The Center does not charge an application or participation fee. The Center covers housing (single rooms with private bathrooms in residence halls) and all meals during each week-long summer meeting. In addition, each participant will be reimbursed up to $500/year (up to $1000/year for international participants) for travel costs (e.g., airplane tickets, mileage, airport parking, meals in transit) incurred while traveling to the seminar’s summer meetings at Elon University. Full reimbursement policies will be distributed to accepted participants. Other participant expenses, including travel costs above the limit and any research costs, will be paid by the participants and/or their home institutions.

No. The Center’s research seminars are fully funded by Elon University. Elon is routinely recognized for its engaged learning programs, and the Center’s signature program reflects the university’s commitment to also foster research on engaged learning.

No, CEL cannot cover research costs. Participants and/or their home institutions are responsible for any research costs.

The Center for Engaged Learning provides housing in Elon University’s state-of-the-art residential facilities. Participants have air-conditioned single rooms, and most rooms have an in-room, private bathroom. Single rooms without an in-room bathroom have an in-room sink and a private bathroom within the same suite. Towels (bath towel, hand towel, and washcloth) and linens (sheets, blanket, and pillow) are provided, but participants must bring all toiletries. All buildings on Elon’s campus have wireless internet access. Participants also have access to the sports facilities at Elon, including the fitness center; pool access is dependent on the pool’s summer hours.

Towels (bath towel, hand towel, and washcloth) and linens (sheets, blanket, and pillow) are provided, but participants must bring all toiletries. 

Both the residence hall rooms and our meeting rooms have air conditioning.

Individual rooms do not typically have a refrigerator, but the common room kitchen area on each floor has a shared refrigerator. CEL stocks one of the refrigerators with snacks for the week.

Participants should arrive by 5 PM on Sunday of their seminar week and depart at 12:15 PM on Friday of their seminar week. Check-in times are updated here each year.

We cannot accommodate early arrivals or early check-ins. You will have to make your own hotel arrangements if you arrive early.

Programming begins shortly after check-in. If you arrive late, proceed to the program location. If you arrive after programming concludes for the day, you might need to make arrangements for lodging at an area hotel; CEL staff are not onsite overnight.

Only accepted research seminar participants may stay in the residence hall. If others are traveling with you, they will need to find lodging elsewhere. In addition, research seminar participants stay busy throughout the week and have some evening events to take advantage of our limited time together so travel mates would need to entertain themselves during the majority of the week.

Elon is located approximately 55 miles from Raleigh Durham International Airport (RDU) and approximate 35 miles from Piedmont Triad International Airport (GSO). Because RDU has more flight options, we strongly encourage participants to use that airport. We provide limited airport shuttle service from/to RDU. If you opt to fly into GSO or another airport, you are responsible for arranging and paying for your own airport transportation.

We will provide transportation to/from Raleigh Durham Airport (RDU) and Elon’s campus for accepted participants, within a limited schedule. We typically are able to provide a Sunday shuttle to campus for participants who arrive at RDU by 4:00 PM on Sunday of our summer meeting week. The shuttle to RDU on Friday of our summer meeting week departs by 12:15 PM (arriving at RDU by approximately 1:30 PM). We will provide additional travel information with acceptance notices.

If you will be driving to Elon, please let us know on the travel information form (distributed in spring) so that we can arrange for a parking permit for a lot near the residence hall. We will provide additional parking information prior to the research seminar meeting.

Most participants opt for comfortable, casual business attire. We recommend layers; weather outside is often hot and humid in June and July, and the indoor air conditioning can be chilly.

The weather in June tends to have moderate humidity, with temperature highs in the mid-80s and lows in the mid-60s.

The weather in July tends to have high humidity, with temperature highs in the upper 90s and lows in the 70s.

Pack exercise attire if you plan to make use of campus fitness facilities or exercise outdoors. The campus pool typically is closed for maintenance during our summer weeks; we will post updates here if we anticipate the pool will be open.

We recommend packing a rain jacket or umbrella to stay dry during pop-up summer rainstorms.

Some participants opt to pack an extra blanket or extra pillow depending on their sleeping preferences.

Remember to pack all toiletries you need for the week and any technology accessories you need (e.g., laptop and telephone power cords).

All meals and snacks will be provided (Sunday dinner through Friday lunch). Accepted participants will have an opportunity to note any dietary preferences.

CEL stocks the common room kitchen with snacks and beverages at the beginning of the week and restocks once in the middle of the week.

We ask accepted participants to alert us to (or update us about) any dietary allergies each spring; we’ll send a link to a dietary needs form. We work with our catering partners closely and are able to accommodate most allergies, and we ask our catering partners to label all foods. We also host some meals at local restaurants where participants can choose items that meet their dietary needs.

Research seminar participants arrive on Sunday afternoon and depart on Friday at noon. The Center provides meals from dinner on Sunday through lunch on Friday. Seminar activities typically begin at 9:00 AM, Monday – Friday. Participants work intensively together each day to advance their shared research plans (summer 1), analyze artifacts/data from their shared research (summers 2 and 3), and go public with what they learn (summer 3). While each day does include designated breaks, collaborations sometimes continue into the early evening.

Research seminar leaders form initial research teams based on participants’ application materials and bios. Leaders look for shared inquiry interests and complementary experiences that would support the team’s inquiry and analysis.

Participants have opportunities to shift teams during the first two days of summer 1 if other teams’ research questions better align with participants’ goals.

During the first summer meeting, Center staff share strategies for developing both seminar-wide and team-based communities. Strategies include both concrete activities like team inventories of professional and personal interests and theoretical frameworks like communitarianism, communities of practice, and Johari’s window. We revisit relationship building strategies throughout the seminar.