The Elon University Art History program celebrated its seniors with mugs and books picked specifically for each senior at the end-of-year Muggening celebration May 11.
The celebration brought art history majors and minors together, as well as the museum studies minors, to celebrate the graduating seniors at Powell House, the program’s home.
Each student received this year’s purple mug printed with the hashtag “#LMTAH” or “Learn More Take Art History”. Seniors also received specially selected books by the program's professors, tailored to their interests or future plans.
Coordinator of the Art History program Evan Gatti said the tradition of specially designed mugs began about a decade ago, and a few years in, the program began asking senior students for their input on the design of the mugs.
Gatti said the celebration was not always referred to as the Muggening, but after she called it that one year, the name has stuck. She said the mugs have become iconic to the students, with alumni asking to be mailed the newest mugs and posting pictures with them online.
“One of our alumni went to Paris and was meeting with whatever the school is that we work with in Paris, and they had come and done a session here, and I had given them mugs,” Gatti said. “She walks into this office in Paris, and there's an art history at Elon mug. So that's fun. It's fun to see them in the wild.”
Seniors like Téa Jones and Lizzie Ostling both said the Muggening celebration is part of the reason they joined the Art History program.
Jones said she had a friend as a freshman who she watched receive their senior mug, which encouraged her to join the program.
“It feels very full circle. I remember watching her, and getting her book, and getting to see her mug. And I was like, that's going to be so far away from me,” Jones said. “And now I'm here, and it feels so crazy,”
Ostling said she came to the event in her first year as an undecided major, taking one of the art history classes, and the event showed her the strong relationships in the program.
“I remember seeing seniors get ultra-specific books my freshman year, and I was like, ‘Oh, I want that. I want a relationship like that, where somebody knows me that well, to give me an ultra-specific book.’”
For this year’s mug design, Ostling said she was very happy with it and how it intertwined with the senior class’ requests.
“This is amazing. This is adorable. We were like, ‘Okay, we want flowers, and we want script, and we want it yellow,’” Ostling said. “Then purple was our second choice. But this is gorgeous. I'm very happy with it. I own every one since 2020, and that was well before I got here, and so I have a lot of them in my apartment.”
Gatti said the book part of the celebration has existed in the program as long as she can remember and highlights what she said is the program’s love language.
“The books are really important. So we try to save budget money so we can give them something, I mean, for some of them, something they wouldn't be able to buy on their own,” Gatti said. “This year we gave them really new books, but sometimes we give them older classics that we think they wouldn't necessarily know to find or be able to find, just because we think it is a good match for them.”
According to the Spring 2026 Elon Registrar’s Report, there are 19 art history majors. Gatti said there were six senior art history majors this year. She said the smaller size of the major allows her to know all the students so well that she still gets at least one text from an alum each day.
“No one's majoring in art history because their parents told them to. So they're coming to us because they want to,” Gatti said. “It's something they feel passionate about. They think it's going to help them in some specific way, and I really enjoy being able to work with those students.”
For Jones, she said it is the faculty she will miss the most about the program.
“They are always willing to talk with me, give me advice, hold my hand, tell me to toughen up, like all the things, they're just the best cheerleaders and advocates and also have taught me so much,” Jones said. “I think I will really miss that sort of guidance, but hopefully they've given me the skill set to move forward and be able to do all those things on my own.”
Jones said the Muggening celebration encapsulates the art history program and how the program acts as a constant in an ever-changing world.
“It's the cutest tradition ever. I love telling everyone about it. It's one of the most community-filled departments on campus,” Jones said. “We're in this cute little house, like it literally is a home. And I mean that home, Powell House, is always on our mug, which I think is representative of just what is most important to us is cultivating that community and making sure we're listening to one another, and I feel like we cultivate that in the program too.”