Baylor in the News – March 14-20, 2021

Media Contact: Baylor University Media and Public Relations, 254-710-1961
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WACO, Texas (March 21, 2021) – Baylor University researchers and faculty experts were featured in national and local media stories as they shared their thoughts and expertise on a planned autism treatment center at Baylor, the impact of COVID-19 on sleep, addiction to video games, ways Christians can care for the planet and Truett Seminary’s launch of the Faith & Sports Institute.

March 14, 2021

Waco Tribune-Herald: $2.5 million Baylor project adds autism treatment at speech, language clinic
Construction that will create an 11,865-square-foot center for treating and researching autism in Baylor University’s Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic is set to begin soon. Interviewed for the article are Rodney Bowden, Ph.D., dean of the Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences, and Diane Loeb, Ph.D., chair of the department communication sciences and disorders.

March 15, 2021

KXXV-TV: Daylight Saving Time: What lack of sleep is doing to our brain
VIDEO: Baylor doctoral candidate Chenlu Gao with Baylor's Sleep Neuroscience and Cognition Lab is interviewed for this story about why getting eight hours of sleep is critically important.

March 16, 2021

Waco Tribune-Herald: $1.5 million gift creates Baylor chair for Black worship, advances gospel music preservation
A donor's recent $1.5 million gift to Baylor University will set up an endowed chair in Black worship studies that will direct the university's nationally recognized Black Gospel Music Restoration Project. The gift from Ella Wall Prichard and the Prichard Family Foundation matched by an anonymous donor through the Baylor Academic Challenge, will establish the interdisciplinary position that will touch on studies of Black sacred music, preaching and worship.

March 17, 2021

Baptist Standard: Baylor reckons with ‘painful information’ about founders
As a commission created to examine Baylor University’s history examined some of its early leaders’ views on race, participants wrestled with “painful information” about the school’s founders.

Baptist Standard: Around the State
Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary has launched the Faith & Sports Institute, a center for the comprehensive study and practice of sports and Christianity.

NBC News: 5 best quiet air purifiers of 2021, according to experts
This article about air purifiers that can be noisy and interrupt sleep mentions a a September 2020 survey from Baylor University sleep researchers doctoral candidate Chenlu Gao and Michael Scullin, Ph.D., which found 25 percent of Americans reported worsened sleep quality given Covid-19-related stress.

Inside Higher Ed: Colleges, McKinsey and Strada Start Task Force on Higher Education and Opportunity
Baylor University is among three dozen colleges and universities plus global consulting giant McKinsey & Co. and Strada Education Network, a nonprofit focused on the education-to-employment pipeline, that have joined together to form the Taskforce on Higher Education and Opportunity, with goals to ensure student success, partner with local communities and reimagine how higher education is delivered.

Christian Scholar's Review: Insecurity, Skepticism toward Science, and Christian Environmental Leadership
Susan Bratton, Ph.D., professor of environmental science, writes about how Christians can engage their fellow Christians, adherents of other religions, and the general public respectfully, justly and compassionately when it comes to environmental innovation to improve care for the planet – and for other people.

March 18, 2021

Religion News Service: Jennifer Lyell wanted to stop her abuser by telling her story. Instead, her life fell apart.
David Pooler, Ph.D., professor of social work who researches clergy sexual abuse, is quoted in this article that sexual misconduct by clergy and other religious leaders is often labeled as “having an affair.” But that description misses the power imbalance at play.

Baptist News Global: Co-chairs of Baylor commission on historic representations say their research was distressing
Members of a Baylor University commission charged with recommending ways to address the institution’s historic ties to slavery and the Confederacy often were distressed as they studied the racist beliefs and actions of the university’s founders.

March 19, 2021

Baptist Standard: Maston Lecture: Christians show love by listening
The Bible calls Christians to be people of the truth who know their neighbors and love them well, Baylor religion historian Mandy McMichael, Ph.D., told East Texas Baptist University students. And listening is a profound act of Christian love, she emphasized in her T.B. Maston Lecture in Christian Ethics.

Baptist News Global: ">With $1 million grant, 25 Alliance of Baptists congregations are working to understand systemic racism and overcome it
Kevin Dougherty, Ph.D., associate professor of sociology, is among the researchers involved in a five-year national scholarly study of how to expose and address systemic racism in their local contexts. The “Churches that THRIVE for Racial Justice” initiative is funded by a $1 million grant from the Lilly Endowment and is administered by Davidson College.

Niagara (NY) Frontier Publications: Achievement and escapism can lead to online video game addiction
Xunyi Wang, Ph.D., assistant professor of information systems, is the lead author on a study that found that as online video games increase in popularity – particularly with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing people to stay home – some players are becoming addicted as they seek feelings of achievement and escape.

Religion News Service: With Beth Moore’s exit, more evangelical women are challenging strict gender norms
Beth Allison Barr, Ph.D., professor of history and author of “The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth,” is quoted in this article about how some evangelical women are beginning to speak out about the limits of complementarian theology.

March 20, 2021

Baylor Connections: Pablo Rivas, Ph.D.
Technologies like artificial intelligence, deep learning and machine impact our lives in countless ways, but how much do you know them? On this Baylor Connections, Pablo Rivas, assistant professor of computer science at Baylor, gives listeners a class on “Deep Learning 101.” The author of the book Deep Learning for Beginners, Rivas shares how it shapes services used by consumers, and analyzes ethical issues to be considered in that growth.

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.