• 2017-18 Baylor Meritorious Achievement Award winners to be honored at Homecoming

    2017-18 Baylor Meritorious Achievement Award winners

    The university’s Meritorious Achievement Award winners annually demonstrate the wide reach of the Baylor Family. This year’s honorees include alumni who have found success in everything from business and medicine to worship music and athletics — and sometimes, in more than one of those fields.

    Each has used their success to support Baylor and Baylor students, whether through financial support for scholarships or sharing what they’ve learned to raise up the next generation of servant-leaders. You might not know their names — but the ways they’ve given of themselves have impacted countless students’ lives. Here are this year’s award winners:

    Alumni of the Year: Bill (BBA ’71) and Pat (BA ’71) Carlton, whose family commitment to Baylor stretches back to Bill’s grandfather more than a century ago. Bill and Pat Carlton have supported Baylor by hosting alumni events, hiring Baylor graduates, supporting building projects and student scholarships, and serving on Baylor Leadership Council.

    Young Alumnus of the Year: Aaron P. Graft, BA ’00, JD ’03, a University Scholar and Baylor Law graduate who today serves as founder, vice chairman and CEO of Triumph Bancorp Inc., a publicly traded (NASDAQ) financial holding company. He and his wife are active volunteers, serving in Haiti through Living Water Ministries and through International Justice Mission.

    Pro Ecclesia: Kurt Kaiser, a Gospel Music Hall of Fame inductee whose work playing, arranging and producing has been crucial to the development and growth of modern-day church music. The former director of the Baylor Religious Hour Choir and director of music for Word Inc. has written more than 300 copyrighted songs, including “Pass it On” and “Oh How He Loves You and Me.”

    Pro Texana: Justice Don Willett, BBA ’88, a Texas Supreme Court Justice known for his candor and humor on social media who has also served in the White House as a special assistant to President George W. Bush, in the Justice Department, and as chief legal counsel to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, now the state’s governor.

    Contributions to the Professions: Medicine: Mark Adickes, BBA ’84, a former Baylor football letterman and NFL offensive lineman who then became an orthopedic surgeon after completing his medical degree at Harvard and residency at Mayo Clinic. Today, he’s chief of sports medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and a sports injury expert for ESPN and DirecTV.

    Contributions to the Professions: Christian Ministry: Barbara Ann Walker, BS ’67, Baylor’s first female African-American graduate who has spent the last three decades serving the mental health needs of Californians as service to the Lord. She returns to campus as often as possible to speak with students, including her grandson.

    Distinguished Achievement Award: Dr. David E. Garland, a Navy veteran and New Testament scholar who has epitomized servant-leadership in his 20+ years at Baylor as a Truett Seminary professor and dean, interim provost and interim president.

    W.R. White Meritorious Service Award: Dr. Preston Dyer, BA ’60, a professor emeritus in Baylor’s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work. Dyer returned to Baylor in 1969 to begin a social work program in the sociology department; generations of Baylor students have taken “Marriage and Family,” a signature course taught by Dyer and his wife, Genie.

    Baylor Legacy: Ron Jones, whose family legacy includes drilling water wells and building food stations in Malawi, homeless ministry in Austin, and supporting missionaries in several countries. Closer to home, the Joneses have supported Baylor for generations through student scholarships and projects in the School of Education and Truett Seminary and at McLane Stadium.

    Baylor Legacy: Dr. John (BA ’53, MD ’57) and L’Nell (BA ’53) Starkey, who have missed just two Baylor Homecomings since 1949. John ran a radiology practice for over 50 years, and L’Nell worked for Dr. Michael DeBakey before turning her focus to family and community involvement. The couple has supported scholarships, the Bear Foundation and building projects, even listing Baylor as their sixth “child” in their estate.

    Founders Medal: Don and Ruth (BA ’49) Buchholz, who have long been proponents of education at the high school, community college and university levels. Don served as president, CEO and chairman of Southwest Securities, and Ruth has been active with the Baylor Dallas Women’s Council since its inception — just one of the 75 service organizations with which she has served. Together, the Buchholzes have supported Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing, Hankamer School of Business, and student scholarships.

    Sic ’em, Bears!

    [Learn about past Meritorious Achievement Award winners: 2010-11 || 2011-12 || 2012-13 || 2013-14 || 2014-15 || 2015-16 || 2016-17