Elon’s commitment to providing premier facilities for physics, engineering and other STEM fields continues to inspire alumnus Furman '56 and Susan Moseley whose latest gift to the Elon LEADS Campaign also provides additional Susan Scholarships in the Odyssey Program.
Alumnus Furman Moseley ’56 and his wife Susan Moseley of Seattle have made a second leadership gift to the Innovation Quad that will also fund additional Susan Scholarships in Elon’s Odyssey Program, which assists students with significant financial need, including first-generation college students. A lead gift from the Moseleys in 2020 — among the largest gifts ever received by Elon — named the first building in the Innovation Quad Founders Hall in honor of Elon’s long legacy of leadership.
Scheduled to open in August, the first two buildings of the Innovation Quad, Founders Hall and IQ2, represent the heart of the IQ and the initial phase of a long-term investment by Elon to advance studies in science, engineering and technology, while enhancing the university’s national leadership in engaged, cross-disciplinary learning. The IQ is located between the Dalton L. McMichael Sr. Science Center, Richard W. Sankey Hall and the Ernest A. Koury Sr. Business Center, solidifying connections between STEM and the sciences, entrepreneurship, sales, design thinking and analytics.
The Moseleys, who are among the university’s most devoted and generous donors, understand the ability of the Innovation Quad to fuel Elon’s national rise.
“Expanding and improving Elon’s offerings of STEM disciplines fits today’s demands and tomorrow’s technical realities,” Furman Moseley said. “Elon’s IQ commitment makes the university even more competitive for its future students.”
“Furman and Susan believe deeply in Elon’s leadership in STEM education and the power of scholarships to transform lives,” said President Connie Ledoux Book. “Elon’s future is bright thanks to their dedicated support of the Innovation Quad and students who will lead the future.”
The Innovation Quad
The 20,000-square-foot Founders Hall is designed to enable engineering students and faculty to turn bold ideas into prototypes. Once complete, it will include multiple laboratories, including those for design, advanced prototyping, astrophysics, prefabrication, mechatronics and virtual reality. A two-story assembly space will be a hub for innovation and the backbone of Elon’s engineering curriculum.
The three-story, 40,000-square-foot IQ2 will include cross-disciplinary studies, equipment and research in biomedicine, computer science, physics and robotics. The facility will also feature cutting-edge flexible classrooms for biophysics and physics, and laboratory space for core engineering courses, bioinstrumentation, environmental engineering research, biomedical and environmental labs.
Future phases of the IQ will include academic and residence halls, as well as a series of corporate-sponsored incubators and design hubs that will promote dynamic cross-disciplinary studies and collaboration.
A Legacy of Philanthropy
In addition to supporting construction of the IQ, the Moseleys’ gift will add four scholarships to the Susan Scholarship endowment, which Furman Moseley established in 2007 with a $5 million gift to honor his wife on her 70th birthday. Since then, the Susan Scholarship has transformed the lives of more than 60 promising female students.
“I am an Elon graduate thanks to a football scholarship, so I know firsthand an Elon scholarship’s impact on an individual life,” Moseley said. “I know well the impact Susan has had on my life and believed her favorable impact would continue on in the individual lives of young women of promise who were chosen as Susan Scholars. Exchanges with many over the years affirm that Susan’s favorable impact continues.”
Increasing scholarship funding is the top priority of the $250 million Elon LEADS Campaign, which has also provided resources for access to the Elon Experiences, faculty and staff mentors who matter and the university’s iconic campus.
“The continuing progress Elon has enjoyed in all aspects of the university’s life is the direct result of the leadership’s disciplined strategic planning and able implementation,” Moseley said. “Elon LEADS continues that winning practice and will help position an even better Elon for tomorrow.”
A Charleston, South Carolina native, Furman Moseley is the retired chairman of Seattle-based Simpson Paper Co. Susan Moseley serves as president of the Spark Charitable Foundation. Their philanthropic impact can be seen across Elon’s campus, including gifts to name the Moseley Center and to support construction of Koury Business Center, Schar Center and Rhodes Stadium.
The Moseleys’ gift to name Theos Arch at the entrance to Rhodes Stadium honors Nick Theos ’56, who grew up in Charleston and played guard along with Moseley on Elon’s football team in the 1950s. Both Theos and Moseley attended Elon through the efforts of John L. Georgeo, a 1945 Elon alumnus from Charleston, who also played football at Elon and later served as an assistant high school football coach in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. Moseley endowed the John L. Georgeo Scholarship in the Odyssey Program to honor his mentor. The Odyssey Program is part of Elon’s Center for Access and Success.
About the Elon LEADS Campaign
With a $250 million goal, Elon LEADS is the largest fundraising campaign in the university’s history and will support four main priorities: scholarships for graduates the world needs, access to engaged learning opportunities such as study abroad, research and internships, support for faculty and staff mentors who matter and Elon’s iconic campus. As of March 7, donors had contributed $240.6 million toward the overall goal.
Every gift to the university—including annual, endowment, capital, estate and other planned gifts—for any designation counts as a gift to the campaign, which will support students and strengthen Elon for generations to come. To learn more about how you can make an impact, visit www.elonleads.com.