With more than 250 clubs and organizations at �鶹��Ƶ, students have countless opportunities to find purpose and meaning in life – and Alexa Nigriny ’28 may be one of the most actively involved in helping classmates do just that.

The psychology and human service studies major is involved in Yarn Arts, the Super Smash Bros. team for Club Esports, Music for Dementia, Psychology Club, �鶹��Ƶ Volunteers, Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity, Sustainability Volunteers, the Student Union Board and even the Milk Club.

Beyond her clubs and organizations, Nigriny is a senior resident assistant in the Historic Neighborhood, a peer educator for �鶹��Ƶ 1010 and a SMART mentor in the Center for Race, Ethnicity & Diversity Education. In each of those jobs, she says, it’s important to build community.

As a senior resident assistant, Nigriny helps first-year students navigate their transition to college. What takes a floor in a residence hall and makes it into a community where all feel welcomed? The short answer: Get to really know the people you live and work next to rather than just passing them by.

“‘You have a place here. We need you here.’ Nurturing that feeling of being needed and being wanted in a place is so important,” Nigriny said. “That’s what makes and breaks a community. If you know you belong and that you were needed, you will stay.”

For Nigriny, community is about more than making connections. It’s about finding a place and purpose within those relationships. At �鶹��Ƶ, students take on many roles, from friends and classmates to mentors and leaders, each contributing to their sense of belonging.

“It is through the positions that we have here that give us our place and purposes and is one of the many things that make �鶹��Ƶ feel like home,” Nigriny said. “When you take time to get to know someone and realize how much you have in common or how similar you are, human connection is forged and community is built.”

But what Nigriny finds most rewarding is watching others discover where they belong. She sees a change in her friends, residents and classmates as they find their passions and begin to understand what they want from their college experience.

And in helping others find their place, Nigriny has discovered something about herself.

“For me being able to play even a small role in that is what makes me feel like I’m doing exactly what I’m meant to do,” she said, “helping people find their purposes, and helping people discover who they want to be – that is one of my purposes.”

Alexa Nigriny ’28 is part of Huemanity of People, a series by the Division of Inclusive Excellence highlighting the people, paradigms and praxis of inclusive excellence that shape �鶹��Ƶ’s community. Learn more on the Inclusive Excellence website.

Attendees enjoyed an evening of recognition, connection and heavy hors d’oeuvres, while honoring Tal Fish ’09, Rev. Dr. Chelsea Yarborough-Gill ’12 and Reese Kimball ’29.

“Tonight is about recognizing the impact of and celebrating the people who continue to create spaces where others can feel seen, valued, supported and empowered,” remarked LGBTQIA Alumni Network President Jonath Monti ’08.

The LGBTQIA Alumni Network and Community Enrichment Awards were established in 2012 to create opportunities to affirm and acknowledge the work alumni, faculty and staff have done to uplift LGBTQIA people and causes on campus and in their communities at large. The Community Enrichment Awards recognize those individuals who have made and continue to make a positive impact and for their dedication to �鶹��Ƶ and LGBTQIA communities.

Community Enrichment Award Recipients

Tal Fish ’09

Tal Fish (he/they) is a queer, neurodivergent licensed clinical mental health supervisor and licensed clinical addictions specialist who believes deeply in creating a world that is inclusive and just, working toward the safety and dignity of all people while dismantling oppression.

He is a proud 2009 graduate of �鶹��Ƶ’s prestigious music theater program and later earned his graduate degree from Wake Forest University. After working as an instructor for Wake Forest’s counseling program for a decade, Fish has spent the last five years supporting �鶹��Ƶ students as a mental health therapist within Counseling Services. This September, Fish moved into a new role as clinical coordinator and staff with faculty rank for �鶹��Ƶ’s new Clinical Mental Health Counseling graduate program, supporting counselors in training and teaching counseling courses. He has also appeared globally as an out-and-proud cast member on a reality TV show for the last decade.

Rev. Chelsea Yarborough-Gill ’12

Rev. Dr. Chelsea Brooke Yarborough-Gill (she/her) is the associate director of leadership development at the Association of Theological Schools. Dedicated at her core to empowering individuals to find, embrace, and use their voices to foster well-being, equity and the possibilities of flourishing, she earned her bachelor’s degree from �鶹��Ƶ, her Master of Divinity from Wake Forest University School of Divinity and her Ph.D. in Religion from Vanderbilt University.

Yarborough-Gill’s new book, “Proclamation Beyond the Pulpit: The Expansive Homiletical Practice of Black Women,” which considers the preaching insights from Fannie Lou Hamer, Nannie Helen Burroughs and Sojourner Truth, is just one example of how her work seeks to challenge normative power structures and traditional paradigms of proclamation.

Even as an ordained Baptist minister, leadership coach, Enneagram teacher, and poet, Yarborough-Gill values her roles as a wife, daughter, friend, sister, and auntie, above all.

Reese Kimball ’29

A member of �鶹��Ƶ’s Class of 2029, Reese Kimball (he/him), is a member of �鶹��Ƶ’s Nursing Fellows program and plans to pursue pediatric nursing after graduation. He is an active member of the Creative Arts LLC, Club Swimming, Spectrum and the President’s Student Leadership Council.

Only a sophomore, Kimball has had many exciting �鶹��Ƶ experiences, including performing with �鶹��Ƶ’s first show choir, the �鶹��Ƶ Muses, during his freshman year, and coordinating the Adventures in Leadership program this summer with a mission to encourage diversity and inclusion. Kimball hopes to continue to demonstrate the ideals of the Community Enrichment Award as he continues his time at �鶹��Ƶ.

But there are people who make it their mission to ensure those around them feel not only welcomed, but comfortable. At �鶹��Ƶ, Anette Cruz ’29 is one of those people.

“I like to bring a little bit of comfort to wherever I go,” said Cruz, a public health major from Graham, North Carolina.

Cruz brings that comfort with her to every program and organization she is involved in—the Odyssey Program, �鶹��Ƶ Academy and the Latinx-Hispanic Union.

When Cruz first arrived at �鶹��Ƶ, she found that comfort in the Mi Casa Living Learning Community. The community expanded her circle and helped her create a sense of home on campus. Through events hosted by Mi Casa, Cruz learned about new opportunities and met people she otherwise might never have known.

“I was able to find home here. I never once felt like I was alone,” Cruz said.

Cruz also knew she wanted to be a part of the Latinx-Hispanic Union, which she found on social media where she saw a close-knit community that shared its culture with the campus.

During her first year, she served on their executive board, and when the opportunity arose to serve during her sophomore year as president, she immediately took it. Cruz is now working to grow LHU’s presence across campus through collaborations with other student organizations and Latinx organizations at other universities. At the same time, she wants the �鶹��Ƶ community to know that everyone has a place at LHU.

“LHU isn’t just for Latinx and Hispanic students. It’s for everyone,” Cruz said. “Anyone can come to our events and have a good time.”

While Cruz has taken on several leadership roles at �鶹��Ƶ, she views leadership through the lens of helping others.

“I’ve always loved helping other people, or you could say mentoring people,” Cruz said. “I like seeing other people succeed.”

One of Cruz’s most significant experiences with mentorship at �鶹��Ƶ began before she officially enrolled as a first-year student. As a high school student, Cruz participated in �鶹��Ƶ Academy, where she found mentors and developed a desire to help younger students navigate experiences she had already been through.

One of those mentors is Manny Campos, the �鶹��Ƶ Academy assistant director of college success. He has seen Cruz grow during her time in the �鶹��Ƶ Academy.

“She has gone from being a quiet and reserved student in high school to becoming a leader in various spaces, including being President of LHU,” said Campos. “Anette leads by example, and I am beyond grateful to be a part of her support system as she continues her journey to her own success.”

Whenever someone in the program has shown interest in the advanced pathways PA program, she has tried to help them go in the right direction by giving advice and helping share what she had learned in the past.

“�鶹��Ƶ Academy really allowed for me to help these younger students,” she said.

For Cruz, Hispanic Heritage Month is more than a month of celebration. It’s about family, she said. It’s seeing everyone in the community get together and celebrate and sharing her culture with the rest of campus.

�鶹��Ƶ honors Hispanic Heritage Month

As part of Hispanic Heritage Month, �鶹��Ƶ is sharing stories that celebrate the contributions, identities and experiences of students, faculty and staff. This month recognizes the rich histories and cultures of Hispanic and Latine communities, while also honoring the ways these traditions connect with and inspire people of all backgrounds. This month provides a special opportunity to honor Hispanic and Latinx heritage, but it also serves as an invitation for all members of the university to engage, learn and celebrate together.

“As an academic, my relationship is going out in the name of �鶹��Ƶ, even though I speak for myself,” said Balderas. “I’m always saying, ‘Here at �鶹��Ƶ, we don’t make small plans. We’re always thinking bigger, and because we are a national school, what would help us to continue to be a national school?’ To me, my responsibility as an academic is to get my name out there.”

For Balderas, that work is closely connected to the sense of belonging he has found at �鶹��Ƶ and the university’s teacher-scholar-mentor model. At the center of it all are his students.

“When my students leave, and the class is over, I say, ‘Love you. Mean it.’ And we throw the word love around a lot,” Balderas said. “But, to me, as a teacher, I think love from a teacher to a student is this idea, and it’s my ‘why.’ My ‘why’ is that I’m passionate about teaching students how to find their passion in a world that is out of control.”

The newsroom to the classroom

Balderas began his journalism career as a freelance reporter and producer for several outlets in Washington, D.C. His coverage of the 2000 presidential election helped spur an interest in legal studies, as did a friendly competition with his sister over who could earn the higher score on the LSAT.

Growing up in a single-parent Hispanic household, Balderas said education was “non-negotiable.” He went on to earn his Juris Doctor from the Catholic University of America while working as a producer at FOX News Channel.

In the years that followed, Balderas worked for television stations across Florida, North Carolina and Texas. His work earned multiple industry accolades, including an Emmy for Best Continuing Coverage and recognition from the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas as best TV news anchor.

My ‘why’ is that I’m passionate about teaching students how to find their passion in a world that is out of control.

-Israel Balderas, assistant professor of journalism

Alongside his journalism career, Balderas took on legal work for the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, We The Action and the Society of Professional Journalists. His pro bono work included representing migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border and helping nonprofits navigate financial aid during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2017, Balderas left television news to spend more time with his family and transitioned to higher education, first teaching at a university in West Palm Beach, Florida, before joining �鶹��Ƶ’s faculty in 2021.

“I love the mission of �鶹��Ƶ,” Balderas said. “The mission of �鶹��Ƶ is that it ‘embraces its founder’s vision of an academic community that transforms mind, body, and spirit and encourages freedom of thought and liberty of conscience.’ And I said during my interview, that’s what a First Amendment professor teaches. That’s it.”

Journalism major Lily Molina ’27 took Balderas’ Media Law & Ethics course and says having a Latino professor in the journalism department made her feel welcomed as an aspiring Latina journalist.

“I am really passionate about covering stories centered around my community, and Balderas has supported me in doing that. It’s comforting to have someone who I can speak Spanish to and not feel judged,” she said. “This is just one of the reasons why having diversity within departments is so important.”

Celebrating the beauty of diversity

A self-described “Texan American with a Mexican heart,” Balderas views Hispanic Heritage Month through the lens of the cultures that have shaped the United States.

“It’s about celebrating many cultures who have been able to adapt their cultures to this idea of ‘American citizen,’” he said. “What I love about Hispanic Heritage Month is that we get to show off the beauty of our diversity in a society that is diverse.”

Balderas describes that blending of cultures as a “stew,” one he sees reflected regularly on �鶹��Ƶ’s campus. He points to El Centro, a space within the Center for Race, Ethnicity and Diversity Education that celebrates Latine and Hispanic cultures while sharing them with the broader �鶹��Ƶ community.

“Every time I go to El Centro, there are kids from all over, and they’re all happy, and they’re ready to tell us about their abuelita (grandmother), they’re ready to tell us about their family,” Balderas said. “They’re ready to tell us about the history of their country. And in sharing all that, we get to build community together.”

�鶹��Ƶ honors Hispanic Heritage Month

As part of Hispanic Heritage Month, �鶹��Ƶ is sharing stories that celebrate the contributions, identities and experiences of students, faculty and staff. This month recognizes the rich histories and cultures of Hispanic and Latine communities, while also honoring the ways these traditions connect with and inspire people of all backgrounds. This month provides a special opportunity to honor Hispanic and Latine heritage, but it also serves as an invitation for all members of the university to engage, learn and celebrate together.

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September brought the �鶹��Ƶ community fully into the rhythm of a new academic year, with classrooms bustling, fall traditions returning and opportunities for learning and connection unfolding across campus. From thought-provoking speakers and engaging performances to Phoenix athletics and everyday moments of campus life, the month offered plenty to capture.

Take a look back at some of the memorable moments from September through the lenses of staff in the Office of University Communications.

One and done

�鶹��Ƶ School of Law Dean Zak Kramer challenged the Class of 2025 to achieve an overall first-time bar passage rate of 83%, a mark that would have been the highest in �鶹��Ƶ Law history.

The class’s Student Bar Association president had a counterproposal: What if they reached 85%? Would the dean get a tattoo? Kramer said yes.

The Class of 2025 responded with a 90.9% overall first-time bar passage rate across North Carolina and 11 other states. On Sept. 4, Kramer responded by rolling up his sleeve.

Lab learning

As the fall semester gets fully underway, students are in the classroom learning through hands-on experience.

Feline fun

�鶹��Ƶ Volunteers!, through the Kernodle Center for Civic Life, provides all members of the �鶹��Ƶ campus the opportunity to develop an ethic of service by connecting campus and community through service experiences. In Sepetember, students had some feline fun with animals at Burlington Animal Services.

Hispanic Heritage Month

�鶹��Ƶ kicked off Hispanic Heritage Month with a kick-off event. The month-long celebration features the theme “Floreciendo Juntos (Blooming Together): Honoring Identity, Culture and Well-being, ” highlighting the diverse backgrounds, unique stories and rich history that shape Hispanic and Latino communities.

Green Tara Sand Mandala

An annual tradition through the Truitt Center for Relgious and Spiritual Life, Tibetan Buddhist monk Geshe Palden Sangpo constructs a Green Tara sand mandala for healing and peace during a period of three days.

‘Skills of the heart’

New York Times columnist and bestselling author David Brooks spoke to a sold-out crowd in Alumni Gym for Fall Convocation on Sept. 25, part of Family Weekend and the �鶹��Ƶ Speaker Series. He reminded the audience of two important skills needed for success — two skills that have taken him time to learn: how to see people and how to have an impact on the world.

Family fun

�鶹��Ƶ hosted Family Weekend on Sept. 25-27 with a variety of activites, including a football game as the Phoenix took on the University of Maine Bears.

‘There’s Always This Year’

Author Hanif Abdurraqib reflected on mentorship, home and storytelling during his Common Reading lecture on Sept. 29. His book, part poetry, memoir and meditation on history and modern culture, “There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension” was selected as �鶹��Ƶ’s 2026-27 Common Reading. Incoming first-year students read the book over the summer before exploring it from a variety of perspectives with their First-Year Foundations instructors during their first year at �鶹��Ƶ.

Her arrival at �鶹��Ƶ changed that perspective, giving her a broader view of how other members of the Latinx community understand and celebrate their own identities.

This new perspective has shaped Cassereau’s �鶹��Ƶ experience, influencing how she understands her identity as she explores her passion for working with marginalized communities.

“I really like working toward a goal that makes people’s lives better,” Cassereau said. “I want to work with people to have a positive impact in my community, in my country, with my people.”

At �鶹��Ƶ, opportunities both in and outside the classroom have introduced her to numerous career paths while helping her narrow her interests, ultimately showing her how economic development and empowerment can create meaningful change within communities.

One experience that has illustrated what that work can look like in practice is her involvement as a Periclean Scholar, now known as a Global Partnership Scholar.

Through the program, students work with community partners to develop mutually beneficial, sustainable partnerships. Cassereau’s cohort focused on the economic empowerment of marginalized communities in Sri Lanka, partnering with the .

Traveling with her cohort to Sri Lanka in summer 2025 gave Cassereau firsthand exposure to nonprofit work.

“Since I want to go into the nonprofit sector, it’s also been very eye-opening as to how nonprofits work,” Cassereau said.

The cohort has also partnered with , part of the Burlington Masjid, supporting the clinic through fundraising and website development while learning more about the community it serves.

Through these experiences, Mat Gendle, professor of psychology and faculty mentor to the Periclean Scholars program, has watched Cassereau grow into someone increasingly confident in navigating new experiences and determining the path she wants to pursue.

“She projects an easy and welcoming confidence that wasn’t present when I first knew her as a first-year student,” Gendle said. “It’s more of a projection of empowerment, [showing] that she’s confident in herself to know what she wants, figure things out and ask the right questions as she needs to.”

Gendle’s mentorship has also helped Cassereau better understand what it means to work alongside communities and how that understanding can apply to the work she hopes to pursue after �鶹��Ƶ.

“The way he sees the work we do has really impacted the way I see what I want to do,” Cassereau said. “It’s not only about helping, but it’s also about partnering and learning from the community.”

Gendle’s mentorship has also extended beyond the classroom, providing support that, he says, begins with taking an interest in who his students are and what they hope to accomplish.

“For Maria, I think ‘seeing’ her really does just come down to me taking a genuine and authentic interest in her life experiences, her goals and finding ways to create opportunities that will help move her in that direction,” Gendle said.

That sense of support and connection has extended into other areas of Cassereau’s �鶹��Ƶ experience, including her involvement with El Centro, where she has found a community that has also helped shape her interests and sense of belonging.

As a student coordinator, Cassereau works with staff to support El Centro programming and create a welcoming environment for students who visit the space, such as starting conversations or offering a friendly smile. While helping create that environment for others, Cassereau has also found her own sense of belonging within El Centro.

Cassereau’s interest in creating community extends beyond her work as a student coordinator. She also works with Kelly Bland, an international admissions counselor, to strengthen connections among international students.

At the same time, the communities Cassereau has found at �鶹��Ƶ have given her opportunities to learn from people whose experiences differ from her own, adding new meaning to the identity she grew up with in Mexico City.

“Hispanic Heritage Month has given me a broader understanding and helped me express my Latino identity in a different way,” Cassereau said. “Every year, I get a clearer idea of what it means to be Latina to me.”

�鶹��Ƶ honors Hispanic Heritage Month

As part of Hispanic Heritage Month, �鶹��Ƶ is sharing stories that celebrate the contributions, identities and experiences of students, faculty and staff. This month recognizes the rich histories and cultures of Hispanic and Latine communities, while also honoring the ways these traditions connect with and inspire people of all backgrounds. This month provides a special opportunity to honor Hispanic and Latinx heritage, but it also serves as an invitation for all members of the university to engage, learn and celebrate together.

Raised in rural North Carolina, �鶹��Ƶ’s associate vice president for student life and dean of student health and well-being came from a family that valued education but had little firsthand experience with higher education.

Her parents, whose lives were shaped by the Great Depression and World War II, never attended college. The first person who helped Patterson imagine a different future was her first-grade teacher. “I don’t think anyone had ever told me I was smart,” Patterson recalls.

Once she arrived at North Carolina State University, Patterson discovered how much she didn’t know. There was no roadmap for managing finances, selecting courses or understanding that struggling academically at times was normal, a lesson that has stayed with her.

Patterson has since worked to ensure �鶹��Ƶ students receive the guidance and reassurance she often lacked. Yet grades and academics were only part of the story.

Patterson remembers a time when being a first-generation student felt like something to hide. Students rarely talked about parents who had not attended college, and many worried they would be judged for backgrounds that fell outside the perceived norm.

“While my immediate family and teachers were proud of me, there were other members of my extended family who said they don’t see why I didn’t just go in the military,” Patterson says. “Others were like, ‘Why don’t you just get married and settle down?’”

Today, she describes first-generation status not as a disadvantage but as an identity worthy of celebration. “It’s not just a status,” she’ll tell you. “It’s an identity.”

That commitment to inclusive excellence became a hallmark of her work. For Patterson, who retires in September following four decades of faithful service to �鶹��Ƶ, supporting students has always been about more than helping them succeed in college. It has been about helping them believe they belong.

“One of the things I am most proud of with my work is that we have moved how we think and talk about first-generation students,” she said. “Making connections with others that embrace both shared and differing identities provides so much joy and interest to your life.”

Jana Lynn Patterson is part of Huemanity of People, a series by the Division of Inclusive Excellence highlighting the people, paradigms and praxis of inclusive excellence that shape �鶹��Ƶ’s community. Learn more on the Inclusive Excellence website.

“We invite the �鶹��Ƶ community to join us in celebrating and honoring Hispanic Heritage Month by immersing ourselves in the vibrant art, music, food, and traditions that unite and inspire the community,” Amy Gutierrez-Luviano, assistant director of the CREDE, said. “By doing so, we are creating supportive spaces focused on mental, physical and holistic health that uplift the community.

Observed annually from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, Hispanic Heritage Month recognizes and honors the histories, cultures and contributions of Hispanic and Latinx communities in the United States. Established by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week, the celebration expanded to a month-long observance under President Ronald Reagan in 1988 and became law on Aug. 17 that year. The month highlights the lasting impact of Hispanic and Latinx individuals across various fields, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of their vital role in shaping American society.

The celebration begins with the independence anniversaries of several Latin American countries, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, with Mexico and Chile following shortly after on Sept. 16 and 18.

Hispanic Heritage Month programming at �鶹��Ƶ will run from Sept. 10 to Oct. 30. Highlights of this year’s events include the annual Hispanic Heritage Month kickoff and “Crossing Borders: Images of Migration and Voices of Minorities,” featuring film producer and poet Françoise Nieto-Fong, sponsored by Latin American Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, the Department of World Languages and Cultures, the Center for Advancement of Teaching nd Learning, and Belk Library.

Hispanic Heritage Month 2026 events at �鶹��Ƶ

Hispanic Heritage Month Kickoff

Tuesday, Sept. 15

5:30 p.m. | Medallion Plaza

Crossing Borders: Images of Migration and Voices of Minorities

Wednesday, Sept. 16 

2-3:40 p.m. | Turner Theatre

Campus Screening: Sunset over America and The Return-Family Separation

Sponsored by Latin American Studies; Peace and Conflict Studies; the Department of World Languages and Cultures; the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning; Belk Library.

Noche Latina

Tuesday, Sept. 29

7 p.m. | Rudd Field

Perspectivas

Wednesday, Sept. 30

5:30-7 p.m. | McKinnon Hall

Soccer Tournament

Friday, Oct. 2

4-8 p.m. | Intramural Fields

Perspectivas

Thursday, Oct. 8

5:30-7 p.m. | McKinnon Hall

Café con Leche Homecoming Edition

Friday, Oct. 9

3:30-5 p.m. | El Centro (Carlton 114)

Café con Leche w/ friends!

Monday, Oct. 19

5:30-7 p.m. | Irazú

Gala Latina

Friday, Oct. 30

5:30-8 p.m. | McKinnon Hall

Explore the detailed schedule of events for Hispanic Heritage Month on the CREDE website. For questions or more information, please contact Amy Gutierrez-Luviano at agutierrezluviano@elon.edu.

The HEED Award is a prestigious honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to academic excellence, belonging and community-building across all levels of campus life.

�鶹��Ƶ will be featured, along with 60 other recipients, in the October 2026 issue of Insight Into Academia magazine. This latest honor recognizes the work �鶹��Ƶ as an institution, and its students do to make a more inclusive community.

“What continues to distinguish �鶹��Ƶ is that inclusive excellence is central to how we define educational excellence. We put people, relationships, and human differences at the heart of learning and at the foundation of a meaningful personal, professional, and civic life,” said Randy Williams, vice president for inclusive excellence. “Across the university, we share responsibility for creating an environment where people are seen, valued, and affirmed in their identities and can experience a genuine sense of belonging.”

The magazine uses a detailed scoring process, a holistic approach and a team of experienced higher education professionals to review each application.

“Our standards are high, and we look for institutions where academic excellence and belonging are woven into the work being done every day across their campus,” said Lenore Pearlstein, co-publisher of Insight into Academia magazine.

Over the past several years, �鶹��Ƶ has expanded its SMART mentor program (which connects first-year students with upperclass students) to support and mentor more students. The university has also expanded use of Living Learning Communities, including the new Mi Casa community. International student support efforts have also increased with the addition of a new staff member in that office to better support students with visas at �鶹��Ƶ.

In the summer of 2026, �鶹��Ƶ will also begin the �鶹��Ƶ Launch program, a 6-credit, 3-week residential transition program to give incoming students an intentional start on college life. �鶹��Ƶ Launch is intentionally designed to meet the needs of neurodiverse students, including those with ADHD, autism spectrum conditions, anxiety or executive functioning challenges.

The university’s fly-in program, �鶹��ƵYOU, is specifically designed to open access for students who would otherwise not be able to visit campus. The program fully funds travel and an overnight stay at �鶹��Ƶ. Additionally, the program offers up to $250 in travel support for parents/guardians/supporters.

Williams acknowledged the following �鶹��Ƶ faculty and staff who contributed information and suggestions for the award application:

• Naeemah Clark, Associate Provost for Academic Inclusive Excellence
• Mike Haskins, Vice President for Marketing and Communications
• Monica Isbell, Director of Academic Accommodations and Accessibility
• Kimberly Romero, Assistant Dean of Admissions for Inclusive Excellence
• Rob Springer, Senior Advisor for Institutional Effectiveness
• Paul Tongsri, Assistant Dean for Student Success and Retention

For more information about the 2026 HEED Award, visit .

�鶹��Ƶ Insight Into Academia

Insight Into Academia magazine is the leader in advancing best practices in higher education excellence. Through thought-provoking print and online articles, we share expert advice, valuable resources, in-depth profiles of top programs at colleges and universities, headline news, and much more to help keep our readers informed and empower them to advance initiatives at their institutions. Current, archived, and digital issues of Insight Into Academia magazine are available online at insightintoacademia.com.

“We’re excited to launch �鶹��Ƶ Collect because it gives us a shared digital home for the intellectual and cultural life of the university,” states Dean & University Librarian of Carol Grotnes Belk Library Brian Mathews. “It will preserve important pieces of �鶹��Ƶ’s institutional history while also providing lasting access to faculty and student scholarship, creative work, research, reports, teaching materials and other significant contributions. In that sense, it is both an archive of where �鶹��Ƶ has been and an infrastructure for where we are going.”

What is �鶹��Ƶ Collect?

�鶹��Ƶ Collect is an institutional repository, which is a digital system that is used to disseminate scholarly works created at a single institution. However, �鶹��Ƶ Collect’s scope expands more broadly, allowing data and archival materials to stand in conversation with scholarship.

�鶹��Ƶ Collect is home to three distinct overarching collections: �鶹��Ƶ Works, �鶹��Ƶ Data, and University Archives & Special Collections.

• �鶹��Ƶ Works is a centralized hub to showcase the research, scholarly, creative and teaching-focused work created across campus.
• �鶹��Ƶ Data is home to data created and collected by students, faculty and staff.
• University Archives & Special Collections is the new location for curated images, documents, and ephemera from �鶹��Ƶ, church, and local history from Belk Library’s .

Anyone currently associated with �鶹��Ƶ is eligible to deposit works into the �鶹��Ƶ Works and �鶹��Ƶ Data collections to enhance reach and visibility, both around campus and worldwide.

�鶹��Ƶ Collect worked with three campus partners–the , the , and the Digital and Spatial Humanities Consortium–to showcase examples of faculty and staff work and ensure a smooth campus launch on Aug. 14. Additionally, posters from the have been included to provide examples of how student work can be shared.

What are the benefits & features of �鶹��Ƶ Collect?

“�鶹��Ƶ Collect will empower faculty, staff, and students to better disseminate and promote their work, exercise their rights as authors, and contribute to conversations in research, creative practice, and teaching and learning,” said Coordinator of Research and Publishing and Associate Librarian Jesse Akman. “Moreover, �鶹��Ƶ Collect will simplify grant compliance, improve discoverability for �鶹��Ƶ journals and publications, and strengthen internal communications and institutional memory.”

One of the core goals of �鶹��Ƶ Collect is to provide wider access to works created on �鶹��Ƶ’s campus. With Google Scholar indexing, any work deposited can be discovered by researchers worldwide. Through Creative Commons license options, �鶹��Ƶ creators can more precisely describe how others may use their work. However, for those who may not want their work to be available worldwide, �鶹��Ƶ Collect also provides other access options, including embargos to make public at a later date or internal access to only �鶹��Ƶ users.

The system can also mint DOIs, or digital object identifiers, to provide a persistent identifier that acts as a stable, permanent link back to the work. DOIs help to standardize citations, especially for users outside of �鶹��Ƶ.

�鶹��Ƶ Collect also provides Author Profiles, a centralized portfolio for all works in the repository alongside research interests and external publications. The Author Profiles provide comparative statistics for every work connected to the profile owner, making it even easier to find and share the impact of your work.

“As we enter the final years of Boldly �鶹��Ƶ and consider what it means to “Rise,” �鶹��Ƶ Collect will help position the university for a future where our authors’ works are preserved and accessible, their rights are protected, and our campus is more enmeshed in scholarly communications than ever before,” said Akman.

What can I submit to �鶹��Ƶ Collect?

�鶹��Ƶ Collect accepts a variety of deposits from current faculty, staff and students.

“�鶹��Ƶ Collect expands beyond the scope of a traditional institutional repository to capture the full breadth of work being created on campus today,” said Emma Powell, archivist and assistant librarian and manager of �鶹��Ƶ Collect. “Historically, the �鶹��Ƶ Archives and Special Collections has only collected undergraduate honors theses. This is an exciting opportunity to diversify the works we share.”

Works that can be deposited include, but are not limited to:

• Campus-based publications—serial outputs created and published by campus centers like journals or podcast series
• Conference-based works—works like posters or presentations created for or presented at a disciplinary conference
• Creative works—outputs from those working/studying in creative fields like artwork, choreography, creative writing, filmmaking and original music compositions
• Data, software and code
• Grey literature—documents created to be shared but not be published through traditional means like reports and white papers
• Open publications—works that have been formally published like book chapters and journal articles, and have Open Access (OA) or self-archiving (Green OA) options
• Student works—works completed solely by students that have original writing or research and should be shared beyond the classroom like theses and capstones or SURF and SURE posters and presentations
• Teaching and learning materials—works created for use in the classroom that may be reused and/or adapted by others, like assignments, lectures or other OERs

“Many of our new areas of collecting reflect the university’s continued growth,” Powell said. “We collect teaching and learning materials to reflect the excellence in teaching from our faculty, and allow for a wide range of student work to showcase our expansive undergraduate research. Even our data and code collection connects to the continued work of Data Nexus.”

Submitting your work to �鶹��Ƶ Collect only takes three simple steps:

1. Find or create a work that you or the university hold copyrights to and wish to share further.
2. Go to and navigate to the “Submit” header. Select a submission form and provide basic descriptions (also known as metadata) to make your work more discoverable.
3. Submit your form and wait for the repository team to review. Once the team has ensured the work fits into the system scope and has the necessary metadata, your work will be made available in the system.

Questions?

To learn more, join Belk Library on Monday, September 21 at 1 p.m. for the first workshop in our Scholars’ Toolkit series: Showcasing Your Scholarly and Professional Work in �鶹��Ƶ Collect and ORCiD. .

For further information, visit or email elon-collect@elon.edu.