New Student Experience Laying the Foundation for Success

Each semester freshman and transfer students begin their academic journey at Baylor University. Often adjusting to a new city, school, roommates and friends, they learn to balance new classes as well. It can be overwhelming, but with the right support it can also be a time of immense growth and development.

To give new students the firm foundation they need in their first weeks at Baylor, all incoming students are required to take a New Student Experience (NSE) class. These classes, designed to help students transition into the rigorous academic environment at Baylor, engage students academically, socially and spiritually – helping them form meaningful connections and a sense of community and contributing to their success at Baylor and beyond.

“NSE courses help shape the beginning of the transformational education students will experience at Baylor by allowing them to connect with Baylor’s best and most distinguished faculty,” said Michelle Cohenour, assistant director of student success at the Paul L. Foster Success Center. “They help students to form learning communities through small class sizes, become a college level researcher and critical thinker, as well as integrate their faith and learning.”

Woven throughout the curriculum are six goals for the NSE classes:

• Understand Baylor’s mission and learning outcomes
• Connect to Baylor
• Engage in spiritual formation
• Develop personal and professional goals
• Succeed academically
• Develop autonomy within a caring community

According to Cohenour, research has shown that students receive better institutional support and maximize their learning outcomes when they participate in credit-bearing NSE courses. In fact, national research dating back two decades has shown that students who have a strong NSE course in their first semester deepen their learning, adapt to become engaged academic citizens more quickly and successfully graduate at higher rates.

Yet it is not just the course content that makes the NSE program successful. With small class sizes of 19 or less, NSE classes create unique opportunities for relationships – with other students, as well as with the faculty and staff.

According to Cohenour, many students do not take classes associated with their major until their junior year. But NSE classes allow these students the opportunity to connect with other students in their major and to get to know faculty in that area in their first semester. The faculty and staff who teach NSE classes truly invest in the students. They are encouraged to meet with students one-on-one, host them for dinner in their homes and be a listening ear when needed.

“I have always loved teaching first-year students, especially in their first semester,” said Lynne Hinojosa, assistant professor of literature. “They are eager to learn, eager to work and eager to think in new ways. What may often go unnoticed in regular classes, however, is that new students are enduring struggles as they transition and acclimate to university life. The New Student Experience course gives me a more formal platform to help these students. The class often provides students with their first and most stable community of peers. It provides a comfortable space in which they can foster friendships and find a trusted professor with whom they can share their struggles and seek help. I value these opportunities to engage new students and to help guide them as they begin to find their way at Baylor and in life.”

To learn more about New Student Experience or to learn how you can teach a class, visit baylor.edu/nse or contact Michelle Cohenour.

NSE INSTRUCTORS RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING

2015-2016 Excellence in NSE Award:
Dr. Eric Holleyman, Senior Lecturer in Religion

Excellence in NSE Award Honorable Mention:
Rosalie Barrera, Senior Lecturer in Modern Languages & Cultures - Spanish & Portuguese
Michele Henry, Division Director, Music Education
Emily Sandvall, Associate Director for Undergraduate Programs,
Engineering & Computer Science