Professor Joel Karty set a $20,000 goal to benefit the Department of Chemistry that, if met, would have him shave his bushy arches. You can guess what happened next.
Joel Karty created a fun challenge for colleagues, alumni, students, and friends in the Department of Chemistry: raise $20,000 on Elon Day 2026.
To entice donors, the Sydney F. & Kathleen E. Jackson Professor of Chemistry and department chair promised he would shave his eyebrows, live on the Elon College, College of Arts and Sciences’ Instagram feed, if the goal was met.
That’s how much Karty believes in the Department of Chemistry’s impact on students and how $20,000 can enhance learning by “giving students the best education and the best experiences and preparing them for success.”
And wouldn’t you know it? One day after Elon Day, the university’s annual 24-hour day of giving that raised more than $3.5 million this year, Karty found himself on the patio of McMichael Science Center, the home of the Department of Chemistry, at 1:45 p.m. waiting for the fate of his eyebrows.
It took approximately seven minutes, one trimmer and two razors to shave off his eyebrows. Students in attendance cheered and recorded as the eyebrows disappeared.
“I thought he was nuts for actually going to do it,” said Associate Professor Justin Clar, the director of the Undergraduate Research Program who volunteered his time and talents with the trimmer. “His commitment to the university and to the students is wild.”
What an audience it was on March 6, 2026.
“Raising this money gives us more flexibility in doing the things we do best, such as providing instrumentation for labs, undergraduate research, student travel and more,” Karty said. “That was the whole reason for setting up this challenge in the first place. It was just a question of what I was willing to sacrifice.”
Karty’s wife predicts that his eyebrows will grow back by Monday. Karty said time will tell.