Baylor University names new president

Dr. Linda A. Livingstone becomes the school’s 15th president, and the first woman to serve as the university’s president.

She will begin the job on June 1, succeeding interim President Dr. David Garland.

Baylor regents approved the choice unanimously based on the recommendation of the 12-member Presidential Search Committee.

She is now the dean and professor of management at The George Washington University School of Business, but earlier served as associate dean and associate professor in Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business.

“Dr. Livingstone brings an accomplished academic career to Baylor, combined with a strong appreciation and support of Baylor's mission. A longtime Baptist and former Baylor faculty member, she has a passion for the distinctiveness of Baylor's Christian mission in higher education." Board of Regents Chairman Ronald D. Murff said in a press release announcing the selection.

Livingstone has been dean of The George Washington University School of Business since 2014.

Before joining the faculty there, she spent 12 years at Pepperdine University as dean of the Graziadio School of Business and Management.

Her career at Pepperdine corresponds with the tenure of former Baylor Chancellor and President Ken Starr at the university, where he served as dean of the law school.

Livingstone is an Oklahoma native who earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics and business administration and a doctorate in management and organizational behavior from Oklahoma State University, where she was a four-year letter winner on the woman’s basketball team from 1978 to 1982.

She began her academic career at Baylor in 1991 as an assistant professor of management in Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business.

She became an associate professor in 1997 and became associate dean of graduate programs in 1998, a position she held until leaving in 2002 to join the Pepperdine faculty.

"I chose to begin my academic career at Baylor in significant part because of Baylor's Christian mission. To return to Baylor to partner with the exceptional faculty, staff, students and administrators to fulfill the university's vision to be a top-tier research institution, committed to excellence in all aspects of university life, while strengthening the Christian mission is an opportunity I look forward to with enthusiasm."

Her husband Brad played basketball at Oklahoma State from 1978 to 1982 and the couple’s daughter, Shelby, recently completed he junior season as a member of Rice University’s volleyball team.

Brad Livingstone is dean of students and teaches history at Trinity Christian School in Fairfax, Va.

Livingstone was among 400 candidates reviewed by the Presidential Search Committee, which ultimately interviewed 61 of the candidates.