Baylor Connections

Angela Gorrell

Amidst the joy of the holiday season, many dealing with loss or trauma in their own life feel grief. Angela Gorrell, assistant professor of practical theology, has experienced that type of dichotomy. While studying joy at the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, her family suffered a string of tragedies that led to her to question what it means to find joy in the midst of suffering. Her book, The Gravity of Joy: A Story of Being Lost and Found, walks readers through those struggles and what she learned in the process. She takes listeners inside that journey and offers insights on joy in this Baylor Connections.

Sarah Kienle

Sarah Kienle is the world’s top expert on the craniofacial anatomy of pinnipeds. In this Baylor Connections, Dr. Kienle, assistant professor of biology, explains what that means and provides a broader understanding of this little-studied area. Pinnipeds are a group of animals that includes seals, sea lions and walruses. They feed underwater, and Dr. Kienle’s foundational study of their facial muscles in Journal of Anatomy deepens understanding of the role those muscles play in feeding and more.

Danielle Parrish

As a young social worker in the 1990s, Danielle Parrish noticed significant gaps in the support provided to young women in the juvenile justice system. She’s since dedicated her career to changing that. Dr. Parrish today serves as a professor at the Houston campus of Baylor’s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work. In this Baylor Connections, she shares the needs faced by this at-risk population and how advancing beyond siloed care can lead to better outcomes for their future.

Dave Rosselli

The Baylor Family’s generosity has spurred exciting growth throughout the University. From new faculty chairs and student scholarships to major capital projects like a welcome center, basketball pavilion and football operations center, it’s an exciting season in the life of the University. In this Baylor Connections, Dave Rosselli, Vice President for Advancement, takes listeners inside these projects and shares how Baylor alumni and friends across the nation are driving a dynamic vision to become reality.

Byron Johnson

The Global Flourishing Study represents the largest initiative of its kind to investigate the determinants of human flourishing. In this week’s Baylor Connections, Dr. Byron Johnson, Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences and Director of the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor, takes listeners inside the massive project that will survey over 240,000 individuals in 22 countries over five years. With $43 million in funding, it’s also the largest funded research project in Baylor history, with a scope that will impact numerous disciplines through scientific, longitudinal data on a variety of factors that influence human thriving.

Jonathan Tran

As the son of refugees, Jonathan Tran says the refugee experience is formative to each aspect of a person’s life. Tran serves as associate professor of philosophical theology and is the George W. Baines Chair of Religion at Baylor. In this Baylor Connections, he shares his family’s story, unpacks scholarship in ethics, religion, language and more and examines lessons from his new book Asian Americans and the Spirit of Racial Capitalism.

Kevin Chambliss

Baylor has celebrated substantial growth in research marked by quality, visibility and impact since the 2018 launch of Illuminate. This summer, the University shared metrics that position Baylor to reach R1 benchmarks ahead of schedule—as early as 2024. In this Baylor Connections, Vice Provost for Research Kevin Chambliss unpacks those numbers and shares how the research they represent addresses significant challenges, benefits Baylor students and advances Baylor’s Christian mission.

Dawn Rogers

Few people have led a city’s Final Four efforts and served in leadership for a program that played in a Final Four, but Dawn Rogers has done both. In this Baylor Connections, Rogers shares more about her role as Baylor’s deputy athletics director and as a sport administrator for multiple sports, including the reigning national champion men’s basketball team. As she provides leadership to Baylor’s sport administrators, she takes listeners inside their importance in the success of across all 19 Baylor sports teams, and shares insights from leading Phoenix’s Final Four Local Organizing Committee prior to coming to Baylor.