Curriculum Vita

DOUGLAS V. HENRY
Dean of the Honors College
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Baylor University

_____________________________________________________

SUMMARY OF EXPERIENCE 

Academic Leadership

  • Dean, Honors College, Baylor University (2019-present; interim dean 2019-2020)
  • Associate Dean, Honors College, Baylor University (2012-2019; acting dean, Fall 2018)
  • Co-Director, Baylor in Turkey and Greece, Baylor University (2012-2019)
  • Acting Director, Great Texts Program, Baylor University (2009, 2014)
  • Faculty Master, Brooks Residential College, Baylor University (2007-2013)
  • Director, Institute for Faith and Learning, Baylor University (2002-2008; acting director, 2002-2004)
  • Associate Director, Institute for Faith and Learning, Baylor University (2001-2002)
  • Director, Honors Program, Malone University (2000-2001)
  • Director, Honors Program, Grand Canyon University (1997-1998)

Faculty Appointments

  • Associate Professor of Philosophy, Honors College, Baylor University (2007-)
  • Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Honors College, Baylor University (2003-2007)
  • Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Malone University (1998-2001)
  • Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Grand Canyon University (1996-1998)

Education

  • Ph.D., Philosophy, Vanderbilt University (1996)
    Dissertation: Truth’s Harmony in Plato’s Musical Cosmos
  • Andrew C. Mellon Dissertation Fellowship (1995-1996)
  • Teaching Assistant, Vanderbilt University Philosophy Department (1994-1995)
  • Research Assistant, Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies (1993-1995)
  • M.A., Philosophy, Vanderbilt University (1994)
  • B.A., Religion, Oklahoma Baptist University (1992)
    Thesis: From Scientific Positivism to Neo-Pragmatism: William James as a Transitional Epistemologist

KEY LEADERSHIP ROLES, RESPONSIBILITIES, AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

Dean, Honors College, 2019-present

Serve as Dean reporting to the Provost, fulfilling full range of administrative and leadership duties including budget, curriculum, faculty hiring and evaluation, fundraising, staff support and supervision, strategic planning, and undergraduate recruitment and retention.

Key Responsibilities

  • Provide vision, leadership, and strategic direction for a College of 1,350 high-ability students, 40 full-time faculty, and 15 full-time administrative staff colleagues.
  • Supervise 10 direct reports (2 associate deans, 4 chairs, and 4 staff members) and 47 indirect reports, not including part-time faculty and staff.
  • Cultivate an exemplary faculty and staff through sound interviewing and hiring practices, constructive performance reviews, and opportunities for advancement.
  • Oversee a multi-million-dollar annual budget covering operations, personnel, scholarships, and technology, plus various endowed and restricted funds.
  • Raise money on behalf of $50 million Give Light campaign goal.
  • Convene meetings of a national advisory council comprised of generous philanthropists and talented alumni whose support and counsel benefit the College.
  • Communicate effectively with internal and external constituencies, emphasizing the mission and work of the College with confidence, eloquence, grace, and regularity.
  • Build a culture of collegiality, collaboration, trust, and rapport through personal example, warm friendship, and generosity of spirit in word and deed.
  • Strengthen curriculum in light of best national practices in honors education.
  • Lead high-profile student recruitment initiatives for the College, including Invitation to Excellence, Distinguished Scholars Day, and Premiere Day, among others.
  • Provide joint oversight with Student Life of the Honors Residential College, housing 330 students with a live-in faculty steward, program director, hall director, and resident chaplain.
  • Host nationally and internationally distinguished scholars for endowed lecture series, seminars, workshops, and public events.
  • Represent the College in academic planning and policy meetings convened by the Provost and President, including Council of Deans and University Council.
  • Maintain an active program of grant writing, research, and publication.

Major Accomplishments

  • Raised $2.2 million in documented and pending major gifts toward endowed initiatives (2.5 times the College’s historical average of $862k/year).
    • Five endowed scholarship funds designated for Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, Great Texts, Honors Residential College, pre-med, and medical mission students.
    • Professorship in Healthcare Education and Leadership, the first endowed position in College history.
    • Endowed Lectureship in Ethics and Culture.
  • Increased national advisory board giving capacity by $5 million by addition of new members.
  • Led increased research grant activity in support of R1 aspirations, resulting in faculty proposals to NEH, Templeton Religious Trust, Lilly National Network, and other sponsors.
  • Collaborated with Graduate School on Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowship Program to increase marketability of PhDs through teaching experience with high-ability undergraduates.
  • Elevated national profile by partnerships with the American Academy for Liberal Education, American Council of Trustees and Alumni, and Association for Core Texts and Courses.
  • Appointed task force to explore offering the B.Phil. degree, a prestigious baccalaureate degree featuring honors-level interdisciplinary majors and research.
  • Redesigned marquee student recruitment program, Invitation to Excellence, featuring the theme of love, longing, and happiness in film, philosophy, and the Christian tradition.
  • Strengthened Getterman Scholars Program, a full-ride scholarship initiative, garnering 415 applicants from 44 states (186% increase over inaugural year).
  • Achieved freshman-to-sophomore retention rate of 95.1%, surpassing goal of 95%.
  • Achieved the most diverse student enrollment of the last five years, at 31.2% minorities.
  • Promoted diversity by securing additional faculty candidate interviews, featuring diverse speakers at public events, and modeling hospitality and inclusion.
  • Funded MD Anderson Cancer Center summer undergraduate research program, an invited partnership with guaranteed competitive placement of 10 students annually.
  • Prepared analysis for senior administration of options for Honors Residential College capital project, identifying differential design, fundraising, and academic implications.
  • Launched semi-monthly Update to faculty, staff, and campus partners to cultivate deeper shared purpose, celebrate faculty/staff success, and communicate significant information.

Associate Dean, Honors College, 2012-2019 (Acting Dean, Fall 2018)

Serve as Associate Dean reporting to the Dean, with responsibility for academic administration, enrollment management, and scholarships.

Key Responsibilities

  • Fulfill academic administration functions of Dean’s Office.
  • Represent dean at Council of Deans, faculty candidate interviews, and alumni functions.
  • Provide leadership at major student recruitment events.
  • Administer scholarship program supported through endowment of ~$15 million.
  • Evaluate and improve recruitment, enrollment, and retention efforts.
  • Participate in development strategy meetings and support major gift solicitations.
  • Host distinguished scholars for public lectures, seminars, workshops, and other public events.
  • Promote scholarship by example and engagement with colleagues’ research.

Major Accomplishments

  • Secured $1 million endowed fund to support integration of Christian faith with discipline-specific learning and hands-on mission service by honors students.
  • Identified and recruited a new Advisory Board member, leading to a $50,000 endowed scholarship fund designated for the benefit of University Scholars.
  • Redesigned scholarship process to increase matriculation/retention of high-ability students, honored by University’s associate director of scholarships for its multiple best practices.
  • Co-authored and implemented Getterman Scholars Program, a nationally competitive, full-ride leadership and scholarship initiative targeting top-1% of college-bound high schoolers.
  • Managed comprehensive renovation of website, with goals of clarifying Honors College opportunities, strengthening recruitment, simplifying application, and improving navigation.
  • Led task force charged with writing guidelines and criteria for use of clinical faculty ranks.

Faculty Master, Brooks Residential College, 2007-2013

Provide leadership as a live-in faculty member for a 365-student residential college, cultivating a community that fosters academic excellence, faculty-student interaction, and a student experience steeped in Baylor tradition.

  • Supervise professional and graduate student staff including director, resident chaplain, resident tutor, and administrative assistant.
  • Work with colleagues in externally contracted dining and facilities/grounds services (Aramark) in order to ensure quality support for college programming.
  • Develop recruitment/retention plan oriented around a superb four-year residential experience.
  • Preside at a weekly formal Sunday college dinner, hosting distinguished guests at high table and facilitating highly interactive student discussions.
  • Convene a weekly Tuesday tea time in master’s residence for students to meet leaders in academia, business, civic life, culture, law, medicine, ministry, etc.
  • Lead weekday services of morning and evening prayer in the college chapel, drawing upon ecumenical Christian resources shaped by Free Church traditions.
  • Support Imperative II (Create a Truly Residential Campus) of University’s strategic plan through advocacy within student life, provost’s office, and board of regents, culminating in $70 million East Village Residential Community for 700 students.

Co-Director, Baylor in Turkey and Greece, 2012-present

Oversee summer study abroad program with study of great books, philosophy, and religion in historically and culturally significant sites in Turkey and Greece. Responsibilities for budget management, curriculum, faculty assignments, student recruitment, and tour planning.

Acting Director, Great Texts Program, Baylor University, Fall 2009, 2014

Chair department of ten full-time faculty during semester-long sabbaticals of directors. Responsibilities for budget, class scheduling/staffing, and program assessment.

Director, Institute for Faith and Learning, 2002-2008

Serve as leader of Institute for Faith and Learning personnel and activities, with responsibilities for program planning, administration, and assessment; active research and publication; grant writing and fund raising; faculty development; and coordination of regular conferences. (Director, 2004-2008, Acting Director, 2002-2004, Associate Director, 2001-2002.)

  • Supervise seven employees, including three professional staff members, two faculty on term appointments, a visiting fellow, and a graduate assistant.
  • Administer Lilly Foundation grant for theological exploration of vocation, Baylor Horizons, totaling $3.1 million in expenditures over ten years for a dozen initiatives.
  • Convene fall symposium on faith and learning featuring plenary addresses by distinguished scholars and 100-120 scholarly papers in concurrent sessions.
  • Host conferences in alternate spring semesters and summers, including Art and Soul Festival, Christianity and the Soul of the University, and medical ethics programs.
  • Provide leadership for annual new faculty orientation, supporting a two-day program of the provost’s office by addressing new faculty in one or two sessions each year.
  • Direct annual week-long retreat for 20-30 faculty on the academic vocation, convened in a residential retreat center and featuring guest lectures, shared reading and reflection, table fellowship, and daily prayer.
  • Represent University in numerous national organizations and their conferences, such as the Lilly Fellows Program National Network, Council of Christian Scholarly Societies, and Association of Baptist Colleges and Universities.
  • Publish scholarship addressing the philosophy and theology of Christian higher education, including three co-edited books. 

ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH APPOINTMENTS

Associate Professor of Philosophy (tenured), Honors College, 2007-present

  • Teach introductory and upper-division courses in Department of Philosophy and in Honors College curriculum marked by interdisciplinarity and rigor, spanning four distinctive academic programs: Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, Great Texts Program, Honors Program, and University Scholars Program.
    • BIC 2330 Social World I: The City and the Soul
    • BIC 3358 Examined Life II: Biblical Heritage & Contemporary Ethical Issues
    • BIC 4389 Examined Life III: Baylor Interdisciplinary Core Capstone
    • GTX 1301 Introduction to Great Texts
    • GTX 2301 Intellectual Tradition of the Ancient World
    • GTX 2302 Medieval Intellectual Tradition
    • GTX 2320 Greek and Hebrew Era
    • GTX 4321 Twentieth Century
    • GTX 4351 Confession and Autobiography
    • GTX 4399 Special Topics: Great Texts of Turkey and Greece
    • PHI 1305 Living Issues in Philosophy
    • PHI 1321 Introductory Topics in Philosophy: The Thought of C.S. Lewis
    • PHI 3310 Classical Philosophy
  • Direct undergraduate theses and serve on baccalaureate thesis committees.
  • Advise and mentor undergraduates, reviewing progress toward degrees, course plans, and personal and professional aspirations.
  • Evaluate comprehensive exams for Ph.D. students in the Department of Philosophy and serve on Ph.D. dissertation committees. 

Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Honors College, 2003-2007

Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Malone College, Canton, OH (1998-2001)

  • Teach introductory and upper-division courses in ethics, logic, and philosophy.
  • Direct Honors Program, 2000-2001. Planning, administration, and assessment; student recruitment and admissions; and curriculum planning and staffing.

Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Grand Canyon University, Phoenix, AZ (1996-1998)

  • Teach introductory and upper-division courses in ethics, logic, and philosophy.
  • Direct Honors Program, 1997-1998. Planning, administration, and assessment; student recruitment and admissions; and curriculum planning and staffing.

Research Assistant, Center for Crime and Justice Policy, Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies, Nashville, TN (1993-1995)

  • Provide research support for studies of juvenile crime, delinquency, and anti-social behavior in center under direction of Mark W. Lipsey (Professor of Public Policy).
  • Identify studies for inclusion in major meta-analysis projects, compile data, and offer preliminary analysis.

Research Assistant, Schecter Communications Corporation, Washington, DC (1989)

  • Provide research support for Jerrold Schecter, former Time-Life Bureau Chief in Moscow and spokesman for Carter Administration’s National Security Council.
  • Review declassified CIA interview transcripts and complete background research for J. L Schecter and P. Deriabin, The Spy Who Saved the World: How a Soviet Colonel Changed the Course of the Cold War (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1992).

PUBLICATIONS

 Three co-edited books and 32 refereed and invited articles, book chapters, and reviews.

Books

  1. The Schooled Heart: Moral Formation in American Higher Education. Ed. Michael D. Beaty and Douglas V. Henry. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2007.
  2. Christianity and the Soul of the University: Faith as a Foundation for Intellectual Community. Ed. Douglas V. Henry and Michael D. Beaty. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006.
  3. Faithful Learning and the Christian Scholarly Vocation. Ed. Douglas V. Henry and Bob R. Agee. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2003.

Articles and Book Chapters (Refereed)

  1. Three Rival Versions of Baptist Education: Tribe, Triumph, Travail, Perspectives in Religious Studies, vol. 47, no. 1 (Spring 2020): 7-23.
  2. Vocation and Story: Narrating Self and World, in At This Time and In This Place: Vocation and Higher Education, ed. David S. Cunningham (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015), pp. 165-188.
  3. Reading Pilgrim’s Progress as a Great Book: A Response to “The Promise and Temptation of Allegory” by Jordan Rowan Fannin, American Baptist Quarterly, vol. 33, nos. 3-4 (Fall and Winter 2014): 290-297.
  4. The End of Baptist Dissent, Perspectives in Religious Studies, vol. 40, no. 4 (Winter 2013): 367-387.
  5. Hope’s Promise for Christians in the Not Yet and In Between, Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, vol. 14, no. 3 (Summer 2011): 104-132.
  6. Quid Ipse Sis Nosse Desisti, in The Normativity of the Natural: Human Goods, Human Virtues, and Human Flourishing, ed. Mark J. Cherry, Philosophical Studies in Contemporary Culture, vol. 16 (Dordrecht: Springer, 2009), pp. 77-99.
  7. Reasonable Doubts about Reasonable Nonbelief, Faith and Philosophy, vol. 25, no. 3 (July 2008): 276-289.
  8. Retrieving the Tradition, Remembering the End, in The Schooled Heart: Moral Formation in American Higher Education, ed. Michael D. Beaty and Douglas V. Henry (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2007), pp. 1-25. Co-author: Michael D. Beaty.
  9. Protestant Free Church Christians and Gaudium et Spes: An Historical and Philosophical Perspective, Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, vol. 10, no. 1 (Winter 2007): 132-161. Co-authors: Michael D. Beaty and Scott H. Moore.
  10. Can Baptist Theology Sustain the Life of the Mind? The Quest for a Vital Baptist Academy, Perspectives in Religious Studies, vol. 33, no. 2 (Summer 2006): 203-226. Reprinted in The Scholarly Vocation and the Baptist Academy: Essays on the Future of Baptist Higher Education, ed. Roger Ward and David P. Gushee (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2008), pp. 197-227.
  11. Intellectual Integrity in the Christian Scholar’s Life, Christian Scholar’s Review, vol. 33, no. 1 (Fall 2003): 55-74.
  12. Correspondence Theories, Natural-Selective Truth, and Unsurmounted Skepticism, Philosophia Christi, vol. 5, no. 1 (June 2003): 93-112.
  13. Individual, Denominational, and Civic Factors in the Successful Founding of First Baptist Church, Canton, Ohio, American Baptist Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 1 (March 2003): 60-76.
  14. Does Reasonable Nonbelief Exist? Faith and Philosophy, vol. 18, no. 1 (January 2001): 75-92.

Articles and Book Chapters (Invited)

  1. Greek Philosophy and Its Influence on Christian Theology, in The Worldview Study Bible, ed. David Dockery and Jeremy Howard (Nashville, TN: Holman, 2018). Reprinted in Christian Worldview Handbook, ed. David S. Dockery and Trevin K. Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman, 2019), pp. 108-112.
  2. Generosity of Spirit, Christian Reflection: A Series in Faith and Ethics, special issue on Generosity, no. 57 (2015): 11-18.
  3. Plato’s Symposium, in Finding a Common Thread: Reading Great Texts from Homer to O’Connor, ed. Robert C. Roberts, Scott H. Moore, and Donald D. Schmeltekopf (South Bend, IN: St. Augustine’s Press, 2013), pp. 32-49.
  4. Curiosity and Smartphones, Christian Reflection: A Series in Faith and Ethics, special issue on Virtual Lives, no. 38 (2011): 11-19.
  5. Learning at Any Time: Supporting Student Learning Wherever it Happens, About Campus, vol. 14, no. 1 (March-April 2009): 10-15. Co-authors: Frank Shushok, Jr., Glenn Blalock, Rishi R. Sriram.
  6. Forming Faculty for Mission, in The Baylor Project: Taking Christian Higher Education to the Next Level, ed. Barry G. Hankins and Donald D. Schmeltekopf (South Bend, IN: St. Augustine’s Press, 2007), pp. 157-184.
  7. My Maker was the Primal Love, Christian Reflection: A Series in Faith and Ethics, special issue on Heaven and Hell, no. 3 (2002): 35-38.

Reviews

  1. Nalin Ranasinghe. Socrates and the Gods: How to Read Plato’s Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito (South Bend, IN: St. Augustine’s Press, 2012). Reviewed for Faith and Philosophy, vol. 32, no. 3 (July 2015): 346-350.
  2. Samuel Kimbriel. Friendship as Sacred Knowing: Beyond Isolation (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014). Reviewed for Christian Scholar’s Review, vol. 44, no. 3 (Spring 2015): 412-414.
  3. Chris L. Firestone and Nathan A. Jacobs, eds. The Persistence of the Sacred in Modern Thought (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2012). Reviewed for Journal of Church and State, vol. 56, no. 4 (Autumn 2014): 757-759.
  4. Gerald W. Schlabach, Unlearning Protestantism: Sustaining Christian Community in an Unstable Age (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2010). Reviewed for Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, vol. 23 (2011): 212-214.
  5. Paul J. Griffiths, Intellectual Appetite: A Theological Grammar (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009). Reviewed for Christian Scholar’s Review, vol. 39, no. 4 (2010): 483-486.
  6. Montague Brown, Restoration of Reason: The Eclipse and Recovery of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty (Baker Academic, 2006). Reviewed for Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, vol. 20 (2008): 202-203.
  7. Rosalyn Weiss, The Socratic Paradox and Its Enemies (Chicago, 2006). Reviewed for The Review of Politics, vol. 69, no. 3 (2007): 469-471.
  8. Douglas Jacobsen and Rhonda Hustedt Jacobsen, Scholarship and Christian Faith: Enlarging the Conversation(Oxford, 2004). Reviewed for Christian Scholar’s Review, vol. 34, no. 1 (Fall 2004): 146-149.
  9. Pierre Hadot, What is Ancient Philosophy? (Harvard, 2002). Reviewed for Christian Scholar’s Review, vol. 33, no. 2 (Winter 2004): 274-277.
  10. Nicholas P. Wolterstorff, Educating for Life: Reflections on Christian Teaching and Learning (Baker Academic, 2002); James Youniss et al., eds. The Catholic Character of Catholic Schools (Notre Dame, 2000); and Paul J. Dovre, ed., The Future of Religious Colleges (Eerdmans, 2002). Reviewed for Perspectives in Religious Studies, vol. 30, no. 4 (Winter 2004): 480-483.
  11. Bill J. Leonard, God’s Last and Only Hope (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1990). Reviewed for The Oklahoma Baptist Chronicle 34, no. 1 (Spring 1991): 40-48.

Work in Progress

  1. The Other Euthyphro Dilemma (article).
  2. Rethinking Divine Hiddenness in a Metaphysics of Participation (article)
  3. Three Rival Versions of University Education.

An eight-chapter book examining the university’s competing aims, internal disorders, and public confusions in light of postmodernity’s “tournament of narratives.” The book explores three culturally regnant narratives at work: tragic optimism, cynicism, and charity. Each narrative is enacted within university life: curriculum, pedagogy, resource allocation, marketing, and residential life, inter alia. Self-critical awareness of these narratives is essential for universities to pursue sound higher education. Such awareness also is a key step in preparing students for responsible life, for not every culturally influential narrative is of equal quality and even good narratives can be rehearsed with greater or lesser skill.

  1. Redeeming Socrates: Natural Piety in Plato’s

A six-chapter book enlisting Plato’s Euthyphro to recover Socrates’ unfamiliar religious ways from oblivion, critique revisionary accounts that unjustly impute guilt based on Platonic texts written to establish Socrates’ innocence, and redeem Socrates’ piety from dismissal as splendida peccata. The book reveals Socrates’ religious seriousness, probity of judgment, and shining character as it explores varied problems raised in the dialogue. These problems include semiotic puzzles (what signs can communicate unseen divine realities, 6b), metaphysical issues (relation of instances of piety to a Form of Piety, 6e), theological predicaments (choice between divine limitation and divine voluntarism, 10a), and taxonomic questions (piety as part of justice or justice as part of piety, 12e). The dialogue also raises problems having more to do with character than concepts: the character conducive to piety, and the contrasting characters of Euthyphro and Socrates.

ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS

  1. Rethinking Divine Hiddenness in a Metaphysics of Participation, Paper presented for Baptist Association of Philosophy Teachers, Wingate University, Wingate, NC, October 12, 2018.
  2. Marked by the Sign of the Cross: Living Blessed Lives in the Midst of Faith and Doubt, Lilly Graduate Fellows Program Summer Conference, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA, July 28, 2018.
  3. Hope for Baptist Higher Education: A Response to Jacob Goodson’s ‘Hope Against Hope? Baptist Higher Education and End-Times Theology,’ Young Scholars in the Baptist Academy, Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford, July 12, 2018.
  4. Three Rival Versions of Baptist Education: Tribe, Triumph, Travail, Keynote address for Young Scholars in the Baptist Academy, Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford, July 10, 2018.
  5. The Vision of Philosophy in Boethius’ Consolation, Paper presented for the Association for Core Texts and Courses, Framingham, MA, April 20, 2018.
  6. Recognizing Christ in One Another: A Baptist-Catholic Panel, Joint International Commission of the Baptist World Alliance and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Baylor University, Waco, TX, December 13, 2017.
  7. Gathered in Paradise: Called to Shared Beatitude in Christ, Lilly Graduate Fellows Program Summer Conference, Baylor University, Waco, TX, June 24, 2017.
  8. The Other Euthyphro Problem, Paper presented for Ancient Philosophy Society, Baylor University, Waco, TX, April 28, 2017.
  9. The Character of Piety in Plato’s Euthyphro, Paper presented for the Association for Core Texts and Courses, Dallas, TX, April 21, 2017.
  10. Vocational Discernment as a Resource for Higher Learning, Featured Panel Presentation with David Cunningham, William Cavanaugh, and Hannah Schell for Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture, Waco, TX, October 27-29, 2016.
  11. The Real Euthyphro Problem, Paper presented for the Midsouth Philosophy Conference, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, February 19, 2016.
  12. The Best Laid Schemes of Mice and Men: A Response to “Feeding Pets: A Moral Problem with Pet Food” by Lindsay Whittaker, Midsouth Philosophy Conference, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, February 20, 2016.
  13. Whose Progress? Which Allegory? What End? Reading Pilgrim’s Progress as a Great Book, Response to Jordan Rowan Fannin’s ‘The Promise and Temptation of Allegory,” Young Scholars in the Baptist Academy, Regent’s Park College, Oxford University July 15, 2015.
  14. Martin’s Thrones, Follett’s Principalities, and Tolkien’s Powers: A Tournament of Narratives in Film Adaptations of Three Modern Epics, Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture, October 23-25, 2014.
  15. The Real Euthyphro Problem, Paper for Baptist Association of Philosophy Teachers, Baylor University, Waco, TX, October 3-5, 2014.
  16. Iris Murdoch’s This-Worldly Eudaimonism, Paper for Iris Murdoch and Virtue Ethics: Philosophy and the Novel, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Rome, Italy, February 20-22, 2014.
  17. Just Piety: Pursuing Holiness in Plato’s Euthyphro, Paper for the Society of Christian Philosophers, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, October 24-26, 2013.
  18. Navigating Plato’s Republic in a Great Books Seminar, Invited Lecture, McGraw Visiting Scholar, Pepperdine University, October 16, 2013.
  19. Piety’s Place in Justice, Paper for Baptist Association of Philosophy Teachers, Union University, Jackson, Tennessee, October 6, 2012.
  20. Three Rival Versions of Education: Living and Learning in Kingsbridge, King’s Landing, and Bag End, Invited (Inaugural) Lecture for The Ends of Education Series, Virginia Tech University, August 26, 2012.
  21. Neglecting the Human, Undermining the Humanities: Secularization’s Truncated Vision of What We Are and the Crisis in the Humanities, Paper for Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture Conference, Radical Emancipation: Confronting the Challenge of Secularism, November 10-12, 2011.
  22. ________, Paper for Baylor Symposium on Faith and Learning, Educating for Wisdom in the Twenty-First Century, October 27-29, 2011.
  23. What Can a Pagan Teach Christians of Holiness? Reading Plato’s Euthyphro with Humility, Wonder, and Joy, Paper for Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture Conference, Younger Than Sin: Retrieving Simplicity Through the Virtues of Humility, Wonder, and Joy, November 18-20, 2010.
  24. How Curiositas Killed the You-Know-What and What We Can Do About It: Griffiths’ Intellectual Appetite, Paper for Christianity and Academia Consultation, American Academy of Religion, Atlanta, GA, October 30-November 1, 2010.
  25. The End(s) of Baptist Dissent, Paper for Young Scholars in the Baptist Academy Seminar, The Life of the Church and the Baptist Academy, Chaminade University, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 26-30, 2010.
  26. Plato’s Symposium: In Conspectu Dei, Paper for Baylor University Great Texts Consultation, Waco, TX, May 25, 2009.
  27. Community Covenants: A Tool for Moral Development in College Communities, Presentation for National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Annual Conference, Seattle, WA, March 9-11, 2009. Co-presented with Larry Correll-Hughes, Tim Powers, and Emily Rodgers.
  28. Fairest Love in Michael O’Brien’s Island of the World, Paper for Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture Conference, The Family: Searching for Fairest Love, November 6-8, 2008.
  29. Unreflective Nonbelief: Some Theodicean Considerations, Paper for Baptist Association of Philosophy Teachers Biennial Meeting, Ouachita Baptist University, October 3-5, 2008.
  30. Designed for Student Learning: An Adapted Oxbridge College in a Traditional Housing System, Presentation for National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Annual Conference, Boston, MA, March 9-12, 2008. Co-presented with Frank Shushok, Rishi Sriram, Scott Moore, and Jane Wright.
  31. You Have Forgotten What You Are: Boethian and Percian Interventions, Paper for Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture Conference, Modernity: Yearning for the Infinite, November 30-December 2, 2006.
  32. Reasonable Doubts about Reasonable Nonbelief: A Rejoinder to Schellenberg, Paper for Baptist Association of Philosophy Teachers Biennial Meeting, Georgetown College, October 27-29, 2006.
  33. Quid Ipse Sis Nosse Desisti, Invited paper for symposium on “Is Human Nature Morally Normative? Human Nature and its Philosophical Discontents,” St. Edward’s University, November 18-20, 2005.
  34. Can Baptist Theology Sustain the Life of the Mind? The Quest for a Vital Baptist Academy, Paper for Young Scholars in the Baptist Academy Seminar, Baptists and the Scholarly Life, Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford, August 3-7, 2005.
  35. Michael M. Waddell’s ‘Reason and Faith as Modes of Grace in Aquinas, Milbank, and Pickstock,’ Invited Commentator for Colloquium: Philosophy of Religion, American Philosophical Association, Central Division, Chicago, April 27-30, 2005.
  36. Why We Can’t Wait—Freedom, the Protestant Free Church, and Gaudium et spes, Paper for The Call to Justice: The Legacy of Gaudium et spes 40 Years Later, Vatican City, March 16-19, 2005.
  37. Christian Art: Beyond Presumption and Despair to Hope, Paper for Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture Conference, Epiphanies of Beauty: The Arts in a Post-Christian Culture, November 18-20, 2004.
  38. Hope: A Forgotten Virtue for Christian Scholars in a Culture of Presumption and Despair, Paper for Baptist Association of Philosophy Teachers Biennial Meeting, Dallas Baptist University, October 8-10, 2004.
  39. Philosophy as a Way of Life: Ancient Roots and Modern Implications, Scholar’s Day, Baylor University, March 8, 2004.
  40. Teaching Virtue, Schooling Minds: Cultural Transformation and a History of the University, Paper for Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture Conference, On Formation and Renewal, October 2-4, 2003.
  41. Can Baptist Theology Sustain the Life of the Mind? Paper for Baptist Association of Philosophy Teachers Biennial Meeting, Wingate University, October 11-13, 2002.
  42. Intellectual Integrity in the Christian Scholar’s Life, Paper for Society of Christian Philosophers Central Region, Bethel College, March 7-9, 2002.
  43. Truth’s Harmony in Plato’s Musical Cosmos, Paper for Society of Christian Philosophers Eastern Region, University of South Carolina, May 11-13, 2000.
  44. Does Reasonable Nonbelief Exist? Invited paper for Department of Philosophy, Ashland University, October 15, 1999.
  45. Paper for Society of Christian Philosophers Eastern Region, Samford University, April 22-24, 1999.
  46. Paper for Baptist Association of Philosophy Teachers Biennial Meeting, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, September 25-27, 1998.
  47. Shapers of the Modern Mind: Science and Religion over 400 Years of Dialogue, Poster session presentation for Templeton Foundation Science and Religion Course Program Summer Workshop, Chicago Center for Science and Religion, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, June 19-24, 1998.
  48. Belief, Biology, and Natural-Selective Accounts of Truth: Naturalism vs. Supernaturalism in Correspondence Views of Truth, Paper for Society of Christian Philosophers Eastern Region, University of Delaware, April 2-4, 1998.
  49. Baptizing Zagzebski’s Virtues of the Mind, Paper for Society of Christian Philosophers Mountain-Plains Region, Arizona State University, March 12-14, 1998.
  50. Christian Scholarship as Virtuous Practice, Paper for Conference on Christian Scholarship: Knowledge, Reality, and Method, University of Colorado, Boulder, October 9-11, 1997.

GRANTS AWARDED

Eight externally funded grants totaling $764,062.

  1. Lilly Fellows Program, Re-envisioning the Humanities: Predicament, Perspective Practice, November 2019-May 2021, $12,000.
  2. Lilly Endowment Inc., “Baylor Horizons: Sustaining the Theological Exploration of Vocation,” July 2009-June 2011, $107,362 (two-year extension of Baylor Horizons).
  3. Lilly Endowment Inc., “Baylor Horizons: Sustaining the Theological Exploration of Vocation,” March 2006-June 2009, $500,000.
  4. Lilly Fellows Program National Research Conference Program, “The World and Christian Imagination,” November 2006, $83,500. Co-author: Michael Hanby.
  5. Lilly Fellows Program, Vocation and Christian Higher Education Undergraduate Conference Program, October 2002, $46,000.
  6. John Templeton Foundation/American Scientific Affiliation Science and Religion Lecture Series Program, 2000-2001, $1,000.
  7. John Templeton Foundation/American Scientific Affiliation Science and Religion Lectures Series Program, 1999-2000, $4,200 speaker grant.
  8. John Templeton Foundation Science and Religion Course Program, 1997-1998, $10,000 course development grant.

CONFERENCES ADMINISTERED

  1. Bottom-up Approaches to Global Poverty: Appropriate Technology, Social Entrepreneurship, and Christian Missions, Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture, Baylor University, October 23-25, 2008 (featuring Bernard Amadei, Christopher Barrett, Ruth Padilla DeBorst, Ken Eldred, J. Andrew Kirk, Perla Manapol, Casaer Molebatsi, Dwight Nordstrom, Ray Norman, Bill O’Brien, Paul Polak, and Glenn White).
  2. Friendship: Quests for Character, Community and Truth, Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture, Baylor University, October 25-27, 2007 (featuring Paul Griffiths, Alan Jacobs, Dominic Manganiello, Charles Pinches, Robert Putnam, Nancy Sherman, Paul Waddell, and Carolinne White).
  3. The World and Christian Imagination, Pruit Memorial Symposium and Lilly Fellows Program National Research Conference, Baylor University, November 9-11, 2006 (featuring Stephen Barr, Oliva Blanchette, Nicholas Boyle, David Burrell, Stephen R.L. Clark, William Desmond, Susan Felch, Amy Laura Hall, Kevin Hart, Jeanne Heffernan, David Jeffrey, Eugene McCarraher, Alison Milbank, John Milbank, Stephen Prickett, Tracey Rowland, David C. Schindler, David L. Schindler, and Merold Westphal).
  4. Global Christianity: Challenging Modernity and the West, Pruit Memorial Symposium, Baylor University, November 10-12, 2005 (featuring David Bebbington, Paul C. Freston, Mark A. Noll, Dana L. Robert, Lamin Sanneh, and Brian Stanley).
  5. Medical Ethics Conference, Baylor University, October 13-15, 2005 (featuring Mark Cherry, H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jorge L.A. Garcia, Robert P. George, William F. May, Gilbert C. Meilaender, and David Solomon).
  6. Law, Command, and Authority in Thomas Aquinas, Summer Seminar of Baptist Association of Philosophy Teachers, University of Notre Dame, May 15-21, 2005 (featuring F. Russell Hittinger).
  7. The Schooled Heart: Moral Formation in American Higher Education, Pruit Memorial Symposium, Baylor University, October 30-November 1, 2003 (featuring Stanley Hauerwas, David Jeffrey, Warren Nord, Joseph O’Hare, Julie Reuben, and David Solomon).
  8. Hearing God’s Call, Finding One’s Place: Vocation, Culture, and the Christian Academy, Lilly Fellows Program Regional Undergraduate Conference, September 25-27, 2003 (featuring Jeanne Heffernan, Thomas Hibbs, and Ralph Wood).
  9. Virtue Epistemology, Summer Seminar of Baptist Association of Philosophy Teachers, University of Notre Dame, May 18-24, 2003 (featuring Robert C. Roberts and W. Jay Wood).
  10. Mystery and Meaning in the Arts, Art & Soul Festival, Baylor University, March 20-23, 2003 (featuring Jeremy Begbie, Scott Cairns, Frederica Mathewes-Green, Ralph McInerny, Kathleen Norris, Michael O’Brien, Nicolas Samaras, and others).
  11. Christianity and Economics: Integrating Faith and Learning in Economic Scholarship, Pruit Memorial Symposium, Baylor University, November 7-9, 2002 (featuring George Marsden, Rebecca Blank, Judith Dean, David Gushee, Glenn Loury, Robert Nelson, and Michael Novak).
  12. Religion and Literature in the American Southwest, Art & Soul Festival, Baylor University, March 14-17, 2002 (featuring Margaret Becker, Robert Olen Butler, Will Campbell, Diane Glancy, Bret Lott, Ralph Wood, and others).
  13. Celebrating Augustine’s Confessions: Reading Augustine for the New Millennium, Pruit Memorial Symposium, Baylor University, October 4-6, 2001 (featuring Anne-Marie Bowery, David Lyle Jeffrey, Scott MacDonald, Colin John Starnes, John Smith, and Carl Vaught).

PROFESSIONAL CONSULTATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

  1. Invited Panelist, Virtue, Vice, Vocation: Scholarship on Ethics and Calling, Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE), Louisville, KY, March 21-23, 2019.
  2. Consultant, Young Scholars in the Baptist Academy, Annual faculty summer seminar on Baptist faith and intellectual life, Georgetown College, Georgetown, KY and Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford, 2003-2018.
  3. Many Scenes, Two Acts, One Play: A Christian Reading of Modern Academe. Faculty Workshop for Hope College, April 11, 2017.
  4. Why Narratives Matter: A Hope-ful Story to Rule Them All. Invited Presentation for Hope College, April 11, 2017.
  5. Three Rival Versions of Vocation: Presumption, Despair, Hope. Keynote Presentation for DISCOVER Stories Project, Lewis University, September 29, 2016.
  6. SACS-COC On-Site Reaffirmation Committee, QEP Evaluator, Pathways to Purpose, Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL, March 8-10, 2016.
  7. Vocation and Story: Narrating Self and World, Plenary Panel Presentation for At This Time and In This Place: Engaging Vocational Scholarship, Regional Conference of the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE), San Antonio, TX, February 11-13, 2016.
  8. An Itinerary of Hope: Called to a Magnanimous Way of Life, Plenary Panel Presentation for At This Time and In This Place: Engaging Vocational Scholarship, Regional Conference of the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE), San Antonio, TX, February 11-13, 2016.
  9. Invited Panelist, NetVUE Scholarly Resources: What We are Learning, Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education: Sustaining the Theological Exploration of Vocation, St. Louis, MO, March 26-28, 2015.
  10. Faith: Discerning a Narrative Unity for Christian Life, Invited Lecture for Annual Faculty Workshop, Bluefield College, Bluefield, VA, August 14, 2014.
  11. Hope: Walking in Character with God, Invited Lecture for Annual Faculty Workshop, Bluefield College, Bluefield, VA, August 14, 2014.
  12. Love: Living All of One’s Life for God, Invited Lecture for Annual Faculty Workshop, Bluefield College, Bluefield, VA, August 14, 2014.
  13. Why the Great Books Still Matter, Invited Address for Presidential Inauguration Banquet, Lubbock Christian University, September 26, 2012.
  14. Invited Small Group Facilitator, Leadership, Mission, and Meaning: Engaging the Curriculum, Lilly Fellows Program Workshop for Senior Administrators, Samford University, October 21-23, 2001.
  15. Invited Speaker, The Impact of Secularization on Christian Higher Education, Abilene Christian University Board of Trustees, May 20-21, 2011.
  16. Invited Speaker, Faith and Disciplines Workshop, Oklahoma Baptist University, July 5-6, 2007.
  17. Invited Speaker, Hope’s Promise for Christian Scholars in the Not-Yet and In-Between, Indiana Wesleyan University, November 15, 2005.
  18. Consultant, Center for Scholarship/Scholarly Initiative, Indiana Wesleyan University, November 14-15, 2005.
  19. Invited Panelist, Gnosis to Epignosis . . . A Faith Integration Seminar, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, LeTourneau University, November 1, 2005.
  20. Invited Panelist, Evangelicalism and Higher Education, Panel presentation for After Evangelicalism, Second Annual Civitas Conference, Cornerstone University, Grand Rapids, MI, September 15-17, 2005.
  21. Convener/Panelist, Young Scholars in the Baptist Academy: Back to the Future, Concluding session for conference on The Future of Baptist Higher Education, Baylor University, April 18-19, 2005.
  22. Invited Panelist, Christian Business Education: Six Theses, Panel presentation for Christian Business Faculty Association Conference, Just Business: Christian Perspectives on Marketplace Justice, San Antonio, TX, October 28-30, 2004.
  23. Invited Panelist, Lilly Program for the Theological Exploration of Vocation: Best Practices Conference, St. Norbert’s College, De Pere, WI, November 6-8, 2003.
  24. Invited Small Group Facilitator, Developing Leadership for Mission, Lilly Fellows Program Senior Administrators’ Workshop, Pepperdine University, October 16-17, 2003.
  25. Invited Panelist, Eight Years of the Rhodes Consultation: A Celebration, Montreat Conference Center, Montreat, NC, May 22-25, 2003.
  26. Invited Panelist, Faith and Learning Integration in the Classroom, National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion, Southwest Region, Dallas, March 9, 2002.
  27. Faith and Learning Integration as an Institutional Objective: Why and How? Co-presented with Michael D. Beaty, Association of Southern Baptist Colleges and Schools, Panama City, Florida, June 2-4, 2002. 

FELLOWSHIPS, AWARDS, AND DISTINCTIONS

  1. Senior Scholar, NetVUE Scholarly Resources Project, Council of Independent Colleges, 2013-present.
  2. Mentor, Ninth Cohort of Lilly Graduate Fellows, Lilly Fellows Program National Network of Church-Related Colleges and Universities, 2016-2019.
  3. Finalist, Outstanding Teaching Award, Honors College, Baylor University, Spring 2010.
  4. National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Gold Excellence Award, Brooks Residential College, Baylor University, 2010. (Recognition shared with colleagues for design, construction, and programming of Baylor’s first residential college.)
  5. Finalist, Annual Book Award Competition, Lilly Fellows Program National Network of Church-Related Colleges and Universities, October 2, 2009.
  6. Faculty Partner of the Year, Department of Student Activities and Office of Campus Programs, Division of Student Life, Baylor University, April 2008.
  7. Outstanding Faculty Partner Award, Division of Student Life, Baylor University, April 2006.
  8. Faculty Fellow, Collegium: A Colloquy on Faith and Intellectual Life, Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT, June 14-21, 2002.
  9. Runner-up, American Philosophical Association Letters-to-Editor Competition, June 2002.
  10. Faculty Forum Award, Malone College, Spring 1999 (award for best faculty research paper).
  11. Faculty Forum Award, Malone College, Fall 1998 (award for best faculty research paper).
  12. Andrew C. Mellon Dissertation Fellow, Vanderbilt University, 1995-1996.
  13. President, Student Government Association, Oklahoma Baptist University, 1991-1992.
  14. John Wesley Raley Scholar, Oklahoma Baptist University, 1991-1992.
  15. Jent Philosophy Award, Oklahoma Baptist University, 1991.
  16. Robert S. Byrd Scholar, 1988-1989.
  17. National Merit Scholar, 1988-1989.

SELECT SERVICE AT BAYLOR

  • Council of Deans, 2019-present.
  • University Council, 2019-present.
  • Honors Residential College Advisory Board, 2019-present.
  • Enrollment Management Working Group, 2012-2019.
  • General Education Committee, 2011-2019.
  • Faculty Advisor, Bears for Life, 2009-2017.
  • Faculty Advisory Group, Center for Ministry Effectiveness and Educational Leadership, 2007-2013.
  • Chair, Search Committee for Assistant Professor in Great Texts, 2012-2013.
  • Faculty-in-Residence Council, 2010-2013.
  • University Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, 2007-2013 (Co-Chair, 2011-2012).
  • Institutional Representative, Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts National Network of Church-Related Colleges and Universities, 2002-2012.
  • Mentor, Crane Scholars Program, 2001-2011.
  • 21st Century Project Summit, Association of College and University Housing Officers-International (ACUHO-I), 2009.
  • Search Committee, Leadership Living-Learning Center Faculty-in-Residence, 2008-2009.
  • National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Task Force, 2008-2009.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

  • American Philosophical Association
  • Society of Christian Philosophers
  • Baptist Association of Philosophy Teachers