Conyers Scholars Residential Program Leaders

Perry L. Glanzer, Ph.D., is Professor of Educational Foundations and a Resident Scholar with Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, M.A. from Baylor University and B.A. from Rice University.

He is the co-author, most recently, of Christ Enlivened Student Affairs: A Guide to Christian Thinking and Practices in the Field (Abilene Christian University Press, 2020) and The Outrageous Idea of the Christian Teacher (Oxford University Press, 2019). Some of his other co-authored books include: The Quest for Purpose: The Collegiate Search for a Meaningful Life (SUNY Press, 2017) and Restoring the Soul of the University: Unifying Christian Higher Education in a Fragmented Age (Intervarsity, 2017); The Idea of a Christian College: A Reexamination for Today’s University (Cascade, 2013), Christianity and Moral Identity in Higher Education (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2009), and Christianity and Scholarship in Higher Education (Jossey-Bass, 2007). He also co-edited Christian Higher Education: A Global Reconnaissance (Eerdmans, 2014) and Taking Captive Every Thought: Forty Years of Christian Scholar’s Review (Abilene Christian University Press, 2011).

In addition, Dr. Glanzer has authored or co-authored over 75 journal articles and book chapters on topics related to moral education, faith-based higher education, and the relationship between religion and education. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Christian Scholar's Review.

Elisabeth Rain Kincaid (B.A., Rice University; M.T.S., Perkins School of Theology at SMU; J.D., The University of Texas School of Law; Ph.D. The University of Notre Dame) is the director of Baylor's Institute for Faith and Learning (IFL). She also holds appointments as Associate Professor of Ethics, Faith and Culture at Truett Seminary and Affiliate Professor of Management at Hankamer School of Business. She previously held the Legendre-Soulé Chair of Business Ethics and served as the Director of the Center for Ethics and Economic Justice at Loyola University New Orleans. Her past academic positions include Nashotah House Theological Seminary and the Aquinas Institute of Theology as well.

Elisabeth’s research focuses on the intersection of theological ethics, legal ethics and business ethics, virtue ethics, Protestant and Catholic natural law, early modern theology, and Catholic Social Thought. Elisabeth is the author of Law From Below: How the Thought of Francisco Suárez, SJ, Can Renew Contemporary Legal Engagement (Georgetown University Press).  She is currently at work on a second book project exploring the relationship between business ethics and human flourishing (under contract with Georgetown University Press). She has published broadly including in the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, The Scottish Journal of Theology, The Journal of Moral Theology, Political Theology, The Journal of Markets and Morality and Christian Scholar’s Review, as well as contributing chapters to numerous edited volumes. Elisabeth is a frequent invited speaker at academic campuses, churches, and retreats.

Prior to entering the academy, Elisabeth worked as an attorney, in private equity, and as a campus minister for graduate students and faculty. She is currently a Research Fellow for the Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy. She has also been a Pedagogy Fellow at the Yale Center for Faith and Culture.

The 2025–26 Conyers Doctoral Administrative Fellow is Michelle D. Hunt, a doctoral candidate in the Religion Department, with a concentration in Old Testament. She has a B.A. in Christian Ministry (University of Mary Hardin-Baylor), an M.A. in Biblical History and Geography (Jerusalem University College), and an M.A. in Theological Studies (Houston Christian University). Michelle’s research focuses on the compositional development of Joshua 18–19 and how later scribal initiatives may have been motivated by other literature in the Hebrew Bible, such as Numbers, Judges, and Chronicles. Before coming to Baylor, Michelle taught Bible and biblical language classes at a Christian high school in Houston.

The 2026-27 Conyers Doctoral Administrative Fellow will be Faith Steele, a Ph.D. student in the Religion Department, with a concentration in Old Testament. She has a B.A. in Theology from Judson College (formerly The College at Southeastern) and M.A. in Old Testament from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Faith's research interests include Food and Household Studies, Hebrew poetry, and Baptist history. She coauthored the book, Building A Great Commission Seminary: Different By Design: A Brief History of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, with Keith Harper and Josh S. Pruitt.

T. Laine Scales, Professor of Social Work, 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).