Rylee Seavers | Broadcast Reporter

Baylor professor emeritus of political science Dr. William Mitchell recently released a book detailing five trips made by a group of Baylor faculty members to Iraq during operation Iraqi Freedom.

The book, titled “Baylor in Northern Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom,” details the objectives of the trips made between 2003 and 2007.

“The book actually is an effort to document every single thing, almost everything, we did over those five year periods,” Mitchell said. “It wasn’t just going to Iraq, it involved everything about Iraq in terms of doing book drives here at Baylor, going to Oklahoma to work with the University of Oklahoma’s program of the Kurds.”

Each of the trips has a different objective, he said, like making recommendations to Baylor on how to aid higher education in the region, conducting workshops, training of Kurdish professors in the region and opening a center for democracy.

“We’ve shared a lot of materials with them, a lot of time, a lot of resources and still do. It’s a continuing effort,” he said.

The book provides documentation of the trips, which are part of Baylor’s history, Mitchell said. He hopes to see the efforts in Iraq used as a model in the future for similar programs, or see an expansion within the region.