One semester into the role of IFL director, I am more excited than ever about IFL’s great tradition of service at Baylor and beyond.
As many of you know, this September Baylor launched a new strategic plan, Baylor InDeeds. This plan focuses Baylor’s efforts for the next five years on key commitments including: helping students flourish, broadening interdisciplinary research, building a vibrant, caring and global community, and Christian stewardships. These same commitments have always been core to IFL’s work at Baylor. We believe that the explicit statements of these principles in the strategic plan calls us to engage even more intentionally and more broadly in forming faculty and staff to help achieve these goals.
Therefore, like all academic units across Baylor, we are engaged in our own strategic planning process to help us think intentionally and expansively about our next steps for growth and development. To do that well, we need your help! Last week, you received an email containing the link to a survey which is being conducted on our behalf by an outside consultant. We hope that you take five minutes to fill the survey out by January 20 (although the form asks for an email, all data will be sent anonymously). Hearing your past experiences with the IFL, your suggestions, your critiques, and your creative dreams and hopes for our future will be of immense benefit for us in our own strategic planning process. We are excited to share with you what comes next – and how we are growing in order to better serve Baylor pro ecclesia, pro Texana, et pro mundo.
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Elisabeth Rain Kincaid
Director, Institute for Faith and Learning
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Guest Columnist Dr. Bill Sterrett |
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Baylor’s Institute for Faith and Learning is at the core of what we aspire to do in our learning community- foster a spirit of both academic excellence and a mission-focused faith grounding that will help anchor the work that we do in the classroom, in the field, and in our research spaces. I was drawn to Baylor for its mission of growing leaders in a community that celebrates what we have in common while seeking to broaden our perspectives and further enrichen our leadership opportunities. The IFL helped me feel right at home through campus-wide monthly lunches, where we thoughtfully explored perspectives across interdisciplinary perspectives, connected various research silos, and took time to reflect upon our unique Missio – our “why” of being at Baylor. These relationships were strengthened at a week-long Communio retreat where we unplugged, worshipped, further engaged in thought-provoking readings and discussions, enjoyed the beautiful creation at our Texas hill country setting, and played and prayed together as brothers and sisters in community.
As an educational leadership professor and department chair, I have also appreciated the annual Symposium on Faith and Culture in which the IFL solicits academic papers across disciplines, united in a common theme. The past several year’s symposiums have been a refreshing and invigorating time of exploring Christian intellectual life in answering some of the most important questions of our time. From exploring how art helps us understand our faith (and vice versa!), to committing to finding places and spaces to come together in an era of upheaval and discord, these annual gatherings provide a time of renewal and reimagining of what our work, and our greater societal expanses, might be as we seek to be a light in our various callings. Through all of this, the IFL has served as a place to rediscover our “why” and grow together in community. I have made new friends and grown to appreciate the work of colleagues in disciplines as varied as physical therapy and sleep sciences, religion, higher education, social work, nursing, engineering, business, and other fields that I may have not intersected with, if not for this call to realize our Missio. . . together. I am grateful for Baylor and for the work of the Institute for Faith and Learning to help us realize what we have imagined together.
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Reflection and retreat at Communio
“I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth."
- From Psalm 121
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We were excited to host our annual Crane Scholars Advent dinner. We are thankful for the Crane Scholars program—for the learning that has happened, for the friendships that have been built, and for the community that has been cultivated this year. Dr. Jeremiah Jo preached an excellent sermon on the pilgrimage to Bethlehem based on Matthew 2:1-12. Dr. Amy Fleming, and two of our own Crane scholars, Evangelina Maeda and Sam Byassee, performed at the Advent dinner as well. It was a beautiful evening!
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Missio brings faculty and staff together from across the University to reflect upon Baylor's Christian mission and identity and the relationship between faith, teaching, and research. Please join us at our monthly lunches for meaningful conversation, great lectures, and time for community and connection.
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Missio Luncheons
February 5 (12 - 1 pm)
March 5 (12 - 1 pm
April 16 (12 - 1 pm)
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| Nursing Missio
February 6 (12 - 1 pm)
March 6 (12 - 1 pm
April 17 (12 - 1 pm)
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Events Related to Faith and Learning Around Baylor Campus |
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Other Faith and Learning Announcements |
Spirituality in the Academy: Exploring the Contribution & Legacy of Henri Nouwen, August 21 - 23, 2025
The Henri Nouwen Society, in partnership with the Oblate School of Theology, is pleased to announce an Academic Symposium dedicated to the life, work, and enduring influence of Henri Nouwen, a profound thinker and writer whose contributions to theology, spirituality, and pastoral care have inspired countless individuals and communities. This symposium aims to bring together scholars and practitioners to explore and critically engage with Nouwen’s rich body of work. Scholars from diverse disciplines, including theology, psychology, philosophy, and religious studies are invited to submit abstracts for presentations that delve into various aspects of Henri Nouwen’s thought and impact. The submission deadline is January 15, 2025.
An Inklings Week in Oxford, July 6 - 11, 2025
The fifth edition of the triennial Inklings Week in Oxford will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by exploring "Of Other Worlds: 75 Years of Narnia". The weeklong event includes a grand collection of speakers as well as evening concerts staged by Oxford University. Please refer to the registration form for additional information including cost.
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Are you hosting an event or working on a project related to faith and learning? We'd love to hear about it! Send us an email at ifl@baylor.edu.
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Institute for Faith and Learning
One Bear Place #97270
Waco, Texas 76798
(254) 710-4805
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