Presidential Perspective - September 13, 2018

Baylor Students, Faculty and Staff:

If you see a Baylor staff member while on campus this week, be sure to tell them “Thanks!” Our staff supports Baylor students and faculty in so many ways. Yesterday we hosted our annual Fall Staff Forum over the lunch hour at the Ferrell Center, where I provided an update on Illuminate, our University’s strategic plan, and we also learned a few tips on how to receive feedback from others. This is an important, strategic time in the history of Baylor, and we have launched several major initiatives over the past year to seize this moment. Thank you, staff, for all that you do to help move Baylor forward and to shine a light for our great University!

In appreciation of the outstanding contributions of Baylor employees, faculty and staff can purchase discounted tickets for Saturday’s football game against Duke through tomorrow at www.baylorbears.com/promotions (enter Promo Code: BUEMPLOYEE) or by calling the Ticket Office at 254-710-1000. Once you have your game tickets, be sure to register online for a free pregame tailgate for faculty and staff at noon at the Mattson Tent on the peninsula off the South Plaza. (Please know that space is limited!) Let’s fling our green and gold afar in support of Coach Matt Rhule and the Bears on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

Here are several other campus happenings that may be of interest:

• For the seventh straight year, Baylor ranks second in the Big 12 and among the top five universities in Texas in the latest U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings. Baylor came in at No. 78 among national universities for this year, which speaks to the continued strength and resilience of the University. Many of our academic programs are also nationally ranked, with the undergraduate entrepreneurship program within the Hankamer School of Business leading the way at No. 16.
• Speaking of numbers, Research Professor of Biology Bob Adams, Ph.D., has published the 400th scholarly paper of his storied career. Reports Dr. Adams: “I suppose the next landmark is maybe 425, but I think I will just focus on No. 401 and be glad that God is controlling my health so I can enjoy working on 401.” Thank you, Bob, for shining your light on new knowledge through your research.
• If you were around Armstrong Browning Library on Tuesday morning, you might have noticed a C-SPAN TV crew carrying their equipment into Cox Lecture Hall. We welcomed C-SPAN’s American History TV to campus, as the network recorded a History 2365 lecture by our Distinguished Professor of History Thomas Kidd, Ph.D., a prominent historian on colonial America, the American Revolution and American religious history. Dr. Kidd’s lecture on the Great Awakening is expected to air in November as part of C-SPAN’s Lectures in History. We look forward to the broadcast.
• The First Gent and I love Waco, and we are excited to learn more about our city’s history through the lens of Fred Gildersleeve, who is known as “Waco’s Photographer.” Our staff with The Texas Collection has worked with Baylor University Press to publish 186 Gildersleeve photos in a new coffee-table book that gives a stunningly realistic glimpse of life in Waco during the first quarter of the 20th century. The book can be preordered directly from www.baylorpress.com or picked up at the on-campus Baylor Bookstore on Sept. 15. Is it too early to start thinking about Christmas gifts?
• This is the time of year in which our campus is filled with numerous events for students, faculty, staff and the Waco community. For example, at 3:30 p.m. today on the fifth floor of Cashion, Baylor will host a “Boundary Breaking Women’s Panel: Redefining Womanhood” event, during which I will join 10 of our faculty members in spotlighting 10 influential women throughout history. I encourage you to get out of your “comfort zone” and attend a thought-provoking lecture, listen to a performance from our musicians, watch our students perform on the theater stage or join a new interest or service group. You can keep track of all the Baylor happenings on the All University Calendar.

See you at McLane Stadium on Saturday!

Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D.

President