New Baylor Business Review

The latest issue of the excellent publication, the Baylor Business Review, highlights technology issues as they effect a variety of businesses worldwide. It includes an interview with Mark Hurd, the Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of Hewlett Packard's Board of Directors. Mr. Hurd is a Baylor Hankamer School of Business alumnus. The issue will be found here:
Baylor Business Review

The Christian Component of Baylor 2012

Having seen the Baylor 2012 commitment to becoming a Top Tier university affirmed in the post which follows this one, we would like to see a similar affirmation of the Christian component of the Baylor 2012 initiative. We look forward to being able to report that new faculty hires are not only excellent teachers and researchers, but are also deeply committed to the Christian faith, and bringing that faith into the classroom where appropriate.

Important Comments by President Lilley

President Lilley, in the January 19 Inside Baylor Weekly Newsletter, repeated some important remarks made to faculty members in a recent meeting. Some of these remarks are repeated here, which clearly reflect a commitment to the Baylor 2012 initiatives concerning research, and making accommodations in helping some associate professors in that regard. The entire remarks are here: January 19 Inside Baylor

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At the last meeting of the fall semester's Faculty Senate, Randall and I heard about the challenge of associate professors in being promoted to full professor with the new research-university expectations. The discussion was extended and was very helpful in defining the problem.

Having clearly heard the concerns at the Senate meeting, I reported in Inside Baylor that I would be talking with you today about a way to assist our associate professors in achieving the rank of full professor. I am announcing today a major financial commitment to provide reduced teaching responsibilities for those associate professors who wish to seek promotion. I also invite the schools, colleges and the Senate to think of other ways in which they can be supportive of our associate professors.

As a part of this year's faculty evaluation in February, Randall and I are asking our associate professors who desire promotion and are willing to meet the new scholarly standards, to prepare a very brief statement about how they would like to go about meeting those standards and over what period of time. If the department head approves the mini-plan, he or she will grant a reduced teaching assignment and will immediately request the funds from the provost to appoint faculty to cover that teaching reduction.

Randall's shop will be responsible for keeping tabs on the cost, but the cost will be met for those associate professors who choose to increase their research productivity.

As I have said repeatedly to the Faculty Senate, Randall and I recognize that such a change in scholarly expectations attached to the university's 2012 vision is difficult. This change in expectations is essential for us to enter the top tier of universities.

This change in research expectations, however, does not diminish our commitment to teaching/mentorship and service. I want to take this occasion to say that we will continue to expect great teaching/mentorship and service, but all of us must recognize that they are not substitutes for scholarship.

I also want to assure our associate professors that when they are ready for promotion to full professor and external letters are requested from experts in the field, we will make clear the circumstances of this change in expectations. We want the external evaluators to do their work with a clear understanding of Baylor's particular context.

Having lived through a similar change in expectations at a former institution, I can tell you that outside reviewers were always quite understanding about the nature of this kind of institutional change as they reviewed the quantity, and the placement of a faculty member's work.

There will be some associate professors who will choose not to follow the path of promotion. They may choose to focus on the very valuable work of teaching and choose to do more of it than those who are seeking promotion. And if that is the road they choose, their annual evaluation weights will be different, allowing them an opportunity to achieve excellent evaluations for a given year.

Our annual review process will recognize the particular contribution those individuals make to our students and to the University community.
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On Campus Football Practice Facility Approved

The Baylor University Regents unanimously approved a proposal for an on-campus Football Practice Facility on University Parks Drive.

President Lilley said: "The project affirms Baylor's commitment to the future success of its football program, which is expected to benefit enormously from the new practice facility. Construction of this facility has been a high priority in the Victory with Integrity Campaign for our athletics program and accomplishes an important component of Imperative X of Baylor 2012, the university's 10-year vision."

Jim L. Turner, Chairman of the Board of Regents stated: "Baylor University is dedicated to pursuing and supporting excellence in every area of its operation. This new football training facility will contribute powerfully to the pursuit of excellence in athletics and in particular in our football program."

The full article is found on the Baylor website: SIC ‘EM BEARS HERE

Analysis of Status of Imperative II

This is the second in a series of status reports on the Baylor 2012 initiatives. The implementation of Imperative II has been quite impressive. Much credit for this must be given to Dr. Frank Shushok, Jr., the Dean for Student Learning & Engagement. Thank you Dr. Shushok for your diligent labors in this regard!

One of the most obvious benefits of the implementation of Imperative II is related to the number of students who live on campus. In 2001, approximately 3,600 students resided in university housing. With the opening of the North Village in 2004, the number increased to approximately 4,200. When Brooks Village opens this fall, approximately 4,600 students will live at Baylor! Almost all the growth in university housing has been among upper-division students. About 1,200 upper-division students have already contracted to live on-campus next year. By the time it’s all said and done, over 1,500 upper-division students will call a Baylor residential community home this fall. This is a radical shift from the most recent Baylor past.

The number of student participating in a living-learning community has also be on an impressive upward trend. In 2004, the first-year of living-learning environments at Baylor, 460 students were a part of one of these communities. This fall, the number reached 588 students. Over 1,000 students are expected to participate in a living-learning environment next fall. The choices range from the Engineering/Computer Science Living-Learning Center, the Leadership Living-Learning Center, the Honors College Living-Learning Center, the Outdoor Adventure Living-Learning Center or Brooks Residential College. These endeavors not only help students bridge their academic and co curricular lives, they also offer students a variety of housing options and a new potential way to “find community” at Baylor.

The May/June 2006 edition of the Talking Stick, the professional magazine for the Association for College and University Housing Officers-International, featured Building character: A celebration of hallowed halls. As part of this story, Baylor’s North Village was selected as one of sixteen residence halls to be included alongside the University of Virginia, MIT, Notre Dame, Princeton, Duke, and Penn among others. This falls on the heals of the North Village being featured on the cover of the June, 2005 issue of College Planning & Management Magazine and being designated the 2005 educational facility of the year.

Interest in Baylor’s model of living-learning centers has received much attention from other campuses and has resulted in several site visits to Baylor. Two campuses, for example, brought teams to Baylor this fall to look at what’s happening here. The Collegiate Way web site ( Link Here )(Note: Web site takes time to load) has featured Baylor’s progress toward the opening of Brooks Residential College on numerous occasions throughout the year.

One of the most exciting efforts underway is the creation of residential communities that are diverse in everyway, including having faculty members live in residence. This year three faculty members (Cindy Fry, Julie Sweet, Tom Riley and Xin Wang) served as faculty members in residence. All of these individuals are returning to these roles in 2007 where they will be joined by as many as six more faculty members living in residence. When Brooks Village opens in 2007, it is projected that seventeen faculty members will also office in the residence halls. In 2001, there were no faculty members in residence or with offices in the residence halls. This change represents marked progress toward integrating academic culture into the day to day life of residential living at Baylor.

One of the important ways Campus Living & Learning facilitates conversations about issues of diversity is by recruiting and hiring a diverse professional and student staff. As part of carefully evaluating a candidate’s capacity to advance the missions of Baylor, Student Life, and Campus Living & Learning, particular efforts are made to evaluate a candidate’s potential to connect with the breadth and diversity of students served in Baylor residence halls. Both the professional and student staffs represent Baylor students in an increasingly effective way. The number of students submitting applications to serve as a residence hall community leader has increased dramatically. In 2001, 111 students applied for positions compared to the most recent selection process consisting of well over 300 interested students.

Since developing friendships across demographic variables such as racial, religious tradition or socio-economic backgrounds is one of the most powerful ingredients to student’s learning, Campus Living & Learning is in its third year of implementing a strategy to correct unintentional but systemic practices that have segregated the residence halls (see: Related Lariat Article here). These efforts ensure that each first-year residence hall represents the diversity of the Baylor students as a whole, as well as affords students optimal opportunities for learning. As part of an initiative coined “Dialogues of Differences” Campus Living & Learning continues to host discussions and forums that address topics related to diversity. These include issues pertinent to the Waco community, socio-economic concerns, poverty, and religious intolerance.

Spiritual formation of students remains a top priority for campus housing and resident chaplains are now in most of Baylor's residential communities. In 2001, of course, these positions didn’t exist.

Those interested in more about these and other related matters might find it helpful to read the “In the News” section of the Campus Living & Learning web site. Campus Living & Learning In the News

Waco Trib Photo Essays

The Waco Tribune has some great photos, especially of Bear sporting events. For example, here is a set of 73 pictures of the game and the spectators, taken at the Bears victory over Texas Tech reported below. Waco Trib Bears Photos

BAYLOR BEATS TEXAS TECH!

SIC 'EM BEARS!!
The Baylor Bears men's basketball team, which has fought ranked teams very tough in the last couple of weeks, took another major step today, beating Texas Tech 73-70. It was the first lost for Texas Tech since Bob Knight became the winningest coach in NCAA Division I history. The Bears are now 11-5. Is a post-season tournament in view? Stay tuned!

Baylor's official article about the game: SIC ‘EM BEARS HERE
ESPN Article Here

Aaron Bruce scored a season-high 24 points, Curtis Jerrells scored 23, and Kevin Rogers had 13 points and 14 rebounds for Baylor. Congratulations to Scott Drew and the Bears!

United States Presidents at Baylor

The following are links to occasions when Presidents of the United States visited, spoke at, or held conferences at Baylor University:

President Gerald Ford
Program from visit of President Reagan September 22, 1988
Recollections from visit of President Reagan September 22, 1988
Economic Forum of President George W. Bush
Baylor Hosts President Bush, Mexican President Fox And Canadian Prime Minister Martin For Historic Meeting

The links contains photos of the visits as well.

Book of the Week

The book of the week is a Baylor University Press imprint of David Lyle Jeffrey's book, Houses of the Interpreter: Reading Scripture, Reading Culture. Dr. Jeffrey is Distinguished Professor of Literature and Humanities.

John V. Fleming, the Fairchild Professor of English and Professor of Comparative Literature at Princeton University, stated the following about this book: "This wide-ranging collection of essays, dealing with important subjects in biblical, medieval, and modern literature and theology, is in a double sense a major work of Christian scholarship. From the purely scholarly point of view it deals confidently and with finesse with disparate phases of the rich and variegated history of Christian thought; but it is also refreshed and animated by an authorial faith-perspective shared by great humanists from Augustine through Erasmus and More to Toynbee and R. W. Southern."

In 2003, Dr. Jeffrey received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Conference on Christianity and Literature/Modern Language Association. His current research interests involve the relationship of biblical humanities to literary and artistic expression.

A link to purchase the book will be found in the right column.

Baylor Parents League Newsletter

According to the Baylor University website, The Baylor Parents League provides an important link between parents and the university. Good communication is a key factor in keeping parents directly involved in their student's education at Baylor, and the Parents League was established to keep this line of communication open.

The Fall 2006 newsletter from the Parents League was just published and mailed to parents this past week. A copy can be obtained here. Parent League Newsletter Here

Fall 2007 Applications Increase Dramatically

In the President's Insider Baylor Weekly Newsletter of December 8, 2006, there was encouraging information about applications for the Fall of 2007. This shows that the steps taken in implementing Baylor 2012 are attracting more and better students to apply to Baylor. It should be further noted that the increase noted here was over a year where unprecedented numbers of students applied. Thus roughly 15,000 applied for the class entering in the Fall of 2005 and more than 22,000 applied the following year for the class entering the Fall of 2006. That makes the 18.6 percent increase all the more impressive. The newsletter reported:
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Recruiting and Admission Report

Interest in a Baylor education remains strong. As of Friday December 1, Baylor had received 14,474 applications for the fall of 2007, an 18.6% increase compared to the same Friday last year. Baylor changed the admission process this year to admit students in three groups: two early action groups and a regular decision group.

Applications started by October 24 and finished by November 6 were considered for admission in the first early action group and received notification December 1. There were 3,030 students with an average SAT of 1266 and ACT above 27 accepted for admission in the first early action group.
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The complete newsletter containing this may be found here: NEWSLETTER HERE

New Section and Other Items Added

We have added a section devoted to links to blogs run by Baylor professors. Please notify us of links to add. The first two are Jonathan Kvanvig's epistemology blog, and James R. Garven's blog on risk management, finance and insurance.

Jonathan L. Kvanvig, Ph.D. is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Baylor. James R. Garven, Ph.D. is Frank S. Groner Memorial Chair of Finance, Professor of Finance & Insurance, Department of Finance, Insurance and Real Estate, of the Hankamer School of Business.

You will find the links to these blogs in the right column.

We have also added a link to the page where the Baylor Athletic Media Guides may be found. The link is in the Baylor Publications section of this blog.

Finally, the book of the week is Forgotten Heroes of American Education, by J. Wesley Null, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Curriculum & Foundations of Education, School of Education and the Honors College.