As Baylor’s Board of Regents holds its regular summer meeting this week, six new Regents are taking their seats at the table to start new terms. They’ll be led by a new Board Chair, Todd Patterson (BS ’90), and a new Vice Chair, Jack F. Harper II (BBA ’93).

It’s no surprise that Baylor faculty are leaders in their fields. From prestigious national fellowships to coveted grants, Baylor professors are highly decorated for their research and scholarship. One thing that makes Baylor different: Those same researchers can also regularly be found in the classroom, teaching undergraduate students.

At Baylor, research and teaching go hand-in-hand. (That’s why Baylor regularly appears on the short lists of universities with the best undergraduate research and teaching.) That combination provides Baylor undergraduate students with the chance to study under and know professors who are actively impacting their disciplines.

Baylor has a long history of sending alums to the big leagues, but in recent years, its record of producing Major League Baseball all-stars has grown dramatically — thanks to the two Bears chosen for this Tuesday’s 2026 All-Star Game in Philadelphia.

Max Muncy and Shea Langeliers were both elected as starters in this year’s game. Not surprisingly, Baylor is the only college or university with two starters in this year’s All-Star Game.

At first glance, it’s not a pleasant image to consider: Billions of bacteria, fungi and viruses live in the gut of every human. While that may sound bad, these collections — unique to every human — play an oversized role in human health. Their sheer scope makes them challenging to study, but the benefits of understanding them can help individuals with ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, cancer and more.

It’s a field of knowledge that Baylor researchers are expanding through a focus on different aspects of the human microbiome — the overall collection of microorganisms found throughout the body in areas such as the gastrointestinal tract. Baylor’s strength in the field of microbiome research is rapidly growing, promoting ways to help humans enjoy healthier guts, which in turn promotes healthier people.

Here are three questions Baylor professors seek to answer through their research:

All year long, Cameron Carr was Baylor Men’s Basketball’s most electric and reliable scorer, and last night he was rewarded for that productivity — with a first-round selection in the 2026 NBA Draft.

Carr was selected by the New York Knicks with the 24th overall pick, but he’ll play for the Los Angeles Lakers; reports have him going to Los Angeles via a trade which would become official when the new league year officially begins July 1.

When it comes to preparing compassionate leaders in maternal and newborn care, Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing continues to set the standard — and that’s being noticed on the national level.

This spring, LHSON’s online Doctor of Nursing Practice nurse-midwifery program jumped six spots in U.S. News’ latest rankings, all the way to No. 16 in the nation.

For more than two decades, Don Carpenter (BBA ’81) has made it his mission to invest in Baylor students’ lives.

The lessons he teaches in Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business certainly matter. But ask former students what they remember most, and many will point not to a lecture or exam, but to a conversation or a word of encouragement from a mentor who believed in them when they needed it most.

Baylor is annually recognized among the nation’s best universities for undergraduate teaching and learning communities — ranking No. 27 and No. 9, respectively, in U.S. News‘ latest survey of higher ed.

One key component of Baylor’s success is the well-rounded education students receive — which, once again, has been recognized among the best offerings in the country. This spring, Baylor was one of just 19 universities in the United States to get an “A” for its core curriculum from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), putting Baylor among the top 2% nationally.