Dean's Update - August 2, 2024

Dear Colleagues:

“All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. . . . There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.” Thus, Ernest Hemingway. 

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.

In Everett’s retelling, Jim is literate, compassionate, and wise. He knows the injustice of his bondage, and he meditates on ideals that would judge a man or woman by their humanity, not the color of their skin. His inner dialogue features a who’s who of great writers; their stories and insights have liberated him inwardly.

But what Jim knows and feels, he must hide. White slaveowners won’t abide intellectual or moral superiority in slaves. So he plays dumb, uses idiomatic slave-speech, obsequiously bends to his inferiors’ will. Even among fellow slaves, he’s cautious. In one vision, Jim wonders “what white people would do to a slave who had learned how to read. . . . What would they do to a slave who knew what a hypotenuse was, what irony meant, how retribution was spelled?”

From outset to denouement, Jim is a freethinking, magnanimous man whose circumstances compel him to pass as an unthinking, pliant slave. Herein lies heart-breaking tragedy exposed by Everett’s book that Mark Twain’s original only suggests. Memorable motifs reinforce prophetic judgment. Clanging hammer on anvil, ringing Sunday church bells, the sounding horns of paddle wheelers on the Mississippi come as alarms—something is wrong, urgent attention needed, time’s up!

Nothing is more urgent for Jim than saving his wife Sadie and daughter Lizzie. Even so, he loves Huck, and he won’t sacrifice him for his family’s sake. In place of others’ self-preferment, Jim is self-sacrificial. Others’ inhumanity is put to shame by his decency. 

The book especially rewards those attuned to its echoes of Homer, Epictetus, Voltaire, John Locke, Frederick Douglass, Du Bois, Ellison, Baldwin, and of course Mark Twain. One reviewer calls James a “canon-shatteringly great book.” Doubtless. It will earn Everett accolades and awards—and perhaps a richly deserved Pulitzer Prize.

What did you read, see, hear, or experience this summer? Where did you find your imagination and understanding enlarged? I look forward to hearing and learning from you.

Please take note of the following items of importance within our academic community:

• Plans are set for a Faculty/Staff Day Retreat and Strategic Planning Launch on August 14 from 9:00-3:00. In addition to celebrating Honors College milestones and overviewing Baylor’s new strategic plan, we’ll explore our aspirations in relation to the plan and ground our work ahead in the commitments to truth, faith, and friendship in Christ that unite and guide us. If you have not submitted your RSVP, please do so here.

• Our academic community is growing. New colleagues hired over the summer include:

  Erika Abel, Ph.D. Returning to us from Baylor College of Medicine, Erika joins us as clinical professor of health sciences in the Honors Program. A University of Washington-trained toxicologist and cancer researcher, Erika’s long record of past contribution at Baylor in biology and the Honors Program will serve us well.

  Jennifer Howell, Ph.D. Similarly coming aboard in the Honors Program, Jenny will be a clinical assistant professor of theology. With a Ph.D. in theology from Baylor, she currently serves as director of the theology, ecology, and food justice program at Truett, a leadership role that she will continue alongside her new duties.

  Chad Thompson, M.D. A Baylor alumnus with an economics degree, Chad also holds a medical degree from UT Medical School-Houston. Through a new postdoctoral teaching fellowship in the Honors Program, he will continue part-time practice of family medicine; explore a teaching vocation grounded in his love of theology, justice, and social medicine; and support honors pre-health education.

  Allison Brown, Ph.D. Also joining us as a postdoctoral teaching fellow, Allison’s appointment emerges from an ongoing collaboration with the Graduate School and Provost’s Office. Allison recently completed her doctoral degree in the religion department. She will support teaching needs in both the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core and Great Texts Program.

  Please welcome these four to the College and encourage them in their new work.

• Congratulations to Courtney DePalma on promotion to associate director for student leadership and engagement. With a new, college-wide field of responsibility, Courtney will enlist her organizational and mentoring skills in support of all the HC’s students. Leadership development, civic engagement, co-curricular academic initiatives, and global mission programs will be priorities. She will continue her current support of the HRC until we hire a new program coordinator for that community. Thank you, Courtney!
• Even as we receive newcomers, we also are sending off two valued colleagues. Caroline Clark, admissions analyst in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, is leaving us to begin Baylor’s MsEd in Higher Education & Student Affairs. Michael Whitenton, lecturer in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, has accepted a position at Interfaith America as Director of Academic Initiatives, where he will bring a new level of leadership to bridgebuilding and civil discourse efforts on college campuses. Caroline and Mike, we’re grateful for your good and faithful service. We anticipate good things in store for you!

All the best,

Douglas V. Henry, Ph.D. | Dean
Honors College | Baylor University
honors.baylor.edu | 254.710.7689