Welcome to 'Episode 12' of The Baylor Line's flagship podcast, The Green Room. Host Jonathon Platt meets with Kristin Diwan , a senior resident at the Arab Gulf States Institute. The two get into the bio-politics of the reality of the citizens of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and beyond. Double majoring in biology and foreign service, Kristin didn’t stray too far from one of her majors. Throughout her time at Baylor, Kristin felt a deep passion for international studies and foreign service. With inspir...
Jul 14, 2025•41 min
A Baylor alum is spotted in the wild – Jonathon Platt says, “Hey you, tell me a joke!” The alumnus starts out with “John Lennon and a zombie walk into a bar.” And that’s how we got this episode. Welcome to 'Episode 11' of The Baylor Line's flagship podcast, The Green Room . Host Jonathon Platt is met with Ambassador Doug Silliman , who has led an impressive career from serving as a foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State to being appointed as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq. He now ser...
Jul 09, 2025•58 min
Welcome to ‘Episode Ten’ of the Baylor Line’s flagship podcast, The Green Room . In this episode, host Jonathon Platt is met with Joanne Cummings , Director of Middle East Studies and Professor of Political Science, to discuss the politics and misunderstood narratives of the Middle East. With decades of work in crisis management, intelligence, diplomacy, and civil society across the Middle East, Cummings brings deep insight and rare clarity to one of the most complex regions on Earth. Joanne div...
Jul 07, 2025•1 hr 9 min
Welcome to 'Episode Nine' of The Baylor Line's flagship podcast, The Green Room. In this episode, host Jonathon Platt sits down with Rev. Dr. Eric Mathis, associate pastor at First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C. – a minister, musician, scholar, and Baylor Bear whose life bridges the academic, pastoral, and personal with deep conviction. From playing in churches in his small town of Dexter to preaching in the capitol, Eric Mathis has spent his career redefining what worship can lo...
Jul 02, 2025•42 min
Welcome to 'Episode Eight' of The Baylor Line's flagship podcast, The Green Room. This time, we’re launching into orbit with one of Baylor’s brightest stars – Howard Chang , a NASA attorney whose work is out of this world. Host Jonathon Platt sits down with Howard Chang to trace his incredible journey from the neuroscience labs at Baylor to the legal offices of NASA, where he now serves as lead attorney for Wallops Flight Facility. Howard shares how a Baylor neuroscience degree, Pi Kappa Phi fra...
Jun 30, 2025•41 min
Welcome to 'Episode Seven' of The Baylor Line's flagship podcast, The Green Room . On this episode, host Jonathon Platt meets with Booking Producer at Bloomberg TV, Amanda Hayes Roark . Just a few years into post-grad life, Amanda has already charted an impressive path through some of the top names in journalism. From her early start as a production assistant on "Morning Joe" to media booking at Politico , Amanda’s trajectory is nothing short of remarkable. Jonathon and Amanda dive into the dema...
Jun 25, 2025•28 min
Welcome to ‘Episode Six’ of The Baylor Line's flagship podcast, The Green Room. In this episode, host Jonathon Platt introduces Dr. Felipe Hinojosa, the John and Nancy Endowed Chair in Latin America and Professor of History at Baylor University. Born and raised in Brownsville, Texas, Felipe brings a unique perspective shaped by his upbringing in the Texas-Mexico borderlands and his academic focus in Chicano and Latino studies, religion, and social movements. Highlighting his research, Felipe dis...
Jun 23, 2025•1 hr 17 min
Welcome to ‘Episode Five’ of The Baylor Line's flagship podcast, The Green Room. In this episode, host Jonathon Platt is joined by Dr. Coretta Pittman, Associate Professor of English and Baylor’s Vice Provost for Community Engagement. With warmth, clarity, and depth, Dr. Pittman discusses what it means to foster a university community that reflects the full richness of its members’ backgrounds, experiences, and beliefs. Three pillars have shaped Dr. Pittman’s career both in and outside of academ...
Jun 19, 2025•53 min
Welcome to ‘Episode Four' of The Baylor Line's flagship podcast, The Green Room. In this heartfelt conversation, host Jonathon Platt sits down with his longtime mentor and personal hero, retired Director of Baylor’s Ministry Guidance Program and Professor of Religion, Dr. Jeter Basden. His leadership helped shape generations of students preparing for lives of service, guiding them through the discernment of their calling with both theological depth and pastoral care. Jeter emphasizes the importa...
Jun 16, 2025•53 min
Welcome to 'Episode Three' of The Baylor Line's flagship podcast, The Green Room . In this episode, host Jonathon Platt sits down with two Baylor legends and authors of Soon and Very Soon , Robert Darden and Dr. Stephen Newby. This conversation isn’t just about music – it’s about the history and cultural commentary of gospel music. Bob and Stephen unpack the legacy of the great Andraé Crouch, the role of gospel music in the time of fighting for justice and how the art continues to develop today....
Jun 12, 2025•56 min
Welcome to episode two of The Baylor Line's flagship podcast, The Green Room. In this episode, host Jonathon Platt sits down with former United States Marine Corps Reservist Alexandra Benda to explore a career that spans continents, combat zones, and the corridors of power. With a degree in Great Texts and over 13 years of military experience, Alexandra now serves as a Deployment Strategist at Air Space Intelligence – where she helps to track and coordinate multi-domain spaces. Motivated by the ...
Jun 10, 2025•42 min
Welcome to the official 'Episode One' of The Baylor Line's flagship podcast, The Green Room. In this episode host Jonathon Platt is joined by author and public defender Jeanne Bishop live at The Baylor Line's BookTalk event on May 16 commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing. In it, the two unpack behind-the-scenes details of Jeanne's book on the attack, Grace from the Rubble; the makings of her article on Cindy Campbell Brown, the only Baylor graduate in the attack; and pa...
Jun 06, 2025•58 min
Welcome to the first episode of our new podcast, The Green Room . We'd originally planned a May launch for this show, but when news happens and you work at a news organization... you gotta adapt. So, consider this Episode 0 with more coming soon. This go around, I'm joined by Dr. Steve Gardner , a respected economist and professor emeritus at Baylor University. I asked Steve for this conversation in order to unpack the latest on the Trump administration tariffs and to explore the broader economi...
Apr 15, 2025•46 min
Nine years ago, Dolores Lozano claims she was violently assaulted by a Baylor football player and her boyfriend at the time. In 2016 she filed a lawsuit against the university, claiming that – despite having gone to administrators and football program leaders – her alma mater had been negligent in its handling of her reports of domestic violence and, as a result, violated her rights under the Title IX federal civil rights law. On Tuesday, a Waco jury found Baylor liable. It's the only Title IX c...
Oct 27, 2023•40 min
Joanne Cummings is the director of Baylor’s Middle East Studies program and teaches in the BIC and Political Science department. She has also been instrumental in the development of an interfaith minor here at Baylor. A retired diplomat, her experience is wide-ranging. She was most recently the Foreign Policy Advisor (POLAD) to CJTF-OIR, based in Baghdad. She has also served extensively in the Middle East, North Africa, and East Africa. As the daughter of a diplomat, she was raised in Lebanon, l...
Oct 12, 2023•45 min
You’ve probably seen Dr. Peter Hotez on the news before, being interviewed, sited, or – sometimes – skewered. He’s made a name for himself in the fight against anti-science and was a constant presence as a primetime source during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Hotez is the founding Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine where he is also the Co-director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vacc...
Oct 06, 2023•26 min
Dr. Beth Allison Barr is the James Vardaman Endowed Professor of History at Baylor, having also served as graduate program director of the history department and associate dean of the Baylor Graduate School. She’s a 1996 graduate of the very same history department in which she now teaches. She earned her masters and doctorate at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on European women, Medieval and early modern England, and church history. She’s the wife of a preacher...
Sep 26, 2023•49 min
