Elon University creates new neuroscience major starting fall 2025 (2025)

Elon University will begin offering a new neuroscience major starting in the fall 2025 semester as the school looks to increase its offerings.

Neuroscience is an interdisciplinary field that builds on other fields including chemistry, biology and psychology to explore the function of the nervous system and brain.

Elon has offered a neuroscience minor since 2009, and Matt Wittstein, the coordinator of the neuroscience minor who played in integral role in drafting the proposal for the major, said the school had been exploring making neuroscience a major for a few years now.

He said the decision to create the program now was based directly on input from the faculty recognizing interest among the students.

“This didn’t come directly from the administration or the university as a whole, but it came from the faculty,” Wittstein said. “You know, we think we have enough capacity, enough people that are doing neuroscience, but maybe not the structure.”

Wittstein added that “I would anticipate that we’ll have 30 to 40 students majoring in neuroscience by the end of next year, maybe more.”

One of those students is current freshman Jadyn Booth, a dance science major planning to double major in dance science and neuroscience next year.

“So I’ve always been interested in, like, neuro stuff,” Booth said. “So I took an AP psychology class back in sophomore year (of high school) and I really thrived during our neuroscience program. ...”

She declared biology as her major when she enrolled at Elon, before switching to dance science because there wasn’t a neuroscience program.

Her first semester, she took Wittstein’s Elon 1010 class — an introductory course for freshmen — and he told her about the neuroscience major he and other faculty members were in the process of creating.

“I was so excited, because I said that’s what I really wanted to do,” Booth said. “I kept asking Dr. Wittstein every class we had together... how’s the status on the neuroscience program?”

The new neuroscience program at Elon will offer three different paths, with the option for students to pursue a bachelor of arts in neuroscience, a bachelor of arts in neuroscience with a concentration in exercise science, or a bachelor of science in neuroscience.

The B.A. in neuroscience takes 48 credit hours to complete, and Wittstein said it was a good choice for someone looking to double major.

“That requires 48 credits and probably offers a little more flexibility to have a double major, though it’s not required by any means,” Wittstein said. “That to me is really meant for the students that think neuroscience is really cool and they maybe don’t see themselves as in the future being a neuroscientist, or maybe they do, but they really just love the topic. They love learning about it, and then they’re maybe thinking about pairing that with a second major.”

The B.S. in neuroscience, on the other hand, takes 64 credit hours to complete.

“It requires a little more depth and breadth in particular fields but offers the opportunity to get a little more lab training,” Wittstein said.

However, Wittstein said he was most excited about the potential for the B.A. in neuroscience with the concentration in exercise science, which also takes 48 hours to complete.

“This is something that we think will set us apart from other neuroscience programs,” Wittstein said. “Exercise neuroscience isn’t a huge major across the country, but it’s definitely a space where we have a strong exercise science program where we think a lot about health and wellness.”

Regardless of what track a student selects, there are some core courses that all neuroscience majors will be required to take.

“All students will take biochemical foundations, they’ll all take cell biochem one, chem two, human physiology,” Wittstein said.

Wittstein also said students would be required to take at least a few disciplinary neuroscience courses.

“So behavioral neuroscience in psychology, neuro motor control in exercise science, and neurophysiology in bio,” Wittstein said. “The B.A. will require two of those, the B.S. will require all three.”

In the Triad, Elon will be the only university to offer an undergraduate neuroscience major. Wake Forest offers a neuroscience graduate program.

Booth said she looked forward to conducting research in neuroscience during her time at Elon.

“I’m really interested in the regions of the brain and why they function the way they do throughout the neurotransmitters,” Booth said. “Like, why we react to certain things the way we do.”