Passing the Torch

When Lois Ferguson first set foot on the Baylor campus in 1967, a construction crew was hard at work, building Moody Library and the newest buildings on campus were “Sid Rich” and Marrs McLean Gym. She had transferred from Wayland Baptist University (then Wayland College) in Plainview, Texas, moving to Waco with her husband so she could complete her undergraduate studies at Baylor.

She began working for her alma mater in 1988 and has worn many hats in her nearly 29 years with the University, including orchestrating every University commencement ceremony since 1999. But, this May, after 18 years of “Pomp and Circumstance,” Ferguson will commence to spending more time with family and pursuing her side business, coordinating weddings.

How did you come to work for the University?

Through a long, strange series of circumstances I ended up [working] at Baylor. When I finished school, we were supposed to go back to West Texas, the panhandle. But my husband, whom I married while I was at Wayland, decided to enroll in a two-year program at Texas State Technical College. I began working for Word, which was a company that produced religious books, records and music, and was based in Waco. I liked where I worked and we decided we didn’t want to go back to West Texas. I left Word after 17 years, when the president of the company left. My husband worked construction so I wanted to find a stable job with a good organization—a job with great benefits since that’s how we secured our insurance. I interviewed at two or three places, and Baylor just clicked best. I started with Baylor Public Relations in 1988.

Where did your Baylor path take you?

After a lot of shuffling at Baylor Public Relations, I went to Student Activities in 1990, and I was there for six years. I produced All University Sing, Pigskin Revue and After Dark, and then decided to do my master’s degree on top of that. I loved Student Activities but I had grade-school-aged kids and I wanted to get back to normal hours. So, I took a position in the Dean’s Office of the College of Arts & Sciences in summer ’96. It really was a great introduction to the academic life at the University because Arts & Sciences is half of the University, so you learn lots of departments, lots of styles. I was in that office when they started computerizing the budget. There was one department chair—I can remember sitting on the phone with him and saying “OK, now put your cursor in row 17, and column H, and you’re going to put in how much you need for travel. Now move your cursor down to the next line where it says printing…”

When did you make the leap to “Commencement Officer?”

After three years in Dean Wallace Daniel’s office, a position opened up in the Provost’s office. I realized that if I was going to move up in the University this was the next logical step. I interviewed and I got the job, and that's when I started doing commencement—in 1999. I had done Sing and Pigskin for six academic years, so commencement was not going to be a huge stretch. And I’d done 25 Christmas pageants at my church, so I knew how to get people on and off stage, so I wasn’t worried about that.

What will you miss most about Baylor and about Commencement?

Without question I’ll miss the people. There are so many people I’ve known in the 28 and a half years I’ve been here. These are people that—we’ve all grown up together and I’ve done weddings with them, and now they’re having grandkids. That’s what you miss. I just love the activity of producing [Commencement]. And then there is that great satisfaction of seeing it come together and knowing that my name is at the bottom of the program if something happens. We have an excellent group of people on the registrar’s office staff. We have two faculty marshals who have been doing it for years and know exactly how to get everyone and everything in the right order. There’s a unique satisfaction when the ceremonies go exactly the way they’re supposed to.