This video titled, “President’s Update,” was held in McKinnon Hall in the Moseley Center on August 11, 2015. This annual staff update session brought the Elon community staff together to hear and ask questions about Elon University’s priorities. The agenda from President Lambert included: an update from Lambert, 8th president of Elon; announcements from Steven D. House, Provost and Executive Vice President; and Gerald Whittington, Senior Vice President for Business, Finance and Technology and Associate Professor. Lambert commented on the following topics which included: new facilities and programs on campus; talked about filming a video with University Communications for alumni; Lambert’s first time in the Makerspace; talked about looking at the recording studio at Arts West; discussed his (Lambert’s) upcoming annual Elon Address to new faculty and staff; focused on emerging admissions market (west of the Mississippi, international students, and growing alumni program around the world); spoke of Elon’s next fundraiser campaign for the next seven years; addressed a new presidential task force on social climate and class engagement; wanted to discuss why Elon formed a new 36 student leadership council; departed for a retreat with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina with four planned follow-up meetings during the year; addressed the topic of black students, faculty, staff experiences report; talked about civic engagement and being a responsible member of our community; discussed the new academic program at the School of Law; talked about Elon Alumni Engagement; and discussed each of Elon’s personal responsibilities to the university in our messaging about Elon— why are students coming to Elon – what is the secret sauce. Lambert stated, so – this was the shortest summer in history (laughter) — the summer went so fast. House walked to the podium and discussed topics that included: chatted about welcoming several dozen new members (faculty and staff) into the Elon community; and introduced four new people in the meeting and they spoke at the podium (John Lew from Human Resources – who was not in attendance; Major Goldstein from the Chaplain’s office; Brandy Propst, Director of Elon 101 and Assistant Director of Academic Advising; and David (Dave) L. Morrow II, Special Advisor to the President and Assistant Chief of Staff). In addition, Whitney Gregory spoke about the need for K-12 annual school drive. Gregory spoke about the need for our children to have school supplies in Alamance County, North Carolina. She asked the faculty and staff to bring school supplies to Elon for the Alamance K-12 children. House came back up to the podium and spoke of the following: one, we all work for Elon’s physical plant and we all work for Elon’s admissions. As part of Elon’s Admissions, we have stories to tell. House provided a few Elon University elevator talks for guests. He stated Elon is unique; there is no institution in the country like us. In our peer institution study, we discovered a few questions – what is Elon for? One item discussed was engaged learning. In 2000, the AACU (Association of American Colleges and Universities) established 10 high impact practices which are experimental learning type of events. Nobody focused on the high impact practices until U. S. News and World Report came up with a story focused on students’ success. From the 10 high impact practices, the magazine only took 8 of those and surveyed academics each year and asked – what are the best institutions in the country in these programs that focus on student success? They are basically the Elon experiences, stated House. Elon was listed as the top institution in the country in 7 of the 8 high impact practices or the students’ success. Elon is unique and nobody is like Elon, House stated. The second best in the country is Stanford University on the west coast. Duke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are listed as third in the country according to U. S. News and World Report. House stated, Elon may not be able to beat UNC in basketball, but Elon kicks their tail in the high impact practices. The Elon elevator speech included: Elon is really good in experimental learning and academic excellence – 7 of the 8 high impact practices and academic excellence. Elon is one of seven (Hofstra, American, Baylor, Marquette, Syracuse, Columbia, and Elon) private institutions in the country that have all the highest academic honors or accreditations. Whittington walked to the podium and stated, they (prior speakers) got all the good stuff (laughter). Whittington talked and asked for help with parking. Whittington said, the Whitley parking lot will no longer exist because of the renovations of the School of Communications (actually, in the summer of 2015, there were two big holes and two giant mountains referred to as the McEwen Mountain one and two – red dirt). Whittington stated the new parking for the Historic Neighborhood faculty members will be in this area. Students who parked in the McEwen area will be parking at the East Gym area. Whittington stated, he has told people that the new parking is just another part of our Elon’s Wellness Program and that walking is good for all of us. Whittington stated the New Student Convocation and Commencement will be held Under the Oaks (a tradition for Elon University). Whittington stated, there may be changes with Commencement— stay tuned. O’Kelly Avenue is going to be resurfaced in the next few days (before students arrive back in August 2015). Lambert took questions by directing the questions to the appropriate individuals. Lambert asked, what is on your minds? We cannot hear the questions from the audience or see the person asking the question on this video file. Lambert stated there are many people who can answer the question, Dr. Smith Jackson, Rev. Harter, etc. Harter answered the question and passed the answer onto Brooke Barnett who answered the Numen Lumen question. The next Elon campaign will highlight endowment, money for faculty and staff development, build some buildings, expand the science facilities, expand the Koury Business Center, and building of the Dwight C. Schar Center (the new Convocation Center off Williamson Avenue). Lambert stated, we are thinking “big” in how the next campaign will move Elon forward and the answer is endowment. You might ask why ‘endowment’ –endowment for student aid. Will Elon have an Engineering School, hmmm, said Lambert. “I like the next campaign to go towards the endowment,” stated Lambert. We have been preparing good teachers, since 1899. So we want to keep a good education program for our students, said Lambert. Provost House will be looking to fill the assistant provost position vacated by Connie Book by midyear of 2016. Lambert stated, “The magic formula for Elon is to bring in really good people from the outside and cultivate leaders within Elon.” Lambert said, “Isn’t it cool to work at a university.” Woody Pelton answered a study abroad question, but we cannot hear his response on this video file. The camera goes to a wide shot. The identity of the people in the wide shot from the back included: George (Smith) Jackson, John Barnhill, Dave Blank, Brad Moore, Christopher Waters, Jeff Stein, Michael Vaughn, Mel Brown, Scott Hildebrand, Janet (Cooper) Rauhe, Ed Williams, Valerie Cheek, Barry Bradberry, James (Jim) Burton Piatt, Jean Rattigan-Rohr, Greg Zaiser, Patrick Murphy, Art Fadde IV, Deirdre Lea, Daniel (Dan) Anderson, Susan Wise, Julie Prouty, Chris Fulkerson, and Sara Vanderpool. Lambert returned to the podium discussing the next Elon University Strategic Plan which included: an increase of student scholarships and a possible engineering school. Lambert talked about crossing the $2 million endowment mark. Elon’s next fundraising efforts will raise $250 million. Lambert stated, Elon will be thinking of a $1 billion fundraiser campaign. The Class of 2019 will hear from Lambert on the subject of diversity expectations and respect for diversity in Elon’s community. Some names included: Naeemah Clark and John Doorley.