Presidential Perspective - July 20, 2017

July 20, 2017

Baylor Students, Faculty and Staff:

I am sending today’s Perspective while in the midst of our July Board of Regents meeting. After today, I may change my title to “Professional Meeting Attender,” as I will have participated in nearly 20 hours of meetings over the past two days with our Regents. The additional committee meetings are the result of recent governance reforms to the Board, which will enhance communication, constituent representation and overall operations. I look forward to meeting with the full Board tomorrow, and we’ll provide you a summary of developments post-meeting. Here are a few additional items of interest for this week:

     
  • I am excited to write that Baylor has been named a “Great College to Work For” by The Chronicle of Higher Education for the seventh consecutive year. Baylor was one of only 79 institutions across the nation and one of only two Big 12 schools to achieve such distinction. I can certainly attest to the Chronicle’s designation.
  • Another ranking we should all be proud of: Baylor was recently ranked No. 6 nationally in College Choice’s list of “Best Christian Colleges” for 2017. The website noted that Baylor is a “lively school, a nationally ranked research institution” rooted in the Baptist tradition and cited the work of our alumni as missionaries, pastors, Fortune 500 leaders, government officials and professional athletes.
  • Hankamer School of Business researchers Dr. Meredith David and Dr. James Roberts continue to examine our society’s ubiquitous use of smartphones and how our devotion to those devices affects our relationships. In their latest study on phone snubbing – also called “phubbing” – they found that many people who are phubbed by their friends and loved ones often turn to their own phones and social media to find acceptance, which is a “vicious cycle.”
  • Our Center for Christian Music Studies is hosting the annual Alleluia Conference this week for worship leaders and musicians from across the country, with a special focus on Baylor’s Black Gospel Music Restoration Project. James Abbington of Emory University will lead “Lift Every Voice and Sing: A Celebration of Black Gospel Music” at 7 p.m. tonight in the Powell Chapel at Truett Seminary. The concert is free and open to the public.
  • The fall semester inches closer and closer, as evidenced by the Big 12 Football Media Days held this week in Frisco. New football coach Matt Rhule addressed the hundreds of reporters in attendance and talked about the transformation that is taking place on our campus: “What I’ve learned in my time at Baylor and Waco is we’re not running from the past, but rather we’re learning from it. We’re truly committed to getting the wrongs of the past corrected into a bright new future.”
  •  

Thank you for your commitment to Baylor,

Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D.
President