To succeed in an increasingly competitive world, Charles and Diana Revson believe that students need a strong foundation in practical skills. They have made a $100,000 gift to the Ever Elon Campaign to enhance the university’s transition strategies program.
Courses in this program could focus on the basic principles of law, finance, investments, insurance, politics, real estate, accounting, and health and medicine. These courses will be part of the university’s professional development curriculum, which seeks to prepare students to be productive and successful adults.
“I think there’s a need at all colleges and universities today to give students a better understanding of how things work in the world, practical knowledge from how to read a contract to how finances, insurance and government work,” Charles Revson says. “I hope Elon will create a program that can be a model for other universities to use.”
The Revsons’ gift will support a two-year pilot program beginning this fall that will include curriculum development and training for faculty who will teach the courses. To enhance faculty expertise, Elon will host a lecture series on each of the course topics and invite experts in the field to attend and work with faculty to develop lesson plans and reading materials for each course.
Revson says he hopes the transition strategies courses will sharpen students’ analytical skills and prepare them to succeed once they leave Elon.
“Hopefully students will question things more and look at things a little bit deeper,” he says. “You have to know the right questions to ask, and I’m hoping this program will give students the knowledge they need to ask those questions.” The Revsons’ son, Tripp, is a 2011 Elon graduate.