Baylor University has had a live bear mascot since 1917 when a Camp McArthur soldier allowed students to parade Ted, often called Bruin, across the football field during games. Then in 1981, the first costumed bear mascot, sponsored by Wendy’s, made his debut at a Baylor basketball game. Andy Spencer (’87) was the last Wendy’s […]
When Baylor University was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas, its co-founders, Reverend William Milton Tryon and Judge Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor, wanted to weave the Baptist faith into the daily curriculum. The third founding father, Reverend James Huckins, who was the first Southern Baptist missionary to Texas, cemented
Catholics at Baylor: Promoting Unity and Cooperation Read More »
A legend at Baylor, Missy Yeary Wells (‘88) served as director of Student Foundation from 1989 to 1997. Beloved by everyone who knew her, Missy’s death at 59 on February 4, 2025, was sudden and unexpected. Her husband Steve (’90, M.Div. ’97, D.Min. ‘03), a regent at Baylor and pastor at South Main Baptist Church
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In its long history, who was Baylor’s first senior professor? Dorothy Scarborough? A. J. Armstrong? Paul Baker? Daniel Sternberg? Glenn Capp? Cornelia Marschall Smith? It was Dr. Luther Weeks Courtney, who taught in the English department for nearly 40 years. In 1954, President W.R. White conferred the newly created title of “Distinguished Professor” on Courtney
By the time she first set foot on the Baylor campus in 1963, Pam Dial Taylor had been a cheerleader since junior high school. In fact, she’d already spent summers leading camps around the country for the National Cheerleaders Association. We’re talking about one serious cheerleader. When she arrived in Waco, however, Pam learned something
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Since the Paul Baker era, the Baylor Theatre has always punched far above its weight on Broadway. From the beloved actor Carole “Cookie” Cook to Robert Askins’ award-winning dark comedy Hand to God, dozens of Bears have graced the stages of the Great White Way. Baker’s Baylor was a particularly rich and nurturing home for
Throughout its long history, the Baylor University campus has been remarkably blessed, avoiding tornadoes, the worst impact of the regular Brazos River flooding, and the ravages of fire. Waco’s “other” university – and Baylor’s greatest rival – AddRan College was forced to leave Waco after a massive fire in March 1910 devastated the college’s primary
For the last 20 years, Dr. Felipe Hinojosa has dedicated his life to the study of history. But earlier this year, he actually helped make it. In July 2023, the South Texas native was appointed the first John and Nancy Jackson Endowed Chair for Baylor in Latin America, a milestone that made him the university’s first historian of Latino history. It’s an especially remarkable accomplishment when you consider that Hinojosa nearly talked himself out of the job… twice. After delivering a keynote address at a conference for the Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education in February 2023, Hinojosa was approached by Baylor University administrators who wanted to encourage him to apply to the newly opened endowed chair position. At the time, he had been a professor of history at Texas A&M for 14 years and had published two books on the intersection of faith and Latino activism.
Preparing Baylor Students for a Multiracial, Multiethnic World Read More »
During their brief tenure in Waco, artist Reynold Arnould and his wife, novelist and art critic Martha, were the most famous faculty members at Baylor University – and almost certainly the most glamorous. The Arnoulds brought international attention to the campus before the siren call of Paris eventually, perhaps inevitably, lured them back home. But
New buildings like the Baylor Science Building and Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation show the growth of campus. Renovations to existing buildings exude change in what was once a stability on campus. Even discussions about names of buildings and removing statues may come to mind. So what is the same? We can
