Conyers Scholars - Online Leaders
Dr. Rebecca Poe Hays
Dr. Rebecca Poe Hays is Assistant Professor of Christian Scriptures (Hebrew Bible/Old Testament). Before joining the faculty at Truett, she worked with Baylor’s Institute for Faith and Learning on a grant from the Lilly Endowment’s Called to Lives of Meaning and Purpose Initiative that focused on the exploration of vocation in churches. Dr. Poe Hays believes that ministry must be grounded in faithful and responsible readings of Scripture, and she loves teaching the “Older” Testament in order to draw out its ongoing relevance for the church. She is particularly interested in how the stories in Scripture—particularly in the Psalms—communicate with us and shape us, and in how these sung stories might help individuals and faith communities build resilience. She presents regularly at the national meetings of the Society for Biblical Literature and is co-chair of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible unit of the Society of Biblical and Related Literature.
An ordained Baptist minister, she has served in churches and Christian non-profits in Tennessee, Alabama, and Texas. Dr. Poe Hays is married to the Rev. Dr. Joshua Hays, who serves as Associate Pastor at the First Baptist Church of Waco, and together they have a daughter Mary Brandon, a son Whitten, and a distinguished mutt named Cooper.
Dr. Nathan Hays
Dr. Nathan Hays is assistant director of Baylor's Institute for Faith and Learning (IFL), which assists Baylor in achieving its mission of integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment. He has also served with Baylor's Soundings Project, a Lilly Endowment, Inc. grant that helps churches develop projects related to vocation. Previously, Nathan earned his Ph.D. in Religion at Baylor with an Old Testament concentration. His research focused on the intersection of priestly and prophetic literature, and his dissertation was on the book of Malachi. He has seven peer-reviewed articles, and he has taught classes in Baylor's Religion department and George W. Truett Theological Seminary. Prior to the Ph.D., Nathan completed a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) at Duke Divinity School and B.A. at Baylor. A native Texan, Nathan has three children.
Dr. T. Laine Scales
The overall Conyers Scholars program coordinator is Dr. T. Laine Scales, Professor of Social Work. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina and her MSW from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and completed her Ph.D. in Higher Education at the University of Kentucky. After teaching at Palm Beach Atlantic University and Stephen F. Austin State University, she began her Baylor career in 1999 as a faculty member in the School of Social Work. From 2004- 2018 she served as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Professional Development in Baylor’s Graduate School and from 2008- 2018 she served the School of Education as Professor of Higher Education. Since 2011 Dr. Scales has co-directed the Baylor in Oxford summer study abroad program. In 2016, Baylor honored Dr. Scales with its highest teaching award, Baylor Master Teacher. Dr. Scales co-founded the Conyers Program in 2010.
Dr. Scales has authored, co-authored, or co-edited ten books and over forty articles and chapters in the areas of faculty development, Christianity and social work,(with an emphasis on early Baptist social workers and Woman’s Missionary Union), and history of Baptist women in higher education, including All That Fits a Woman: Training Southern Baptist Women for Charity and Mission, 1907-1926 (Mercer University Press, 2000), and Doing the Word: Southern Baptists’ Carver School of Church Social Work and its Predecessors, 1907-1997 (with Melody Maxwell, University of Tennessee Press, 2019).