Dean's Update - March 27, 2026

Dear Colleagues:

We’re in a season in which time seems especially fleeting. Beyond our usual academic life, we’re finishing faculty searches, completing performance reviews, planning budgets, hosting big recruitment events, fulfilling annual goals, and plenty more. Every year I remind myself that the spring semester starts fast, February (not April, contra T.S. Eliot) is the cruelest month, and the rush through spring break, Diadeloso, academic honors week, and commencement is intense.

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:

Most . . . complain . . . because this spell of time that has been given to us rushes by so swiftly and rapidly that with very few exceptions life ceases for the rest of us just when we are getting ready for it. . . . 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.

How’s that for a kick in the pants? Seneca puts my attention where it should be, viz. not on the circumstances around me, but on my responsibility to use well the time I have..

We are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it. . . . [Nature] has acted kindly: life is long if you know how to use it.

Seneca’s stoicism sometimes misses the mark, but here he’s spot-on. So, Lord, “teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Use your time well, colleagues! It’s a gift of God who “will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

Please note the following items of news and points of pride:

• Over the past four years, Darren Middleton, professor of literature and theology in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, has provided capable, decorous, kind-hearted, and thoughtful leadership as director of the BIC. New opportunities to advance his research projects and support graduate education in the Religion Department claim Darren’s attention beginning this fall. He thus concludes his time leading the BIC at the end of the spring semester. A search for a new director of the BIC is underway. Applicants are welcome from faculty across the university. An overview of the position, key responsibilities, and qualifications is available here.
• On Wednesday, April 22 at 7:00 p.m. in Armstrong Browning Library, our annual Ethics and Culture Lecture will take place. Featuring New York Times bestselling author and filmmaker Joseph Loconte, Ph.D., on the topic, “War, Friendship, and Imagination: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and the Fight for Civilization,” the evening promises fresh insight into two of the most influential Christian intellectuals of the twentieth century. I hope to see you there alongside our students.
• Our comprehensive budget assessment is moving from a review to an implementation phase. In truth, a larger reduction than I had hoped is required of us. Built upon good ideas and counsel gleaned over the last six months—from program directors, financial officers, the provost, and others who reached out—we can manage the required reduction and continue to excel. In a separate message coming soon, I’ll share what’s generally expected and specific steps we will take. Take heart—the Honors College is and will remain in good shape.
• Every Tuesday from 8:40-9:00 a.m. faculty and staff are welcome to join for prayer in Memorial Chapel. With regular leadership from some of our HC students, our time together includes scripture reading, prayer, and a hymn or two. Each week I’ve attended, I’ve left encouraged and reminded of the life to which I’m called in Christ Jesus, as well as blessed by opportunities to be with students in this special place.
• Congratulations to Sparky Matthews, clinical professor in the Honors Program, on recognition as the 2026 Collins Outstanding Professor. Selected by vote of the senior class, this wonderful award is a testament to Sparky’s generous availability to students, championing of their successes, and responsiveness to a teacherly vocation grounded in his love of God in Christ. As Collins Professor, he will give a special lecture on “The Body of Christ: The Physiology of the Passion and Crucifixion” at 5:15 p.m. Monday, March 30, in the Fudge Family Auditorium in the Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center.
• Congratulations to Davide Zori on a successful application for promotion to the rank of Professor! Davide’s promotion reflects a consistent record of high-level research productivity, teaching excellence, and exemplary service across varied communities. It also follows a 2025 full of accomplishment, including the Society for American Archaeology’s scholarly book award for Age of Wolf and Wind: Voyages through the Viking World(OUP, 2024) and the find of a lifetime and a big archaeology win at the San Giuliano Archaeological Research Project. We’re proud of you, Professor Zori!
• Farewell to Rachel Brinkley, admissions coordinator, who has taken a new role in her hometown of Las Vegas, NV with her favorite NHL team, the Vegas Golden Knights. Rachel brought wide knowledge of the HC and a positive spirit to countless recruitment events. Her efforts contributed to last year’s record-setting entering class, measured by headcount and academic profile. We’ll miss you, Rachel!
• During Cheryl VanAllen’s transition to her new role as senior director of development in Hankamer School of Business, we’re fortunate to have support from Zachary Peña, assistant vice president of development. We’re working together to quickly to fill the vacancy and name a new director of development. Please share the opportunity with anyone whose gifts are well suited to this important work. Details are available here.

All the best,

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