Baylor Connections

Baylor’s attainment of R1 research recognition represents a team effort that played out over a two-decade span. In this Baylor Connections, Larry Lyon takes listeners inside that journey. Dr. Lyon, Vice Provost and Dean of Baylor’s Graduate School, shares how initiatives like Baylor 2012, Pro Futuris and Illuminate helped Baylor advance on a path to research preeminence while remaining committed to its Christian mission.

The Baylor University School of Music is celebrating its centennial this year—100 years of making music with spirit and excellence. In this Baylor Connections, Dr. Gary Mortenson, Dean of the School of Music, takes listeners inside the celebration and highlights a meaningful transition within Baylor orchestral studies.

Texas’ Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits families both nutritionally and financially. Many who are eligible, however, do not access available benefits. The Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty (BCHP) is working to bridge that gap to address food insecurity. In this Baylor Connections, Khristian Howard, Waco Manager for SNAP Strategy, shares how BCHP works to encourage participation in the program through a collaborative, comprehensive approach.

Baylor’s Black Gospel Music Restoration Project preserves classic Black Gospel music—pieces that were at risk of being lost forever—in digital form for future generations. In this Baylor Connections, journalism professor Robert Darden, founder of the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project, updates listeners on ways that the project’s reach has expanded in recent months, from a new listening center on the Baylor campus to involvement with a PBS documentary and more.

Baylor’s Institute for Oral History preserves history through the collection of stories that would otherwise go untold. In this Baylor Connections, Stephen Sloan, director of the Institute and associate professor of history at Baylor, and Adrienne Cain, associate director and lecturer, share more. They explain how oral historians democratize history and offer tips for individuals seeking to preserve the stories of family or friends.

Core research centers at Baylor contain state-of-the-art equipment that students and faculty across campus utilize for impactful research projects. Bernd Zechmann leads one of these centers—he serves as director of the Center for Microscopy and Imaging and as an associate research professor at Baylor. In this Baylor Connections, Dr. Zechmann takes listeners inside labs that advance multidisciplinary projects and spur R1 research.

Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary enjoyed incredible growth in 2021, from new academic programs and campuses to initiatives that reduce the cost of tuition for students. In this Baylor Connections, Dr. Todd Still, The Charles J. and Eleanor McLerran DeLancey Dean and The William M. Henson Professor of Christian Scriptures at Truett, takes listeners inside a variety of exciting benchmarks and explains how they enhance the ways Truett is “of, by, and for the Church.”

How can vocal athletes perform at their best, and with optimum health? Kimberly Monzon and Lauren Weber are teachers and performers who seek to help people who use their voices on stage and in other settings. In this Baylor Connections, Dr. Monzon, assistant professor of voice in Baylor’s School of Music, and Weber, a certified vocologist who serves as a lecturer of musical theatre at Baylor, take listeners inside their research and training to advance new understanding in vocal performance.