In our last issue, we highlighted some of Baylor’s great teachers. We decided to follow that up with a look at some of Baylor’s Great Classes. We threw out a net to faculty and administrators, to students, and to our Facebook friends. We were looking for the classes that students fight to get into, the classes that change the course of students’ futures, the classes that truly demonstrate a teacher’s love for the course material. We were looking for the classes that expose young minds to something completely new and different. The classes that make our readers say, “Boy, I would have loved to have taken THAT class.”
Once again we have partnered with students within the department of Journalism, Public Relations and New Media to gain a true student’s perspective and showcase the talents of our up-and-coming Bears.
Our student writers took different approaches to their assignments. Some went straight to the source and interviewed the professors. Others used a hands-on method, attending and observing the class. Some spoke with current and former students of the class in question. We hope you enjoy these 16 stories, and consider sharing them with Baylor students you know who might just be looking for a life-changing class to squeeze into their schedule.
NEGOTIATION AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Professor: Dr. Emily M. Hunter teaches two of the eight sections. Other teachers include Dr. Chris Meyer, Dr. Sara Perry, Darren Frame, and Rachel Woods.
Key Texts: Getting to Yes by Bruce Patton, Robert Fisher and William Ury.
The 48 students in Dr. Emily Hunter’s two sections of Negotiation and Conflict Resolution spend the entire semester competing to apply negotiation principles to save money in the real world.
As each student turns in proof of negotiating a free dessert or a discount on something, Hunter adds it to a spreadsheet she maintains on her website so both classes can see where they stand.
By the end of the semester, the total amount saved is normally around $50,000, although one set of classes turned in a total of $75,000. The winners receive shirts that highlight the importance of what Hunter calls “log-rolling” or making tradeoffs. “I teach them that compromise is the lazy way out, they should strive to collaborate,” says Hunter, an associate professor of Management in the Hankamer School of Business since 2009.
“It’s a way for them to see real tangible benefits and is part of how I encourage the students to apply these principles outside of class,” she says. Her research on human behaviors has been published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior and Journal of Management.
In 1998, the Hankamer School introduced the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution class. Blaine McCormick, chair of the Department of Management, oversees eight undergraduate sections filled with 24 students each. McCormick said that professors primarily focus on in-class exercises where they role-play negotiations with each other. McCormick said this Junior-level class provides students with an important life skill that will be useful after college.
“Negotiation and conflict resolution are two sides of the same coin,” McCormick said. “You use the conflict-resolution side more than the other. It’s a different skill set. But in the end, it’s all about resolving disagreements. If you have different interests and perceptions, you have a negotiation.”
For Hunter’s section, the class breakdown is 50 percent lecture and discussion and 50 percent role play, with the class applying the lessons learned from the Monday lecture to their classroom performance. The class starts with 1:1 role plays, and ultimately transitions to negotiations in larger groups. Hunter walks around the classroom during the role plays, listening for specific things that she can discuss during the 30-minute debrief.
“We’ll talk about the price that each group agreed on and put them all up on the board and then talk about specific individual experiences,” she said, explaining that her goal is to build up their confidence and help them see that the strategies work and can be applied in other situations.
Each section teaches the same principles, but in different ways. Dr. Sara Perry, for example, is using an exercise that Hunter helped design. She brings in job recruiters who are already at Baylor for a career fair and has them conduct “mock negotiations” where the student is given a job offer and has to negotiate a better deal. The recruiters then provide feedback on the experience.
“Every semester, students get real interviews and, in some cases, a job based on their performance in the mock negotiation,” Hunter says.
The list of takeaways and tools from the class are extensive. Hunter asks her classes to report the five key takeaways from the class in a creative way (think write a comic strip or sing a rap). Those takeaways may include the importance of preparation, as she introduces a worksheet that helps each student prepare for their negotiations; the principles of contingent contracts where students break through impasses by creating incentives for future performance; or just lessons learned from their individual negotiations.
In addition, Hunter holds a national negotiation competition each spring for her students to demonstrate and improve upon their skills, inviting other university teams to campus as well as business professional judges. Hunter said that these competitions demonstrate her students’ skills learned during the semester.
“In just three months, their confidence levels rise as they gain applicable life skills… I love that students contact me years later saying they continue to use the strategies I taught them,” said Hunter.
—Alex Muehlberger ’20, Overland Park, Kan.
MASTER WORKS OF DRAMA
Professor: Dr. Sarah-Jane Murray
Memorable Quality: Bringing classic, timeless texts to life with present day television and cinema makes Master Works of Drama a must on the radars of aspiring Baylor student screenwriters.
Condensation from Dr Pepper floats temporarily stain the wooden round table from students piling in with worn, personal notebooks in hand. Shortly after everyone gets settled, Dr. Sarah-Jane Murray, SJ, walks in with cupcakes and a leashless Coco Chanel by her side.
Brooks College’s seminar room creates a relaxed, inspiring atmosphere seating nearly 20 students with Raphael’s School of Athens as a backdrop for stimulating conversation.
Coco Chanel, her dog, is a part of the mature group of budding screenwriters whose majors range from Film and Digital Media to University Scholar. Housed in the Honors Residential College with a Great Texts umbrella, 3341 Master Works in Drama intertwines classic literary masterpieces with modern-day movies to illustrate the importance of social relevance.
SJ came to Baylor drawn by the 2012 vision. Since then she has taught the unique, 300-level Great Texts class that’s open to any student who’s willing to join a “good interdisciplinary group.”
Rather than a typical one-sided lecture with occasional student input, SJ pulls great work out of her students in minutes with various drills. This method is called rapid prototyping. SJ urges her students to debunk the belief that writers are just starving artists by showing and captivating audiences.
“Tell me your favorite thoughts from the weekend!” said SJ as she glides around the room. Students matching her enthusiasm share their blankety blanks — exercises students create throughout the semester to test the structure and creativity of their work — filling the blanks with screenwriting ideas for plays they plan to create.
With the 2004 movie adaption of Phantom of the Opera as the current class focus, SJ’s effortlessly connects literature and films to modern-day social issues, with examples such as Darth Vader memes, Pitch Perfect’s perfect college campus background, and Nemo’s lucky fin.
After watching the first 40 minutes of Phantom, SJ asked the class two questions for their blankety blank work: What can you do to make the script more exciting (setting-wise)? And how can you make it socially relevant?
“Give me your worst ideas,” SJ says with conviction. She wants to hear anything and everything from her students, which is the fuel behind such an open, creative space and trust within the class.
“Does your story take place in a chocolate store?” SJ asked one student. “Instead, make it Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory!”
Once ideas — brilliant or otherwise — are shared, the class breaks out into “snappy snaps,” rather than clapping, adding on to the welcoming intimate, creative space and fostering a different view of the relationship between literature and screenwriting.
—Savannah Cooper ’20, Charlotte, N.C.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION & CONSTITUTION (A.K.A. “ROCKIN’ REVOLUTION”)
Professor: Dr. Julie Anne Sweet, teaching for 10 years
Key Texts: Glorious Cause by Robert Middlekauff
Not much brings the American Revolution to life more than marching in standard military formation in front of Pat Neff Hall or tossing tea out the windows of Tidwell Bible Building to reenact the Boston Tea Party.
Dr. Julie Anne Sweet, professor in the history department, has taken it upon herself to enliven Baylor’s American Revolution & Constitution class, or as she calls it, “Rockin’ Revolution,” with costumes, character debates and role-playing.
“They’re interacting with the history; it’s not just dry facts in a book,” Sweet said. “Names and dates are important, don’t get me wrong, but making that connection, making it real… That’s the fun part”.
The class is only offered once every other spring semester and you must have taken nine credit hours of history, although Sweet said she allows anyone with a passion for American history to enroll, and will go over the class cap of 19 if there are more students interested in the course.
Sweet, who has a background in both history and theater, has been known to dress up in era-typical clothing. She combines an “old-school” appreciation of artifacts and objects with a flair for dramatics in order to present students with aspects of the Revolutionary War that they may not have been aware of prior to the class.
“We know the ending; we know the story; we’ve met the names before… and this just really kind of brings it all to life,” Sweet said. “I still respect the history and the people who participated in it, so I do make sure that we do lecture and we do step back and not make it all fun and games, but there’s a lot of interaction, discussion, debate”.
One of Sweet’s favorite projects is a historical debate in which she assigns students to be Founding Fathers or other prominent characters, asking them to take on the persona and beliefs of their figures for the discussion.
Emily Kleinburg, a senior history major from Lampasas, Texas, who is taking the class this semester, believes that Sweet’s passion for the class has given her the encouragement she needs to go into the history field after graduation.
“She has a zeal for the subject that really speaks to me,” Kleinburg said. “I leave her class every day wanting to study American history because of how excited she makes me feel about the material. Her high energy draws people from other departments in, too: Our class has theater majors, political science students, American studies students, University Scholars and even a couple of ROTC students”.
Above all, Sweet hopes that her students, regardless of their majors or career paths, come away from her class having learned something surprising about a story with such a well-known ending.
“I want them to realize that there are other pieces to the story than the traditional tale… I hope that they find something that resonates with them,” Sweet said. “I want them to make that personal connection, which will then translate into being a good citizen. This is where we set it up, how everyone contributed and how it all began. The legacy that we have to live up to… the traditions — it’s all important”.
—Bailey Brammer ’20, Phoenix, Ariz.
CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
Professor: Dr. Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks will retire this May after a 40-year career at Baylor, but one of his most enduring contributions to teaching came to an end this past fall when he taught his final session of Children’s Literature. It was a special-topics course offered every few semesters to juniors or seniors who had the freedom in their degree requirements to choose fun English courses.
Hanks taught the course for 20 years after convincing administrators that the subject matter was “true literature” that should be managed out of the English department, rather than Education where it had been taught to future elementary-school teachers. Both Education and English students took the course over…
the years. As of now, the course will no longer be taught unless another professor offers to take Hanks’ place.
But hundreds of Baylor alumni will remember a class that started with fairy tales like Aesop’s Fables, Alice in Wonderland and The Chronicles of Narnia, and later included the realm of the Harry Potter series.
Students from a wide range of Baylor disciplines — not just English majors or future teachers — took the course and found a true community in the classroom.
“The whole idea of reading what we read as children again through a new scholarly lens was refreshing and enlightening,” senior Caroline Averitt said. “Fairytales are much deeper than being mere children’s stories. Their effect is so much bigger and lasts much longer. That was the most important takeaway.”
Hanks achieved his dual goal of creating a team within the classroom and highlighting the lighthearted nature of children’s literature to make the class memorable, past students said.
“I prompt students to look for truth, draw closer to truth and develop insights for their own truth,” Hanks said. “The more a student sees what others have seen, the more their window opens up to the world that they share. We’re all neighbors, but we are prone to forget that. If we open enough windows, it becomes clear.”
—Cameron Bocanegra ’20, Georgetown, Texas
SPECIAL TOPICS IN WRITING: J.K. ROWLING AND HARRY POTTER
Professor: Arna Hemenway, taught this for one semester
Key Texts: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and excerpts from various essays
An eclectic bunch of two dozen new wizards scrambled, searching along the ground for a magical wand, which usually ended up being a stick. They marched down to the National Pan-Hellenic Garden in wizard robes (previously graduation robes) with their newfound wands raised high — right past a large touring group of prospective students staring at them.
Using the rhyme he wrote for his class, Professor Arna Hemenway spoke through his big blue “sorting hat” and placed the junior and senior students into one of four Hogwarts houses — Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin.
“I just come up with this stuff because I’m crazy [and] because I think it’d be fun and interesting to do,” Hemenway said. “And I forget that people are watching. I immediately realized then that this was going to be more noticeable than I thought.”
When the students in Special Topics in Writing: J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter step into class, they no longer attend Baylor University. They are enrolled in Hogwarts South, their classmates are wizards and they are learning from Headmaster Hemenway.
In the classroom, students’ wands sit next to their “textbook,” a copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Largely a discussion-based class, Hemenway stood at the front of the class to facilitate conversation in his black robe and brightly colored tennis shoes peeking out underneath.
A branch of the Special Topics in Writing classes, this Quidditch-loving class was taught for the first time last semester. It was a big hit: The waitlist had more than 70 people, so Hemenway asked his boss if they could double the typical creative writing class size of 12 students to include 24. Hemenway, who never teaches without his wizard robe, wanted anything but a boring class.
“And I thought, this is perfect,” Hemenway said. “Not boring for me, not boring for you. Something I can be really weird in because I am really weird. I also look for things that can really engage and involve each individual student’s particular life. To change, shake them up.”
Students even had to go on a date. But here’s the kicker: During the course of the date, these new wizards had to come up with a question to twist the conversation in a strange, unexpected direction. They learned to write down their experiences AND how to write compelling dialogue in a story by experiencing interesting conversation firsthand.
“One of them in the middle of their date asked hypothetically, if they showed up at that person’s door and said, ‘I have a body in my trunk. Would you help me get rid of it?’ Others said, ‘If we were two astronauts stranded on a space station and you fell in love with me, how would you try and get me to fall in love with you?’” Hemenway said.
These types of assignments warmed students up to the final project: creating a magical place on the grounds of Baylor. One group wrote about magical student I.D. cards that swipe you into the hidden world of the SLC. In this world, racquetball courts transformed into enclosed training spaces for broom-riding and the health center converted into a one-stop shop for wizards to get potions. Another group wrote about a secret entrance to the magical Moody library. They ducked as books flew off the shelves, statues came to life and ghosts interrupted students studying.
Students in the class don’t just imagine Hogwarts South. They experience it through these out-of-class assignments, whether that’s tromping around in a graduation robe or surveying random students at Baylor about their favorite part of Hogwarts South. Ultimately, the goal is for the students to come out of their shell and allow their writing to reflect new experiences so readers can experience them, too.
“It was important to me that it be immersive,” Hemenway said. “You’re trying to come up with worlds or experiences that people have never had before or seen before.”
While not part of the course syllabus, Hemenway wanted students to walk away from the class with a newfound sense of bravery, whether that meant approaching strangers in a robe or believing they could be the next J.K. Rowling.
“At first it was kind of awkward or nerve-racking because you’re sorted into this group of six strangers,” student Mackenzie Peery said. “They’re also kind of your comrades. They’re your house, they’re your buddies. It pushed me to learn to connect with people not just on a surface-level classroom friendship way but also to connect in a team way.”
—Olivia Bragg ’20, Carrollton, Texas
HISTORY OF CLASSICAL PHILOSOPHY
Professor: Dr. Anne-Marie Schultz Key Texts: The Pre-Socratics reader; Plato’s Symposium, Protagoras, Republic, Politics; and Aristotle’s Ethics
Although ancient Greek philosophy emerged in the sixth century B.C., students in Dr. Anne-Marie Schultz’s History of Classical Philosophy class are taught that the thoughts and ideas of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle on politics, citizenship and government are actually quite comparable to our own ideologies today.
Schultz, professor in the philosophy department and director of the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, wants her students to recognize the similarities between ancient Greece and the modern world through discussion and questionnaires.
“I’m trying to engage the students in big-picture questions and getting them to think about the world from maybe a slightly broader perspective than they might have had before taking this class,” Schultz said. “The whole idea that ancient Greek philosophers were thinking the same kinds of things that we’re thinking today is often surprising to people.”
This class is offered every semester, and while there are other professors who teach the course, Schultz has been the primary instructor since she arrived at Baylor in 1993, and is the only professor offering the class this semester.
Conner Chambers, a senior philosophy major from Frisco, Texas, who is taking the class this semester, believes Schultz’s welcoming personality toward those who may not be familiar with philosophy makes the class all the more enjoyable.
“Dr. Schultz teaches the class in a way that those just getting into philosophy can understand and develop their ability to think without feeling overwhelmed,” Chambers said. “She invites you to wonder and ‘group think’ through the material, which means people’s grasp on the material gets better with each class period.”
Schultz describes her teaching method as “forming a community in the classroom,” and hopes that her students create connections as they debate about the emergence of philosophy.
“When I see students on campus after the class, they always seem really happy, and they always say something like ‘I really miss our class,'” Schultz said. “I do think there is a bond that happens in this class that is different than the bonds formed in other classes.”
Schultz structures her class using the “Socratic method” of teaching, preferring to have her students write blog posts and present their ideas and questions through writing or speaking rather than through standardized testing and quizzing.
Overall, Schultz wants her students to continue the philosophical practice of questioning everything, and to take away from her class the idea that they can grasp, understand and apply the thoughts of ancient Greek philosophers.
“I think it’s the enthusiasm I have for the subject, and my own enthusiasm for getting students to engage in the practice of philosophy,” Schultz said. “I want them to see philosophy as something that they can do… I hope that they remain philosophical for the rest of their lives. I hope they see the value of asking questions that make people look beyond the way things appear on the surface.”
—Bailey Brammer ’20, Phoenix, Ariz.
INTERVIEWING
Professor: John Cunningham
Key Texts: Diploma to Dream Job by John Cunningham
No student escapes the interview process- whether it’s for an internship or job after college. John Cunningham, a professor in the department of communications, has spent the past three decades helping students get through that often-scary event.
Cunningham has taught Interviewing for 30 years, seven at Purdue and 23 at Baylor. Three sections are offered each semester, which fill up quickly and typically have wait lists of roughly 100 students. The class caps at 25 students, though Cunningham makes room for about 20 additional students per section. He tries to honor the requests of seniors who are going through the job search or graduate school application process.
“I think everyone gets something out of it and you can’t say that about every other class,” Cunningham said. “Mine has the obvious direct benefit for students, which is partly what I think makes it so appealing.”
Cunningham takes a different approach to the course and focuses specifically on job and graduate school interviews rather than going through different types of interviews. The course goes chronologically through the job search process ending with student conducted mock interviews. He believes the most valuable part of the class is the preparation for informational interviews. Students are encouraged to go big, reach out to their dream employer to learn about that field, but most importantly to make connections.
“Connections can by themselves take you further than any other single thing a student has going for them,” Cunningham said.
Success stories come out of each semester. Senior corporate communications major Addi Rumbley landed an interview with Ed Erhardt, the president of global sales and marketing for ESPN. Rumbley got started the day the informational interview was assigned. Inspired by previous success stories, she took Cunningham’s advice and went big after thinking about what she loved — sports. Rumbley was flown to New York to meet with Erhardt in person, gaining experience and making connections.
Rumbley says Cunningham was there for her throughout the entire process. From letting her use his office for the conference call with Erhardt, answering phone calls and emails on the weekend, and teaching skills that cannot be taught on the job.
“This class was so different. I never had a teacher care that much, he really invested in me,” Rumbley said. “It was super humbling and he is the example of what a teacher should be.”
Sticking out his leg to show his tennis shoes, Cunningham said he creates a comfortable environment where students develop intangible skills that make them more competitive in the interviewing process. Student-led mock interviews are done at the end of the course where students learn from both sides of the process.
“It is valuable for students to go through a recruitment interview as an interviewer because it makes them better at anticipating questions,” Cunningham said. “Students can look at their own resumes and anticipate what questions could be asked of them”.
An important aspect to the class is students learning from classmates experiences. Students of any class year can take the class and students often find themselves interviewing for the same campus recruiters and same internships.
“From day one I encourage everyone — especially seniors — to share their experiences,” Cunningham said. “I can talk about what I have heard from recruiters, but students sharing their own experiences, to me, is one of the richest parts of the in class experience”.
“It is more than just a class,” junior corporate communications major Alex Williamson said. “It is a small glimpse in what is to come in the real world”.
—Emily Edwards ’20, Colleyville, Texas
MASS COMMUNICATIONS
Professor: Robert Darden Key Texts: Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture
Professor Robert Darden sees Room 101 in the Marrs McLean Science Building as a theater, not a classroom. With nearly 300 students in the lecture hall for his twice-weekly Mass Communications class, Darden seeks to transform the room into a stage and keep his students on their toes.
“I love the energy, I love the freshmen and sophomores being wide eyed, and the fact that I can surprise them,” he said, cheerfulness evident in his tone. “They have no idea what’s ahead in the class”.
Darden doesn’t use PowerPoint. His voice is his primary teaching tool.
“I don’t stand still. I don’t use notes in any of my classes; I don’t want kids to think that I’m just repeating what somebody else said,” he said. “So it becomes with a class that big, a theater as much as a lecture. As they say in theater world, you’re playing to the back row — you’ve got to be just as engaging to the students on the back row as you do for the kids on the front row”.
When he started teaching at Baylor in 1988, Darden only taught smaller classes of upperclassmen. When he was asked to teach his own Mass Communications class in 2006, a course that has been around since the 80s, he says he was terrified teaching his first few semesters and hoped that Baylor would let him finish the last semester.
“I certainly wasn’t thinking it was going to be as popular as Michael Korpi’s section was, which was legendary,” Darden said. “I’m in the process of becoming a teacher, hopefully better every day”.
He brings passion and experience to his lectures. Constantly moving across the floor, bringing constant energy, and a willingness to express genuine emotion allows Darden to give his students the intimacy of a smaller class, despite the true size of the group.
“I use the class as a platform to talk about how to handle advertising and how to not be swayed and seduced by it,” he said. “How to take what’s good out of it and let go of the rest of TV and movies and the internet. So the class can be passionate in that regard”.
Sitting in his class, it is evident that Darden takes his job to heart and shows that he will do everything in his power to not “screw up” the natural talents of his students and give them “tools to be great in whatever profession they choose”.
“Being in Professor Darden’s class inspired [me to become] a journalism major,” junior Joy Moton said. “His passion for his students and his craft is an amazing thing to witness and I’m honored that I can call myself one of his students”.
Darden has long gotten great reviews from his students. Upperclassmen tell freshmen and transfer students, “Darden is the best” and “You’re taking Darden? I LOVE Darden!” because of the great experiences they had in his class.
As the founder of Baylor’s Black Gospel Music Restoration Project, Darden incorporates his love of African-American music in lectures with music excerpts and audio clips to immerse his students in the culture. Additionally, Darden’s project to preserve black gospel music has led to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture to choose music selections from his program.
“I think it would be difficult to keep my passion for this music out of my lectures,” he said. “And since black music is the foundation of all American popular music, if you have a lecture that’s going to be on recorded music, I think I would be dishonest if I didn’t talk about that music. But why talk about it when you can play it and show it?”
If there is one thing that Darden wants students to take from the class it’s this: Be aware and know that not everyone you know and “not everything you see or hear is in your best interest.” “All the wonderful things that come with mass communication come with a price, with a dark side,” Darden said. “If I can help kids be aware of the pitfalls, if that’s all they walk away with, then that is 28 classes well spent of my time.” It is obvious in every class that Darden enjoys what he does and worries for his students’ success even after they’ve left the class, often calling those who graduate his “grandchildren.” “I’ve been brought to tears for students who have been hurt by [advertising]. We cannot buy into the advertising that tells a young lady she is not thin enough or pretty enough, because God thinks you’re wonderful. God has got your picture on God’s refrigerator. God wants what’s best for you,” Darden said. “It’s gotten to the point now, that I’ll [only]stop teaching the class when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers,”
–Courtney Marco ‘20, Harker Heights, Texas.
PEER LEADERSHIP FOR NEW STUDENT EXPERIENCE
Professor(s): Lamar Bryant, Dominique Hill, Dr. Karon LeCompte, Dr. Ryan Richardson
Department: Academy for Leadership Development
Key Texts: Peer Mentor Companion by Marni Sanft, Micheal Jensen, and Eldon McMurray; The Mentor Leader: Secrets to Building People; and Teams That Win Consistently by Tony Dungy
Open to: By application. Peer leaders must be sophomores, juniors, or seniors.
Joe Broadway was one of 90 upperclassmen selected to be a New Student Experience Peer Leader for the fall 2016 semester. His decision to join 180 other applicants for the program began with his interactions with his own peer leader in 2014.
“You want to make sure that those people that you mentor have a positive experience so that they might too want to be mentors and pay it forward,” says Dominique Hill, one of the four professors who teach the course.
Peer leaders like Broadway, a junior Biology major, meet once a week and are able to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses in their leadership styles in an interactive setting that was largely discussion based, with the group participating in team-building exercises and presenting leadership ideas through group projects.
“Everyone was constantly engaging with one another as a means of figuring out what the material meant and how to best apply it as leaders,” said Broadway.
Hill, who is also the Assistant Director for Intramural Sports, explained that he gives students the tools of “books and personal experience” to help them figure out their own leadership style and how to make the most effective use of it. He wants his students to put “theory into practice on a daily basis” as they meet one on one with their mentees.
As they take the class, the peer leaders meet with their own group of freshman students, usually in the BU1000 class. In some cases the students get to assist in teaching that class, giving them an opportunity to work alongside a professor in a classroom setting. But most important, they serve as a mentor to freshman students by helping them find their way around campus and provide advice as the freshmen transition from living at home and, as Hill put it, “making sure they connect to the Baylor experience.”
Part of the leadership course involves helping the mentors navigate through issues they may have when working with the transitioning freshman. The student peer leaders are able to discuss situations as a class and provide counsel to other mentors. Hill said that is what brings him the most joy in the classroom.
In one instance, Hill recalled how a male peer leader asked for guidance when he was preparing for a one-on-one meeting with a female student. He was feeling awkward and did not want to give off a wrong impression. Through class discussion, his fellow peer leaders worked together to find a way to work through the situation.
“The entire class embraces the topic and tries to help that student navigate and get through that situation,” Hill said with excitement. “It shows me that they really get it.”
Baylor’s mission statement states that it is “to educate men and women for worldwide leadership and service” and the Peer Leadership for New Student Experience course truly takes that mission to heart.
In addition to equipping students with insight into applying different techniques in leadership positions within student organizations, the course also gives students the tools to conquer leadership beyond Baylor.
“This is something that they can use throughout the rest of their lives. Whether it’s on a job, working in a team, whether it’s leading a team,” Hill said. “This is not learning for now, it’s learning for life.”
—Jamie Sandoval ’20 of McAllen, Texas, the author of this story, is going through the application process for the fall 2017 course, based on her experience with her peer leader Joe Broadway.
THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING: NARRATIVE, VOCATION AND THE EXAMINED LIFE
Professors: Dr. Ann McGlashan and Dr. Lynn Tatum have been team teaching the course together for about 15 years.
Key Texts: Sir Thomas Mallory: Le Morte d’Arthur, Adapted by Keith Baines; Wolfram von Eschenbach: Parzival, trans. A.T. Hatto; Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith; Rainer Maria Rilke: Letters to a Young Poet, transl. M.D. Herter Norton and W.W. Norton; and The Bible. Recommended but not required: Alfred Lord Tennyson: Idylls of the King
Looking back at his time at Baylor, Dr. Jordan LaBouff, who earned his bachelor’s in psychology in 2005, his master’s in neuroscience in 2008, and his doctorate in psychology in 2011, has no question that The Once and Future King class he took his senior year as a Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC) student was the most important class he took — defining his life and his teaching philosophy.
And he’s not alone.
“I’ve talked to some people who took it in other semesters as well, and, just damn near uniformly, people say it was the most important and valuable class they took while they were at Baylor,” said LaBouff.
When LaBouff took the class in the spring of 2005, all the dragons of BIC prerequisites had been slayed and the princesses rescued, but the journey to connect the different themes investigated throughout BIC had not yet been completed. The Once and Future King course is one of many capstone classes offered for students to reflect on life and life after graduation. Students study the narrative of the common cross-cultural myth of recurring kings and heroes. Through the studying of kings and heroes, such as Jesus Christ and King Arthur, students can identify issues and challenges in their lives through the perspective of notable characters in history.
LaBouff said the class gave him and his classmates the opportunity to “hash out” intellectual and personal conflicts accumulating in their lives. Dr. Lynn Tatum, who has taught the course with Dr. Ann McGlashan for 15 years, briefly described the class.
“It’s realizing that sometimes stories from the ancient past raise the same issues that we are struggling with today,” said Dr. Tatum.
The comfortable space to communicate and share opinions extended beyond peers, but to the faculty as well.
“And, this may be what changed my professional life more than anything else, we could talk to our faculty about those questions like they were human,” said LaBouff. “And they would talk to us like we were human.”
LaBouff said mentorship and the relationships built between faculty and students are methods that he tries to model with his own students.
“If it had just been Lynn or just been Ann, we would have only gotten one perspective,” said LaBouff. “And one of the most valuable things about the class was seeing and interacting with those two arguing with each other about their perspectives.”
The course goes beyond influencing its students, but influences those who teach it as well.
“Teaching this class – it has challenged me; it challenges me every semester,” said Dr. McGlashan. “It makes me think on my feet. I have become a less fearful professor – meaning that I really tackle topics that I would have never tackled before I started teaching this course.”
One of the assigned readings, Letters to a Young Poet, still has a place in LaBouff’s office at the University of Maine. LaBouff has handed out copies of Letters to a Young Poet to his own students over the years – an act that proves he has been “long term inspired by the class.”
LaBouff said the class is for students interested in answering questions about even their most foundational beliefs and opinions.
So, to the modern-day knights, jesters, and kings alike, the kingdom of The Once and Future King awaits to challenge and reign victorious.
—Kristina Valdez ’20, Irving, Texas
BEGINNING ROCK CLIMBING
Professors: Daniel Ezell and Stephanie Davis.
The student climbs up the bouldering wall and grabs the jug. Leaning his hips along the way, he reaches for the last hold. Once he has both hands on the wall, he takes one look down and falls, landing feet-first and rolling onto his back on the chalky mat beneath.
In beginning rock climbing, they don’t just learn the art of scaling; they learn the art of falling.
Rock climbing is more than a birthday party sport. Many students walk into the Student Life Center (SLC), take one look at the 53-foot climbing tower (the ROCK), and think “No way.”
The common thread is that students want a lifetime fitness class with “chill vibes” and to learn a sport a little outside the mainstream.
Since lifetime fitness classes are designed to introduce students to new interests, it makes sense that the effects of beginning rock climbing linger past the last day of class. For senior Evan Westermann who had climbed once or twice recreationally, the blood, scrapes and bruises are worth it.
“I’ve discovered I really like rock climbing,” Westermann said. “I’ve started going bouldering semi-regularly. As far as personal impact, it’s kind of evolved into something I might keep as a hobby.”
Instructor Daniel Ezell used to walk around the SLC, handing out flyers and soliciting students to take beginning rock climbing. Now, the class not only fills up on its own, but typically has a waitlist of 20-30 students.
Above all, this intro class teaches students to just try. Try to get over the lump in their throats, try on a harness, and try out a sport they’ve never experienced before.
“It takes a lot of confidence to just walk in the SLC and be like, ‘I’m gonna climb the rock wall,’” Ezell says. “But if you sign up for it as a class, you know everyone in the class is in the same boat you are. They use it as their opportunity to try it in that controlled setting.”
Despite the intense workout, the students and its teachers are relaxed. Music plays throughout the hour and according to senior Rebekah Wrobleske, the class socializes and tries out new routes they couldn’t do the week before.
“The class is very chill,” Wrobleske said. “Kind of just a fun workout but also social. I’m with a group of a couple other people I’ve never met before but am now friends with, so it’s fun to get to know them and work on a challenging route.”
The students who register for the class discover that intro to rock climbing is a physical relief from their other mind-stretching courses.
“The class should be a stress-reliever, not adding to your stress of school,” Ezell said. “So I really enjoy how students…would skip all their classes but be like, ‘No, I’ve got to get to rock climbing. I’m stressed right now. I need to go climb.’ I feel like I’ve achieved my goal if that’s how they view my class. They can’t go without it because it makes them happier to be there.”
The class is simple — students spend the first three weeks belaying and then they just climb, ironing out technique as they go. At the end of the semester, the 16 new rock climbers celebrate by repelling down from the second floor of the SLC.
Along the way, students learn that it’s not just a wall you muscle your way up, grabbing any hold that looks fun.
“I’ve learned that [climbing] is a lot more complex [than I thought],” Westermann said. “We’ve had to learn all of what the different holds are called. There’s a lot of little nuances. I’ve learned a lot more than I thought I was going to for just a one-hour rock climbing class.”
And with a numbered scale of difficulty on the wall, rock climbing is different than other sports. As they climb, students can see tangible improvement.
“I think what the other students find so fun about climbing is that they say they couldn’t get to a certain point before and now they can, so they know they’re getting better,” Ezell says. “No one’s having to tell you that. You can find out yourself.”
Whether it’s laughing at each other during rock climber’s yoga or chalky high fives after getting a move right, students in the class enjoy a sense of community by the end of the semester.
“I was nervous it was a class that friends signed up to take together but I’ve really gotten to know some of the people in my class,” said junior Laura Soundy. “Rock climbing is something you have to be social in and…it’s a sport you need to encourage people in. I was pleasantly surprised by community in the class.” —Olivia Bragg ’20, Carrollton, Texas
SIGHT, SOUND AND MOTION
Professor: Dr. Michael Korpi Text: Sight, Sound, Motion: Applied Media Aesthetics by Hert Zetti
Studying film comes in waves of sophisticated concepts, but starting at the beginning with Sight, Sound and Motion gives students the foundation they need to advance in the film field. The class focuses on Hert Zetti’s “Sight, Sound, Motion: Applied Media Aesthetics,” a textbook Film and Digital Media Professor Michael Korpi, Ph.D., has been using for the course since the 80s. The class was originally taught at the 4000 level, but students observed that they only understood the basic concepts after taking the course. Now offered for underclassmen the course sets up the foundation for the rest of their film education.
Up to 130 students each semester have the opportunity to take Sight, Sound and Motion to begin thinking beyond the screen. It captures students, draws them in and shows them the raw basics behind what they are studying.
“I love films and I use what I learn from the class every time I watch a movie. I am much more attentive to detail and can put words on what I see,” said Rafa Silva, a Film and Digital Media major. “This class helps me prepare to leave my emotions and feelings about movies on the side and focus on the aesthetic and technical elements of film, which is something I am going to have to be supremely aware of when I actually create films.”
The class meets for regular lectures as well as labs once a week for movie screenings that expose them to a wide range of films from different eras. Students’ perceptions change after watching clips of moving art in a dark hall with 100 other students twice a week.
“It treats art a special way. Art is clarified, intensified, interpreted and experienced. That is what it is,” said Korpi, “[The class] does not tell you if [the movie] is good or not. It just tells you what it is. When a human being has an experience, it can be communicated.”
It is a valuable experience for Baylor students to switch between being the audience and the people who create the aesthetics. They learn perspective.
Freshman Cody Dowell is now considering minoring in film after taking Sight, Sound and Motion.
“This course has changed the way I watch television,” said Dowell. “Now whenever I turn on the TV, I am always paying attention to the different aesthetics that each TV show uses to create an overall visual effect.”
—Cameron Bocanegra ’20, Georgetown, Texas
WORLD CULTURES I
Professors: Coordinated by Dr. Jason Whitlock, with an ever-changing roster of 10-11 professors. Texts: The class reads sections of The Bible, The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Bhagavad Gita, Confucius Analects, The Oresteia, The Apology, The Aeneid, The Iliad, and The Odyssey
Once a year, the rooms and halls normally reserved for members of the Hindu Temple of Central Texas in Temple, Texas, are filled with Baylor students who have come to learn more about the Hindu practices.
Each freshman who arrives at the temple has read the Hindu’s holy book, The Bhagavad Gita, a requirement that enables them to get more from the experience.
“I had the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of another culture. I learned empathy and the value of a deep and personable curiosity, and I began to understand that I didn’t need to outright reject other views in order to appreciate my own. I enjoyed The Bhagavad Gita so much, in fact, because it helped me understand my own Christian faith in a new way,” said sophomore Mattilyn Egli.
This hands-on experience is just one of the many unique experiences afforded to Baylor students who take World Cultures I, a class within the Honors College that is offered exclusively to first-semester freshman within the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC).
World Cultures I is taught by an ever-changing roster of 10 or 11 professors led by coordinator, Dr. Jason Whitlock, who holds a Ph.D. in New Testament from Baylor’s Religion Department. The course covers all of the major cultures of the world from the dawn of civilization up to the Roman Empire, and is taken by approximately 200 freshman BIC students every fall semester.
The class structure also sets World Cultures I apart from the average social science course.
“We have a large group and a small group. Large group is where all 200 hundred students taking the course gather, and major concepts are introduced. We also spend a large portion of our time in 10 to 11 small groups, each of which has its own professor,” said Dr. Whitlock.
“World Cultures I helped me grow more confident in my intellectual ability, broadened my Western-oriented, ethnocentric perspective, connected me with one of the greatest professors at this university (with whom I’m still quite close). It also showed me what a strong academic community composed of scholars all striving toward similar goals, but still looking to have fun and make meaningful connections, looks like,” said senior Kat Largent from Spring, Texas.
In combination, the texts, discussions, and hands-on activities create a unique experience for each student, and allow the professors to achieve their vision for the course.
As Dr. Whitlock explains, “The more I think about and plan for this course, the more I think about love and appreciation for ‘the other.’ We’re all different, and have different ideas, and, if nothing else, in this course we are attempting to cultivate a sense of caring, hospitality, and empathy for our fellow human beings.”
—Clay Sprague ’19, Olney, Texas
PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES IN FEMINISM
Professor: Dr. Lenore Wright Key Texts: The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles (Emily Martin); View or Print: Feminism, Foucault, and the Politics of the Body (Susan Bordo); Feminism, Disability, and Transcendence of the Body (Susan Wendell).
For some, a class called Philosophical Issues in Feminism may produce thoughts of women talking about their issues in society. But Dr. Lenore Wright has succeeded in making it a class that is socially relevant and a “safe experience” for the 17 students in the class — four of whom are male.
“Walking in, everyone has a preconception of what feminism is, and it’s often negative,” Wright said. “So I think in that case we have to work even harder to make sure that they feel secure with one another knowing that they are not going to be attacked by having a particular idea that gets explored.”
When she first began teaching the class in 2007, just six students signed up. Today, the class includes a group that is eager to lend their voices to discussions about feminist philosophers and how they connect feminist concepts to their daily life. Dr. Wright is accompanied in her instruction by two teacher’s assistants — one male and one female (Aya Farhat and Yunus Prasetya, respectively) — and peer instructor Angelica Short.
Junior Ainsley Hughes, a philosophy major, began the semester confident that she already understood feminism, but has since realized the true depth of the movement and how it impacts society.
“People are beginning to understand that they don’t understand,” Hughes said. “To be able to change the current understanding of feminism, people have to want to learn about it. It is an academic movement and a social movement because it affects everyone.”
As class takes place with students seated in desks arranged in a circle around the perimeter of the room, Wright begins to discuss the assigned reading and calls on students to express their thoughts and opinions over what they have read. While students can be intimidated by expressing their views on a topic such as dominant streams of feminist thought and their personal stance on feminism, Wright creates a light-hearted environment that allows students to feel comfortable and voluntarily share thoughts with the class.
Though the students’ majors and opinions may differ, they all share a common trait.
“[What’s] distinctive about this class is I always have really self-motivated students who genuinely care about learning,” Wright said. “In this class there is a deep passion and personal investment in what they are learning and that translates in how they respond to ideas.”
Though males are outnumbered by the females in class, that does not stop them from offering their opinions of social-political realities on women as well as their views of social-political realities of men and women. Yunus Prasetya, both a teacher’s assistant and male presence in the class, explained that though there are certain topics that men in the class cannot completely relate to, there are plenty of opportunities for men to contribute within the class.
“Feminism is not about men versus women,” Prasetya said. “It’s about men and women who realize that there has been oppression going on in the world and they are trying to achieve justice and also reconciliation between men and women.” —Morgan London ’18, Kilgore, Texas
INTRODUCTION TO GREAT TEXTS: HERE BE DRAGONS
Professor: Dr. Junius Johnson Key Texts: J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit; Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene book 1; Kant, Observation on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime
For a first-time class, the buzz around Dr. Junius Johnson’s “Introduction to Great Texts; Here Be Dragons” was, well, on fire.
The Honors College class teaches freshmen and sophomores how to begin exploring the Great Texts major in a fun and creative way, focusing mostly on texts with dragons in them, but also taking a chance to detour and explore philosophical and theological texts.
“The class is a trap,” Johnson said. “You come for the dragons and you stay for the Aristotle.”
Johnson said that the class is extremely laid-back and the atmosphere often includes a lot of comedy, stemming primarily from the students. This atmosphere helps the students get into deeper questions about philosophy and theology.
Freshman Grace Nuttell said she enjoyed the broad spectrum of authors and the wide variety of skills the class teaches.
“We learned how you can be prepared to fight the dragons in your own life,” Nuttell said. “Also, not only did we learn about dragons, but we also learned about good writing in general and how you present a good argument.”
Johnson agreed, adding that the class not only gives freshmen and sophomores books that reaffirm their love for reading, but also helps them learn how to better contemplate the issues presented in the text.
“It’s trying to teach you how to enter into conversations from the past that are still going on with these great works of human genius that have shaped culture and are continuing to shape culture today,” Johnson said.
Johnson said that he dedicates part of his class to having his students consider why dragons are the ultimate bad guy in fantasy. He said that he wants students to realize that the idea of dragons most likely comes from the original dragon, Satan.
“Dragons are the memories of this serpent that didn’t yet crawl on its stomach that was known for being wily and crafty and that was known for being the instrument through which so much woe came to humanity,” Johnson said. “In some sense, [dragons are] a symbol for the guy who really is the ultimate bad guy.”
Johnson said that surprisingly, one of the most popular comments he gets on his student evaluations is that the students seem to think he is a dragon in disguise.
Student Joel Teal said that Johnson’s clever and cunning personality, along with the deflection of questions about his true identity, led the class to believe Johnson was indeed a dragon.
“There was a fair number of times in which Dr. Johnson would distract himself in the middle of a thought because he saw something shiny,” Teal said. “The instinctive need to acknowledge something resembling treasure was definitely a red flag for us. Even the name of his home, ‘Firethorn Abbey’ was a hint that there was something more to this professor. I’m just saying, Baylor should pay attention to who, no, to what they are hiring!”
When students leave the class, Johnson said that he wants them to take away a bit of a better, clearer understanding of the world and the knowledge that even if dragons don’t exist in our world, in a way, they should.
“We do live in a diminished world,” Johnson said. “It will never do to forget that we’re meant for more than this, that we should have better and we can’t ever give up longing for that better.”
—Kaitlyn DeHaven ’20, Cedar Park, Texas
WORLD CULTURES 4
Program Coordinator: Dr. Sarah Walden
Texts: Includes books like O Pioneers! and The Things They Carried, which are often read in the span of a week. Other readings include pamphlets or speeches by figures such as Alexis de Tocqueville, Frederick Douglass and Phyllis Wheatley.
When we love something, we want it to be the best it can be. World Cultures IV applies a close and critical lens to the country many Baylor students hold dear — the United States.
World Cultures IV is one of many classes belonging to the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC). Students within the program can take the class as an alternative to general studies courses.
Unlike the first three semesters of World Cultures (I through III), Cultures IV focuses on only one country. While the subject is different from any other cultures or…
BIC class, Dr. Sarah Walden, coordinator of the course, said that the professors are mindful to have common threads run between each of the classes.
“We wanted to make sure it was very intersectional — mindful of race, class and gender. Those are some of the constant themes all the way through,” Walden said.
The BIC program differs from many other classes in the sense that the intersectionality of its courses is the primary goal. This intersectionality is seen primarily in the readings, and is indispensable in a class focusing on the United States.
“We use things that are historical but less touched on,” said Walden. “We add voices in to defamiliarize the topic”.
These voices help students to remember the many narratives running through the tapestry of United States history, and assures students that historical figures come from a variety of backgrounds, even if this variety isn’t always represented on the pages of a history book.
According to Walden, defamiliarizing the topic is one of the most challenging but crucial parts of the class, especially with so many American students.
“We want America to look familiar; we just want to deconstruct it a bit. It’s harder to bring that same lens. It seems so familiar,” she said.
By adding voices from outside of those found in ordinary history classes, World Cultures IV makes America look more like the country the students are in some ways familiar with — a symphony of different voices and cultures.
As the class often challenges students to step outside of what they have known and previously learned, Walden says a classroom model based more on discussion than lecture helps students in processing differing opinions and new information.
“We want to emphasize that being critical doesn’t mean being negative,” said Walden.
Striking the balance between critical and negative is not something that Walden or her colleagues take lightly. The professors use a wide variety of readings without sacrificing depth. The fast pace of the class allows more topics and time periods to be covered.
Dallas senior Jacqui McCleneghen noted one of the struggles of the class was learning to think critically about her homeland.
“As Americans, I think that we often fail our ancestors and our children in our ignorance of the beautiful country with which we have been blessed,” McCleneghen said. “Cultures IV allowed me to look honestly at my country and her history, her flaws and her accomplishments, and thus to love her more”.
—Haley Morrison ’17, Richmond, Texas
