News

WACO, Texas (June 2, 2023) -- Heidi Pullmann-Lindsley, a doctoral candidate in biology, has been selected to make a presentation about her mosquito research at the Rising Stars in Entomology Symposium at the Entomological Society of America annual meeting.

How did a Baylor professor play a role in adjusting what scientists thought they knew about Africa’s historic timeline — by 10 million years?!?

It all comes down to a lot of digging, a decade’s worth of research, and the definitive presence of warm-weather grasses.

WACO, Texas (May 30, 2023) – Baylor University’s Department of Religion has announced that Ba Wool (Paul) Kim has been named the recipient of the 2023 Robert L. Gilbert Scholar in Religion Graduate Stipend. Kim has been accepted to the University’s Ph.D. program in religion with a concentration in Old Testament studies.

Baylor sleep researcher Michael K. Scullin, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology and neuroscience, and Blake Barley, doctoral candidate in psychology in Scullin’s sleep lab, examined how institutional factors, biological factors and behavioral choices play a role in sleep problems for college students and if chronotypes may more malleable than current theories suggest.

WACO, Texas (May 16, 2023) – For most of U.S. history, tattoos have been associated with sailors and bikers, but not church-going people. As tattoos have become more popular, with nearly one-third of U.S. adults sporting at least one tattoo, religious-themed tattoos have also increased. A recent study examined the behaviors of college students with tattoos, including religious tattoos.

WACO, Texas (May 9, 2023) – Twelve Baylor University professors have been honored with Outstanding Faculty Awards for teaching, scholarship and contributions to the academic community for the 2022-2023 academic year.

Every spring, the Baylor Family bids happy retirement to professors and staff who have dedicated their professional lives to the university and its students. It’s always a bittersweet mix — sadness in seeing them go, happiness for a well-deserved next step — but we wish them all well in the next phase of their lives.

Here, we honor some of the longest-serving and most recognizable professors who are retiring this year — men and women whose faces will be missed, but whose impact will not be forgotten:

Last year, Baylor set a school record when 13 Bears earned prestigious Fulbright scholarships — almost twice the previous BU record! — as part of the nation’s flagship program for international graduate student and education. The year also included a Truman Scholar (BU’s first in 15 years), a Goldwater Scholar, a Churchill Scholar, and two Critical Language Scholars.

And yet — 2023’s student honors may be even more impressive.

WACO, Texas (May 2, 2023) – Results from the Waco COVID Survey have provided needed insights into how the dynamics of COVID-19 transmission, health behaviors and COVID-19-related attitudes changed across the first two years of the pandemic in the McLennan County, Texas.

​WACO, Texas (May 1, 2023) – May 1 marks the 125th anniversary of the Battle of Manila Bay – the first battle of the Spanish-American War.  Baylor University military historian David A. Smith, Ph.D., senior lecturer in history, is the author of A New Force at Sea: George Dewey and the Rise of the American Navy, which tells the story of one of the most important officers in the U.S. Navy between the Civil War and World War II. 

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Fueled by the post-war boom, 1947 was a busy year at Baylor -- and an important year in our nation’s history, as President Truman enacted legislation that created the United States Air Force as a separate military service, breaking ranks from the U.S. Army. Mere months after that birthday — on July 1, 1948 — Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) was formed at Baylor, making our Detachment 810 one of the oldest in the nation.

How does your body respond to stress? What is the impact of stress on heart health? When it comes to answering these and related questions, Baylor can rely on one of the top scientists in the field.

WACO, Texas (April 24, 2023) – Baylor University faculty members Julie deGraffenried, Ph.D., department chair and associate professor of history in the College of Arts & Sciences, and Karon LeCompte, Ph.D.,  associate professor of curriculum and instruction in the Baylor School of Education, have been selected to receive the 2023 Centennial Professor Awards for summer research projects.

WACO, Texas (April 24, 2023) – Baylor University students from across the disciplines have continued their strong momentum into the 2022-2023 academic year by receiving some of the most prestigious – and highly competitive – scholarships and fellowships at the national and international levels for public policy and diplomacy, critical language study, STEM research and more.

WACO, Texas (April 19, 2023) –  Thomas D. McGrath, Ph.D., senior lecturer of chemistry and undergraduate program director in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Baylor University, has been selected as the 2023 Collins Outstanding Professor, an honor voted on annually by the senior class.

WACO, Texas (April 17, 2023) – Richard Rankin Russell, Ph.D., professor of English and graduate program director of English at Baylor University,  was presented with the 2023 Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year at the annual Academic Honors Convocation on April 14.

WACO, Texas (April 14, 2023) -- Baylor's Model Organization of American States team successfully represented Argentina in a recent international competition in Washington D.C.

WACO, Texas (April 13, 2023) – Something as simple as a grass can fundamentally change the understanding of life in the prehistoric world. A pair of studies funded by the National Science Foundation and published in the journal Science document the earliest evidence for locally abundant C4 grasses in eastern Africa and how C4 grasses and open habitats influenced early ape evolution.

WACO, Texas (April 12, 2023) – Baylor University Provost Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D., announced today that Mikeal Parsons, Ph.D., professor and The Macon Chair in Religion at Baylor University, has been designated as Baylor’s inaugural University Distinguished Professor, the highest honor bestowed on Baylor faculty.

WACO, Texas (April 4, 2023) – Before a celebratory crowd in front of the iconic Tidwell Bible Building, Baylor University today unveiled and dedicated statues honoring the University’s first Black graduates, the late Rev. Robert L. Gilbert, B.A. ’67, and Barbara A. Walker, B.A. ’67.

WACO, Texas (April 3, 2023) – Following a six-month internal candidate search, Baylor University Provost Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D., announced today that DeAnna Toten Beard, M.F.A., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Theatre Arts and professor of theatre history and dramaturgy, has been selected as vice provost for faculty affairs, effective July 1, 2023.

WACO, Texas (March 30, 2023) – Nine Baylor students were honored during the 2023 Student Literary Awards –– one of the opening events of the 29th annual Beall Poetry Festival.

WACO, Texas (March 22, 2023) – Three preeminent scholar/teachers from United States universities have been selected as finalists for Baylor University's 2024 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching, the only national teaching award – with the single largest monetary reward of $250,000 – presented by a college or university to an individual for exceptional teaching. The winning professor will be announced by Baylor in spring 2024.

WACO, Texas (March 14, 2023) – Dr. Annie Ginty, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience in the Baylor University College of Arts & Sciences, has received the 2023 Early Career Impact Award from the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

WACO, Texas (March 8, 2023) - Described as beautiful, elusive and enigmatic, Pi has fascinated and inspired mathematicians throughout history. With National Pi Day coming up on March 14, Baylor mathematics chair Dorina Mitrea, Ph.D., explains why Pi matters.

Baylor University has plenty of faculty members, across all disciplines, who bring an ethical foundation to their research and teaching; it’s one of the distinct benefits of a Baylor education. That doesn’t just happen on its own; it’s an intentional effort by the university, supported through efforts like the Baylor Ethics Initiative. The leader of […]

WACO, Texas (March 2, 2023) – Daylight saving time, with its one-hour spring forward at 2 a.m. Sunday, March 12, may seem like a small shift of just a single hour, but on a societal level, it has startling effects, says Baylor University sleep researcher Michael Scullin, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology and neuroscience and director of the Sleep Neuroscience and Cognition Laboratory at Baylor.

WACO, Texas (Feb. 28, 2023) – Baylor University will celebrate Women’s History Month, highlighting the contributions of women to events, history and contemporary society through a series of events in March.

WACO, Texas (Feb. 14, 2023) – Amanda Dobbins has been named business officer at Baylor University’s College of Arts & Sciences. In the newly created position, she will oversee all of the business operations of the College.

WACO, Texas (Jan. 31, 2023) – Bryan W. Brooks, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Environmental Science and Biomedical Studies and director of the Environmental Health Science Program at Baylor University, has been elected to the rank of AAAS Fellow, announced today by the Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals.

WACO, Texas (Jan. 26, 2023) – Baylor University is mourning the death of Clement T. Goode Jr., Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of English who taught at Baylor for 40 years until his retirement in 1997. Dr. Goode died peacefully Jan. 24, 2023, at the age of 93.

Anyone who has visited the doctor in recent years — whether in-person or virtually — can see that the ways patients and doctors share information is changing. From online patient portals to computerized files medical professionals can reference while talking to the patient, new technologies ensure that everyone involved is both adopting and adapting together. […]

WACO, Texas (Jan. 20, 2023) Ronald Angelo Johnson, Ph.D., associate professor and The Ralph and Bessie Mae Lynn Chair of History at Baylor University, has been awarded the Alpha Chi Distinguished Alumni Award, an annual award given to one alumnus from the organization in recognition of public service that exemplifies the Alpha Chi spirit of making scholarship effective for good.

The end of each year brings with it a series of lists that bibliophiles eagerly await — a rundown of the year’s best books. Baylor professors are often honored on these “best of” lists, on a wide variety of topics. For 2022, two books authored by Baylor faculty members earned recognition from Christianity Today and […]

WACO, Texas (Jan. 12, 2023) – Baylor University today announced the recipients of the 2023 Baylor Alumni Awards, which honor individuals who embody the distinctive mission of the University and their remarkable achievements. A celebration honoring the impact of Baylor alumni around the world and recognizing this year’s recipients will be held on campus Feb. 24, 2023.

WACO, Texas (Jan. 10, 2023) – Baylor University senior Arvind Muruganantham, a cell and molecular biology major on the pre-med track from Fremont, California, is among 16 recipients of the prestigious and highly selective Churchill Scholarship in science, mathematics and engineering, announced today by the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States.

WACO, Texas (Jan. 9, 2023) Silicic volcanoes on the Moon, specifically the mysterious Gruithuisen Domes, are a lunar geologic mystery that still perplexes scientists more than half a century after they were discovered. Based on early telescopic and spacecraft observations, these extinct volcanoes have long been suspected to be silicic in composition, in some ways similar to terrestrial strato volcanoes like Mount St. Helens in Washington state.

WACO, Texas (Dec. 15, 2022) – Baylor University chemist Caleb D. Martin, Ph.D., and his team have developed a new state-of-art Lewis superacid – with applications in the production of most common plastics – that is more efficient to produce, safer for the environment, and could potentially save billions of dollars in manufacturing costs.

WACO, Texas (Dec. 9, 2022) - Rafael Climent-Espino, Ph.D. associate professor of Spanish and Portuguese in the Baylor University College of Arts & Sciences, has won the most prestigious Brazilian book prize for his translation of a recent novel dealing with the plight of runaway slaves.

WACO, Texas (Dec. 7, 2022) – Baylor University data scientists along with colleagues from four other universities have been awarded one of the largest National Science Foundation grants to explore new approaches to engage and prepare the next generation of data scientists through sports analytics.

WACO, Texas (Dec. 6, 2022) – Marlene Neill, Ph.D., APR, associate professor and graduate program director in journalism, public relations and new media at Baylor University, has been accepted into the prestigious Arthur W. Page Society.

Japanese language students from Baylor University’s Department of Modern Languages and Cultures swept the top three awards at the J.LIVE Talk (Japanese Learning Inspired Vision and Engagement), a national competition held in November at George Washington University in Washington D.C.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 30, 2022) - Athletics can occupy an ambiguous place within a university's greater mission, particularly at religious institutions. Yet, little research has been conducted - until now - to understand student-athletes connection with personal religious beliefs.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 28, 2022) – Baylor University’s Center for Academic Success and Engagement (CASE) within the Paul L. Foster Success Center has received a $250,000 Student Success Acceleration Program (SSAP) Implementation Grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to assist students, including those from underrepresented populations, in calculus.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 17, 2022) – The Mayborn Museum, located on the Baylor University campus, has announced its new status as a Smithsonian Affiliate, joining a network of more than 200 Smithsonian Affiliates in the United States, Puerto Rico and Panama.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 7, 2022) - Marlene Neill, Ph.D., APR, associate professor and graduate program director in journalism, public relations and new media at Baylor University, will be presented with the Outstanding Educator Award by the Public Relations Society of America.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 3, 2022) – Ashley Barrett, Ph.D., BA ’07, MA ’09, associate professor in Baylor’s Department of Communication, has earned a highly coveted CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the impact of new information technologies on the communication they facilitate in healthcare settings and seek ways to promote compassionate communication and empathy in these ever-evolving patient-provider interactions.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 17, 2022) – An interdisciplinary team of Baylor University researchers in psychology, religion and bioethics will explore how to tackle the complex problems of human flourishing by training theologians to incorporate the methods and insights of the psychological sciences into their work through a $2.5 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

Alumni returning to campus this month for Homecoming will find Collins Hall looking a little different, as the 65-year-old residence hall is closed this year while undergoing its first major renovation since opening its doors in 1957. At Move-In next fall, the Class of 2027 will be welcomed to a new main entrance from 7th Street […]

WACO, Texas (Oct. 12, 2022) - Alyssa Mills, who is pursuing a PhD in geosciences at Baylor University, is one of 11 students nationwide chosen as a 2022 John Mather Nobel Scholar by the National Space Grant Foundation.