Current Conyers Scholars

Taylor Brown is a fifth-year New Testament doctoral candidate in the Religion Department. Originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Taylor majored in Sociology and Anthropology at Oklahoma State University and minored in Religious Studies. After completing his undergraduate studies in 2013, Taylor studied for one year at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, MA before moving to Wilmore, KY and completing a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree and a Master of Theology (Th.M.) degree at Asbury Theological Seminary in 2017. Taylor's dissertation research focuses on the interpretive connections between 1 Peter 3:19 and 4:6, the early Christian doctrine of Christ's descent into Hades between his death and resurrection, and Greco-Roman heroic descents into the underworld. Outside of academics, Taylor enjoys exercising, listening to audiobooks, and spending time with his wife and son. Taylor and his family are parishioners at St. Louis Catholic Church in Waco. 

Tina Chung is a first-year doctoral student in the Curriculum and Teaching program. She previously completed an MA at Wheaton College. Tina’s research interests include the development of online teacher education platforms. The goals of the platforms are to support teacher retention and to create a professional development program based on integrating spirituality and virtue. She is also interested in the character development of leadership in higher education. Tina envisions herself becoming a bridge between academia and diverse educational communities. With the goal of advancing this vision, she is involved in community service, sharing her research with educators and supporting them in both South Korea and the U.S. In her free time, she likes making Christian songs, drawing pictures, going to the movies, and camping. 

Justice Flint is a native of Wichita, Kansas. She obtained a BA in English at Bethel College before earning her MA in English from Baylor, where she is currently a doctoral student. She has served as a graduate consultant at the University Writing Center for 1.5 years and is currently a Teacher of Record in the English department. She officially studies Victorian fiction, but her research interests span multiple fields, as she examines representations of singleness, friendship, and community in literature, theology, and popular discourse in the church. She has a forthcoming literature article in Renascence and will be presenting a paper on gendered embodiment in the resurrection at the Evangelical Theological Society conference this fall. Her hobbies include tailoring historically inspired clothes, drawing portraits, going ballroom dancing, doing photography, and making scrapbooks. 

Allie Lopez studied History, English, and Spanish at the University of North Alabama, where she received her BA in 2020. After graduating, she began the History PhD program at Baylor University. Now in her fourth year, her research focuses on the rural South, Black women’s experiences and activism, and local iterations of racial oppression. She has worked as a graduate assistant for the History Department and for the Baylor University Institute for Oral History’s Waco History platform. She enjoys working in local coffee shops, reading poetry, and eating chips and salsa with her husband, Christopher. Never sitting still for too long, Allie also often goes for long runs and walks with friends in Cameron Park. 

Harrison Otis is a PhD candidate in the English department at Baylor University; he earned his BA Literature from Patrick Henry College (2015) and his MA in English from the University of Regina (2018). Harrison is currently researching the relationship between individual and community agency in the formation of individual identity, as seen in the novels of Muriel Spark, George Mackay Brown, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Mairtín Ó Cadhain. He has presented his work both nationally and internationally, and has been published in Evelyn Waugh Studies and Mark Twain Journal. Originally from Freeport, Maine, he enjoys making music, hiking, playing board games, and spending time with his wife, Abby. 

Joseph Natali is a third-year PhD student in Political Science at Baylor University. Prior to graduate school, Joseph taught Humane Letters and Economics for two years at a great books high school in Chandler, Arizona. His research focuses on American institutions, with a specific emphasis on executive power, as well as the impact of 19th- and 20th-century German Existentialism on contemporary political thought. As a Catholic, Joseph is excited to engage in dialogue with members of other faith traditions through his participation in the Conyers Scholars Program. 

Matthew Newton is a third-year PhD student in Baylor’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Matthew earned the B.S. in Electrical Engineering from John Brown University in his hometown of Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Matthew works as a researcher in Baylor’s SIC’EM lab—a multidisciplinary group which performs cutting-edge research in the fabrication, modeling, and non-destructive evaluation of complex materials. While not in the lab, he enjoys playing piano and reading with his wife and their cat. Matthew’s passion for critical thinking and creative problem solving often leads him to overengineer life’s problems, so he owes his sanity to the influence of his loving and patient wife. Despite his problem-solving skills and experience with complex systems, Matthew has yet to figure out how to get along with their cat. 

Ryan White is a native Texan and did his undergraduate studies in anthropology and linguistics at Baylor University. He has returned, now as a doctoral student in the Communication Sciences and Disorders department. His research interests are in language, memory, and attention control. He works in Dr. Jungjun Park’s Adult Neurogenic Disorders and Aging Lab, where they explore the long-term challenges and care for individuals with neurodegenerative diseases and acquired brain injuries. Ryan loves the classroom and cherishes the opportunity to contribute to the growth of young minds as a university professor. He likes reading in theology, history, and the occasional comic book. You will likely find him taking walks with his wife, Autumn, and dachshund, Max. Together they enjoy following Jesus at Antioch Community Church.