Fall 2014
How did this photo inspire an Arts & Sciences alumnus to begin a worldwide quest?
>> Baylor’s Environmental Explorers >> Creative Collaborations: When Arts and Sciences Meet >> Hallie Earle Hall’s First Year
I’D LIKE TO INTRODUCE YOU TO a valuable new resource that will guide the direction of the College of Arts & Sciences in the immediate future. After two years of preparation, our faculty and staff have completed a longterm strategic plan for Arts & Sciences titled A&Spire: Acts of Determination in Support of Pro Futuris. As you can tell from the title, the recent creation of the Baylor University strategic plan Pro Futuris prompted us and the other academic units to formulate our own plans to help Baylor achieve its institutional goals. To do this, we appointed committees of faculty and staff to explore five themes in Arts & Sciences and then propose initiatives related to those themes. Theme 1 looks at ways to advance liberal education. It recognizes the importance of undergraduate students at Baylor and the critically important role Arts & Sciences plays in providing a mission-centric and core-driven education through cutting edge approaches. Theme 2 examines our part in furthering Baylor’s goal of becoming a nationally recognized research institution. It recognizes the need to accelerate first-rate faculty scholarship, which results in important discoveries made with the help of both graduate and undergraduate students –– discoveries that greatly benefit society. This theme also acknowledges that Arts & Sciences will continue to forge cross-disciplinary collaborations between the sciences and the humanities and will demonstrate to our students the value of this approach. Theme 3 investigates ways the College of Arts & Sciences can strengthen our engagement with the community. It recognizes the need to improve our communications –– both internally among faculty, staff and students, as well as externally to our alumni. The plethora of culturally relevant Arts & Sciences activities we make publicly available on campus is considerable, and we also provide valuable clinical services to the community. We want to do more to make others aware of these resources.
Theme 4 surveys the timely topic of investing in the health sciences. It recognizes the importance of healthcare to the Baylor brand and the central role Arts & Sciences plays in maintaining that reputation for excellence because we house the prehealth program, serve most of Baylor’s prehealth majors and conduct much of the University’s research at the graduate level in health and health-related disciplines. Theme 5, titled “Building the Financial Foundation,” proposes strategies to fund our initiatives and addresses methods to diversify the ways we procure resources. Our completed strategic plan includes 43 acts of determination that will be accomplished with 91 action steps, as represented by 49 reports from more than 20 task forces. The complete A&Spire plan and its supporting documents are available online at baylor.edu/artsandsciences/strategicplan. We are excited about this new strategic plan, as it will shape both our day-to-day activities and long-range goals. As always, we look forward to hearing from you on anything related to the College of Arts & Sciences. And please consider visiting us this fall. Baylor’s campus is ever-changing in so many positive ways –– due to our great students, faculty and staff, and because of modern new facilities such as McLane Stadium, home of the Baylor Bears.
DR. LEE NORDT
DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES
Contents 2
24
News & Notes
Updates on students, faculty, staff and alumni
10
Moving Picture
Baylor alumni tell the story of one photograph in A Single Frame
32 First Person
Rizalia Klausmeyer on Hallie Earle Hall’s first year
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Our Back Pages
The Poet and the Piper
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Creative Collaboration
When the arts meet the sciences, the resulting synergies often benefit Baylor faculty and students
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Engaging the Environment Baylor faculty and students are working to make the world a healthier place
Baylor Arts & Sciences is the magazine of the Baylor University College of Arts & Sciences. As the University’s oldest and largest academic unit, the College of Arts & Sciences is a community of 24 academic departments dedicated to the discovery and dissemination of knowledge. It is the foundation upon which all Baylor students’ educational experiences are built. Baylor Arts & Sciences is produced for the College of Arts & Sciences by Baylor’s Division of Marketing and Communications.
Fall 2014
PRESIDENT Ken Starr | INTERIM PROVOST David Garland | DEAN, COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES Lee Nordt DIVISIONAL DEAN FOR HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES Robyn Driskell | DIVISIONAL DEAN FOR SCIENCES Kenneth T. Wilkins EDITOR Randy Fiedler | CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Julie Engebretson, Sara Katherine Johnson, Dana Wallace PHOTOGRAPHY Matthew Minard, Robert Rogers | ART DIRECTION & DESIGN Clayton Thompson, Chelsea Pennington DIRECTORS OF DEVELOPMENT Clayton Ellis, Jim Shepelwich, Rose Youngblood
DOUBLY IMPRESSIVE It’s not all that unusual for a pair of twins to enter Baylor University as students together, but Abbey and Caroline Haines are a bit different than most. First of all, they’re identical twins whose hard work and intelligence lead them straight to the top of the 2014 graduating class at China Spring High School near Waco. Caroline, the younger sister by just two minutes, was class valedictorian while older sister Abbey was close behind her as salutatorian. Another distinctive fact about the twins is that they were adopted as babies into a family with a father serving in the U.S. Air Force and, as a result, they grew up in more than half a dozen cities in the United States and Germany. The young women both played instruments in their high school band, both enjoy science fiction and consider each other best friends. Proficient in science and math, they took part in a summer program in Baylor’s Center for Astrophysics, Space Physics & Engineering Research before entering the University this fall as freshman physics majors.
ABBEY (L) AND CAROLINE HAINES (R) PHOTO CREDIT/ ROD AYDELOTTE, WACO TRIBUNE-HERALD
ABOVE AND BEYOND A number of Spring 2014 Baylor graduates from the College of Arts & Sciences have been selected to receive prestigious scholarships and teaching opportunities around the world. Erin McInerney, a choral music education Jeff Cross, a University Scholar with a concentration in classics, was selected major and French minor, won a French Government English Teaching for a U.S. Fulbright Student Award to Assistantship for the 2014-15 academic year. teach English in Germany during the 2014-2015 academic year. Jesus Sotelo, a biology major, was Jonathan Keim, a chemistry major, was named a Rotary Global Grant Scholar selected for a U.S. Fulbright Student and is studying for a master’s degree in Award and is studying to earn a master’s public health at the London School of degree in synthetic organic chemistry at Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in London, the University of Nottingham during the England. 2014-15 academic year. In addition, 2008 Baylor Arts & Elijah Maletz, a double major in Sciences alumnus Ta-Wei Lin was international studies and economics, selected for a U.S. Fulbright Student was selected for a U.S. Fulbright Award for the Master of Science Program Student Award and is using it to in Technology Entrepreneurship at teach English in Mongolia this year. University College London.
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Briefs Brandon Martinez, a doctoral candidate in sociology, has received the SAGE Teaching Innovations and Professional Development Award, presented by SAGE Publications. It provides a monetary award to graduate students as well as the opportunity to attend the annual American Sociological Association pre-conference workshop. The inaugural issue of Scientia, “a journal for undergraduates by undergraduates,” has been published by Baylor Undergraduate Research in Science and Technology (BURST). The Spring 2014 issue contains five scholarly scientific papers researched and written by Baylor students on topics including organic chemistry and genetics.
BELOW: BOND HENDERSON PHOTO CREDIT/ ROSS ANDERSON, ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS
Bond Henderson, a sophomore aviation sciences major from Kennewick, Wash., took part in the annual Air Race Classic this summer, flying a Cessna 172-Sierra airplane. The race features only female pilots and the 2014 course ran for more than 2,600 miles between California and Pennsylvania.
Sarah Martindale, a doctoral student in psychology and neuroscience, is collaborating with a research group at the Waco Veterans Affairs Medical Center to study how substance abuse affects veterans with combatrelated mental health conditions. She’s looking into the collective impact of post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and substance abuse among Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.
BOOKED UP NOTABLE NEW WORKS BY ARTS & SCIENCES FACULTY
A year after the immense explosion in West, Texas, killed 15 people and injured more than 160 others, faculty members from the Department of Journalism, Public Relations and New Media have released a book they researched and wrote, describing both the tragedy and heroism of that day. The Last Alarm: First Responders’ Stories of the West Explosion includes first-person accounts from more than 40 first responders who served in the aftermath of the fertilizer plant explosion on April 17, 2013. Amber Adamson, a part-time lecturer in journalism, public relations and new media, is the book’s author, while senior journalism lecturer Sharon Bracken served as the book’s 4 / BAYLOR ARTS & SCIENCES
editor and publisher. Arts & Sciences alumnus Stephanie MacVeigh (BA’99) did the graphic design for the book, which features photos taken by photographers from The Baylor Lariat. Dr. Philip Jenkins, distinguished professor of history, has received much attention in both the national secular and religious media for his latest book, The Great and Holy War: How World War I Became a Religious Crusade, which came out on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the start of that conflict. In his preface Jenkins writes, “The First World War was a thoroughly religious event, in the sense that overwhelmingly Christian nations fought each other in what many viewed as a holy war, a spiritual conflict. Religion is essential to understanding the war.”
Dr. George W. Gawrych, professor of history, won the 2014 Society for Military History Award in biography and memoir for his book The Young Atatürk: From Ottoman Soldier to Statesman of Turkey, a portrait of Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. “In Turkey’s War of Independence from 1919-22, Atatürk defeated the victors of World War I in their attempts to partition his country, and then founded the Republic of Turkey,” Gawrych said. “I chose to write this book because there was no serious military biography of this great leader, and I had the language skills to use primary Ottoman and Turkish sources.”
Briefs
Dr. Mia Moody-Ramirez, associate professor and graduate program director in journalism, public relations and new media, was chosen to participate in the 2014 Scripps Howard Academic Leadership Academy this past summer. She joined a select group of professors, administrators and mass communication professionals from around the country at the Academy, which is designed for faculty members, administrators and other academic professionals interested in providing leadership in journalism education.
As a result of his distinguished professional achievements and years of service with the Society for Sedimentary Geology, Dr. Steven Driese, professor of geology and graduate program director, was awarded an honorary membership in the Society. “Usually this honor is awarded to those nearing the end of their career in the field,” Driese said. “I feel that I still have about 10 more years of service to contribute.”
Two Arts & Sciences faculty members are among those who were honored as Outstanding Professors at Baylor for the 2013-2014 academic year. Dr. David Bridge, assistant professor of political science, was recognized in the teaching category while Dr. Ryan S. King, professor of biology and director of the biology graduate program, was honored for scholarship. DR. DAVID BRIDGE
DR. RYAN S. KING
Dr. Jaime Diaz-Granados, chair and professor of psychology and neuroscience, will leave Baylor in January 2015 to become the new executive director for education of the American Psychological Association. In his new position, he will be responsible for managing programs to enhance the quality of and funding for psychology education across the country.
A FOUNTAIN AND MORE FOR FIFTH STREET Thanks to an $8 million gift by Baylor Arts & Sciences alumnus Thomas J. Rosenbalm, M.D., of Spring, Texas, the historic Fifth Street section through Baylor’s campus will receive significant renovation –– anchored by a signature fountain named in memory of his parents, the late Clarence and Claudia Rosenbalm. A native of Bartlett, Texas, Rosenbalm earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry in 1950 and a master’s degree in biology in 1951 from Baylor, then went on to complete his MD at Baylor College of Medicine in 1955. “We are deeply grateful to Dr. Rosenbalm for his profound expression of love for Baylor embodied in this remarkable act of generosity that will further beautify our campus,” Baylor President and Chancellor Ken Starr said. Work on the Fifth Street renovation and the addition of the Rosenbalm Memorial Fountain is expected to begin in the spring of 2015 and be completed by Fall 2015.
ARTISTIC SPHERE OF INFLUENCE A painting by internationally renowned Waco artist Kermit Oliver is one of the newest additions to the Permanent Collection of Baylor’s Martin Museum of Art. The painting, titled “Armillary,” includes a view of Pat Neff Hall in the background. The new work was commissioned by Waco philanthropist and Baylor art patron Sue Getterman, and was donated to the University following its public debut at a recent Martin Museum exhibit of Oliver’s paintings and Hermés scarf designs. Oliver and Getterman are shown at the unveiling ceremony in the photo below. The 71-year-old Oliver, a retired Waco postal worker, is the only American to ever design scarves for the French high fashion house Hermès.
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LEARNING TO GIVE BACK This fall, Baylor students are getting the chance to give back to the community through an innovative new course titled Philanthropy and the Public Good. As part of their work, students have the opportunity to allot $50,000 to $100,000 to multiple local nonprofit organizations to help meet needs in the Waco community. Baylor is the 14th university in the United States to partner with the Once Upon a Time Foundation’s Philanthropy Lab project, which offers large grants to universities to enable them to teach students about giving in a hands-on way. Dr. Andy Hogue, lecturer in political science and director of Baylor’s Civic Education and Community Service Program, teaches the course. “Baylor’s mission is to educate men and women for worldwide leadership and service,” Hogue said. “This is a really terrific way to plug in, in a meaningful way.” At the start of the course, students are introduced to a wide array of nonprofit organizations to work with and learn about. By the end of the course, they will have narrowed the number of organizations down to the few they want to focus on and invest into.
DR. ANDY HOGUE
Briefs Baylor University has received high marks once again in two national collegiate rankings. For the fourth year in a row, Baylor has joined an elite group of 42 universities named to The Chronicle of Higher Education’s 2014 Honor Roll as one of the country’s “Great Colleges to Work For.” Also, Baylor has again been named a Best Buy, in the 2015 edition of The Fiske Guide to Colleges. Baylor is one of only 44 public and private colleges and universities, and one of three Big 12 universities and six Texas institutions, named to the “Best Buy List.”
Baylor’s international studies major recently celebrated its 60th anniversary. When it was first offered in 1953, the major was known as “foreign service” with its founding goal to prepare “men and women for diplomatic and commercial assignments overseas.”
ORANGE FOR LENT While some Christians might give up a bad habit or a tempting indulgence during the 40 days of Lent, Waco attorney Kent McKeever decided to forgo his usual suit and tie. Instead, he dressed in the bright orange jumpsuit most often worn by jail inmates at all times while in public. McKeever, an Arts & Sciences alumnus (BA ’01), represents indigent clients in Waco and decided to wear the jumpsuit during Lent to express solidarity with the imprisoned and shed light on the difficulties faced by newly released inmates trying to rejoin society. ABOVE: KENT MCKEEVER PHOTO CREDIT/ JERRY LARSON, WACO TRIBUNE-HERALD
HISTORIC PASTORATE Baylor Arts & Sciences alumnus Rev. Dr. Amy Butler (BA ’91, MA ’96) is the new senior minister of the Riverside Church in New York City, one of America’s most prominent Protestant pulpits. Butler, who previously served as the first female pastor of Washington D.C.’s Calvary Baptist Church, is now the first female minister in Riverside’s 83-year history. The interdenominational church, founded in Manhattan by financier John D. Rockefeller Jr., has been called “a stronghold of activism and political debate” by The New York Times. Butler earned two degrees from Baylor –– a bachelor’s degree with a dual major in religion and political science and a master’s degree in religion.
PHOTO CREDIT/ CHRIS LARGE, FX
HOW FAR CAN SHE GO? Baylor Theatre alumnus Allison Tolman (BFA ’04) has worked too long to be considered an overnight success, but it’s no secret that the last year has seen her leap from modest acting roles to competing against Hollywood royalty for top awards. Tolman’s big break was landing the role of deputy sheriff Molly Solverson in the FX network’s new series “Fargo,” based on the popular movie by the Coen brothers. In June, Tolman beat out Oscar winners Julia Roberts, Kathy Bates and Ellen Burstyn for a Critics Choice Television Award for “Best Supporting Actress in a Movie or Mini-Series.” Later in the year, the 32-year-old actress was nominated in the same category for an Emmy Award.
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HOW-TO BEARS
Two Baylor alumni are showcasing their home improvement and design skills before national audiences.
Arts & Sciences alum Christi Proctor (BS ’88) was first introduced to television audiences when she served as an interior designer for Discovery Network shows “Trading Spaces” and “Trading Spaces: Family.” Proctor’s latest media venture began in May 2014, when she became the “How to Queen” for the Wrangler Network, creating online videos for the Wrangler company on how-to design topics.
“Fixer Upper,” the original HGTV series featuring Arts & Sciences alum Joanna Gaines (BA ‘01) and her husband, business alum Chip Gaines (BBA ‘98), debuted in April 2014. On each show, the Gaineses use their design and construction skills to restore and renovate Waco-area houses purchased by adventurous homebuyers. In the 2014 season these renovations were made to homes of at least two Baylor Arts & Sciences faculty members. The popular series is now in its second season.
Briefs Arts & Sciences alumni have joined together to produce “Booth,” a play that debuted in Dallas earlier this year. The play was written and directed by Baylor alumnus Steven Walters of Second Thought Theatre, with development and research help from BU alum Erik Archilla. It provides a close-up look at John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, and shows how his actions changed the nation in unexpected ways. In the debut performance, the role of Secretary of State Edwin Stanton was played by Baylor theatre arts department chair Dr. Stan Denman. Baylor international studies graduate Cheri Smith (BA ’07) serves as director of operations for SurvJustice, which seeks to decrease the prevalence of sexual violence in society. Smith recently stood with Vice President Joe Biden at a White House news conference announcing the first report from a new task force studying ways to protect students from sexual assault.
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BY JULIE ENGEBRETSON
BAYLOR ALUMNI TELL THE STORY OF ONE PHOTOGRAPH IN A SINGLE FRAME There is a framed photograph in Jeff Bowden’s home office that seems out of place among pictures of his wife of 30 years, Jennifer, and his three adult children. The photo, untitled, was taken Oct. 14, 1998, by the late French war photographer, Alexandra Boulat. In the foreground, a 12-yearold boy stands on a wooded hillside in Suharekë, Kosovo. He is one of approximately 850,000 Albanian refugees internally displaced during the Kosovo War. There are no guns in the frame, no obvious signs of war— only the boy, his full expression, and two blurry figures in the background. On any given day and without context it would be possible to glance at this photograph among, say, 150 others hanging in a gallery and notice nothing remarkable. It would be possible to miss it entirely. But for Bowden, who happened upon the photograph at a gallery in Dubrovnick, Croatia, while on vacation with his family in 2007, it remains the only image he remembers from the exhibit. The encounter brought him inexplicably to tears and launched a personal quest to find out why, all chronicled in the feature-length documentary, A Single Frame.
Bowden, who earned a BA in history from Baylor in 1982, serves as both executive producer on the project and the film’s protagonist, while fellow Baylor alumnus, Brandon Dickerson (BA ’95) directs. The pair first met in Waco on the set of Dickerson’s first feature, Sironia (2011), and became fast friends, meeting regularly for coffee to catch up and discuss creative endeavors. “The story is really about a photograph,” Dickerson said. “It’s a catalyst for Jeff to encounter all these different people. He guides you, the viewer, on this journey with him so you meet all these amazing characters. [The film] weaves an exploration of the impact of photography from both sides of the shutter.” While visiting Croatia, it was Bowden’s daughter Gracie who urged her father to check out the gallery, War Photo Limited, with her. “I entered this one little alcove, and for reasons that are still a bit of a mystery to me, I saw the photo and just broke down in front of it,” Bowden said. “My daughter eventually came in that room and saw me. We stared at the image for a long time. I even went back to the gallery the next day but I turned my back on it, frankly. We left Croatia and that was it.” But the photograph was not through with him. Bowden returned to life in Austin, where he is part owner of several newspapers and D Magazine in Dallas. And, until their recent sale, he owned and managed two large tracts of land in the Waco area. “Then, out of the blue, my daughter gave me that picture,” Bowden said. Unable to forget her father’s reaction to the photo of the young war refugee, Gracie worked with her mother to purchase it from the gallery as a gift. So, just before Valentine’s Day 2010, the Albanian boy had returned. “I framed it and it hung on my wall for two years,” Bowden said. “And I finally said, ‘Okay, this is the only non-family-related picture in my office, and I don’t collect war photography or anything. So, what is this photograph? Why do I have this? What happened to me that day 12 / BAYLOR ARTS & SCIENCES
in the gallery?’ I decided I would go find the boy in the photo, and maybe in the course of the search it would make some sense as to what this picture was and still is for me.” The first step, Bowden said, was to seek his wife’s permission to pursue this search. And, in fact, Bowden’s whole family was incredibly supportive of him from the start and throughout a return to Croatia, five trips to Kosovo and Paris, and stays in New York and Boston –– all within 15 months. For Dickerson, it’s an aspect of the story that sets it apart from other quest narratives. “One thing I love about this project is that you would expect a story about an obsession like this to end badly,” Dickerson said. “You hear the setup and you expect the payoff to be, ‘The protagonist returns home to find his family is unhappy and his wife left him,’ and so on. But this is a quest that brings the family closer –– it galvanizes them.” When Bowden arrived in Kosovo for the first time in September 2012, he didn’t know a soul, but he had a name –– Birol Urcan. Urcan had been a successful “fixer” for The New York Times, Washington Post, Reuters and other news outlets during the Kosovo War. “Fixers are people who are in every area — particularly areas of conflict –– all over the world,” Bowden said. “It’s the fixer who takes a photographer or writer to those places to get the photo or get the story. They speak the language, they get you through the checkpoints. They’re indispensable.” At their first meeting, Bowden couldn’t have known just how indispensable Urcan would prove to be. “We met at my hotel, and Urcan was eager to help,” Bowden said. “Just after the war he started working in television, so fixing was like a muscle he hadn’t used in some time. He had been good at it, and he wanted to see if he still had it.” But the pair turned up no substantial leads until Bowden’s second trip to Kosovo in December 2012, when Urcan was able to get Bowden an appearance on the most popular television show in the country.
“[THE FILM] WEAVES AN EXPLORATION OF THE IMPACT OF PHOTOGRAPHY FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE SHUTTER.”
JEFF BOWDEN (L) AND BRANDON DICKERSON (R)
SADIK KADRIJAJ APPEARING ON THE TELEVISION SHOW OXYGEN.
“It’s called Oxygen. It’s this crazy, four-hour variety show that airs Friday nights,” Bowden said. “Half the country watches it.” Clutching a book of Alexandra Boulat’s photographs, Bowden let the camera fix on the image of the Albanian boy, asking viewers for help in finding him. That single TV appearance really ramped up the search. The television station received several hundred phone calls and had seven people come forward claiming to be the boy in the photo. Bowden even sat down with one of the imposters. “Well, he was just a terrible imposter,” he said. “I really expected something dramatic to happen; but this guy didn’t want anything, his heart really wasn’t in it. Someone put him up to it.” One tip, however, was promising: A woman came forward claiming that the boy was her brother. She knew because the blue sweater and pink pants he
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wears in the photo were her own. The woman’s story checked out. Bowden’s appearance on Oxygen had worked. The 12-year-old war refugee from the photo was Sadik Kadrijaj, now a 27-year-old man. Bowden finally got to meet Sadik on the set of Oxygen during his third trip to Kosovo. “[Sadik] works as a wedding singer, and so coming on this show to sing for all of Kosovo was like his American Idol moment,” Bowden said. “He had ridden a bus from the village where he lives, and he’d brought five or six of his best friends with him.” Fortunately, Dickerson had agreed to join Bowden on this leg of the journey, bringing a camera along with him. “We weren’t really making a documentary at that point, yet,” said Dickerson. “But, there is no way we could have re-created that moment on Oxygen later.”
“[SADIK] WORKS AS A WEDDING SINGER, AND SO COMING ON THIS SHOW TO SING FOR ALL OF KOSOVO WAS LIKE HIS AMERICAN IDOL MOMENT.”
The following day, as Dickerson’s camera rolled, Bowden accepted an invitation to meet Sadik’s family; and Sadik agreed to return with Bowden to that wooded hillside where his picture was taken 16 years earlier. Wearing his sister’s clothes, he had fled into the mountains four miles from his home while Yugoslav forces burned his village below. As a documentary of Bowden’s quest began to take shape, he and Dickerson soon realized that in addition to the search for Sadik, there was another component, a parallel story to be told. There was still the photographer, Alexandra Boulat. Birol Urcan’s time as a fixer had put him in contact with a number of photojournalists, some of whom were very close to Boulat. “On this same trip, [Urcan] was able to arrange our meeting with Visar Kryeziu, a photographer who knew Alexandra well,” Dickerson said. “He started telling some incredible stories about Alexandra, like how she gave him his first camera. I think that was a catalytic moment for us. That’s when we realized this was much bigger and broader than just a search for the kid in the photo.” Several of Boulat’s close friends and colleagues are featured in A Single Frame, including photographers Gary Knight and Ron Haviv, who with Boulat co-founded VII Photo Agency, named for the seven photojournalists who formed the collective in 2001.
JEFF BOWDEN VISITING WITH SADIK KADRIJAJ’S FAMILY.
Bowden also met with Boulat’s mother, Annie, in Paris a few times. “So, we also learned about the role of war photographers, bearing witness to suffering in the hopes that their work will help put an end to it,” Dickerson said. Vivacious and much beloved by her family and colleagues, Boulat was only 45 when she died of complications following a ruptured brain aneurysm in October 2007, mere months after Bowden’s first encounter with her photo of Sadik.
“I JUST STARTED DOWN THIS PATH AND THEN THE FILM — HAVING THE PROJECT — ALLOWED ME TO STAY ON THAT PATH AS FAR AS IT WOULD TAKE ME.” “I was more interested, I think, because she had died, than if she was still alive,” Bowden said. “It would have felt odd pursuing this journey if she were still here. I felt like the photo itself was alive and the fact that she was dead made the picture seem more alive.” Bowden and Dickerson finished their initial edit of A Single Frame in the spring of 2014, and through private screenings they have garnered the blessings of those who are part of the story. “We screened the film for Annie Boulat [Alexandra’s mother] in Paris,
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and then in Kosovo for Sadik and the folks who contributed their life stories to the film,” Bowden said. Bowden is grateful to Dickerson for agreeing to join him on his journey and having the presence of mind to bring a camera. “See, this didn’t begin as a documentary film,” Bowden said. “I just started down this path and then the film — having the project — allowed me to stay on that path as far as it would take me.” Bowden stays in contact with the boy from the photo who, in some way, first called out to him seven years ago. He hopes to help Sadik in any way that he can. But after all that has transpired, it remains difficult for Bowden to articulate just how he felt, and still feels, about the photograph in his office. “I think it’s like Girl with the Pearl Earring,” Bowden suggested, referring to the 1999 bestselling novel inspired by the famous painting by Johannes Vermeer. The author, Tracy Chevalier, used her novel to explore a fascination with the ambiguous expression on the subject’s face and the possible story behind it. “[Chevalier] kept a poster of the Vermeer on her wall for 16 years,” Bowden said. “And she just couldn’t get over it, and she wanted to write the story of who the girl in the painting is. In a sense, I think it’s a lot like that. When I first saw it, it was like I knew that photo. It was real to me. On some level, I absolutely knew that moment and it just felt more alive than nearly anything I’ve experienced.”
BRANDON DICKERSON (L) INTERVIEWING JEFF BOWDEN (R)
BY DANA WALLACE
Baylor scientists and their students are working to make the world a healthier place
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As the world’s population expands and consumes more resources, and as our society becomes more technologically complex, environmental scientists are working to develop solutions to the dilemmas that such growth and change often create. At Baylor University, environmental science faculty and students receive international recognition for a diversity of new research, ranging from understanding the global impact of particles in the atmosphere, to learning why children in the Waco area have the highest incidence of lead exposure in Texas and studying the ways religion intersects with environmental ethics. “The broad spectrum of research and education programs that we are building requires a team approach that involves faculty, staff and students –– everyone striving for excellence and contributing in the ways that they are most capable,” Dr. George Cobb, chair and professor of environmental science, said. Acting as a catalyst for joint research with Baylor faculty across the campus, faculty from the
environmental science department partner with colleagues in such technical fields as biology, chemistry, geology and engineering, as well as with faculty from disciplines including law, political science, philosophy and religion. These collaborations within Baylor and with other institutions around the world have resulted not only in groundbreaking research, but have brought Baylor faculty significant research funding, recognition by professional societies and industry organizations and the opportunity to serve in leadership positions on prestigious scientific boards and committees. Whether working on land, in water or with the atmosphere, Baylor environmental scientists are making an impact around the world.
> (L) DR. SASCHA USENKO AND (R) DR. STEPHEN TRUMBLE
WHALE OF A TALE With news coverage ranging from National Geographic to NBC and the Discovery Channel and reviews in scholarly publications such as Nature and Science Magazine, the whale research carried out by two Baylor scientists –– Dr. Sascha Usenko and Dr. Stephen Trumble –– has garnered international attention. Usenko, associate professor of environmental science, partnered with Trumble, associate professor of biology, to gain new insights into how pollutants and other man-made substances might be impacting marine mammals. “We can combine efforts that maybe answer questions that individually we could not investigate,” Usenko said. The pair developed a novel technique for measuring the levels of contaminants the mammals are exposed to and the stress responses that these exposures cause. The novel technique involves collecting and evaluating the pollutants and stress hormones in the earwax of whales. Just as you can tell the age of a tree or the stresses they have experienced by looking at its rings, Usenko and Trumble have been able to use earwax plugs from whales to uncover a story.
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“There are many questions that we’ve struggled to try to address,” Usenko said, noting that previously only whale blood and blubber had been scientifically analyzed. The earwax removed from a whale alternates light and dark, with each shade corresponding to annual migration patterns. Usenko and Trumble realized that if contaminants accumulate in whale blubber, they should also accumulate in wax. They’re hoping to learn about the whale’s hormones and the impact of pollutants and manmade stressors on whales, more than scientists have been able to uncover in the past. Government and scientists alike “want to understand these things so they can make better decisions about how to protect and preserve these animals,” Usenko said. Momentum is also building around Usenko and Trumble’s research. There have been discussions about possibly displaying their results at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., where 7 million visitors a year could see their findings. The two traveled to Spain in May 2014 to assist with a necropsy, or animal autopsy, performed on a whale, and they recently received funding from the Office of Naval Research through the Department of Defense to support their research. Environmental science graduate student Eleanor Robinson worked for more than a year to develop reliable analytical methodology of examining the whale earwax. “She’s really been sought after and appreciated,” Usenko said. For her work, Robinson has been recognized with numerous awards, including selection for the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry/American Chemical Society’s Graduate Student Exchange Program, which promotes networking between the two organizations. She sees the award as a reflection of the support of her fellow student researchers, her advisor and the environmental science department.
SUSTAINABLE WATER SUPPLIES Though he once was on the path to becoming an optometrist, Dr. Bryan Brooks took an elective in aquatic biology his senior year in college that opened the door to a future he hadn’t seen before. “It turned out to be life-changing,” said Brooks, now an internationally recognized expert on water quality, contaminants and sustainability. Brooks and Baylor colleague Dr. Kevin Chambliss, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, made international news in 2009 when an Environmental Protection Agency pilot study on which they served as lead investigators detected low-level residues of several human medications and personal care products in fish. The fish had been collected from rivers with water that had gone through wastewater treatment plants. Brooks spent the 2013-2014 academic year at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, after winning a Fulbright Scholar Award to conduct
> DR. BRYAN BROOKS
research on the quality of water resources in Alberta. While there, he looked at cross-border environmental and water resource challenges. “It’s not surprising that the U.S. Department of State has identified sustainable water as a key to avoiding international conflicts in the coming decades,” he said. With more than 9 billion people expected to be on the planet by 2050, and 70 percent of them living in cities, Brooks said, “The way that people need natural resources and interact with water becomes very critical.” A professor of environmental science and biomedical studies, Brooks directs Baylor’s environmental health science program and is also focused on studying the hazardous effects of environmental contaminants. The National Science Foundation recently awarded him nearly $1 million as a core team leader for a $4.4 million grant to look at how to make chemicals less toxic. The multi-university group funded by the NSF grant will look at how to “sustainably design substances to keep their intended purpose but reduce their hazard and ultimately their risks to public health and the environment,” Brooks said. In addition, Brooks received a supplemental NSF award for $71,000 to bring in high school biology, chemistry and environmental science teachers from Central Texas during the summer of 2015 to conduct research in his lab and gain new knowledge for their lesson plans, facilitated through a partnership with Waco’s Region 12 Education Service Center. Brooks is just one of a number of environmental science faculty whose work as researchers and lecturers routinely take them around the world. In the fall of 2014, Brooks is spending six weeks at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, as an Erskine Fellow. He has also recently begun a term as editor-in-chief of the international journal Environmental Management. Though he can travel to as many as dozen countries in a year, Brooks makes it a priority to invest significant amounts of time in his students at Baylor. Under his mentorship, his students are contributing to environmental research and are being recognized for their work. David Dreier, who graduated in May 2014 with a BS in environmental health science, was awarded an EPA Greater Research Opportunity Undergraduate Research Fellowship that provided him with financial support for academic and research pursuits, as well as an internship. This past May, Dreier joined Brooks at a meeting in Switzerland where Dreier presented his honors thesis research. Baylor graduate student Gavin Saari, meanwhile, has received an EPA Science to Achieve Results Fellowship. Few environmental science programs in the United States have both graduate and undergraduate recipients of these prestigious awards from the same department. “This is the ultimate mark that we must never lose sight of as a university –– that we are only as good as how well our students are doing,” Brooks said.
> DR. COLE MATSON
SMALL PARTICLES, BIG IMPACT You can’t see them, but they’re there. Nanoparticles are incredibly tiny particles visible only with an electron microscope. They are of great interest to scientists in part because the normal properties of many everyday materials can change when at the nano scale. Dr. Cole Matson, assistant professor of environmental science, studies potentially toxic nanoparticles, and he wants to learn about how they get from here to there, traveling down streams and rivers. Nanoparticles are used in socks to prevent smelly feet and in baby products to prevent mold. It’s inevitable, Matson said, that they will end up in the environment, usually washed right down the drain. Nanotechnology researchers are still building a fundamental knowledge of the particles. “The focus is trying to understand how these novel and emerging technologies are going to get into the environment and what they might do once they get there,” Matson said. To conduct his research, Matson takes advantage of the Baylor Experimental Aquatic Research (BEAR)
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facility, which contains 12 artificial streams each 20 meters long to test theories he has developed in collaboration with Dr. Ryan King, a professor of biology at Baylor. They may add in fish or plants, change the salinity to simulate coastal waters or even slow the water flow to better understand how chemicals travel. “We want to be able to see when we add these particles in –– How do they behave in the system? Do they go where we think they should go based on their size and shape and surface charge? And are animals taking them up?,” Matson said. Matson is on the steering committee for CEINT –– the Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology –– a multi-disciplinary research center funded by the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency that is headquartered at Duke University and comprised of researchers from seven American universities. Matson and King will receive $400,000 of the $15 million in research funds awarded by the Center over the next five years. Matson and King’s research results have already shown that water contaminated over time –– mirroring what’s released slowly from a wastewater treatment plant, as opposed to a large spill –– will likely allow nanoparticles to travel longer distances. “If you don’t take these factors into account in your environmental risk assessment models, you may underestimate how far those materials may go,” Matson said. Nanomaterials have the potential for huge positive benefits, said Matson, who hopes to identify the characteristics of particles that create environmental risk so they can be avoided. “As nanotechnology becomes a larger part of our economy, we want to have all the information we need to be able to adequately address any environmental concerns the public might have about the world’s increasing use,” Matson said.
HEALING HOPE Dr. Erica Bruce, assistant professor of environmental science, is engaged in research into what could prove to be a miracle drug that may one day offer new hope to patients suffering from traumatic injuries. “It could change the face of wound care,” she said. Bruce’s research evaluates the benefits the new drug could have for healing traumatic injuries both internally and externally, particularly in soldiers. “It drives me,” she said. In her lab, Bruce built on the research already done by a company that approached her to study the drug further. She took human skin cells and induced a chemical burn, then administered the drug to the cells at different dosages. “What we saw was that we could recover skin cells completely using the drug at very low concentrations,” Bruce said. Bruce went on to conduct similar experiments with damaged lung and liver cells. If the drug proves effective with those cells as well, the implications for firefighters suffering from smoke inhalation or from someone with cirrhosis of the liver could be life-altering. Not only has Bruce seen results after administering the medication, but those results have occurred within 24 hours. Amazingly, the drug also has taken the damaged skin and liver cells to a healthier level than the control cells that had nothing done to them.
“We were pretty amazed when we started getting the data,” she said. Bruce has also seen results when testing the drug on cancer cells. In lung cancer cells, the drug was able to stop the cells from dividing. It also stopped the viability of colon cancer cells and could potentially make them more vulnerable to treatments such as chemotherapy. Bruce has applied for two different Department of Defense research grants that would assist her with further investigations into the drug’s wound-healing properties. One of her ultimate goals is to understand why the drug behaves the way it does. That knowledge, she said, could open up all kinds of potential uses.
> DR. ERICA BRUCE
BY JULIE ENGEBRETSON
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Ideally a liberal arts education is designed to produce thoughtful, well-rounded students, who graduate with a broad base of knowledge across many disciplines as well as particular concentrations in an area –– all of which will serve them well as they pursue a career. To ensure that its students receive such a broad-based education, Baylor requires a core curriculum grounded in the arts, the humanities and the sciences. These core courses are primarily taught by faculty members in the College of Arts & Sciences. Regardless of their mastery of the core curriculum, students are always tempted to spend most of their time on campus pursuing classes, guest lectures and research projects that line up with their major fields of study. As a result, science majors don’t always seek out enrichment opportunities in the arts and humanities, and vice versa. Despite the potential chasm separating the arts and humanities from the sciences, through their own impetus Baylor Arts & Sciences faculty members are finding creative ways to integrate these areas. In doing so, they are helping students identify and appreciate the many points of intersection across disciplines, inspiring broad curiosity and reinforcing the advantages of a true liberal arts education.
“Although society certainly needs graduates with technical training, we also must equip Baylor graduates with the ability and wisdom to adapt to changing conditions, to continue learning, to think critically, to communicate effectively, to embrace diversity, to see the world from others’ point of view, and to confront challenges that we have not even imagined today,” Dr. Heidi Bostic, chair of modern languages and cultures and professor of French, said. “Interdisciplinary teaching and research are the paths to this future.” “I’m happy that interdisciplinary cooperation is being given attention here, considering our overspecialized world environment. A liberal arts core like Baylor’s is here to help all its members develop and display their own liberation. This is or ought to be the essence of a university education,” Dr. Dan Nodes, chair and professor of classics, said. “Developing a broad competency includes knowing what one does not know yet.” Here’s a look at how a number of distinguished Baylor Arts & Sciences faculty are being proactive in their desire to give students opportunities to expand their knowledge and experience. à
> DR. KAROL HARDIN
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In Dr. Karol Hardin’s Conversational Spanish for Medical Professions class, language and health science studies intersect. The combination is not only personally enriching, it’s also vital to healthcare professionals who will serve a rapidly growing Hispanic population. “Hispanics account for more than half of the total population growth in the U.S. over the last seven years,” said Hardin, associate professor of Spanish. “And national physician shortages are projected for Latino populations.” Hardin’s research has long centered on miscommunication and misunderstandings in the healthcare setting, in part because she witnessed so much of it while living in Ecuador with her husband from 2004 to 2008. “Communication errors are based on both language and culture,” Hardin said. “Even the perception of illness is cultural. Patients can have a biomedical, folk, spiritual or emotional understanding about what causes their illness and how it is perceived.” Students in Hardin’s class, after learning basic Spanish anatomical vocabulary, give presentations throughout the semester and simulate encounters in a clinic or hospital setting. She also invites a bilingual physician who has medical experience in Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico and other countries to visit the class twice a semester, giving lectures about medicine and culture. Students also watch videos of actual doctor-patient interactions in both Ecuador and in Waco. “This course was incredibly helpful to me,” said Beth Uhlig, a senior University Scholar major who hopes to begin medical school in 2015. “It shaped the course of my pre-medical studies. I not only learned so much about how to hold a culturally respectful, clear conversation with patients in different medical settings, but also the reasoning behind how important it is to be able to communicate well with patients.” Hayley Sharma is a senior Spanish major who has declared a concentration in prehealth, hoping to someday work with an organization such as Samaritan’s Purse or Doctors without Borders. “I have more confidence to help out or take charge in a clinical setting with a Spanish-speaking patient,” Sharma said. “I also now have a better background in global health and the different beliefs of the Latino culture when it comes to medicine. This class has made me cognizant of the cultural differences that I will come into contact while in the healthcare profession.”
> DR. DEIRDRE FULTON
> DR. REBECCA SHEESLEY
Conservation and land use are common topics of discussion in the first-year seminar Dr. Rebecca Sheesley, assistant professor of environmental science, teaches on environmental health and climate change. But, it occurred to Sheesley in fall 2013 that her students might benefit from a perspective other than her own. “I wanted to invite someone from the religion department to speak about stewardship of the land from a Biblical perspective,” Sheesley said. “Dr. Deirdre Fulton chose the topic of the lecture, which was the relationship of Christianity to environmental health and stewardship as based in the Old Testament.” Sheesley said her students were not only listening, but actively engaged Fulton, an assistant professor of religion who specializes in Old Testament studies, with questions. “I really enjoyed the opportunity to have the students dialogue about the importance of stewardship,” Fulton said. “This lecture also focused on other aspects of research that are important to me, such as land usage and treatment of the poor and disenfranchised. It is important for Baylor faculty to demonstrate to the students how scholars can dialogue across disciplines. I hope that we were able to model what meaningful interdisciplinary discussions may look like.” While Sheesley’s seminar had many students from a Christian background, it also included students who identified with other religious traditions and several students who claimed no religious affiliation at all. “The students who claimed no affiliation were intrigued to be talking about environmental health and stewardship of the land in this way,” Sheesley said. “It was good for every student to understand that these are not new ideas.”
> CAROL PERRY
Carol Perry, lecturer in journalism, public relations and new media, runs her upper-division public relations class as though it were a full-scale PR agency. “These students are getting the opportunity to do real world communications work,” Perry said. “Oftentimes our clients — various Baylor departments and programs — come to us, and my students get an opportunity to establish a relationship with the client, learn the scope of the project, pitch ideas to the client and then deliver the work.” In the business world, professionals in the field of communications must be able to hear and understand a client’s story and, given budgetary constraints, devise the most effective strategy for conveying that story to a targeted audience. Some of Perry’s PR students have had to
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step outside their comfort zones a bit to serve clients in technical, scientific or health-related fields, including the Center for International Education, the Center for Autism and Baylor’s medical humanities program. Maxcey (Kite) Blaylock, a May 2013 graduate, remembers working on a promotional magazine for the medical humanities program. “I definitely did not have a strong footing in the sciences going into the project,” recalled the professional writing major. “My course schedule had always reflected my passions — writing classes, public relations classes, etc.” In writing articles for the magazine, Blaylock had to conduct interviews with medical students and subscribed to the adage “if you’re not sure, ask for help.” “If a medical student used a term or talked about a concept I didn’t understand because of my lacking science background, I had to not be embarrassed to ask for clarification,” Blaylock said. “Because I asked questions, I ended up learning even more. I approached this project, and the science aspect of it, with two goals in mind –– ask questions about things I don’t understand and try to understand any differing perspectives.” Besides broadening her knowledge base, Blaylock’s foray into the world of medical humanities helped her go from Baylor to a position as branding and communications coordinator for the Scott & White Healthcare Foundation.
Dr. Susan Bratton, professor of environmental science, and her students are actively exploring the relationship between spirituality and the great outdoors. She has authored four books focused on religion and environment, the latest of which, The Spirit of the Appalachian Trail (University of Tennessee Press, 2012), relied on data collected and analyzed by student research assistants. More of Bratton’s recent data gathering and analysis has centered on the Smokey Mountains and even Baylor’s own Bear Trail. In and out of the classroom, Bratton is offering her students “a broad perspective of where people’s perceptions and opinions come from,” she said. “I’m teaching different sampling methodologies — types of skills which would apply to other problems. And I’m addressing something that few researchers have taken on in a formal way.” It is not uncommon for hikers to speak of such lengthy physical challenges as the Appalachian Trail (AT) or, say, the Pacific Crest Trail using religious language. And indeed, Bratton herself has found the AT a friendly environment for prayer or conversation with God. But trying to measure something like transcendence is a challenge. Perhaps rivaling the physical difficulty of the AT is the task of quantifying and analyzing the subjective claims made about it — something Bratton and her students are accomplishing one study at a time. “This is formal social science,” Bratton said. “[Our] survey distributed to hikers is approved by IRB (Institutional Review Board, the ethics committee that evaluates biomedical and behavioral research). The data is empirical, and it turns out that engagement in prayer and meditation during hiking does influence some perceptions.”
> DR. SUSAN BRATTON
> DR. KIRSTEN ESCOBAR
Newly launched and full of promise, Baylor’s Ampersand Society (the name reflects the ampersand in “College of Arts & Sciences”) is a select group of high-achieving students interested in cultivating a truly multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary experience throughout their time at Baylor and beyond. “We think of these students as igniting exchanges and sharing viewpoints across the arts and sciences,” explained Dr. Kirsten Escobar, who co-directs the Ampersand Society with Elizabeth Vardaman, associate dean for special academic projects in the College of Arts & Sciences. “They’re making connections across that perceived disciplinary boundary.” The Society was formed during the 2013-2014 academic year, when an inaugural cohort of 25 was chosen based solely on their academic qualifications and the answers they provided on an application. “That said, when we looked at the final selections we were truly surprised by the broad variety of majors represented and the breadth of cultural backgrounds,” Vardaman said. 30 / BAYLOR ARTS & SCIENCES
Also surprising were the almost equal numbers of in-state and out-of-state students chosen. “I don’t know if it was serendipity or what,” Escobar said. “But it really speaks to the diversity of the group and richness of conversation going on among our members.” This “conversation” represents a series of bridges connecting Baylor’s diverse academic departments. And it’s an exchange of ideas that the leaders hope will “trickle up,” aiding the administration in delivering the most holistic educational experience possible for all Baylor students. While the Society is still in its early stages, Escobar and Vardaman, with input from the new class of inductees, have the creative freedom to plan specific activities based on members’ short- and long-term intellectual and professional goals. As an example, the group was “discussing how mentorships are formed,” Escobar said, “and so the students were supposed to invite a faculty member of their choice to coffee at Common Grounds. We gave them each a gift certificate to cover the coffee, and the professors were very generous with their time.” Sophomore University Scholars major Elayne Allen said her “coffee talk” with Dr. Dwight Allman, associate professor of political science, was a highlight of her entire first year. Unsure of whom to invite to coffee, she began with her interest in citizenship and went from there. “My concentration is political science and I was intrigued to find that Dr. Allman was writing a book related to citizenship,” Allen said. “We talked for probably 90 minutes about the importance of studying humanities in education, prominent political thinkers, and more. His knowledge and advice helped me shape my educational and professional goals.”
> ELIZABETH VARDAMAN
BY SARA KATHERINE JOHNSON
DAN SAMPLES AND JULIA HITCHCOCK WITH SOME OF THE NEW BSB ARTWORK
To find an example of interdisciplinary collaboration on campus, visit the Baylor Sciences Building (BSB). Artwork is on permanent display there for the first time since the building opened in 2004. Thanks to a project supervised by Dr. Dan Samples, temporary full-time lecturer in biology, and Julia Hitchcock, associate professor of art, there are now six pieces of original student art on display. In response to the work of an Arts & Sciences committee appointed to search for appropriate art to display in the BSB, Samples offered students of Hitchcock’s Drawing 3 class a chance to view histology slides in his laboratory for inspiration. “There’s a difference between bringing in art and decorating,” Samples said. “We wanted something that would have some relevance and might stimulate the creative spark.” The art students began by examining thin slices of human tissue on glass plates that had been stained for viewing. To view the slides, Samples taught the students to use highpowered microscopes.
During two visits beginning in October 2013, the students took sketches, asked questions and noted things that made each slide unique. They then spent several class sessions conceptualizing and working on the actual pieces. To translate the views on the slides into art, the students started with cotton rag paper and coated it with gesso, which is used as a sealer and to give pigment something to hold onto. Next, students applied ground graphite to the gesso. “My students had to try to figure out how to describe something they might not have the terminology for,” Hitchcock said. “The unknown is where creativity starts.” Six students completed pieces of art, which were hung on the second floor north end landing of the BSB. College of Arts & Sciences Dean Lee Nordt presided at a reception on March 21, 2014, to officially welcome the art installation. The BSB art committee hopes this is only the first of many installments of artwork to come, all created by students and faculty at Baylor.
First Person
My First Year at Hallie Earle Hall BY DR. RIZALIA KLAUSMEYER
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On Aug. 21, 2013, Baylor University’s new Science and Health Living Learning Center opened its doors in the East Village Residential Community to 354 undergraduates living in Hallie Earle Hall. Dr. Rizalia Klausmeyer, associate director of prehealth studies, serves as the living learning center’s program director. In this First Person essay, she describes what her first year of working with prehealth students in this innovative new environment was like.
I am the program director of Hallie Earle Hall, a position I took after 13 years of teaching organic chemistry at Baylor. As one of the few residence halls in the nation catering to science students, Earle Hall strives to help Baylor prehealth undergraduates adjust to the strain of college, especially in the areas of science and mathematics, while at the same time building lasting relationships with their peers. Prehealth students are somewhat unique among the student body, in that their journey does not end at Baylor. It is here that they are building the qualifications necessary to gain acceptance into medical school and other health programs across the country. To better their odds of acceptance, students should know from the beginning what the schools and programs seek in their applicants. It is our intention at Earle Hall that students be made aware of what they must do to become exceptional candidates. This is why the residence hall is under the direction of the Office of Prehealth Studies. Our first group of students to reside at Earle Hall was diverse, composed of 53 percent freshmen, 31 percent sophomores, 11 percent juniors and 5 percent seniors. The majority of these students were biology majors interested in the prehealth professions –– medicine in particular. There were also chemistry, biochemistry, neuroscience, psychology, nursing, nutrition, communication disorders, medical humanities and HHPR (health, human performance and recreation) majors represented. However, prehealth students with non-science majors may also live at Earle Hall. We offered a variety of academic activities to our residents, aimed at exposing the students to all the opportunities available at Baylor. These activities included panel discussions on topics such as how to be a successful premed student, improving study habits and debunking premed myths. We also offered seminars featuring professors discussing their research interests. Perhaps the most successful academic activity was the suture clinic, when 64 students had the opportunity to learn about and practice closing wounds using pigs’ feet. To facilitate the formation of study groups, our freshmen were encouraged to enroll together in the same sections of general chemistry, biology and precalculus classes. Last year I contributed to our study efforts
“Prehealth students are somewhat unique among the student body, in that their journey does not end at Baylor.” by giving organic chemistry reviews for final exams. This year, I am teaching an organic chemistry class that is offered exclusively to residents of Earle Hall. We took the residents of Earle Hall on many field trips during the year. The first of these was to Dallas, where our nursing students toured the facilities of Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing. Scott and White Hospital offered 10 of our residents an extended tour of their research facilities in Temple as well as a visit to the simulation labs at Temple College. Twenty of our residents participated in a trip to Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and toured the facilities of the National School of Tropical Medicine. Earle Hall also hosted two guest speakers for our students during the year. Dr. Zachary Marcum spoke about medical nonadherence and the difficulty it presents to doctors and pharmacists around the world. Dr. Joseph Dervay, a NASA flight surgeon from the Johnson Space Center, discussed all aspects of taking care of the health of flight crews for space shuttles and the International Space Station. à
STUDENT-DESIGNED HALLIE EARLE HALL CREST
“It was year of big changes, meeting new people and learning new things and was an incredible chance to impact students in far deeper ways than I thought possible.” Earle Hall has a leadership council, composed of students from all classes who are selected by their peers. During its first year, the council did a wonderful job bringing fun-filled social activities to our residents. The Earle Hall Talent Show was our first big success in the fall, and was quickly followed by more activities including a formal dance in the spring. Prehealth students in the living learning center are encouraged to give back to the community. This first year, our students volunteered at Emeritus Senior Living in Waco. They did a variety of things there, including playing bingo, cooking, visiting and reading newspapers to the visually impaired residents. Earle Hall has also partnered with Baylor’s Medical Service Organization to give our students the chance to become part of MSO’s First Aid Service Team and become First Aid and CPR certified. In the fall of 2014 the ladies of Earle Hall have begun Women in Science and Health, a student organization that aims to increase the full participation of women in scientific and health-related fields. The women are
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also hoping to start an undergraduate chapter of the American Medical Women’s Association. Both of these organizations will be headquartered at Earle Hall but will include women from across the Baylor campus. In closing, the inaugural year of Hallie Earle Hall was a year of learning, sharing, success and disappointment. It was also a year that brought many students together in bonds that will last a lifetime. For me, it was year of big changes, meeting new people and learning new things and was an incredible chance to impact students in far deeper ways than I thought possible. I have had the opportunity to share in our students’ games, dances, seminars, trips, opinions and plans for the future, and for this I feel blessed.
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A look back at memorable moments from Baylor Arts & Sciences history The Poet and the Piper BY RANDY FIEDLER
Dr. Andrew Joseph Armstrong’s love of the works of poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning transformed Baylor in ways that continue to be appreciated by thousands of campus visitors each year. Armstrong served as the chairman of Baylor’s English department from 1912 until his death in 1954. From an early age he began collecting items associated with the Brownings, many of which he first displayed at the University in a special room in the Carroll Library Building. He gave most of his personal collection to Baylor in 1918, and with his encouragement many other Browning items were either donated to or purchased by the University over the years. On June 9, 1924, three art glass windows designed by Haskins Glass Studio of Rochester, N.Y., were dedicated in the Browning Room of Carroll Library. They included the beautiful window shown here that depicts a scene from Robert Browning’s famous poem “The Pied Piper of Hamelin.” Prior to the dedication, a musical pageant depicting the story of the Pied Piper was performed, with more than 400 Waco children and 30 Baylor students taking part. A.J. Armstrong and his wife Mary dedicated much of their lives working to promote the creation of a museum at Baylor dedicated to the life and works of the Brownings. Their dream was realized in December 1951 when what became known as the Armstrong Browning Library was dedicated. The building now contains the Pied Piper window and 61 other stained glass windows.
PHOTO CREDIT/ ALYSSA LORFING
One Bear Place #97344 Waco, TX 76798-7344
PAINTING WITH KARL UMLAUF
Umlauf is a professor of art and Baylor’s Artist-in-Residence. He joined the art faculty in 1989 and is retiring after the Spring 2015 semester. Baylor’s Martin Museum of Art will host an exhibition of Umlauf’s paintings Jan. 20 - March 1, 2015.