News Briefs
Baylor recognized by
National Wildlife Federation
The National Wildlife Federation recognized Baylor's sustainability efforts in the group's Campus Environmental 2008 Report Card, the nation's largest study on trends and new developments in campus sustainability.
The report cited Baylor's expanded recycling program and its plan to provide greener landscaping around campus for the recognition. Baylor was one of 14 Texas colleges and universities to be mentioned in the report.
"We are honored to be recognized for our sustainability efforts over the past year," said Pattie Orr, vice president for information technology and dean of university libraries at Baylor, who acts as the University Sustainability Committee coordinator. "We have made tremendous strides to build a solid infrastructure and are in the process of deploying what we believe is a sustainable recycling program. This recognition will fuel us as we implement recycling at athletic events and in outdoor areas across campus this year."
Memorial cafeteria shows
support for troops
In an effort to help students remember to support our troops overseas, Memorial Cafeteria on the Baylor University campus hosted a "Support the Troops Week" in late September.
During the week, the dining hall provided all the essentials for writing letters and creating care packages for troops deployed to active duty. In addition, local troops came to talk and eat with students.
Billy Collins, a Baylor student who works for Memorial and planned the event, said that he came up with the idea when a supervisor, who recently married a soldier, told him that few soldiers receive any kind of personal communication from America.
"I see thousands of students, faculty and staff come through every week; this idea just made sense," Collins said. "People can spend a few minutes writing a note and send it for free. It couldn't be any easier.
"The war has been going on for so long that I fear a lot of college students have become disconnected with the whole thing," he added. "If we feel disconnected from the war, imagine how disconnected the troops feel from America."
Student wins prestigious
Gilman scholarship
Sarah Rafique, a junior journalism major from Georgetown, Texas, has been awarded the prestigious Gilman Scholarship, which has allowed her to study in Egypt for the fall semester.
Rafique is using her $8,000 award to study Arabic at The American University in Cairo. She is among approximately 1,200 American undergraduate students across the nation who received the Gilman Scholarship, which is chosen by a competitive selection process.
"Getting the scholarship in the first place was an absolute delight," Rafique said. "Because it is government money, I was just extremely humbled that they saw something in me in which they felt I would be a good ambassador for the U.S. while abroad in Egypt."
With her background in journalism and Middle East studies, Rafique plans to become fluent in Arabic and be a foreign correspondent and international journalist.
School of Social Work
receives Texas Homeless
Network award
Baylor's School of Social Work was honored in September with the 2008 Texas Homeless Network Outstanding Community Service Award for "advancing policies or innovative solutions to homelessness or working with communities to make a difference in fighting homelessness."
The School of Social Work was recognized for its prisoner re-entry efforts with the McLennan County Jail, where students counseled prisoners and their families during incarceration and upon release. The School was also honored for enlisting more than 70 representatives in the 2007 Project Homeless Connect, a survey of homeless persons to provide them with better services, sponsored by Waco's Housing and Community Development (HCD) office.
"I stood and watched with pure amazement at the professionalism and compassion Baylor's students reflected in this critical homeless event," said Jeff Wall, director of the HCD in Waco. "The homeless individuals were truly blessed by our Baylor students."
Hankamer's entrepreneurship program jumps to 12th
The John F. Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship in the Hankamer School of Business leaped forward in this year's rankings, placing 12th in the nation among undergraduate programs in The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine's sixth annual ranking of the top 25 undergraduate colleges and universities.
Last fall, the program placed 23rd in the same ranking.
AFROTC named nation's best
Baylor University's Air Force ROTC Detachment 810, one of the nation's oldest units, has been selected as the top large program in the nation for 2008.
Already named the No. 1 large detachment in the Southwest Region for the second time in five years, a panel of judges determined Baylor's AFROTC to be the best of all 144 detachments nationwide, based on seven different criteria (production, education, recruiting and retention, university and public relations, cadet activities, Arnold Air Society activities and other notable achievements).
Baylor's AFROTC is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. Since its inception, the unit has commissioned a total of 1,301 second lieutenants.
Additionally, Baylor Regents recently approved the establishment of a new academic department of military science that will house an Army ROTC unit to run parallel with the existing Air Force ROTC program.
National Wildlife Federation
The National Wildlife Federation recognized Baylor's sustainability efforts in the group's Campus Environmental 2008 Report Card, the nation's largest study on trends and new developments in campus sustainability.
The report cited Baylor's expanded recycling program and its plan to provide greener landscaping around campus for the recognition. Baylor was one of 14 Texas colleges and universities to be mentioned in the report.
"We are honored to be recognized for our sustainability efforts over the past year," said Pattie Orr, vice president for information technology and dean of university libraries at Baylor, who acts as the University Sustainability Committee coordinator. "We have made tremendous strides to build a solid infrastructure and are in the process of deploying what we believe is a sustainable recycling program. This recognition will fuel us as we implement recycling at athletic events and in outdoor areas across campus this year."
Memorial cafeteria shows
support for troops
In an effort to help students remember to support our troops overseas, Memorial Cafeteria on the Baylor University campus hosted a "Support the Troops Week" in late September.
During the week, the dining hall provided all the essentials for writing letters and creating care packages for troops deployed to active duty. In addition, local troops came to talk and eat with students.
Billy Collins, a Baylor student who works for Memorial and planned the event, said that he came up with the idea when a supervisor, who recently married a soldier, told him that few soldiers receive any kind of personal communication from America.
"I see thousands of students, faculty and staff come through every week; this idea just made sense," Collins said. "People can spend a few minutes writing a note and send it for free. It couldn't be any easier.
"The war has been going on for so long that I fear a lot of college students have become disconnected with the whole thing," he added. "If we feel disconnected from the war, imagine how disconnected the troops feel from America."
Student wins prestigious
Gilman scholarship
Sarah Rafique, a junior journalism major from Georgetown, Texas, has been awarded the prestigious Gilman Scholarship, which has allowed her to study in Egypt for the fall semester.
Rafique is using her $8,000 award to study Arabic at The American University in Cairo. She is among approximately 1,200 American undergraduate students across the nation who received the Gilman Scholarship, which is chosen by a competitive selection process.
"Getting the scholarship in the first place was an absolute delight," Rafique said. "Because it is government money, I was just extremely humbled that they saw something in me in which they felt I would be a good ambassador for the U.S. while abroad in Egypt."
With her background in journalism and Middle East studies, Rafique plans to become fluent in Arabic and be a foreign correspondent and international journalist.
School of Social Work
receives Texas Homeless
Network award
Baylor's School of Social Work was honored in September with the 2008 Texas Homeless Network Outstanding Community Service Award for "advancing policies or innovative solutions to homelessness or working with communities to make a difference in fighting homelessness."
The School of Social Work was recognized for its prisoner re-entry efforts with the McLennan County Jail, where students counseled prisoners and their families during incarceration and upon release. The School was also honored for enlisting more than 70 representatives in the 2007 Project Homeless Connect, a survey of homeless persons to provide them with better services, sponsored by Waco's Housing and Community Development (HCD) office.
"I stood and watched with pure amazement at the professionalism and compassion Baylor's students reflected in this critical homeless event," said Jeff Wall, director of the HCD in Waco. "The homeless individuals were truly blessed by our Baylor students."
Hankamer's entrepreneurship program jumps to 12th
The John F. Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship in the Hankamer School of Business leaped forward in this year's rankings, placing 12th in the nation among undergraduate programs in The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine's sixth annual ranking of the top 25 undergraduate colleges and universities.
Last fall, the program placed 23rd in the same ranking.
AFROTC named nation's best
Baylor University's Air Force ROTC Detachment 810, one of the nation's oldest units, has been selected as the top large program in the nation for 2008.
Already named the No. 1 large detachment in the Southwest Region for the second time in five years, a panel of judges determined Baylor's AFROTC to be the best of all 144 detachments nationwide, based on seven different criteria (production, education, recruiting and retention, university and public relations, cadet activities, Arnold Air Society activities and other notable achievements).
Baylor's AFROTC is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. Since its inception, the unit has commissioned a total of 1,301 second lieutenants.
Additionally, Baylor Regents recently approved the establishment of a new academic department of military science that will house an Army ROTC unit to run parallel with the existing Air Force ROTC program.