Elon President Connie Ledoux Book to Receive 2026 Change Maker Award

Connie Ledoux Book, president of Elon University, was selected as the 2026 Change Maker Award honoree by She Built This City, a Charlotte nonprofit that creates pathways to employment for women, and was to be recognized at the organization’s annual Change Makers Conference on March 6, 2026. The recognition lists Book’s leadership in higher education and her commitment to building systems that include high-quality child care to support working families, equity and access.

The award citation points directly to a campus initiative in Alamance County: the Acorn Academy at Elon University, which opened in 2025 on the Elon campus to provide high-quality child care for university employees. Book attended the Acorn Academy ribbon-cutting ceremony and said at the event that she “aims for Elon to be an employer of choice known for an environment where families of employees thrive,” tying the academy’s opening to the workforce-support rationale behind the Change Maker Award.

At the Change Makers Conference, Book was scheduled to deliver remarks during a luncheon fireside chat with LaToya Faustin ’04 G’10, who is listed as CEO of She Built This City. The program placement — a midday fireside chat with the nonprofit’s CEO — places Book at the center of discussion about employment pathways for women and institutional strategies for supporting working parents.

The selection of Book as the 2026 honoree comes amid broader institutional activity: on Feb. 27, 2026, faculty and staff from Elon and Queens University of Charlotte met on the Queens campus to continue merger integration and planning. That meeting included four prominent Charlotte executives who shared accounts of collaboration and anticipation of reinforced educational resources expected to drive the region’s future, underscoring Elon's regional engagement beyond the Acorn Academy initiative.

The Change Maker Award recognition, framed around child care, equity and access, spotlights a concrete Alamance County development and connects it to regional workforce efforts led by a Charlotte nonprofit. The award and the Acorn Academy opening reinforce Elon's stated emphasis on supporting working families among university employees while the university continues integration planning with Queens.