December 17, 2018
East Texas Baptist University administered a one-week December Mini-Term from December 10-14, is offering a two-week Winter Mini-Term from December 10-January 11, and will host a one-week January Mini-Term from January 7-11. Overall, the 31 courses offered have more than 590 total student enrollments compared to 395 total student enrollments in 2017-2018 for the same mini-terms, nearly a 50 percent increase.
“We celebrate the good news of growing enrollment for us and more importantly for students and their families as they seek to reduce higher education expenses and time in college,” ETBU President J. Blair Blackburn said. “The success of our institution is dependent on, first and foremost, God’s hand guiding us to fulfill our mission and His will for the University. Extending from this Christ-centered mission, we remain focused on an effective and enriching college experience and supporting students’ education and training for their vocational calling. ETBU is blessed to have more students desiring to pursue their education through ETBU.”
Through mini-terms, students accelerate their degree completion, take advantage of ETBU’s block tuition rate, and receive a comprehensive learning experience within ETBU’s scholarly Christian community.
“My sense of community has grown significantly through the three mini-terms I have taken because I was with the same small group of people for long-hour days,” ETBU senior Business Management major Jessica Wheeler commented. “We built relationships and came to rely on one another as we worked together. We were able to bond, free from any other distractions. I’ve also grown in my field by being challenged. Since the class is entitled Organizational Change and Behavior, the content changed as we did the quizzes, tests, and application. The course taught me to be more adaptable, able to sustain a real-world workload, manage my time, and develop skills applicable to my future job.”
The mini-term curriculum engages students through interactive discourse, hands-on experience, and reflection. With courses such as Theology of C.S. Lewis and Sociology Service Learning in Slovakia, mini-terms provide students with diverse and innovative opportunities to grow in their fields.
“The eight-hour days allow for experimentation with more group work and problem-based assessments,” ETBU Associate Professor of Clinical Laboratory Science and Health Administration Colleen Halupa shared. “For instance, I am having my students anonymously observe a local health facility at the end of the week and reflect on this experience in relation to what they have learned throughout the course.” Dr. Halupa continued, “The Mini-Terms enable students to concentrate on one subject at a time and slow down to reflect on their learning without engaging in extracurricular activities of the regular semester.”
Mini-Terms are offered to full-time undergraduate, transfer, transient, and dual-enrollment students during Fall, Winter, Spring Break, and May. To review class schedules and learn more about the upcoming January Mini-Terms, visit www.etbu.edu/schedule or call 903.923.2000.