- Home
- Administration
- Institutional Priorities
2024-2025 Institutional Priorities
Learn: Innovative teaching and learning in an era of opportunity
- Advance innovation using Artificial Intelligence by supporting the new Director of AI Integration in exploring teaching implications, strategies, needed infrastructure, processes, and the ethical use of AI for all learners.
- Enhance Elon University’s position as a national leader in mentoring by building on the work of the Mentoring Design Team. Develop an implementation plan drawing upon and operationalizing findings from the initial seven pilot programs and recommendations from the team, including a sustainable structure for ongoing work.
- Grow and enhance mission-centered undergraduate and graduate programs in response to student interest, societal needs, and marketplace opportunities.
- Formally convene a working group on graduate student life to evaluate current co-curricular programs/services, explore needs for support in the graduate student experience, and to develop and recommend a structure to support graduate student life, considering the planned growth of the graduate student population at Elon.
- Attain and foster excellence in accreditation of academic programs:
- School of Communications: Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC)
- Nursing Program: National League for Nursing Commission for Nursing Education Accreditation (NLN CNEA)
- Advance development of Elon’s public policy research:
- Determine and implement new poll methodologies and implement the adopted five-year plan.
- Build on year-one successes for the Imagining the Digital Future Center.
- Develop a national undergraduate student guide to AI and partner with national higher education groups to distribute.
- Finalize the report from the Elon Experiences Transcript (EET) innovation team and begin to implement recommendations to strengthen the EET as a tool for thoughtful engagement, integration, and reflection.
Thrive: An inclusive and healthy community for success
- Advance HealthEU initiatives to empower every individual in our community to actively implement and integrate wellness values in their daily lives and provide access to resources, educational tools and support through the six dimensions of well-being.
- Onboard and provide support for the new Director of HealthEU Initiatives.
- Engage the HealthEU Council in leading and advancing collaborative efforts that integrate and build upon the six dimensions of well-being.
- Develop a facility operating strategy and plan for the new HealthEU Center.
- Pilot and assess data-informed initiatives supporting recruiting, hiring, and retention approaches enhancing the diversity of Elon’s faculty and staff, in collaboration with Human Resources and Inclusive Excellence:
- Study best practices at peer undergraduate-focused institutions and create and implement targeted pilots for retention of groups of faculty and staff members based on disaggregated data.
- Develop support structures for continued faculty and staff success toward promotion and professional growth throughout the career life cycle.
- Foster a dynamic working environment for employees across career stages and professional ranks with new leadership and learning pathways and greater access to feedback, coaching and mentoring.
- Continue the performance management pilot in PageUp, assess the initial rollout and pilot, and determine next steps for the 2025 calendar year.
- Explore ways to enrich the university’s talent acquisition process, including recruitment of new employees and the facilitation of advancement and development within the university.
- Support the Office of Leadership Professional Development (OLPD) to excel in developing top-performing leaders.
- Complete Phase Three of the salary enhancement plan and implement the job architecture framework for all employees.
- In support of a dynamic and successful Phoenix Athletics program, finalize and advance a vision and new strategic plan.
- Develop an Inclusive Excellence Action Plan that includes cross-divisional initiatives aligned with advancing Thrive objectives in Boldly Elon. Support the success of division- and department-level plans to advance inclusive excellence.
- To support a dynamic and inclusive campus culture, develop a process for assessing, updating and communicating progress on recommendations from inclusive excellence-related plans since 2020.
- Create a workgroup to explore the implementation of restorative practices to support interventions related to healthy interpersonal interactions in residential living, behavioral incidents, student organizations, and human resources.
- Implement key strategies of Elon’s Multifaith Strategic Plan, continuing to advance the campus infrastructure for cultivating a culture of diverse worldviews and values, and preparing students to navigate those differences and provide leadership in a conflicted world.
- Supporting Elon’s position as the national leader in study abroad, identify elements of the Center for Global Engagement Strategic Plan to advance in the 2024-2025 academic year.
- Complete development and begin implementation of Elon’s next campus-wide Sustainability Master Plan (SMP) for the years 2025-2035.
- In partnership with Vivvi, advance the development of an “Infant, Toddler and Twos” childcare center to attract and retain talent and maintain Elon’s strong workplace culture.
Connect: Lifelong partnerships near and far
- Develop and implement university programming for the 2024 election cycle, including classroom conversations and campus events that support effective discourse around local, national, and international political issues; voter registration; education on political engagement and active citizenship; coordination of an early voting site for Alamance County; and community support and learning after the election.
- In recognition of Elon’s deep commitment to civic engagement and community-based learning, complete and submit the university’s application for the 2026 Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement.
- Develop a campus-wide, renewed strategic focus on Elon’s corporate relationships to strengthen employment and internship opportunities for students, employer relations through workforce development, philanthropic investment, and student and faculty engagement.
- To enhance Elon’s standing as a national leader in career services, begin to execute the Student Professional Development Center’s five-year strategic plan.
- To strengthen Elon’s distinctive position as a national leader in parent philanthropy and engagement, develop a five-year parent engagement strategic plan to inspire and guide Elon’s parent engagement efforts in the second half of the Boldly Elon Strategic Plan.
- Advance Elon’s annual speaker series.
Rise: Positioning the university for the future
- Continue advancement of retention and student success initiatives through multiple coordinated efforts designed to increase first year retention.
- Execute excellence in the second year of Elon University Charlotte.
- In support of Boldly Elon initiatives, increase overall philanthropic support across annual giving, endowment, and capital giving priorities, and advance Elon’s position as a top-20 performer among national universities in alumni annual participation.
- Enhance and elevate Elon’s reputation among key audiences including higher education leaders and influencers, prospective students and parents, and guidance counselors by launching a comprehensive, multiyear marketing, communications, public relations and advertising effort.
- In partnership with Information Technology, explore digital tools and Ellucian upgrades within the areas of Finance and Human Resources to enhance process effectiveness, improve digitization efforts, and create workflow efficiencies.
- Complete evaluation and financial analysis of Elon’s ERP system that integrates core functions, supports efficiencies, and adapts to changing needs across all areas supporting the student and employee experience.
- Complete the construction phase for the following campus projects:
- Final renovation and expansion phase of the Francis Center
- Phase three of the McMichael Center renovation
- Renovation and expansion of Elon’s Charlotte campus
- East Neighborhood Commons
- Phase one of the EcoVillage at Loy Farm residences and renovation of EcoVillage commons building
- Final renovation phase of residence halls in the Historic Neighborhood
- Pickleball courts at Francis Center
- High and low ropes challenge course near PARC
- Childcare Center
- Complete the design phase for the following campus projects:
- HealthEU Center
- Plan and fundraise for a new facility for Catholic Life
- Planning, design and fundraising for Holland House and the Worsley Golf Training Center
- Plan and begin phase four of the McMichael Center renovation
- Remote parking lot for first year students near Francis Center
- Complete the planning phase for the following campus projects:
- Plan for the future use of the Koury Athletic Center following the successful opening of the new HealthEU Center
- Plan for the next residential housing projects
- Explore next academic facilities for the Innovation Quad
- Recruit and enroll students who reflect Elon’s values, especially academic ability, diversity, and a well-rounded high school experience appropriate for Elon’s style of engaged learning.
- Reconsider, design and implement enhanced Honors and Fellows application process and weekend event program(s).
- Recruit and enroll new students across graduate programs to meet enrollment goals.