Elizabethtown College to Award Degrees at May 21 Commencement Ceremony

Dr. Theodore E. Long was inaugurated as the 13th president of Elizabethtown College on Sept. 1, 1996. During the past 15 years, he launched and successfully completed a series of initiatives that have enhanced the quality of Elizabethtown’s academic and co-curricular programs, its national reputation, and its financial health.

Early in his tenure, Dr. Long led efforts to develop a strategic plan and a master facilities and land use plan. By 2002, the College completed action on all major objectives of the strategic plan and the first two phases of the facilities plan, including new academic, athletic and residential facilities and the completion of a new campus center in August 2002. Elizabethtown also added 15 new academic and athletic programs, among them the Elizabethtown College Honors Program, sponsored by The Hershey Company; the College’s first master’s degree program in occupational therapy; and a revised core curriculum. In addition, Elizabethtown made significant strides in faculty development, diversity and multicultural affairs, and information technology, the latter earning the College a rating as one of America’s “most wired colleges.”

In recent years, Dr. Long oversaw the construction of the Masters Center for Science, Mathematics and Engineering and the James B. Hoover Center for Business and the opening of the Bowers Writers House. He also launched initiatives that dramatically improved the academic credentials of Elizabethtown’s faculty, increasing from 74 percent to 95 percent of faculty holding terminal degrees in their field. Under his leadership, the College’s enrollment increased by 23 percent, even while admission became more selective. In 2006, Dr. Long led a Strategic Vision effort, which sharpened the College’s identity and identified four signature attributes of Elizabethtown’s brand of education, including the College’s commitments to educate students in a relationship-centered learning community, to foster in our students’ international and cross-cultural perspectives, to complement classroom instruction with experiential-learning opportunities, and to prepare our students for purposeful lives and meaningful. In addition, he oversaw highly successful fundraising efforts that generated $26.1 million for the College’s endowment and raised $47 million for new academic, athletic and residential facilities.

Dr. Long actively serves the local community and our nation’s colleges and universities. Currently, he is board chair of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Pennsylvania and a board member of the Economic Development Co. of Lancaster County, the Fulton Opera House, and The Foundation to Enhance Communities. Dr. Long also is a trustee of his alma mater, Capital University. In addition, he is active in the national movement to promote civic engagement among colleges and their students, as well as the Council of Independent Colleges, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ President’s Trust to Promote Liberal Education for America’s Promise. Dr. Long previously served on the boards of the Lancaster Chamber, the United Way of Lancaster County, and the Elizabethtown Economic Development Corporation.

Dr. Long earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and philosophy from Capital University in 1965, a master's degree in sociology from Duke University in 1968, and a doctorate in sociology from the University of Virginia in 1979. Before his current position, he taught or held senior administrative posts at Merrimack College, George Washington University, Hollins University, and Washington and Jefferson College. As a scholar, Dr. Long has published numerous articles on religious movements, religion and politics, social change, socialization and religious conversion in journals such as Sociological Theory, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Sociology of Religion, Sociological Focus and Contemporary Sociology.

Invitation for Event Coverage of Elizabethtown College’s 108th Commencement Ceremony

Directions: A campus map is located online at http://www.etown.edu/docs/Public/Etown%20College%20Campus%20Map.pdf. For parking instructions, please check our Commencement website at http://www.etown.edu/Commencement.aspx?topic=Commencement.

Rain location: Only during severely inclement weather will the ceremony be moved to Thompson Gymnasium. By 10 a.m. on May 21, a notice about the location of the ceremony will be posted on the College’s Inclement Weather Hotline, which can be reached by calling 717-361-1988.

Final List of Graduates: A complete list of May 2011 Elizabethtown College graduates will be available during the week of June 13. News releases to the hometown papers of our graduates will be distributed during that week.

Photography: Elizabethtown College President Theodore Long and the other honorary degree recipients, who have not yet been named, will be available for a pre-event photograph on Saturday, May 21, at 10 a.m. in front of Alpha Administration Building. During the ceremony, Campus Security will limit access to the area in front of the stage to ensure that families are provided with an unobstructed view. Photographers from local media outlets who wish to photograph the ceremony should contact Lori Burke by Friday, May 21, at noon to arrange for clearance with Campus Security.