An award from the Southeastern Association of Housing Officers recognizes the university's successful efforts in recent years to merge intellectual programs and opportunities with residential neighborhoods across campus.
Elon University’s Residential Campus Initiative received a Housing and Academic Collaboration Award this winter from the Southeastern Association of Housing Officers.
The award is presented to a housing program that currently has programs in place where academic affairs is intentionally involved in on-campus residential communities. Past recipients include University of Miami, Vanderbilt University, Mississippi State University, North Carolina State University, University of Florida, Louisiana State University, and the University of Kentucky.
The Residential Campus Initiative is part of the Elon Commitment strategic plan, with a mission to enhance the integration of academic and residential experiences to further students’ intellectual, personal and community development as lifelong learners and responsible global citizens.
The SEAHO award recognizes Elon’s successful efforts in recent years to:
- Establish seven residential neighborhoods with strong identities
- Implement residentially linked Core Curriculum courses (41 courses with more than 800 students in Fall 2015)
- Expand the nationally recognized living-learning community program that encourages students with shared interests/majors to live together and participate in common experiences (now 21 communities with 30 faculty/staff advisors and more than 500 participants)
- Involve more than 140 faculty and staff in various roles, including living in residence, teaching linked courses, advising learning communities, affiliating with a neighborhood, or serving on a neighborhood association.
“Clearly, this award validates success with one of our institutional objectives,” said Professor Nancy Midgette, faculty director of the Historic Neighborhood. “My experiences living on campus, working with colleagues in Residence Life to bring intellectual activities into the life of the neighborhood, and connecting students, faculty, and staff with each other, have been an excellent capstone to my career. There are challenges, to be sure, but this is the most fun I’ve had at work in a long time!”
– Article submitted by Uchenna Baker, assistant dean of Campus Life / director of Residence Life