Presidential Perspective - July 12, 2018

Baylor Students, Faculty and Staff:

Pastors from several denominations, religions and races throughout Waco and Central Texas joined me yesterday in the Powell Chapel at our Truett Seminary to gather in prayer for area students, families, teachers and faculty in preparation for the rapidly approaching fall semester. When we offer our prayers, God uses them to impact the lives of others, beyond what we could hope or imagine. We are blessed to live in a community that truly cares for our students and brightly shines the light of God's love. And I cannot wait to share with you the release of our new freshman class hymn, "Shining Bright."

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

• As we look forward to the fall semester, my office in Pat Neff Hall will soon sit right between the locations of two Baylor and Waco favorites: Common Grounds and Heritage Creamery! Both will soon join Slow Rise Pizza on the first floor of the Bill Daniel Student Center. All three of the iconic local brands are owned and operated by Waco native and Baylor graduate Blake Batson, B.A. '08. I look forward to seeing you in the SUB this fall for a cup of coffee (of course, hot tea is my preference) or a scoop of ice cream.

• Just in time for back-to-school shopping: A new research study by Baylor's Lingjiang Lora Tu, Ph.D., assistant clinical professor of marketing, and Chris Pullig, Ph.D., professor and chair of marketing in the Hankamer School of Business, found that prices ending in "9" may not necessarily prompt more purchases than a whole number. They found that analytic thinkers tend to focus on the left-most digit of the price, while holistic thinkers view each digit as an inseparable part of the price. So pennies really do matter!

• One of our former Regents, Bob Beauchamp, and his wife, Laura, on Monday evening were named Recovery Philanthropists of the Year by the Association of Recovery in Higher Education. In January 2017, the Beauchamps made a generous $2.5 million gift to Baylor that led to the creation of the Beauchamp Addiction Recovery Center (BARC), located in East Village Residential Community. The BARC provides support services for students who are in the initial stages of identifying addiction and continued support for students who have completed rehabilitation programs.

• One of the many improvements we have made at Baylor as part of the 105 recommendations in response to past reports of sexual violence is the expansion of staff, services and facilities within the Counseling Center. In recognition of the significant strides made on behalf of our students, the Counseling Center was recently named a 2018 Locals Love Us counseling service in Waco. Executive Director Jim Marsh reports that one out of every six Baylor students visits the Counseling Center, reinforcing the University's commitment to caring for our student body.

• Davide Zori, Ph.D., assistant professor in Baylor Interdisciplinary Core of the Honors College, has been involved in an archaeological research project of a noblewoman's tomb in San Giuliano, Tuscany, which dates back some 2,700 years. The excavation is part of a collaboration between Baylor, the Virgil Academy, the Archaeological Superintendence of the Province of Viterbo and Southern Etruria, and the Municipality of Barbarano Romano. 

There are so many great things happening at our University, and it's an honor to share just a few of them with you each week. Thank you for being part of the Baylor Family!

Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D.
President