]
The Honors College brought a Jewish scholar to campus Wednesday to give a lecture on how the 12th-century philosopher Maimonides helped incorporate philosophy into the Jewish theological tradition.

The speaker, Dr. Joshua Parens, professor of philosophy at the University of Dallas, highlighted how Maimonides codified an enormous body of Talmudic law and introduced 13 principles of Jewish faith that were controversial at the time but have become foundational for the Jewish tradition in the centuries since.
(FULL STORY)

Benefits of Faculty-In-Residence Programs
[10/11/2011]
One student who benefited from her faculty neighbor of three years is Caroline Barta, a senior at Baylor University. The professor gave Barta and her mother a personal tour when they visited campus. Now, he's her academic adviser. Having her adviser live nearby affords her extra opportunities to reach him, Barta says, thought she admits that when she's missed a deadline, "his continual presence around the college [can be] a rather painful reminder of my tardiness."
(FULL STORY)

Great Texts Prof Receives $210,000 NEH Grant
[9/26/2011]
Dr. Sarah-Jane Murray, associate professor in the Great Texts Program in the Honors College at Baylor University and Resident Scholar at Baylor's Institute for Studies of Religion, has received a $210,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to translate the Ovide moralisé from Old French into English.
(FULL STORY)

University Scholar Gets Rare Chance for In-Person Research on Ancient Manuscripts
[9/15/2011]
Fragments of ancient, rare manuscripts of Greek classical poetry, Greek philosophy and Judeo-Christian Scriptures are being retrieved from papier-mâché-like mummy wrappings on loan to Baylor University -- all part of an international project that will give undergraduate humanities students rare hands-on research. Stephen Margheim, a Baylor senior University Scholars major with a focus in classics, is painstakingly piecing together and studying fragments of a 1,600-year-old Iliad transcription by an unknown scribe.
(FULL STORY)

Honors College Students Take Innovative Aid to Kenya
[8/22/2011]
Since 2009, Honors College students have participated in assisting a community of orphans and elders in rural, western Kenya as part of a medical mission trip. Many are conducting medical research in the community as part of their senior theses. The missionary team is responsible for bringing all medical equipment and supplies for their trip, including thermometers. When the 2010 team reached out to Exergen for help, the company was more than happy to provide them with Temporal Artery thermometers to improve patient care.
(FULL STORY)

Two University Scholar Graduates Win Highly Competitive Lilly Fellowships
[7/26/2011]
Two Honors College alumni -- Gideon Jeffrey and Amanda Weppler -- have been selected as two of 16 Lilly Graduate Fellows, the Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts has announced.

The highly competitive Lilly Fellows Program supports outstanding students who want to explore the connections among Christianity, higher education, and the vocation of the teacher-scholar.
(FULL STORY)

Honors College Graduate Selected for Fulbright to Finland
[6/21/2011]
Amanda Randolph, a May 2011 Baylor University graduate from La Vernia, Texas, has been selected for a Fulbright grant, becoming Baylor's 25th Fulbright recipient since 2001. Randolph will study in Finland as part of the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
(FULL STORY)

King James Version Is the Only Bible With Power To Unite
[6/6/2011]
King James' Bible failed miserably as a peacekeeper -- civil war broke out in 1642 -- but enjoyed smashing success as a book. Published in 1611, the King James Version (KJV) reigned supreme over English translations for nearly three centuries, becoming the best-selling tome in history.
(FULL STORY)

Preemie Birth Survivor Graduates From Baylor as a University Scholar
[6/6/2011]
Feature on the miracle journey of 2011 Baylor University Scholar graduate Allyson Ray, who defied all medical odds as one of the smallest surviving premature infants in Texas history
(FULL STORY)

Honors Program Senior Wins Fulbright Grant
[5/5/2011]
Honors Program senior Chelsea Mitcham has been selected as a recipient of a Fulbright grant from the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. She is Baylor's 23rd Fulbright recipient since 2001.
(FULL STORY)

Hallelujah! At Age 400, King James Bible Still Reigns
[4/21/2011]
This year, the most influential book you may never have read is celebrating a major birthday. The King James Version of the Bible was published 400 years ago. It's no longer the top-selling Bible, but in those four centuries, it has woven itself deeply into our speech and culture. NPR's "All Things Considered" interviews Dr. David Lyle Jeffrey, historian of biblical interpretation and professor in the Honors Program.
(FULL STORY)

Baylor Grads Win F. Ray Wilson II Award for Best Thesis
[4/18/2011]
Baylor University graduates Sarah Berry, Jessie Kuykendall and Christa Leotti have been selected as this year's recipients of the F. Ray Wilson II Award for Best Thesis. The award honors the life of the beloved Baylor professor of biology and Master Teacher, who directed 37 Honors theses during more than 30 years of teaching at the University.
(FULL STORY)

Honors College Advisory Council Member & BU Alumnus Selected as President of Gordon College
[3/29/2011]
Gordon College's selection of D. Michael Lindsay for its new President represents a passing of the generational torch, and a tremendous opportunity for both Lindsay and Gordon. Lindsay is a Baylor University alumnus and a member of the university's Honors College Advisory Council.
(FULL STORY)

Baylor Names New Faculty Master for Honors Residential College
[3/28/2011]
Dr. Todd Buras, associate professor and director of undergraduate studies in the department of philosophy at Baylor, has been appointed as the new Faculty Master for the Honors Residential College beginning this fall. Buras will succeed Dr. Sarah-Jane Murray, associate professor of medieval literature and French in the Honors College Great Texts program, who has served as Faculty Master since fall 2007.
(FULL STORY)

University Scholar Student Racks Up Eight Conference Paper Presentations
[2/9/2011]
By the year's end, University Scholar Stephen Margheim will have presented eight conference papers on a variety of topics. Such a feat would be impressive for most tenured faculty.
(FULL STORY)

Educating Men And Women For Worldwide Leadership And Service
[1/26/2011]
Over the summer, Honors College pre-med/pre-health students returned to rural western Kenya to provide free medical care, install rain gutters at 25 homes for rainwater harvesting, and planted almost 1,000 fruit tree seedlings as a potential source of food and income.
(FULL STORY)

U.S. Dept. of State Puts Recent Baylor Grad on Fast Track to Foreign Service
[11/17/2010]
Jessie Kuykendall, BA '10, just about did it all during her four years at Baylor. Her resume is impressive: National Merit Scholar, president of her sorority, Baylor Interdisciplinary Core graduate, Honors student with distinction. After earning her degree in international studies (with minors in history and Spanish) in May, she began graduate school at George Washington University in fall 2010.
(FULL STORY)

Baylor Named Among Nation's Best Private School Values
[11/15/2010]
For at least the third year in a row (as long as we've been writing Baylor Proud), Baylor has been named among the nation's "best values" when it comes to private schools as determined by Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine.
(FULL STORY)

In His Time: The Extraordinary Story of Rachel Butcher
[10/22/2010]
Oddly enough, this story begins in Shanghai, 1948. Sitting on an airplane, college graduate Bao Shan Chu is the last of his affluent family to leave China just hours before Mao Zedong's communist takeover. The army is so close, Bao Shan can hear gunshots in the distance as the plane takes off with a roar. His scholarship to an American university is what allows him to slip out of the country, and he is bound for Texas. By 1949, Bao Shan, began his studies at Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business.
(FULL STORY)

'Soliloquies' Exhibit Uses Rich Visuals To Show Spiritual Themes
[10/14/2010]
The vividly colored, large canvases of painter Makoto Fujimura, which go on display Tuesday at Baylor University's Martin Museum of Art, contrast visually with the smaller, black-and-white prints of Georges Rouault on display across University Parks Drive at the Mayborn Museum. Fujimura's sensibility and intent, however, parallel Rouault's, as both artists communicate traditions of Christian faith and spirituality in contemporary style.

Waco viewers can see Fujimura's paintings, many influenced by richly colored 17th-century Japanese screen painting technique and others by Rouault's colored work, in "Soliloquies," an exhibit organized by Bucknell University's Samek Art Gallery and shown at the Martin Museum through Nov. 13.
(FULL STORY)

Stanley Cavell's Philosophical Improvisations
[10/11/2010]
In God, Philosophy, Universities: A Selective History of the Catholic Philosophical Tradition, the latest in a number of recent books critical of the modern research university, the influential Irish-born philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre argues that "neither the university nor philosophy is any longer seen as engaging the questions" of "plain persons." These questions include: "What is our place in the order of things? Of what powers in the natural and social world do we need to take account? How should we respond to the facts of suffering and death? What is our relationship to the dead? What is it to live a human life well? What is it to live it badly?" Now in his 80s, MacIntyre is among a small group of philosophers who have sought to address such questions. Other members, about the same age, include the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor and, perhaps especially, the American philosopher Stanley Cavell, whose life both in and out of philosophy is on display in his just-published autobiography, Little Did I Know (Stanford University Press).
(FULL STORY)

Preserving Musical Canon Has Value for Humanity
[10/8/2010]
Everybody knows that most movies these days cost a bundle to make. Last year's big hit "Avatar," which supposedly cost more than $300 million, was only the latest with such a jaw-dropping budget. Turns out big-time opera can cost a lot, too, particularly the loud and thunderous kind.
(FULL STORY)

Black & White: Mayborn Show Highlights Chagall, Rouault
[9/27/2010]
"Sacred Texts, Holy Images" places religious art by the Jewish Chagall and the Catholic Rouault together, a joint showing of the master artists' well-known print series, Chagall's "Bible" and Rouault's "Miserere" -- a considerable coup for Baylor University. "To our knowledge, these two exhibits have never been shown together," said Baylor Honors College Dean Thomas Hibbs, a "Sacred Texts" organizer.
(FULL STORY)

HRC Faculty Fellow Bryan Brooks Weighs in on Wastewater Toxicology
[9/23/2010]
In an effort to prevent pharmaceuticals from being flushed into Central Texas waterways, the Austin City Council is likely to ask the city manager on Thursday to set up a program for residents to turn in their unused prescription drugs. Bryan Brooks, an associate professor in Environmental Science & HRC faculty fellow at Baylor, is quoted on wastewater toxicology.
(FULL STORY)

Baylor Professor Explores Colleges' Moral Development Role
[9/2/2010]
The old image of higher education molding young men and women into people of character and judgment in addition to knowledge has slowly been changing over the last two centuries. Dr. Perry Glanzer serves as the faculty assistant director of the Honors Program (one of four programs in the Honors College) and is an associate professor in the School of Education. Along with professor Todd Ream, he co-authored the recently-released book "Christianity and Moral Identity in Higher Education."
(FULL STORY)

Prof. David Smith Speaks Out About Waco & the Arts
[7/16/2010]
As I have said before, conversation for the arts is like oxygen for fire. Ignore them, and they slowly wither.

This is not a contemporary development. In 1941, artist Nicolas Calas wrote to Alfred Barr at New York's Museum of Modern Art that "the hardest thing for an artist . . . trying to earn a living in America is to make contact with an educated public. If our work isn't known here . . . it's nearly impossible to go on."
(FULL STORY)

Renaissance Program Brings High School Students to Campus
[6/22/2010]
Baylor University's esteemed Honors College and nationally acclaimed School of Engineering and Computer Science have partnered to offer soon-to-be high school seniors an integrated introduction to topics in engineering and technology with complementary readings in history, art, literature, philosophy and theology.
(FULL STORY)

Students Travel to Baylor for Conference on Studying Great Texts Within Christian Framework
[6/10/2010]
Fifteen students from across the country who are in the Lilly Fellows Programs in Humanities and the Arts will travel to Baylor University May 16 to 20 for the conference "Engaging Great Texts Within the Christian Tradition." Among works to be discussed will be the movie "Tender Mercies," writings of the philosopher/theologian St. Thomas Aquinas, the poetry of Virgil and the writings of Flannery O'Connor.
(FULL STORY)

"Avatar" on Earth Day
[4/28/2010]
James Cameron's record-shattering film Avatar is being released on DVD today. Today is not a Tuesday, the day DVDs normally hit the stores, but a Thursday, to coincide with the 40th annual Earth Day: Avatar highlights the threats posed by an advanced, war-mongering, and artificial society to a primitive, pacific, and organic culture.
(FULL STORY)

Eyes on Kenya: Medical service team prepares for trip
[4/28/2010]
The second annual Kenya Medical Missions team is set and heading to Kenya in approximately one month. Several Honors College students are traveling to western Kenya to assist a community of orphans and elders and at the same time conduct medical research for their senior theses.
(FULL STORY)

Honors College Professors Featured in "Science & Faith" Seminar
[4/21/2010]
"Science and Faith: Breaking Down the Wall" is the title of a unique seminar to be offered at Wilshire on Saturday, April 24 in coordination with the Baylor University Center for Ministry Effectiveness and Educational Leadership. The all-day event will feature three Baylor University professors - Gerald Cleaver, a physicist; Barry Harvey, a theologian; and Phyllis Tippit, a geologist.
(FULL STORY)

Actor Terry Kiser Shares His Craft With Honors College Theater Student
[4/20/2010]
It seems unlikely that a longtime Hollywood actor could gain anything from a teenager. But that is not the case. Ridgway's Terry Kiser, 60, perhaps best known as the deceased Bernie Lomax in the "Weekend at Bernie's" movies, has spent the past several years coaching a select few aspiring teenage actors in the Ouray area, including Jake Abell, a current University Scholars major in Baylor University's Honors College.
(FULL STORY)

Baylor Graduates Named Winners of Inaugural F. Ray Wilson II Award for Best Thesis
[4/15/2010]
Baylor University graduates Kirsten Appleyard, Lisa Funkhouser and Carrie Wallis have been selected as the inaugural recipients of the F. Ray Wilson II Award for Best Thesis, which honors the life of the beloved Baylor professor of biology and Master Teacher, who directed 37 Honors theses during more than 30 years of teaching at the university.
(FULL STORY)

Wilson's Bookmarks: "Rouault--Fujimura: Soliloquies"
[4/15/2010]
This lovely booklet, richly illustrated, features an essay by the philosopher Thomas Hibbs (dean of the Honors College at Baylor University) occasioned by an exhibition at Dillon Gallery in Chelsea in the fall of 2009, juxtaposing two Christian artists: the French painter Georges Rouault (1871-1958) and the New York-based contemporary painter Makoto Fujimura (b. 1960). The booklet concludes with a brief "refraction" by Fujimura, "Georges Rouault: The First Twenty-first Century Artist"; like Hibbs's essay, it invites re-reading and opens up a space for further conversation.
(FULL STORY)

Oh, The Places You'll Go!
[4/8/2010]
Baylor Magazine features several Honors College alumni in "Oh, The Places You'll Go." From Europe to South America, academics and personal interests have expanded the borders of many.
(FULL STORY)

What is friendly competition?
[4/6/2010]
Honors College juniors and professors battled head to head in the second annual Junior Jeopardy competition.
(FULL STORY)

City to Host the Nation's Largest Annual Regional Water Conference
[4/13/2010]
From Tuesday, April 13, through Friday, April 16, Corpus Christi will host the nation's largest annual regional water conference -- the Texas Water 2010 Conference. The featured guest following the opening event will be Dr. Bryan Brooks, Associate Professor of Environmental Science at Baylor University and a Faculty Fellow in the Honors Residential College.
(FULL STORY)

Baylor University's New Starr
[2/23/2010]
(Guest column by Dr. Thomas S. Hibbs, Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Culture and Dean of the Honors College, on the selection of Ken Starr as President of Baylor; Hibbs represented the Council of Deans on Baylor's Presidential Search Advisory Committee) On a Wednesday afternoon I made my way from my office on the Baylor University campus over to the central administration building to begin the process of reviewing candidate files for the next president of Baylor. I had no idea what I would find.
(FULL STORY)

"The Buzz:" Presidential Trivia with Prof. David Smith
[2/19/2010]
In celebration of Presidnet's Day, Honors College professor Dr. David A. Smith (History, BIC) shares presidential history trivia about Washington's "wooden" teeth, Teddy Roosevelt's experience as a cowboy, and more on Channel 10 KWTX's "The Buzz."
(FULL STORY)

Baptists Challenged To Wrestle With Tough Issues of Faith & Science
[2/1/2010]
Baylor theology professor Barry Harvey took just two texts to a seminar on science and faith--the Bible and Darwin's "Origin of Species.""Far too often, (discussing faith and science) generates heat rather than light," Harvey said...
(FULL STORY)

Great Texts Prof. Douglas Henry Is Finalist for Lilly Fellows Book Award
[12/16/2009]
"Christianity and the Soul of the University: Faith as a Foundation for Intellectual Community," edited by Baylor philosophy professors Douglas Henry and Michael Beaty, was a finalist for the Lilly Fellows Program Book Award. The Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts, based at Valparaiso University, recently announced the winner and finalists of its third biennial Lilly Fellows Program Book Award at the program's national conference at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich.
(FULL STORY)

Christians need 'theology of power,' sociologist insists
[12/10/2009]
Christians need to develop "a theology of power," sociologist Michael Lindsay concluded after interviewing 360 evangelicals who hold influential positions in politics, business, entertainment and academia. In particular, Lindsay noted, evangelical Christians need a theological basis for answering questions such as "How do we appropriately leverage the possibilities that arise when we accrue advantages?" and "How do we avoid the perils of privilege?"
(FULL STORY)

Flannery O'Connor...PBS Interview With Prof. Ralph Wood
[11/30/2009]
"Even at the end of her short life, when it became harder and harder for her to walk, Flannery O'Connor went to Mass nearly every day at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Milledgeville, in central Georgia. In her room after church she would write all morning, facing the back of a tall chest so that she would see no distractions. Her output was not massive--two short novels, two collections of short stories, a number of essays, and a lot of letters. But today many consider her one of America's greatest writers. Since O'Connor's death, more than 50 books have been written about her, one of them by Ralph Wood of Baylor University."
(FULL STORY)

"In Their Words"
[8/18/2009]
"Baylor Life" takes you into the lives of Baylor students. Featured students Preston Yancey, Dan Marchini, and Jennifer Atwood are proud members of the Honnors College. Each podcast will give you the opportunity to listen in as students tell their stories from inside and outside of the classroom.
(FULL STORY)

How Public Art Connects Us
[7/15/2009]
That we Americans are hearty individualists is so widely acknowledged as scarcely to be the stuff of headlines. Much more worthy of the occasional headline is that there's a downside to this, one that manifests itself in many different ways. (Dr. David Smith teaches in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, is a senior lecturer in history and author of "Money for Art: The Tangled Web of Art and Politics in American Democracy")
(FULL STORY)

News 8 Austin: Honors & Engineering Attract Young Minds
[6/19/2009]
Giving high-performing students the opportunity to experience both science, mathematics, and great texts as part of exposure to a well rounded education
(FULL STORY)

People Make the Difference
[6/19/2009]
While our history and mission are significant characteristics of Baylor's uniqueness, the number one component for me is the people who have made a difference in my life and the lives of many others.
(FULL STORY)

Prescription: Plato
[5/22/2009]
Reading Plato's Republic doesn't have obvious benefits for an aspiring physician. But while it lacks in practical tips for diagnosing appendicitis and starting an IV, the text is the perfect prescription for challenging a student's logic and reasoning skills. Read how Nathan Grohmann (Univ. Sch. '09) combined the Classics, service and a scholarship into a potion for pre-medical sucess.
(FULL STORY)

Three Honors College Students Selected for Fulbright Scholarships
[5/5/2009]
Of the five Baylor students selected for the prestigious Fulbright Scholarships this year, three are Honors College students.
(FULL STORY)

An Honorable Pursuit
[3/16/2009]
As Baylor's Honors Program celebrates 50 years of scholarship, the University is seeing the fruits of 1,400 current undergraduates following "an honorable pursuit."
(FULL STORY)

Baylor Named a 'Best Value'
[3/16/2009]
Finance magazine ranks Baylor among nations' best for academic quality and affordability.
(FULL STORY)

Why Teach Interdisciplinary Curriculum?
[2/17/2009]
An integrated curriculum matters for at least three reasons: 1) It makes us more fully human, 2) it creates true--not false--professionals, and 3) it provides us with a path to our faith.
(FULL STORY)

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