The article, “,” was co-authored by Jennifer Stephens, director of Academic-Residential Partnerships and assistant professor of education; Jill McSweeney, assistant director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching & Learning and assistant professor of wellness; Nina Namaste, professor of Spanish and assistant director of First-Year Seminars in the Elon Core Curriculum; and Brandy S. Propst, director of Elon 1010 and assistant director of Academic Advising.

The collaborative nature of this work is, in itself, a unique reflection of Elon’s approach to the first-year experience, as it brings together offices across academic affairs and student life to create a unified and campus-wide ethos to the first-year experience, which they argue is essential but often missing in institutional approaches to the first-year experience.

The piece explores how institutions should view the first-year experience as a culmination beyond first-year seminars, and that in doing so, it requires us to see this as a unique pedagogical context that differs from teaching students in their sophomore to senior years of college. The authors present a framework for faculty development in First-Year Pedagogies, incorporating CATL’s Teaching for Equity and Inclusion work, and faculty, staff, and student data at Elon. The framework asks educators to think intentionally about who they teach, what they teach, and how they teach, all within a commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusivity.

The article outlines how other institutions can put this framework into practice, by sharing how over the last two years, Elon has developed specific faculty development opportunities to bring together faculty and staff from across first-year experiences (e.g., residential learning communities, gateway major courses, advising seminars). The goal of this work has been to build shared values, language, and classroom strategies focused on preparing students to be engaged, autonomous, and self-directed learners during their college degree and supporting students through the numerous transitions they experience during their first-year at college.

This work reflects why Elon has earned national recognition for the first-year undergraduate experience and emphasizes the importance of uplifting and supporting staff and faculty in order to continue to best support our first-year students.

Catherine Bowlin, assistant teaching professor in English, presented “A Liberating Way to Take a Course: Linguistically Just, Collaborative Feedback and Assessment in First-Year Writing,” a pedagogical intervention she began piloting in her Fall 2025 courses (ENG 1100 and COR 1100). This question-based feedback model requires students to submit specific questions about their drafts before receiving peer or instructor feedback.

This approach is part of Bowlin’s broader commitment to linguistically just assessment practices that center student agency and challenge traditional grading structures that often reinforce linguistic hierarchies. Bowlin shared preliminary findings from three courses and received valuable feedback from scholars in writing studies. Early data suggests that structuring feedback around student-generated questions can increase students’ confidence, sense of ownership over their writing, and engagement with the revision process.

Paula Patch, associate teaching professor in English and associate director of the Common Reading and First-Year Foundations in the Elon Core Curriculum, participated in a roundtable discussion on career options after a faculty member has served as a Writing Program Administrator. Titled “‘Learning on the Bones’: Life After Writing Program Administration,” the roundtable featured five mid- to late-career faculty who spoke about their experiences as administrators, what they decided to do next in their careers, and advice they have for others. Patch spoke about the unique opportunities and sense of belonging that program and campus leadership offers for non-tenure track faculty.  The presenters also debuted a call for proposals for an edited collection on the same topic. Patch was the Coordinator of the College Writing Program at Elon from 2012 to 2019.

Associate Professors of English Heather Lindenman, first-year Writing coordinator, and Julia Bleakney, director of The Writing Center, and Associate Teaching Professor Greg Hlavaty presented the findings of a Spring 2025 study that piloted two versions of AI-integrated first-year writing courses (ENG 1100). This presentation, “Navigating Control and Trust: A Study of Two Pedagogical Approaches to Teaching First-Year Writing with Generative AI,” detailed two pedagogical models for engaging AI in the FYW classroom; shared an overview of the study’s findings from both survey and focus group data; and discussed pedagogical and curricular interventions being currently piloted in Elon’s first-year writing courses as a result of this study’s findings and implications.

Elon and ENG1100 have been leaders in research surrounding generative AI and writing pedagogy. These presentations contributed to conversations among Writing Studies scholars regarding pedagogical adaptations to support student and faculty engagement.

The workshop, titled Launching and Sustaining a Common Reading Program that Works, was facilitated by members of the Penguin Random House Common Reads advisory board, all of whom lead Common Reading programs at colleges and universities across the United States.

Workshop topics included the evolving nature of Common Reading programs,  making a case for launching or sustaining a program, program models and logistics, title selection, program assessment, and time for feedback and mentoring of attendees.

Patch joined the Penguin Random House Common Reads Advisory Board in 2025. The board meets regularly to identify titles and topics for Common Reading programs that choose Penguin Random House titles.

The volume is a comprehensive introduction to the essential methods, concepts and practices of conducting ethnographic research in and about digital environments. Written by 60 global contributors across 12 chapters with accompanying case studies and concept explorations, it provides both theoretical foundations and practical guidance for digital ethnographic work. The book also examines ethical challenges specific to digital research environments while maintaining a commitment to reflexive, co-present research that acknowledges how our interactions with digital technologies transcend boundaries of citizenship, race, gender identity, age and ability.

Proctor began this project because he found selecting readings for his courses on internet culture difficult. The classes had constantly been torn between well-researched and theorized but dense and jargon-laden articles on one hand and readable popular “think pieces” without any basis in research or evidence on the other. This left a gap between the two. This book hopes to bridge that divide, seeking to be approachable and useful but also theoretically and methodologically rigorous. The objective is to provide practical advice on the methods, concepts, and themes of digital ethnography, so that students can effectively conduct their own studies, whether in or out of the classroom. To this end, it’s presented in an approachable style ideal for students and researchers in anthropology, media studies, science & technology studies, and communications who seek to understand contemporary hyper-mediated environments, as well as professionals outside academia who need practical, accessible guidance for conducting rigorous digital research.

The main chapters are a deep-dive into themes such as “virtual reality research” or “digital ethics.” These are paired with short “case studies” that feature different digital ethnographic studies being done currently, written by the researchers doing the work. These involve research on shamanic use of selfies in the Amazon, Iranian feminist social media collectives, GIS use in Cameroon and Polish dark net drug markets, along with many others. Each chapter also includes a “micro-chapter” about a central concept, e.g., “affordance,” “platform,” “meme,” and so on.

The Divided Lands course focuses on states in their post-conflict transitions; this winter term, the class is in the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Political Science professors Baris Kesgin and Safia Swimelar co-lead the class for a third time.

Recently, the students, Kesgin, and Swimelar spent a full day with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), met with the international organization’s representatives on the ground and visited various locations under the United Nations’ (UN) control. The group met with the UN Good Offices Mission leaders, UN Police officers, and then joined a walking tour of the old airport of the Cypriot capital (pictured) and of the buffer zone.  The decayed airport appears as it did when it was abandoned in 1974 during the military conflict.

“The UN briefing and tour of the abandoned Nicosia International Airport and buffer zone provided rare insight into peacekeeping in Cyprus and the costs of war,” said Hayes Johnson ’28. “The buffer zone was in a state of decay, used only for UN patrols and receiving minimal maintenance or reinforcement in the hope of an eventual reunification that never seems to come. This experience made clear that peace is something that must be actively defended through constant effort, not complacency.”

“The airport still had boarding passes on the floor and colorful airline advertisements on the walls, and houses still had scarves hanging in the closets and half-used bars of soap in the kitchen,” said Kate Gray ’27. “It was moving to see all these personal items that had been ruined by time and the elements and will probably never be reunited with their owners. We were lucky to have really knowledgeable guides who explained significant areas and gave us time to explore the space and immerse ourselves.”

Cyprus became an independent state in 1960, and shortly after, experienced violent clashes between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities on the island by late 1963. The UN forces arrived in 1964 and have remained on the island since then to prevent conflict escalation between the two communities. In 1974, the two sides were divided along a buffer zone managed by the United Nations.

For Claire Blatt ’26, the visit with the UN “made the fragile nature of this “peace” painfully clear. The walk along the Green Line and through the abandoned airport felt surreal and heavy; there were tens of cars left untouched covered by decades of debris, homes reclaimed by nature, personal belongings scattered as if people meant to return. It was impossible not to think about the lives interrupted there, and to realize that what can seem distant or abstract to outsiders is a lived reality of loss, fear, and uncertainty for those who call Cyprus home.”

This year, the class ran into the president of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides in the streets of Nicosia. The president spared some time to chat with the group before he greeted his official guest, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. The president then introduced the group to von der Leyen. Both presidents expressed appreciation for American students’ interest in Cyprus, Europe, and cultural exchange. They also emphasized the importance of close relations between the United States and Europe.

Kesgin and Swimelar designed the course in 2019 and led its first cohort in 2022. One of the key motivations for the duo was to add “off the beaten path” study abroad destinations. The destinations of the course, Cyprus and Bosnia & Herzegovina (the past two iterations), represent a major contribution to Elon’s faculty-led study abroad programs for its geographic locations. Furthermore, the course’s thematic emphases on post-conflict societies and navigating multiple ethnic and religious identities in transition, domestic and international peacebuilding efforts, and complicated intersections of memory, narrative, and truth-telling relate the course to students’ multiple academic interests.

While the students attain foundational knowledge about divided lands such as Cyprus in the pre-departure course, they meet with a diverse array of domestic and international actors during the travel class. These meetings include major non-governmental organizations (such as civil society members, journalists, academics), international actors (US Embassy, United Nations personnel, the European Union, among others), as well as their peers (such as university students).

Anastasia Feldman ’28 said: “Here in Cyprus, we’ve been exposed to a lot of differing perspectives, activities, and cultural experiences that I’m grateful to see and do,” said Anastasia Feldman ’28. “This was an amazing opportunity to learn about how the United Nations keep the peace in a high tension environment. We were able to see locations that haven’t been touched since 1974 such as the old Nicosia airport, and walking the buffer zone between the North and South which was incredible from a historic perspective. Beyond the UN, having the opportunity to meet with the president of Cyprus as well as the president of the European Commission was an incredible experience that I’m sure I never would have had without this course.”

On a mid-September afternoon in a first-floor classroom in Long Building, students huddled over tables to finish their drone builds, adjusting miniature motors, securing blades and testing their wiring. Occasionally, a tiny screw or component went missing, prompting a frantic search.

The assembly had begun a week earlier in The Maker Hub, but the assignment – and all its small pieces – proved too much for a single class period.

Among the students was Ali Steele ’27, a computer science major from rural Heathsville, Virginia, who – thanks to a high school drone program – already has her FAA Part 107 certification. She even spent part of her summer surveying farmland via drone. Most classmates, however, were far greener, with little to no drone experience but plenty of curiosity.

This range of expertise is exactly what Associate Teaching Professor of Communication Design Randy Piland envisioned when he created “Drones and Society: Balancing Innovation and Accountability,” a new COR Capstone course offered for the first time this fall. The class explores the fast-growing world of unmanned aerial systems from multiple angles – history, technology, ethics, and hands-on flight.

“The need for this course comes from the way drones are now woven into nearly every part of life,” Piland said. “They are delivering goods and medical supplies, aiding search and rescue, supporting first responders, mapping, and producing photography and videography for media, real estate, and advertising – along with military applications. The growth has been staggering, and it’s clear that our students need to critically examine drones not just as technology, but as a force that shapes society.”

For a closer look at the class, .

The class roster – all seniors – reflects the wide reach of drone technology, with majors including strategic communications, business analytics, sport management, computer science, nursing, elementary education and others.

While Steele arrived with five years of drone experience, she saw Piland’s class as a way to expand her perspective. “I knew this course would offer a viewpoint that I have not previously studied, which is the more social and economic impact,” she said. “I might know a bit about the physical structure of the drones, but not so much about the impact they’ve had on society.”

Piland brings his own deep background. He earned his FAA Part 107 certification eight years ago and has kept up with the recurrent exams every two years since. He also completed the AUVSI Trusted Operator Program (TOP) Level One Certification two years ago and organizes Elon Drone Day, which attracts more than 200 drone enthusiasts and pilots to campus each fall.

In the first week, students completed the Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST) certification, which all recreational pilots are required to pass. Then the hands-on work began. Students built small drones from assembly kits – a task that challenged even those with prior experience.

Borland found the assembly demanding but rewarding. “It was a little more difficult than I originally thought, but it was a great experience getting to figure it out and work with classmates,” he said. “The hardest part were the really tiny screws.”

For Piland, the class exercise is essential. “Building a drone helps the students understand how drones fly and what makes them work,” he said. “Knowing the parts and mechanics translates from small toy drones to commercial-grade systems. It’s hands-on learning that makes the theory click.”

The opening weeks have already sparked new insights. Borland noted that most people typically don’t consider the numerous drone regulations and safety measures, but those rules are critical given the technology’s promise. He pointed to class discussions about medicine delivery as one example of drones’ potential community benefits.

The semester will bring additional opportunities. Piland has ordered flight simulators that will allow students to practice on their computers before piloting more advanced drones. Guest speakers – including pilots working in delivery, first response and other commercial applications – are scheduled, and students can take part in Elon Drone Day.

Throughout the semester, practical skills are paired with critical discussions. Piland said he wants students to walk away with both a solid foundation and a critical lens.

“First, the students will get comfortable with the rules of the road, or in this case, the rules of the air: FAA regulations, safety protocols, and why those matter if you want to fly responsibly,” Piland said. “Beyond that, we’ll dive into the tougher questions – like what happens when drones push up against issues of privacy, safety, or even warfare. I want them to be able to step back and say, ‘Just because we can fly here, should we?’

“By the time the students leave, they’ll be able to do more than pilot a drone – they’ll know how to connect that flight to bigger questions about society.”

Oliver’s question, along with Nikki Erlick’s novel “The Measure,” inspired Lecturer in Sociology Karen Wirth’s capstone course, COR 3001: The Time of Your Life: Navigating Time, Purpose and a Life of Meaning.

[Students] need to start thinking about their life in a less pressured way. Not what do I have to achieve that’s other people’s measure of success, but what do I want to do with my life by my measure of success?

The class explores links between time, purpose and the pursuit of a meaningful life. Students gain leadership and research skills via dynamic discussions, reflective activities, collaborative projects and interdisciplinary research. The course kicks off with a question that forms the basis of Erlick’s novel: Would knowing when you’re going to die change the way you live, and why? By the course’s end, students produce a podcast published on Spotify for their capstone project.

Students are required to sign up for classes to lead via presentation, discussion, interactive exercise or meditative/reflective activity on a philosopher or thinker of their choice, ranging from Aristotle and Plato to bell hooks and Alain de Botton. “One of my students is going to teach a yoga class, and I love it when students are bringing their interest and passion into it,” Wirth says.

She notes the importance of a course like this at such a pivotal time for many of her students who are about to graduate. In a time when students are pushed to “achieve, achieve, achieve,” this course provides the space and time not only to learn, but to reflect on some of the “why” in life.

“[Students] need to start thinking about their life in a less pressured way,” Wirth says. “Not what do I have to achieve that’s other people’s measure of success, but what do I want to do with my life by my measure of success?”

Wirth is teaching the Core capstone course for the second time this spring semester, and it is open to Elon students of all majors.

51������ the Professor

Karen Wirth transitioned to academia after 25 years in the pharmaceutical industry, earning a Master of Science and a doctorate in sociology from North Carolina State University. Her doctoral research focused on the intersection of family life and career dynamics for professional women in male-dominated fields. She has been teaching sociology at Elon since 2020.

Recommended Materials

• “The Measure” by Nikki Erlick
• “Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom

Allison Durand ’25, a double major in acting and political science who studied in London; Nicholas Rugbart ’25, a major in international and global studies who studied in Taiwan; Belle Stephens ’25, a double major in strategic communications and sociology who studied in Japan and Carissa Pallander ’25, a major in creative writing who studied in Bath and Ireland, shared the issues students face when re-entering their lives at home and Elon after transformative experiences abroad.

The four students from Braye’s fall semester course “COR 4330: The Impact of Studying Abroad” challenged faculty and study abroad staff to re-think standard re-entry programs and engage with their returning students.

“When I’m writing, I don’t think about genre or what side of the bookstore it’s going to end up in. You have to finish the thing first,” Karunatilaka said. “Once the book is humming, when it’s talking to you and the characters are talking to you, you don’t feel the need to contrive anything.”

Karunatilaka’s “The Seven Moons of Maali Almedia,” won the 2022 Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in the English language. The novel is an absurdist comedy, murder mystery and political satire set during Sri Lanka’s civil war in the 1980s and told from the perspective of a slain journalist.

The author spoke for more than an hour Monday, Oct. 7, in Turner Theatre during a wide-ranging conversation moderated by Assistant Professor of English Dinidu Karunanayake and taking questions from the audience of about 100 people.

Repeatedly calling himself a cynic, he recounted his middle-class Sri Lankan upbringing during an era of political turmoil and violence that informs his writing and worldview.

“People live in these dystopias. How do we make sense of life?” Karunatilaka said. “The trope is that the hero flies away in a helicopter and writes a Pulitzer-winning article. But what about the guy who’s waving at the helicopter? His story is interesting. Someone should write that.”

Rather than feature police detectives, he has preferred to tell stories through the eyes of journalists and use satire to criticize politics and society. He prizes absurdism, “the throughline in my work,” and often “plays with reality” using the perspective of unsung heroes who are also unreliable narrators.

“You can still make jokes when you’re staring into the abyss,” he said. “Maybe it’s my warped sensibility. Maybe absurdism is the only plausible explanation I’ve caught onto as an accurate way to write about Sri Lanka.”

Karunatilaka described the difficult and sometimes “patronizing” process of rewriting “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida” for Western audiences — that included the publisher changing the title from its original “A Chat with the Dead” to make it easier to market — but said working with a “brilliant editor” created the book’s definitive version.

Karunanayake, who is also Sri Lankan, was particularly interested in why the author used the second person point of view to tell “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida.”

“What survives the death of your body? I thought it would be the voice in your head. For me, that’s in second person, telling me what I did wrong or what I should be doing,” Karunatilaka said. “Maybe I thought I could get away with more and include more between the lines, but honestly, it just felt right.”

Karunatilaka is the author of two novels, including “Chinaman,” the short story collection “The Birth Lottery and Other Surprises,” and several children’s books. As for his much-anticipated third novel?

“When you get down to writing, you have to shut out the noise. It’s you and the page and the words,” Karunatilaka said. “It won’t be easier to write, but I’ll find a story and attack it from every side.”

Shehan Karunatilaka won — one of the most prestigious awards given for works in the English language — in 2022 for his novel “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida.” The book is an absurdist comedy, murder mystery and political satire set during Sri Lanka’s civil war in the 1980s. Karunatilaka will discuss his work, its impact on his country, Sri Lanka and the process of bringing his fiction to Western audiences with Assistant Professor of English Dinidu Karunanayake at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7, in Schar Hall’s Turner Theatre.

“When Shehan Karunatilaka won the Booker Prize, it was a victory for all Sri Lankans,” said Karunanayake, who also is from Sri Lanka. “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida” was published at the end of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s regime which was brought about by mass, nonviolent protests.

“The novel arrived when Sri Lanka was at a crossroads,” Karunanayake said. “At a time of despair and new dreams, Karunatilaka’s victory was like a fresh rain on parched land. It put Sri Lankan resilience and creativity on the world map.”

Karunanayake incorporates the author’s works into his classes, and this fall he included “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida” in his ENG 3800 Advanced World Literature course. Students have responded enthusiastically to Karunatilaka’s humor and genre-bending, as well as his experiments with history, memory and the use of magic realism in his narratives, he said.

He hopes the audience will leave the discussion with new perspectives on the power of literature to make ethical interventions and a deeper understanding of Sri Lanka’s culture and history.

“Reading a book is one thing, but being in the same space to chat with its creator is a unique experience,” Karunanayake said. “I hope everyone interested in global politics, literature and humor will show up to share the evening with Karunatilaka.”

Karunatilaka’s visit is coordinated by the Department of English with additional sponsorships from the Dean’s Office of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences; the Periclean Scholars Program; the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture and Society; the Provost’s Office; the Isabella Cannon Global Education Center; the Elon Core Curriculum; the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning; the Global Neighborhood; the Peace Corps Prep Program; the Department of Religious Studies; and the Asian Studies, American Studies, Interreligious Studies, and Peace and Conflict Studies Programs.