Resume on-campus operations utilizing a modified calendar for Fall 2020, including the elimination of the traditional fall break and not having students return to campus following the Thanksgiving recess.
Ready the campus and ready the classroom.
Adopt general institutional guidelines for instruction and general campus behavior that balance the health and well-being of students, faculty, and staff and allow flexibility and support to advance Elon’s educational mission in a residential environment.
Guided by the university’s Teacher-Scholar statement, develop and publish guidelines and procedures for requesting accommodations, including and beyond those required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Utilize student ambassadors and existing community groups and campus organizations to educate and raise awareness of the importance of following established guidelines to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
Develop a standard of in-person instruction that puts student, staff, and faculty health and well-being first by configuring learning spaces for physical distancing and by requiring cloth face coverings, appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), and sanitation protocols in all learning spaces.
Faculty and departments/programs will dedicate the majority of their professional energies to Fall 2020 teaching and mentoring students.
Review and adjust the faculty evaluation process as necessary in a coronavirus environment.
Guided by the university’s Teacher-Scholar statement, develop and publish guidelines and procedures for requesting accommodations, including and beyond those required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Develop clear and specific guidelines about cloth face coverings, physical distancing, expectations regarding cleaning/sanitation, and related procedures (e.g. on arrival and departure) that are easy to understand and applicable to all classrooms and instructional spaces.
Revise and update pandemic disease response plans, protocols and resources.
Engage each citizen of Elon University to make a solemn, collective commitment to act each day to safeguard the health and well-being of all members of the campus community, utilizing the Elon University Honor Code and its underlying values of honesty, integrity, responsibility, and respect.
Create and implement a process to safely and successfully operate campus tours for Admission prospects.
Continue collaboration/coordination and ongoing communication with local communities, including the Town of Elon, City of Burlington and City of Greensboro to ensure support for local businesses, collaborate on clarifying expectations for behavior and enforcement within the community and plan and partner appropriately on civic engagement efforts.
Develop and implement alternative fall recruitment and travel plans. Identify new ways to connect with and grow territories including adjustments to high school visits, alternative recruitment travel, interaction with high school and independent counselors, and adjusted programming to allow for social distancing and virtual connections.
Improve and expand sanitation protocols and frequencies while maintaining Physical Plant employee health and safety as the university plans for re-opening of campus and recommendations of the Fall Task Force. Reassign custodial staff as far as possible to maintain cleanliness and increase sanitation frequencies.
Reimagine the delivery of traditional on-campus and off-campus activities such as homecoming, family weekend, alumni chapter events, Evening for Elon program series, and other activities important to the university’s external footprint.
Explore opportunities for students and staff to refocus their service hours to on-campus service to support pandemic response efforts.
Create and implement new models to support teaching and learning using technology, faculty and staff training, learning space enhancements, and creative virtual event production. Explore opportunities to develop new models for teaching and learning and provide support for these new models with university and student employees.
Plan, implement and execute a successful “Way Forward” COVID-19 reopening plan for dining while creating high customer service satisfaction along with creating a dining program that is still engaging, welcoming and safe for guests.
Learn: Innovative teaching and learning in an era of opportunity
Develop a series of online materials and processes to refresh the Elon’s community understanding of the Boldly Elon strategic plan, the engineering and nursing programs, next steps regarding implementation of the plan, and how the plan informs our work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Appoint and charge the Enrollment Implementation Team in early fall 2020.
Begin auditing Elon’s wide array of mentoring efforts and benchmarking leading mentoring programs nationally in preparation to appoint and charge the Mentoring Implementation Team in spring 2021.
Appoint and charge the Faculty-Staff Development Implementation Team in spring 2021.
Re-start meetings in fall 2020 with the Long-Range Planning Committee (reinstated and refreshed with updated membership in February 2020) to review progress on the strategic plan, review options for dashboards to track plan progress, and begin the community-wide process of updating peer and aspirant lists.
Implement the accelerated and four-year nursing programs (BSN) and the 3+1 programs in Love School of Business.
Develop sustaining processes, incentives, advocates, and programs to support innovation.
Study, test, and propose means for advancing the use of predictive analytics and visualization in admissions, retention, student success, and graduation rates.
Accreditations
Achieve accreditation and SACSCOC approval for the BSN program(s)
Continue self-study for the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET-engineering)
Successfully achieve reaccreditation by the American Bar Association (ABA – School of Law) – subject to schedule alterations due to the pandemic
Begin the self-study for the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA – sport management)
Begin planning for the SACSCOC decennial review.
Develop a locally focused 2+2 Teacher Education Pipeline Initiative which begins in high school.
Thrive: An inclusive and healthy community for success
Continue robust efforts to make Elon a more diverse, inclusive, and culturally skilled community.
Develop key performance indicators to enhance transparency, monitor progress on inclusive excellence goals and benchmark, when possible, against peer, aspirant, and national metrics.
Revamp the Diversity Course Database and develop a plan for promoting its use in course advising and programming related to inclusive excellence.
Implement recommendations outlined in the Latinx/Hispanic working group report and begin work on developing similar initiatives for Asian and Pacific Islander communities and campus accessibility.
Continue to implement recommendations from the external consultant report on faculty and staff intercultural development that align with Boldly Elon.
Support the recommendations within the report from the Committee on History and Memory and set goals for 2020-2021.
Complete recommendations from the Council on Wellness and Well-Being designated for implementation in the 2020-2021 academic year.
Complete the development of a university-wide brand for wellness and well-being efforts at the university (including logo, print, and digital media).
Complete the work group project to review the content of spring admissions weekends and consider the possibility of shifting orientation-related messaging for deposit-paid students and their families from spring programs to early summer events.
Complete the assessment and implementation report of the Presidential Task Force on Social Climate and Out-of-Class Engagement.
Evaluate and strengthen Student Life programs and services for graduate students, particularly related to mental/physical health and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Prioritize and deploy essential software and process improvements to increase efficiencies while improving data quality across existing information systems in appropriate partnerships across campus.
Launch the search for and hire a new Vice President for Business, Finance and Technology, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions and University Chaplain.
Host in-person Commencement events for the Class of 2020 and continue to improve the university’s commencement ceremonies utilizing lessons learned this past year, ensuring a vibrant Senior Week and Commencement ceremonies for the Class of 2021.
Investigate and benchmark against 3-5 leading/cutting edge leadership and professional development models both inside and outside of higher education in order to advance OLPD communications, web site, programs and materials. Ensure OLPD website offers latest resources in terms of articles, podcasts, and video.
Finalize new Supervisor Series for new and experienced supervisors on campus by September. Engage Senior Staff and Deans to ensure that 75% of campus supervisors participate this year.
Expand staff and faculty competencies through additional training and education opportunities including Elon NEXT.
Expand the ‘Energy Conservation in Action’ program to reduce the University’s utility expense while reducing our total greenhouse gas emissions.
Due to the desire for increased ventilation as a perceived mitigation strategy for Covid-19, the goal for this year is to not increase the BTU’s consumed per square foot. To do this we will need to continue implementation of energy conservation projects, with a focus on low-cost projects completed in house, such as the conversion of classrooms to LED lights.
Continue the implementation of additional spaces into the E2H software to gain energy saving
Complete a project with Piedmont Natural Gas (PNG) to combine several gas meters into one large service meter, which will reduce rates and has a 1-year ROI.
Train all first line supervisors in Crisis Intervention Training (CIT).
CIT training is a program that focuses on helping people who are in behavioral crisis, which includes mental illness, developmental disabilities, and substance addictions. This training program also focuses on police interactions and the abilities to verbally de-escalate situations that are potentially dangerous or threatening in efforts to prevent someone from harming themselves or others.
Complete planning and begin implementation of the following projects.
Assessment of student hangout spaces (part of the Campus Climate report)
Assessment of learning spaces
Masterplan for outdoor amenities
Complete design work for the following projects.
Koury Center addition/renovation masterplan
E Sports Center
Ten-year master plan for residential renovation and new construction
Complete construction of the new parking lot on elementary school property.
Begin construction for Engineering/Physics Building.
Rebid and award construction for the following projects.
Moseley 2nd floor renovation
Smith Hall upgrades
Carolina Hall electrical upgrade
Explore technology and develop a plan to merge faculty and staff recruitment into one online system. Review EEO statistics, performance management and on-boarding process.
In preparation to host the 2022 CAA Baseball Championship, complete replacement of infield turf for Latham Park in May of 2021.
Connect: Lifelong Partnerships Near and Far
Implement plans to map and enhance community engagement.
Continue to build the Elon Partners Program, within restrictions created by the pandemic, to connect and familiarize local community organizations and businesses with the university.
Building on the successful E-Company pilot program, develop a summer service and internship program in which students live on campus and learn and serve in local non-profit agencies, businesses and organizations.
Develop the Elon Partners Council, comprised of faculty and staff engaged regularly with external partners, to better align university engagement with our local communities, and invite external community partners to attend two meetings per year.
Share Elon’s economic impact study broadly across our local communities and Elon constituents.
Benchmark institutions recognized as anchor institutions for their local communities and how they map impact of faculty and staff engagement in local communities.
Implement new policy and process in compliance with the newly released federal regulations around Title IX; increase training for Title IX staff and all involved in Title IX processes; develop and implement a system to evaluate and improve new process and policy for Title IX.
Conduct a feasibility analysis for an Elon Institute in the Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education to manage lifelong learning initiatives and host Elon’s two-year degree programs.
Implement initiatives designed to promote civic engagement, political discourse, and active citizenship in preparation for the election and beyond.
Rise: Positioning the University for the Future
Increase applications to 16,000 and enroll 1745 first-year and 80 transfer students in fall and 20 first-year and 40 transfer students in spring. Students should reflect Elon values, especially academic ability, diversity, and a well-rounded high school experience appropriate for Elon’s style of engaged learning.
Successfully implement year one of a test-optional admissions program for first-year and transfer students.
Enroll new students in each graduate program to meet the following goals:
DPT: Enroll 44 students Januarys 2021 & 2022
PA: Enroll 36 students Januarys 2021 & 2022
M.Ed.: Enroll 12 students summer 2021
M.A. Higher Education: Enroll 12 students fall 2021
M.A. Interactive Media: Enroll 36 students summer 2020 & 2021
MBA: Enroll 55 students in AY 2020-21
M.S. Business Analytics: Enroll 15 students fall 2020 & 2021
M.S. Accounting: Enroll 15 students summer 2021
Evaluate, expand and enhance opportunities for virtual and campus visit programming including admissions events.
In conjunction with the School of Communications and Love School of Business, utilize market research to develop new and expanded marketing strategies to bolster application pools sufficient to increase enrollment for the M.A. Interactive Media and MBA.
Successfully execute year two of the Elon LEADS Campaign public phase by progressing gifts and pledges from $192 million to $215 million by May 31, 2021.
Secure at least $10 million in commitments for endowed scholarships and annual support priorities.
Secure at least $8 million in commitments for construction of STEM facility.
Secure at least $3 million in new planned gifts in support of campaign priorities.
Secure at least $2 million from Foundations and Corporations toward campaign priorities.
Reach the following targets in annual support of the Elon LEADS comprehensive campaign:
$1.7 million in Elon’s Greatest Needs.
$2.5 million in designated annual giving.
$1.6 million in the Phoenix Club, 2,300 overall donors and 75 impact circle donors.
$500,000 in annual giving for Elon Law.
1,200 members of the Elon Society.
25% alumni participation.
30% current undergraduate parent participation.
6% grandparent participation.
75% faculty/staff participation.
50% senior class giving participation.
The Inn at Elon: Complete first fiscal year of operations
Establish effective communication and management channels with The Inn at Elon, Charlestowne Corporate and RevPAR International leadership teams in order to improve operations, financial management and market penetration.