More ‘top recruits’ fill Baylor’s newest endowed chairs

Strong teams are great at recruiting, and Baylor has been blessed to land multiple “top recruits” in the university’s pursuit of excellence — not just in athletics or the student body, but among the faculty, as well.

Building on an already strong faculty lineup, the recruitment of new faculty in endowed chair roles is a significant focus of Illuminate and Give Light, with the goal of attracting nationally recognized experts into prestigious academic positions at Baylor. These efforts have proven successful — and they’re not done yet. The dividends of the Baylor Family’s generosity in the successful Give Light campaign continue to manifest in a multitude of ways, including the recruitment of elite faculty to Baylor.

Since our last update, six more academic stars have been appointed to new endowed chair positions at Baylor:

* Dr. Erik Carter serves as the Luther Sweet Endowed Chair in Disabilities. A highly funded researcher, Carter comes to Baylor after stops at Vanderbilt and Wisconsin. His passion is the inclusion and belonging of individuals with disabilities in faith communities, the workplace and schools. At BU, he leads the Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities.

* Dr. Felipe Hinojosa is the Jackson Family Chair for Baylor in Latin America. He joins the Baylor Department of History from Texas A&M, bringing expertise in Latino/a and Chicana/o studies, civil rights, religion and society. At Baylor, he’ll provide leadership to Baylor’s engagement and research across Latin America.

* Dr. Alan Jacobs, a longtime Baylor faculty member, steps into a new role as the Jim and Sharon Harrod Endowed Chair of Christian Thought. Jacobs, a leading literary critic and scholar, will further his studies at the intersection of faith and knowledge and ensure Baylor’s national leadership in this area.

* Dr. Stephen Newby was appointed as the inaugural holder of the Lev H. Prichard III Chair in the Study of Black Worship. A minister, scholar and composer, Newby comes to Baylor from Seattle Pacific University and recently served as minister of worship in Atlanta’s historic Peachtree Church. At BU, he will lead Baylor’s Black Gospel Preservation Project.

* Dr. Hannah Stolze is the William E. Crenshaw Endowed Chair in Supply Chain Management. She comes to Baylor from Lipscomb University and Wheaton College, but her interest in the supply chain was sparked by her time in the U.S. Army. Her research focuses on transformative supply chain practices that include the health and wellbeing of individuals within the supply chain.

* Dr. Garritt Tucker joined Baylor from the Colorado School of Mines to serve as the Eula Mae and John Baugh Chair in Physics. An expert in materials science, Tucker’s scholarship blends materials research, computational materials science, defect physics and more.

These six faculty members are the latest to join Baylor in endowed chair roles, but they’re far from the last. Additional positions will be filled in the months ahead, bringing top Christian scholars to Baylor who will impact future students and pursue research opportunities that broaden Baylor’s impact as a Christian research university.

Sic ’em, endowed chairs!