By Caleb Wheeler | Staff Writer
From classics professors to anthropology office managers, every Baylor employee has a story.
It can be easy to forget faculty and staff have lives outside of Baylor. However, they enjoy doing many of the same activities that students do, and they are far more human than they may initially seem.
Dr. Sheng Yin, postdoctoral research associate in mathematics, said he enjoys watching movies, listening to music and going for walks around campus in his free time.
Yin said he went to see “Dune: Part 2” in theaters last week and enjoyed the movie. While he doesn’t have a favorite music artist, he said his favorite genre is pop.
“We work as researchers, and we spend a lot of time doing math, and it’s exhausting,” Yin said. “So we have to do something else to clear the mind and work better.”
Dr. Jacqueline Jones, temporary lecturer in classics, said in her free time, she is involved in a book club that reads mysteries and a Dungeons and Dragons campaign that includes other Baylor faculty. She said she talks to her students about her interests early on to help them see that she is a normal person too.
“I frequently let my students know, kind of on the first day of class … I’m a fan of mysteries and fantasy,” Jones said. “I do try to bring out things like fanfiction and make comparisons to things like ‘Star Wars’ or Marvel, and I think that helps them remember that I am someone that maybe has the same interests as they do.”
Jones said she likes to talk about things she is interested in that are weird and different because it helps students realize they do not need to hide what they are interested in.
Roxanne Lamkin, office manager for the department of anthropology, said while she does not have much free time, she enjoys spending it with her family. She said her family travels at least once a year. Last month, she went to Death Valley National Park with her husband to celebrate their 32nd anniversary.
“I think getting to know somebody on a personal level really kind of opens up the world to see that they have families, they have pets, they take trips,” Lamkin said. “I think sometimes students don’t recognize that this is just our [job]. It’s not who we are.”
Lamkin said faculty and staff have lives outside of Baylor, and if students could see Baylor employees as people, it would open a lot of doors for more community on campus.
