Baylor Connections

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.

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.

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.

A nanometer measures just 1/100,000 the width of a human hair, but the chemical reactions that take place at that level bear significant implications for scientists, engineers, medical practitioners and more. Dr. Zhenrong Zhang, associate professor of physics, is illuminating the nanoscale through the development of a powerful nanoscale microscope. In this Baylor Connections, she shares how the invention can lead to more accurate medical diagnoses, cleaner sources of energy and more.

Dr. Sandeep Mazumder was named last spring as The William E. Crenshaw Endowed Dean of Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business after an extensive national search. Meet Dr. Mazumder in this Baylor Connections as he shares his journey from London to Waco, which included stops at some of the world’s most prestigious institutions. He further examines his philosophy on faith and scholarship and highlights the experiences that guided him into a new season of leadership at Baylor.

Baylor’s Center for Academic Success and Engagement (CASE) is a newly formed center bridging a variety of resources to help students thrive. In this Baylor Connections, Whitney Jones, senior director of CASE, shares the center’s approach and the resources available for academics and engagement, and examines how these services fill needed gaps and help students find a sense of belonging and purpose.

COVID-19 has further highlighted need for nurses who fill a critical care role in a public health crisis. Dr. Linda Plank is a 30-year nursing veteran and longtime educator who was named Dean of Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing (LHSON) this spring. In this Baylor Connections, Dr. Plank discusses the impact of the pandemic on nursing and nursing education, examines the growth of Baylor nursing and shares what makes LHSON distinct in higher education.

On the 700th anniversary of his death, Dante still resonates, providing timeless insight into the challenges people face and a guide to navigate those trials. In this Baylor Connections, Douglas Henry, Dean of the Honors College, shares why the Honors College is leading the world’s largest Dante reading group, called “100 Days of Dante,” and takes listeners inside the Honors College’s approach to transformative education.