Our community of engaged scholars

University strategic plans sometimes become dusty documents, soon forgotten in the rush of daily business and the crush of competing priorities. At Elon, we've found just the opposite for our plan, the Elon Commitment.

Faculty, staff and students have enthusiastically embraced Elon's goal of being the nation's preeminent community for engaged learning. Through this annual report, I'm proud to share some of their success stories from the 2011-12 academic year.

Just a few examples: Elon faculty analyzed the impact of computer trading in a global economy, studied 500-year-old Spanish texts to understand the concept of national identity, documented the experiences of lung cancer survivors and created a data resource on the use of free and open-source software.

Our community also celebrated many historic milestones, including the following:

• Successful completion of the Ever Elon Campaign, the largest fundraising campaign in the university’s history
• Opening of the Gerald L. Francis Center, home of Elon's new School of Health Sciences
• Start of construction of the Numen Lumen Pavilion in the Academic Village, a multi-faith center that will be the spiritual center of campus
• Opening of the Student Professional Development Center, an innovative approach to career services that emphasizes internships and a strong network of businesses, parents and alumni
• A #1 national ranking for Elon's part-time MBA program and a top-50 ranking for the undergraduate business school by Bloomberg Businessweek

At the core of a great Elon University experience are faculty who are committed to excellent teaching, active scholarship and mentoring students as they prepare for their lives as engaged global citizens. We are proud to share this multimedia report, which illustrates the strength of those values.

Leo M. Lambert
President