Notable Alumni

Research Scientist

Artist, Illustrator, Publisher

Filmmaker, Producer

Broadway Conductor

Head of Music Staff, Conductor

Stage Actress

Child Life Specialist

Theater Educator, Actress

Visual Effects and Animation Executive

Environmental Activist, Nashville Disc Jockey

FBI Counterintelligence Specialist, Author

Facilitator, Human Genome Project

Senior V.P., Oceaneering International

Editor, New York Times

Professor, Emory University, Transplant Specialist

Conservationist, Museum Owner

When George Mann says he prefers living off the land, he's not kidding. The wildlife museum...

Federal Judge

Sandy Mattice still has a copy of beloved English teacher Roy Ashley's self-published grammar compendium "The Syllabus" tucked away...

Federal Prosecutor

While wrestling and the law seem to have little in common, both enterprises require face-to-face showdowns which...

Designer and Animator

What happens when you dream of working for Disney and end up with George Lucas?

Author, Memoirs of a Geisha

Arthur Golden's first novel, Memoirs of a Geisha, took the literary world by storm, and he's...

Real Estate Analyst

Born in Cambodia, David and his family escaped the war-torn country after the North Vietnamese invasion in 1979.

Writer, Producer, Director

"Creativity and problem-solving skills are absolute necessities in the world of television," Wiser says. "Nothing prepared me better for that than my time at Baylor."

Chief Content Officer, Time Inc.

Murray believes that journalists should gain an appreciation for language and knowledge of the world rather than attend journalism school. His success in his field certainly makes a case for this approach.

Medical Malpractice Litigator

Laurie Speed-Dalton '92 turned 40 the Friday before she was interviewed for this article. On Saturday she swam ten miles in the Tennessee River in less than four and a half hours.

President, Lauren Templeton Capital Management

From the time Lauren Templeton '94 was eight years old, her room in Winchester, Tenn., was decorated with certificates of the stocks she selected for purchase each month. The bedtime stories her father told her were tales of investing.

US Department of Education

Dr. George Alan Smith '87 is wholly content serving as chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education in Washington, D.C.

Poet, Author, Teacher

Dr. Coleman Barks '55 was 39 when he was first introduced to the work of the 13thcentury Persian poet, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi, known to the English-speaking world as Rumi.

Owner, Shadowbox Paperie

Mariah Mayfield '93 has found a niche in the nostalgic. The owner of Shadowbox Paperie, Mariah sells customized wedding invitations, birth announcements, personal stationery, greeting cards, and other miscellaneous paper items.

Track 29 entertainment co-owners, Adam Kinsey '98 and his wife, Monica, deserve a round of applause.

Co-owner, The Antiquarians

As co-owner of The Antiquarians, Carl Schow, '05, made more money in his first eBay transaction than he did in two weeks at his part-time job.

"Baylor had instilled the notion that I could do all the things on my to-do list."

"This school produces leaders. You stand a little taller and walk a little prouder knowing that you've gone to Baylor."

If anyone could convince you to exchange thirty dollars for a twenty dollar bill — and to do so gladly — it would be licensed auctioneer Ben Farrell '88.

Raising money and awareness of breast cancer has become a personal mission for head varsity softball coach, Kelli Howard Smith '95

Capt. Marisa Catlin's childhood fascination with planes has taken her around the world but not as a typical passenger.

If bass-baritone performer Seth Carico '00 hadn't been eager to impress a high school date, chances are he might not have become the international opera performer he is today.

The combination of competitive drive and cooking didn't immediately click with Charles Mayfield '92, but once it did, it was only a matter of time before he had a best-selling cookbook on his hands.

When Owen Roberts '03 was interviewed for this article, he had just returned from Haiti, and it's a safe bet that he'll soon be packing for another adventure.

Jack Studer '01 and his partners selected the name Lamp Post Group for the company they co-founded because it works on many levels. The lamp post is a landmark in the country of Narnia in C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series. It plays a part (likely a tribute to Lewis's classic books) in the television series Lost, and of course a lamp post helps light the way in darkness.

Ashley Farless '94 wasn't asked to write this alumni profile. But she thanks Baylor almost daily for instilling the skills she would need had she been called upon to do so.

Former Baylor Player and actress Lizzie Chazen '02 has returned to the local spotlight, sharing her considerable talent on the stage and behind the scenes at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre.

If you've been wondering what former Baylor Player John Michael Weatherly '98 has been up to lately, just check out Robert Redford's movie "The Conspirator," which opened nationwide in April starring Robin Penn Wright, James McAvoy, and Evan Rachel Wood.

Fesmire's book, "Nashville Skyline is a moving story of human weakness and redemption. Fueled by Southern history and classical mythology, Fesmire's story of Gabe Rutherford's journey will stir anyone who remembers the sting of a lost loved one or the heartbreak of lost love."

"One of the main reasons I got interested in working abroad was my experience in Jamaica [on the spring break community service trip] my senior year," said Rangaswami. "It led me to think about what I wanted to do with my life.

Gary Wheeler '71 who is now a professor and pediatric specialist in immunology and infectious diseases, points to many aspects of his Baylor years as having had an influence on his choice of college and career.

He has earned degrees in archaeology, art history, and ancient civiliza­tion, but Matt Prater '01 says a kinship with Indiana Jones is the real impetus behind his recent global odyssey.

The stacks of notebooks surrounding Ashleigh Dawkins Pipes '94 for much of last summer and this past fall have been placed in the hands of children 7,000 miles from her home in Jacksonville, N.C.

As oil gushed from the BP Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico last summer, efforts to contain the spill on the surface were low-tech in nature: skimming, chemical dispersants, and burning.

"College is just the training ground for a profession. You've got to get your education before you get to college, and Baylor certainly did that for me."

"If I could say anything about the Baylor experience – and it's the thing I would want for my son – it is that it instilled the confidence to set my course and pursue my dreams."

"I had such a strong foundation at Baylor that college was almost easier than high school."

Bodley, who has "no wife, no kids, no pets, and no mort­gage," jokes that he has performed in 8,000 bands...

Our goal with Eagle Ear is to continue to pursue our own music while we keep ourselves relevant. We find talent and help other artists reach their potential...

Randy Weinberg '70, a Princeton graduate, was class valedictorian, state champion wrestler, and a Rhodes Scholar. More than 30 years ago, he also became a Buddhist practitioner...

Although he didn't make the cut for a musical performance scene in the 1994 Baylor production of "The Grapes of Wrath," Morgan Jahnig '97 (pictured above on bass) has found his place in the spotlight...

As a member of the lighting crew for major rock and pop concerts for the last decade, Christopher Keene '97 has a unique perspective on the complexity of staging a mega-million dollar concert production...

Having performed with Opryland Productions eight years, Brandon Stansell '05 was already acquainted with the stage and well on his way to fulfilling a lifelong dream to be an entertainer when he was selected as a backup dancer for Taylor Swift's Fearless Tour.

When Nate Rawlings entered Princeton Univer­sity, he had no intention of joining the Army. But he came to think of military service as a good bridge between college and graduate school and signed up for ROTC

Senator Andy Berke '86 and his best friend and Baylor classmate, Chad Waldorf '86, debated about politics when they were Baylor stu­dents, and they still do today. Waldorf is very involved with the Republican Party in South Carolina while Berke, a Democrat, represents Tennessee's 10th District in the State Senate

A month into her junior year of high school, Kim Keith Berglund's family moved from Atlanta to Chattanooga. Not knowing what to expect, Berglund was relieved when she visited Baylor in anticipation of the move and attended Joe Gawrys's world literature class. "I thought it was cool and liked the way he set up the class. It was more of a discussion than a lecture," she remembers.

When Sam Holmes was a high school sopho­more in his hometown of Monticello, Ga., population 2,500, his parents realized that he needed a school that would expand his world — academically, athletically, and so­cially.

Before Roy Fuller's interview for this pro­file, he made a list of Baylor teachers who had influenced him. "It's a long list," he warned. "What Baylor gave me was a confidence about myself and the world around me that I didn't have coming in."