Celebrating Thirty Years of the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core 

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.”

That dedication to integrating perspectives has anchored the BIC from its earliest years. As faculty from across the university designed the program’s coordinated, team-taught courses, Middleton says the intention was always to spark what he calls “the wisdom of connected knowing.”

“The use of team-teaching, where specialists from multiple disciplines offer several perspectives on a single text or topic, was one of the BIC’s most forward-thinking decisions,” Middleton said. “It gave students a way to understand the world through layered, sometimes competing viewpoints, which is no small virtue.”

That spirit of innovation is unmistakable to Dean of the Honors College Douglas Henry, Ph.D., whose first teaching duties at Baylor fell in the BIC’s formative years. He remembers the vision and vitality of a new curricular initiative focused on superlative undergraduate education.

“A cadre of distinguished faculty imagined and designed a curriculum of unprecedented integration and coherence,” he said. “Under the leadership and support of Provost Donald D. Schmeltekopf, Ph.D., whose recent passing we mourn, that same faculty rallied together across their many disciplines to welcome, inspire, and teach exceptional students. Those students’ subsequent records are a testimony to the quality of education afforded by the BIC from the beginning.” 

Henry notes that students have always responded to the program’s vision. Students want a learning community that is both challenging and connected, a hope that takes distinctive shape for each new cohort.

“Only a few weeks into my first semester teaching Social World I,” Henry recalls, “the 9/11 catastrophe befell. What perhaps seemed abstract questions about the nature of justice and socio-political life became urgent issues to understand, even as we all leaned on each other in sorrow and commitment to make a better world. When genuine inquiry into life’s pressing questions takes place in a context of mutual respect and friendship, something special is bound to happen.” 

That same atmosphere continues to characterize the BIC today. Senior Laura Kate Thomas says the cohort structure, small class sizes, and faculty-guided discussion create a community where students feel known, supported, and challenged.

“The BIC brings us into community from the first day of class freshman year,” Thomas said. “Because classes stay small, we get to know our professors well, and large group sessions create a shared environment where we are all learning and succeeding together.”

Thomas says the interdisciplinary structure of the program has transformed how she understands her major and the broader world. She credits the BIC with helping her analyze political, cultural, and legal questions through a richer and more nuanced lens.

“In the BIC we examine so many worldviews, and it has opened my eyes to how perceptions and beliefs shape our place in the world,” Thomas said. “The program gives you a mental toolkit that helps you understand perspectives you may not share, which is invaluable in today’s world.”

For Sarah Walden, Ph.D., Director of University Scholars and Associate Professor of Rhetoric in the BIC, that blend of inquiry and community has been a defining thread since her days as a student. A graduate of the program, Walden says the BIC has always required both faculty and students to embrace humility and a willingness to learn together.

“The BIC has always emphasized shared questions and learning together,” Walden said. “It requires humility and vulnerability from everyone because interdisciplinarity means constantly facing what you do not know.”

Walden says that approach has shaped her both as a scholar and as a teacher. She believes it helps students grow in confidence, courage, and empathy as they encounter unfamiliar ideas and perspectives.

“Conversation is at the heart of the BIC,” Walden said. “Students see faculty stretch themselves to teach perspectives outside their training, and I hope it makes them brave enough to enter difficult conversations with the same openness.”

As the BIC celebrates its thirtieth anniversary, Middleton notes that the program has continued to evolve while remaining true to its mission. He points to innovative faculty, creative partnerships, and alignment with more than 120 majors as signs of its adaptability.

“Looking back, I see moments when new faculty brought innovative ideas or staff found ways to expand the program’s reach, yet it has remained centered on a shared intellectual adventure,” Middleton said. “The heart of the BIC has never shifted.”

Middleton believes this clarity of purpose is why the program continues to flourish, and why BIC graduates bring something distinctive into their vocations and communities.

“It has taught students that there is nothing especially moral or intellectual about living a circumscribed life,” Middleton said. “Examine everything. With that passion, our students have flourished in an interconnected world with imagination, cultural understanding, and a genuine desire to serve where God has called them.”

Alumni and friends who would like to support the BIC’s next thirty years are invited to give to the BIC Excellence Fund.