City of Waco Honored with Baylor’s Founders Medal

June 11, 2019
Founders medal 2019

Baylor University officially presented the City of Waco with the Founders Medal during a ceremony May 15 on the steps of historic Waco Hall. (L to R) Waco City Manager Wiley Stem, Waco City Council Member Andrea Barefield, Baylor President Linda A. Livingstone, Waco Mayor Kyle Deaver, Board of Regents Chair Joel T. Allison and City Council Members Hector Sabido and Jim Holmes. (Robert Rogers/Baylor University)

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WACO, Texas (June 11, 2019) – Baylor University officially presented the City of Waco with one of the university’s most distinguished awards – the Founders Medal – during a special ceremony May 15 on the steps of historic Waco Hall.

During the ceremony, Baylor President Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D. presented the Founders Medal to Waco Mayor Kyle Deaver in recognition of Waco’s longtime support of and partnership with the University. Joining the Mayor in representing the City of Waco were City Council Members Andrea Barefield, Hector Sabido and Jim Holmes, and City Manager Wiley Stem.

“It is a distinct honor to present the City of Waco with the 2019 Baylor Founders Medal,” President Livingstone said. “For all that the city has done for Baylor in the past, for our rich partnership today and for all that we will do together in the future, we are truly grateful.”

“On behalf of the City of Waco and the City Council, it is an honor to accept this award in recognition of the partnership between Baylor and Waco,” said Mayor Deaver, B.B.A. ’86, J.D. ’93, a third-generation Baylor graduate. “We are very excited about the path Baylor has chosen toward being a ‘Research 1’ institution, and we think there are many ways Baylor and Waco can engage that will help get to that status and benefit both the community and the university as we go forward.”

The partnership between Baylor and the City of Waco was celebrated all semester, from Councilman Holmes throwing the ceremonial first pitch at a Baylor baseball game to a celebratory dinner with Baylor administrators, Regents and city officials in Baylor’s Armstrong Browning Library.

Examples of the City of Waco’s strong partnership exist across the University, but among the most notable are:

  • Waco Hall, which was built in the late 1920s with the help of the Waco community assuring Baylor’s permanent location in Waco.
  • McLane Stadium
  • Lake Waco Wetlands
  • Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative
  • Waco Mammoth National Monument
  • Baylor University Shuttle
  • Waco Symphony Orchestra
  • Start Up Waco

“From Baylor’s move to Waco in 1886 to the construction of both Waco Hall and McLane Stadium, the City of Waco has been an invaluable partner of the University and the Baylor Family, of which our highest honors are deserved,” President Livingstone said.

Before Texas was a state, Baylor University was chartered by the Republic of Texas on Feb. 1, 1845. Each year, the Baylor community celebrates its founding by presenting the Founders Medal, which was established in 1969 to recognize service and contributions that have been unusually significant to the life and future of the University.

Past recipients of the Founders Medal include such local philanthropists and University supporters as Drayton McLane Jr., Jane Meyer, Mary Russell McCall, Ted and Sue Getterman, Harold and Ann Cunningham and Baylor Presidents Samuel Palmer Brooks, W.R. White, Abner V. McCall and Herbert H. Reynolds.

A copy of the Baylor Founders Medal is on permanent exhibition in the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The face of the medal bears the likeness of Judge R.E.B. Baylor, with the inscription Pro Ecclesia Pro Texana. The opposite side bears the likeness of Pat Neff Hall with the inscription “Baylor University Founders Medal,” plus the name of the recipient and year of presentation.

by Brooke Hill, student newswriter

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 90 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.