Baylor Connections

Jon Eckert

Jon Eckert joined the Baylor faculty in 2019 as the Lynda and Robert Copple Endowed Chair in Christian School Leadership. In this Baylor Connections, he examines the ways Baylor can help Christians in education, both in faith-based and non-faith-based school contexts. A longtime teacher and professor who served in the U.S. Department of Education during the Bush and Obama administrations, Eckert shares foundational values in education and casts a vision for future growth in the Center for Christians in Education.

Kevin Chambliss

Kevin Chambliss examines Baylor’s research growth and future aspirations in this Baylor Connections. Dr. Chambliss, a longtime professor and researcher in Chemistry and Biochemistry, was named as Baylor’s Vice Provost for Research earlier this year. In this role, he works with faculty across the university in identifying funding sources, building partnerships and more. Additionally, his office will oversee a new area of research growth through the formation of a postdoc hiring program, which he explains on the program.

Julie Hoggarth

Julie Hoggarth, archaeologist and assistant professor of anthropology at Baylor, received national attention for the discovery of an ancient vase containing stories of war and conflict among the ancient Maya. While leading a dig in Belize, Hoggarth and her team found the Komkom vase, dated A.D. 812, which featured one of the largest hieroglyphic texts ever uncovered in the Central America lowlands. In this Baylor Connections, she explains how the vase helps shape our understanding of Maya societal breakdown and digs into the stories and meaning behind the text.

Annette von Jouanne

Annette von Jouanne, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Baylor, is a national leader in energy systems and renewable energy. In this Baylor Connection, Dr. von Jouanne examines renewable energy in various forms, particularly as it relates to transportation. Dr. von Jouanne worked on the first hybrid sport utility vehicle and partners with the U.S. Navy on electric ship development, and shares her insight on the present and future of electric vehicles.

Provost Nancy Brickhouse

As Provost, Dr. Nancy Brickhouse serves as Baylor’s chief academic officer, overseeing 12 colleges and schools, libraries, the University’s research enterprise and more. In this Baylor Connections, Dr. Brickhouse shares about the University’s increased focus on research. Brickhouse, a Baylor alum, examines the ways research enhances the educational experience and advances the Baylor mission, lists priorities in reaching those goals and talks about her return to her alma mater after over three decades in higher ed leadership.

Peter James

An enormous mass buried beneath the Moon’s largest crater was discovered by a research team led by Dr. Peter James, assistant professor of planetary physics and founder of the Planetary Research Group at Baylor. The mass, five times larger than Hawaii’s largest island, could be the result of an asteroid that formed the Moon’s South Pole-Aitken Basin. In this Baylor Connections, James shares the process of discovering the mass, analyzes its implications and shares broader views of space research.

President Linda Livingstone

Baylor’s 2019-20 Conversation Series will focus on civil discourse, with a variety of speakers and roundtables available to students, faculty and the community to consider this important topic. In this Baylor Connections, Baylor University President Dr. Linda A. Livingstone reflects on the university as a marketplace of ideas, ways to help students grow in the ability to respectfully engage others even in disagreement, and the need for civil discourse more broadly.

Cole Matson

Dr. Cole Matson serves as an associate professor of environmental science at Baylor. An environmental toxicologist specializing in the genetic effects of contaminants on wildlife, Dr. Matson’s research was recently featured in the prestigious journal, Science. The study examined a breed of fish, the Gulf killifish, which has rapidly adapted to and survived in the heavily polluted waters of the Houston Ship Channel. Matson identified hybridization with the Atlantic killifish as having provided the necessary genetic tools for survival in this polluted environment, and he explains how and what that potentially means for other species on this Baylor Connections.