Spotlight On: Connie Ledoux Book, President, Elon University
Key points:
- • Elon is expanding its footprint in Charlotte through new academic and professional programs.
- • AI, healthcare, and engineering are shaping the university’s evolving curriculum.
- • Scholarships and community programs are expanding access and local impact.
August 2026 — In an interview with Invest:, Connie Ledoux Book, president of Elon University, discussed how the university is expanding its regional footprint, strengthening graduate and professional programs, and doubling down on its distinctive residential model. From a planned merger with Queens University of Charlotte to new healthcare and law offerings, Elon is positioning itself to serve high-growth markets. “I am proud of the success we have when students arrive. They graduate in four years and have great employment afterward. Over the next few years, we want to continue building on that.”
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Over the past year, what major shifts or trends have most shaped Elon’s priorities and opportunities?
Higher education is facing a lot of challenges, but Elon has been fortunate to see growth in our graduate programs and stability in enrollment. We made a strategic decision to expand from our current location into the Charlotte market, and that has been a key focus over the past year. We launched a part-time Elon Law program in Charlotte and have announced new healthcare programs there, including a physician assistant program and a master’s in clinical mental health counseling. Most recently, we announced the expansion of Elon Law to include a full-time program in Charlotte.
Last year, we announced our intent to merge with Queens University of Charlotte. We still have regulatory approvals ahead of us, but once the merger is complete, Elon will operate Queens, and we are excited about the opportunities that this new location in beautiful Myers Park will create. Queens brings a legacy of great success in the Charlotte area, and we are looking forward to finalizing our merger and bringing those strengths together.
What are your key priorities in serving growing markets, both academically and operationally?
One of the things I am most proud of is that we have launched local internship programs designed to connect students quickly to the community. On our main campus, we call it Campus Alamance, because it serves our local Alamance County businesses and organizations. Through philanthropic efforts, donors are supporting students doing internships with for-profit companies and nonprofits. The internships are designed to engage students early and encourage them to begin their careers locally. We are in our fourth year of that program, and we can see the impact as more and more Elon graduates take jobs in the local area.
We have also expanded our healthcare offerings. We introduced an undergraduate nursing program several years ago, and now the university has more than 260 nursing majors. We are quickly seeing Elon nurses emerging as leaders in local hospital systems, where they are taking on roles that improve quality of life in the communities we serve.
We run two HOPE Clinics — HOPE stands for “helping other people excel” — where our healthcare students support local needs, especially for people without access to care. They help with everything from physicals to immunizations and wellness education. Our nursing, physician assistant, and physical therapy students are all working together in those settings.
On the graduate side, we have been focused on law. North Carolina suffers from what are often called legal deserts, where several counties are under-resourced in legal services. I am excited that we are sending talented lawyers across the state and that more of our law students are from North Carolina.
A big driver of this has been our part-time law program in Charlotte. We have more than 80 law students who work all day and then come to law school at night. They want to be lawyers, and it is inspiring to see the sacrifices they are making. The program takes four years since they are working full time, and we are only in our second year. But I know it will be powerful. These students will earn their law degrees and go on to serve in their neighborhoods and communities. It is a diverse group of young people, and many are rooted in the communities they plan to serve.
How are you translating your AI educational principles into meaningful classroom innovation and workforce preparation?
Elon has partnered with the American Association of Colleges and Universities and The Princeton Review to publish what is, to our knowledge, the only undergraduate Student Guide to AI. We have published three versions, each with a unique focus, and it is in use at more than 4,000 universities around the world. We also published a Spanish-language version.
The guide is part of how we are working to provide leadership in this area by having students think critically about how they are using AI. That means thinking about the ethical underpinnings of AI, understanding the rules in their classes and workplaces — what is approved and what is not — and asking questions before they dive into it as a tool.
We have launched an AI sandbox on campus where anyone can learn some of the latest AI technologies. We have also challenged our faculty to consider how AI is being used across the curriculum, particularly in professional schools such as business, communications, and healthcare, where students are certain to encounter these tools in the workplace. Rather than creating a separate AI degree, we are embedding AI into our coursework and asking, in every field, how AI will impact practice.
The university recently surpassed a $260 million campaign goal. How are you leveraging that momentum to expand access and support high-need, high-merit students?
We completed a campaign that was largely focused on scholarships. The idea is that there are bright, high-need students we want to make sure have access to Elon. They bring a great perspective into our classrooms alongside our other students.
We have been intentional about creating a program for these students called Odyssey, and our goal is to continue to grow that program. We are sitting at just over 300 students now, and our goal is to have 400 by 2030. It is a full-tuition scholarship, and the campaign helped us move toward that goal. We are going to keep working at it.
We also recently received a transformative gift to construct a new school at Elon called Roberts Academy. The academy will ultimately support 200 elementary students with dyslexia. It is designed as an intervention school where they come to learn methods for reading and learning, then return to their home schools. That gift also establishes a center for dyslexia and engaged learning.
Teacher candidates will be taught the method, and teachers from across the state will come to learn it as well. It is based on the Orton-Gillingham method, which is effective in teaching students with dyslexia to read. These are bright young people who are encumbered by dyslexia. Learning through this method allows them to reach their full potential. It is a great gift for Elon, but also a great gift for North Carolina.
As North Carolina continues to attract growth in tech, biotech, and finance, how are you positioning Elon to play a larger role in those fast-scaling sectors?
We are constantly innovating our curriculum. Next fall, Elon will move our engineering program forward by establishing a School of Engineering and Computing. Within engineering, we are working across fields such as biomedical, environmental, computer engineering, electrical, and mechanical. We are always trying to meet workplace demands, and we are doing the same in finance and fintech.
As a college president, I am also concerned that we do not lose sight of the fact that all of that is possible because of great K-12 teachers. We are seeing fewer high school graduates who want to be teachers, and that is a critical issue. I think about it as being as important as our military service. For our country and our democracy to work, we need a strong military and great teachers.
One of our efforts at Elon is to revitalize interest in teaching and to point out what a leadership role it is for our society. The last thing we want to see is more colleges closing their teacher education programs. We want to see more opportunities for people to earn the credentials to be classroom teachers from pre-K through grade 12.
Looking ahead, what are your top priorities for Elon over the next two to three years?
One major priority is for the merger with Queens University to be successful. Another is the continued rollout of our new and expanded graduate programs. However, our core student is an undergraduate student, and we want to make sure that we continue to evolve the Elon experience so we have a compelling differentiator as a university to attract them.
I am proud of the success we have when students arrive. They graduate in four years and have great employment afterward. Over the next few years, we want to continue building on that, expanding our reach in key markets like Charlotte, deepening our impact in North Carolina’s communities, and staying true to the mission that has guided Elon’s growth.
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