Presidential Perspective - May 16, 2019

Baylor Students, Faculty and Staff:

While campus has become quieter as the spring semester comes to a close, our Board of Regents has been quite busy this week as part of its quarterly meetings. Tomorrow I will provide an update to the Board on how each and every one of us has a responsibility to our Christian mission, on new research that reinforces Baylor’s strength and resilience and on Give Light, our comprehensive fundraising campaign. Did you know that there have been only three other institutions of higher education in Texas that have received a gift of $100 million or more? We will email a full update from the Board meeting to you late tomorrow afternoon.

Here are several items of note for this week:

• A reminder that Spring Commencement ceremonies are scheduled for tomorrow and Saturday in the Ferrell Center. Be sure to plan ahead and give yourself extra travel time as construction work on Interstate 35 continues and a clear bag policy will be in place for all three ceremonies.

• Baylor has been selected among the inaugural cohort of First Forward Institutions, which recognizes colleges and universities that have demonstrated a commitment to improving experiences and advancing outcomes of first-generation college students. Through our First in Line program, Baylor provides scholarships, directed programming, mentoring and a network of faculty and staff to assist first-generation college student success.

• Twelve Baylor faculty members have been honored with Outstanding Faculty Awards for teaching, scholarship and contributions to the academic community for the 2018-19 academic year. These awards recognize professors based on their teaching capabilities, research achievement, effective community service, time spent with students, civic and church involvement, and includes non-tenure track, tenured and tenure track faculty. The complete list can be found here.

• A Baylor study on a new chemical synthesis strategy to harvest the rich information found in natural products has been published in the journal Nature Chemistry. The strategy led to identifying novel, simpler derivatives with potential to selectively protect neurons — important for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease or to prevent the body’s immune system from rejecting organ transplants, says lead author Daniel Romo, Ph.D., The Schotts Professor of Chemistry in Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences.

• Baylor is blessed to have two students who have been awarded Goldwater Scholarships from the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program – one of the most prestigious undergraduate scholarships given in the natural sciences, engineering and mathematics. Congratulations to Michael Munson, a junior University Scholar from Cupertino, Calif., and Ben Sepanski, a junior mathematics major from Waco.

• This month, Baylor Law’s legal clinics are honoring the hard work, dedication and sacrifices of McLennan County’s law enforcement, firefighters and emergency medical services by providing free estate planning services for active or retired full-time emergency responders and their spouses. This free service is, of course, available to Baylor University Police Department first responders as well.

Thank you for being part of the Baylor Family!

Sincerely,

Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D.
President