By Racquel Joseph

The American Voices tour took its last bow in Lebanon, and with its finale came Dr. Bradley Bolen’s homecoming. Now in the United States, Bolen’s last entry is a recap of the greatest moments and memories of an exciting experience. Thanks to considerably more bandwidth in the States, we can now check out videos of the descriptive scenes in Bolen’s blog and meet the people that were a part of his life for so many months.

Bolen’s blog will continue to be updated with news of American Voices and the fates of the students of the academy.

To read Dr. Bradley Bolen’s blog, click here.

To read the alumni association’s coverage of Dr. Bolen’s trip, click here.

By Julie Copenhaver

Dr. Bolen continues to travel across the Middle East, making new friends while exploring various cities and cultures. His recent adventures involve shopping in old Damascus, the student piano and voice recital in Syria (preparations for the gala pictured here), and discovering a Syrian myth that ceiling fans cause stomach problems.

Bolen also gains perspective from locals about politics and war, and after befriending a family struggling with war-zone obstacles, he discovers the “healing capacity of music is far greater than ever imagined.”

Don’t miss out on Bolen’s first sights of the Mediterranean Sea as he leaves Syria and travels back to the American University of Beirut, and read about the return of Omar from Iraq, as he takes his very first trip out of Iraq to visit Bolen in Beirut.

To read Bolen’s blog, click here.

To check out all of the BTL updates on Dr. B’s adventure, click here.

By Racquel Joseph

Dr. Bolen has been busy updating his blog! In his latest entry, you can read about the chaos involved in getting a group of people from Erbil, Iraq, to Damascus, Syria, including a nighttime border crossing. Read about his adventures exploring the city of Erbil just before he left the country and what it was like living just fifty miles from Mosul, a city in turmoil.

Finally getting the chance to leave “Modern City Hotel,” Dr. Bolen explored local landmarks, ran into YouTube celebrities (like Matt Harding, pictured here at Citibul with Dr. Bolen), and recorded the stories of his students and colleagues. Soon, you’ll able to see video clips of his exploits! Be sure to read all about his star pupil and, fingers crossed, potential Baylor student Boran Zaza and how they can almost be considered local movie stars.

To read Dr. Bolen’s blog, click here

Check out the YouTube video by Matt Harding

By Racquel Joseph

Dr. Bolen is now Iraq-bound. In his latest entry, he experiments with an Arabic language generator as he finishes packing. Dr. Bolen’s June 27th and 28th updates are some of his last to be written on American soil. He writes of hectic last-minute preparations in the midst of Baylor’s Summer Piano Institute, including the proper care of a deranged cat. The need for a “real” mp3 player is satisfied, along with one of his fears about flying to Iraq. Bolen also acknowledges the naysayers and those who question why he would travel so far to teach and share music. I’ll give you a hint, its about arrivals and departures. Be sure to read his mention of Dr. Baker’s continued research in Nigeria.

To read Dr. Bolen’s blog, click here!

By Racquel Joseph

As a “creative academic” Baylor film professor Christopher Hansen takes a different approach to publishing his research and work. While academics in other fields publish books, articles, or scientific findings, Hansen produces feature-length films.


Hanson’s first major film was the “mockumentary” The Proper Care and Feeding of an American Messiah, shot in Waco. The Proper Care and Feeding follows a man who feels he is a regional-type messiah—not the Messiah—as he makes plans to announce his holiness in a town-wide rally.


Now an associate professor and director of the film and digital media division at Baylor, Hansen managed to climb the professional ladder while giving students the experience of working on the set of a real film, a unique take on the common practice of undergraduates partnering in faculty research. Hansen described The Proper Care and Feeding as “more of an experiment.” With lessons learned under his belt, he began filming his next feature, Endings, in the summer of 2008. Shot in the five weeks of a summer school session, Endings is now making the rounds on the film festival circuit.

Endings features Hansen’s daughter, Emma, in a lead role. Hansen says he purposely wrote a part for a pre-teen girl. By keeping the family involved, he hoped to keep things simpler than they were for his tenure project. “I’m not a full-time filmmaker,” Hansen said. “I’m a professor; I have a wife and four kids. My time is at a premium.”

It is easy to see why movie making can be hard on a family. “A three or four minute-long scene, depending, can take a ten-hour day, or two,” Hansen explained. Each angle takes lighting adjustment and new camera placement. Actors speak the same lines of dialogue dozens of times to create one gripping scene.

And Endings was made to be a gripping drama. The story follows three people—a cancer-stricken woman, a drug addicted man, and a young girl—as they confront the reality of death. “It’s about the way people deal with death,” Hansen says. “Some know its coming sooner than others.” The film also addresses the role of family. Each of the characters has various issues with their family and, because they cannot go it alone, they band together.


Hansen said that writing, producing, casting, and completing an independent film is the beginning of an uphill battle. “The road for these films is getting harder and harder. A film is technically independent if it has no distribution deal,” Hansen explained. When it comes time to submit to festivals, he says, “we’re not all on the same playing field.”

But the exposure of his films beyond Central Texas is generating what he calls “momentum.”  So far, that momentum has earned him recognition for his work and a possible TV deal for The Proper Care and Feeding of an American Messiah. He is currently writing a new film and is hoping to start filming next summer.

Chris Hansen’s opinions on filmmaking in Texas can be found on his blog, “Making Movies in Flyover Country.”

By Racquel Joseph

Dr. Bolen just posted an exciting update about his travel to the Middle East and some of the political questions that are already arising. You can keep up with Dr. Bolen’s stateside preparation for his adventure abroad in his second blog post. If you missed his first entry, it gives great background on the work he plans to do in Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria.

To read the first Between The Lines story on Dr. Bolen, click here.

By Racquel Joseph

Senior lecturer of music Dr. Bradley Bolen is taking a working vacation this year.  He is teaming up with the Houston non-profit American Voices to bring music and the arts to the Middle East. Come July 3, Bolen will be headed into Erbil, Iraq, taking his art to a whole new, exotic arena. Bolen will also make stops in Syria and Lebanon, leading workshops and classes in piano for young musicians.

These YES (Youth Excellence on Stage) Academies were established as part of American Voices’ mission to spread diplomacy and engage culturally with countries often isolated or unstable. Bolen will maintain a blog throughout his trip and will allow Between the Lines’ readers to follow his progress at: bolen88.wordpress.com.

Bolen’s sense of adventure seems rooted in his gratitude for the ability to play. He explains a part of this motivation as, “the thing people don’t see.” Then, he extends his right arm to reveal a long, ropy scar.

In his junior year of college, Bolen began having “trouble” with his arms that made it difficult to play. After shuffling from doctor to doctor without a diagnosis, he found one that agreed to operate. The surgeon, likely inexperienced or more interested in the case than the man, hacked through muscle and left considerable damage. After the operation, it took Bolen three months to extend his arm straight. He eventually found a neurosurgeon that, over the course of five surgeries, removed the scar tissue caked on his radial nerve from the previous operation. Several of those surgeries occurred between the time he was accepted and attended graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin.

But Bolen made it through to play Mozart in Austria and study under greats like Claude Frank. Now, he will pass on music to the youth of a country he has never even visited.

Bolen’s own exposure to music began with the 1966 classic Born Free. A young Bolen wandered down to a “dilapidated upright” in his basement and plunked out the classic theme. At age eight, he began taking lessons and fell for the piano. He took lessons alongside his father, who eventually bought him the baby grand that now sits in the same basement as his first instrument. With a father in academia, Bolen was able to get the seal of approval of an accomplished Hungarian pianist, David Stokan. From then on, pursuing a career in music was a given.

Bolen has been on the Baylor faculty for the past ten years. Just one year ago, his wife, Dr. Lynne Baker, joined him at Baylor as a lecturer in environmental science. Bolen finds the rarity of their situation remarkable.

“Her specialty is a monkey in Nigeria, and I’m a musician in an academic position,” he says. She, too, will be traveling this summer but her destinations are two Nigerian villages, Akpugoeze and Lagwa. These villages are relatively unique within Africa, as the people do not kill or eat monkeys; these monkeys were designated “sacred” by their ancestors’ religion. The shrinking environments of the animals have made them pests to their human neighbors, who fear harming them.

Dr. Baker will be conducting a project in oral history and a census of the monkeys. Upon her return in August, Between the Lines will report on her travels, research, and the solutions that may result.

The Baylor Alumni Association would like to extend a warm welcome to President Ken Starr on his first official day at Baylor University. A native Texan, Starr is the fourteenth president in Baylor’s history.

To celebrate the occasion, the university held a Tuesday afternoon picnic on the steps of Pat Neff Hall, where Starr greeted faculty, staff, and students. Those in attendance enjoyed Dr Pepper floats, lemonade, and a variety of picnic goodies.

“Greeting a new president is a meaningful occasion in the life of any university, and we want to welcome President Starr and his family on their first day,” said Jeff Kilgore, vice president and CEO of the Baylor Alumni Association. “In its 165-year history, Baylor has welcomed only thirteen new presidents, and the BAA wants to recognize this significant day for the Starr family and our alma mater as we wish Baylor and the new president our very best.”

By Lisa Asher

Adding to a long list of honors, Dr. William (Bill) Hillis was named the 2010 Collins Outstanding Professor Award, an annual honor given by Baylor seniors. A 1953 Baylor graduate, Hillis is currently Baylor’s Cornelia Marschall Smith Distinguished Professor of Biology.

Hillis received the Baylor Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 1998 in recognition of a long and impressive career. After earning an MD from Johns Hopkins University in 1957, he focused on researching human infectious disease epidemics worldwide, serving in various clinical and hospital settings, as well as with the U.S. Air Force, retiring from the Reserves at the rank of colonel.

From 1962 to 1982, he was on faculty at Johns Hopkins, where he also served as a virologist and resident coordinator at the school’s Center for Medical Research and Training in Calcutta, India, and director of the School of Medicine’s outpatient clinical research center.

In 1981, Hillis returned to Baylor to serve as chair of the biology department. From 1985 to 1989, he was the university’s executive vice president and was vice president of student life until 1998, when he returned to full-time teaching.

Hillis is a three-time recipient of Baylor Mortarboard’s Distinguished Professor Award, and Student Congress gave him the Outstanding University Administrator Award in 1994.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Baylor Alumni Association.

The 2010 Herbert H. Reynolds Retired Faculty and Administrators Award was presented to recipients on Saturday, May 8, at a luncheon held in the Cashion Building of the Hankamer School of Business.

The award is presented each spring at a luncheon co-sponsored by the alumni association and the Retired Faculty and Administrators Program. With the number of exceptional faculty and administrators Baylor produces, choosing a select few to honor can be an overwhelming task. But since 1981–when the Baylor Alumni Association recognized such legends as Martha Barkema, P.D. Brown, and Guy B. Harrison–the association has been recognizing retired members of the Baylor faculty and administration who have shown professional merit during their university service.

This year’s Retired Faculty Award recipients are Carolyn Backus, Buddy Gilchrest, and Stanley Wallace Campbell (posthumously accepted by Robbie Howell). Retired Administrators Award recipient: C. Thomas Newsom.

To see photos from this year’s event, please visit our photo galleries.