Dean’s Update - September 23, 2024

September 23, 2024

Dear Colleagues:

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. This group will continue to reflect on the book over the next few months. My thanks to Erika Abel, Allison Brown, Jennifer Howell, David Justice, Chad Thompson, and David Shin for bringing intelligent observation and Christian perspective to bear on Exiles from Eden.

Schwehn’s landmark book was published in 1993 during a season of mounting anxiety about the secularization of higher education. Before and after, many titles announced the decline of church-related colleges and universities. Among them, and formative in my early career, were The Secularization of the Academy, The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief, and The Dying of the Light: The Disengagement of Colleges and Universities from their Christian Churches.

An advantage of knowledge is that it may be put to use. Informed by Jim Burtchaell, George Marsden, and Mark Schwehn, a generation of leaders rallied around creative and often cooperative efforts to revitalize church-related higher education. Those efforts were expressed in the formation of national organizations, university-based centers and institutes, major grant programs, ambitious strategic plans, and renewed attention to Christian mission in hiring and supporting faculty.

One such organization is the Lilly Network of Church-Related Colleges & Universities. Founded in 1991 under Schwehn’s leadership, Baylor numbers among the founding members. I leave on Wednesday for its board meeting and national conference, this year in Santa Barbara. (I know, it’s a hard life.) Among Lilly’s initiatives are programs to support faculty, and I want to bring them to your attention. They include the Lilly Faculty Fellows Program, “for mid-career faculty leaders across the disciplines to engage the intersections of Christian thought and practice with the academic vocation,” a Small Grants Program, Mentoring Program Grants, Network Exchange Grants, and Collaboration and Conference Grants. If you have interest in any of these opportunities, count me in as a sounding board and advocate for you.

I’m grateful for Baylor’s role in the renewal and strengthening of Christian higher education. I’m especially proud of our work in the Honors College to enlarge and deepen the bearing of Christian faith upon the life of the mind, expressed in both the education we offer students and the scholarship we present and publish, as well as in the interior lives of prayer and the public service of worship we offer in our churches.

Even when it has wider impact, the character of our academic community—its expression of love for the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength—is inescapably grounded in our local, here-and-now life together.

On that note, here are some of the things going on in the Honors College:

Tonight brings our annual Laura Blanche Jackson Endowed Lecture in World Issues. Our guest, Jeff Polet, Ph.D., Director of the Ford Leadership Forum at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, will address “Getting What We Deserve: Lapsed Leadership, Global Crises, and Our Ethical Expectations.” The lecture begins at 7:00 p.m. in the Willett Family Reading Room in Alexander Hall. (If you rsvp’d for the pre-lecture dinner, it’s at 5:30 p.m. in the Ames Family Drawing Room in Memorial Hall.)
If you haven’t yet seen it, take a look at the fall issue of Baylor Magazine and read the feature story on the Honors College. “Tradition in Excellence” introduces readers to our academic community and celebrates our new home on Founders Mall. With a circulation of more than 160,000, the story will reach many who previously knew little about the Honors College and who will be encouraged by our contributions to Baylor’s mission. Thanks to Samantha Bell, Todd Copeland, Jayne Hattaway, and Derek Smith for writing the story.
I’m beginning to hear of exciting ideas under exploration by our strategic planning working groups. With an October 1 date drawing near for initial reports from the working groups, I look forward to learning more about the hopes and dreams nurtured across the Honors College for the work we can pursue under Baylor in Deeds. Whether within the context of the working groups or individually, please reach out with any questions or ideas to Scott Moore, associate dean for strategic initiatives.
The renewal and expansion of the Honors Residential College and the renovation of Draper Academic Building to accommodate our faculty necessitated significant capital project fundraising. The completion of this work frees me to return more attention to longstanding priorities: scholarships, program funds, and endowed chairs. On that note, join me in gratitude for two recently established endowed scholarship funds: the Boatwright Family Endowed Scholarship and the Stephenson Family Endowed Scholarship. The former is intended for any HC student with merit and need, and the latter is for University Scholars.
All funds for our Undergraduate Research Assistant Program have been allocated for this year. Congratulations to the dozen fortunate students who will support the research projects of our faculty while reaping the benefits of seeing up close how scholars do their work.
Congratulations to Elizabeth Corey, associate professor of political science in the Honors Program, on her part in a Chronicle of Higher Education forum: The Professoriate’s Politics Problem. Elizabeth’s piece, “Education is an Intrinsic Good,” appears alongside others by Mark Lilla, Musa Al-Gharbi, Zena Hitz, Brian Leiter, Ruth Wisse, Jon Shields, Roosevelt Montás, Tyler Austin Harper, Julie Reuben, and Gregory Conti. Well done, Elizabeth!
Congratulations to Sarah-Jane Murray, professor of great texts and creative writing in the Great Texts Program, on her contribution to a Times Higher Education forum: Academic Networking: A Cynic’s Game? Sarah-Jane’s piece, “From the Top Down: A Call to Action,” joins perspectives from Lee Cronin, Jennifer Schnellman, Oliver A.H. Jones, Jessica Seeliger, and Michelle Smith. Great work, Sarah-Jane!

All the best,

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