The Michael Polanyi Center (MPC) at Baylor University, Texas, was the first center at a research university exclusively dedicated to the principle of intelligent design, primarily to host William Dembski, its director, and Bruce L. Gordon, its assistant director. It was founded in 1999 by Baylor president Robert B. Sloan "with the primary aim of advancing the understanding of the sciences" in a religious context and was named for Michael Polanyi. It was aligned with the Discovery Institute's wedge strategy, and was funded in part by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation via the Discovery Institute. All of the center's research investigated the subject of intelligent design. It hosted a conference in April 2000 that brought the center to the attention of the broader Baylor community as well as the rest of the scholarly world. Shortly thereafter Baylor's faculty called for the center to be dissolved. Baylor president Robert B. Sloan rejected the faculty demand, and the confrontation was resolved by agreeing to appoint a committee of people from outside the university. The committee recommended that the center be renamed and placed under the supervision of the existing Baylor Institute for Faith and Learning. Dembski objected and was removed as director in October 2000, and was appointed an associate research professor in the institute, a position he held until he left Baylor in 2005. Gordon was named interim director and the center was renamed the Baylor Science and Religion Project and placed under the supervision of the institute. By 2002, it had been again renamed to the Baylor Center for Science, Philosophy and Religion. By 2003, the MPC itself had been formally dissolved. Gordon left Baylor in 2005 to join the Discovery Institute. History Background Baylor University was founded in 1845 by the Republic of Texas (before Texas Statehood) in Waco, Texas as a Baptist University. A new Baylor president, Robert B. Sloan was appointed in 1995. Sloan, a New Testament Scholar with a doctorate in theology from the University of Basel, proposed to return the school to its mission of integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment. As a result, the Baylor Institute for Faith and Learning (IFL) was established in 1997. Sloan noted: Baylor ought to be the kind of place where a student can ask a question and not just get the runaround. He shouldn't have to go to the theology department and be told, "Oh, that's