Baylor to Hold Inaugural Academic Symposium Sept. 15

WACO, Texas -- An academic symposium will be held Friday, Sept. 15, as part of inaugural activities honoring Baylor University President Robert B. Sloan Jr. Sloan became the 12th president of Baylor on June 1, following election to the post by the Board of Regents in February.
The symposium, which is free and open to the public, begins at 9 a.m. in the Jesse H. Jones Theater of the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center. Four visiting scholars will discuss the topic "University, Church, and Society: Traditions in Tension."
"This event will provide an occasion to reflect on the practice of religious higher education at a significant moment in Baylor's history -- during our Sesquicentennial year and during the beginning of a new era of University leadership," according to Dr. Tom Charlton, vice provost for research and a symposium coordinator.
Opening remarks will be made by Dr. W. David Solomon, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. A native Texan, Solomon received degrees from Baylor and the University of Texas. During the 1994-95 academic year, Solomon was Visiting Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Baylor. His research interests have focused on contemporary ethical theory, with special interest in medical ethics.
Another featured speaker will be the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, president of the Institute on Religion and Public Life, a non-partisan, inter-religious research and education institute in New York City and editor in chief of that organization's publication, First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life.
A Canadian by birth, Neuhaus received his formal education in both Ontario and the United States and is a graduate of Concordia Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Mo. A prolific author and Christian activist, he has received the John Paul II Award for Religious Freedom and was recognized by U.S. News and World Report magazine in 1988 as one of the 32 "most influential intellectuals in America."
Featured speaker Dr. Gertrude Himmelfarb is professor emeritus of history at the

graduate school of the City University of New York. A native New Yorker who now resides in Washington, D.C., she earned a bachelor's degree from Brooklyn College and her master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Chicago. A widely published scholar on the history of Victorian England, Himmelfarb has received many honorary degrees and fellowships.
In 1991 she was selected to deliver the Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities under the auspices of the National Endowment for the Humanities -- the highest award the federal government bestows for distinguished achievement in the humanities.
Concluding remarks will be made by Dr. James W. McClendon Jr., Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence and professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. He holds degrees from the University of Texas, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Princeton Theological Seminary. McClendon is an interdisciplinary scholar and theologian whose work in systematic theology, philosophy of religion and ethics is recognized among a wide array of religious traditions. McClendon also is an ordained Baptist minister.
The inauguration ceremony for Sloan will be held at 2 p.m. in Waco Hall. The ceremony will feature an inaugural address by Robert L. Reid, Baylor professor emeritus of history, and an inaugural response by Sloan. The ceremony is free and open to the public.
For more information, call (817) 755-3810.