Toby Brooks, Ph.D.
Director, Clinical Professor Baylor University
- Waco TX
Brings a passion for creating and implementing programs and processes to support faculty, staff, and students at all levels.
Media
Biography
Brooks brings a passion for creating and implementing programs and processes to support faculty, staff, and students at all levels. He strives to best understand through listening and learning from others and seeks out ways to integrate different cultures and ideas along with consistent core values of service, growth, hustle, and vigilance into every endeavor. He is dedicated to whole-person development and leading by example.
Prior to joining Baylor as Director of the Academy for Teaching & Learning, Brooks served for the last 14 years in faculty and administration at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) teaching primarily in the highly diverse School of Health Professions. Brooks also led a multi-year effort at TTUHSC to establish a teaching and learning center. In his role as assistant dean of faculty success within the School of Health Professions, he has worked with faculty from different backgrounds and training to help them become more skilled, confident and effective educators.
Brooks also has published more than 20 books, 30 peer-reviewed articles and 200-plus magazine articles in a diverse career as an athletic trainer, professor, and automotive journalist. His podcast, Becoming UnDone, involves interviews and conversations with high achievers and how failure and setback can be springboards to success. The podcase ascended to a global Top 10% show in just 18 months.
Areas of Expertise
Accomplishments
Best Performance Scientist and Coach in Texas of 2025
Best of Best Review
2025
TTUHSC Values Ambassador
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Office of People and Values
2022
Outstanding Faculty Award, Athletic Training
TTUHSC Student Senate
2020, 2019. 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013
Worldwide Youth in Science & Engineering (WYSE) Academic Challenge Honored Alumnus
Southeastern Illinois College
2007—2008
Distinguished Alumnus
Southeastern Illinois College
2012—2013
Education
Baylor University
M.S.
Exercise Physiology
2027
University of Arizona
Ph.D.
Teaching & Teacher Education: Physical Education
LSU Shreveport
MBA
Data Analytics
University of Arizona
M.A.
Teaching & Teacher Education: Physical Education
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
B.S.
Athletic Training/Trainer
Anderson University
B.S.
Athletic Training/Trainer
Southeastern Illinois College
A.S.
Pre-Physical Therapy Studies
Affiliations
- Maxwell Leadership Certified Speaker, Coach, and Trainer
- Last 8% Academy
- TeamSTEPPS
- STAGE Academy Speaker
Links
Media Appearances
Rising When Life Falls Apart: Dr. Toby Brooks on Performance, Purpose, and Perspective
What Are You Made Of? Podcast online
2026-01-27
In this powerful and honest episode of What Are You Made Of?, Mike “C-Roc” sits down with Dr. Toby Brooks, a performance scientist, professor at Baylor, and host of the Becoming UnDone podcast, to explore what it truly means to rise when life, work, and identity start to fall apart.
Baylor Connections - Toby Brooks
103.3 KWBU radio
2024-11-22
Baylor’s Academy for Teaching and Learning (ATL) serves faculty through enrichment and development opportunities to help them become better teachers. Toby Brooks joined the Baylor faculty this year as ATL director and clinical professor in HHPR.
Articles
Ink, Presence, and Prayer: Rediscovering Analog Connection in the Classroom
Christian Educators Journal2025
In an age where apps track everything from steps to sleep cycles and where artificial intelligence can generate convincing essays in seconds, it may seem almost quaint to rely on a 3 x 5 notecard and a pen to facilitate classroom communication. Yet after nearly two decades each in higher education faculty roles, we have found that this simple approach has produced some of the most significant impact in our teaching.
Knee Injury Prevention Program in an Early Pubertal Female Athlete During a Recreational Softball Season
Topics in Exercise Science and Kinesiology2025
This case study was intended to analyze the impact of a knee injury prevention program (KIPP) for a young female athlete in a short recreational softball season. It was hypothesized that initiating a KIPP early within a recreational sports season would positively alter lower extremity biomechanics, subsequently reducing the risk of knee injuries during and after skeletal development. During a recreational softball season, a 13-year-old female athlete completed a preliminary biomechanical test, the drop vertical jump battery (DVJBpre), underwent a 7-week in-season KIPP, then was follow-up tested at season’s end (DVJBpost1) and again approximately one year later (DVJBpost2).
Leveraging an Interprofessional and Collaborative Task Force in Application for the Carnegie Foundation Elective Classification for Leadership for Public Purpose
New Directions for Higher Education2025
Through the American Council on Education, the Carnegie Foundation introduced the Elective Classification of Leadership for Public Purpose (EC‐LPP) in 2022. Application for this formal recognition is a voluntary but rigorous process involving the gathering and presentation of a variety of evidence of institutional indicators, concluding with a thorough third‐party review and status decision. The designation was initially piloted in partnership with 13 institutions, with 9 founding institutions successfully completing the process in 2021; however, no published work to date was available to provide guidance or insight for the next application round (American Council on Education, 2023). The purpose of this article was to describe the process employed at a Carnegie Special Focus Institution whereby an interdisciplinary team of stakeholders was charged to create, convene, and deploy the necessary processes and information in order to make an application for the 2024 cycle.
Case Study: Effect of stroboscopic vision training during a softball season
Topics in Exercise Science and Kinesiology2025
This case study examined the effects of stroboscopic vision training during an entire varsity softball season for a 16-year-old female. Stroboscopic vision training uses specialized glasses with crystallized fluid that flickers, intermittently impeding vision, a technique that enhances visual performance. The stroboscopic glasses were worn two to three times a week during hitting and fielding skills. The central hypothesis was that the stroboscopic vision training would enhance softball vision performance. The central hypothesis was tested using these specific aims: 1) batting statistics for a year with no stroboscopic versus a year with the stroboscopic vision training; and 2) vision-specific measurements for tracking, peripheral vision, and eye teaming. For the first aim, coaches recorded on-base percentage, batting average, slugging percentage, and hard-hit ball percentage. The second aim was tested by an ophthalmologist in a vision therapy center, with developmental eye movement, vergence ranges, randot stereopsis, and accommodative ranges measured.
Knee Injury Prevention Program in an Early Pubertal Female Athlete During a Recreational Softball Season
Topics in Exercise Science and Kinesiology2025
This case study was intended to analyze the impact of a knee injury prevention program (KIPP) for a young female athlete in a short recreational softball season. It was hypothesized that initiating a KIPP early within a recreational sports season would positively alter lower extremity biomechanics, subsequently reducing the risk of knee injuries during and after skeletal development. During a recreational softball season, a 13-year-old female athlete completed a preliminary biomechanical test, the drop vertical jump battery (DVJB pre), underwent a 7-week in-season KIPP, then was follow-up tested at season’s end (DVJB post1) and again approximately one year later (DVJB post2). Performance was recorded using a motion capture system and the biomechanical test battery consisted of three double-leg drop vertical jumps (DVJ) from two landing heights (30 and 50 cm). At test post1 immediately following the 7-week recreational season, the athlete demonstrated greater maximal hip flexion and decreased maximal ankle dorsiflexion bilaterally from both heights.
Sociocultural constructs and sensorimotor control: a scoping review examining implications for anterior cruciate injury
British Journal of Sports Medicine2025
Objective
There is a need to explore the many factors that may have a more subtle influence on, or relationship with, sensorimotor control as it pertains to anterior cruciate ligament injury risk. Due to well-established sex/gender-related differences in sensorimotor control, a close examination of key sociocultural constructs is warranted. This scoping review examined the connection between sociocultural constructs and sensorimotor control.
Design
Scoping review.
Data sources
The following databases were searched: PubMed, Embase, Scopus, CINAHL Complete, Academic Search Complete, Pre-Prints Database and Rehabilitation Reference Center from inception to September 2023. Additionally, relevant grey literature was identified.
“Sit like a lady”: Gender-related sociocultural constructs and implications for anterior cruciate ligament injury risk in active women
BMC Women's Health2025
Objective
To explore the relationship between sociocultural factors and three-dimensional (3D) hip and knee kinematics during low- and high-impact tasks (LIT, HIT).
Methods
Eighteen active cis-gender females/women between 18 and 30 years completed three trials of bilateral and single-leg LIT and HIT. Hip and knee kinematic data were recorded and analysed. Gender Role Socialization (GRSS) and Trait Self-Objectification Scales (TSOS) assessed sociocultural factors. The association between 3D kinematics and sociocultural factors was explored during LIT and HIT.
Changes in muscle activation in response to abdominal bracing and stabilization belt use during a loaded squat
Journal of Sports Sciences2025
This research investigated the effects of trunk stabilisation on trunk and lower extremity muscle activity during a loaded barbell squat. Twenty-eight healthy male subjects (mean age 22.1 ± 1.9 years) performed three squatrepetitions at 75% predicted one-rep-max load using four trunk stabilisation conditions: no bracing/belt (NoSS), abdominal bracing (AB), stabilization belt (StB), and bracing/belt combined (AB+StB). Subjects first performed NoSS; the remaining conditions were randomised. Lower quarter surface electromyography (EMG) was obtained from six muscles bilaterally; external oblique, internal oblique, iliocostalis lumborum, gluteus maximus, vastus lateralis and biceps femoris. A within-subjects 2(phase)x4(stabilisation strategy) ANOVA assessed root-mean-square EMG amplitude.
