Since NewCentury@Elon was launched in 2000, substantial progress has been made in enhancing the academic climate on campus.

The Elon community has enjoyed access to a rich and diverse group of world leaders and scholars In the past three years, visitors to campus have included President George H.W. Bush, Queen Noor of Jordan, former president of Poland Lech Walesa, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, presidential adviser David Gergen, renowned conservationist Jane Goodall, former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, broadcast legend Walter Cronkite and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Desmond Tutu. These distinguished speakers interact with students in formal and informal group settings, and their appearances are integrated into course work and class projects.

Each year, the Baird Pulitzer Prize Lecture brings to campus some of the nation's most accomplished authors and journalists. The inaugural address was by acclaimed historian and best-selling writer David McCullough. Journalist David Halberstam delivered the second Baird lecture in 2003 and Newsweek columnist and author Anna Quindlen delivered the 2004 lecture.

Following a two-year review of the General Studies program Elon instituted a a new core requirement in statistics. In addition, beginning with the 2005 entering class, students will be required to meet a foreign language requirement.

Elon's distinctive Winter Term has taken on new prominence with the addition of a central theme for each January session. In addition, Elon has established the Isabella Cannon Distinguished Professor of Leadership, giving students the opportunity to interact with a prominent leader for three days. In 2004 the professor was former presidential adviser David Gergen and in 2005 the professor was former EPA administrator and New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman.

Elon is among 10 charter institutions involved in Project Pericles, funded by New York philanthropist Eugene Lang, founder of the "I Have a Dream" Foundation. The objective is to encourage colleges and universities to create programs that promote social responsibility and citizenship. Other schools working with Elon on the project include Swarthmore College, Macalester College, Pace University and Allegheny College.

The Elon Institute for Politics and Public Affairs involves students in a wide range of activities related to government and policy. The Elon University Poll, a survey conducted by students in a high-tech computer lab, is already gaining coverage in major media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and The National Journal.

Project Interweave, an initiative to advance the quality of teaching and learning in all departments, supports faculty-student teams whose members become campus leaders and partners in learning. This is the second phase of a program supported by the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Elon's Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning is a new initiative that will allow faculty members to develop and test new pedagogies. The Center will be housed in a new pavilion that will be built in the Academic Village.