Pro Mundo: From Baylor to the World

Season 9
Episode 901
Linda Livingstone

As a new academic year takes shape,  join President Livingstone at the Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center to reflect on Baylor University's expanding global footprint and vibrant campus life.  

As a new academic year takes shape,  join President Livingstone at the Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center to reflect on Baylor University's expanding global footprint and vibrant campus life.  

Show Notes

The conversation highlights: 

Transcript

Derek Smith:

It’s the start of a new year here at Baylor University and we are joined by Baylor University President, Dr. Linda Livingstone. A lot of exciting things going on.

President Livingstone, thanks for taking the time to sit down with us and discuss all that.

President Livingstone:

Well, Derek, it's great to be with you and so excited about the new school you're getting started.

Derek Smith:

We're here in the Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center. And I'm curious, what do you tell people when you're visiting with your colleagues from other universities, why this building is so special? Why is it the right place to welcome people here?

President Livingstone:

Well, I love talking about the welcome center now that we have this beautiful facility on our campus. And what I tell others about it and when I talk about it is it such a special place because when you come into the Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center, you can see current students studying. You can see prospective students getting their tours. You can see alumni coming back to the McLane Alumni Center. You can see people in the bookstore buying Baylor Swag. You can see people at the coffee shop getting something to drink or a snack. And so it is just a wonderful place of community for anybody that really has any connectedness or interest in Baylor. And it's so unique to have a facility like that, and we just did not have a community space like that that could bring everybody together from all walks of Baylor life into one place for all kinds of interesting and unique opportunities.

Derek Smith:

We're here on campus right now, but you had a chance this summer to really see Baylor's impact and interaction around the world this summer. Where are a couple of the places that you got to experience that this year?

President Livingstone:

We were very privileged. We spent several weeks in New Zealand and Australia this summer. We'd never been to that part of the world before. Some of it was just enjoyable and fun for me and Brad, and several things that were interesting. One, we were there shortly after the NBA Draft, and so everywhere we went, everybody wanted to know about VJ Edgecombe, because he'd been third in the NBA Draft, our highest draft pick ever. And so everybody in Australia pays a lot of attention to the NBA. So you forget how important that visibility is to our name recognition and our reputation around the world. So that was a unique thing that I didn't necessarily expect.

But then we were in Sydney and it's beautiful city and I encourage everybody to visit if they have the opportunity, but we visited... Some of our students we're studying abroad a group of business school students. So we got to visit some companies with them. We had dinner with them one night and watched fireworks on July 5th in Australia, but it was July 4th here. So we pretended we were celebrating the 4th of July in Australia with our students. It's always fun to spend time with our students as we're traveling internationally if we get that opportunity. And we were just so impressed with the students. They were amazing.

Then we concluded our trip in Brisbane, and it was really the purpose of the trip, to begin with the Baptist World Alliance, an organization that we joined a year ago was having their World Congress, which they have once every five years. And so we were there. We signed an agreement with BWA, a partnership with Truett Seminary to do some education and training of global Baptist leaders to help us do a better job of spreading the gospel around the world. And it was a wonderful time, over 3,500 Baptists from over 130 countries around the world celebrating Christ together, worshiping together in unity around spreading the gospel. So it was a really fabulous trip, and to end it with the Baptist World Alliance global Congress was really special.

Derek Smith:

Obviously seems like a natural fit is we're the largest Baptist institution of higher learning. They're the largest global gathering of Baptists. I'm curious, you mentioned educational opportunities right off the bat with Truett Seminary. What are some of the ways for students in the Baylor family that they'll see the fruits of that agreement going forward?

President Livingstone:

Well, that will be centered in Truett, so it will certainly give students at our seminary opportunities, I think, to connect on a global scale and certainly folks around the world to take advantage of some of the things that we're able to offer that in a lot of countries they don't have seminaries that have the ability to do that kind of training. But I think the other thing it will do as we build out our relationship with the Baptist World Alliance, it will give our students more global mission opportunities. We will be bringing people to campus from around the world that are involved in Baptist World Alliance. I think Truett's going to have a visiting scholar here this summer, is one of the employees of Baptist World Alliance. And so it's just going to give us more global opportunities both on our campus here in Waco, as well as for faculty, staff and students, a greater reach and more depth of reach around the world.

Derek Smith:

I want to ask you, too, you mentioned interacting with students who were studying abroad in Sydney, you got to visit last summer as well with students in Europe in different places. What is it like to see the Baylor footprint with these students studying there? What do you learn about what our students are learning when you visit with them there?

President Livingstone:

Well, when you are with students as they're studying abroad, one, many of those students haven't traveled much abroad, so it's a very eye-opening cultural experience for them. And you see them amazed at the differences in culture, but also the things that are similar across those cultures. These classes are tied, the ones we were with were tied to an academic program, so you also see them learning about academic content from a different cultural perspective and a different setting. We visited LinkedIn and Dell when we were in Sydney. And so for the students to hear about those perspectives and how they function and operate in Australia and then with a really close connection to Asia, it was really valuable. And so you see them growing both intellectually. There's also spiritual components to this spiritually, and then they develop really deep friendships with the other people on the trip. And oftentimes they don't know more than one or two students that are on the trip with them. And when they get home, after spending several weeks abroad, they've bonded, they've done all kinds of interesting things outside of the classroom together, and they come back as deep and lifelong friends as well.

As you described this, you think of Pro Mundo, which was added to the Baylor motto last year, Pro Mundo, for the world. Why was it important? Why was this the right time to add that to the motto?

President Livingstone:

Well, when I came as president in my inaugural address, I said, the world needs a Baylor. And as we moved into our new strategic plan, Baylor in deeds, the question we asked as we developed that was, what does the world most need Baylor to do? And that's where we got the name, out of Matthew 5:16, "Let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds," so Baylor in deeds, that you may glorify your father in heaven. And so as we think about that and as we thought about the world needing a Baylor, we said, well, it makes sense our motto for the church, for Texas has served us well since the 1850s, but it really doesn't reflect the global university that we have become. And so we added Pro Mundo to that, and we thought it was a wonderful thing to do, and the board was fully supportive of it, but honestly, it has really caught on.

And I walk across campus and students will say, "Oh, I've got a Pro Mundo summer coming up," and then they tell me about what they're going to do overseas. Or I have a faculty come up and say, "My research is very Pro Mundo." So it's become a thing to say that what you're doing is Pro Mundo and you really begin to realize how much of that had already been going on on our campus, and we maybe just hadn't named it. And now people are really proud to be able to lean into that part of our motto, and frankly, that part of our strategic plan.

Derek Smith:

Makes me think back. I can't believe it's been eight years since your inaugural message, the world needs a Baylor. How much does that align? Do you think about that looking back eight years and how this is coming together now?

President Livingstone:

Well, when you say that the first time you think, well, that sounds good, and it's important and it's true, and it has really resonated with the Baylor community. And I think it's because we are such a unique place in higher education as a Christian university, a research one university that plays power athletics, and yet we're large enough to do all the cool things that you do at a large university, but we're small enough that people feel really engaged and seen and in community, and that's a very unique place in higher education. 

And so I think when you say the world needs a Baylor, you recognize that the world needs a university that's able to do the things that Baylor does. We have the scale to do things on a national and a global level. We have the scale and the support from our communities to be a research university, to play power athletics, and they're really just no other significantly Christian, particularly Protestant universities that live in that space. And so it gives us a unique opportunity to have influence in the world. And I think frankly, for us to be good stewards of all the blessings and all that God has given us, we need to lean into that and really seek to have an impact in the world.

Derek Smith:

Pro Mundo is certainly a big part of that. I'm curious, how would you describe what that looks like in the day-to-day of the university and for our students?

President Livingstone:

When I think about what our students and our faculty and staff do every day, I think it plays out in different ways on our campus. I mean, we have international students on our campus, and so we send our students out around the world, but we bring international students into our campus. In fact, I'll be greeting the international students that are coming in as we start the school year, and it's always a joy to see them coming from all over 110 or 15 countries around the world. So we have that global influence on our campus. We have faculty that have global backgrounds and experiences. We have many classes that the students take that have a global perspective on whatever the subject or the topic might be. And then we have a lot of faculty doing research in really, really interesting areas. We have one faculty that's doing research on how you can identify precancerous cells for women in China that have HIV.

So a very global perspective, but also very public health-oriented. We have a group of faculty that are doing a lot of work in aquatics and water quality, and they're in a global research group that's looking at water quality around the world. And we know water is going to be one of the scarce resources that really matters in the world going forward. So it's happening all across our campus in the classroom, in the research faculty are doing, and the experiences students are having with other students on our campus that have global backgrounds. So it really is become an embedded part of who we are at Baylor.

Derek Smith:

As you described that, we think of Baylor's influence in different ways, some closer to home, some around the world. We talked about as Baylor became our one and pursued that eventually reached that in 2021, that idea of Baylor having a seat at the table, the world needs a Baylor to bring a Christian voice to bear on these big opportunities. I think this year we've had a record setting a number of Fulbright recipients who are going to be going around the world. We've got faculty who are testifying before the Senate on important national issues. We've got people who are leading in their professional ranks. What does that mean to you to see Baylor faculty, Baylor leaders stepping up onto those stages?

President Livingstone:

Well, I believe it's one of the opportunities that we have as a research one university, as a Christian university, and we bring a unique voice to that. We have 24 Fulbright Scholars this year. It's a record for us, and we're so excited about that and the opportunities that gives our students to study abroad. But it also, because of that, you get recognition from the Fulbright program on a national and global level that helps raise the profile of Baylor. Our faculty that testify before Congress, Dr. Bayliss did that around some wireless technologies. He's an expert in that area. And to testify before Congress about the research that we're doing at Baylor and how it can help society, can help with security, can help businesses, is a real opportunity for us. And it gives us visibility.

And then we, of course, as we've hired more of our endowed chair faculty, as we've brought in really top scholars doing amazing research. They're fellows in some of the national societies now. They're leading some of those organizations. They are asked to speak to the media about the work that they're doing, and it really helps raise our profile as an institution. It helps raise our academic quality. But more than important than that, it gives us a chance to share from the faith mission that we come from as a Christian university in a way that almost no other university in the country can.

Derek Smith:

We were talking about a metaphorical stage right now. Let's talk about a literal stage. We're just a couple of blocks away from Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion, which obviously hosts our great basketball teams, but it's become a concert venue as well throughout the fall and more coming. What does it mean to Baylor to be able to partner with the city and bring in things that are entertaining and also really drive economic development in the area?

President Livingstone:

Well, when we built the Foster Pavilion, one, we obviously wanted a wonderful home court advantage for our basketball teams, which it is definitely that. It's a fabulous place for basketball, but we also wanted it to be a place where we could partner with the city, we could bring in different artists and entertainment to bring the city and the university together. What's good for Baylor is good for Waco, and what's good for Waco is good for Baylor. And so it's been a really privilege... It was hard for us to do that in the Ferrell Center because we had so many sports teams in there. We just didn't have a lot of flexibility in the use of the facility.

And so, of course, Forest Frank was here last spring, which was fabulous. Had a sold out crowd for that. We've got Lauren Daigle coming up, which is going to be sold out. We've got a concert in McLane Stadium that is very exciting. So we're thrilled to do it. We believe it will bring people in to Waco that might not have been to Waco before. It will expose them to the many things you can do in Waco besides the concert, whether it's the restaurants, the museums, Cameron Park, all the things that are wonderful about Waco, as well as exposing them to Baylor. And so it is just a wonderful way to profile our community and all that it has to offer.

Derek Smith:

It's great to see these sports venues growing in different ways. And speaking of sports, it is about that time, Baylor football underway, volleyball, soccer. I know we see you all over campus, but I know we're going to see you and the first gen Brad at a lot of those sporting events as well.

President Livingstone:

Well, we do love watching our students perform, whether it's sports or music or theater, whatever it might be. But the fall sports season is tons of fun, and we're excited for all of those sports that we have coming up, whether it's football, soccer, volleyball, and really proud of our student athletes and our coaches and the way they represent Baylor, both on and off the court or the field.

Derek Smith:

Well, President Livingstone, as we wind down here final few minutes, I want to ask you a couple questions about the year ahead and Baylor students. First off, every new year is exciting. Why is this year 2025, '26 exciting?

President Livingstone:

As you say, every new year is exciting, and it's always exciting because you're bringing in a whole new set of students and you're working on how do we integrate them into the wonderful community that we already have. And then you're bringing in a whole new set of parents as well and helping them become familiar with Baylor. So that's always really, really exciting. And then bringing back the students that have been here before, our faculty coming back to campus, and frankly, I love to hear about the stories of all the things they did in the summer. I mean, our students have been camp counselors, they've been on internships, they've done study abroad, and they come back with this rich set of experiences from summer that enrich the experience when they get back on campus. So I love that they're back. They're telling us about that. And our new students are coming in and for the first time experiencing all the amazing things it means to be at Baylor. So can't wait to have them all back on campus and get the school year started.

Derek Smith:

What does it mean to you to see these students and our faculty, the way they invest in students? You think about students are making a big investment of their time, their families, it's such a big time in their lives. What does it mean to you to be able to bring the most amount of just opportunity and value and see them thrive in those four years or however long they're here?

President Livingstone:

Well, I mean, that's what it's all about. It's about transforming the lives of our students while they're here, certainly academically, but we also want to transform them spiritually and help them to grow in their faith and to help them to grow personally so that when they leave here, they go out and can live out their passions and make a difference in the world. We have amazing faculty and staff that pour into our students, and they're here because they love students and they want to help our students to grow and develop. That's our research faculty, our teaching faculty, our staff. When we hire people, we want them to be here because they love students and want to work with students regardless of what the other gifts they bring us are. And so to bring all of that together and watch our students come back to campus and begin to experience that on a really deep level, it's a real blessing, and it's a privilege to be able to do that.

Derek Smith:

You may have just touched on this a bit, but I'll ask you. Your prayer for Baylor students, what's in your heart for them as this year begins?

President Livingstone:

I mentioned earlier the students coming through the columns at Independence, and they've just put on their line jerseys, and as they come through those columns, we welcome them home. We say, "Welcome home. Welcome to Baylor." And so we want them to feel like this is home, that they know that they're loved, they're cared for, and that this is going to be a place where they can grow and thrive in all the ways we want them to develop as holistic young people while they're here and holistic graduate students while they're here. And so we pray for that transformational experience, both in what they're learning in the classroom, but also in the spiritual development that they have, and just really in the social development they have through the co-curricular activities, and that they truly in this place feel like they're loved and cared for, and that it is home for them while they're in college.

Derek Smith:

Well, we see that. It's exciting to see that play out over the years into another year. President Livingstone, thanks so much for your time. Really appreciate it. Excited to share the year ahead with you and our faculty and to see all the exciting things going on here.

President Livingstone:

Well, we are excited about too, Derek, thank you so much. Always love having a chance to visit with you.

Derek Smith:

Great to visit. President Linda Livingstone, our guest on Baylor Connections. Thanks for being with us. We'll talk to you next time.

 

 
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