Elon University is a

private university Private universities and private colleges are higher education institutions not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. However, they often receive tax breaks, public student loans, and government grants. Depending on the count ...

in Elon, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1889 as Elon College, the university is organized into six schools, most of which offer

bachelor's degrees A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Neo-Latin, Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and university, universities upon completion of a course of study lasting ...

and several of which offer

master's degrees A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

or professional doctorate degrees. Located in North Carolina's Piedmont region, Elon is situated on a suburban campus between the cities of Greensboro and

Raleigh Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

. Elon's athletic teams compete in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

as members of the

Coastal Athletic Association The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), formerly the ECAC South Conference and the Colonial Athletic Association, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA' ...

History

Elon College was founded by the Christian Connection, which later became a part of the

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a socially liberal mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Restorationist, Continental Reformed, and Lutheran t ...

. The charter for Elon College was issued by the North Carolina legislature in 1889. William S. Long was the first president and the original student body consisted of 76 students. In 1923, a fire destroyed most of the campus, including school records, classrooms, the library, and the chapel. The

board of trustees A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

voted to rebuild immediately. Many of the buildings that were erected in the years following the fire still stand and make up the bedrock of Elon's campus. An institution that for many years enrolled mostly North Carolina residents, Elon began to enroll significant numbers of students from the mid-Atlantic states in the mid-1970s and began to improve its academic standards for admission. By the year 2000, about 68 percent of Elon's students came from out-of-state and were only accepted if they met high academic standards. Elon became known as a selective university and, by 2013, 82% of incoming students were from out of state. ''Transforming a College: The Story of a Little Known College's Strategic Climb to National Distinction'' (2004), an academic study by George Keller of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, chronicles how the school changed from a regional religious college to a selective, nationally recognized university. Elon is no longer affiliated with the United Church of Christ. Elon University's mission statement states that the school "embraces its founders' vision of an academic community that transforms mind, body, and spirit and encourages freedom of thought and liberty of conscience" and emphasizes its commitment to "nurture a rich intellectual community characterized by student engagement with a faculty dedicated to excellent teaching and scholarly accomplishment". On October 9, 2017, the university's board of trustees elected Constance "Connie" Ledoux Book as the ninth president of the university. Book became Elon's first female President on March 1, 2018.

Academics

The university includes Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences; the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business; the School of Communications; the Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education; the School of Law; and the School of Health Sciences. Master's programs are offered in business administration, business analytics, accounting, interactive media, education, physician assistant studies, and doctoral programs include physical therapy and law. Elon operates on a 4-1-4 academic calendar, including a four-week term in January known as Winter Term. In 2009,

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

society voted to establish a chapter at Elon. Elon is accredited by the

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is a regional educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. As of 2022, the organization oversees ap ...

Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences

Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences, offers 51 undergraduate majors within three divisions: the Arts and Humanities, the Social and Behavioral Sciences, and the Natural, Mathematical and Computational Sciences. Elon College is the largest of the university's colleges.

Martha and Spencer Love School of Business

The Martha and Spencer Love School of Business offers undergraduate degrees in accounting, business administration, economics, entrepreneurship, finance, international business, management, and marketing.

School of Communications

The Elon School of Communications is one of 18 accredited communications programs for private universities in the US by the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC). The program encompasses 20% of students and is divided into six main concentrations: Journalism, Strategic Communications, Cinema & Television Arts, Communication Design, Media Analytics, and Sport & Event Management.

School of Law

The Elon University School of Law opened on August 10, 2006. The school is located in downtown

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...

in the former city library. Former

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

Associate Justice

Sandra Day O'Connor Sandra Day O'Connor (March 26, 1930 – December 1, 2023) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, O' ...

delivered the Dedication Address on September 19, 2006. The school houses a working court, the North Carolina Business Court.

School of Health Sciences

Established in April 2011, Elon's School of Health Sciences offers a doctor of physical therapy (DPT) program and a

physician assistant A physician assistant or physician associate (PA) is a type of non-physician practitioner. While these job titles are used internationally, there is significant variation in training and scope of practice from country to country, and sometimes be ...

(PA) studies master's program. The university also offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) for students. This program is offered both as a four-year BSN program for undergraduates and an accelerated BSN for those who have already earned a bachelor's degree in another field of study.

Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education

The Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education offers both licensure and non-licensure undergraduate majors, as well as

Master of Education The Master of Education (MEd or M.Ed. or Ed.M.; Latin ''Magister Educationis'' or ''Educationis Magister'') is a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. This degree in education often includes the following majors: curriculum an ...

(M.Ed.) and Master of Arts in Higher Education (MHE) degrees.

Admissions

For the class of 2024, the university received approximately 15,306 applications from early decision,

early action Early action (EA) is a type of early admission process offered by some institutions for college admissions in the United States, admission to colleges and universities in the United States. Unlike the college admissions, regular admissions process ...

, regular decision, and transfer applicants. From the application pool, around 1,587 students enrolled with an acceptance rate of 69%. The average student coming to Elon in the class of 2024 had a grade point average of 4.04, an average

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...

score of 1233, and an ACT average of 27.

Rankings and reputation

'' U.S. News & World Report'' ranks Elon tied for #133 overall among national universities and as #1 in the country for "Best Undergraduate Teaching." Elon is ranked as the #13 most innovative national university. In 2020 Elon was the only university with top-10 rankings in all of ''U.S. News''s "Academic Programs to Look For" categories.

Student body

Elon has a student body of 6,291 undergraduate students and 826 graduate students . Approximately 60% of students are female. Elon students come from 46 states and 49 countries; the leading suppliers of undergraduates are

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, New York,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

Athletics

Elon's 17 varsity sports teams, known as the Phoenix, joined the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

's Division I

Colonial Athletic Association The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), formerly the ECAC South Conference and the Colonial Athletic Association, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA' ...

on July 1, 2014, after a decade in the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

. Intercollegiate sports include baseball, basketball, cross-country,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, golf, soccer, and tennis for men, and basketball, cross-country, golf, indoor track, outdoor track, soccer, softball, tennis,

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

, and volleyball for women. The football team competes in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA). Campus Recreation offers intramural and club sports programs, such as baseball, cycling,

flag football Flag football is a variant of gridiron football (American football or Canadian football depending on location) where, instead of Tackle (football move)#Gridiron football, tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or ...

, equestrian, swimming,

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the ...

water skiing Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on one or two skis. The sport requires sufficien ...

, ice hockey and Ultimate Frisbee. During Winter Term the intramurals include bowling, arena football, dodgeball, ultimate frisbee, and a monster golf tournament. Up until 2000, the mascot of Elon was the Fighting Christian. Early Elon athletic teams were known as the "Christians" with the name "Fighting Christians" gaining popularity by 1923. The nickname was chosen due to Elon's proximity to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, Guilford Quakers, and the

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

Blue Devils. As Elon committed itself to diversity, and the number of non-Christian students increased, the decision was made to change Elon's mascot. In 2000, a new mascot was adopted, the Phoenix. The choice came from the 1923 fire that destroyed almost the entire campus and the college's subsequent recovery.

Facilities

Elon's sports facilities include two gymnasiums, Schar Center, Walter C. Latham Baseball Park, Rhodes Stadium, Rudd Field, Hunt Softball Park, Alumni Field House, Koury Field House, Jerry and Jeanne Robertson Track and Field Complex (named in honor of humorist and speaker Jeanne Robertson who had been an Elon trustee, and her husband, "Left Brain"), six club athletic fields, Worseley Golf Center, and Koury Center, which features the 2,400 seat Alumni Gym, an aerobic fitness center, a weight room,

racquetball Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase vel ...

courts, an indoor pool, and a dance studio. The Jimmy Powell Tennis Center, a twelve-court complex, won an "Outstanding Facility Award" from the

United States Tennis Association The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tenn ...

. The facility at the north end of Rhodes Stadium in the North Athletics Complex is the headquarters for Phoenix athletics. Construction was completed on the 5,100-seat Schar Center in 2018. The Schar Center is the home to Elon's basketball and volleyball programs.

Campus

Elon's historic campus is located in the

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

region of

, adjacent to Burlington, a city of 50,000. Elon's campus is divided into seven major neighborhoods: Historic Campus, Central Campus, Global Neighborhood, The Oaks, The Station at Mill Point, Danieley Center, East Neighborhood, The Colonnades, and South Campus. The Elon College Historic District and Johnston Hall are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Campus life

The university has more than 250 campus organizations and programs, including 12 national

fraternities A fraternity (; whence, " brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternity in the Western conce ...

and 13 national

sororities In North America, fraternities and sororities ( and ) are social clubs at colleges and universities. They are sometimes collectively referred to as Greek life or Greek-letter organizations, as well as collegiate fraternities or collegiate sorori ...

Student media

Some of the student media on campus includes '' The Pendulum'', Elon's undergraduate weekly newspaper published Wednesdays, and WSOE, the university's student-run

non-commercial A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that is not carried out in the interest of Profit (economics), profit. The opposite is Commerce, commercial, something that primarily serves profit interests and is focused on bu ...

campus radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

station, airing since 1977. ESTV (Elon Student Television) is the Student television station featuring numerous student-created and -run programs. One of Elon Student Televisions' shows run in large-part by Joey Gizzi and Steven Lannum, "Elon After Hours," would later become AreYouKiddingTV: an internet challenge and

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...

social media account mainly popular on Tik Tok and YouTube. In 2016, with advice of their faculty advisers, the two largest student media organizations on campus; Elon Local News (ELN) and ''The Pendulum'' newspaper, merged to form the new Elon News Network (ENN). ENN now operates out of the newly constructed newsroom in the McEwen Building of the School of Communications. Following a 2016 expansion of facilities, The School of Communications consists of Iris Holt McEwen Hall, the Snow Family Grand Atrium, Turner Theatre, Dwight C. Schar Hall, Steers Pavilion, and Long Hall, which houses the MA in Interactive Media graduate program and the sport management major.

Extra-curricular organizations

Numerous student government, special interest, and service organizations are represented on campus, including Elon Volunteers,

Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a U.S. non-governmental, and tax-exempt 501(C)(3) Christian nonprofit organization which seeks to build affordable housing. The international ...

, Model UN, Epsilon Sigma Alpha,

Omega Psi Phi Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African-American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It was founded on November 17, 1911 at Howard University. Omega Psi Phi is a founding member of ...

Alpha Phi Omega Alpha Phi Omega (), commonly known as APO, but also A-Phi-O and A-Phi-Q, is a national Mixed-sex education, coeducational Service fraternities and sororities, service Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It is the largest College fraterniti ...

, the Inter-Residence Council, the Elon University Student Government Association, and the Student Union Board. Cultural groups on campus include the Asian-Pacific Islander Student Association, Black Student Union, the Caribbean Student Association, Hillel, Intercultural Club, and Spectrum (Gay-Straight Alliance). Elon is home to the Fire of the Carolinas Marching Band (FOTC). The band also includes

color guard (flag spinning) Color guards or flag corps are teams of performers who perform choreographed dances and routines with various equipment to enhance and interpret the music of a marching band or Drum and bugle corps (modern), drum and bugle corps show. Color guar ...

and dance auxiliary squads.

Religious life

Religious groups on campus include

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Campus Ministry, Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life,

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA (IVCF) is an evangelicalism, evangelical Christianity, Christian student movement with affiliate groups on university campuses in U.S.. It is a member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students ...

, the Iron Tree Blooming Meditation Society, the Muslim Student Association, Baptist Student Union, and Campus Outreach. The

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

population at Elon has grown especially rapidly in recent years, with twelve percent of recent classes self-identifying as Jewish. Elon was profiled in ''

Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish religious movements, Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its Jewish ethics, ethical aspects to its ceremo ...

'' magazine in 2011 as a school which has "gone the extra mile" to make itself more attractive to Jewish students, and since 2013 it has been listed as one of the "top schools Jews choose." The Muslim student population is small but has increased dramatically in size in recent years, and a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Student Association formed at Elon in 2011. The Hindu population has also increased in size, Hindu festivals are now part of the university calendar, and Hindu students report feeling accepted at Elon. Elon worked closely with the Interfaith Youth Core in developing religious diversity and interreligious dialogue. The Truitt Center for Spiritual and Religious Life, located within the Numen Lumen Pavilion of the Academic Village, serves a wide variety of purposes and all religious traditions.

Fraternity and sorority life

Elon University recognizes 26 social Greek organizations. Forty-two percent of undergraduate students belong to campus-chartered organizations.

Student traditions

At the start of each school year, Elon University holds a New Student Convocation ceremony for first year and transfer students. It is held "Under the Oaks" behind the West Dormitory. Each new student receives their own acorn at the close of the ceremony to symbolize their beginning at Elon. Upon graduation, each student receives an oak sapling, which is supposed to symbolize their growth at the university as well as the growth in their own lives. The use of the acorn and oak sapling is significant because Elon was named after the Hebrew word for "oak" (, ) because of the grove of oak trees it was founded on.Towsend, Eric, A New Arrival Under the Oaks, 4/15/2014 http://www.elon.edu/E-Net/Article/92112 The Oak Sapling tradition began in 1991, and the Acorn tradition began in 1999 after Leo Lambert became president of the university.

People

References

External links

*
Elon Athletics website
{{Authority control Universities and colleges established in 1889 United Church of Christ in North Carolina Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Private universities and colleges in North Carolina Education in Alamance County, North Carolina Buildings and structures in Alamance County, North Carolina Tourist attractions in Alamance County, North Carolina 1889 establishments in North Carolina