News

Many of you are aware of reports and comments within traditional and social media late last week regarding Baylor University’s correspondence asserting our existing religious exemptions to the U.S. Department of Education (DOE).

WACO, Texas (April 4, 2023) – Before a celebratory crowd in front of the iconic Tidwell Bible Building, Baylor University today unveiled and dedicated statues honoring the University’s first Black graduates, the late Rev. Robert L. Gilbert, B.A. ’67, and Barbara A. Walker, B.A. ’67.

In May 2022, the Baylor University Board of Regents approved a four-phase framework to address the strategic priorities identified by the Commission on Historic Campus Representations.

We’re going to start Black History Month with a bang!

Baylor University is celebrating the diversity of the Baylor Family in a number of ways.

WACO, Texas (July 29, 2022) – For the first time since summer 2019, the Baylor University Board of Regents held its annual summer retreat off campus, this time in San Antonio, the nation’s seventh largest city. The Board welcomed five new Regents to their first official meeting and – with no items on the agenda requiring Board action – focused its discussion on effective governance, Baptist history and looking ahead to the fall semester.

WACO, Texas (July 12, 2022) – Baylor University chemist Bryan Shaw, Ph.D., has been awarded a $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to take dramatic steps to open chemistry classes and labs to students with blindness or low vision.

There are four major elements to an institution: its policies, its processes, its practices and its people. This matrix informs us as to whether or not an institution is just, but the most powerful of these four elements is the people, and Baylor’s greatest assets are its people.

WACO, Texas (May 25, 2022) – At its regular May meeting, the Baylor University Board of Regents voted to extend the contract of President Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D., to 2032 in recognition of her exemplary University and national leadership that has elevated Baylor as a preeminent Christian research university with strengths across the board in academics, research and athletics.

I am pleased to share with you that Stephen B. Reid, Ph.D., Professor of Christian Scriptures with Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary, has been selected to serve in a new position as the University’s Vice Provost for Faculty Diversity & Belonging.

Diversity and equity are not zero-sum games. Consider one of the texts of Scripture that we often try to qualify, which can be found in each of the three Synoptic Gospels: Jesus’ conversation with the rich young ruler.

Idaho-based sculptor Benjamin Victor was selected to create bronze life-sized statues of Robert Gilbert, B.A. ’67, and Barbara Walker, B.A. ’67 — Baylor’s first Black graduates. Victor was chosen through a competitive process in conjunction with Walker, the Gilbert family and Baylor’s Campus Experience Project Team, which is working through recommendations from the University’s Commission on Historic Campus Representations.

WACO, Texas (Feb. 18, 2022) – During its regular quarterly meeting, the Baylor University Board of Regents celebrated the University reaching Research 1 status and eclipsing the $1.1 billion goal of the Give Light philanthropic campaign, received an update on the Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion and participated in a discussion about Baylor’s holistic approach to student success.

When Black historian Carter Woodson initiated the first Negro History Week in 1926, he did so with the hope that it would eventually no longer be necessary. He hoped that education about Black history would become so mainstream that a week would become redundant.

Baylor University and the Waco community celebrates Black History Month and the rich culture and heritage of African Americans who shaped the history of the United States.

November called us to observe Native American Heritage Month, which ought to drive us to deep reflection. As we draw attention to the contributions of our Indigenous brothers, sisters and neighbors, we cannot forget that the land on which we stand was acquired by force and without regard for its original inhabitants.

It has been rightly said that talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not. If there is one thing you must know about the work of building a just and equitable community at Baylor University, it is this: diversity and inclusion mean little without equity and accountability.

Baylor University places a priority on enhancing diversity and equity across our campus and throughout our academic and operational divisions.

WACO, Texas (July 16, 2021) – During its regular summer retreat meeting, the Baylor University Board of Regents focused on Baylor’s strategic positioning for the future as the University enters the final year of the initial Illuminate strategic plan. The discussions spotlighted the extraordinary progress that has accelerated the University’s aspirations of joining the nation’s top Research 1 universities as the world’s preeminent Christian research university.

WACO, Texas (July 1, 2021) – Baylor University is seeking artists and foundries to create life-sized bronze statues of the University’s first Black graduates – the Rev. Robert Gilbert, B.A. ’67, and Mrs. Barbara Walker, B.A. ’67. The statues will ultimately reside in front of Baylor’s historic Tidwell Bible Building.

We have reached the summer months, months that offer a bit of respite from the productive, yet sometimes grinding school year. This is a time to breathe, to recalibrate and to rest.

Spotlighting work going on among Baylor’s staff to continue building a culture of justice and equity.

I am writing to provide you with an update on a reported incident of a physical assault on one of our Asian American students early Sunday morning that included the use of racial slurs.

As you read this, you have access to the report from the Commission on Historic Campus Representations. Whether you have read it or not (at over 90 pages, it’s a significant work!), there may be questions swirling in your mind: Why does this matter? What will the University do? How will this shape my campus experience now?

Spotlighting work going on among Baylor's faculty to continue building a culture of justice and equity.

WACO, Texas (March 23, 2021) – Baylor University today released the full independent and unedited report of the 26-member Commission on Historic Campus Representations, which was charged by the Baylor Board of Regents with independently reviewing and evaluating the historical record and context of the University and its early leaders solely related to slavery and the Confederacy.

WACO, Texas (Feb. 22, 2021) – The inaugural ARC (Athletics, Race, Christianity) Talks, hosted by the Faith & Sports Institute, Baylor Athletics and the Black Church Studies Program at Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary, will take place from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25.

WACO, Texas (Feb. 19, 2021) - At its quarterly meeting held virtually, the Baylor University Board of Regents officially accepted the final report of the Commission on Historic Campus Representations, passing a resolution that expressed its gratitude to the 26 members of the Commission and sets a path forward for the University Administration to develop an action plan of the Commission's recommendations for Board consideration.

Baylor University places a strategic priority on enhancing equity across our campus and throughout our academic and operational divisions. In order to better share achievements and initiatives related to this effort, we have created this newsletter which will be distributed every other month as a source of information for you and the greater Baylor Family.

The Big XII Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education acknowledges the pain, hurt, confusion, and hopelessness many people have been feeling following the ruling in the Breonna Taylor case.

In only a few days, we will have the great joy of welcoming back to our campus the thousands of men and women who call Baylor University home as students. This Monday, the first official day of class for the fall semester, is a day for which all of us have been yearning and diligently preparing for months.

WACO, Texas (July 17, 2020) – The Baylor University Board of Regents gathered virtually Thursday and Friday for its quarterly regular meeting to discuss and receive updates on numerous items, including the University’s plans for the fall semester in light of COVID-19 and the launch of the Commission on Historic Campus Representations.

WACO, Texas (July 14, 2020) – Baylor University today announced the establishment of the Trailblazer Scholars Program, a scholarship program designed to recognize the importance of fostering diversity and mutual respect at Baylor University. Launching the program with $5 million in scholarship support, the University will actively engage alumni and donors to support growth in the program, with a goal of providing a cohort of 80 or more students scholarship support through Trailblazer Scholarships.

Many years ago, Baylor University made a strong commitment to reflect the racial diversity of God’s creation among our students, faculty and staff. Through various task forces, the President's Diversity Council and other initiatives, significant progress has been made in several areas, including admissions, faculty hiring and our campus climate, to name a few. Yet we recognize we must do more as Baylor strives to be a caring Christian community for all of our students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends.

The events of the past few weeks have filled me with great sorrow over the senseless and inexcusable killing of George Floyd and in remembrance of the terrible deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and too many other black men, women and children. We have once again seen our country’s deep divide over race, justice and inequality come to light.

My heart is broken as I join with our Baylor students, faculty, staff and alumni in deep grief and prayer over the pain, fear, anger and injustice caused by disturbing events of racism and violence in our nation.

WACO, Texas (Dec. 13, 2019) — Baylor University’s Model United Nations (MUN) team was named an “Outstanding Delegation” at the 2019 National Model United Nations Conference, Nov. 8-10 in Washington, D.C.

WACO, Texas (Dec. 2, 2019) – Americans travel farther on average to their worship places than they did a decade ago. But while those who belong to a congregation in their neighborhood attend more often, “worshipping local” does not make them feel closer to their neighbors or more satisfied with the neighborhood, according to a new study by researchers at Baylor University and Calvin University.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 14, 2019) – In this polarized time, when it requires little effort to tear a stranger apart on social media or lash out at a family member because of a difference of opinion, the gentle cadence of Fred Rogers singing a simple song about neighbors loving and helping each other is a welcome respite.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 7, 2019) – Baylor University will continue its Baylor Conversation Series, featuring nationally renowned speakers and friends Robert P. George, Ph.D., and Cornel West, Ph.D., at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15, in Waco Hall.

WACO, Texas (Nov. 6, 2019) – Education research and technology company EAB has honored Baylor University as a co-winner of the 2019 Student Success Collaborative-Technology Pioneer Award, which recognizes Baylor as an institution that consistently is on the leading edge when it comes to technology by testing new solutions to advance student success.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 17, 2019) – Baylor University will host Steppin’ Out from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 19. Approximately 1,800 volunteers from 83 student organizations will join together to serve the community at various locations around the Waco area.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 7, 2019) – Baylor University has completed a contract extension with President Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D., Board of Regents Chair Jerry K. Clements announced Monday.

WACO, Texas (Oct. 1, 2019) – Following news that food insecurity has dropped for the first time below pre-recession levels, Baylor University’s newly named Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty will hold its annual Together at the Table Hunger and Poverty Summit Oct. 2-4 at the Bill Daniel Student Center, 1311 S. Fifth St., on the Baylor campus.

WACO, Texas (Sept. 30, 2019) – Baylor University’s Texas Hunger Initiative (THI) announced today the official launch of the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty, which will bring together efforts to address hunger in Texas and beyond. The Collaborative will become the umbrella entity for THI.

WACO, Texas (July 10, 2019) – Kevin Chambliss, Ph.D., who has served since January as interim vice provost for research at Baylor University, has been appointed to the permanent role, announced today by Provost Nancy Brickhouse. The appointment is effective immediately.

WACO, Texas (June 13, 2019) – The Black Gospel Music Restoration Project at Baylor University is preserving more than just gospel music. In the past few years, Baylor journalism professor and former Billboard gospel music editor Robert Darden and a team from the Baylor Libraries have undertaken the project of restoring and preserving recorded sermons from black preachers in addition to the gospel music. While both are equally important to preserve, finding sermons to preserve comes with a unique set of challenges.

WACO, Texas (May 13, 2019) – The Center for First-generation Student Success, an initiative of NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education and The Suder Foundation, recently announced that Baylor University has been selected among the Center’s inaugural cohort of First Forward Institutions.

WACO, Texas (April 17, 2019) – Baylor University’s First In Line program, which provides resources to first-generation college students to support student success at Baylor and beyond, partnered with Baylor Missions over spring break on a new missions experience that sent a team of 25 first-generation students and two staff members to Santiago, Dominican Republic.

WACO, Texas (March 25, 2019) – With Baylor in Latin America one of the five signature initiatives of the University’s Illuminate academic strategic plan, a top scholar who has researched and taught about religion in Latin America for nearly two decades joined the Baylor University faculty this semester.

WACO, Texas (March 5, 2019) – The Baylor University