Enhancing Graduate Student Success
Helping graduate students succeed through diversified professional development
Sara Dolan, Associate Dean for Professional Development; Becca Cassady, Graduate Writing Center Director
Our graduate programs helped us achieve the R1 milestone, but on our journey to be a “preeminent Christian research institution,” we need to continue improving the nature and quality of graduate education here at Baylor University. As an R1 university, we have an obligation to continue to improve our admission rates, our graduate rates, and our job placement rates. As a distinctly Christian R1 institution, though, we have a special obligation to support our students and faculty in a caring, Christian environment. This has been our hallmark within undergraduate education, and now we are charged with expanding our excellence within graduate education.
Our 5-Year Strategic Plan, presented by Dean Lyon, outlines goals and significant initiatives for the Professional Development area of the Graduate School: Enhancing student success by supporting students and faculty, increasing diversity, elevating the significance of our Christian mission in our graduate programs, and pursuing growth in research programs that align with the Illuminate strategic plan. We are still figuring out the “how” of living an R1 life at Baylor, but these strategic goals give us the beginnings of a roadmap to enhance student and faculty success. These goals offer the Professional Development area of the Graduate School a deliberate strategy for growth.
Enhancing Student Success
Our ultimate goal is to admit, train, and graduate excellent students, and one metric to evaluate success is graduation rates. To improve our PhD program graduation rates, we need to start at the beginning. Dean Rios wrote about recruitment and admissions, and once the students arrive on campus, the Professional Development area supports their progress toward the degree. The number of doctoral graduates is an important metric in the Carnegie classification matrix, and though we have surpassed the R1 threshold, it is important to continue to produce an increasing number of Baylor-trained doctoral graduates. As Dean Rios reports, the Graduate School is working with programs to increase their doctoral graduation rates. Some programs already graduate a high number of students, and we find that many of those programs have deliberate, intentional strategies to foster a supportive, intellectually stimulating environment where students can flourish. At Baylor we strive to admit, educate, and graduate students who will make a meaningful impact on their respective fields. The Graduate School will continue to increase support for students, faculty, and programs to accomplish this goal. Graduate Pathways to Success (GPS) workshops for students and faculty, the Graduate Writing Center, awards for excellence in teaching and research, and the Postdoctoral Teaching Fellows program are all links in the chain of a student’s graduate education from arrival on campus to graduation and employment.
When students arrive on campus, we begin by introducing them to our campus leaders and sharing with them some of Baylor’s resources. This New Graduate Student Orientation, hosted by the Graduate Student Association, is available for both on campus and online and professional students. We also offer workshops related to starting the degree program well to set a positive trajectory, and we continue to offer professional development opportunities that target students at the different phases of their graduate program. These Graduate Pathways to Success (GPS) workshops are developed and run by current graduate students, offering student-centric topical panels, lectures, and seminars throughout the academic year. This year, topics range from how to make the most of your time at a professional conference to career planning within the academy and in non-academic careers. The Graduate Student Association (GSA), the student organization for graduate students, works in concert with the Graduate School to identify topics of importance for graduate students and to provide resources and advocacy for our students.
A continued area for growth is in supporting our online and professional students. Although all graduate students have some similar needs, our online students have unique needs as well. A Baylor education means offering education in a caring, Christian environment, and this is especially true for our distance learners. Many of our students in professional programs have full-time jobs, families, and other responsibilities. The Graduate Student Association has been increasingly attentive to this student population, and our partnership with the Graduate and Professional Education office continues to grow as we come together to identify needs and develop resources for these students.
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Teaching & Pedagogy |
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Career Exploration |
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Personal Development |
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While students are here, we encourage them to utilize the resources offered by the Graduate Writing Center (GWC). In the last year, the GWC served 168 unique clients across a total of 371 consultation sessions. Over 20 different graduate programs participated in consultations each semester, with clients ranging from master’s students to faculty. The addition of a full-time GWC director, Dr. Becca Cassady, in June 2022 has allowed the GWC to lean into Baylor's R1 identity with a focus on research and publication. Under Dr Cassady’s direction, the GWC has emphasized publication feedback and reviewer response training for consultants, and in the coming semesters, the GWC will host faculty panels and workshops related to publishing. An upcoming partnership with Baylor's Institutional Research Board (IRB) for research protocol workshops will also position master's and PhD students to conduct strong, ethical research early in their careers. Another growing collaboration exists with Baylor's External Grant Writing Specialists to support students in writing successful grant proposals and securing external funding for said research. Finally, students can take advantage of the GWC's weekly writing groups and the annual week-long Dissertation Writing Lab, which create space for progress on dissertations, theses, and publications. Between these resources and regularly available one-on-one consultations, students have ample support related to conducting research and presenting and publishing important contributions to their fields.