Hear more from President-Select Linda Livingstone

On June 1, President-Select Linda Livingstone will take office at Baylor and officially become the university’s 15th president. In the meantime, she has met with reporters at virtually every Waco media outlet to talk about her approach to leadership, the challenges and opportunities Baylor faces today, being Baylor’s first female president, and a host of other topics.

Here’s a sampling from (and links to) the various interviews with Dr. Livingstone:

“At the core, one of our principles at a faith-based institution is the belief that all truth is God’s truth and that truth is open to inquiry. That gives you freedom as a scholar in a Christian institution to ask difficult questions, to investigate them and not be afraid of the answers you get. Sometimes we are criticized in Christian higher education — that we are not open to scholarly findings. It’s just the opposite if you are truly, honestly a high-level research university, which Baylor is. It gives you an opportunity and a freedom to do high-quality scholarly work and not be afraid of the answers you get from that.” — Baylor Magazine

“In terms of students, we really want to focus on academic excellence and high quality academic life … and we want students to have experiences in and outside of the classroom that reinforce the values that underlie us as a university and our Christian mission. … I love working with students. They bring a great joy to the life of a university, and that’s why we’re there, to help them grow and develop, so I want students to know that I look forward to getting to know them.” — Baylor Lariat

“I’m already beginning this process, and I will continue after I start on June 1, of really getting out and listening to our community… I’ve already had some meetings with some faculty, staff, deans, leadership of the university, students… so I get a really good sense of the campus, the things people are excited about, and the things we need to work on. But I’m also going to be out among the Baylor family — our alumni, our donor base, parents, and friends, to get to know them, help them get to know me, listen to them, and understand the concerns they have, and the things they’re excited about, so that we can make sure we’re identifying the most important initiatives to focus on first.” — KXXV (parts one and two)

“One of the most important things for me in leading any organization — whether it’s now in my role as a dean or when I become president — is building a really strong leadership team that works well together, that’s committed to the mission of the institution, [where] we work well and we trust each other.” — Waco Tribune-Herald

“As we go forward, what we have to do is say, ‘What have we already done to address the sexual assault issues that were happening on campus, and the culture around that? What do we need to continue to work on that’s already in progress? And then, are there other things that we need to do that we may not have identified yet?'” — KWTX

“I was a student-athlete, my dad was a college coach, my husband was a student-athlete, our daughter is a student-athlete at Rice University, so I have a pretty broad understanding of athletics from being a participant in it… But then in addition to that, I was really a serious student, and then I have an academic background. So I think one of the things I bring to this is not only an understanding of athletics and academics, but the understanding of the important role they play together in helping advance a university. Because I value both, and I understand that you can do both and do them really well. I think that perspective is really valuable to the university.” — KRZI ESPN Central Texas

“We are a family at Baylor, and families sometimes disagree strongly about things. They sometimes make mistakes. But, I think one of the other things you see in families is that they come together. They learn from that, and they figure out how to work together to move forward. And, that’s certainly the goal.” — KCEN

Sic ’em, Dr. Livingstone!

You might also like:
* 6 things you should know about Baylor President-Select Linda Livingstone (April 2017)
* #BearsOfBaylor — “That’s my goal — to get us all to work together to move [Baylor] forward.” (April 2017)