Baylor in the News – Jan. 31-Feb. 6, 2021

Media Contact: Baylor University Media and Public Relations, 254-710-1961
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WACO, Texas (Feb. 7, 2021) – Baylor University researchers and faculty experts were featured in national and local media stories as they shared their thoughts and expertise on grief and "attachment objects," reading the Psalms to help heal COVID's harm to mental and behavioral health, GameStop and brick-and-mortar burdens, the pandemic's effect on small businesses and how Black composers shaped the sound of American classical music.

Jan. 31, 2021

Business Insider: Baylor: A creation-diamond startup backed by Mark Cuban is brining millennial flair to the death-care industry
Candi Cann, Ph.D., associate professor in religion and Baylor Interdisciplinary Core and author of Virtual Afterlives: Grieving the Dead in the Twenty-first Century, is quoted about research she is leading on “attachment objects,” such as cremation diamonds, and their impact on grief.

KWTX-TV: Baylor’s campus bears celebrate birthdays
VIDEO: The Baylor University campus community held a weeklong celebration for its mascots Joy and Lady-- the two black bears who have lived on the Baylor campus for about two decades.

RiverBender: SIUE’s Giddens Teams With Baylor Mentor To Combat Human Trafficking
Stacie Petter, Ph.D., The Ben H. Williams Professor of Information Systems and Business Analytic, is joining Baylor alumna Lauren Giddens, Ph.D., with Southern Illinois University, in using a $250,000 National Science Foundation grant to form an interdisciplinary team to propose solutions and training to help law enforcers and others fight human trafficking.

Feb. 1, 2021

Baptist Standard: Falling Seed: Psalms are ancient resource for a novel time: Part 2
Rebecca Poe Hays, Ph.D., assistant professor of Christian Scriptures at Truett Seminary, writes about how the Psalms can help heal the pandemic’s harm to the mental and behavioral health.

Dallas Business Journal: As GameStop shares surge amid national attention, what’s next for the DFW company?
Shane Underwood, Ph.D., professor and chair of finance, insurance and real estate, is quoted in this article about the challenges facing GameStop and other retailers grappling with brick-and-mortar burdens.

The Christian Century: What do fertility rates have to do with secularization?
Philip Jenkins, Distinguished Professor of History and co-director of Program on Historical Studies of Religion in the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion, argues in this new book, "Fertility and Faith," that “rapid changes” in fertility rates “should serve as an alarm bell about incipient secularization and the decline of institutional religion.”

Feb. 2, 2021

KWKT-TV: Baylor holds virtual dunk contest for free tuition
VIDEO: Senior Director for Undergraduate Admission Ross VanDyke was interviewed for this story on a competition to high school seniors to show their best slam dunk or basketball trick shots on TikTok for a chance to win free tuition for a semester.

Feb. 3, 2021

Waco Tribune-Herald: Waco Family & Faith Film Fest goes drive-in on return
Waco Family & Faith International Film Festival founder Tyrha Lindsey-Warren, Ph.D., clinical assistant professor of marketing with extensive background in film, theater and marketing, is quoted about the return of the annual festival, but with movies on a new set of screens, including drive-ins.

Ladders: This type of manager will eventually create unethical employees
A new study from Baylor management professor Matt Quade, Ph.D., found that managers without morals can lead to employees’ unethical behavior.

Feb. 5, 2021

Los Angeles Times: COVID-19 slammed small businesses — but a surprising number are thriving
Baylor sociologist Charles Tolbert, Ph.D., is quoted in this story about the effect of COVID-19 on small businesses.

Baylor Connections: Peter Klein, Ph.D.
AUDIO: Baylor’s Entrepreneurship and Corporate Innovation department is one of the nation’s elite—ranked in the top 10 by U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review, and Entrepreneurship magazine for more than a decade. Peter Klein is the W. W. Caruth Chair and Professor of Entrepreneurship at Baylor. In this Baylor Connections, he examines the entrepreneurial mindset in a variety of settings, considers the impact of COVID-19 on business leaders, and shares how Baylor Entrepreneurship and Corporate Innovation has established itself as a top national program.

Waco Tribune-Herald: Baylor researcher exploring technology's role in sex trafficking fight
Stacie Petter, Ph.D., The Ben H. Williams Professor of Information Systems and Business Analytics, is part of an effort funded by the National Science Foundation seeking to better understand the roles technology plays in human trafficking, and in the law enforcement fight against it.

Smithsonian Magazine: How Black Composers Shaped the Sound of American Classical Music
Horace J. Maxile Jr., Ph.D., a music theory professor whose musicology work centers on Black composers, is quoted in this article about new projects that aim to reframe the history of American classical music by embracing its diverse origins and composers of color, while building a more inclusive future for the genre. Maxile said overt references in classical and concert music to spirituals often came in the rhythms and note choices.

Notre Dame/Saint Mary's Observer: Scholars debate over content, Constitution regarding Trump impeachment
Benjamin A. Kleinerman, Ph.D., The R.W. Morrison Chair of Political Science whose research focuses on the relationship between executive power and the constitutional order, was among the scholars who participated in a panel discussion on “The Second Trump Impeachment,” co-hosted by The Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution at James Madison’s Montpelier.

ABOUT BAYLOR MEDIA & PUBLIC RELATIONS

Baylor's Office of Media and Public Relations (M&PR) supports the University's Illuminate strategic plan as a top Christian research university by proactively placing high-profile stories about faculty research and expert opinions, innovative teaching, major awards and recognition, and community involvement. The Baylor M&PR team develops faculty experts to effectively communicate the impact of their research or, as subject-matter experts, speak into national trends and conversations with media outlets, Hot Topics and on the Baylor Connections podcast. Our faculty expert directory is available on the M&PR website at www.baylor.edu/news/experts.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 19,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 90 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.