Baylor Academic Challenge
The Baylor Academic Challenge's purpose is to spark the funding and creation of new endowed faculty positions at Baylor University. Funded by an anonymous Baylor family, the Challenge was created as part of a $100 million gift in support of the Give Light Campaign.
The Baylor Academic Challenge is a dollar-for-dollar matching fund with the purpose of encouraging other members of the Baylor community to step forward with leadership gifts. Those gifts, combined with their Academic Challenge match, will enable Baylor to secure new endowed faculty positions within the five initiatives of Illuminate, the University’s strategic plan.
Increasing the number of endowed faculty positions is critical for the University. Endowed positions provide an attractive recruiting tool for elite faculty who are at the tops of their fields. Within higher education, named, endowed positions are viewed as prestigious, elite attainments for faculty, providing security and crucial funding for research and teaching. These faculty will be renowned researchers and scholars from around the globe who are interested in furthering Baylor’s mission of educating young men and women for world-wide Christian leadership and service while also helping solve some of the wicked problems of the world with their cutting-edge research teams.
As Baylor works to accomplish the ambitious goals within Illuminate, the University will need faculty leaders who can spark innovation and discovery within areas of strategic growth and special emphasis, including within the five strategic initiatives of Health, Data Sciences, Materials Science, Human Flourishing, Leadership and Ethics and Baylor in Latin America.
What gifts qualify for the Academic Challenge Match?
- Gifts by alumni, parents and friends that are designated to establish a faculty endowment within one of Illuminate’s five initiatives qualify for the Academic Challenge Match.
- Qualifying gifts of $1.5 million or greater will be matched 1-1, with a maximum $3 million contributed from the Academic Challenge Match to produce faculty positions.
- Proposals will be submitted by the University's academic deans to Baylor's Provost, who will make a recommendation to the President's Office to move forward with the new Faculty position.
Endowed Faculty Positions
By summer 2020, seven endowed faculty positions have been added to the University’s future academic ranks through the BAC:
- The Jackson Family Chair for Baylor in Latin America will expand Baylor’s international footprint and advance the priorities of the Baylor in Latin America initiative.
- The Mearse Endowed Chair in Biological and Biomedical Engineering will promote the growth and development of research and scholarly activity in biological and biomedical engineering, a priority falling within the Materials Science and Health Initiatives of Baylor’s Illuminate strategic plan.
- The W. Grady Rosier Endowed Chair in Free Enterprise will advance innovative research and teaching that informs public policy, focusing specifically on the free enterprise system and its influence on the free market economy.
- The Kenneth and Celia Carlile Chairs (2) in Materials Science will focus on research within the priority initiative of Materials Science, which will include inter- and intradepartmental collaboration and coordination across the University.
- The William E. Crenshaw Endowed Chairs (2) will enable the Hankamer School of Business to attract and retain distinguished faculty members who will be significant contributors in advancing the School’s position as a national leader in business education, especially strengthening curriculum and research in such areas as Data Sciences and Human Flourishing, Leadership, and Ethics.
- The James Robert Parker Endowed Chair in Health Science and Leadership will strengthen research and collaboration within the Honors College on behalf of academic discovery in the health sciences and healthcare leadership.
Learn More about the Baylor Academic Challenge
WACO, Texas (Sept. 16, 2021) – Baylor University today announced a $1.5 million gift from Jim and Tammy Snee of Austin, Minnesota, establishing an endowed faculty chair position to lead research efforts addressing food security through the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty.
WACO, Texas (July 22, 2021) – Baylor University today announced the hiring of Alan X. Wang, Ph.D. as the inaugural holder of The Mearse Chair in Biological and Biomedical Engineering, becoming the first faculty hire to an endowed chair position funded through the Baylor Academic Challenge.
On April 14, Baylor University held its third annual Baylor Giving Day. For 24 hours, Baylor’s alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students and friends came together to give back and shine a light on the things they hold dear here. Baylor saw 3,942 people, foundations and organizations give to every academic unit and to all areas of the University, with a total of more than $1 million given to celebrate Baylor Giving Day.
WACO, Texas (April 15, 2021) – Baylor University today announced an estate gift from John and Eula Mae Baugh, creating an endowed chair in physics. The Eula Mae and John Baugh Chair in Physics, which will receive matching funds through the Baylor Academic Challenge, will provide faculty funding within the department of physics and focus on innovative research and teaching in the area of materials science.
WACO, Texas (September 30, 2020) – Baylor University today announced the naming of the deanship at the Hankamer School of Business to honor William E. (Ed) and Denise Crenshaw of Lakeland, Florida, for their support of the Give Light Campaign and the University’s Hankamer School of Business. The William E. Crenshaw Endowed Dean within the Hankamer School of Business was funded through a portion of the recently announced $5 million gift from the Crenshaws. The new fund will provide endowment support for the initiatives, programs and projects essential to the School’s dean in executing their vision for Baylor Business and the mission of the School.
WACO, Texas (Sept. 3, 2020) – Baylor University today announced a $5 million gift from William E. (Ed) and Denise Crenshaw of Lakeland, Florida, in support of the Give Light Campaign and the University's Hankamer School of Business. A portion of the gift qualifies for the Baylor Academic Challenge program, creating two endowed faculty positions within the Hankamer School of Business that will receive dollar-for-dollar matching funds as well as support for the School’s dean. The gift also will establish an endowed scholarship fund within Baylor’s Student Foundation.
WACO, Texas (June 30, 2020) – Baylor University today announced the funding of a new endowed faculty position within the Honors College, which will provide increased emphasis within the College on research in the Health Sciences. The $1.5 million gift from Dr. James Robert (JB) Parker of Amarillo, Texas, will combine with a match from the Baylor Academic Challenge to create The James Robert Parker Endowed Chair in Health Science and Leadership.
WACO, Texas (Nov. 11, 2019) – Baylor University today announced the funding of a new endowed faculty position within the School of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS), becoming the third faculty position funded as part of the Baylor Academic Challenge matching program since its creation in May. The $1.5 million Mearse Endowed Chair in Biological and Biomedical Engineering, established by Bill and Tanya Mearse of Houston, Texas, will provide senior leadership for the emerging program within Baylor ECS.
WACO, Texas (Sept. 17, 2019) – Baylor University today announced the funding of two faculty positions under the institution’s new Baylor Academic Challenge matching program. The two $1.5 million gifts from Grady Rosier, president and CEO of the McLane Company Inc., and John and Nancy Jackson, who are Give Light National Campaign Steering Committee co-chairs, will create new faculty positions within the Hankamer School of Business and in support of the University’s Baylor in Latin America Initiative.
