BIC · Dr. Anne-Marie Schulz Baylor Interdisciplinary Core Best wishes to you all, BIC 2011 BIC...

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Dr. Anne-Marie Schulz Baylor Interdisciplinary Core Best wishes to you all, BIC 2011 BIC Homecoming Events Friday, November 4th 2:45 p.m. Alumni Lecture: The Un-lived Life Is Not Worth Examining - John Garland (‘03) and Abby Morton Garland (‘03) Location: Bobo Spiritual Life Center (open to the public) 3:45 p.m. Dr. Pepper Hour Location: Bobo Spiritual Life Center (open to the public) 5:30p.m. BIC Faculty & Alumni Reception Location: The Long Residence 9100 Acorn, Waco, TX 76712 Saturday, November 5th TBA Tailgate-potluck sponsored by BICLC (BIC Student Leadership Council) 2011 Baylor Homecoming Events Friday, November 4th 6-11 p.m. Bonfire Saturday, November 5th TBA BU vs. Missourri A Note from the Director... Hello BIC Alumni, I hope this letter finds each of you well. First, I wanted to thank all of you for sending so many updates about what you are doing with your lives. It is so gratifying to see BIC students out there and flourishing in the world. One of the drawbacks of being a teacher is that you don’t always get to see “how things turn out.” It is sort of like starting to read a novel and then for some reason, you never get to the end of it, and there’s always a small question in the back of your mind about how the author works out the various plot lines. Second, I encourage all of you to attend the Second Annual BIC Homecom- ing Events. We are pleased to have John and Abby Garland giving the Alumni address, “e Un-lived Life is Not Worth Examining.” Skye Perryman did an excellent job last year, and we enjoyed visiting with those of you who attended the lecture and festivities. is year we’ve changed the order of some of the events: we moved the faculty alumni reception to Friday evening, and Mark and Lisa Long will host it in their home. I’m starting my third year as the director of BIC and I must say that I love the job even more than when I started it. It is such an exciting time to be in- volved with the BIC. We’ve hired several new faculty over the past few years, including two this year, Candy Cann, and Sam Perry. In fact, Sam is BIC alum himself. We’ve had many BIC alums teach in BIC during their grad careers at Baylor, but Sam is our first full time hire. Next year, we’ll be looking to hire a new full time lecturer, so if you know of any good candidates, please encour- age them to apply! We are also offering several new capstones. I’m teaching one on Yoga and Philosophy. Some of you may remember trekking over to Walter Reeces’ house or out to the Waco Family Y for yoga active learning or taking yoga with me out at Lakeshore Baptist. Well, this long term “hobby” of mine has come to fruition in a new capstone. In this practice-based class, we explore the various ways that traditional yoga philosophy and asana practice has be- come an important aspect of self-care for millions of Americans. As such,yoga provides a concrete model of the examined life. We will examine the benefits of this model over the course of the semester. In each class, we discuss yoga philosophy for 15-20 minutes and do a yoga asana practice 50-75 minutes. Ten students have enrolled, and a few Baylor faculty and staff are auditing the course, including BIC alum, Beth Womack, now lecturer in English here at Baylor and eresa Williams, office manager of the BIC. Other news of note: We now have many BIC classes, Biblical Heritage, Cap- stone, even Social World I, offered through summer and semester long study abroad programs: Baylor in Oxford, Baylor in Maastricht and the new Baylor in Greece and Turkey. Plans are still in the making for a BIC in the Middle East. Check out BIC stu- dents’ re- flections on their summer 2011 ex- periences in the following pages. In is Issue “Odyssey through Greek and Turkish History and Culture” page 2 “Examing the Life and Rhetoric Another World Culture: A Truly Interdisciplinary Italian Summer” page 2 “Bears in Oxford” page 3 “Kenya: Mission of Healing and Hope” page 3 “Introducing Rotarian Romero” page 4 “9/11 and e Principle of Unintended Consequences: A BIC Professor’s Reflection” page 4 “Faculty Updates” page 5 “Alumni Updates” page 6

Transcript of BIC · Dr. Anne-Marie Schulz Baylor Interdisciplinary Core Best wishes to you all, BIC 2011 BIC...

Page 1: BIC · Dr. Anne-Marie Schulz Baylor Interdisciplinary Core Best wishes to you all, BIC 2011 BIC Homecoming Events Friday, November 4th 2:45 p.m. Alumni Lecture: The Un-lived Life

Dr. Anne-Marie Schulz Baylor Interdisciplinary Core

Best wishes to you all,

BIC

2011 BIC Homecoming Events

Friday, November 4th

2:45 p.m. Alumni Lecture: The Un-lived Life Is Not Worth Examining - John Garland (‘03) and Abby Morton Garland (‘03) Location: Bobo Spiritual Life Center (open to the public) 3:45 p.m. Dr. Pepper Hour Location: Bobo Spiritual Life Center (open to the public)

5:30p.m. BIC Faculty & Alumni Reception Location: The Long Residence 9100 Acorn, Waco, TX 76712

Saturday, November 5th

TBA Tailgate-potluck sponsored by BICLC (BIC Student Leadership Council)

2011 Baylor Homecoming Events Friday, November 4th

6-11 p.m. Bonfire

Saturday, November 5th

TBA BU vs. Missourri

A Note from the Director...Hello BIC Alumni, I hope this letter finds each of you well. First, I wanted to thank all of you for sending so many updates about what you are doing with your lives. It is so gratifying to see BIC students out there and flourishing in the world. One of the drawbacks of being a teacher is that you don’t always get to see “how things turn out.” It is sort of like starting to read a novel and then for some reason, you never get to the end of it, and there’s always a small question in the back of your mind about how the author works out the various plot lines. Second, I encourage all of you to attend the Second Annual BIC Homecom-ing Events. We are pleased to have John and Abby Garland giving the Alumni address, “The Un-lived Life is Not Worth Examining.” Skye Perryman did an excellent job last year, and we enjoyed visiting with those of you who attended the lecture and festivities. This year we’ve changed the order of some of the events: we moved the faculty alumni reception to Friday evening, and Mark and Lisa Long will host it in their home. I’m starting my third year as the director of BIC and I must say that I love the job even more than when I started it. It is such an exciting time to be in-volved with the BIC. We’ve hired several new faculty over the past few years, including two this year, Candy Cann, and Sam Perry. In fact, Sam is BIC alum himself. We’ve had many BIC alums teach in BIC during their grad careers at Baylor, but Sam is our first full time hire. Next year, we’ll be looking to hire a new full time lecturer, so if you know of any good candidates, please encour-age them to apply! We are also offering several new capstones. I’m teaching one on Yoga and Philosophy. Some of you may remember trekking over to Walter Reeces’ house or out to the Waco Family Y for yoga active learning or taking yoga with me out at Lakeshore Baptist. Well, this long term “hobby” of mine has come to fruition in a new capstone. In this practice-based class, we explore the various ways that traditional yoga philosophy and asana practice has be-come an important aspect of self-care for millions of Americans. As such,yoga provides a concrete model of the examined life. We will examine the benefits of this model over the course of the semester. In each class, we discuss yoga philosophy for 15-20 minutes and do a yoga asana practice 50-75 minutes. Ten students have enrolled, and a few Baylor faculty and staff are auditing the course, including BIC alum, Beth Womack, now lecturer in English here at Baylor and Theresa Williams, office manager of the BIC. Other news of note: We now have many BIC classes, Biblical Heritage, Cap-stone, even Social World I, offered through summer and semester long study abroad programs: Baylor in Oxford, Baylor in Maastricht and the new Baylor in Greece and Turkey. Plans are still in the making for a BIC in the Middle East.

Check out BIC stu-dents’ re-flections on their s u m m e r 2011 ex-periences in the following pages.

In This Issue“Odyssey through Greek and Turkish History and Culture” page 2

“Examing the Life and Rhetoric Another World Culture: A Truly Interdisciplinary Italian Summer” page 2

“Bears in Oxford” page 3

“Kenya: Mission of Healing and Hope” page 3

“Introducing Rotarian Romero” page 4

“9/11 and The Principle of Unintended Consequences: A BIC Professor’s Reflection” page 4

“Faculty Updates” page 5 “Alumni Updates” page 6

Page 2: BIC · Dr. Anne-Marie Schulz Baylor Interdisciplinary Core Best wishes to you all, BIC 2011 BIC Homecoming Events Friday, November 4th 2:45 p.m. Alumni Lecture: The Un-lived Life

Istanbul, Turkey. The time is 4:30 AM. Beating in time with our inter-nal alarm clocks, the Blue Mosque shouts in Arabic over minaret loud-speakers: God is Greatest. I bear witness that there is no God except the

One God. I bear witness that Muhammad is God’s Messen-ger. Come to prayer. Come to success. God is greatest. There is no god except Allah. Waking to the sunrise call to prayer was just one of the many experiences that our group of twelve witnessed during our month long study abroad adventure through

Turkey and Greece. Composed of five Baylor and one Notre Dame stu-dents, three professors, and three family members, we traveled from Istanbul down the western coast of Turkey, before flying to Athens and working our way up to northern Greece. Our classes took place along our journey: in hotel lobbies, en route on the bus and even on the beach! I took two courses, the BIC Examined Life II: Biblical Heritage and Contemporary Ethical Issues and the BIC Examined Life III Capstone: Special Topics courses, both with Dr. Anne-Marie Schultz. These cours-es not only complemented each other, but enhanced my intake and un-derstanding of the rich cultural, philosophical and religious histories of the two countries. As a Medical Humanities major on the pre-health track, I enjoyed visiting the Asclepion of Pergamum, one of the largest healing centers of the ancient world, and learning about their emphasis on holistic heal-ing. We went to many fascinating religious sites: we traveled with Paul on his missionary journeys to Ephesus, Corinth, Athens, Berea and Thessalonica. We visited the magnificent Blue Mosque and Hagia So-

phia of Istanbul, the elaborately decorated Greek Orthodox monasteries and nunneries crowning the rocks of Meteora, the great Greek Ortho-dox Cathedral of St. Demetrius in Thessalonica as well as the Parthe-non, Aphrodisias, and the Temple of Emperor Hadrian in Pergamum. Other notable academic destinations included Miletus, the birth place of Western philosophy, Assos, home to Aristotle for a number of years, and the ancient agora of Athens, where Socrates and other philoso-phers discussed. Throughout our odyssey, we experienced the Greek and Turkish cultures through sampling local cuisine, speaking the na-tive tongue, mingling with commuters on the busses and metros, and of course observing the sights on the streets and the sounds in the air. Personally, I enjoyed Turkey more than Greece. For starters, we touched and even climbed on Turkish ruins, we were less hassled by large crowds and the admission fees were generally more inexpensive. Not only do the Turkish people exude a unique care-freeness and friend-liness, but it is truly an experience to live in a country that is primar-ily Muslim. I have ob-served a sampling of the ways in which the Islamic worldview has shaped the Turk-ish world and through analysis and reflection in my classes, I can also see clearer the ways in which Christianity has molded America. I would recommend Turkey for anybody who has not been. Its beauty derives from more than the skyline of mosques and country-side shim-mering with olive trees, but also from the personality of the Turkish people and their communities, and the history of its diverse beliefs and ideologies.

Odyssey through Greek and Turkish History and Culture

BIC junior Brent Salter spent his summer in Italy, and came across some interesting individuals: Dante, Machiavelli, foreign diplomats, Air Force Two, and Joe Biden. You know, just the usual people BIC-ers socialize with regularly. Brent interned with the American Embassy in Rome, Italy, this past summer. Incorporat-ing his journalism studies, his dailywork for the embassy ranged from do-ing necessary paper work, writing arti-cles for the State Magazine, and helping to keep the place running. As the only intern, he worked with the entire staff and immersed himself in Embassy cul-ture. But, of course Baylor was never too far. Brent mentioned he even met a Baylor Bear who practiced law for ten years before entering the Foreign Service as a political advisor. As a representative of the American Embassy in Rome, Brent had some amazing professional opportunities to work with the FBI, the Se-cret Service, and even Vice President Joe Biden and his wife to organize

their Fourth of July reception at their executive residence. Brent says that his favorite assignment was working with Congress-woman Marcy Kaptur to help coordinate congressional delegation re-garding American affairs in Europe. “As part of my work with the delegation, I got to go on a private tour of the Vatican, travel through the exclusive necropolis beneath St. Peter’s Basilica where Saint Peter is buried, and attend an intimate congressio-nal dinner at a nice restaurant,” Brent explained. During his downtime (if BIC-ers really have downtime), Brent re-membered a few of his BIC classes and took in some culture, including Diego Velásquez’s “Las Meninas” in Madrid and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. “I would read the New York Times at the embassy and think of Rhetoric. Even when I was at the top of St. Peter’s Basilica with the wind whipping around me, I was thinking back to Natural World and how it was air moving from an area of high concentration to low con-centration. “ So, as much as we try to escape its grasps, BIC stays with us—even halfway across the world!

Examing the Life and Rhetoric Another World Culture: A Truly Interdisciplinary Italian Summer

By David Lau, ‘12

By Suzanna Nelson ‘12

Return To “In This Issue”

Return To “In This Issue”

Page 3: BIC · Dr. Anne-Marie Schulz Baylor Interdisciplinary Core Best wishes to you all, BIC 2011 BIC Homecoming Events Friday, November 4th 2:45 p.m. Alumni Lecture: The Un-lived Life

Bears in Oxford I attended the Baylor in Oxford Program dur-ing the second summer session this past July. The program began with a group trip to Dublin, which remained charming even throughout a whirlwind, jam-packed, jetlagged weekend. Most of us came straight from Central Texas’ parched landscape, so Ireland’s lush greenery and waterways were particu-larly shocking. Before the novel weather could wear off, our group flew to London, where we spent a few more days sightseeing, show-going, and shopping. Arriving at Oxford was a strangely serene expe-rience. Our time in Britain up to that point was exhilarating and action-packed, and with all of our attempts to cram every available minute with our surroundings, I didn’t realize how exhaust-ing the trip was until our first night at Christ Church. Perhaps it was the slower pace of Oxford, the care provided by the college’s lovely staff, or the fabulous meals served in the Great Hall, but Christ Church was alarmingly easy to settle into. Once unpacked and rested, we began classes in the same place that inspired Carroll’s Wonder-land, Lewis’ Narnia, and Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Baylor in Oxford allowed us to connect with our coursework in an experience-driven manner very characteristic of the BIC’s teaching philosophy. The Oxford Christians class got the opportunity to visit C.S. Lewis’ home, the Kilns, as well as his gravesite, near which we held a discussion on one of Lewis’ novels. It provided an intimate (albeit, slightly morbid) picture of one of the most influential fan-tasist writ- ers in the E n g l i s h language. The BIC capstone, which fo- cuses on B r i t i s h phi loso-phy and imperial-ism, vis- ited the B r i t i s h Mus eum and the H.M.S. Victory in order to glimpse a frag-ment of the former empire’s scope. After a while, everything we saw related to imperialism in some way because it all imbued historical significance. Baylor in Oxford was a wonderful experience for my academic and personal development. The month-long change in scenery not only revitalized my jaded interest in once-loved subjects; it also al-lowed me to leave my own country and experience a different culture. With the latter, I gained price-less perspective on my own country. It made me stop and consider the values I inherited, which I often take for granted. For everything I loved and learned in Britain, I am grateful; for returning to my home with fresh eyes, I am forever appreciative. Return To “In This Issue”

“We treat, Jesus heals” read the entry sign to Tenwek Mission Hospital in ru-ral western Kenya. Tenwek hospital was just a brief stop between our two weeks of ministry in Kenya, and this slogan aptly reflected the spirit of the physical and spiritual ministry that our team of 32, including five doctors, three dentists, a physical therapist and seven pharma-cists, did while on our medical mis-sions trip in Kenya with the Christian Medical Dental Association (CMDA). In just eight days of medical clinic, we served almost 4000 patients. Beyond that, we participated in God’s work of sharing the gospel of salvation of Jesus Christ. During our first week, we met the people of the Namanga area in southern Kenya, which included Somali Muslims, the na-tive Maasai people with their beautiful clothing and colorful beaded jewelry, Tanzanians and Kenyans. Throughout those four days I got the opportunity to both shadow the physicians as well as spend time with the children. Through conversing with them, I learned a lot about the Muslim faith as well as Ke-nyan culture and they heard the good news of Jesus and gained knowledge about America. Although the BIC has taught me much about Islam in the past, I truly cherish the experience of bond-ing with Muslims in Kenya face to face. After a weekend of rest, marveling God’s creation on a safari, visiting a Maa-sai village, touring Tenwek Hospital and dining with the local missionary doc-tors, we headed to Nairobi for our sec-ond week of ministry in Dandora, the second largest slum in Kenya. Dandora lies on a trash dump. It is rumored that half of the trash from Nairobi remains in the trash dump and the other half ends up littered across Dandora. We were

humbled to visit the dump and witness the people there who make a living pick-ing out clothes to resell. In Dandora we worked out of the Kenyago Dandora Pri-mary School which is run by the Kenya Children’s Fund. Every day the local Pastor David would preach to the patients wait-ing using a microphone. Systematically, he would observe who the last patient in the line was, so that when that patient made it past the front, he would preach again to ensure that everybody heard the gospel. For every person who raised their hand to respond to his message, he wrote down their phone numbers for follow-up. All in all, it was a tiring, but fruitful and rewarding time of ministry in Kenya. I saw so much Truth in Kenya, from the beauty of the landscape to the friendliness of the people and the native practices of the vari-ous cultures that I encountered. In addi-tion, I was amazed that despite their abject poverty, all of the Kenyans I met greeted me with a firm hand shake and a smile saying “Jambo”, meaning hello in Swa-hili, and welcomed me with kindness de-spite my status as “mzungu” or foreigner. Their joy was simply contagious. I thank God for all the experiences I had in Ke-nya and all of the friends that I made. I hope and pray that one day I may return to Kenya…perhaps as a doctor myself.

Kenya: Mission of Healing and Hope

By Toni Nogalski ‘12

By David Lau ‘13

Page 4: BIC · Dr. Anne-Marie Schulz Baylor Interdisciplinary Core Best wishes to you all, BIC 2011 BIC Homecoming Events Friday, November 4th 2:45 p.m. Alumni Lecture: The Un-lived Life

Throughout the BIC, course after course, we are told to explore the world. To implore within and then to use the fruition of that contemplation to act—that is to be our greatest contribution as alumni of our beloved program. Taking all her knowledge about World Cultures, Rhetoric, the Examined Life, etc., Daniella Romero, a ’10 alum, recently moved to Geneva as a Rotary Ambassa-dor Scholar. Rotary International offers scholar-ships to students to further international understanding and friendly relations among people of different countries. Romero will spend this year serving as an ambassador giving presentations and being a part of the Rotary project Smaller World Bigger Friendships. Upon return, she will then share about her Genevan experience and how the project was accepted there. Romero joins the 1.2 million Rotarians who take steps toward mak-ing the world a better and smaller place. Of her journey Romero ex-presses her excitement, “I discovered that the world becomes small when we realize so many of us are fighting for the same dream and that dream becomes bigger as we realize the power we have when we work

Introducing Rotarian Romero

In 1765, the British Parliament made a serious miscalculation. It passed what would become known as the Stamp Act. The aim, of course, was to raise revenues by taxing American colonists directly and to assert imperial control. But the act had several unintended conse-quences. The colonists refused assent. Instead, they formed commit-tees of correspondence--a precursor Facebook protest--to share strate-gies of resistance. They called for an inter-colonial meeting, the Stamp Act Congress, which met significantly . . . in New York. Various pro-test groups coalesced, forming “The Sons of Liberty,” best known for their tea party eight years later in Boston Harbor. And one of their best known members? Patrick “give me liberty or give me death” Hen-ry. Most importantly, the Stamp Act was part of a series of events that lead to the crystallization of ideas from intellectual trends like Lockean liberalism, civic humanism, classical republicanism, English common law. To this we owe the miracle of 1776 and 1787: the articulation of ideas about human dignity, representative government, equality before law. And subsequently, America shared these ideas with the world. Two weeks ago, Al-Jazeera shared dramatic footage of Syrian pro-testors braving government thugs to march in the streets in protest. Several protestors carried a banner that stretched almost the width of the street. Written in Arabic were the words, “Liberty or death.” The principle of unintended consequences. December 1941. The attack on Pearl Harbor evoked the same principle. America became, in fact, the “Arsenal of Democra-cy” for European allies of which President Roosevelt had spoken a year earlier. The war at last lifted America out of the Great De-pression. And what followed the war was the largest and lon-gest peacetime expansion of the American economy to date. Unintended consequences. Ten years ago today, Osama bin Ladin attacked the United States. That day is a horror that shows how impoverished our language can sometimes be. How to describe the loss and the enduring pain? But even here there were profound, unintended consequences. We know

9/11 and The Principle of Unintended Consequences: A BIC Professor’s Reflectionnow from other records that Osama miscalculated. His thought was that we’d leave the region, drawing the wrong parallel to the 1983 bombing of the Marines in Beirut when over 250 people were killed. Instead we stayed, and just less than 10 years later, Navy Seals would come to his door. But other things happened as well, for which he hadn’t planned. Most prominently, an Arab Spring came, which has stunningly repudiated both tyrannical rule and his hoped-for ca-liphate. Arabs don’t want a Taliban-like regime. They want what we want: representative government, economic opportunity, dignity. But the principle of unintended consequences came to Baylor Uni-versity, as well. At the time of the attack, Baylor had one Arabic teacher and limited courses in the area. Immediately, the numbers of students in Arabic and Middle East Studies tripled, a level Baylor has since retained. Students have felt compelled to engage the region academically, and parse out its truths from Osama bin Ladin’s mon-strous distortions. Now they have gone forth, to Morocco, Libya, Egypt, Iraq, and Afghanistan, committed to fulfilling Baylor’s vision of preparing young men and women for lives of worldwide leader-ship and service. Some have gone in the military. Some have joined NGOs. Some have gone forth as teachers. Osama didn’t intend that. Perhaps you missed it yesterday, but the Islamic Caliphate of Af-ghanistan (the Taliban) issued its own statement about 9/11. In the statement, the Taliban boasted that they were ready for an ex-tended fight, for they have been equipped with a special weap-on, the weapon of faith. Against that, the Taliban have de-clared, America has nothing in its arsenal which can deter it.But the Taliban, of course, like Osama bin Ladin, are wrong. Baylor is graduating students with hearts strengthened by faith and minds sharpened like steel. They want to engage the world, to do so courageously, compassionately, intelligently.An hour before coming over, I opened an e-mail from a Baylor gradu-ate, class of 2010. She and her new husband have recently arrived in the

together.” That is the goal of Smaller World Bigger Friendships. By working with Genevan youth, Romero will be helping them to devel-op leadership and speaking skills through activities geared on intro-ducing students to global affairs and different countries. Informing students on how big the world is makes it seem a little smaller, and by meeting with these students, Romero will develop cross-cultural, foreign friendships that reinforce the idea of a small world. While in Geneva, Romero is also studying Law at the Graduate In-stitute at the University Of Geneva. Accord-ing to her blogs, she loves her time in her new home. Adjusting is taking its time, but she raves about school and the beauty of her surroundings! Stay up-dated with all that she does over the course of this amazing year at: http//chocolatecheeseanddiplomacy.blogspot.com/ and learn more about the project at smallerworldbiggerfriendships.

By Maggie Emerson ‘12

Continued on the next page

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Page 5: BIC · Dr. Anne-Marie Schulz Baylor Interdisciplinary Core Best wishes to you all, BIC 2011 BIC Homecoming Events Friday, November 4th 2:45 p.m. Alumni Lecture: The Un-lived Life

Lydia Bean is currently teaching Social World I, Social World II and a seminar on Social Theory. She is currently writ-ing a book called The Politics of Evangeli-cal Identity: Local Churches and Partisan Divides in the U.S. and Canada. In her free time, she enjoys weight lifting, spend-ing time with her sweetheart, and walking her two dogs, greyhound mixes named Hesed and Zedakah. In May 2010, Dr.

Bean was invited to China to speak about religion and civic engagement at Bei-jing’s University of Science and Technology. She was excited to meet fellow soci-ologists working in China,

and talk about religion and civil society with graduate students from a variety of social science and engineering fields.

Candi Cann joins us from Hawaii, where she taught World Religions for the last five years while completing her Ph.D. In Comparative Reli-gions from Harvard University. She is still recovering from her move and enjoying the nearly tropical weath-er in the plains of Central Texas, but meanwhile, is teaching WC1, WCV and Social World for the BIC.

Sharon Conry spent this summer updating the Natural World sequence

to incoporate the expertise of the new faculty, NW I to include Neuroscience.

Consequently, she wrote two new labs that deal with Drug Interaction and the Brain which will be included in the fall cur-riculum. Finally, the most fun she had this summer

included spending three weeks with her two grandsons; ages 3 and 6. Of particu-lar note; her six year old grandson built a volcano complete with exploding magma!

Mark Long, Na’ib Shaykh al-BIC (as-sistant director of the BIC), joined six other faculty from across the U.S. on a study tour of Morocco, June/July 2011. The team travelled to Casablanca, Ribat, Fez, Marrakesh, and the Sahara Desert, meeting with other academics, journal-ists, and government personnel. The trip highlight came on July 1st when the team saw firsthand the cel-ebrations following the successful refer-endum on a new national constitution.

Chuck McDaniel is teaching Social World I in the BIC and the Seminar on Church and State in the United States in the Daw-son Institute of Church-State Studies this fall, after a summer of research/writing on financial ethics and motorcycle riding in the Texas heat. He recently completed an

article “Theology of the ‘Real Economy’: Christian Economic Ethics in an Age of Financialization” that was published in the Journal of Religion and Business Ethics. He looks forward to some budgetary relief this Decem-ber with the hopeful gradu-ation of his oldest son from Houston Baptist University. He remains active in Habi-tat for Humanity, serving as a faculty advisor for the Baylor Habitat Student Organization and also serving as a board member for the local Waco affiliate.

This summer, Sam Perry (‘03) finished and defended his dissertation, “The Re-appropriation of Lynching Photographs in the Antilynching Movement of the 1930’s.” This fall, he will continue work on the topic of lynching and the intersec-

tion of text and image in arguments protesting ra-cial violence. Currently, he is finishing a revision of an article to the South-ern Communication Jour-

nal dealing with Douglas MacArthur’s “Old Soldiers Never Die” speech and the frontier myth in American foreign policy.

Lynn Tatum continues to split his time teaching WC II, Biblical Heritage, Cap-stone, and WC V for BIC and courses in the Religion Department. His primary extra-Baylor speaking engagements have focused on Academic Freedom issues and the responsibility of professors to teach controversial issues (why would a belly-dancing, Baptist, religion prof who teaches on Middle Eastern issues be con-cerned about controversy?). He has been invited to speak at several universities and academic conferences in Florida, Kentucky, Tex-as, and D.C. He is the immediate past-presi-dent of the Texas Con-ference of the American Association of University Professors and serves on the executive committee of the national organization. He also serves on the board of the Baylor Alumni Association.

Faculty Updates

region. This young woman is brilliant, one of the most capable students I have ever had. But her heart, with her Aggie guy, is to serve in an area of great need. I opened the link in the e-mail to her blog. Here is what she wrote, newly arrived at a home halfway around the globe. ‘People are so important. I was sitting here to-night, thinking about the last few weeks. This is a hard country. It is hard to live here. In this place, the need for community, love, and rela-tionship is desperately clear. We have had to

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES continued from page 4

adapt to difficult circumstances. When life is dusty and brown, only a little color is needed to drastically change the atmosphere. We have been fortunate to find several loving couples who think about others, not just themselves.” People who think of others. That is at the heart of Baylor’s academic enterprise: equip-ping exceptionally well-educated students who go forth to other places, hard places, be-cause they are thinking of others. Not inci-dentally, this young woman and her new hus-band are serving in . . Afghanistan. Osama bin Ladin didn’t intend that.

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Page 6: BIC · Dr. Anne-Marie Schulz Baylor Interdisciplinary Core Best wishes to you all, BIC 2011 BIC Homecoming Events Friday, November 4th 2:45 p.m. Alumni Lecture: The Un-lived Life

Xin Wang led a group of 14 Baylor stu-dents for a five-week study abroad pro-gram in China. The students studied at Ts-inghua University and travelled together on the Yangtze River. Xin spent the rest of summer taking care of his one-year-old son Patrick. In addition, he was invited to DC by the US Depart-ment of Education for a grant r e v i e w . D u r i n g his week in DC, he met up with Travis Hobbs, a former BIC student, who just graduated from the School of Advanced Internation-al Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Jason Whitlark has published 3 articles, one dealing with the thorny problem of the structure of Hebrews in the journal

New Testament Stud-ies. He also celebrated 10 years of marriage with his wife, Jennifer, on Aug 11, 2011. A group from his church was sent to Lebanon in July 2011 to assist Brent Hammoud

(a former BIC student) in his work at an orphanage there, Dar El Awlad.

This spring, Lenore Wright accepted the position of interim director of Bay-lor’s Academy for Teaching and Learning (ATL). This appointment enables her to work with engaging and inspiring faculty colleagues on teaching-related initiatives. She continues to teach World Cultures III in the fall semester and Feminism in the spring semester. On the research front, she has made good progress on a second monograph—The Learned Anatomist: Philosophical Perspec-tives on Anatomical Art—and has completed two articles on feminist thought, one of which will ap-pear in a forthcoming edited volume titled

Feminism and Popular Culture. Her son, “HW,” is five years old and extremely bossy! She says: “This past Saturday he refused to eat the supper I prepared for him and boldly advised me to ‘try again.’ Parenting is much more challenging than teaching and learning!” Drop by to see her in Jones Library 206 next time you’re in Waco.

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Alumni Updates

1998 Graduates

January Serur Pfiester (‘98) Along with husband Winston Pfiester (BBA 1998), celebrated the 1 year anniversary of their aviation business, Aero Centex, in Georgetown, TX. They also welcomed their first son, Branson Edward Serur Pfiester, into the world on December 26, 2010.

2002 Graduates

After graduating, Ryan Copeland (‘02) worked as a CPS caseworker and then supervisor before moving to be a foster parent at Baptist Children’s Home in Round Rock with his wife. In 2007 he re-entered the Navy and is currently a Hospital Corpsman assigned to 8th Marine Regiment, Regimental Aid Station, Camp LeJeune as the Limited Duty Coordinator. Previously, he was assigned to 1st Battalion 8th Marines here. He did one deployment with 1/8 to Iraq last year and is working up to deploy to Afghanistan early next year.

2003 Graduates Michael Barrera (‘03) completed his Law Degree at Duke University (J.D.,

2007) as well as a Master of Arts degree from Duke University (M.A., 2007). After practicing law in Boston and New York upon his graduation from Duke, he has recently secured publication for his first fiction novel, So Shall We Pass. It will be published later this summer. You can learn more about the novel and his writing endeavors at www.michaelbarrera.org.

Emily Nicholson (‘03) and her husband Robert J. Simcox III live in Arlington, Virginia, with their four-year-old cat Roslin. They met on a tour of the White House where they were introduced by a mutual Baylor friend. Emily is the Major Gifts Manager at the Newseum in Washington, DC and Rob is a real estate attorney. Emily and Rob recently vacationed in Colorado with fellow BICers John Garland and Abby Morton Garland. Emily can be reached at [email protected], or check out her blog at http://emsfood.blogspot.com.

Jorie (Marjorie) Nissen (’03) went to the University of North Texas for graduate school and received an MS in Library Science in December 2007. She

has been a Reference Librarian with Harris County Public Library since March 2008. In 2010, Jorie served as a missionary with Houston’s First Baptist Church,

volunteering in the Church Library of International Baptist Church - Honolulu. Jorie went on another mission trip with Houston’s First Baptist Church, working in the Tyndale House Library, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK in July, 2011.

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Page 7: BIC · Dr. Anne-Marie Schulz Baylor Interdisciplinary Core Best wishes to you all, BIC 2011 BIC Homecoming Events Friday, November 4th 2:45 p.m. Alumni Lecture: The Un-lived Life

Join the “Baylor Interdisciplinary Core”

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Submit your updatesby emailing

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2006 Graduates

Karen Monken (’06) received her dual Master of Science in Social Work and Master of Public Administration from the University of Texas at Arlington in December 2010, and began working as the

Resettlement Supervisor for the Dallas office of Refugee Services of Texas, Inc. They work to resettle refugees from

all over the world, with the largest populations coming from Burma, Bhutan, and Iraq. Last year she participated in a trip to Thailand with other professionals in her field and visited the Mae La camp, the largest camp of Burmese refugees.

2007 Graduates

Holly Joyner (‘07) moved to Los Angeles, CA to pursue a masters in College Counseling and Student Development at Azusa Pacific University after her Baylor graduation in ‘07. She graduated with her masters in 2009 and got married that summer to fellow Baylor Alum Ryan J o y n e r . Since then she has w o r k e d at Azusa P a c i f i c University as a Career Counselor, Cal-State University Fullerton as their Student Leadership Institute Coordinator and University of North Texas at Dallas as their New Student Orientation Coordinator. Holly now resides in Waco, Texas, with Ryan who works as Baylor University’s Theatre’s Master Electrician and starting this August she accepted a job as Baylor’s Program Director for the Global and Fine Arts Living and Learning Communities and hopes to encourage some BICers to join!

Shannon (Hunter) Zaleski (‘07) graduated from the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration in June 2011 with a Master of Arts in Social Work. She will be working at the University of Chicago Medical Center as part of the Adult H e m a t o l o g y & Oncology Social Work team. She is pictured with her husband Richard Zaleski, also a 2007 graduate from Baylor, BIC and the Honors Program. Richard is currently attending the University of Chicago, pursuing a Masters of Divinity.

2010 Graduates

Alyssa Brown (‘10) is a Journeyman with the International Mission Board. For two years, she will live in South Sudan, working among the Toposa. She will also home school two missionary children and teach the people about HIV/AIDS through folktales and about abundant life in Christ through Bible stories.

Janna Dotschkal (‘10) graduated from Syracuse with a Master of Arts in Journalism in 2010. She has been working at National Geographic Digital media in D.C. since August 2010 and recently accepted the position of Associate Photo Editor at Nat Geo. In addition to editing photos and managing online galleries that have increased page views, she tweets @NatGeoPhotos. Follow her, and if you have any other questions, feel free to e-mail her at: [email protected]!

Meaghan (McNeill) Bond (‘10) married Greg Bond (‘11, Mechanical Engineering) on July 30, 2011. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Bioengineering at Rice University on a National Science Foundation

Graduate Research Fellowship. Her research focuses on creating low-cost diagnostics for developing countries.

Amy Elizabeth Price (‘10) attends graduate school at Baylor, pursuing a master’s in Environmental Science. Because of the BIC, she still buys and reads classic novels and stories.

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