Imperative I

Establish an environment where learning can flourish

Baylor will seek to maintain a culture that fosters a conversation about great ideas and the issues that confront humanity and how a Christian world-view interprets and affects them both. Critical to this learning community is the students' access to faculty. To increase interaction between professors and students, Baylor will seek to provide a student-faculty ratio of 13 to 1. To establish a common body of knowledge and academic experience, Baylor will cultivate the reading and discussion of the world's great texts. Since writing and speaking are pathways to critical thinking, Baylor will develop writing- and speaking-intensive courses to help students communicate with clarity, simplicity and grace.

Original Goals to Achieve Imperative I

Reduce student-faculty ratio to 13 to 1
Establish additional courses in new fields, including more endowed chairs and professorships at the undergraduate and graduate levels
Create a Great Texts Program, as well as an Honors College that incorporates interdisciplinary and University Scholars Programs
Develop additional writing and speaking courses
Create facilities that will enable learning, research and teaching, including a new sciences building
Create an Academic Success Center to improve retention and graduation rates by ten percent