Publications and Presentations

Student Publications and Presentations

Beth Allison Barr, Associate Dean for Professional Development

Last October, several PhD students from the Baylor History and Religion departments flew to San Diego, California, to participate in the 2021 Sixteenth Century Society and Conference (SCSC). An international and interdisciplinary academic society, the SCSC is closely associated with the Sixteenth Century Journal and attracts prestigious scholars from all over the world. Anna Redhair Wells, a PhD candidate in Religion, presented the paper “‘No one can from henceforth plead ignorance on the subject’: Geneva and the Context for Calvin’s Treatise on Relics” in session 11 while her colleague Jake Randolph, also a Religion PhD candidate, presented his paper “‘Riding with a Certain Aplomb’: Chivalry and Propaganda in the Kingdom of Munster,” in session 12. Altogether nine Baylor PhD students presented at this conference: Katherine Goodwin (History), Heidi Campbell (History), Steve Tyra (Religion), Erik Lundeen (Religion), Joshua Smith (Religion), Joe Wilson (History), Allison Brown (Religion), Anna Redhair Wells (Religion), and Jake Randolph (Religion).

While this level of participation by Baylor graduate students in a selective academic conference is praiseworthy, it is only unusual because it took place during the pandemic. Baylor graduate student participation in disciplinary conferences has decreased significantly since 2019—mostly due to conference cancellations and delays as well as health concerns. But a decrease in conference participation has not equaled a decline in scholarship.

In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, 243 Baylor graduate students reported their authorship in 832 peer-reviewed publications: 671 in STEM, 95 in Social Science, and 66 in the Humanities. 453 of the STEM publications come from graduate students in Physics whose research participation in the Experimental High Energy Research at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, enables them to participate in numerous co-authored articles each year. 

The remarkable publication record of Physics students is unique in the quantity of articles produced but reflects just one part of the strong publication record of Baylor graduate students. Indeed, the significant growth in graduate student publications between 2015 and 2020 played into Baylor’s recent designation as a R1 university. Chemistry and Biochemistry students received the highest number of student publications after Physics, followed closely by students in Psychology and Neuroscience as well as in Biology. Graduate students in the Religion department achieved the highest number of publications in the humanities with History students following closely behind. Baylor only achieved R1 status this year, but the stellar publication records of our graduate students (even during a pandemic) shows that our graduate students are already performing at R1 standards.