By Meredith Pratt | Staff Writer
Baylor President Dr. Linda Livingstone announced Thursday that Baylor will continue to utilize online instruction for upcoming Minimester (May 13-June 1), Summer I (June 2-July 7) and Summer II (July 9-Aug. 12) classes.
Livingstone said the decision was made with the health of students and faculty in mind, as social distancing continues to be enforced nationally to slow the spread of COVID-19. The university also recently announced its decision to cancel all summer study abroad programs.
With the move to online instruction, the university will be expanding its summer course offerings. Livingstone said that because of the “unique summer” circumstances, the university is putting together new course bundles for students.
“Knowing that vacation travel may be limited this year due to COVID-19, now is a great time to continue your degree progression in the summer months ahead with many of the professors you love in a supportive, Christian environment – even online,” Livingstone said.
Livingstone said that if the opportunity to re-open Baylor’s campus arises in the coming months, the university will “supplement the summer sessions with face-to-face classes.” ln-person classes are scheduled to resume for the fall semester.
Abilene junior Jaden McDaniel said that she was excited to hear about the university’s decision to move summer courses online and is now planning to take a strategic management business course over the summer.
“I really like the move to online because I can get this class out of the way and only take 12 hours both of my senior semesters,” McDaniel said.
An entrepreneurship and corporate innovation and finance double major with an apparel merchandising minor, McDaniel said she will be interning at Target headquarters this summer.
“I am extremely happy about this change [to online instruction] because it will allow me to take a summer class, when physically I will hopefully be in Minneapolis at my internship,” McDaniel said. “I’ve also found online classes are better for me because I get to go at my own pace. Most of the time I learn even better than being inside a classroom with 30 other kids.”
Another student welcoming the change is Houston sophomore Lindsey Iler. Iler said she plans on taking political science and quantitative business analysis (QBA) during the Summer I session and business law during the Summer II session.
“I am honestly relieved that they switched to online because it gives me the opportunity to have a more flexible schedule,” Iler said. “If they do switch back to on-campus summer classes, I’ll be happy with it as well because I love Baylor’s campus and my Waco house.”
Like McDaniel and Iler, El Paso sophomore Beck Brown said he received the news about online classes positively. Brown said he plans to take both macroeconomics and managerial accounting over the summer.
“My original plan was to stay in Waco this summer to take these classes and get a job or internship here as well,” Brown said. “Since they are summer classes, I’m not too mad about them being all online just because it’ll give me more time for a summer job.”
Brown said he still plans on “staying in Waco this summer even though [he] won’t have to physically be in class.”
Students will be able to register for summer courses when early registration for summer and fall courses begins on April 7.
Livingstone’s update said that the university’s COVID-19 taskforce is closely monitoring developments in the COVID-19 spread and will keep students updated about further changes in the weeks and months ahead.
