Telecom alum recognized from Hollywood to Florida
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Alumni, Honors
It’s an interesting thing, to visit another school’s website and see a Baylor graduate splashed across their front page.
As I type this, visitors to Florida State University’s website, fsu.edu, are greeted with a banner headline: “Film School dean is top mentor to Hollywood filmmakers” (screenshot at right; click to see bigger). The subject of that acclaim, who is titled in the same graphic as “among [the] most influential professors in the U.S.,” is Frank Patterson — a Baylor alum who earned his bachelor’s and master’s here before carrying the green and gold to Chapman University, the University of Texas and now FSU.
The linked article on FSU’s site stems from an article in the Hollywood Reporter that listed Patterson among the 12 most influential film school professors in the nation. Patterson himself, however, credits the education he received in Baylor’s Telecommunications (now Film and Digital Media) classes with helping get him where he is today.
Sic ’em, Frank Patterson and Baylor Film and Digital Media!
NBA star returns to Baylor as student manager
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Alumni, Athletics
David Wesley left Baylor 33 hours shy of a degree in 1993 to begin an NBA career that would last 14 seasons with the Nets, Celtics, Hornets, Rockets and Cavaliers. Now he’s back to finish his education — and in his spare time, assist head coach Scott Drew as a student manager.
Drew points to Wesley as an excellent role model, both in his athletic success and in his determination to come back and finish his degree. Add all that to his willingness to help out the men’s basketball program, and you can understand why Drew is “extremely excited to have David come back to Baylor.”
Wesley, a member of Baylor’s All-Centennial Basketball Team, played three seasons at Baylor after transferring from Temple College. The Longview, Texas, native still ranks among the program’s career leaders in assists (4th), steals (4th), 3-pointers made (t-9th) and points scored (10th). He finished his NBA career among the league’s all-time top 100 in 3-point field goals (35th), steals (57th) and assists (84th), helping lead his teams to eight playoff appearances.
Sic ’em, David Wesley, and welcome back!
Fall Premiere welcomes over 1,100 future Bears to campus
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Photo Galleries, Student life
Even though students have only been back on campus for about a month, the effort to recruit students for next year and beyond has been underway for quite some time already. Last Saturday, the University welcomed over 1,100 students and more than 4,000 total participants to campus for Fall Premiere, one of the largest days in the event’s history.
Future Bears, along with their parents and siblings, toured campus, met with professors and administrators, enjoyed perhaps their first-ever Dr Pepper Hour, and were on hand for the annual Brothers Under Christ Island Party, with inflatable games and a concert by Kutless. (Click here for a photo gallery from the weekend.)
If you or someone you know is interested in Baylor, let us know! And don’t worry — you haven’t missed out; there are still Winter and Spring Premieres yet to come later this year!
Sic ’em, future Baylor Bears!
Pulitzer Prize-winning Bear debuts new orchestra piece on LBJ
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Alumni
Baylor alum Steven Stucky’s latest composition, performed this month by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, marks what would have been the 100th birthday of another notable Texan, President Lyndon B. Johnson, but it’s gaining recognition outside of the state’s boundaries because of its focus.
The oratorio, “August 4, 1964,” focuses on a single day in LBJ’s presidency — a pivotal date that soon led to the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. Its relevance — an unpopular war based on faulty evidence led by a president from Texas — is clear, and part of what has drawn national attention to the work. But the parallel is not the entire focus of the piece, and the impending war was not the only thing on LBJ’s mind that day. (For more details, read this New York Times article on Stucky’s work.)
This isn’t the first time Stucky has earned such recognition; he recieved the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2005 for his “Second Concerto for Orchestra”, the first time a Baylor alum had ever earned a Pulitzer. In 2007, he was named a distinguished alumnus of Baylor. While this piece is playing in Dallas, he is a professor at Cornell University and has worked with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for more than 15 years.
Sic ’em, Steven Stucky!
National media outlets highlight new Baylor Religion Survey results
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Academics, Research
Two years ago, Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion released the results of the first Baylor Religion Survey, and the study’s findings earned national attention, topped by a front page story in USA Today.
Earlier this month, the study’s authors shared what they found in wave two of the survey, once again shining the national spotlight on the research being done at Baylor. In addition to a series of stories in USA Today, the work done by ISR professors Dr. Rodney Stark, Dr. Byron Johnson, Dr. Christopher Bader and Dr. Carson Mencken was profiled in national media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Time, and ABC News. Local news stations in cities like Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh televised reports on the survey, and even publications as far flung as Italy, Australia, India and Mexico ran with the story. (Click here for a complete list of media coverage.)
This second wave of the study asked a number of new questions as well as some of the same questions as the first version two years ago, which will allow researchers to track trends across time. The Baylor Religion Survey will continue to be repeated every two years, thanks to funding from the John M. Templeton Foundation and the University.
In conjunction with the release of these results, Dr. Stark has written a book, What Americans Really Believe, which expounds on some of the study’s findings. Some of those conclusions may come as a surprise to you — that megachurches are more intimate communities than small congregations, for instance, or that the percentage of atheists in America has not changed in over 60 years. If these or other findings described here interest you, pick up a copy of the book.
Sic ’em, ISR, for your groundbreaking research and for shining the light so brightly on Baylor!
Baylor working to help those affected by Hurricane Ike
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Student life
While many who live along the Gulf Coast are still without power and working to get their lives back in order after Hurricane Ike, Baylor University is doing what it can to help its students and their families.
After the storm made its way through Texas, University officials began to contact the 800 or so students whose families live along the Texas and Louisiana coast to let them know specifically how Baylor can help them during this time.
Staff in the Counseling Center are available to students who just to need to unload, talk, cry and pray through what they and their families are dealing with. Professors have been urged to be sensitive to their students’ situations, particularly since many classes are just hitting their first round of tests. In the coming weeks, those students hit hardest may find themselves struggling to keep up with school work, and academic counselors in the Paul L. Foster Success Center are also ready to help.
Above and beyond that, the Baylor Parents League as well as the Financial Aid and Development offices are working together to make financial aid available to students with needs caused by the storm — those with parents who lost homes, jobs and/or businesses, for instance. The Parents League has a fund for just such a situation, and Baylor has set up a second temporary fund just for those affected by this storm. Interim president Dr. David Garland sent out an e-mail late last week to ask for prayers and financial assistance in supporting these students, and already over $7,500 has been collected; if you’re interested in helping, click here.
Last but not least, the Student Activities and Spiritual Life departments are working together to form a relief team that would head to the coast over Fall Break, depending on safety issues, with another follow-up trip being considered for Spring Break. Anyone interested should contact Karin Klinger in Student Activities or Rebecca Kennedy in Spiritual Life for more information.
Sic ’em, Baylor family, for helping those in need!
Students help those in need during summer of service
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Baylor 2012, Alumni, Student life
How did you spend your summer? For many Baylor students, the answer to that question is “helping others.”
* Over 160 students visited AIDS clinics, installed hydro-electric generators, tutored children and shared the Gospel on Baylor-sponsored mission trips across the globe this summer. Baylor Magazine compiled this powerful series of journal entries and reflections on the trip from some of the students who went.
* More recently, students and faculty from Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing spent a week in Mexico this summer, providing free health services to nearly 1,000 patients in need. The team provided general and women’s health care, plus eye and dental assistance and even free medications.
* In a related note, nursing school graduate Rose Nanyonga was profiled by a leading Ugandan media outlet. Nanyonga overcame an incredible series of obstacles growing up in Uganda and earned her master’s from Baylor in 2005. She has since returned to her homeland and is director of clinical operations at the International Hospital Kampala there.
An important part of Baylor 2012 and the school’s mission is “to educate men and women for worldwide leadership and service.” What an excellent way for this to be put into practice!
Sic ’em, Baylor students with servant hearts!
Sophia Young leads San Antonio Silver Stars into WNBA playoffs
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Alumni, Athletics
In just her third year in the league, WNBA MVP candidate Sophia Young led the San Antonio Silver Stars to the best record in the league and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, which begin tonight.
Young finished the regular season averaging 17.5 points (a new career high) and 5.6 rebounds per game, and the former Baylor All-American ranks among the league’s top 10 in points and steals.
She is joined in the WNBA by one other fellow Baylor alum: Bernice Mosby, a forward for the Washington Mystics. The pair join the growing list of former Baylor athletes in professional ranks in other sports like baseball and football.
Sic ’em in the playoffs, Sophia!
Hankamer’s entrepreneurship program jumps to 12th in the nation
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Academics, Honors
Baylor’s already-well-recognized entrepreneurship program in the Hankamer School of Business leaped forward in this year’s rankings, placing 12th in the nation among undergraduate programs in a new release from Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review.
Last fall, the program placed 23rd in the same ranking. It certainly can’t hurt that since then, Baylor professor Dr. Bill Petty was named national entrepreneurship teacher of the year.
Sic ’em, Baylor Business!
Student body biggest in Baylor history
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Student life
We covered most of this back when school started a couple of weeks ago, but now that official numbers are in, we thought it was worth following up on.
As expected, Baylor’s freshman class is the second-largest in school history (that’s some of them pictured at right, during Late Night at the SLC). The Class of 2012’s total of 3,062 students trails only the Class of 2009’s freshman total; in 2005, Baylor welcomed 3,168 freshmen.
The academic quality and diversity came through as projected, too. The freshman class’ average SAT score of 1210 does indeed mark the third straight year that the incoming students’ score has been over 1200. Minority enrollment is also a record at 31 percent.
The large incoming class means Baylor’s student body is bigger than ever, with 14,541 students on campus. The previous record came in 2001, when the University hosted 14,221 students. This fall’s total includes a record 1,369 graduate students. Truett Seminary and Baylor’s School of Law each welcomed over 400 students (a record 406 for Truett).
It’s great to see that kind of demand for a Baylor education!
Sic ’em, students!
