New facilities, special campus events and a talented freshman class will highlight the beginning of Elon University’s 118th academic year. The first day of classes is Aug. 28. Details...
This year’s freshmen class is made up of about 1,285 students selected from a group of more than 9,300 applicants. Elon’s enrollment this year will include approximately 4,950 undergraduates and 500 graduate students.
Freshmen move into campus housing on Friday, Aug. 24 and will participate in orientation activities. New student convocation will be held Under the Oaks on Saturday, Aug. 25.
The Elon University School of Law welcomes its second class this fall, with classes beginning on the Greensboro campus Aug. 20.
Elon will offer three new majors this year: anthropology, art history and music technology. New minors in German studies and statistics are also being added. Elon currently offers 50 undergraduate majors in Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Communication, the School of Education and the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business.
New Facilities and Services
Elon begins the year with two new buildings in the Academic Village, a campus quad dedicated to the liberal arts. The William Henry Belk Pavilion houses the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, the General Studies program, the Office of Sponsored Programs and the Writing Across the Curriculum program. Belk Pavilion includes classrooms, faculty offices and a seminar room and contains the latest technology and video equipment. The Luvene Holmes and Royall H. Spence Jr. Pavilion houses the philosophy and religious studies departments. Spence Pavilion also includes faculty offices, classrooms and a seminar room.
A complex of three new buildings adjacent to the Ernest A. Koury Sr. Business Center also opens this fall. The 24,000-square-foot Colonnades Dining Hall will feature seven food venues and seating for about 400. Dining options will include a Mediterranean-themed area called Tuscany; Isabella’s, an international concept with a Mongolian grill; Bread Basket for breakfasts and desserts; a salad area called Croutons; a Boar’s Head deli; the Fountain Market grocery area; and a full-service restaurant, the 1889 Grill Room.
Colonnades A and Colonnades B, two new residence buildings, will also open this fall, providing housing for 154 students. The buildings are configured with stand-alone single rooms or four-bedroom suites. Single rooms contain a double bed and private bathroom. Four-bedroom suites contain double beds, two bathrooms, and a furnished living room. The Colonnades will house many of Elon’s Learning Communities.
Rhodes Stadium is adding PhoenixVision to its scoreboard, a large video screen that will use programming, animation and graphics to engage fans at football and soccer games.
Special Events
A number of distinguished speakers will visit Elon during the upcoming academic year. Academy Award-winning actress Olympia Dukakis will appear on campus Sept. 18, offering master classes to performing arts students.
Pulitzer Prize winner George F. Will, a noted author and columnist, will give the Baird Pulitzer Prize lecture on Sept. 20. Will has written for Newsweek, The Washington Post and ABC News.
Arun Ghandi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and founder of the MK Gandhi Institute for Non-violence in Memphis, Tenn., will speak at Elon on Nov. 7. Gandhi, like his grandfather, has worked to fight poverty and caste discrimination worldwide.
Also appearing at Elon this year will be Emmy Award-winning journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault (Feb. 26) and Tony Award-winning Broadway producer-director Hal Prince, who will highlight the spring Convocation for Honors on April 10.
Faculty Grants and Publications
Elon faculty have received funding for a number of new initiatives during the next academic year, allowing them to work with students on research and develop new academic programs.
History professor Brian Digre leads a group of 11 faculty members who received a $160,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to expand the Middle Eastern studies program at Elon. A new Arabic language professor will be hired, new courses will be created, and a Middle Eastern minor or concentration in the International Studies major may be developed. Other academic departments in a variety of disciplines will offer more courses on the Middle East. Elon will also develop an exchange program with universities in the Middle East.
Megan Conklin, assistant professor of computing science, received a $100,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant provides for the expansion of the FLOSSmole repository for data. Conklin is co-founder and project co-leader of FLOSSmole. The grant is part of the “Research in Undergraduate Institutions” and will support research with full-time undergraduate students.