Message from the Dean

Dean, School of Education

If you haven’t noticed by now, this issue of Impact is rather different — a larger format, more stories and more space to tell each story. To keep cost in balance, we are shifting from four to three issues per year, but we believe the improvements will more than make up for fewer issues. 
In this issue, we also added a cover and expanded content with an “inside fold” to give you a snapshot, year-in-review look at the SOE — a format we plan to repeat in each fall issue. We are always looking for new and more effective ways to share the school’s story; and, as always, we look forward to your feedback and other communications.

Perhaps the most significant news in this issue is the announcement of Baylor’s new College of Health and Human Sciences, created in large measure from the programs and faculty in the SOE’s Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation (HHPR). For some years now, the School has been working to build within HHPR Baylor’s program capacity in the pre-health professions area, and this is the logical extension of that effort. While we will lose our close association with HHPR colleagues as part of the School, the change does facilitate a more targeted focus on educator preparation programs (K-12, higher education and related support services) and concentrates those programs and their faculties in a single building on campus.

Finally, on a more personal note, I have announced my intended retirement for next year. After 42 years in higher education, 27 of those as a dean and more than seven at Baylor, it is time to take this next bold step. I have enjoyed nearly every minute as dean at four universities, but I like to say, “I saved the best to last.” Baylor University is a wonderful place with wonderful people, as all of you know. Some say “success” is about being at the right place at the right time; so for me, this has been a very successful experience at Baylor. With loss of neither energy, enthusiasm or health, I look forward to this next/final year for me, as Baylor seeks the next “right person” for this “right place” to continue the ever-upward story of Baylor’s School of Education.
For updates on the dean search process, you can visit 
baylor.edu/provost/EdDeanSearch. -->