WACO, Texas (FOX 44) – Baylor University has announced a $2 million gift from Scott and Susan Orr of The Woodlands. This will establish the Scott & Susan Orr Family Endowed Chair in Medical Humanities & Christian Faith to support teaching, mentorship and innovative research in the Medical Humanities Program within the College of Arts & Sciences.

The university says this endowed chair brings the total number of new endowed chair and faculty positions funded by the Give Light campaign to 45. The Orr Family Chair supports the Health and Human Flourishing, Leadership and Ethics initiatives within the University’s strategic plan Illuminate, and qualifies for matching support through the Give Light Campaign’s Illuminate Chair Matching Program.

The Orr Family Chair will be housed within the Medical Humanities Program, which the university say is one of the few of its kind in the country for students who aspire to careers in healthcare and other affiliated professions. The program is intended to pair foundational science curriculum with courses in history, literature, Christian philosophy and other disciplines to inspire deep discussion and critical thinking, providing a holistic, interdisciplinary approach for many pre-health students.

The university says that the Orr Family Chair will support the program’s Christian identity by fostering an appreciation with students of the importance of the doctor-patient relationship, the spiritual and emotional dimensions of disease and a heightened awareness of the human experience of illness. The Orrs’ motivation for this gift is to recruit and retain faculty leaders who will continue the program’s rich tradition of intentional mentorship, fostering deep discussions and inspiring prospective physicians, nurses, healthcare administrators and other allied healthcare professionals through their teaching on the history, impact and role of the Christian faith in healthcare delivery and administration.

Baylor publicly launched the Give Light campaign on November 1, 2018. The campaign has raised $1.4 billion, has seen 96,164 alumni, parents and friends give to the University’s priorities, and has established 818 endowed scholarships and 45 endowed faculty positions.

For more information or to support Give Light: The Campaign for Baylor, you can visit the Give light website.