Presidential Perspective - June 14, 2018

Baylor Students, Faculty and Staff:

It's exciting to see members of #BU22, our incoming class of freshmen, visiting the Baylor campus along with their families and friends throughout the summer. More than 1,200 students have already taken their first steps in joining the Baylor Family, including registering for classes, learning about and celebrating Baylor's rich legacy and traditions, and even Running the Line at McLane Stadium. Additionally, the first two of 10 on-campus sessions of Baylor Line Camp kicked off this week, welcoming nearly 500 new Bears. This is truly a campus-wide effort, as hundreds of our faculty, staff and student leaders devote much of their time and energy over the summer to warmly welcome incoming students and their guests into the Baylor Family. Thank you for being such great ambassadors for Baylor!

Here are a few noteworthy items to share for this week:

• I am amazed at our students' many internships over the summer, including the Tropical Disease Research Internship Program. This collaboration between Baylor College of Medicine - National School of Tropical Medicine (NSTM) and Baylor's Prehealth Program provides five undergraduates with a hands-on research experience alongside leaders in tropical disease research, such as Maria Elena Bottazzi, Ph.D., associate dean of NSTM who also holds a joint appointment at Baylor as Distinguished Professor of Biology. Dr. Bottazzi recently received the 2018 Research Trajectory Slim Health Award from the Latin American nonprofit Fundación Carlos Slim for her 20-year work developing vaccines for parasitic diseases that affect more than a billion people worldwide. We appreciate our partnership with BCM and outstanding researchers like Dr. Bottazzi, who along with our extraordinary faculty help guide the next generation of global health care researchers.

• On the heels of last week's $2.5 million estate gift that established The Floyd F. Davidson Endowed Memorial Chair in Biology, I am pleased to share more good news of another $2.5 million gift that has created The M. Stephen and Alyce A. Beard Chair in Business and Transactional Law at Baylor Law School. Fittingly, renowned Law Professor Elizabeth Miller, a leading national scholar and expert in business organizations law, will be the endowed chair's inaugural holder. We are grateful for the Beards' generosity that creates a legacy at Baylor Law that will reach far into the future.

• A few weeks ago, I experienced the spectacular performances of our talented School of Music students at historic Weill Recital Hall at New York City's Carnegie Hall. Beginning tonight – and much closer to home – I invite you to enjoy performances by our remarkable theater arts students as Baylor University Theatre opens its 2018 Summer Series. The play, "Dead Accounts," runs tonight through Saturday, and the series concludes with "I and You" June 21-23, both in Theatre 11 in the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center. Break a leg, Baylor theater students!

• New Baylor research led by Elissa Madden, Ph.D., in our Diana R. Garland School of Social Work reveals the effects of time, age, education and income on birth mothers' satisfaction following the life-altering decision to place their children for adoption. The study, which addresses a void in the literature, could potentially help guide future practices and adoption policies. Dr. Madden also shared her research findings with a statewide audience today on the Texas Standard public radio program.

• Last night, we concluded our first tour of the Baylor Conversation Series in Washington, D.C. It was good to visit with so many current students participating in internships in the nation's capital over the summer, as well as with our alumni, parents and friends of the University. We are already working on dates for the fall tour of the Baylor Conversation Series. A reminder that recordings of these events are available at baylor.edu/president.

Don't forget Spirit Friday tomorrow – yes, even in the summer. Let's fling our green and gold afar!

Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D.
President