Alumna Spotlight: Robin Landrith (BA, ’16)

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. 

“I have always been a competitive person,” Landrith said. “I love athletics, and I wanted to compete at as high of a level as I could, and I also loved learning. I decided I wanted to be as successful as I could be in both aspects of my life, and I felt incredibly supported by all my professors to succeed on and off the field.”

Landrith first enrolled at Baylor harboring aspirations of attending law school. However, it was her involvement in the Honors Program that introduced her to Great Texts courses, ultimately unveiling an entirely new academic discipline for her.

“When I took my first two Great Texts courses through the Honors Program, I knew I couldn’t just stop there,” Landrith said. “Great Texts was attractive to me because it fed my mind with the kinds of texts and questions that I was already attracted to. Those courses are where my natural aptitude and interests collided, and ultimately led me to pursue graduate work in theology.” 

After completing her degree at Baylor, Landrith found herself at Yale Divinity School completing an M.A.R. in Philosophical Theology. She is currently a doctoral candidate in Historical Theology at Boston College. 

“I didn’t know theology was an academic discipline until my second or third year of undergrad,” Landrith said. “It’s funny that I was not aware sooner because I was always interested in what you would call theological texts. It wasn’t until I dove into my coursework through the Honors College that I became hooked by these theological questions that I had to continue to study.” 

For her keynote address titled, “To Come To Praise,” Landrith hopes to encourage this year’s crop of outstanding students to consider the importance of not what is said but how something is said. 

“People like to refer to the scripture that mentions speaking truth in love and kind of play around with it, but there is something to be said for qualifying that phrase,” Landrith said. “As someone who hopes to go into teaching, it matters enormously how something is said in reference to the way one’s words will be received, and I hope to expound on that idea with this year’s group of seniors.” 

As Landrith eyes her return to campus later this month, she remembers her time at Baylor and the friendships gained with extreme fondness. 

“I knew when I first visited Baylor that it was a special place, and it absolutely lived up to that feeling I had as a high school student,” Landrith said. “The friendships that I gained while I was there have lasted and are enriching to me now. Those relationships taught me how beautifully reliant a human being is on friendship, which has become a philosophical and theological principle for me that was very much formed during my time in Waco.” 

Landrith, who hopes to find a teaching position this fall, will defend her dissertation and complete her Ph.D. next month.

 If you want to learn more about Academic Convocation, please visit our website.