Graduate Student Association

The Graduate Student Association (GSA) is an organization concerned with the intellectual and social growth of graduate students at Baylor University. The GSA sponsors activities and programs that facilitate an exchange of ideas, promotion of scholarly  development, cultivation of social support systems, and dissemination of other information concerning graduate student life. All students currently enrolled for one or more semester hours of graduate course work toward an advanced degree and with a graduate GPA of 3.0 or greater are automatically members of the GSA. Students desiring further information about the GSA should review the website at www.baylor.edu/gsa or contact the Associate Dean for Student Development (254) 710-4487.

Housing

The Graduate Student Housing Community consists of two Baylor owned apartment complexes: Browning Square and The Quadrangle. Our single bedroom units at Browning Square and two bedroom units at The Quadrangle can accommodate singles, families, children, and pets. The Graduate Student Housing Community provides a quiet, adult residence with a living area suitable to the professional and family lives that are unique to graduate students. The community also serves as a place for scholars and families to gather for social, spiritual, and academic pursuits. To this end, we encourage residents to attend events that provide occasions for the community to come together and share in fellowship, friendship, and ideas.

Health Insurance

Baylor University requires Health Insurance for degree-seeking domestic graduate students under the purview of the Graduate School enrolled in 3 or more credit hours, including DPT, online graduate students, and/or those enrolled in at least one hour of a full-time equivalency course. To assist students to meet this requirement, Academic HealthPlans has been selected to administer the Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) underwritten by Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Texas. Students will be required to enroll in this plan or waive out of it by demonstrating comparable health insurance coverage through AHP.

International graduate students are required to maintain insurance coverage through Baylor’s student health insurance plan. International students will be automatically enrolled in SHIP. If an International graduate student would like to add additional coverage (dental, dependents, etc.) they should contact Betty Fornelius. Otherwise, the health insurance enrollment process will be automatic for our international students.

Information about the Baylor University Health Insurance Plan can be found at: www.baylor.edu/health_center under the “Insurance” quick link.

Campus Safety

The members of the Baylor Department of Public Safety (BUDPS) take great pride in providing all community members with exemplary law enforcement, emergency management (to include fire safety), global safety and security, parking and transportation and technical and physical security services. All five BUDPS departments work diligently with the campus community to provide a safe and secure environment for students, faculty, staff and guests to work, pursue academic endeavors, and participate in leisure activities.

The largest component of BUDPS is the Baylor University Police Department, which has a staff of 62 persons, including 37 police officers, 10 dispatchers, 13 security officers, an administrative manager, and a records manager.

Available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, officers with the Baylor University Police Department respond to over 10,000 calls a year. The Department operates marked patrol vehicles on campus, a bicycle unit, a Criminal Investigation unit, and a Crime Prevention unit.

The Baylor University Police Department is the primary reporting and investigating law enforcement agency for all crimes occurring on the Baylor University campus and/or Baylor owned property. Baylor University Police Officers have the same authority as any municipal police officer or sheriff’s deputy.

The Baylor University Police Department office is open Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Police dispatchers are on duty at the office (located at the Speight Street Parking garage) to receive calls for service/assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays. If you are in need of police assistance, call (254) 710-2211 or for emergency incidents call (254) 710-2222 or 2222 from any campus telephone. Baylor University Department of Public Safety also maintains eighty-one (81) emergency call boxes located across the campus and one-hundred fifty-two (152) emergency telephones, which are located in all building elevators, that offer immediate connection to the BUPD Dispatch Center, Downloading the free BU Campus Guardian cell phone security app is an additional tool available to Baylor University faculty, staff and students to call or text crisis and/or emergency situations occurring on and around the campus to the Baylor Police Department. The security officers also offer services such as escorts and report suspicious or unacceptable behaviors.

We encourage everyone to visit the BUDPS website to learn more about all the services we provide at: www.baylor.edu/dps.

You can also learn about safety initiatives on campus by reading Baylor University’s Annual Fire Safety & Security Report, which is published by October 1st of each year. This report is published to comply with the Jeanne Clery Act, a consumer protection law passed in 1990. This mandatory report requires all colleges and universities, who receive federal funding, to share information about crimes occurring on and around campus in efforts to not only improve campus safety, but to also inform the public of crimes occurring on and around campus.