Theme 1 Learn

Innovative Teaching and Learning in an Era of Opportunity

Building upon decades of curricular innovation and national leadership in experiential learning, we will:

Engaged Learning and Mentoring

BOLDLY ELON will magnify the transformative power of student- and learning-centered relationships. With Elon’s characteristic drive for continual improvement, we will deepen engaged learning, providing every student with access to high-impact experiences. Through a groundbreaking mentoring model, students will learn to build developmental networks that include peers, staff and faculty, as well as others beyond the university.

This lifelong constellation of mentors will emerge as a hallmark of an Elon education, engaging all students in developing essential skills and fluencies – writing, speaking, creative problem solving, collaboration, intercultural learning, data competency, media literacy, ethics and personal and professional agility.

Objectives and Progress

Last updated: October 2024

Objectives

  • Create a four-year mentoring model, teaching every student to build a network of mentors, including peers, faculty, staff and others beyond the university.
  • Provide financial resources to ensure all students have access to internships.
  • Achieve 100 percent participation in course-embedded undergraduate research and engage one-third of undergraduates in one-on-one, deeply mentored undergraduate research.
  • Deepen our #1-ranked study abroad program, making it accessible to all students and increasing students’ acquisition of second languages.
  • Advance a national model of civic engagement that prepares all students to be active participants in local communities.
  • Promote leadership development through peer mentoring, student employment and student organizations.
  • Provide all students the opportunity to work closely with faculty or staff members to design and complete deep and culminating signature projects.
  • Endow the Center for Engaged Learning as it becomes the leading international center for research on engaged learning.

Progress Report

  • Elon has completed seven pilot programs in support of its mentoring initiative, exploring different approaches to enhancing mentoring connections. A Mentoring in Meaningful Relationships Summit brought together teams from multiple institutions to share and learn about approaches to mentoring.
  • Elon regained its IIE Open Door’s #1 ranking for study abroad in 2023 and is ranked #2 in the nation for study abroad by U.S. News and World Report. Five new sections have been added to Winter Term study abroad opportunities for 2025. To expand the number of programs available in the future, the Global Education Curriculum Committee (GECC) is streamlining the faculty program proposal process.
  • For the first time in nearly 15 years, Elon launched a Study Abroad Fair during International Education Week, which included providers, partner universities, and on-campus offices that work with study abroad students.
  • We continue to progress on the Global Education Center’s 52-point Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion plan. The GEC is creating programs to serve students in majors and with identities that are historically underrepresented in study abroad. For example, a program for nursing students is being launched in Cuba in Winter Term 2025, a new Business Fellows semester track will be offered in Sydney, Australia, and a replacement center for Shanghai is planned to be launched for Fall 2025.
  • A working group developed characteristics for Elon course-embedded research and will develop recommendations to expand to 100 percent participation in course-embedded undergraduate research.
  • Progress is being made on providing access to students with financial need to complete internships. In the spring of 2024, the Women of Elon Network chose endowment growth for internships as its primary philanthropic priority, and since then, $700,000 has been raised toward a 2026 goals of $2.5 million in endowment for this purpose. Additionally, annual giving opportunities have been created as well.

STEM, Engineering, Nursing and Data Competency

In response to the global demand for more engineers and STEM-related skills, BOLDLY ELON will advance a distinctive and cross-disciplinary STEM program. Graduates of these programs, grounded in the liberal arts and experiential learning, will be sought after as problem-solvers focused on the common good.

Objectives and Progress

Last updated: October 2024

Objectives

  • Develop a nationally known school of engineering distinguished by engaged learning and a strong foundation in the arts and sciences.
  • Launch nursing programs and related healthcare certificates with leadership from the School of Health Sciences and a program at the intersection of health communications and health administration led by the communications and business schools.
  • Develop curricula, short courses and certificate programs across the curriculum in all colleges and schools to ensure all students are prepared to access, analyze and manipulate complex data.
  • Build engineering and physics facilities to anchor a new STEM and innovation quad and promote collaboration and discovery across disciplines, design thinking and entrepreneurship.
  • Renovate McMichael Science Center and open a university-wide STEM Center to support students across all majors and expand industry connections.

Progress Report

  • Elon’s Engineering program is now fully accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).  The engineering bachelor of science major includes concentrations in biomedical engineering, computer engineering, environmental engineering and mechanical engineering. Elon’s engineering program was ranked #131 for Best Undergraduate Engineering programs at institutions that do not offer a doctorate by U.S. News & World Report.
  • The first two buildings in Elon’s new engineering and science hub, the Innovation Quad, opened in Fall 2022, providing a 70,000-square-foot, vibrant and creative environment for STEM students and engaging those in the arts and humanities and professional programs.
  • The first undergraduate programs of Elon’s School of Health Sciences—the inaugural classes of Elon’s four-year BSN (bachelor of science in nursing) and 16-month ABSN (accelerated bachelor of science in nursing for those who have already earned a bachelor’s degree)—began with 47 students in Fall 2021, responding to the critical need for more nurses in North Carolina and across the country.
  • In Fall 2023, Data Nexus launched Elon University’s Data Competency QEP. The Director of Data Nexus was appointed, and the Data Nexus Faculty Advisory Committee and the Data Nexus Technology Proficiency Committee were established. Data Nexus designed a Data Intensive Course Designation process and multiple courses with the designation include classes in business, computer science, economics, finance, global, human service studies, history, media analytics, management, math, nursing, physics, public policy, psychology, sociology/anthropology, sport management, strategic communication, and statistics. The Data Nexus Faculty Advisory Committee also created an Advanced Data Competency Microcredential which will start taking applications in Fall 2024.
  • Phase 3 out of 4 for renovations of McMichael Science Center was completed during summer 2024. Design for Phase 4 is complete and renovations are planned for summer 2025.

Metrics

Bar chart showing the number of nursing majors enrolled

This chart shows 127 BSN and 33 ABSN majors in 2023-2024 vs 78 BSN and 29 ABSN in 2022-2023.

Bar chart showing engineering majors by type

The graph shows the number of engineering majors by type at Elon University from 2019-2020 to 2023-2024. Overall, the number of engineering majors has increased over the past five years. In fall 2023, there were 141 engineering majors, an increase of 6 majors from fall 2019. The most popular type of engineering is general engineering, with 135 majors in fall 2023. This is followed by electrical engineering (17 majors), mechanical engineering (14 majors), and engineering with a biomedical concentration (11 majors). The number of students in dual-degree programs has also increased over the past five years. In fall 2023, there were 101 students in dual-degree programs, up from 77 in fall 2019.

Innovative Teaching and Learning Across the Curriculum and for a Lifetime

Elon’s rich intellectual community has been propelled by the strategic choice to place excellence in arts and sciences — central to the development of freedom of thought and liberty of conscience – at the core of the undergraduate curriculum and fully integrate it with outstanding professional schools and graduate education. Boldly Elon will deepen the arts and sciences, Core Curriculum and work across disciplines, ensuring that graduates are creative, culturally agile, ethically grounded and well-prepared to address questions of societal importance.

Objectives and Progress

Last updated: November 2024

Objectives

  • Deepen students’ engagement in the arts and sciences through cross-disciplinary programs, engagement with challenges facing our world, individual degree pathways and flexible study options.
  • Advance the College of Arts and Sciences, Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education and the Schools of Education, Law, Communications and Health Sciences, and grow graduate and professional education for alumni, adult and professional learners – in analytics, health sciences, education, arts, entrepreneurship and developing fields.
  • Develop 3+1 or 3+2 programs to provide interconnected undergraduate and graduate degrees.
  • Further develop Elon’s leadership in public policy research, expanding the scope of the Elon Poll as a national survey and reconceiving the Imagining the Internet Center as an interdisciplinary effort focused on the impact and evolution of digital life.
  • Achieve national recognition for the School of Law, a leading innovator in legal education, for its highly experiential and distinctive approach to preparing students for the legal profession.
  • Achieve top-40 rankings for the Love School of Business graduate and undergraduate programs.
  • Construct spaces for Elon’s nationally recognized theatre, music, dance, design and music theatre programs.

Progress Report

  • In January 2022, Elon received its highest ranking ever for undergraduate business programs, ranking #35 in the nation and #21 among private universities by Poets&Quants. Elon received its highest marks in “academic experience,” based on surveys of business majors alumni who reflected on the quality of their education.
  • Elon Law has established itself as a national leader in engaged learning and practical training for lawyers and has earned an A+ from PreLaw Magazine, as part of the publication’s “Best Schools for Practical Training” feature. Elon Law ranked fourth in the country for skills training.
  • In Fall 2024, Elon Law launched its new part-time Flex Program in Charlotte, N.C. The charter class includes 36 students, who come to Elon Law from a diverse range of professions. The class is significantly older than incoming class in Greensboro, and a third of the charter class identifies as students of color. Elon Law is now the only law school in one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States, a hub for sports, finance and a blossoming tech community.
  • The new Imagining the Digital Future Center was launched in February 2024, with the release of a major new study predicting the impact of artificial intelligence by 2040. Then in May 2024, Imagining the Digital Future collaborated with the Elon University Poll on a national public opinion survey on “AI and Politics ’24.” The two spring 2024 releases followed a major initiative by the Imagining the Digital Future Center to coordinate an international position statement on higher education and artificial intelligence. The statement has been endorsed by more than 140 higher education organizations, administrators, researchers and faculty members from 47 countries. In August 2024, Imagining the Digital Future released the first edition of the Student Guide to Artificial Intelligence in partnership with the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). The guide has been adopted by educators and students worldwide and is available free to all students and institutions.
  • A five-year plan for the Elon Poll was completed in early fall 2023. Following the plan, the Elon Poll conducted three North Carolina public opinion polls in conjunction with the November 2024 general election. The polls were developed by Elon faculty and staff and conducted by the international public opinion survey firm, YouGov. The polls have provide deep sets of data on public opinion in the state and have received extensive media coverage in North Carolina and in both national and international media outlets.
  •  Accelerated 3+2 pathways have been established for undergraduates to move into Elon’s graduate Physician’s Assistant and Physical Therapy programs. Undergraduate students are also participating in the accelerated 3 +2 ½ pathway into the Elon Law School.
  • Ongoing collaborations across academic units continue in creating interdisciplinary minors and programs, including:
    • Data analytics interdisciplinary major
    • Neuroscience co-major (with biochemistry, biology, chemistry, exercise science or psychology)
    • FinTech major (finance and technology)
    • Cybersecurity minor
    • Innovation in education master’s program (M.Ed.)
    • Concentration in Environmental Engineering
    • Engineering Design minor
    • Health communications minor
    • Food and Culture minor
    • Expressive Arts minor
    • Museum Studies & Public History minor
    • Islamic studies minor
    • Sustainable enterprises minor