TOP OF THE CLASS –– AGAIN Baylor is one of only 22 institutions nationwide to earn an “A” for its high-quality core curriculum, much of which centers on classes taught in the College of Arts & Sciences. That’s according to a report on the state of general education at the nation’s colleges and universities from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA). The ACTA study looked at curriculum offerings at the major public and private colleges and universities in all 50 states –– a total of 1,091 four-year institutions. Each is assigned a letter grade ranging from “A” to “F” based on how many of seven core subjects they require. Those subjects include composition, literature, foreign language at an intermediate level, U.S. government or history, economics, mathematics and natural or physical science. Baylor –– on the “A” list for the fourth consecutive year and one of only 2 percent of all institutions to receive an “A” –– requires that students take six of the seven core courses, with the exception of economics. No other Big 12 university and only three other Texas institutions –– the University of Dallas, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and the University of Texas at San Antonio –– made the “A” list.
Briefs A prominent physics educator will spend the spring semester of 2015 teaching on campus in the College of Arts & Sciences as the winner of Baylor’s 2014 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching. The outstanding classroom skills of Dr. Meera Chandrasekhar, professor of physics and astronomy and Curator’s Teaching Professor of Physics at the University of Missouri, won her the Cherry Award, the single largest monetary reward ($250,000) presented by a college or university to an individual for exceptional teaching. Beginning this summer, tobacco use on the Baylor campus will be a thing of the past. Effective Aug. 11, 2014, Baylor will become a tobacco-free, smoke-free campus. At that time, the use of any form of tobacco will be strictly prohibited in and outside of all University-owned buildings, including those located on campus, in Waco and other cities, as well as parking lots, garages and sidewalks. The changes have been agreed upon with the support of the Baylor Faculty Senate, Staff Council and Student Senate. The Department of Modern Foreign Languages in the College of Arts & Sciences has a new name –– the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures. The new name better reflects what the faculty teaches – both languages and cultures, comprising not only literature but film and other media, theatre, business language and the study of specific world regions. Mark your calendars – two award-winning American novelists will visit Baylor in September 2014. Marilynne Robinson, author of “Gilead” and “Home,” will deliver the annual Phi Beta Kappa Albaugh Lecture Sept. 11, while Amy Tan, author of “The Joy Luck Club” and “The Kitchen God’s Wife,” will speak Sept. 29 as the 2014 Beall-Russell Lecturer.
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