Friends of Baylor:July 12, 2004

Just because school is out and vacations are on doesn’t mean that good things are not happening at BU. New freshman applications for the Fall of 2004 totaled more than 10,000 - an increase of more than 2,000 over last year's totals. The accepted freshman students who have made their commitments and paid deposits for the Fall semester have the highest SAT scores (based on the mean score of 1192) in Baylor history.

BAYLOR GETS AN "A"

The American Council of Alumni and Trustees recently issued a report on the state of the core curriculum among 50 of the nation’s top colleges and universities. Baylor was the only university in this study (which included the Ivy League and Big 12 schools) to score an “A” for providing students with a solid general education.

For the first time, Baylor has seen the attractive force of Baylor 2012, which has drawn faculty who were sought by other great universities such as Texas A&M and Harvard. For example, Dr. Martin Medhurst came to Baylor from Texas A&M University where he was professor of communication and coordinator of the Program in Presidential Rhetoric. After he arrived at Baylor, Dr. Medhurst was named the winner of the 2004 Paul Boase Prize for Scholarship by the Ohio University’s School of Communications. Another fine example is Dr. Walter Bradley (B.S., Ph.D. University of Texas at Austin) who is now Distinguished Professor of Engineering at Baylor. He came to Baylor from Texas A&M University where he was a highly successful Chair of Mechanical Engineering, growing his department into one that is now ranked 12th nationally. Dr. Bradley has authored over 145 research publications including 63 journal articles in nationally recognized engineering periodicals.

Because of the Baylor 2012 program, Baylor attracted 230 applicants for tenure track positions. These scholars brought with them an unprecedented list of publications, citations, research and grant funding from such prestigious halls of academia as, Westminster Abbey, the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics and Sciences, Notre Dame, Oxford, Loyola and the Russian University of Droozbia in Moscow.

In May, Baylor opened the 123,000-square-foot Harry and Anna Jeanes Discovery Center, the focal point of which is the Sue and Frank Mayborn Natural Science and Cultural History Museum.

In early June, Baylor faculty began moving into the 500,000-square-foot Baylor Sciences Building, in which more than 4,000 students and 1,000 faculty and staff will study and work. This cutting-edge science education facility will open for classes in August for the Fall Semester.

We have received some wonderful comments from our members, but we need more. Vision 2012 is the foundation for Baylor's present and future success but unfortunately it continues to be a target for criticism. Please express your support for Baylor’s direction by e-mailing a few comments to: support@FriendsOfBaylor.com. We will forward them to the Board of Regents and the Alumni Association.

Voicing your positive opinion is important for our university, it’s students, faculty and alumni. It is worth investing a little of your time. Many of you have expressed concern over the repeated referendums on this administration at each and every Board of Regents meeting. Please share your feelings so others will know of your support.

Sic ’em Bears!

Friends of Baylor
support@friendsofbaylor.com