Honors « Baylor Proud

Points of Pride — Honors

May

2013

Legendary Baylor QB the 10th Bear elected to College Football Hall of Fame

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Alumni, Athletics, Honors

He was Baylor’s original Heisman finalist and a groundbreaking passer in an era when most teams ran the ball. Now, legendary Baylor quarterback Don Trull has joined the ranks of college football’s immortals with his election into the College Football Hall of Fame earlier this month.

Half a century after he starred at Baylor, Trull’s name still appears throughout the program’s record books alongside the top passers in BU history. His exploits helped transform college football from a game dominated by the run into the aerial shootouts we see today.

Trull led the nation in passing yardage and touchdowns during his highly decorated senior year (1963), when he finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting, was a first-team All-American and first-team All-Southwest Conference selection, and became Baylor’s first National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete.

The Oklahoma City native is Baylor’s 10th member of the College Football Hall of Fame, joining such iconic names as Grant Teaff and Mike Singletary. Other Bears in the Hall: former Baylor head coach Morley Jennings and players Barton Koch, Bill Glass, James Ray Smith, Lawrence Elkins, Hayden Fry and Thomas Everett.

Sic ’em, Don Trull!

May

2013

Baylor professors of the year represent business, English and religion

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Academics, Honors

Baylor Professors of the Year: Thomasson, Garrett and Bellinger

Each year, Baylor honors three professors with major awards based on slightly varying criteria.

The senior class annually votes to determine the Collins Outstanding Professor Award. For the seventh time in the last 10 years, the Collins Award winner is also a Baylor graduate; this year’s recipient is Tim Thomasson, BBA ’91, MBA ’92, a professor of accounting and business law in the Hankamer School of Business. Thomasson spent 17 years in the field before coming back to Baylor in 2006.

Dr. Greg Garrett, a Baylor English professor in the College of Arts & Sciences since 1989, was named the 2013 Baylor Centennial Professor. Funded by the Centennial Class of 1945, each year the award provides financial support to aide one professor with a specific project. Garrett, a prolific writer, will use the award to further work on his next book, Entertaining Judgment: The Afterlife in Literature and Culture, which will examine our culture’s views of life after death over the centuries.

Another longtime Baylor professor, Dr. William Bellinger Jr., is the 2013 Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year. The award honors a professor who “makes a superlative contribution to the learning environment at Baylor,” based on teaching, research and service. Bellinger has taught religion at Baylor since 1984 and served as department chair since 2006. Known for his sense of humor and robust laugh, Bellinger’s academic focus is on the worship texts of the Old Testament.

Sic ’em, Baylor professors!

May

2013

Men’s tennis reaches 12th straight Sweet 16 to headline spring sports’ success

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Athletics, Honors

The spring semester is rapidly drawing to a close, which means it’s postseason time for Baylor’s spring sports.

After winning the Big 12 Conference regular season title (the program’s 11th in 14 years) and advancing to the finals of the Big 12 tournament, Baylor men’s tennis won its first- and second-round NCAA tournament matches over the weekend to advance to the Sweet 16 for the 12th straight season. The 13th-ranked Bears now face No. 4 USC Thursday at the NCAA final site in Urbana, Ill.

Baylor women’s tennis also won the Big 12 regular season title, the program’s ninth in 11 years, led by Big 12 Coach of the Year Joey Scrivano and Big 12 Player of the Year Ema Burgic. When the postseason began, however, the 19th-ranked Lady Bears were sent on the road as a No. 2 seed, however, and lost to No. 11 Northwestern in the NCAA tournament’s second round.

Both Baylor track teams placed fourth at the Big 12 Indoor Championships in February, and the women improved on that finish at the Outdoor Championships earlier this month in Waco, finishing third. (The men came in seventh.) At the NCAA Indoor Championships in March, the women tied for 25th and the men tied for 32nd; they’ll look to improve on those finishes at the NCAA Outdoor Championships June 5-8.

Freshman Lauren Taylor won the Big 12 Women’s Golf Championship individual title in April and led the Lady Bears to a ninth-place finish at the NCAA West Regional last weekend, one stroke shy of advancing to the NCAA Championship. Men’s golf is headed to an NCAA Regional for the 16th straight year and will compete in Pullman, Wash., Thursday through Saturday.

After finishing third in the Big 12, Baylor softball is headed to the NCAA tournament for the eighth time in 10 years. The Lady Bears will play in College Station this weekend, beginning against Arizona Friday at 2:30 p.m. (ESPN2). Baseball has one more week of regular season play before the Big 12 tournament May 22-26 in Oklahoma City.

Outside the NCAA, acrobatics and tumbling claimed two individual national titles at the NCATA National Championship last month, and equestrian lost in the hunter seat semifinals of the NCEA National Championship.

Sic ’em, Baylor athletics!

May

2013

Baylor sophomore among the final 12 on NBC’s ‘The Voice’

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Honors, Just for Fun, Student life, Videos

Holly Tucker

Baylor sophomore Holly Tucker wasn’t content just making an appearance on The Voice, NBC’s singing competition; she came to win.

So far, so good. Out of almost 75 performers who have appeared on the show this season, the 19-year-old native of Lorena (a Waco suburb) has made it into the final 12. All four judges wanted Tucker after her initial blind audition; she chose to join country superstar Blake Shelton’s team, and has since made it through three more rounds of judge’s decisions and fan voting.

[HOLLY PERFORMS: "To Make You Feel My Love," blind audition || "Blown Away," battle round || "Live Like You Were Dying," knockout round || "How Do I Live," top 16 live playoffs || iTunes link for all four songs]

From here on out, Tucker’s survival on The Voice will depend largely on viewer voting (via online polls at NBC.com, phone calls and text messages to specified numbers, and iTunes single sales). For at least the next two weeks, Holly and the other competitors will perform on Monday nights (NBC, 7 p.m. CT); voting will then take place overnight, with results announced live on the show Tuesday nights.

A Baylor legacy, Holly’s father, Johnny, mother, Cheryl, and brother, Travis, are all Baylor graduates, and Cheryl now works in the Engineering and Computer Science dean’s office. When Holly was first introduced on the show, her Baylor connections (including her role in the Golden Wave Band) were highlighted frequently, and even six weeks into the show, she is still frequently introduced as “Baylor University marching band performer Holly Tucker.”

You can follow along with her journey via Facebook, Twitter (@hollytmusic), YouTube and at HollyTucker.com. Then tune in and vote to help a fellow Baylor Bear keep on shining on this national spotlight!

Sic ’em, Holly!

May

2013

Baylor names finalists for 2014 Cherry Award, the nation’s largest teaching award

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Academics, Honors

Cherry Award Finalists 2014 More than two decades after its creation, Baylor University’s Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching remains the only national award (and the single largest monetary award) presented by a college or university to an individual for great teaching. Every two years, it brings one of the nation’s top college professors to teach at Baylor for a semester.

The most recent Cherry Award winner, Dr. Brian Coppola, is just wrapping up his tenure at Baylor after having spent the spring teaching organic chemistry in residence here. Last month, the finalists for the 2014 Cherry Award were announced:

Dr. Meera Chandrasekhar, Curator’s Teaching Professor of Physics, University of Missouri. A native of India, Chandrasekhar has taught at Missouri since 1978, earning recognition for her teaching from groups such as the National Science Foundation and the Missouri Governor’s office. Her hands-on physics programs for students in grades 5-12 and summer institutes for K-12 teachers have received several awards.
Dr. Joan Breton Connelly, Professor of Classics and Art History, New York University. Since 1990, Connelly has directed NYU’s Yeronisos Island Excavations and Field School in Cyprus; in 2002, she was honored by the Cyprus government for her contribution to the exploration and preservation of Cypriot cultural heritage. She also was appointed by President George W. Bush to a U.S. Department of State advisory committee, serving from 2003-11.
Dr. Michael K. Salemi, Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Salemi has taught at UNC since 1976, earning multiple awards for economics education from such groups as the Southern Economic Association, the National Council on Economic Education and the Association of Economic Educators. He chaired the American Economic Association’s Committee on Economics Education from 1994-2000 and served as president of the Society of Economics Educators in 2004.

Each finalist will lecture at Baylor this fall as well as a Cherry Award lecture on their own campuses sometime in the next year. The winning professor will be announced next spring and will teach in residence at Baylor during the fall 2014 or spring 2015 semesters.

Sic ’em, Cherry Award finalists, and to Robert Cherry Foster, whose estate gift has made this award possible!

May

2013

National Women’s Soccer League’s inaugural rosters include Baylor senior

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Athletics, Honors

Hanna Gilmore Brittney Griner and Brooklyn Pope aren’t the only Lady Bears headed to pro sports.

Former Baylor soccer standout Hanna Gilmore made it through tryouts to land a spot on the inaugural season roster of the Chicago Red Stars, part of the newly founded National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). The eight-team league is organized by the U.S. Soccer Federation and began its first season in April, and the 22-game schedule runs through August.

Gilmore appeared in all 86 Baylor matches during her four years in Waco, starting 78 as a forward and midfielder for the Bears. She finished her tenure at BU last fall ranked sixth in program history in career goals and career scoring and aims to contribute that same sort of offense as a forward for the Red Stars.

The Spring, Texas, native isn’t the first Bear to get a shot at professional soccer. Former Baylor All-American Dawn Greathouse played all three seasons (2001-03) in the short-lived Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA); one of her BU teammates, Courtney Saunders, was drafted into the league in 2001 but did not appear in a game.

Sic ’em, Baylor soccer!

Apr

2013

Bloomberg BusinessWeek includes Baylor entrepreneurship program among nation’s top 5

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Academics, Honors

Baylor Entrepreneurship products If you want to start your own business, there are few places in the country better to train than Baylor University.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek earlier this month ranked Baylor’s undergraduate entrepreneurship program No. 3 in the country and tops in the state of Texas, echoing the results of recent Princeton Review/Entrepreneurship Magazine listings which have included Baylor among the nation’s top five each of the last four years.

[Read more about how the Hankamer School of Business prepares entrepreneurship students for success in this feature from the Spring 2013 issue of Baylor Magazine.]

The new results are based on feedback from students at 124 different business schools nationwide. Baylor was the only university south of the Mason-Dixon Line or west of the Mississippi to crack the top five, joining such schools as Cornell and Syracuse.

One of the oldest and most respected entrepreneurship programs in the country, Baylor entrepreneurship continues to come up with new offerings for students, including the recently announced business incubator partnerships in Waco and Addison, Texas.

Sic ’em, Baylor entrepreneurship!

Apr

2013

Griner selected with No. 1 overall pick in WNBA draft

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Athletics, Honors

Brittney Griner and WNBA President Laurel Richie

As expected, Brittney Griner was selected with the first overall pick in Monday’s 2013 WNBA Draft by the Phoenix Mercury — the first Baylor player ever selected first overall in any major league draft. Teammate Brooklyn Pope was also drafted in the third round by the Chicago Sky; the pair were the eighth and ninth Lady Bears selected in WNBA draft history.

The Mercury rolled out all the stops after selecting Griner Monday night, introducing “the Griner Pack” of tickets, launching a special section of their website dedicated to the Baylor senior, unveiling a 77-foot banner in downtown Phoenix, and even “renaming” a street near their arena “Griner Street.” (You can also already order a “Griner 42″ Mercury jersey.)

But while signing as the top overall pick may seem the obvious choice, Griner could face an interesting decision: Should she go to the WNBA, where she’s predicted for stardom, or take a chance on a potential once-in-a-generation opportunity?

As you may have heard — even World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer picked up on the story — Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has made headlines for suggesting that his team would consider taking Griner in this summer’s NBA draft. She wouldn’t be the first woman to get a shot with an NBA team — in 1977, the Utah Jazz drafted Delta State’s Lusia Harris before the NCAA even recognized women’s basketball — but it’s enough of a rarity that Cuban’s comments sparked all sorts of speculation.

Women’s basketball pioneer Nancy Lieberman said Griner should go for it; UConn coach Geno Auriemma, on the other hand, called it “absolutely ludicrous” to think Griner could make it in the NBA. Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitski and coach Rick Carlisle each weighed in; Nowitski said it would be “tough” for her to make it, but Carlisle called her “a hell of a player.” And NBA.com columnist Fran Blinebury noted that Griner wouldn’t be the most unusual draft pick in NBA history.

Griner has said she’s interested by the possibilities; we’ll see what happens when the NBA draft rolls around in June. Until then…

Sic ’em, Brittney!

Apr

2013

Baylor sophomore impresses on NBC’s ‘The Voice’

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Honors, Just for Fun, Student life, Videos

Holly Tucker on NBC's The Voice

The judges on NBC’s The Voice singing competition — Maroon 5 front man Adam Levine, country music star Blake Shelton, Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira and multi-platinum R&B artist Usher — spent the last three weeks choosing teams of performers to mentor and prepare for head-to-head competitions.

Among those who made the cut? Baylor sophomore Holly Tucker.

A native of Lorena, Texas (less than 15 miles south of Waco), Tucker was introduced on The Voice in this season’s third episode, including a lengthy series of shots showing her walking the Baylor campus and performing with the Golden Wave Band. [Click here to watch Holly's introduction and first performance, "To Make You Feel My Love" (starting just after the 40:00 mark).]

During Tucker’s blind audition, each of the four judges quickly turned their chairs — a rare occurrence on the show, demonstrating that all four wanted her on their team. After much deliberation, Tucker — who dreams of being a country star — chose to join Shelton’s team. Beginning tonight, she and the other artists will be paired head-to-head in elimination battles; if Tucker can make it through this round, then she’ll advance to knockout rounds and (hopefully) the live finals, where audience voting can play a part.

[MORE HOLLY: Uproar Records' video "Introducing Holly" || Tucker's artist page on The Voice website || Get Tucker's first Voice performance on iTunes]

Tucker’s experience on The Voice isn’t her first time performing, of course; she has been singing in front of audiences since the age of 12. She even spent her freshman year as an artist with Baylor’s Uproar Records, recording a CD on the label and even performing on behalf of Uproar in the 2011 Baylor Homecoming Parade.

Tune in to The Voice (Mondays and Tuesdays, 7 p.m. CT, on NBC) to see what’s next for Holly, and follow her journey via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and hollytucker.com.

Sic ’em, Holly!

Apr

2013

Students win National Trumpet Competition for second time in three years

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Academics, Honors, Student life, Videos

The month of March brought a national championship to Baylor, after all; in fact, the winning team has all the makings of a potential dynasty. It’s just not in the world of sports.

For the second time in three years, a Baylor student ensemble was crowned national champion at the National Trumpet Competition, hosted by George Mason University. The sextet of master’s candidates Drew Fremder and Erika Izaguirre, seniors Taylor Williamson, Manuel Munoz, junior Ben Hauser and sophomore David Sayers (dubbed “Baylor Gold”) took first place from among 30 groups that had reached the semifinals. Here‘s their award-winning performance of “1849,” arranged by Baylor trumpet professor Wiff Rudd:

And the members of “Baylor Gold” weren’t the only Bears to excel at the competition; another group from the School of Music’s Baylor Trumpet Studio was also among the competition’s top six acts, as “Baylor Green” (senior Tyler Brinkman, junior Kelsie Dunham, sophomore Daniel Gerona, and freshmen Regan O’Connor and Brent Smith) joined “Baylor Gold” in the finals.

Sic ’em, Baylor Trumpet Studio!

You might also like:
* Christmas carols from BU trumpet students, Lubbock-area grads (Dec. 2012)
* Trumpeteers, debaters bring home national honors for Baylor (April 2011)
* Freshman’s musical talents lead to scholarship and service (Jan. 2010)

Trumpeteers

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