News

Baylor’s Moody School of Education (SOE) recognized ten graduates as outstanding students at the annual Recognition Banquet on May 14, 2026. Graduating students were honored for their excellence in academics and fieldwork in education programs and for their readiness to impact the world. Along with Moody’s traditional awards, the School created a new award, the BearTEACH Impact Award for community service. Read all about these amazing graduates!

Dr. Grant Morgan ranks among the most influential researchers nationally and internationally, with work that advances both cutting-edge quantitative methods and real-world societal outcomes through extensive interdisciplinary collaboration. A professor of educational psychology and associate dean for research in the Moody School of Education, Dr. Morgan received the Baylor Outstanding Faculty Award for Research. Dr. Morgan ranks in the top 2 percent of scholars worldwide for citations by other researchers, a key measure of scholarly influence. 

Dr. Gospel Kim requires all her Baylor students—across every course from undergraduate to doctoral level— to work directly in community or school settings for field-based learning, applied projects, or research. She builds in these experiences because she believes taking theory into practice is essential to learning. That commitment and intentionality, along with superlative reviews from students and colleagues, earned her the 2026 Baylor Outstanding Faculty Award for tenure-track teaching — the university’s sole such honor. Dr. Kim's work as an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology supports young children with developmental disabilities and their families.

Dr. Nicholas Benson, associate professor of educational psychology in Baylor University’s Moody School of Education and an expert in psychological and educational assessment tools, received the Outstanding Article of the Year Award from the journal School Psychology Review. Benson and two colleagues challenged the efficacy of Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses (PSW), a widely used diagnostic method in schools, and determined it is no more likely to accurately identify specific learning disabilities (SLD) than chance.

Dr. Sarah Mire, PhD, LP, NCSP, LSSP, associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology in Baylor’s Moody School of Education, received the Dr. Ollie Seay Knowledge Award for Excellence in Research from the Texas Chapter of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDDTX). Mire is also a faculty affiliate working with the Baylor Center for Disability and Flourishing.

The award recognizes significant contributions to the dissemination of knowledge in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities through education and research.

Baylor University’s Erik W. Carter, PhD, FAAIDD,  the Luther Sweet Endowed Chair in Disabilities in the Moody School of Education and a leading voice on disability, faith and flourishing, will receive the 2026 Leadership Award from the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) during the 150th AAIDD Annual Meeting in June in Chicago. Founded in 1876, AAIDD is the oldest and largest interdisciplinary membership organization of professionals and others focused on the thriving of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Baylor's Moody School of Education has established a formal collaboration with Teach For America, creating new avenues for TFA educators and alumni to pursue graduate studies through Baylor’s online, hybrid, and residential programs. The agreement is one of several with educational organizations and school districts that are designed to expand access to advanced professional learning opportunities.

Baylor University has received a $5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. for “The Whole Body Project: Flourishing Together in Faith and Life.” The project is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s National Storytelling Initiative on Christian Faith and Life, which seeks to help organizations identify, produce and share compelling stories about ways that Christians from many different backgrounds and in a broad range of settings are living vibrant lives of faith and engaging in acts of love and service for others.

Dr. Celeste D.C. Sodergren, who earned her PhD in educational psychology with a specialization in Gifted and Talented Education from Baylor in 2024, claimed the 2025 National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) Dissertation Award. In her award-winning dissertation, which has been published in top journals, Sodergren explored what parents expect to gain from gifted education for their children and family.

Dr. Sodergren is now a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Connecticut’s National Research Center for Gifted Education.

More than 350 K-12 students from seven states, Mexico, and Colombia are on the Baylor campus this summer for enrichment courses and immersive learning experiences at summer camps through the Baylor University Talent Identification Program (TIP) in the School of Education. Baylor TIP, a program of the Baylor Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development, identifies pre-collegiate students with exceptional talent and offers world-class learning opportunities. In addition to the TIP residential program with 160+ students in grades 8-12 living in a campus dorm, the Center is hosting three other camps for different ages.

Baylor School of Education recognized nine new or soon-to-be graduates as outstanding students at the 40th annual Recognition Banquet on May 15, 2025. Students were honored for their excellence in academics and fieldwork in education programs and their readiness to impact the world. Newly added awards were given in all-level special education, ESL, gifted education, and the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT). Read all about these impressive future teachers — Navy Casady, Kaitlyn Genzer, Samantha Jones, Will McNierney, Amy Heick, Laura Workman, Anna Garner, Ellie Ramsey, Audrey Nolen.

The newest issue of Baylor Impact newsletter (Spring 2025) is now online. If you are an SOE graduate and did not receive a newsletter in the mail, please let us know by emailing BaylorImpact@baylor.edu. This issue features exciting news about SOE programs, faculty, students, and alumni who are making a difference. The cover story, Promising Futures shares how a School of Education’s scholarship program is removing barriers associated with income so that more high-ability students can participate in Baylor TIP (Talent Identification Program) through the Baylor Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development.

Grace Casper, program coordinator at the Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities, received a 2025 Baylor Outstanding Staff Award. This university-wide recognition honors staff members who go above and beyond in supporting Baylor’s mission. Casper's colleagues describe her as a “joyful presence,” and “a deeply committed team player whose work enhances the success of everyone around her.” She brings not only professional excellence but also warmth, integrity, and a deep sense of purpose to all she does.

Dr. Sarah Mire, LP, NCSP, LSSP, associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and faculty affiliate with the Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities, both in the School of Education, received the Baylor Outstanding Faculty Award for Scholarship for Tenured Faculty. Mire’s transformative research bridges families, school personnel, and medical providers to improve outcomes for children with autism.

Three School of Education (SOE) graduate students were honored with awards from the Baylor Graduate School. The Graduate School honored 14 students university wide with research, instruction, and dissertation awards.

Beatrice Ruiz, a PhD student in the Department of Educational Psychology received the Research Award for the Social Sciences. Maggie Bryant and Elizabeth (Liz) Harrelson Magill, both PhD students in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction, were honorees for their teaching. 

Three Baylor School of Education faculty members in the Department of Educational Psychology — Dr. Erik Carter, Dr. Sarah Mire, and Dr. Terrill Saxon — are co-investigators on an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional team of researchers that will conduct a mixed-methods longitudinal study on patience. The researchers will study patience in people who experience adversity, and the SOE team’s research will focus on families raising adolescents who experience intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

For the fourth year in a row, 100 percent of the Baylor University School of Education’s school psychology Ph.D. students have “Matched” for pre-doctoral psychology internships accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). The Match, run by the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC), is highly competitive, and APA-accredited sites are the most competitive placements.

For the first time this summer, the Baylor University Talent Identification Program (TIP) in the School of Education hosted residential camps for high-ability gifted students in grades 8 through 12 in June on the Baylor campus. Baylor TIP, a program of the Baylor Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development, identifies exceptional talent in pre-collegiate students and provides world-class learning opportunities.

The spring issue of Baylor Impact, the newsletter of the School of Education, is now online. The cover story celebrates the 10th Anniversary of the Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities. Updates from the SOE's Center for School Leadership and Baylor TIP are also in this issue, along with faculty, student, and program accolades. Don't miss the big news about paid internships for student teachers.

The Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities (BCDD) is celebrating its tenth anniversary throughout 2024. The BCDD invests in research, training, outreach, and clinical services that promote the flourishing of people with disabilities, their families, and communities.

Read to learn about the BCDD, its history, future Center research, and upcoming events throughout 2024.

A $1.25-million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. will establish an interdisciplinary project focuses on helping congregations embrace young people with disabilities, mental health challenges, and chronic illnesses, led by Baylor faculty in Truett Seminary, School of Education, and Diana Garland School of Social Work.

Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities within the University School of Education is joining With Ministries on a new program called Worship as One: Learning with Children with Disabilities about Worship and Prayer. Lilly Endowment Inc. is supporting the program with a $300,000 grant to With Ministries.

Baylor Proud

Featured:
Dr. Erik Carter, the Luther Sweet Endowed Chair in Disabilities and executive director of the Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities

Excerpt:
“We are eager to collaborate with churches across the country to learn together what it looks like to do this work well and faithfully,” says Carter, the Luther Sweet Endowed Chair in Disabilities and executive director of the Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities. “The Scriptures are clear that we are to be lavish with our invitations and our love. Indeed, our faith communities are incomplete without people with disabilities and their families.”

The newest issue of Baylor Impact newsletter (Spring 2023) is now online. This Impact issue features exciting news about SOE programs, faculty, students, and alumni who are making a difference.

Maryann Hebda, a second-year PhD candidate doctoral student in the Department of Educational Psychology, and Nori Ryland, a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Educational Psychology, were both recipients of the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award for their teaching during the Spring 2022 semester.

This award is given by the Baylor Graduate School fo graduate students who work as Teachers of Record and who are recognized for their outstanding teaching by students, and faculty. Recipients are honored at a luncheon, given a plaque, and awarded an additional travel award to use to attend conferences that will further their teaching careers.

As Autism Acceptance Month celebrates and encourages the acceptance of people on the autism spectrum and recognizes that they are valued members of society, a new Baylor initiative in launching to build inclusive practices within communities of faith. Dr. Erik W. Carter, the Luther Sweet Endowed Chair in Disabilities in the Baylor School of Education and executive director of the Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities (BCDD), is helping launch a new initiative to support churches in creating more welcoming and accessible experiences for people with autism.

Dr. Carter shares specific actions churches can take to expand inclusion and belonging.

Baylor University today announced a $1.5 million gift from anonymous alumni establishing an endowed faculty chair position to support innovative research and teaching focused on the flourishing of children and youth with disabilities. With an appointment in the Baylor School of Education and leading the Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities, the faculty chair will accelerate interdisciplinary scholarship across the University and beyond.

The School of Education has named Erik W. Carter, Ph.D., as the inaugural chairholder. Carter previously held The Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Special Education at Vanderbilt University and co-directed the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. In this role, he will serve as executive director for the Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities (BCDD) and help launch a new interdisciplinary institute on faith and disability.