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 academic 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.