By Mackenzie Grizzard | Staff Writer
While 2024 wasn’t a Big 12 Championship year for many Baylor sports, it was a winning year for the faculty, as Dr. Stephen Sloan, professor of history and the director of the Institute for Oral History at Baylor, took home the first-ever Big 12 Faculty of the Year award.
In November, The Big 12 Conference announced the nominees to highlight one exceptional faculty member from each of the 16 universities belonging to the conference.
These faculty members were nominated by their respective institutions in conjunction with Big 12 Faculty Athletic representatives, provosts and other university leaders.
“The thing I remember most about my own Baylor education is the timelessness of the student-faculty relationship,” Provost Nancy Brickhouse said. “That commitment to character development, and of course, the faith that undergirds all of that within our academic programming.”
Sloan has been a Baylor Bear since the ’80s, when he received his undergraduate degree in accounting.
“I always tell students that it doesn’t have to be a straight path to whatever you end up doing,” Sloan said. “I didn’t really figure out what I wanted to do until after I graduated and started taking history classes.”
After he graduated from Baylor, Sloan realized his passion and received his masters degree in history and a Ph.D. from Arizona State. He returned to Baylor in 2007, where he’s remained.
“One of the things that’s fun about this award is it really recognizes the breadth of what professors do,” Sloan said. “I teach, I research, I run a research program, I advise a student organization … it’s really the full life of a professor.”
Outside of the classroom, Sloan serves as the executive director of the national Oral History Association, where his work has been funded by local, state and national grants. He previously served as president of both the Historic Waco Foundation and the Heart of Texas Regional History Fair.
“I think if there’s anything unusual about my path, [it’s] just the variety of things that I get to do,” Sloan said. “Teaching and research are a big part of that, but there’s also a variety of things that I get to do as a professor.”
Sloan’s favorite part of history to teach is 20th century U.S. history, primarily the Cold War and Vietnam War, he said.
“The most important thing, I think, is to get people engaged in history they see a contemporary relevance to it,” Sloan said. “Students want to see how it engages with the world they live in now.”
In his many years as an educator, Sloan attempts to foster as much learning growth as he can in the classroom, particularly through the relationships he forges with his students.
“I get to know my students and they get to know me,” Sloan said. “Any sort of work we do together as instructor and student is better when it’s driven by more than fulfilling a class organization. Baylor is a great place to build those sort of relationships and watch them grow.”
Throughout his time at Baylor, Sloan has been no stranger to awards and recognition. In April, he was honored as the 2024 Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year, which recognizes a Baylor faculty member who makes a significant contribution to the university through teaching, research and service.
“It’s a big honor, so I was really, really happy to receive it,” Sloan said. “I was so overwhelmed by that award and now this, so it’s been quite a year for me.”
Despite almost 20 years as an educator, Sloan said he has no intention of slowing down and is excited about all he still has to learn.
“I don’t feel like I’ve arrived anywhere in getting this award,” Sloan said. “But it’s a nice recognition to kind of encourage me along in the journey as I continue to learn and grow as a professor.”
Even after this pivotal year, Sloan still jokes about how he deals with “imposter syndrome” and is grateful for the affirmation these awards have given him.
“I’m very humbled by it, and I think it’s made me kind of re-examine some of the things I do,” Sloan said. “But I want to continue to try to humbly take on new opportunities and to take it as an encouragement that I’m on the right path.”
Some advice that Sloan often gives to his students is to learn with humility, which is what he hopes they take with them into their respective lives and careers.
“I hope they grow in their ability to think critically and act creatively,” Sloan said. “There’s more they need to understand, there’s perspectives outside themselves that are valuable.”
But that learning is never truly done, according to Sloan. Despite a few new accolades, that thirst for knowledge is never quenched.
“I’ll get to continue to learn and learn along with students, I never watch the clock,” Sloan said. “I love the fact that well into my career, I still have so much left to learn.”
