By Amanda Earp
Copy Desk Chief

Described by her colleagues as smart, funny and laid back, Dr. Phyllis Tippit brings experience and knowledge to the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core. Tippit, who has a doctorate in geology and is a dissertation away from having a doctorate in Old Testament, teaches everything from literature and media to science and religion for the BIC.

Dr. Jason Whitlark, assistant professor for the BIC, said Tippit is versatile, knowledgeable and a “lover of learning.”

After receiving her first bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Texas at Austin, Tippit found out she was pregnant with her first child and followed her husband to Odessa. It was there that Tippit received her bachelor’s degree in literature from the University of Texas Permian Basin. After this degree, Tippit moved to Dallas around the opening of the University of Texas at Dallas, where she received her doctorate in geology.

“I opened new branches wherever I was,” Tippit joked in reference to attending multiple University of Texas branches.

With her geology degree in hand, Tippit went to work in the oil business for 14 years. Over these years she worked as a palentologist, explorationist, director of technical service and offshore in the Gulf.

Tippit said she was always active in the prayer ministry of her church.

“I got really involved in that and took a class which isn’t so popular anymore called the Henry Blackaby course,” she said. “In the process of that I felt really, really called to ministry.”

Around this time, Tippit said, the gas industry was going through huge layoffs. After speaking with her boss, she arranged for a layoff and severance pay.

“My husband thought it would see me through a year of seminary, but it saw me through three,” Tippit said. “I really felt that was the right thing to do.”

And just like that, Tippit was back to school at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary working toward her Master of Arts in Old Testament Studies. Tippit then taught at Houston Baptist University and worked on her church’s staff.

When her husband passed away, her two children were in Waco. She decided to join them to work on her doctorate in Old Testament.

“I never did write my dissertation. I did my prelim, so I’m all but dissertationed in Old Testament,” she said.

Tippit, who has been at Baylor since 1999, initially taught Hebrew and some religion classes at the George W. Truett Theological Seminary. She then made her way to teaching for the BIC.

“I make a really good BIC person because BIC is interdisciplinary, so I have probably taught more BIC classes than anybody else,” she said.

Tippit said she loves teaching it all.

“I just love learning about things,” she said. “And I love making connections about things. So for example, when I’m teaching social work it’s so cool to see the connections of what is happening in social world and it’s influence on biblical thought and especially ethical thought.”

Tippit, a supporter of the idea that science and religion can mix, has taught the science and religion capstone for five years.

“I would have never said that this would be my role,” Tippit said. “In fact when I started seminary, I assumed that science was gone, that I would never deal with that again.”

Throughout her life, whether it was in college, the oil business or teaching religion, Tippit often found herself as the one of the only women in her field.

Tippit was the first woman to teach in the Christianity department at Houston Baptist University.

“People would meet me on campus and say, ‘Oh, you’re the woman.’ I was like, ‘Last time I looked I was,” Tippit said with a smile.

Although she doesn’t consider herself a boundary breaker, her colleagues do.

Sharon Conry, senior lecturer in the BIC, said she has worked with Tippit for about seven years.

“She is challenging stereotypes and reservations about women in the world and work force,” Conry said when asked about Tippit working in male-dominated workplaces. “She accepted the challenges and overcame them.”

By Chris Day
Reporter

Baylor’s Christmas on 5th Street will feature three major label artists today: Matt Wertz, Phil Wickham and Mandisa Hundley.

Mandisa will perform at 7 p.m. with her band in the Barfield Drawing Room of the Bill Daniel Student Center. The contemporary Christian and R&B artist was signed to Sparrow Records after gaining fame as a ninth-place finalist in the fifth season of American Idol.

Mandisa said that since her stint with American Idol, things have been better than she expected them to be.

“I thought to myself, ‘Really, is this my life?’ I am very thankful for what the Lord planned for me,” she said.

She describes her sound as having “raging guitars with a funky beat and it talks about Jesus.”

Mandisa said that during her first two albums, she was discovering her sound.

“I can’t really compare my sound to anyone. I have rock influences but I grew up on Jeremy Camp with Whitney Houston,” she said.

Mandisa said she is excited to perform at Baylor as she reflects on her college days. Her backup singer, Laura Cooksey, is a Baylor alumna.

“I remember being in college and having no idea what I was going to do graduating with a career in music,” Mandisa said. “I believe in Matthew 6:33. ‘But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.’ I am a firm believer that if you seek the Lord he has got a plan for all of us. As long as I direct my attention to him he will direct my path.”

Mandisa will primarily sing Christmas music, but will also include hits from her other two albums.

The concert is part of Cocoa, Cookies and Carols, organized by the Baylor Religious Hour Choir. Tomball senior Ryan Anderson handled all the booking for the event.

“The purpose of the event is to raise awareness for a mission trip,” Anderson said. “This year we will go to Ghana, Africa.”

This year Baylor On Ice, a synthetic ice skating rink, is set up on Fountain Mall. Skating is free from 6 to 7 p.m. today, but costs $5 or a toy donation during the rest of the event. This is the second year the Interfraternity Council has sponsored the event, but this is the first year it has been connected to Christmas on 5th Street.

Kappa Omega Tau fraternity will present the 45th Annual Christmas Tree Lighting. KOT recruited musical guests Matt Wertz and Phil Wickham to play on a stage in The Quadrangle next to the Christmas tree.

Kappa Pickers, a vocal ensemble from the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, will also perform.

The lighting of the tree is put together by the fraternity’s Christmas tree chairs, Waco juniors Brennan Bailey and Nick Deaver, Dallas juniors Drew Jolesch and James Blair, Fort Worth junior Layne Hancock and Austin junior Sam Klatt.

“Artist selection, their travel cost, transportation, food cost are all done by the six of us,” Bailey said. “Baylor has been very flexible and has made themselves very available. Baylor has no contact with the artist agencies or the Christmas tree company. That’s all done through us. Basically, every year we build the event and approach Baylor and get it approved.”

The event is paid for through personal donations from the student government allocation fund, alumni and active parents as well as other sponsors that the Christmas tree chairs have sought.

The goal of the event is to raise money to donate to the Mocha Club’s education project by selling T-shirts and fleeces. The charity seeks to enhance education in South Africa and Kenya.

“It’s our platform, higher education. We just thought it seemed fitting,” Bailey said.

T-shirts are being sold from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at five locations across campus: the Bill Daniel Student Center, Hankamer School of Business lobby, Penland Residence Hall, Collins Residence Hall and Memorial Residence Hall.

“It’s a great winter tradition,” Bailey said. “It’s neat to sit around a table with five of your best friends and envision what you want a philanthropic event to look like.”

The Christmas tree chairs said the revenue is pivotal.

“For me, the depth and detail we’ve had to go into has been unreal,” Hancock said. “We have several different budget sheets. I feel like the experience of this is so comprehensive that it’s better than any single class project you can do. If it’s a marketing class it’s just marketing or if it’s accounting it focuses on accounting. This is everything.”

Student Activities Board will work with the department of modern foreign languages for a presentation in the Bill Daniel Student Center Bowl, singing Christmas Carols in a variety of foreign languages.

The Marketplace Arts and Crafts Fair will be put on by Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

Michael Riemer, the associate director of Student Activities for on-campus programs, described Christmas on 5th Street as one of their major programs of the year.

“I work closely with the Baylor Activities Council, which is the group that is responsible for planning all the Activities for Christmas on 5th,” Riemer said. “They work with several different student organizations. They work with KOT on the tree lighting, BRH on the concert that happens here in Barfield. They work with Delta Sigma Theta sorority on the Marketplace. There’s several different anchor components. There’s the tree lighting and concert, the carols and concert that happens in the Barfield Drawing Room. There’s also the advent services done by Spiritual Life that happen in Armstrong Browning Library and then there’s the Marketplace, which is done on the first floor. It’s all scheduled so that Mandisa will finish before the Christmas tree lighting begins, so that people can go to both.”

Christmas on 5th Street will take place from 6 p.m. until 11 p.m. today at Fountain Mall, Burleson Quadrangle, Traditions Plaza and in the Bill Daniel Student Center.

By Sara Tirrito
Staff Writer

Students living in the East Arbors Apartments and Arbors Apartments buildings one and two were recently notified by e-mail that their apartments will not be available for the spring semester of the 2011-2012 school year because of possible plans to construct a new residential complex in the area where these apartments currently stand.

Though the plans for the complex, known as the East Village Residential Community, have not been approved, Jeff Doyle, dean for student learning and engagement, said students should be made aware of the situation up front in case the plans for the complex do work out.

“If it is approved, then we figured it’d be better not to have students sign up for next fall now and then tell them they can’t stay there for the year instead of telling them what we told them [in the e-mail],” Doyle said.

In the e-mail, students were told that the Baylor-owned apartments would be open for the fall 2011 semester, but not the entire 2011-2012 school year. They were also offered priority over the general student population in choosing a new housing assignment if they would like to remain on campus for the 2011-2012 school year.

“I think East Arbors in particular, it’s become a really great upper division community, so I think there’s a lot of students that are sad it isn’t going to be an option,” Terri Garrett, director for Campus Living and Learning, said. “But what we’re doing for those students that are being displaced, we really are working to help them if they want to stay on campus, to find an option that’s going to be viable for them. They really are our priority at this point.”

Although the plans for the East Village Residential Community are currently in the program design process and are not slated for presentation to the Baylor Board of Regents until February, Dr. Kevin Jackson, vice president for student life, said it was important to be proactive in dealing with students living in the Arbors.

“We’re trying to be proactive so that we can minimize any disruption to our students’ living arrangements as we move through the various approvals for this project,” Jackson said.

Although the e-mail to students stated that the apartments would be unavailable “due to construction of the new East Village Residential Community,” an official decision to build the new complex has not been made, Jackson said.

“Unfortunately the letter was written in such a way it sounded like the project has been approved,” Jackson said. “It’s a possibility, and we’re working through the steps.”

If the program design concepts for the new complex are approved by the Board of Regents in February, the project will move on to the next phase — architectural design and construction planning. Then information obtained during that phase will be presented to the board for approval. If approval is granted, site preparations can begin. Jackson said it is hoped that the project will receive this approval by early fall 2012, if not sooner.

If plans to build the new complex where the East Arbors Apartments and Arbors Apartments buildings one and two currently stand are approved, approximately 140 beds will be lost by the destruction of those apartments. Jackson said the university is doing its best to minimize the loss of beds, and that the plans slated for presentation to the board of regents also include potentially considering turning other Baylor-owned apartments into apartment-style living areas for students if needed.

The proposed plans for the East Village Residential Community recommend creating a multi-building complex containing 1,000 beds and a dining hall. The need for space for a large complex was one reason for considering building the complex where the East Arbors Apartments complex and Arbors buildings one and two currently stand, Jackson said.

“To build a complex that would eventually encompass 1,000 beds and would have the space to do a dining hall is a very significant piece of property,” he said.

By Meghan Hendrickson
Staff Writer

Baylor’s Center for Professional Selling does not teach students how to make a sale, but how to assess the needs of a customer and help them find successful solutions to meet those needs. This was one of several thought-provoking ideas that was shared by eight senior professional sales students to underclassmen Wednesday.

The professional sales major of the Hankamer School of Business hosted an invitation-only luncheon on the fifth floor of Cashion Academic Center for underclassmen who expressed an interest in learning more about the major and the value it holds.

Professional sales is a major that stems from the marketing major at Baylor and is limited to only 18 students for the purposes of competition, small classes and effective learning.

Students interested in majoring in professional sales are required to take pre-requisite courses and be selected through an application process.

Fort Worth senior Sarah Shive attended the luncheon last fall and is now a professional sales major expecting to graduate in May.

Shive helps recruit new students to the Center for Professional Selling.

Two weeks ago Shive competed in the Baylor Business Sell-Off, an individual-level sales competition open to business students, and received an invitation to interview with Dell after the company witnessed her sales skills at work during a role play scenario.

“I have an interview in two weeks,” Shive said. “If that job opportunity comes through, it would be such a full circle because I never thought I’d be a sales major and get a job at a sales competition. To me, it’s proof that this is a successful program.”

Shive said the professional sales major doesn’t close any doors, burt rather gives students more opportunity. The eight students presenting at the luncheon each came from different backgrounds with different interests, personalities and strengths, but she said because they found their passion in professional sales, each one of them has been equipped with the skills they need to be successful.

“At Baylor we are taught Christ-centered sales, meaning we don’t want to push a product – we want to build a relationship,” Shive said in her presentation at the luncheon. “I believe that being learned in that perspective of sales already puts you a step ahead.”

Dr. Andrea Dixon came to Baylor from the University of Cincinnati last year to serve as the executive director of the Center for Professional Selling.

Dixon said the reason she does what she does is because of the students.

“I see in a four-month period of time how much they change from where they started just a few months ago,” Dixon said. “They would have had PowerPoint slides with 80 words, but part of my job is getting them to change their mindset to see that it’s not a presentation — it’s a conversation.”

Dixon said one of the most important things about professional selling is building value into a product based on the point of view of the customer.

Rockwall junior Emily Kirwan is a double major in nonprofit marketing and international business, but attended the luncheon because she felt it was an opportunity to learn something valuable.

“I realized that I need to start working on myself to become better at what I want to do by preparing now,” Kirwan said. “One of the students said that no matter what you do in business, it still involves sales. I think that’s true. I think it’s important that I learn to sell myself as a business professional.”

The luncheon provided an opportunity for underclassmen to receive wisdom and practical advice from their senior peers.

“Each one of those students provided reassurance that they’re where God wants them, but they started several majors ago,” Dixon said. “It’s normal to go through the process in college of trying different suits on — we’re telling you to try them on even faster and try more until you find the place that feels right for you.”