Presidential Perspective - June 28, 2018

Baylor Students, Faculty and Staff:

The Livingstone Family is already looking forward to the July 4 holiday next Wednesday and celebrating the freedoms we enjoy here in our great country. We should never take these for granted. I hope you will join us at Touchdown Alley on the banks of the Brazos River for the City of Waco’s annual Fourth on the Brazos Celebration. We thoroughly enjoyed last year’s event with all the music, food and fireworks, as well as the opportunity to engage with the Baylor Family and other community members.

Here are a few noteworthy items to share for this week:

• As many of you are aware, Baylor continues to experience periodic media coverage of legal proceedings as we work to resolve past reports of sexual and interpersonal violence within our campus community. It is important to remember that many of these legal filings represent only one side of the story, nor do they reflect the significant changes and reforms that have transformed the University under our new leadership team over the past two years. We continue to move forward as we commit to and enrich a safe and welcoming educational environment for all students, faculty and staff. A reminder that Baylor offers many ways to report situations involving sexual and interpersonal violence, as well as expanded counseling and support services.
• On July 11, we have invited senior pastors and leaders of all faiths, denominations and races throughout Waco and Central Texas to join me for a Community Prayer Breakfast on our campus. This important event will bring together faith leaders to pray collectively for students, teachers, faculty and families as we all prepare for the upcoming school year. I ask that you keep our community leaders in your prayers as we play an eternal role in developing our future generations.
• One of the many special programs on our campus is Camp Success, which is a free summer language and literacy intervention program for children through the department of communication sciences and disorders in the Robbins College. We recently received a $1.6 million gift from the Waco Scottish Rite Charitable Foundation that will create a permanent endowment to ensure the long-term health and trajectory of this life-changing program. We appreciate the longstanding support of the Waco Scottish Rite Bodies.
• I always like to share good news from the Louise Herrington School of Nursing, which is based in Dallas and shines a light around the world. Dean Shelley Conroy recently returned from a visit to Vietnam, where Baylor’s nursing school has been instrumental in the development of curriculum for the Nam Dinh National Nursing University. Every summer four to six members of our faculty go to Vietnam to teach core master’s-level courses. On this trip, Dean Conroy had the opportunity to meet with both Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Health and three Vice Directors to expand Baylor’s presence there.
• Further evidence of how Baylor is Preparing Champions for Life: We led the Big 12 Conference for the second year in a row with a school-record 65 student-athletes named to the Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team. Student-athletes on the Academic All-Rookie Team must be new, first-time/incoming freshmen who have competed 24 semester hours of non-remedial coursework and achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or better, while also meeting athletic requirements.

Thank you for your continued dedication and support of our great University. I’ll be wearing green and gold tomorrow!

Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D.
President