News

Baylor Honors College's Examined Life Scholars (ELS) program took its next step this summer, welcoming its first fully residential cohort thanks to a $300,000 Knowledge for Freedom grant from the Teagle Foundation.

The grant allowed the Honors College to expand the program beyond last summer's pilot by bringing rising high school seniors from Waco and Temple to campus for a two-week residential experience rooted in the Great Texts tradition. Students lived together in Penland Residence Hall, shared meals, wrestled with classic texts and continued conversations well into the evening alongside Honors College student mentors.

Baylor University students and recent graduates continue to be awarded the most prestigious scholarships and fellowships at the national and international levels – winning Fulbright U.S. Student Grants and Rotary Global Grants.

Fantasy writer R.F. Kuang’s sixth novel, Katabasis, takes its title from a Greek word meaning “going down,” a “descent,” a plunge. Think of an epic hero’s perilous descent into Hades, whether Odysseus, Aeneas, or Dante. In Kuang’s book, Cambridge Ph.D. students Alice and Peter, scholars of “analytic magick,” also descend into hell. Although it's far from a perfect novel, I enjoyed reading it. Even more, I’m grateful to serve a university whose Christian mission and community enable us to offer students not a “going down,” but rather a lifting up to behold the wonders of the Lord.

The Honors College is excited to name Sarah Walden, Ph.D., as the next Director of the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC), effective June 1. In addition to her administrative role, Walden will continue to serve on the BIC faculty as an associate professor of rhetorical theory and criticism.

Before she began working with patients as an occupational therapy doctoral candidate, Baylor alumna Ella Pursley, B.A. ’24 was learning how to think deeply about the human condition.

As a student in the Honors College’s Great Texts of the Western Tradition program, Pursley spent her undergraduate years immersed in the writings of Aristotle, Augustine, Boethius, and C.S. Lewis. Today, as she prepares for a career in occupational therapy, she finds herself returning to many of those same ideas in clinical settings centered on healing, suffering, and human flourishing.

A semester at Baylor’s Honors College is helping Denise Vasiliu, Ph.D., a Fulbright Visiting Scholar from Romania, bring new ideas about interdisciplinary education and Christian scholarship back to students in Eastern Europe.

Vasiliu came to Baylor this spring under the sponsorship of Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives Scott Moore, Ph.D. During her time in Waco, she has spent her days reading, writing and participating in the life of the Great Texts program while researching the thought of Iris Murdoch and the relationship between literature, philosophy, and theology.

Honors College graduates Ashleigh Jarrous, Isabel Kau, and Kristen Nakamura, were recently named the 2025 recipients of the F. Ray Wilson Award for Best Thesis, a recognition that celebrates excellence in the scholarship of undergraduate thesis writers in Baylor’s Honors Program.

Intellectual historian and New York Times bestselling author Joseph Loconte, Ph.D., visited Baylor as the featured speaker for the Honors College’s Annual Ethics & Culture Lecture. His talk—War, Friendship, and Imagination: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and the Fight for Civilization—promised and delivered a banner event for the academic community.

For a variety of reasons, I’ve felt the dissipation of time even more acutely than usual. Perhaps you’ve experienced something similar. Either way, here’s wisdom from Seneca’s meditation, On the Shortness of Life: "It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested."

University Scholar Abhinav Rajkumar joins researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Heart Institute for life-saving medical research

Walter M. "Sparky" Matthews, M.D., B.A. ’92, has been selected by Baylor’s 2026 Senior Class as the Collins Outstanding Professor.

In Professor David Corey's course on pluralism, students are asked to consider an idea that initially feels counterintuitive: two people can argue opposite sides of a political debate and both be right.

For nearly two decades, Baylor students have crossed the Atlantic to study at the University of St Andrews, drawn by its storied academic traditions and distinctive coastal setting. Now, Baylor in St Andrews is entering a new chapter as the Honors College strengthens its leadership of the semester-long program, positioning it as a signature global experience that reflects the College’s commitment to academic rigor, student formation and meaningful engagement with the wider world.

Baylor’s Honors College is pleased to welcome Brittany M. Tausen, Ph.D., assistant professor of social psychology in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC) and affiliated professor of psychology and neuroscience.

The last three weeks, I taught again in our wintermester Great Texts in Italy program. A gem in our itinerary was a visit to the Basilica of San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro, in Pavia. In this church are the relics of two of the Church’s prized intellectual lights: St. Augustine and St. Boethius.

Baylor University has received a $295,000 implementation grant from the Teagle Foundation’s Knowledge for Freedom initiative to expand the Examined Life Scholars program into a residential experience for high school students from the Waco area.

The multi-year grant will support the program’s next phase by allowing the Honors College to offer a fully immersive, two-week residential experience that introduces students to liberal learning, campus life and the rhythms of college study while continuing to provide mentoring and college-readiness support throughout students’ senior year.

Darren Middleton, Ph.D., Director of the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in recognition of his contributions to historical scholarship. The honor was conferred following the Society’s council meeting on November 21, 2025.

Byron R. Johnson, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University and director of the Institute for Global Human Flourishing, has announced the appointment of Darin H. Davis, Ph.D., as distinguished senior fellow in the Institute.

Launched in April 2025, the Institute for Global Human Flourishing positions Baylor University as a global leader for research on faith and human flourishing, as well as the epicenter for global flourishing research/practice alongside research partners at Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program.

Baylor University’s Michael P. Foley, Ph.D., has researched many forgotten Christmas customs and folklore, including the darker – and eerier – side of Christmas. 

Baylor University Honors College has received a $30,000 Network Exchange Grant from the Lilly Network of Church-Related Colleges and Universities to host honors education leaders from Christian colleges and universities across the country.

The Baylor Interdisciplinary Core is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary, marking three decades of shaping students through interdisciplinary learning, shared inquiry, and intentional community. Since 1995, the BIC has offered a distinctive approach to general education that encourages students to think broadly, listen carefully, and understand the world through multiple perspectives. 

“Faith and learning’s integration is axiomatic to the BIC, expressed not simply in what we teach but in how we teach,” said Darren Middleton, Ph.D., Director of the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core. “Faculty bring the approaches of several disciplines into conversation with deeply held convictions, cultivating a holistic encounter with questions of ultimate concern.”

Baylor Honors College has been designated a Hidden Gem by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni for guiding students through a high-quality education across the liberal arts.

Even in a crowd, many Americans say they feel alone. Paul Carron, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Philosophy in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, is exploring why that experience has become so common and what it reveals about modern life.

“For most of human history, being alone simply meant being separated from your tribe,” Carron said. “Today you can stand in a room full of people and feel utterly unseen. Loneliness is no longer about physical isolation. It is about feeling disconnected even when others are all around you.”

The Honors College has launched Micah Scholars, an initiative for pre-health students who seek to integrate faith, service and professional formation in their preparation for healthcare vocations.

Rooted in the biblical call from Micah 6:8 to “do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God,” the program helps students explore medicine as a calling shaped by compassion, justice and humility. Participants are selected for their commitment to serve others and their desire to approach healthcare as both an academic pursuit and a morally and spiritually shaped vocation.

As the application deadline for next year’s Getterman Scholars approaches, the Honors College is pleased to introduce this year’s cohort of students selected for this distinguished program.

Named in honor of Ted and Sue Getterman, Getterman Scholars is a nationally competitive scholarship program open to a few exceptional incoming students each year. The program attracts high-achieving students across the academic disciplines, especially those interested in an integrated undergraduate liberal arts education. Along with the prestige of selection comes an annually renewable scholarship that covers full tuition, fees, books, room, and board, along with summer study abroad, research internships, and mission or service trips.

This fall, the Honors College welcomes Nifemi Fasuanmi, Erica Reyes, and Isaiah Tallon as the 2025 Getterman Scholars.

On a pleasant September 9 night in a packed banquet room, the Honors College hosted An Evening with Baylor Leaders in Dallas, Texas, bringing together alumni, parents, and friends for a dinner and panel discussion on the changing landscape of higher education. The program, moderated by Dean Douglas Henry, Ph.D., featured Baylor President Linda Livingstone, Ph.D., and Dean Emeritus Thomas Hibbs, Ph.D., in a wide-ranging conversation about public trust, leadership, affordability, and the role of Christian universities.

In 2018, Baylor University received a $1.5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to launch the Soundings Project. The vision was simple yet ambitious: invite congregations to explore how Christians discern God’s call in today’s complex world. Over seven years, the initiative gathered twelve churches from across Texas, representing a wide range of Christian traditions, endured the upheaval of a global pandemic, and sparked practices that continue to bear fruit after the grant period has ended.  

This week is National Postdoc Appreciation Week, and Baylor’s Honors College is celebrating by spotlighting its Postdoctoral Teaching Fellows. Launched in 2023, the fellowship provides recent Ph.Ds. with the opportunity to strengthen their teaching and scholarship while contributing to the intellectual life of the College. Fellows serve two-year appointments, teach across Honors College programs, and pursue research under the mentorship of senior faculty.

It’s a gift to encounter our students daily. It’s a blessing to educate and encourage them, and to nurture in them a wise love of learning. It’s rewarding to do this laudable work alongside you. I say this—as I know you hear it—with a particular sense and purpose of education in mind.

Far from a one-size-fits-all approach, Baylor’s Honors College offers five appealing academic opportunities that elevate undergraduate education, each in its own way. Inspiring, interdisciplinary curricula help students explore, with breadth and depth, the most important questions, urgent issues, and powerful insights that arise within and across specialized disciplines. The Honors College enables students to realize their unique possibilities in an academic community that is both inviting and fulfilling.

Joe Barnard’s journey from Covington, Louisiana to the Scottish Highlands began with a surprising detour. As a high school student, he took a gap year in Dingwall, Scotland, where he studied the Bible at a theology college in a town of just 5,000.

“Late in high school, my faith started to matter a lot more to me,” Barnard said. “I wanted to take a gap year and study the Bible, and somehow that led me to a little start-up theology college in northern Scotland. Looking back, it is a bit comical. If you asked a youth pastor in the Bible Belt where to study the Bible, you would not expect him to say Scotland. But that is where I ended up, walking hills with sheep, reading old Scottish sermons, and discovering that what thrilled me most was the chance to preach and teach God’s Word.”

The Honors College is thrilled to welcome Kirsten Welch, Ph.D., as Assistant Professor of Philosophy in Great Texts. An Honors College alumna, Welch (B.A. ’14), brings her scholarship in philosophy and education back to the community that first inspired her.

The Honors College is delighted to welcome Casie Cobos, Ph.D., who joins the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC) as a lecturer. Returning to her alma mater, Cobos (B.A. ’02), brings wide-ranging expertise that will be significantly enlisted in support of the BIC’s World of Rhetoric course sequence, a mainstay of students’ first-year studies.

Our provost has shared with the deans and vice provosts a document entitled “Nancy Brickhouse User’s Manual.” It combines laudable self-knowledge and a practical desire to help us benefit from her leadership. In connection with last week’s annual provost’s retreat, she asked the deans and vice provosts to write similar user manuals, and to consider sharing them within our own circles. Mine is a work in progress, but here are highlights.

Caroline Simon's new book, Muted Cry: A Witness to Affliction, is redolent of Will Campbell’s Brother to a Dragonfly and C.S. Lewis’s A Grief Observed. In it, she unites memoir, prose elegy, and Christian meditation in touching witness to her brother. Her truth-telling—about her brother Bill, herself, their trials, and God’s love in Christ—bears the marks of anguish and heroism, and of hard-won wisdom and abiding faith. Muted Cry is a rare gift in its honesty and invitation to see, really see, affliction even when it frightens and dismays.

A team of archaeologists, led by Baylor University’s Davide Zori, Ph.D., and the San Giuliano Archaeological Research Project, has uncovered a rare, intact Etruscan chamber tomb in central Italy.

For two weeks this summer, 12 high school students from the Waco area studied the works of Plato and Aristotle, explored life on Baylor's campus, and got a glimpse of the college experience as part of the university’s inaugural Examined Life Scholars (ELS) Program.

One frequent criticism of higher education is that its findings often remain locked in the “ivory tower,” rather than being shared with the “real world.”

Dr. Thomas Hibbs is the counterpoint to that — a longtime dean (and even university president) who has consistently applied his knowledge to current events and popular culture and used mass media to share those insights.

I once taught a great texts course on how to live well in light of our mortality. We read Sophocles’ Oedipus cycle, Plato’s Apology, Seneca’s On the Brevity of Life, St. Gregory’s On the Soul and the Resurrection, Petrarch’s Secretum, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents, Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop, Camus’ Stranger, and Robinson’s Gilead. The material was great, the students were good, and I was at least adequate. For all that, I wonder if the course succeeded. It’s a tall order to get college students (or any of us) to think—to really think—about the inevitability of death and how to live each day accordingly.

Baylor University’s Honors College is proud to welcome Sarah Walden, Ph.D., as the new Director of the University Scholars program. A Baylor alumna and long-serving faculty member in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC) where she is Associate Professor of Rhetorical Criticism and Theory, Walden brings a rich background in interdisciplinary teaching and a deep personal connection to the program she now leads.

Baylor University’s Honors College is pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Stegemoller, Ph.D., as Associate Dean for Faculty, effective June 1. Dr. Stegemoller currently serves as the Harriette L. and Walter G. Lacy, Jr., Chair of Banking and Finance in the Hankamer School of Business, where he has taught since 2010, including a six-year stint as department chair.

 

The Baylor Honors College is pleased to announce the appointment of Lizzy Rice, B.A. ’23, as program director for the Honors Residential College (HRC), beginning June 1.

When Spencer and Charlie Yim stepped onto Baylor’s campus for the first time as students, it wasn’t just the beginning of their college experience. It was the continuation of a family story that began more than 60 years earlier.

Baylor University’s success for highly competitive fellowships and awards continues to skyrocket as a record 24 Baylor students and recent alumni have been selected for 2025-2026 Fulbright U.S. Student Grants. 

Through Instagram captions, viral memes, and reels that capture the messiness of daily life, many mothers are using humor to talk about something deeper than overtired toddlers. For Sarah Walden, Ph.D., associate professor of rhetoric in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, these posts represent a significant cultural shift.

Camille Watson, B.A. ’22, has won the prestigious Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Graduate Fellowship – one of the U.S. State Department’s flagship initiatives for recruiting top-tier talent for Foreign Service careers. 

Baylor University students were awarded scholarships and fellowships, including Boren Awards, Critical Language Scholarships and a Fulbright UK Summer Institutes award.

When Lauren Jarvis arrived at Baylor as a first-year student, she was uncertain about where her path would lead. What she found in the Honors College, particularly through the University Scholars program, set her on a course that would eventually take her across the Atlantic as a Marshall Scholar.  

 

Earning recognition as a Master Teacher at Baylor is a rare honor — the highest a BU professor can receive for his/her teaching. In January, President Linda Livingstone announced the lifetime designation for four Baylor professors, increasing the roll of Master Teachers to 33 since the honor was first bestowed more than 40 years ago.

Among the newest honorees is Dr. Lenore Wright (MA ’95), an award-winning philosophy professor in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC) and director of Baylor’s Academy of Teaching and Learning from 2011-24. Wright came to Baylor in 1994 as a graduate student, joined the Baylor faculty five years later, and has been a BU fixture ever since.

Honors College graduates Jeffrey Black, Olivia Gray, and Josiah Zeigler were recently named the 2024 recipients of the F. Ray Wilson Award for Best Thesis, a recognition that rewards excellence in the scholarship of undergraduate thesis writers in Baylor’s Honors Program.

Baylor undergraduate STEM researchers have kicked off the spring major fellowships and awards season by earning a record four Goldwater Scholarships, the preeminent undergraduate award that supports outstanding undergraduates interested in pursuing STEM research careers.

Baylor’s Honors College is ushering in a new era with the introduction of the Bachelor of Philosophy (B.Phil.) degree. In this Q&A, Dr. Scott H. Moore, Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives in the Honors College, shares insights into the inspiration behind the degree, what sets it apart from other academic opportunities, and the unique role that research will play in students’ journeys. 

Learn how receiving a scholarship strengthened a student’s academic success

The Honors College is pleased to announce the appointment of Chad Thompson, M.D., as Clinical Assistant Professor of Pre-Health Education, beginning March 1, 2025. In this new role, Dr. Thompson will mentor Honors College pre-health students and lead courses on population health while bridging Baylor’s long-standing partnership with Waco Family Medicine (WFM).

Eleven Baylor University professors have been honored with Outstanding Faculty Awards for teaching, scholarship and contributions to the academic community for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Nicholas Sparks' Counting Miracles features an epigraph, a line from the book of Job: “He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.” The book reminds us that while we live in a fraught world of calamity, in which war, wildfire, famine, disease, death are present, we also live in a miraculous world, one governed by God’s beneficent providence. May we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and tongues to tell.

The Honors College is excited to announce the launch of a Bachelor of Philosophy (B.Phil.) degree. Designed for students seeking rigorous honors-level study united with deep interdisciplinary learning and meaningful research, the B.Phil. offers a pathway for students to stand out academically while preparing for competitive post-graduate opportunities.

Baylor University is excited to launch the Examined Life Scholars (ELS) Program, a two-week summer initiative aimed at empowering underserved high school students in Waco to pursue higher education. Funded by a grant from the Teagle Foundation’s Knowledge for Freedom initiative, the program—led by Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions Kristy Brischke, MS Ed, Honors Program Director Elizabeth Corey, Ph.D., and Associate Professor in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core Samuel Perry, Ph.D.—seeks to close the summer opportunity gap and cultivate critical thinking, communication, and decision-making skills through a liberal arts-focused curriculum.

Baylor Professors Kevin D. Dougherty, Andrew P. Hogue, Wiff Rudd and  J. Lenore Wright receive the lifetime designation of Master Teacher, the highest honor granted to Baylor faculty for sustained excellence in teaching.

Teaching is difficult. We attempt mastery of our subject, acknowledging that our reach often exceeds our grasp. We strive to understand our students, with all the complexities of their lives, because we teach persons, not material. And while striving to master our subject and understand our students, we also need abundant self-knowledge, lest we get in the way of the subjects and students we serve.

When University Scholar Dayna Smith walked into a research lab at Tübingen University Hospital in Tübingen, Germany last summer, she was stepping into more than just a professional opportunity. She was embracing a unique intersection of her academic passions: cancer research and the German language. 

For the first time in years, I read Pico della Mirandola’s “Oration on the Dignity of Man.” Hailed as “the most succinct expression of the mind of the Renaissance,” it’s brash in ambition. He was aware that his speech “would be irritating and offensive” and that he would be resented for daring, “at my age, a mere twenty-four years, . . . to propose a disputation concerning the most subtle mysteries of Christian theology.” Pico’s ambition exceeded his ability. His bravado further undermined his reception. Yet he gets some important things right.

Jennifer Atwood’s journey to her calling began with a simple curiosity about the past. What started as a dream to become a museum curator turned into a passion for great books. Now a teacher at The Academy of Classical Christian Studies in Oklahoma City, Atwood credits Baylor’s Honors College with shaping her approach to teaching and learning.

Four Baylor University students have been named University Innovation Fellows, a nationally competitive global program run by Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design that empowers student leaders to increase campus engagement with innovation, entrepreneurship, design thinking and creativity.

Luke Padon is no stranger to Baylor—he was raised by two Baylor alumni. Now, as a freshman, he’s not just stepping onto campus; he’s following in his father’s footsteps by joining the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core. As the BIC approaches its 30th anniversary, Luke and his father, Dr. Derek Padon (BA ’99), are making history as the first father-son duo to participate in the Honors College’s alternative core program.

Baylor University’s newest strategic plan, Baylor in Deeds, spanning 2024 to 2030, reaffirms and advances the University’s commitment to its Christ-centered academic mission. Inspired by Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven,” Baylor in Deeds emphasizes student flourishing, interdisciplinary excellence, global impact, and Christian stewardship. Baylor’s Honors College is poised to advance these strategic aims by leveraging the gifts of its faculty and staff, and utilizing the far-reaching scope of its distinctive curriculum and residential college.

The Baylor Interdisciplinary Core was honored to welcome Priya Chandna, B.S. ’21, as the speaker for its annual Homecoming Lecture. Her talk, titled “A BIC Advantage: Merging Liberal Arts, STEM, and Nursing Excellence,” highlighted her transformative BIC experience and the ways the program’s interdisciplinary approach has empowered her to excel as a compassionate and skilled nurse practitioner.

Baylor University today dedicated the newly renovated Honors Residential College during a morning ribbon-cutting ceremony, marking the official opening of the Honors College’s new home and the grand opening of the Carona Family Commons.

Two of the oldest residential halls on campus are recently reopened after a $48 million renovation and expansion project. The Honors Residential College (HRC) has been given a revitalized home within Memorial and Alexander halls. 

Last week, I joined our new faculty and postdocs to discuss Mark Schwehn’s Exiles from Eden: Religion and the Academic Vocation in America. With guidance from Jonathan Tran, associate dean for faculty, our small group pondered Schwehn’s personal narrative and the intellectual history he offers in the book. We also talked about our personal academic journeys and Baylor’s place in Schwehn’s account of American higher education. 

The Honors College has appointed Erika Abel, Ph.D., Clinical Professor in the Honors Program, as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies. In addition to her administrative role, Abel will continue her teaching responsibilities within the Honors Program. Her appointment is effective immediately. 

Honors College renovations are an investment in transformational undergraduate education.

A cadre of Honors College faculty is bringing new attention to Boethius’ book, The Consolation of Philosophy, in honor of its 1,500th anniversary. Led by Sarah-Jane Murray, Ph.D., professor of great texts and creative writing, they want not only to commemorate Boethius’ life (he was executed by the emperor in 524), but to recover and lift up the wisdom of his greatest book. This effort, The Boethius Project, made a soft launch earlier this year, with milepost events scheduled in coming months. 

The Honors College has appointed Jennifer Howell, Ph.D., currently Director of the Theology, Ecology and Food Justice Program at George W. Truett Theological Seminary, as a new Clinical Assistant Professor of Theology in the Honors Program. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Howell will continue her role at Truett Seminary. 

 

The Honors College is pleased to announce the appointment of Erika Abel, Ph.D., as clinical professor of health sciences in the Honors Program. Abel returns to the College after serving at Baylor College of Medicine.

Last week’s retreat and strategic planning launch for the Honors College encouraged and inspired me, as I trust it did you as well. I was blessed to share time with you, thinking and dreaming and speaking at leisure, guided by the mission and promise of Baylor, with an eye on ways we can support the University’s strategic plan. 

Since reading Huckleberry Finn as a child, Huck’s adventures—and his awakening, if halting awareness of Jim’s humanity—have stuck with me. Now, Percival Everett has brought Jim to life in his masterful new novel James. In it, we reexperience the story from the vantage of the fugitive slave Jim. My imagination and understanding have been enriched by including the book in my summer reading.

To kick off the summer, Honors Residential College (HRC) students traveled to Costa Rica to continue a partnership with One More Child. Since 2017, the HRC has hosted a mission trip to help extend the service happening within the walls of the HRC out into the world. This year’s program, led by HRC Faculty Steward Jason Whitt, Ph.D., served alongside two One More Child partners: Iglesia Biblica Conce-Sion (IBCS) and Transforma.  

Every year, the Honors College grants a select number of full-tuition scholarships through the Getterman Scholars Program. This highly competitive initiative draws some of the nation’s most exceptional high school seniors to Baylor University.

As three Getterman Scholars recently completed their journey at Baylor, the Honors College invited them to reflect on their transformative experiences.

Honors College professors Victor Hinojosa, Ph.D., Lenore Wright, Ph.D., and Davide Zori, Ph.D., have been honored with Outstanding Faculty Awards for teaching, scholarship, and contributions to the academic community for the 2023-2024 academic year. 

The Outstanding Faculty Awards recognize the best all-around professors on teaching capabilities, research achievement, effective committee service, time spent with students, and civic and church involvement. 

Continuing Baylor University’s year-long focus on civil discourse, 31 Baylor students – newly commissioned as the inaugural cohort of “Bridgebuilding Fellows” – joined together April 23 at the Hurd Welcome Center for a university-wide demonstration of a model for bridging these divides by cultivating curiosity, deep listening and story sharing. 

Honors College graduates Rahul Banka, Sophie Cope, and Robbie Ridder were recently named the 2023 recipients of the F. Ray Wilson Award for Best Thesis, a recognition that rewards excellence in scholarship of undergraduate thesis writers in Baylor’s Honors Program. 

Alagu Subramanian, B.A. ’23, a University Scholar with concentrations in biology, medical humanities and business administration, is Baylor University's fourth consecutive Churchill Scholar, an unprecedented achievement for the prestigious and highly selective scholarship in science, mathematics and engineering.

The Honors College looks forward to welcoming Honors Program and Great Texts alumna Robin Landrith, (BA, ’16) back to campus on April 19 as she gives the keynote address for this year’s Academic Honors Convocation. Landrith, known for her four-year tenure as starting catcher on the Baylor Softball team, exemplified unwavering competitiveness both on and off the field throughout her time at Baylor. 

After nearly one year at the helm, Great Texts Program Director William Weaver, Ph.D., reflects in this Q&A on his new role and expands on what makes studying Great Texts so transformative. 

In a showcase of three distinct journeys, Honors College students recount their spring break adventures. Their stories testify to the varied ways in which students seek enlightenment, growth, and connection during their breaks from academic pursuits. 

Last year, Barbara Kingsolver won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her novel, Demon Copperhead. Inspired by Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, Kingsolver lays bare the woeful lives of orphans in drug-addicted America. Her setting isn’t London, but southwest Virginia; her critical target isn’t first wave industrialism, but big pharma. Narrated by the grownup title character, nicknamed Demon Copperhead, Kingsolver’s novel is brutal and beautiful.

The Honors College has appointed Scott Moore, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Philosophy and Great Texts, as Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives. In addition to his administrative role, Moore will continue his teaching responsibilities within the Great Texts Program. His appointment is effective March 1. 

I returned last night from a few days in Tampa Bay at a meeting of the American Conference of Academic Deans (ACAD). Cue the jokes about how many deans does it take to ______, and I’ll laugh right along with you. However, it’s easy for me to identify benefits of attending the ACAD meeting. For one thing, I want to be an effective dean and always have more to learn.

When students visit “Sparky” Matthews’ office on the first floor of the Baylor Sciences Building, they often find themselves looking at all the stuff instead of paying attention to the conversation.

Honors Program alumnus Benjamin Aguiñaga (BA, ’12) was recently appointed as Louisiana's solicitor general. With a proven track record of legal excellence, Aguiñaga is set to bring his expertise to bear on critical issues facing the state. 

This January, 14 Honors College students embarked on a two-week journey through Italy, immersing themselves in the Great Texts in Italy program. Guided by the expertise of Associate Professor of Philosophy and Great Texts, Scott Moore, Ph.D., Rayzor Professor of Philosophy and Dean Emeritus, Thomas Hibbs, Ph.D., and Senior Lecturer in the Honors Program Stacey Hibbs, Ph.D.,  students explored the various locales depicted in Dante’s Divine Comedy and visited culturally significant sites from the Italian Renaissance.

Under Dr. Elizabeth Corey's guidance, Baylor's Honors Program has thrived with a 25% increase in program retention and an uptick in prestigious award winners. In this Q&A, Dr. Corey addresses the program's unique qualities, discusses mentorship, celebrates the rewarding experience of teaching, and shares how leading the program has influenced her scholarship. 

Recently, I’ve benefitted from a reading group discussing Vincent Lloyd’s Religion of the Field Negro: On Black Secularism and Black Theology. My attendance is marred by conflicts with other meetings, but when able, I’ve learned much from exploring the book with Barry Harvey, Jenny Howell, Wemimo Jaiyesimi, Steve Reid, Christopher Richmann, and others.

Since leaving Baylor, Jerome Loughridge’s (BA,’ 95) career path has been anything but linear. Having held key positions in higher education, private equity, the energy sector, and public service, Loughridge credits his time as a University Scholar for helping him to succeed in vastly different lines of work and leadership--and to do so with a grounded understanding of his calling.

The first time University Scholar alumna Libby Feray (BA, ’20) saw First Baptist Amarillo she was sitting in Dr. David Jeffrey’s Masterworks of Arts course. After looking at dozens of photos of ancient cathedrals scattered across Europe, Feray was captivated the most by a church built during the 1920s in the Panhandle of Texas.

As graduation approaches, seniors Emma Merrill, Robbie Ridder, Kaitlyn Vana, and Anna Louise Wages share how their time in the Honors College impacted and prepared them for the future.

Dr. Douglas V. Henry, Dean of the Honors College and Associate Professor of Philosophy, has been elected to a four-year term on the National Board of the Lilly Network for Church-Related Colleges and Universities.