Homecoming is a celebration — a time to gather, get to know one another, share ideas and memories and have fun. Ultimately, I always knew that homecoming was an opportunity, but I never knew it as a blessing until COVID-19.

While some professors teach with slideshows and worksheets, history lecturer Dr. Anthony Gaspar teaches material in a unique way — through impressions.

Dr. Burritt Hess graduated from Baylor in 1995 and has served as the residency program director for Waco Family Medicine since 2023. On Oct. 6, Hess will start as the Baylor medical director.

Despite coming from a vast range of backgrounds and interests, the roads of 10 Baylor professors converged this year in the Baylor Fellows Program.

Baylor history professor Dr. Robert Elder is the first Baylor faculty member to be awarded the Public Scholars grant from the NEH to help his future book project about the nullification crisis, a conflict between South Carolina and the federal government in the 1830s.

Baylor professor Dr. Saralyn McKinnon-Crowley brought her love of trivia to the national stage last week when she competed on “Jeopardy!”, fulfilling a dream years in the making.

Baylor professors Dr. Benjamin Rose and Dr. Peter James both work with NASA and conduct research for upcoming projects, including the Roman Space Telescope and SPARX lunar mission.

Baylor held its annual Faculty and Staff of Color Reception Thursday afternoon to welcome new staff for this school year and celebrate plans for the new year, one being the new memorial on Founder’s Mall.

The Gold Standard Award is an honor that faculty in the Robbins College receive if they have received the Pure Gold Award previously and are considered to be outstanding staff. Five are chosen from the Pure Gold Award recipients: outstanding staff, outstanding lecturer, outstanding clinical faculty, outstanding tenure-track faculty and outstanding tenured faculty. Adeyemi received the most outstanding lecturer this past semester.

“I think being at Baylor, especially with this Christian mission, is an honor itself,” Hornik said. “But to also receive [this] recognition really solidifies my thoughts that this was the place I should be –– and that God wanted me to be –– for my career.”

Carnes makes the argument that there are powerful women all throughout history, and said that if people “reimagine the theological terrain through attunement,” a person begins to see how women were and are fundamental to the theological world.

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.

“So we’re helping the entrepreneur ecosystem,” Martin said. “In addition to helping starters raise funding, we also help angel groups find members … we also help VC funds find limited partners, primarily family offices.”

Along with a completely revised core curriculum and new electives, the total credit hours required to complete a major or secondary major has dropped from 36 to 30. Many prerequisites, which often barred non-majors from enrolling in a course, have also been stripped.

“I love to research and I love to write. And this is a place where I can use those gifts and also help students as they discover their own calling,” Myers said.

“Pay incentives can lead to jealousy among faculty members,” Cox said, observing that the system could unintentionally favor teachers with smaller or more advanced classes, sparking concerns about fairness.

Mazumder, 42, joined Baylor in the 2021-2022 academic year. After four years in Waco at the Hankamer School of Business, Mazumder and his family will relocate to northern Georgia as the soon-to-be former dean begins his tenure as the ninth president of the sprawling, rural 2,000-student Berry College.

“The fact that our faculty are among the most cited of people across their disciplines says that the contributions that we’re making in those areas are meaningful and impactful, not just on our campus, but beyond our university and to the larger community.”

“It started when I was about 9 years old,” Little said. “I was one of those nerdy little kids who spent her lunchtime in the library reading real ghost stories.”

“Faculty-in-residence serve a valuable role within our residential communities because they help to promote our residential communities as places that support students’ academic goals and learning as they serve as personal and academic role models, and are a tremendous resource for encouragement, information and advising,” Garrett said.

In a particularly polarizing election season, the panelists urge Christians to step back from a combative attitude when it comes to politics and start listening to other perspectives.

Sarah Gerald, senior accommodation specialist, said some professors might be uncomfortable when their students use OALA as their accommodated testing site. She said it is important to showcase OALA to them so that they can feel comfortable allowing their students to test in an alternate site.

The U.S. News annual best colleges report was released last Tuesday, ranking Baylor among the best in the nation for undergraduate education and first-year experience.

“Everyone saw the value in being here, even though they came from so many other places and backgrounds.”

Lyon is a Baylor alumnus and has been part of the faculty at Baylor since 1975, starting out as a professor of sociology up until 1998 when he became dean of the Graduate School and has been in that position since. When he retires at the end of this academic year, he will have completed 50 years at Baylor. During his tenure as dean, he has witnessed the transformation and contributed to the growth of the graduate school.

Even though Prater has not yet crossed paths with Foli, her impact on the graduate program is already present. Prater, who is currently reading Foli’s book on psychological trauma in nurses, said Foli’s arrival “reinforces [her] excitement to be at Baylor and in the program.”

According to a Baylor email announcement sent to all faculty and staff on March 26, the cost of student meal plans has increased steadily with inflation, allowing for institutional subsidies on faculty and staff dining to remain the same for nearly two decades. However, due to inflation, the university has decided to raise faculty and staff dining rates.

The Christ-Centered Diversity and Belonging Council hosted its Monthly Social Hour from 2 to 3 p.m. on Thursday at the FOS Atrium. The event was a come-and-go meeting where faculty, staff and students were invited to socialize and celebrate the faith theme of the month.

The Christ-Centered Diversity and Belonging Council is holding weekly prayer meetings from noon to 1 p.m. every Friday in Room 322 of the Foster Campus for Business and Innovation.

Dr. Kristen Padilla, director of the center, said she has seen the Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities grow and transform over the last 10 years. According to its website, the center is hosting two events in January — one for students and one for faculty and staff members.