Elon University faculty members listened to a presentation by Dean Nicole Guajardo from Christopher Newport University inside upstairs Lakeside on Nov. 30. This comes as the university is looking for a new dean to helm Elon College, College of Arts and Sciences starting fall 2024.
At the end of this academic year, Dean Gabie Smith will end her two decade-long tenure as the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Smith will remain a professor in the Department of Psychology afterwards.
Guajardo is no stranger to North Carolina, as she earned her bachelor's degree at Wake Forest University.
“I was familiar with Elon, so when I got the email about the position, I was excited immediately,” Guajardo said.
Guajardo suggested that if she was employed as the new dean, the College of Arts and Sciences could look at admissions data to analyze the majors of admitted and graduated students as a way of gauging interest in fields of study.. To explain her idea, Guajardo provided a past example from her current position in Virginia.
“We looked at students who were admitted to Christopher Newport, but didn't come, and then looked at where they went and what they majored in. And doing that, we found that we had a gap in kinesiology,” Guajardo said. “So we created a major in that area.”
Dr. Hilton Kelly will be the third candidate to present at 2:15 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 4 in Lakeside 213.