Baylor in the News – April 25-May 1, 2021

Media Contact: Baylor University Media and Public Relations, 254-710-1961
Follow us on Twitter: @BaylorUMedia

WACO, Texas (May 2, 2021) – Baylor University researchers and faculty experts were featured in national and local media stories as they shared their thoughts and expertise on gratitude’s relationship with happiness, the role of artists and musicians in confronting racism, how genomics might be used to improve health outcomes and a new tool that predicts recidivism in federal inmates that could help efforts to reduce prison populations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

April 25, 2021

Forbes: Gratitude Is A Key To Happiness: 4 Reasons Why
This article about gratitude and happiness cites a 2014 Baylor study, which found when people were more focused on owning and acquiring more things, they were less happy, likely because they were focused on what they didn’t already have. Those who were less materialistic were more grateful and happier because they felt they had enough and were more satisfied overall.

April 26, 2021

Forbes: The Kentucky Derby Makes The Fastest Two Minutes In Sports A Year-Round Party
Kirk Wakefield, Ph.D., Edwin W. Streetman Professor of Retail Marketing at Baylor's Hankamer School of Business, writes about how the Kentucky Derby has turned the fastest two minutes in sports into a year-round party with strategic implications for sponsors and sports marketers everywhere.

Collegexpress: How Colleges Are Helping Students Meet Basic Needs
This article about how colleges are helping students with food and housing resources, especially during the pandemic, mentions Baylor hosting a free farmers market on campus once per semester for all students.

April 27, 2021

KWKT-TV: Baylor organization offering free caps and gowns to seniors
VIDEO: Baylor Student Body President Sutton Houser was interviewed about the Grad Gown Project, which - in response to the needs of students - provides free graduation caps and gowns for students who are on particularly tight budgets.

Baptist News Global: That’s just the way it is? Don’t you believe it
In this column, Greg Garrett, Ph.D., writer and professor of English at Baylor, writes about how Grammy Award-winning pianist, singer and songwriter Bruce Hornsby joined Garrett’s race and film class at Baylor via Zoom to talk about his 20-year collaboration with Spike Lee, about his 35-year career writing songs about race and justice, and about the role of the artist in confronting racism.

April 28, 2021

Associations Now: How Better Organizational Listening Can Improve the Workplace
In a new study, Marlene S. Neill, Ph.D., lead author and associate professor of journalism, public relations and new media at Baylor, found two critical listening skills present among workplaces that communicated successfully during the pandemic: ethical listening and strategic listening.

In Touch Ministries: The Joy of Proximity
This essay about how the sprawl of American life makes it difficult to connect and why it’s essential we close the gap cites a 2019 Baylor sociology study that showed 47% of churchgoers spend between six and 15 minutes in the car to get to church, and 23% spend 16 to 30 minutes.

Religion Unplugged: Q&A With Dr. Beth Allison Barr: How 'Biblical Womanhood' Is A Recent Phenomenon
Religion Unplugged contributor Kenneth E. Frantz interviews Beth Allison Barr, Ph.D., professor of history and author of “The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth,” via Zoom about how the Reformation, changing modern norms of marriage and a conservative resurgence in the U.S. have changed views in the church on women.

April 29, 2021

Big Think: Blame evolution for human disease
A team of researchers led by Mary Lauren Benton, Ph.D., assistant professor of computer science at Baylor, recently published an essay in Nature Reviews Genetics on the influence of evolutionary history on human health and disease and possible new approaches to treating ailments caused by our own genetics. The essay considers how evolution accidentally made us susceptible to certain diseases and how genomics might be used to improve health outcomes.

April 30, 2021

The Pulse WHYY-FM (Philadelphia): How a Christian epidemiologist works to sway white evangelicals on COVID and vaccines
AUDIO: As the Friendly Neighbor Epidemiologist on Facebook, Emily Smith, Ph.D., a Baylor epidemiologist married to a preacher, has been able to reach evangelicals about COVID-19 in a way others can’t, by meeting them where they are.

EurekAlert: Tool to predict recidivism in federal inmates could make more prisoners eligible for early release
A new study by researchers at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Baylor University, the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Washington State University has assessed a new tool to identify inmates for release who had the lowest likelihood of recidivism, finding that a greater proportion of inmates could reduce their risk and become eligible for early release over time if they participated in a re-entry program and did not incur infractions. This finding has implications for efforts to reduce prison populations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Baylor Connections: Ken Buckley, Baylor University Career Center
Baylor University’s Career Center helps students navigate each step of the career journey. Amidst the challenges of COVID-19, Baylor’s placement rate grew in the last year, reflecting the hard work of students and staff in the face of job market headwinds. In this Baylor Connections, Ken Buckley, assistant vice provost in the Baylor University Career Center, analyzes that growth and shares how the Career Center provides tailored support for the individual student.

May 1, 2021

Forbes: New Leadership For the Big Ten Universities: The Glass Ceiling Is Cracking
This column about a changing of the guard in the Big Ten, with five of the 14 universities led by women, mentions that three of the Big 12 universities have women as president, including Baylor President Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D.

Waco Tribune-Herald: World Hunger Relief farm looks ahead in providing food, education for Waco area
Jeremy Everett, executive director of the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty, is quoted in this article about World Hunger Relief Inc. farm as it moves into a vision of local food supplier, advocate of food and nutrition and an example of sustainable local agriculture. Everett worked as a farm intern in the early 2000s.

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 focusing on faculty research and expert opinions, innovative teaching, major awards and recognition, and community involvement. Through its media training workshops, the Baylor M&PR team develops faculty experts to effectively communicate the impact of their research or speak as subject-matter experts into national trends and conversations with media outlets, through 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.