ELON COLLEGE – A $250,000 commitment from NationsBank has pushed the total of gifts and pledges that Elon College has raised for its capital campaign to $31.5 million.
The Campaign for the Elon Vision, a five-year capital drive, has reached 78 percent of its $40 million goal, says Bob McKinnon, chairman of the National Campaign Steering Committee, who is also an alumnus and trustee. The campaign was announced publicly last November.
“New science and library facilities – two key academic pieces of the Elon Vision, the college’s strategic plan for the next century – are either completed or under construction,” McKinnon says. “The college is now directing its attention to raising money for an on-campus stadium.’
The $15 million science facility, which houses the college’s science departments and master’s in physical therapy program, opened in August. The 81,000 square-foot building replaces a facility built in 1930 that was inadequate in meeting the college’s goals for its science programs.
A new three-story $14 million library will open next fall. The building will enhance library offerings, including providing greater access to the latest technology. Once the facility opens, the current library will undergo a renovation to house the communications and journalism programs, one of Elon’s largest majors.
The $8 million on-campus stadium will seat 8,250 fans and can be expanded to accommodate 20,000 people. The facility also can be used for other athletic events, commencement ceremonies and concerts. The college also hopes to raise an additional $4 million to expand Koury Field House for weight training, locker rooms and enhancement of the soccer and baseball facilities.
“A first-rate football stadium will demonstrate that the athletics program is moving forward and keeping in step with the academic program at Elon,” says Robert Ward, chairman of the stadium campaign committee and a member of the board of trustees.
The Elon Vision is an $80 million plan detailing how the college will continue to pursue academic excellence through distinctive programs, provide scholarships to attract gifted students and incentives to draw accomplished professors and increase the use of technology through the 21st century. It also seeks new and renovated facilities to meet these challenges.
The goal of the Elon Vision is “to ensure that Elon is and is recognized as one of the premier undergraduate institutions on the Eastern Seaboard.”
Elon’s ranking in the nation’s most respected college guides demonstrates the progress that has been made toward this goal. The college’s ranking has jumped significantly in U.S. News & World Report’s guide from 39th in 1996 to 16th in the 1999 guidebook among 123 Southern regional colleges and universities.
The college also is included in Barron’s Best Buys in College Education and featured in the 1999 Kaplan/Newsweek How to Get into College guide.
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