Baylor University

Baylor University

Motto	Pro Ecclesia, Pro Texana. (Latin)
Motto in English	For Church, For Texas.
Type	Private
Established	1845
Religious affiliation	Baptist
Endowment	$1.17 billion (2015)
President	David E. Garland (Interim)
Provost	L. Gregory Jones
Academic staff	1250
Students	16,787 (Fall 2015)
Undergraduates	14,189 (Fall 2015)
Postgraduates	2,598 (Fall 2015)
Location	Waco, Texas, United States 31°32′55″N 97°07′00″W / 31.54861°N 97.11667°W / 31.54861; -97.11667Coordinates: 31°32′55″N 97°07′00″W / 31.54861°N 97.11667°W / 31.54861; -97.11667
Campus	Urban ("College town") 1,000 acres (4.0 km2)
Colors	Green and Gold
Nickname	Bears & Lady Bears
Mascot	Judge Joy & Judge Lady (live bears) Bruiser (costumed)
Sporting affiliations	NCAA Division I – Big 12
Website	www.baylor.edu

Baylor University (BU) is a private Baptist university in Waco, Texas. Chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas, it is the oldest continuously-operating university in Texas and one of the first educational institutions west of the Mississippi River in the United States. It is among the largest Baptist universities in the world. The university's 1,000-acre campus is located on the banks of the Brazos River next to I-35, between the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and Austin. Baylor University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Baylor University's athletic teams, known as the Bears, participate in 19 intercollegiate sports. The university is a member of the Big 12 Conference in the NCAA Division I.

In 1841, 35 delegates to the Union Baptist Association meeting voted to adopt the suggestion of Rev. William Milton Tryon and R.E.B. Baylor to establish a Baptist university in Texas, then an independent republic. Baylor, a Texas district judge and onetime U.S. Congressman and soldier from Alabama, became the school's namesake. Some at first wished to name the new university "San Jacinto" to recognize the victory which enabled the Texans to become an independent nation, then before the final vote of the Congress, the petitioners requested the university be named in honor of Judge R. E. B. Baylor.

In the fall of 1844, the Texas Baptist Education Society petitioned the Congress of the Republic of Texas to charter a Baptist university. Republic President Anson Jones signed the Act of Congress on February 1, 1845, officially establishing Baylor University. The founders built the original university campus in Independence, Texas. Rev. James Huckins, the first Southern Baptist missionary to Texas, was Baylor's first full-time fundraiser. He is considered the third founding father of the university. Although these three men are credited as being the founders of the university, many others worked to see the first university established in Texas and thus they were awarded Baylor's Founders Medal. The noted Texas revolutionary war leader and hero Sam Houston gave the first $5,000 donation to start the university. In 1854, Houston was also baptized by the Rev. Rufus Columbus Burleson, future Baylor President, in the Brazos River.