Featured Speakers

Keynote Speaker

Joy Bauer

Joy Bauer, MS, RDN, CDN, is one of the nation’s leading health authorities. She is the longtime nutrition and healthy lifestyle contributor for NBC’s TODAY show, is a featured expert on NBC News Daily, and a #1 New York Times bestselling author of 14 bestselling books. She’s also the creator of beJOYLY, a science-backed supplement brand that helps adults 50+ feel their very best.

Joy is monthly columnist for Woman’s World and Savory magazine and spent more than a decade as the official nutritionist for the New York City Ballet. Her website is a go-to destination for thousands of deliciously healthy recipes and practical strategies for making nutritious living easy and accessible.

Earlier in her career, Joy served as Director of Nutrition and Fitness for the Department of Pediatric Cardiology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City and as a clinical dietitian for the hospital’s neurosurgical team. One of her most meaningful accomplishments was creating “Heart Smart Kids,” a health program for underserved children living in Harlem. She also taught Anatomy & Physiology and Sports Nutrition at NYU while building what became the largest private nutrition center in the country.

Joy is passionate about sharing science-backed, practical advice to help people feel their best—and her impact has earned top honors, including the National Media Excellence Award from both the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the American Society of Nutrition Science. She was recently inducted into the Taste Hall of Fame and is an eight-time nominee for the “Taste Awards,” often described as the Oscars of food, fashion, and lifestyle media.When she’s not dishing out wellness tips or sharing tasty recipes on TV, you’ll likely find Joy making a happy mess in the kitchen or spending time with her family.

President Connie Ledoux Book

Dr. Connie Book is a passionate advocate for higher education and its power to transform students’ lives. She spent 16 years as an Elon faculty member and administrative leader, helping to build the university’s reputation for excellence in engaged teaching and learning before accepting a groundbreaking role as the first female provost and chief academic officer at The Citadel in 2015. Following her impressive accomplishments there, she returned to Elon as president in 2018, bringing a deep appreciation for the university’s unique history and its rapid rise to national prominence.

Under President Book’s leadership, Elon launched the ambitious 10-year Boldly Elon strategic plan to advance the university’s national leadership in experiential education, mentoring and student success. President Book has welcomed numerous new full-time faculty members to Elon and the university has been recognized as number one in the nation for undergraduate teaching excellence, four years in a row. Elon has commenced innovative new academic programs in engineering and nursing, a flexible law program in Charlotte and several new facilities that enrich the learning environment. In support of these goals and the university’s distinctive mission, President Book led the successful completion of the Elon LEADS comprehensive campaign, which raised more than $260 million dollars by its completion in spring 2023.

During Dr. Book’s tenure, Elon opened the Innovation Quad, providing additional dynamic space for engaged learning in engineering and sciences, and the construction process has begun for a facility dedicated to the support of holistic wellness across six dimensions, known as Health E-U – “Health-y You.” As President, Dr. Book has engaged alumni, parents, and families in celebrations of Elon’s mission with Evening for Elon events across the globe, reinforcing the university’s core values and commitment to positive student transformation.

With President Book’s strategic vision and leadership, the university has set a bold course for the future and that future is bright. Please join me in welcoming Elon’s ninth president, Dr. Connie Book.

Dr. Alexis Franzese P’29

Dr. Alexis Franzese is the Department Chair and an Associate Professor for the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Elon University. With academic training in the fields of sociology and psychology, her teaching and research interests are at the intersection of these fields and her main area of inquiry is on issues of self, identity, and well-being. She is especially passionate about her study of authenticity – being one’s true self – and is currently conducting research on authenticity and identity within travel and tourism, with Disney as a strategic domain of focus.

In addition to publications within edited volumes and other peer-reviewed collections, her research has been published in journals that span the breadth of her scholarly interests and include International Journal of Scholarship on Teaching and Learning, Personality and Individual Differences, Sociology Compass, Aging and Mental Health, and others. She is a graduate of Union College and Duke University, where she completed two separate doctoral degrees in sociology and in clinical psychology.

She loves teaching others about the science of happiness and tries to incorporate her knowledge into her own full life and adventures with her four children, two dogs, and a very curious cat.