2016 Elsewhere at Baylor
Baylor Philanthropy Lab Students Present Grants to Local Nonprofits
Students in Baylor's “Philanthropy and the Public Good" class spent the fall semester cultivating their philanthropic spirit, which culminated with the presentation of $50,335 in grants to seven nonprofit organizations. The funds will allow these local organizations to do everything from providing a place for displaced and homeless teenagers to developing a new revenue stream for a nonprofit through a creative social venture.
This year’s grant recipients are:
- Prosper Waco/Act Locally Waco ($10,400)
- Creative Waco ($5,000)
- Talitha Koum Institute ($4,415)
- Family Abuse Center ($10,000)
- The Cove ($12,520)
- Care Net ($3,000)
- Community Cancer Association ($5,000)
The latest grants will bring the total amount given to local nonprofit organizations through the philanthropy class to more than $225,000. Baylor students in the inaugural class in fall 2014 presented $100,000 in grants to eight local organizations. The spring class presented $75,000 in grants to 14 nonprofit organizations.
Web Extra
“Philanthropy and Public Good” Blog Site
Baylor Honors Rice University Professor with Robert Foster Cherry Award
Michelle Rae Hebl, PhD, Martha and Henry Malcolm Lovett Professor of Psychology at Rice University, has been named by Baylor as the 2016 recipient of the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching.
The Cherry Award is the only national teaching award – with the single largest monetary reward of $250,000 – presented by a college or university to an individual for exceptional teaching. The award program is designed to honor great teachers, stimulate discussion in the academy about the value of teaching and encourage departments and institutions to recognize their own great teachers.
“Dr. Hebl has a remarkable record of recognized teaching and scholarship awards,” said Michael W. Thompson, PhD, committee chair and associate dean for undergraduate programs in Baylor’s School of Engineering & Computer Science. “We were particularly impressed with her passion and enthusiasm for teaching and her ability to engage with both students and faculty across a variety of disciplines.”
As the 2016 Cherry Award recipient, Hebl will receive the award and an additional $25,000 will be awarded to the psychology department at Rice University. She is expected to teach in residence at Baylor during the spring 2017 semester.
Web Extra
Lectures given by the Cherry Award Finalists.
Learn More about the Cherry Awards
Additional ‘Baylor Bound’ Partnerships Announced
Baylor University has announced the creation of formal Baylor Bound transfer agreements with both Midland College and San Jacinto College. This will help students to more easily transfer credits between the two-year institutions and the University while continuing to expand educational opportunities for young people all across Texas.
As one of its goals under the Pro Futuris strategic initiative, Baylor intends to create 10 Baylor Bound partnerships during the next five years. The Baylor-Midland and Baylor-San Jacinto agreements are the seventh and eighth partnerships, respectively, and will serve highly motivated students who, upon meeting the program’s criteria, will transfer to Baylor to complete their baccalaureate degrees.
“We continue to be proud of the Baylor Bound programs as we add esteemed institutions to our growing list of partners. We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to collaborate on this important partnership, which expands educational access for students across our great state,” said Judge Ken Starr.
Nursing Professor Awarded Prestigious Fulbright Grant
What began as a mission trip has become an internationally recognized honor for Shelby Garner, PhD, assistant professor at Baylor University’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing (LHSON). Garner recently learned she is a recipient of a Fulbright-Nehru Research Grant from the U.S. India Educational Foundation. The grant will provide her the opportunity to research the impact of simulation education in nursing curricula in Bengaluru, India.
“As a Fulbright research scholar, I plan to work collaboratively with my faculty colleagues in Bengaluru to evaluate the impact of simulation use in Bachelor of Science in Nursing and General Nurse Midwife programs in India,” Garner said.
For the Fulbright, Garner plans to go to Bengaluru for two to three months in the summer of 2017 and again for two to three months in the spring of 2018, working in the interim through Skype and short-term trips, beginning in April, to coordinate her research efforts and pilot some of the tools she intends to employ in her research.
Specifically, Garner plans to:
- Assess the effectiveness of a simulation training intervention
- Assess the effectiveness of participation in a simulation scenario
- Determine if a relationship exists between nursing student self-efficacy in nursing competency performance and nursing faculty observed competency performance
“We are so proud of Shelby,” said Shelley Conroy, EdD, professor and dean of the School of Nursing. “She has embraced the mission of the LHSON and Baylor University to serve both God and the world through educational excellence, built upon the Christian faith. She definitely exemplifies our LHSON motto: Learn. Lead. Serve.”
Texas Department of Agriculture Honors Baylor’s Texas Hunger Initiative
Baylor’s Texas Hunger Initiative (THI) – a collaborative project dedicated to developing and implementing multiple strategies to end hunger – has been honored with the Texas Department of Agriculture’s (TDA) Fresh Perspectives Award for its innovative approach to improving outcomes of the summer meals program.
The award was presented to THI by Angela Olige, TDA’s assistant commissioner for food and nutrition. During her remarks, Olige highlighted successful examples of THI’s innovative approaches to the summer meals program, including a robust five-year plan, Excellence in Summer Meals Campaign, Adopt A Week, literacy efforts and distribution site promotion.
“This award is credit to Baylor University’s informed engagement approach of using research to inform community engagement strategies which have yielded millions of additional meals each summer to children in Texas. TDA and THI, together with our partners across the great state of Texas, are moving us ever closer to the goal of ending hunger and reducing poverty,” said Jeremy Everett, THI’s director.