Baylor's growth as a research university is rooted in its enduring Christian commitment. We believe all truth is God’s truth, fully open to inquiry and debate within the free marketplace of ideas that top-tier academic institutions foster. Illuminate calls Baylor faculty to engage in multidisciplinary, “signature” academic initiatives and contribute as mentors to undergraduates and graduate students through high-impact learning experiences.
These selected “signature” academic initiatives will amplify and expand our Christian witness and position us for leadership in fields of national importance. By strengthening scholarship, deepening learning, and improving teaching, these initiatives will support our commitment to excellence in undergraduate education and growth in graduate education. Collaboration is vital to finding solutions to the immense challenges facing our world. Baylor’s Illuminate initiatives will be developed around areas where existing collaboration is yielding results and where continued work will galvanize interest among faculty and academic leaders on campus.
Five areas of focus have been identified in Illuminate — Health, Data Sciences, Materials Science, Human Flourishing, Leadership, and Ethics, and Baylor in Latin America. These initiatives will enable the creation of centers of research excellence through multidisciplinary scholarship and collaboration with faculty appointments from departments, schools, and external partners. These interdependent initiatives will connect with one another through faculty partnerships, calls for research, and provision of funding.