Dear Division Colleagues,
In this first Spotlight of the new semester, we highlight the words of Dr. King—whose life and work we celebrated this week—to guide us in our collective purpose.
“An individual has not started living until he [sic] can rise above the narrow confines of his [sic] individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”
May our work this semester demonstrate our commitment to faithfully and authentically working together for the common good at Baylor and beyond.
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Divisionwide Social Media Efforts – The Student Life Communications Collaborative group has been collecting data on Instagram accounts we run to assess the impact these communications channels have on overall student engagement in Baylor Student Life.
Between September and November of 2024, our Student Life Comms team produced social media content that reached just a tad under half-a-million unique (491,598) people through 16 Instagram accounts. The content produced by the team was seen more than 2.7 million (2,765,246) times during this period. Our total number of followers of these accounts rose 27% (from 59,312 to 75,372) during this period.
These numbers are foundational in getting students plugged into the programs, resources, and events offered through Baylor Student Life, and of sharing the story of our division more broadly. Huge thanks to the Student Life Comms team for the many, many hours of work that these statistics represent.
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Welcome Weekend – This past weekend, Welcome Weekend programs hosted 75 new students and over 100 family members and guests. The welcome experiences began last Friday with an afternoon full of Orientation sessions leading up to a catered dinner from George’s for all new students and families. After Friday’s dinner program, new students joined their small groups for the weekend as they transitioned to the SUB for pizza, bowling, games, and late night hangout time. Saturday began with small groups adventuring in and around downtown Waco, which included FREE admission to the Cameron Park Zoo and visiting the Waco Farmers Market. After enjoying a catered lunch from Chick-fil-a, new students jumped on charter buses for a full trip to Independence, Texas, similar to the Baylor Line Camp experiences during the summer. To wrap up the final day of Welcome Weekend, Sunday included time for church in the morning, a lunch-time Topgolf event, and cheering on the Baylor Men’s Basketball as they faced off against TCU at the Foster Pavilion that afternoon.
New Student Programs would like to thank all the campus partners who either joined or helped out with various events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Our welcome events for new students would not be the same without them!
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Panhellenic Recruitment – Unlike many universities, Baylor participates in a deferred recruitment process for Fraternity and Sorority Life. This means students are required to spend at least one semester living on campus before they are eligible to be considered for recruitment and accepting a bid from a sorority or fraternity. This allows our students to settle in with their classes and build relationships before taking on additional responsibilities. It also sets our students up for great success in the semesters to come. In fact, our FSL students consistently maintain GPAs that are some of the highest of any group on campus. This past week, we had 981 girls participate in the process of finding a home in one of 9 Panhellenic chapters. Each chapter took on an average of about 90 new members. We want to thank all of the staff from across the Division of Student Life who had responsibilities during this week of events. In particular, Student Activities, Waco Hall, and Campus Living and Learning. If you'd like to see what Bid Day looked like at the end of the week, click on the Moment image below.
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Events Calendar – To stay up to date on all that is happening, just a friendly reminder that we created a shared Divisional calendar, Student_Life_Events@baylor.edu. The calendar is public and so anyone can add it to their Outlook and view upcoming events. For more information about how to add the calendar check out the “For Staff” page of the Student Life website. On the website we have listed instructions for PC, Mac, and Office365 Online, for how to add this calendar to your Outlook. You can find those instructions here.
We will be updating the calendar with major campus dates and events (holidays, Homecoming, etc.) as well as events that come to our attention from departments or What’s New BU submissions. Even more helpful than that though, YOU can add your own departmental events for others to see. The calendar also has an e-mail Student_Life_Events@baylor.edu that you can add to calendar events (similar to inviting a person). If you invite Student_Life_Events@baylor.edu to a calendar event, we will accept the invitation and then everyone in the Division will be able to see your event. We hope to see your events on the calendar soon!
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Indy & Belle’s Birthday Party – Saturday, Feb. 1 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Bear Habitat. Judge Indy and Judge Belle are turning two years old! Pencil in this date and time to join us for a party worthy of our two birthday bears! Keep your eyes on the Bear Habitat and Baylor Student Life social media for more details.
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New Staff Orientation – New Staff Orientation (NSO) started in the Fall of 2023 as a way to build culture and create connections within the Division for new staff members. Held twice a year, once in the Fall and another in the Spring, NSO gives staff members who are new to the division an opportunity to meet with the Senior Leadership Team, who communicate and shape the division culture and values together, and share information in a uniform way. This semester’s NSO will run from Jan. 22 to Mar. 5. If you are a new staff member or know someone who is new, and would like to be a part of the program, please reach out to Andre_Baesa@baylor.edu, and more information will be provided.
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Black History Month – February is Black History Month, and we highly encourage you to check out and participate in all of the BHM events taking place on campus. For a list of these events, click HERE.
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Staff Changes:
Nathan Shelburne – We are excited to announce the promotion of Dr. Nathan Shelburn to the title of Senior Director for New Student Programs. This new title is in recognition of his years of service, expanded scopes of Divisional responsibility, and his sustained exceptional performance.
Priscilla Serrato & Andre Baesa – We are equally excited to announce the promotions of Priscilla Serrato to Lead Coordinator for Education & Training and Andre Baesa to Lead Coordinator of Intercultural Engagement and Student Life Initiatives. Both colleagues look to take on expanded roles in their respective areas.
New Staff:
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Name: Kariann Perry
Department: Health Services
Title: Assistant Director of Nursing
Fun/interesting fact: "Summer is my favorite time of year. I love to cook and bake. Enjoy crafting."
Most enjoyable about working at Baylor: "Working in a Christian environment. Meeting new people and interacting with the students."
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Name: Jack Whittle
Department: Campus Recreation
Title: Senior Coordinator for Outdoor Adventure
Fun/interesting fact: "When I'm not rock climbing (for work or for recreation), I love to read in my down time! I'm always looking for great book recommendations."
Most enjoyable about working at Baylor: "Being in a supportive and friendly community who are all passionate about their work."
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New Staff Form: Please help us keep our mailing list up-to-date so that all Student Life staff can receive important updates and event invitations. Just a reminder that we have a form for you to submit information about new hires so they can be added to the staff mailing list. We encourage you to use this for GA's and interns as well.
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Nominate a Shout Out: In an effort to recognize and celebrate the good work performed by our dedicated Division of Student Life staff in a timely way, Spotlight Shoutout highlights staff who have gone above and beyond the scope of regular duties in a way that had substantive, positive impact on others and/or whose level of excellence in a particular program or initiative was exemplary. You may nominate any staff member within the division using THIS FORM.
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Above: Panhellenic Bid Day 2025. To see more of the smiles and hugs from this event, click the photo.
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Stay connected with Student Life
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