Presidential Perspective - February 28, 2019

Baylor Students, Faculty and Staff:

Yesterday we made a significant announcement with the appointment of Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D., as Baylor's next Provost. Some of you may be asking, "What is a Provost? And why is this important to me?"

The Provost serves as the University's chief academic officer. Dr. Brickhouse will oversee Baylor's 12 colleges and schools, research enterprise, University Libraries, and centers and institutes, including our 128 baccalaureate programs, 77 master's programs and 46 doctoral and professional programs. Simply put, it's a really big job.

I could not be more excited to have a colleague in Dr. Brickhouse who is up to the challenge. Here is what she had to say yesterday about her new appointment:

"I am a Baylor alum, so I love Baylor. It played a very significant role in my personal life, and I feel like it's a homecoming of sorts. I'm also a Texas native and was raised Baptist. A key for me was the inspiration of Illuminate and how that describes Baylor's aspirations for the future. I really think the world needs Baylor. It needs Baylor to be a Christian voice at the table on some of the most challenging problems of the day. Then being able to bring students into the conversation ... and engaging them in the big questions of the day, showing them an exemplar of excellence in Christian education is something that I find incredibly inspirational.

"I love the Provost role, and the reason why is really at the academic heart of the institution. The Provost is the one who is the closest to the faculty and the students, which is why I feel so blessed to be asked to play that role at Baylor, a university that has meant so much to me both personally and professionally.

"I start May 1, and I very intentionally decided on a May 1 start date because I wanted to get out and meet the faculty in all of the academic units as soon as possible and begin forming relationships with them. I can then spend the end of the semester and the early summer digging into information and data and really getting to know the institution well so that we can then begin to implement Illuminate in the fall. I have a lot of experience as a Provost, and I have experience at a faith-based institution and at Baylor. So hopefully what that means is I will be able to hit the ground running and that the faculty will be excited to have a permanent provost to come in and help with the implementation of Illuminate.

"It's important for this not to be seen as just a STEM effort. This is an all-University effort, and the value that a university gets from the 'R1' designation is a value for the entire institution. It's important that we pay close attention to the metrics that drive R1 designation, but it's also important that we continue to recognize the University as a whole. Everyone will have a place in Illuminate and play a role in terms of the enhancement of Baylor as a Christian research university.

"I want to work with the deans to put a plan in place to ensure we have a strong diverse hiring pool, that we're really taking diversity seriously, that there's good training for search committees so we know how to conduct searches in way to attract diverse candidates and that we support faculty once they get here. We did some work at Saint Louis University around faculty mentoring, for example, because we want to retain the faculty we attract and make sure that they reach their own aspirations, that they're incredibly productive and that they align well with the Christian mission of Baylor.

"What I have learned from my experience at Saint Louis University is that the Christian mission plays an important role in several different areas, obviously in things like hiring and faculty development, making sure that faculty are doing work that is aligned with the mission of the institution, and things like the core curriculum and the ways in which there are opportunities for students to deepen their faith through both curricular and co-curricular activities. And to just be very intentional about the way we plan our programs with the mission in mind."

I hope you will warmly welcome Dr. Brickhouse back to the Baylor Family later this semester. And, yes, as @ReformedProf tweeted yesterday, "Baylor now has a Living Stone and a Brick House."

Here's to a great remainder of the week, and thank you for your ongoing commitment and support of our great University.

Sincerely,

Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D.
President