• Martha Lou Scott: Still inspiring students after 45 years at Baylor

    Drs. Kevin Jackson and Martha Lou Scott

    Martha Lou Scott‘s leadership potential became apparent while she was still a Baylor undergraduate student. Five months before she earned her diploma, university administrators made sure Martha Lou would be sticking around campus after graduation, hiring her for a job in the Office of Women’s Residence Halls.

    Forty-five years later, multiple generations of Baylor students have benefitted from that one simple decision.

    Now Dr. Martha Lou Scott, BS’ 71, EDD ’84, the longtime Baylor Bear was honored earlier this year for her 45 years of service to the university. Over nearly half a century, the leadership qualities that were first noticed as a student have led Martha Lou from the residence halls all the way to her current role as associate vice president for student life.

    Along the way, she’s impacted thousands of students en route to their own leadership roles here at Baylor and beyond. She still hears from many of them, whether via personal correspondence or broad public messages — like the dozens of comments left on a pair of recent Baylor Facebook posts (here and here). Words like “inspiration,” “mentor,” “role model,” “leader” and “angel” appear over and over again.

    “When you think of poise, you think of Martha Lou,” says Jordan Hannah, BA ’10, a Baylor staff member who has worked with Martha Lou as both a student leader and as a colleague. “The thing I appreciate most about her is her ability to be in the moment with you no matter what goes on around her. Her responsibilities are so wide-ranging and no day is a cakewalk for her. She helps lead a division of hundreds of people. Despite all of that, she gives students her undivided attention when they’re with her, really paying attention and interacting with you. She’s constructive, graceful and uplifting, and she does it for more students than you could count. I honestly don’t know how she does it.”

    After 45 years, it’s tributes like those to people like Martha Lou that embody what Baylor is all about.

    Sic ’em, Martha Lou Scott!