Named for Dean Elizabeth Vardaman, who for 39 years mentored innumerable Baylor students and assisted hundreds of them in obtaining prestigious national and international scholarships, research and teaching fellowships, internships, and other educational enrichment opportunities, the Vardaman Scholars program seeks to carry forward a rich Baylor legacy of mentoring that equips students for impact in the world.
Program Overview
The Vardaman Scholars program (previously the Baylor Engage Fellows program) fosters a vibrant community of students integrating their scholarship, citizenship, and leadership in pursuit of the common good. Designed for incoming second- or third-year students, and lasting for the duration of their undergraduate tenure, Vardaman Scholars benefit from the tailored guidance of faculty and staff as they:
Gain access to and preparation for research, civic, and leadership opportunities, as well as guidance on major fellowships and awards
Enter a community of students across diverse fields of study, engaged in mutual learning and reflection about how to pursue lives of purpose and impact the world for good
Learn together in two formational one-hour courses aimed at offering frameworks and opening opportunities for impact beyond Baylor
Gain priority access to funding for summer internships that integrate learning, service, scholarly activity, and professional development
Vardaman Scholars find a deep sense of belonging in the program, primarily through our four “houses,” which are guided ably by faculty, staff, and student leaders committed to mentoring and growth. Scholars meet twice monthly for breakfast, where they form community, learn about opportunities, and gain inspiration from one another with the ongoing goal of orienting their learning and lives toward flourishing of their neighbors and the common good.
Program Structure
All entering Vardaman Scholars begin with the Curriculum Year, where they will take a one-hour course each semester, introducing frameworks for learning and service, along with opportunities for impact. Year two of Vardaman Scholars is the Project Year, when Scholars actualize work they have designed for themselves in the Curriculum Year, meeting regularly with faculty mentors for guidance. Year three is the Leadership Year, when Scholars mentor and guide the Vardaman Scholars community supported by the Office of Engaged Learning as they bridge from Baylor to their next steps beyond.
The below table is best viewed on a computer.
Year One: Curriculum Year | Year Two: Project Year | Year Three: Leadership Year | ||
Key Activities | PPS 1101 Learning for the World (LFTW) | PPS 2101 Community-Based Global Learning (CBGL) | Actioning CBGL final project proposal, or pursuing another engaged learning-related project | Engaged Learning student leader |
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How to Apply
Applications for the Vardaman Scholars program open each spring for admittance in the fall. Rising second- or third-year students are eligible to apply. The program duration is for the remainder of a student's undergraduate education at Baylor, either two years or three years depending on when they apply.
Applications are now open and are due by 11:59pm on Sunday, March 29.
Vardaman Scholars Year by Year
Year One: Curriculum Year
Part I: Learning for the World
In fall of the Curriculum Year, students take PPS 1101 – Learning for the World (LFTW), a one-hour course in the Philanthropy & Public Service (PPS) program designed introduce them to civic, scholarly, and leadership opportunities at Baylor and in the Waco community. LFTW offers students the opportunity to cultivate intrinsic motivations for intellectual curiosity and love of neighbor, while offering frameworks to explore various pathways into their futures. As students learn from and serve their neighbors in ESL classrooms around Waco, they also spend time considering the ways their own talents, intellect, and resources might serve the world and contribute to its good.
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Part II: Community-Based Global Learning (CBGL)
The Spring course of Year One is PPS 2101 – Community-Based Global Learning (CBGL). In this course students study the systems and values of fair-trade learning, entanglement, and cultural humility as they understand their role and impact as members of local, national, and global communities. CBGL students develop a multi-level narrative for their involvements with a freedom and fluidity regarding their way forward. CBGL students become rooted in their communities and stay fully alive to the world, in the midst of its joys and its sorrows.
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Year Two: Project Year
Second-year Vardaman Scholars put into action the proposal they created at the conclusion of the CBGL course. These projects are overseen by a member of the OEL team and, in some cases, a faculty member or community partner who will support the specific details and execution of the project. These include widely varied activities, such as leadership of first-year students, assisting professors with their community engagement in other engaged learning classes, research with a public-good focus, participation in the UN’s Millennium Fellows program, leadership of community-engaged programs such as CityLab, or many other possibilities.
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Year Three: Leadership Year
Third-year Vardaman Scholars are Baylor’s premier engaged student leaders, selected and shaped to go beyond the classroom and into the world with their leadership, service, and research as citizens and global learners. During their third year, Scholars have the opportunity to serve as House Leaders, mentoring other Vardaman Scholars and cultivating belonging within the program. Scholars in the Leadership Year also help guide and execute OEL programming, events, recruitment efforts, and other outreach opportunities. Scholars in the Leadership Year often have opportunity to present their work at national conferences, and they gain access to close mentorship from faculty and OEL staff as they seek to bridge from Baylor to their next steps beyond.
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