BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

private, coeducational institution of higher learning located in Waco, Texas, U.S. Baylor, affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, is the world's largest Baptist university and the oldest college in Texas. The university offers a curriculum in the arts and sciences and in professional training. Graduate degrees are available in the arts and sciences. The Baylor Law School awards Juris Doctor degrees, and the Hankamer School of Business offers five master's degrees. The School of Nursing is housed at the Baylor University Medical Center, which was established in Dallas in 1919. Total enrollment is more than 13,000. Chartered by the Republic of Texas in 1845, Baylor was founded by the Texas Baptist Education Society and named for Judge R.E.B. Baylor, one of its founding missionaries. Instruction in law began in 1849, and the law school was organized in 1857. Originally located in the town of Independence, the university was moved in 1886 to Waco, where it merged with Waco University. The School of Business was organized in 1923. Baylor University College of Medicine (est. in Waco in 1903 and moved to Houston in 1943) included such distinguished heart surgeons as Denton Cooley and Michael DeBakey and endocrinologist Andrew Schally, a Nobel laureate, on its staff; in 1969 it became an independent institution, renamed the Baylor College of Medicine. At one time the university was also affiliated with the Baylor College of Dentistry (1918-71).