Baylor Proud

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

Baylor student appears on Jeopardy, gets Alex Trebek to do ‘sic ‘em’

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

Alex Trebek and Taylor Roth on Jeopardy

As a freshman at Baylor two years ago, Taylor Roth started having some health issues. Eventually, she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and told she probably had less than a year to live. Thankfully, a later diagnosis found that she has decades, not months, to live.

[Read Roth's story in depth: Waco Tribune-Herald || Dallas Morning News || Baylor Lariat]

Now a junior psychology major, Roth’s health hasn’t stopped her from pursuing her goals. One is to use her psychology degree to help cancer patients deal with their diagnosis. Another? To appear on Jeopardy!

The Plano, Texas, native can now cross that one off the list; Roth appeared on the show yesterday during Jeopardy!‘s college championship (in a green-and-gold Baylor sweatshirt, of course). Though she didn’t win, she did get a consolation prize of sorts: the photo above with host Alex Trebek as the pair do a “sic ‘em!”

Sic ’em, Taylor!

May

2013

Baylor Stadium celebrates milestones in advance of bringing football back to campus

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Athletics, Videos

Baylor Stadium construction

How big a deal is Baylor Stadium for the university and the football program? A media tour of the construction site yesterday drew dozens of reporters and news crews from Waco and beyond who wanted to see how the Bears’ new home is progressing.

[MEDIA REPORTS: Video and story from the Waco Tribune-Herald || WFAA Dallas/Fort Worth video || BaylorBears.com video || Baylor Photography photos || Baylor Lariat story || KCEN video || KXXV video || Fox44 Waco video || YNN video]

Construction company representatives and Baylor officials agreed: Work is coming along quite nicely, thank you. The outer shell of the stadium (which you can easily see while driving down I-35) should be complete by August or September, with the larger pieces inside cast and in place by the end of the year. Construction of the Umphrey pedestrian bridge across the Brazos River will begin later this summer, and the project is on track to be ready for the Bears’ 2014 home opener less than 500 days from now.

Visting the construction site, my first impression was just how close Baylor Stadium felt to campus. The law school right across the river feels practically next door — as close as, say, Moody Library to the SUB. (Check out this 360-degree video of the stadium and campus, taken from about where the new scoreboard will be, to get a feel for yourself.) I can’t wait until we get to experience game day on campus.

A few other notes from Tuesday’s event: President Ken Starr announced that $100 million has now been raised in private support for the stadium, and that number will continue to rise as club seats go on sale June 1 and additional gifts come in. All premium seating so far (Founders Suites, Premium Suites and Loge Boxes) have sold out, and a waiting list is growing, while 1,500 new season tickets have been sold for 2013 in anticipation of the new stadium a year later. More than 1,400 Stadium Bricks have also been sold to adorn a plaza outside the stadium.

(Click the image at right for an interesting comparison of Floyd Casey Stadium and Baylor Stadium.)

Sic ’em, Baylor Stadium!

May

2013

Road trip takes Baylor seniors back to Independence, where it all began

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Photo Galleries, Student life

Independence, Texas, symbolizes a lot of things to folks around Baylor. It was where the university began, back in 1845, and today is the place where many students begin their time as Bears, with a visit during Baylor Line Camp. So it’s fitting that many seniors choose to close their time at Baylor with a visit back to Independence.

Each year, as the spring semester closes, the Baylor Alumni Network organizes a senior trip to the university’s original home, where participants enjoy dinner on the grounds, photos at sunset by the historic columns from Baylor’s old campus, and a pre-graduation ceremony set amongst our university’s rich history.

[Click here to see more photos from the Senior Road Trip to Independence.]

In less than two weeks, this students will be Baylor’s newest alumni. Four years ago, many received their Baylor Line jerseys in Independence. Soon, they will be a permanent part of the Baylor Line that stretches back almost 170 years.

Sic ’em, Baylor seniors!

May

2013

Engineering students build robots that ‘mind the gap’

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Academics, Just for Fun, Videos

The challenge: Build a robot that can traverse an 8-inch gap, but that at start and finish is no taller, wider or deeper than 12 inches.

Last week, a group of Baylor students nearing completion of Engineering Design I (EGR 3380) put their semester projects to the test. Some of the robot vehicles flew; some built their own “bridges;” some unfolded to add length, then refolded after crossing the gap. Each took a different approach. Most worked; a few didn’t. But every student had fun and learned in the process. Here’s a short video showcasing their efforts:

Sic ’em, Baylor engineering students!

You might also like:
* Students design 400-square-foot housing for use following natural disasters (Jan. 2013)
* Engineering students take on new challenge in Baja SAE competition (Oct. 2012)
* Engineering grads earn attention for eye-controlled Super Mario play (Oct. 2010)

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!

May

2013

New Pinterest board offers ideas for Baylor graduation day celebrations

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Alumni, Student life

It’s hard to believe that the calendar has already turned to May… Weren’t we just putting away Christmas decorations? But here we are; classes end Friday, finals start a week from today, and graduation is barely more than two weeks away.

Are you ready? By now, seniors should probably have their caps and gowns lined up and their announcements mailed. But there’s still time for other last-minute details: graduation party planning, picking out a frame for that diploma, etc.

For that, we’ve launched a new board on our Pinterest page titled simply, “Baylor Graduation.” There, you’ll find green-and-gold cake designs (and other graduation-themed treats), some fun photos from past commencements (this one is a favorite) and more to help seniors get ready for their big day. (It might also bring back memories for you graduates of years past, and remind underclassmen reading this of what you’re working for.)

Of course, you’ll also find plenty more Baylor pride on our other Pinterest boards. If you haven’t started following us yet, here’s a taste of what you’ve been missing:

This framed Line jersey (a birthday present that could also be a fun graduation gift);
Home decoration ideas like this green-and-gold guest room;
This photo of the Eiffel Tower showing its Baylor pride;
Tailgating recipes like these Dr Pepper cookies; and
Popular Baylor gameday gear like this, this and this.

Sic ’em, Baylor grads and Baylor pinners!

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

‘Mama Griffin’ speaking tour to raise funds for RG3 QB scholarship

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Athletics, Extraordinary Stories

Raising RG3: A Conversation with Jackie Griffin

We are blessed to call Robert Griffin III a Baylor Bear. It’s hard to imagine anyone better representing all that Baylor stands for, both on and off the field, particularly on a national stage.

As a young parent, I’ve wondered what RG3′s parents did to raise such an outstanding young man. Now “Mama Griffin” is sharing her story in a series of events that also aim to raise money for the recently announced Robert Griffin III Quarterback Scholarship.

Jackie Griffin will speak to audiences in Dallas (May 2), Houston (June 13), Nashville (Aug. 22) and Waco (Aug. 29) about raising RG3 — stories of the Redskins QB’s youth and the philosophy that guided his upbringing. Tickets are available now for the events in North Texas and Houston; ticket info and details for the other two locations will be released when available.

[Here's a sample of Jackie talking about her famous son to Washington, D.C.'s ABC7.]

Proceeds from each event will benefit the RG3 Scholarship, which seeks to endow the quarterback position at Baylor (a similar approach to that taken for Duke basketball, Michigan football and other programs), thus freeing up budget funds to be used for other purposes. Thanks to the Griffins for lending their support to this effort!

Sic ’em, RG3, Jackie, and all those who have supported the RG3 Scholarship!