Presidential Perspective - March 5, 2020

Baylor Students, Faculty and Staff:

Spring break is nearly here, and I know many of you are ready for some rest and relaxation. As you prepare to leave campus, you might have questions about the rapidly evolving global outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) and how you can stay healthy. The single most important thing you can do for your personal health is to wash your hands thoroughly and often, whether you stay in Waco, travel home or to another destination.

As I mentioned last week, our COVID-19 Task Force continues to actively monitor guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state and local public health agencies to ensure the continued health and safety of our community. Let me reiterate that there are NO cases of coronavirus at Baylor, in Waco or Central Texas. Updates on any impact to the University – for example, the recent postponement of University-sponsored travel to Italy – are posted online at www.baylor.edu/coronavirus, along with important Baylor resources for students, faculty and staff.

Some additional information to share with you this week ...

• Although many of you will be away from campus next week, I encourage you take the spirit of Baylor’s caring community with you by looking out for your friends and peers. Typically, after spring break through the end of the semester, colleges and universities across the country experience an increase in Title IX reporting. With that in mind, please know that there are many resources on campus should you need help, such as Baylor’s Title IX Office, the Baylor Counseling Center and the University Chaplain. Let us continue to “set the standard” at Baylor.

• Also, spring is the beginning of severe weather season as we saw earlier this week in Nashville, Tennessee, and at 10 a.m. Friday we will conduct a test of the University’s outdoor tornado sirens in conjunction with the City of Waco and McLennan County. Don’t be alarmed when you hear the sirens tomorrow, but do know that our Office of Emergency Management will activate this warning system in a weather-related emergency, including a tornado warning, so that we may take action to keep everyone safe.

• One of the many things I love about Baylor is how our students use their academic disciplines and their servant hearts to love people around the world in many different ways. We learned last week that 17 Baylor Alumni are currently serving as Peace Corps volunteers in countries around the world, which ranks Baylor at No. 21 among medium-sized schools on the Peace Corps’ list of top volunteer-producing colleges and universities. I’m deeply grateful for our service-minded students and the faculty and staff who instill in them the joy of humble biblical servanthood to communities everywhere.

• As we approach June, Ignite preparations are in full swing and many faculty and staff are working hard to successfully launch this important initiative. Our Business Officers have met regularly since early fall to understand the Ignite-related opportunities for specific units – they are a tremendous resource to the Ignite project team and you. I want to thank everyone who has participated in the demos and training sessions to this point. You will soon hear about new training opportunities – many of which will be online-based – in the upcoming March Ignite Newsletter. We all have an important stake in the success of Ignite.

Please know your personal safety, health and wellness are vitally important to us at Baylor. My deepest prayers and those of the First Gent are with each of you, particularly with our Baylor Missions teams as they travel in Texas and to Latin America on educational and humanitarian missions and for all those across the globe whose lives have been impacted by COVID-19. May the public health officials, doctors and scientists who are working around the clock to end the outbreak be the hands and feet of Jesus, our great physician.

Sincerely,

Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D.
President