Baptist History and Heritage Society Presents Distinguished Service Award to Baylor Professor

by Julie Carlson, (254) 710-6681
Dr. Rosalie Beck, associate professor of religion at Baylor University, recently received the Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding Contributions to Baptist History from the Baptist History and Heritage Society during the organization's annual meeting.
"The Society, in presenting of this award, celebrates the many contributions that Dr. Beck has made to the Baptist History and Heritage Society and to the field of Baptist history," said Pam Durso, associate director of the society.
Beck has been a member of the society for more than 20 years. She served as president, 1995-1997; vice president, 1994-1995; and member of the Council of Advisors, 1986-1994; and on the editorial board of the society's journal, Baptist History and Heritage, since 1998. Additionally, she was the recipient of the Norman W. Cox Award in 1995, an award that recognizes the writer of the best article in Baptist History and Heritage each year.
"I am deeply honored to win the Distinguished Service Award for 2005," Beck said. "This award is particularly important to me personally because it is awarded to lay scholars, professional scholars, state historians, whomever the selection committee feels has, through their life, served to remind Baptists who we are and what we believe. So, I share this honor with women and men from around the nation, lay, clergy, academics, who champion the notion that if we understand our roots into the past, we will be healthier today and grow with strength into the future."
Beck received a bachelor's degree from the University of California at San Diego, a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctorate from Baylor. Her publications include such articles as "Signs of Peace and Sanity: Baptist Women and World War II," "Religious Freedom: Always One Generation from Extinction" and "The Impact of Southern Baptist Women on Social Issues," as well as entries in various dictionaries and encyclopedias including the Dictionary of Baptists in America, the Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists and the Handbook of Texas History.