By Todd Copeland

Editor, The Baylor Line

This Saturday, May 2, the Baylor Alumni Association’s governing board will hold one of its quarterly meetings at the Hughes-Dillard Alumni Center. The May meeting is typically focused on finances; board members get an update on how the BAA staff expects to end the fiscal year (which concludes on May 30) and then they review a proposed budget for the next fiscal year.

This year will be no different, but on top of those normal activities the members of our Board of Directors will hear about the staff’s efforts to create a dynamic five-year plan to strengthen the BAA.

In addition to getting our board members’ input and enjoying a good breakfast (think bacon and sausage patties), I am looking forward to this meeting for the same reason that I have looked forward to all of the board meetings I have gone to since joining the BAA staff in 1998. In a word, that reason is loyalty.

The more than fifty officers and directors serving on our board are some of the most loyal and accomplished Baylor alumni and friends that you will find anywhere. Their dedication to Baylor is unswerving, and their support of the BAA in its mission to serve Baylor is unflagging. These individuals give the BAA its strength, voluntarily coming together to offer their guidance, financial support, and community connections to our organization.

The governing boards that have served the organization over the course of its 150 years of existence are the foundation for any success achieved by the BAA. Without the solid framework that board members collectively provide, the BAA would not have been able to attract a high-quality staff to work on behalf of Baylor alumni. And without their leadership, the BAA would not have achieved as much as it has over the decades.

Moreover, it is only because of board members’ guidance and support of the alumni association that Baylor alumni have as strong a representative and independent voice as they do. The BAA is a democratic organization; anyone can join as a member, and then the members are empowered to vote on each year’s slate of nominated directors. Each board member serves at the pleasure of the membership, and they work hard to serve the members’ best interests within the context of serving Baylor.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the alumni of Baylor, through their coordinated involvement in the life of their alma mater, have proven crucial to the university’s vitality and long-term health. Several of our recent board presidents and officers have contributed a tremendous amount of their time and effort in the cause of protecting and strengthening this common asset that is the BAA – for no personal gain, and often at the cost of time spent away from their professions and families.

As anyone who has followed Baylor news in recent years knows, there have been some difficult moments in the BAA’s relationship with Baylor’s administration and governing board that were extensions of the general tension and politics ocurring on campus over the last six or seven years. There was a time, in 2003, when the BAA’s staff shrank from twenty-one to six employees, including a part-time executive director, due to these political struggles. If the BAA’s board had not provided an amazing level of support at that time, I believe the organization would have ceased to exist. Such difficulties are regrettable, but what stands out for me is the fine leadership that our board presidents and officers demonstrated during those dark days and the years since then. And while difficulties no doubt remain to be sorted out as the university seeks its next president after its previous president was fired, I am confident – because of what I have seen in the past – that the BAA’s leaders will continue to show their loyalty in word and deed.

And for that reason, I am looking forward to Saturday, when I will literally see the faces of “that good old Baylor Line” – people of different generations and walks of life – assembled in our building and ready to serve Baylor.

By Lisa Asher
Associate Editor, Baylor Line and Editor, Between the Lines

The two assembled crowds really couldn’t have been more different. Members of one group wore skirts and suits; the other group’s attire consisted of shorts and T-shirts. The first crowd was very subdued, even reticent. Members of the other crowd were excited and couldn’t wait to speak. The first group was, well, old–at least in the eyes of the eighteen-year-olds in the second group.

The groups in question were part of two different listening sessions–one for Baylor faculty and one for students–during which members of the Baylor Board of Regents and the Search Advisory Committee solicited feedback on what they should be looking for in Baylor’s next president. On April 14, I attended the first of two faculty sessions, and on April 22, I went to the open student session–and after thinking about both of them, I noticed some interesting differences and similarities.

First, the differences: the faculty session, which took place at 1:30 p.m. on the day after Easter break, was sparsely attended, with between thirty and forty people coming in and out during the session. Members of the audience were reluctant to go to the microphone, which was set up about halfway down the long aisle in Tidwell’s Miller Chapel and faced the table of regents and committee members at the front of the room. In between speakers, there would be three or four minutes of silence while we all waited for another brave soul to give his or her opinion. As one faculty member in attendance said, “It was just painful.”

In the student session, which took place in Miller Chapel at 5 p.m. on the eve of Diadeloso, there were about sixty students. Maybe it was because they were looking forward to their day off, or maybe it was the Dr Pepper floats they were served before the session–but in any case, these kids were wired. And prepared. They readily jumped up to the microphone, with a line of four or five people behind them, all waiting to express their views. They joked with the regents, shared personal stories, and read from notes.

The differences in demeanor and tone between the two groups are understandable–the faculty members are not only speaking about their jobs, but, in many cases, about what they believe is a calling to teach at Baylor. They are concerned for themselves, their colleagues, and a university that they have given many years to. Most of them have been through the contentious years of no-confidence votes, interim leaders, and, now, another presidential search.

Students are concerned about their classes, organizations, and graduation–as well they should be. Their questions and comments at the listening session reflected those concerns, plus a few other perennial favorites, like the lack of parking on campus.

But both faculty and students sounded some of the same themes: while research is important, Baylor’s tradition of excellent teaching must be honored. The integration of faith and learning is a balancing act, but one worth achieving. And both groups agreed on some very specific criteria that the next president should meet: a good communicator, have an ecumenical vision, a background in higher education, and be someone who can bring together the Baylor family.

After the faculty, student, and staff listening sessions are completed, it will be the alumni’s turn to speak. And while graduates will bring their own perspectives to the conversation, I’m betting we will hear many of the same themes touched on by faculty and students.

For more on the presidential search, go to Presidential Search News.

By Meg Cullar, News Editor, the Baylor Line

A few weeks ago, I ran into an art professor friend. And it was a very good thing, because he reminded me that the student-faculty art show was currently on display at the Martin Museum of Art in the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center. Visiting the show is one of my favorite things to do, so I was glad not to miss it this year. I do enjoy seeing the work of the faculty, especially those who are my friends and former professors, but I confess it’s the student work that is the real draw for me. The range of diversity and creativity is always amazing and inspiring.

This year’s student work included more than eighty pieces of art, ranging from traditional drawings, paintings, and photography to sculptures of wood, ceramic, steel, Styrofoam, cast bronze, and several sculptures of fiber and yarnish materials. One sculpture was made of trash bags and jute, and a wall hanging was billed as a “recycled newspaper weave.”

When I first entered the show, the wall of fiber work to the right immediately captured my attention. That’s where the newspaper work was located, but the centerpiece was a fabric work titled Rebirth (pictured above left). An interpretation of the head of Venus from Boticelli’s famous Birth of Venus painting (you may think of it as Venus on the Half-Shell–most people do), the fabric work was made from one-inch squares of hand-dyed fabrics. I can’t even imagine how long it took for artist Isioma Azu to create such a thing! I counted thirty-four squares across, and it was twice as high. The pieces were embellished with strategically placed zigzag stitching. The entire show is a juried one (the works are judged before being included), but this piece was tagged as a “Juror’s Choice,” which I suppose means I wasn’t the only person impressed with it.

Another Juror’s Choice went to a wooden sculpture called Beetle, by Camille Hawbaker, and you can see why in the photo at right. The precision of her work is just stunning. I tried to Google to find out the names of some of the types of joints used to hold the wood together, thinking I would impress readers with my knowledge, but I couldn’t even figure out what to call the joints! Just take my word for it that the intricacy is even more beautiful in person.

I like the way the sculpture suggests a beetle, but isn’t exactly a beetle. The structure of the piece actually alludes to some kind of bones, like a rib cage, which of course, a beetle does not have. This must be either humorous or profound–I’m not sure which. That may be one reason I’m not an art critic. I just know what I like, and I like the Beetle.

The piece in the background of the photo, with the record in the middle, is called Charlie Pride and was produced by Mallory Bean with beautiful wood and plates of metal. I Googled Charlie Pride too, just to refresh my memory, and the likeness is indeed impressive! Also behind the beetle, on the left, is Emily Ross’s delightful chubby teapot not more than six inches high. I just love chubby teapots, and this is a fine one.

Another show-stopper, hanging along the back wall of Gallery I, was the large (maybe six feet tall) oil painting of an elephant called Caged Giant. Also a Juror’s Award, it was painted by Clara Dutton. It’s hard to tell in a photograph (left), but the painting has a lot of texture to it, almost replicating the quality of animal skin. The artist’s choice of the extreme close-up of an elephant turned out to be really interesting. Although it’s nowhere near the actual size of an elephant, you definitely get the feeling of the hugeness of the animal. In fact, the closed-in quality of the painting makes it seem larger-than-life when it’s truly not. How clever those art students are.

Unfortunately for you, the student show is now over. It ended on April 15. So you have missed all this artistic genius on display. You missed the elephant, the beetle, and the Venus, not to mention the nostalgic kitchen sink painting, the fabulous watercolor of a xylophone, a colorful four-tiered bowl, poignant photos, ominous lithographs, majestic works of steel, and dozens of other totally cool things.

But not to worry. Next week is the “BFA Exhibition,” showing the work of seniors who are earning the bachelor of fine arts degree. It runs only from April 21-25, so don’t dilly dally. Get on over to the Martin Museum. It’s free, and it’s fun.

By Judy Henderson Prather ‘73, DMin ‘02
Communications Coordinator

Ahh, springtime in Texas! Some people claim that Texas only has two seasons—cold and hot—but during a few glorious weeks in March and April, we get our version of spring. Some people call it simply “bluebonnet time.”

When it’s still cold and gray, the question begins to circulate, “Wonder how good they’ll be this year?” Well, I’m here to tell you, this has been a good year for bluebonnets. On a recent daytrip to Baylor’s original campus in Independence with the Baylor Institute for Learning in Retirement, the BILR folks and I oohed and aahed our way down and back, enjoying roadsides and fields from Waco to Washington County that were blanketed in blue.

According to the Texas Cooperative Extension website, bluebonnets are a source of Texas pride because the two predominant species are found growing naturally only in Texas and at no other location in the world. And historian Jack Maguire wrote, “The bluebonnet is to Texas what the shamrock is to Ireland, the cherry blossom to Japan, the lily to France, the rose to England, and the tulip to Holland.”

Another website—TexasBob.com—explains how thousands take to the highways and byways of Texas every spring to view the splendor of Indian paintbrush, black-eyed Susans, and other wild flowers. But the main bloom they’re looking for is Lupinus texensis, the state flower of Texas.

According to Texas Bob, claims for the best place to view these springtime beauties is as much a matter of civic pride as anything else that a small town can lay claim to, and every chamber of commerce from every town of any size in the Texas Hill Country say theirs is best. But there’s only one “official” bluebonnet festival, and it’s right down the road from Baylor’s original campus at Independence.

In Washington County, at the small town of Chappell Hill, they annually host the “Bluebonnet Festival of Texas.” This year it’s scheduled for April 18-19, and you may want to check out this website: the Chappell Hill page on Texas Bob’s website.

If you just want to learn more about “Lupinus texensis” themselves, check out this website: Bluebonnet story.

And if you do go to the festival, allow time for a drive over to Independence for a view of those famous columns at Baylor’s original female campus. The park is a source of Baylor and Texas pride on any day—especially in bluebonnet time.

By Todd Copeland

Editor, The Baylor Line

I want to share a few thoughts about the impact that one gift from one person can have. The gift I have in mind is a monetary one, but gifts of other kinds can certainly be just as significant to the lives of others.

In this case, the person was the late Virginia Beall Ball, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Baylor University in 1940 and would later receive an honorary doctorate from the school. She could be described in a number of ways–a Texan, a civic leader, world traveler, a businesswoman, a pilot, a philanthropist. But she was also a lover of poetry and a tireless and generous patron of the arts. She had been a student under Baylor’s legendary English professor A. J. Armstrong, even serving as curator of the Browning Room. That is where she learned to love the power of language, a lesson that stuck with her through her life.

Back in the 1980s, Virginia endowed the Beall-Russell Lectures in the Humanities. It is a series that has brought many notable authors and intellectuals to campus. But my focus is the gift she made to Baylor in December 1993, when she established the John A. and DeLouise McClelland Beall Endowed Fund for the Beall Poetry Festival at Baylor to honor her parents and to encourage the writing and appreciation of poetry.

One of the activities required by the agreement between Virginia and Baylor was the staging of a three- to five-day festival of contemporary poetry. Thus, in the spring of 1995, the first edition of the annual Beall Poetry Festival took place.

I have had the privilege of serving on the festival’s steering committee since the event’s inception–the College of Arts and Sciences dean has been generous to include an “outsider” among the esteemed professors serving on the committee–and this year’s festival, held March 26-28, was the fifteenth edition. Hard to believe that fifteen years has passed by so quickly!

With one of the largest endowments of any such event in the country, the Beall Poetry Festival is able to bring some of the most accomplished poets and critics around to Baylor. And as has been the case every year since 1995, this year we brought several prominent poets and poetry critics to campus for readings, a panel discussion, and a lecture. All the events, which were held in the Armstrong Browning Library’s grand Foyer of Meditation, were free, and the place was consistently full of students, faculty, locals from the Waco area, and even some folks who had come in from Dallas and other cities.

This year’s participants were (pictured, l-r) David Lehman, who began the Best American Poetry series in 1988; C. D. Wright, who has received a Macarthur Foundation “genius” grant; Donald Hall, who recently served as U.S. poet laureate; and Peter Fallon, an Irish poet.

Because of Virginia Ball’s gift, Baylor students have had the opportunity to meet some of the most prominent writers of their time and to hear them read from their work. For some students, I am sure it has been an eye-opening, horizon-expanding, and perhaps life-changing experience. I know that when I was a Baylor student, hearing the Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes deliver a speech at Baylor (as part of the Beall-Russell lecture series) was a pivotal experience in my becoming a writer.

Because of Virginia, we have literally brought the world of poetry to campus, and Baylor students have been the greatest beneficiaries of her generosity and guiding spirit. The list of the previous sixty-two Beall Poetry Festival participants includes more than a dozen Pulitzer Prize winners, several National Book Award winners, a few U.S. poets laureate (Anthony Hecht, Mark Strand, Mona Van Duyn, Robert Hass, Robert Pinsky, Billy Collins, Louise Gluck, Donald Hall, and Charles Simic), and even one Nobel Prize winner (Derek Walcott). A full list can be found at http://www.baylor.edu/beall/index.php?id=2290.

As I do every year when the Beall Poetry Festival comes around, I think how significant to the life of Baylor the vision and gifts of Virginia Ball have been. Though she is gone now, having died in 2003, the annual poetry festival at Baylor is still marked by her spirit.

Thank you, Virginia.