Owen Covington

More than 1,700 new Elon students celebrated the formal start of their academic year surrounded by friends and family members Under the Oaks.

The roughly 1,675 members of the Class of 2023 were met by hundreds from the Elon University community to help them settle into their new homes and begin their academic careers at the university.

Planning Week marks the start of the academic year and provides an opportunity for faculty receiving funding from the Faculty Research and Development Committee to present their work.  

A section of East Haggard Avenue that runs through campus will be closed for move-in traffic only from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 23. Read this note for a link to the Move-In Day map.

Chunco, associate professor of environmental studies, will spend the next two years as the Japheth E. Rawls professor for Undergraduate Research in Science.

Sinn, an assistant professor of history, joined the Elon faculty in 2016 and is also director of Elon’s Jewish Studies program.

Elon University President Connie Ledoux Book shared details of the university’s draft strategic plan during her address to faculty and staff for Elon’s 130th-annual opening of the school year. Book described a number of initiatives where Elon will lead on the landscape of American higher education.

The financial news publication noted Elon's approach to experiential learning and emphasis on global education in naming the university one of the top-100 private institutions in the country. 

President Connie Ledoux Book presented the medallion to a retired faculty member, a retired staff member and a long-time Cone Health executive and supporter of the School of Health Sciences. Faculty members selected for named professorships were also honored as the faculty/staff Planning Week got underway. 

The annual effort kicked off in 2011 thanks in part to the work of an Elon alum serving with the armed forces in Afghanistan.