Baylor’s vice president for student life is new to the role, but a familiar face to many around campus. Dr. Sharra Hynes succeeded Dr. Kevin Jackson on July 1, following Jackson’s retirement after 16 years at Baylor.
The new position was a natural step for Hynes, who has worked with Baylor students since 2020 (most recently as senior associate vice president and dean of students). In her new role, she now leads Baylor’s Division of Student Life, overseeing areas ranging from Student Activities, Campus Living & Learning, and New Student Programs to Spiritual Life, Multicultural Affairs, Campus Recreation and the Counseling Center — a wide variety of resources that enrich each student’s Baylor experience.
Hynes got an immediate introduction to Baylor’s caring community when she arrived at BU during the COVID-19 pandemic. Working in Student Life, she experienced firsthand how BU’s efforts to support students and welcome them safely back to campus demonstrated the community and faith foundation that drew her here in the first place.
“It was really the central mission of Baylor as being a community that values faith formation, that thinks very intentionally about the student experience, and equips students for that worldwide impact,” Hynes said in a 2021 episode of Baylor Connections. “The scope of service that our students can have with the quality education that they take with them upon graduation, it’s attractive to anyone. I feel really privileged to be here, and feel like I’ve come home in many ways.”
Prior to her time at Baylor, she served at universities across the spectrum, from large-public to smaller-faith-based institutions: Texas A&M, University of Central Oklahoma, Houghton University, and George Fox University. Baylor, she says, brings together the best of all worlds, and is a place where she and her Student Life colleagues can look for both immediate and long-term ways to support students, impacting each step of their journey.
“Baylor really thinks about the big arc of a student’s experience, not just that the little moments,” she says. “We think about the big picture and their whole journey, from when they’re a prospective student all the way through to when they’re an alum. We want there to be an intentionality of their whole experience so that they continue to identify as a member of the Baylor family and see themselves as part of that line.”
Sic ’em, Dr. Hynes!