The Magazine of Elon, Winter 2013

M A G A Z I N E

O F

WINTER 

T H E

POWERFUL CONNECTIONS

The essential role of alumni, parent and student professional networks

I AM ELON Biochemistry major Alex Helman ’13 is just as comfortable presenting her research to a room full of fellow scientists as she is in the chemistry suite on the third floor of McMichael Science Center.

An Elon College Fellow, Alex works with Associate Professor of Chemistry Kathy Matera to study the biochemical mechanisms seen in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, to develop possible treatments. Fascinated by biochemistry and the workings of the human body, she is preparing to begin a doctoral program after graduating in the spring.

If that weren’t enough, she is also a nonviolence studies minor. Being able to round out her work in the sciences with liberal arts courses, Alex says, is part of what she loves about Elon.

“I’ve taken philosophy classes that have opened me to new ideas,” she says. “I’m taking an international terrorism class, which has helped in my understanding of what’s going on in the Middle East. I think Elon has allowed me to become a better citizen of the world.”

Impressed by the lifelong friendships her father made in his college fraternity, Alex joined Alpha Chi Omega her first year at Elon, hoping for a similar experience. She has not been disappointed.

Besides finding a close group of friends, she says her sorority sisters encourage her to be a better person.

“They’re my inspiration, and if we could end up in the same community once we’re older, that’d be wonderful,” she adds.

Alex is Elon. Visit elon.edu/magazine to see more of Alex’s story, part of our “I Am Elon” multimedia series featuring Elon students in their own words.

Contents

 EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS

BY KATIE DEGRAFF

In just four years, Assistant Professor of Physics Ben Evans has created the unexpected: a fully functioning graduate lab in an undergraduate setting.

 PAVING THE WAY

BY ROSELEE PAPANDREA

Fifty years after Glenda Phillips Hightower became Elon’s first full-time black student, she reflects on the impact her decision had on her life and those who followed her lead.

 IN HIS ELEMENT

BY EMMA JONES

For Chris Hendricks ’07, music is more than just an outlet for his thoughts and experiences. It’s a tool to educate and inspire others.

Cover Story

 THE POWER OF NETWORKING When it comes to job and internship placement, Elon students are discovering the power of parent, alumni and peer networks.

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Under the Oaks Phoenix Sports Alumni Action Class Notes Making a Difference

UNDER THE OAKS

THE COMING CRISES IN HIGHER EDUCATION Why a focus on value and enriched student experiences is essential

D

aily news reports and websites are full of data and speculation about the future of higher education, and most of it appears ominous. This past summer, an analysis of 1,700 colleges and universities by Bain & Company found that one-third of the schools are on “an unsustainable financial path,” meaning they are overly leveraged, suffering enrollment declines and resorting to deep tuition discounts to attract students. The price of college is reaching $60,000 a year at some private institutions, stretching the limits of even upper-middleclass families with two or more children.

The highly touted launch of MOOCS (massive open online courses), available at low or no cost by leading universities, has caused some to predict that many traditional brickand-mortar campuses will soon become a thing of the past. New federal support for higher education is not likely because of the enormity of the national debt, with entitlement spending threatening to swamp every

{ Leo M. Lambert } facebook.com/leomlambert twitter.com/headphoenix

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other sector of the budget. Indeed, the seas ahead look choppy. These realities will affect many colleges and universities adversely.

Why am I optimistic for Elon despite such challenges? We are holding fast to two overriding principles as we prepare for the future. The first is to continue to focus on highly personalized, enriched educational experiences that place a premium on human relationships. In what some might consider a countertrend move, we are investing more than $100 million in new residence and dining facilities to create premier living/ learning environments.

Our strategic plan, the Elon Commitment, calls on us to find a way to provide a global education experience for every Elon student. A hallmark of the Elon experience is mentoring by outstanding faculty, including teaching about the process of discovery through undergraduate research. As one undergraduate put it to me recently, “half of what I have learned in college has been through living in a community with people who are different from me.” And today more than ever, leading universities have a responsibility to help students build a bridge to a meaningful life after college, especially in fostering networks that lead to competitive internships and quality employment.

This is not to say we are ignoring the world of online education. Elon has been offering classes online since 2001 and will offer more than 50 high-quality online classes this summer; both the MBA and M.Ed. graduate programs incorporate online experiences as a part of the curriculum. Indeed, I believe such innovative, flexible and customized learning pedagogies prepare students to be lifelong learners and allow them to stay connected to campus wherever they are in the world. We are also seeing blended approaches

to teaching and learning, combining the best of vast online content with in-person collaborative work and discussion with faculty in the classroom setting. This is the essence of an Elon education—residentially based, highly dependent on close mentoring of students by faculty and staff, technologically rich and filled with life-transforming experiences, both domestically and abroad. This explains why there are seven applications for every seat in the first-year class.

The second overriding principle for us to pay attention to if we are to remain a viable institution in the 21st century is that of cost.

Elon is a tremendous value, and must remain so. Elon offers a high-quality liberal arts and sciences experience for every student, signified by a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, a top-50 business school, a top-tier school of communications, and innovative and accredited schools of education, law and health sciences.

Only seven private institutions in the nation can boast such credentials. We deliver that level of quality for less than $40,000 a year, $10,000-15,000 less than our peer universities. This partially explains why Elon draws applications from nearly every state and more than 50 nations today.

Maintaining that level of value will require creativity and resourcefulness as we move forward. We are committed to the most moderate tuition increases possible while still being able to properly reward our most important resource for students—faculty and staff. We plan to maintain affordability and double need-based financial aid in this decade through the generous philanthropy of alumni, parents and friends who provide annual gifts and grow Elon’s endowment.

We know who we are. Our mission is clear. We are innovative and nimble. We have great values. We are a value. I believe our future is very bright.

Leo M. Lambert President

UNDER THE OAKS

Facilities named in honor of emeriti faculty and staff The Elon University Board of Trustees has voted to name campus facilities in honor of five former faculty and staff members who provided long and distinguished service to the university.

The named facilities include four residence halls in The Oaks residential neighborhood, which opened in 2006 on North Williamson Avenue and includes six residential buildings plus the McCoy Commons building. The buildings will be named after the following former faculty and staff members:

FRANCIS CENTER DEDICATED Administrators, faculty, staff, students and civic leaders gathered Oct. 26 to formally dedicate the Gerald L. Francis Center on East Haggard Avenue.

The renovated space serves as home to the university’s School of Health Sciences and provides research space for undergraduate programs. The school, which includes the Doctor of Physical Therapy and Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies programs, occupies about one third of the building, and future plans for the undeveloped part of the facility include the 13,000-square-foot Scott Studios, pro{ University officials came together Oct. 26 viding expanded practice and performance for a ribbon cutting spaces for the acting, dance, music theatre, ceremony for the Gerald theatre studies and theatrical design and L. Francis Center, home production programs. to Elon’s School of During the dedication ceremony, Health Sciences. } administrators also recognized the building’s namesake for his nearly four decades of service to Elon, first as a math professor, then provost, and now as executive vice president.

“This is quite an honor,” Francis said during the dedication. “In all sincerity, this recognition makes me really proud. Really, mostly, my mom and dad, they’d be proud.

Thanks, friends, for being here. … And thanks to Elon for all of my opportunities.”

During the ceremony, Elon University President Leo M. Lambert described three qualities that have made Francis an invaluable confidant during the past 15 years: trustworthiness, management abilities and charm. Francis, he added, has the ability to bring together diverse viewpoints to work for the betterment of the university and, by extension, the broader Alamance County community.

The Francis Center formerly served as a Smithfield Foods processing facility, which was purchased by the university in 2011 and fully renovated. The property adjacent to the building includes new student recreation fields, with a road connected to the Danieley Center residential neighborhood.

Vice President Emerita and Professor of Education Emerita Jo Watts Williams ’55, who served Elon and its students as an instructor in the departments of education and psychology before rising through the faculty ranks and being named associate dean of academic affairs and director of the Learning Resource Center. She also served 16 years as vice president for development and special assistant to the president.

Professor Emeritus of Philosophy John G. Sullivan, who joined the Elon faculty in the Department of Philosophy in 1970 and was later named the Maude Sharpe Powell Professor, the first recipient of that endowed chair. He was named Elon’s first Distinguished University Professor in 2002.

Professor Emerita of Physical Education Janie P. Brown, who retired in 2005 following 39 years at Elon and was a champion for female student-athletes and a trailblazer in helping to advance the university’s women’s athletics program.

The late Professor Janie E. Council, who taught accounting at Elon from 1960 to 1984 and was the first recipient of Elon’s Daniels-Danieley Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1973.

Trustees also authorized the naming of the gathering space in the new Numen Lumen Pavilion, Elon’s multi-faith center that is scheduled to open in the spring, in honor of Chaplain Emeritus Richard W. McBride.

He served for 25 years as Elon’s spiritual leader and touched the lives of thousands of Elon students as college chaplain, director of church relations and assistant professor of religious studies.

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The Magazine of Elon winter 2013 | vol. 75, no. 1 The Magazine of Elon is published quarterly for alumni, parents and friends by the Office of University Communications. © 2013, Elon University

EDITOR

Keren Rivas ’04 DESIGNER

Christopher Eyl PHOTOGRAPHER

Kim Walker EDITORIAL STAFF

Holley Berry Katie DeGraff Roselee Papandrea Eric Townsend STUDENT CONTRIBUTORS

Natalie Allison ’13 Caitlin O’Donnell ’13 Sam Parker ’13 Jennifer Proto ’13 Gabriela Szewcow ’13 VICE PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

Daniel J. Anderson

NBC’S BRIAN WILLIAMS TO HEADLINE COMMENCEMENT Brian Williams P’13, the anchor and managing editor of “NBC Nightly News” and “Rock Center with Brian Williams,” will deliver Elon University’s 123rd Commencement address on May 25.

A strong advocate for Elon and a key figure at the university in recent years, Williams chairs the School of Communications Advisory Board, mentoring students on their academic and career opportunities. In 2011, he moderated a special Convocation for Honors featuring a panel of distinguished guests who explored solutions to issues threatening democracy, the economy, public education, the environment and civil stability around the world.

Williams has received 11 Edward R. Murrow Awards, 12 Emmy Awards, the duPont-Columbia University Award, the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism and the industry’s highest honor, the George Foster Peabody Award. He

joined NBC News in 1993 and became NBC’s chief White House correspondent and later anchor and managing editor of “The News With Brian Williams” on MSNBC and CNBC. Williams and his wife, Jane, are the parents of Douglas Williams ’13.

EDITORIAL OFFICES

The Magazine of Elon 2030 Campus Box Elon, NC 27244-2020 (336) 278-7415 elon.edu/magazine

BOARD OF TRUSTEES, CHAIR

Wesley R. Elingburg p’11 Greensboro, N.C. ELON ALUMNI BOARD, PRESIDENT

John Hill ’76 Severna Park, Md. YOUNG ALUMNI COUNCIL, PRESIDENT

Britten Ginsburg Pund ’06 Columbia, Md. PARENTS COUNCIL, COPRESIDENTS

Clayton & Beverly Hollis p’13 Lakeland, Fla. BOARD OF VISITORS, CHAIR

Russell R. Wilson p’86 Burlington, N.C. SCHOOL OF LAW ADVISORY BOARD, CHAIR

David Gergen Cambridge, Mass.

SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY BOARD, CHAIR

Brian Williams p’13 New Canaan, Conn.

MARTHA AND SPENCER LOVE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADVISORY BOARD, CHAIR

William S. Creekmuir p’09 p’10 Atlanta, Ga. PHOENIX CLUB ADVISORY BOARD, CHAIR

Mike Cross Burlington, N.C.

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Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd speaking Nov. 7 to a sold-out audience in McCrary Theatre for the 2012 Baird Pulitzer Prize Lecture.

View video excerpts from her address at elon.edu/magazine.

“In the seven presidential campaigns I’ve covered—in high heels and high dudgeon— I’ve been surprised how much time I’ve spent writing about fathers: powerful fathers, poor fathers, alcoholic fathers, workaholic fathers, abandoning fathers, hovering fathers. And now, with Super PACs and all the dark money flowing into campaigns from industrialists and Las Vegas casino magnates with political agendas, we have a whole new category: sugar daddies.”

UNDER THE OAKS

SYLLABUZZ

BY ROSELEE PAPANDREA

{ BIO : Animal Behavior }

W

hy do people like rooting for a team? What makes them gravitate toward joining a group?

One way to find out is by studying animal behavior.

“From an evolutionary perspective, it makes sense,” says Associate Professor of Biology Dave Gammon, who teaches a class on the subject. “Individuals are better off if they are part of a group than if they are by themselves.”

A lecture component of Gammon’s course, which he teaches every other spring semester, exposes students to a range of behaviors from foraging to breeding, parental care, group living and altruism.

Students also spend a lot of time observing animals and documenting their behavior.

“A big emphasis of the course is students designing their own studies and coming up with interesting questions and how they will answer them,” he says.

“It’s student directed, student designed and carried out by students.”

The course attracts biology, psychology and environmental studies majors and offers opportunities to work together. During one such opportunity, a pair of students examined the impact of music on horses by playing classical music and classic rock at a stable.

They then measured the animals’ heart rates.

“There was behavioral evidence that the horses did get nervous from the rock music,” Gammon says.

ABOUT THE PROFESSOR

{ Dave Gammon }

Throughout the course, class discussions underscore how animal behavior theory can help students understand human behaviors that result in environmental damages. Studying the behavior of ants, for example, illustrates instances when animals are “nice,” though not out of love but rather survival.

Genetically, Gammon explains, female ants are more closely related to their sisters, so they often eat their brothers to ensure future genetic advantage.

The lessons animal behavior teaches are numerous.

“I think students probably benefit using knowledge of animal behavior in getting a fresh approach to understanding human behavior and other scientific disciplines,” Gammon says. “It’s just intrinsically satisfying. It won’t cure cancer, but it has a lot of conservation applications.”

Gammon joined the Elon faculty in 2006. Prior to that, he was a postdoctoral associate at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas.

He’s interested in taking science to the masses and teaches courses for the non-scientist.

RECOMMENDED ACTIVITIES Observe an animal in its natural environment and try to figure out how it views, smells, touches and engages with the world.

Read The Origin of the Species

by Charles Darwin

LEGENDARY COACH AND TEACHER BILL MORNINGSTAR ’ TO RETIRE After serving his alma mater for nearly half a century as a student-athlete, teacher and coach, Bill Morningstar ’64 will retire from his post as the Phoenix’s director of golf and head men’s golf coach at the end of the 2013 season.

“Bill is truly one of the icons of Elon University Athletics and his contributions and accomplishments are greatly admired and appreciated by the Elon family,” Elon Director of Athletics Dave Blank says.

Morningstar, who wanted to coach since childhood, graduated from Elon with a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1964. During his playing days on the Elon men’s basketball team, he helped the Fight-

ing Christians to a 74–40 record.

After earning a master’s degree in education from Lynchburg College, he returned to his alma mater in 1972 unaware that besides serving as assistant men’s basketball coach, he was also expected to coach the men’s golf team, a position he neither anticipated nor felt prepared for.

In true form, he embraced the challenge and, that year, the team finished third in the conference and went on to win the national championship a decade later. He was appointed Elon’s cross country coach in 1993. In his first year, the men’s and women’s teams finished first at the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) Championships. During his tenure

at Elon, Morningstar also taught classes in the health and physical education departments.

“I’ve always said that if you love what you’re doing, you’re on break,” he says. “I’ve been on break all my life.”

A 1988 Elon Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, Morningstar was inducted into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Coaches’ Hall of Fame in 1989. He was also inducted into the SAC Hall of Fame and the Halifax County-South Boston Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.

Morningstar is a native of South Boston, Va., and has two sons, Mark and Tripp, and a daughter, Marti.

{ Bill Morningstar ’64 }

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ELON CONTINUES TO TOP NATIONAL RANKINGS

PA program welcomes first class

Elon received accolades in the fall from leading national publications for its undergraduate and graduate programs.

In its annual ranking of the 200 top values in private colleges published in December, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine ranked Elon 15 in total cost and 22 in best value.

The ranking is the seventh consecutive top-50 placement of Elon by Kiplinger’s.

In the Open Doors 2012 report by the Institute of International Education, the leading indicator of top college international study programs, Elon was once again the 1 ranked master’s-level university in the total number of students studying abroad, with 1,170 during the 2010–11 academic year.

Elon’s Master of Physician Assistant Studies program, the newest addition to the university’s graduate offerings in the field of health care, welcomed its first class Jan. 7.

The 38 students who make up the inaugural class come predominantly from North Carolina with additional states represented including California, Georgia, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

As part of the 27-month, full-time program, students will work with Elon’s faculty, scholars and practitioners in the field to develop the skills needed to meet the expanding health care needs in local and global communities.

“I’ve always been interested in health care and like the possibilities that physician assistant studies offers,” says charter class member Keri Norris, a 2001 Appalachian State University graduate who studied exercise science. “And I’m from a smaller town, which is why I like the community here.”

The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant granted the Elon PA program provisional accreditation in 2012.

Elon’s MBA program and the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business also received recognition by ranking as the nation’s 2 “best administered” program in The Princeton Review’s 2013 edition of the “Best 296 Business Schools.” The magazine also ranked Elon among the top business schools in the Southeast.

The National Jurist ranked Elon University School of Law 1 in the nation for the smallest class sizes for first-year law students. The magazine found the national median for typical first-year class size to be 72. Elon Law has the smallest class sizes for first-year students in the country with a median of 30 students per class.

FACULTY/STAFF SPOTLIGHT Brooke Barnett has been appointed interim associate provost for inclusive community, a new position that will oversee the university’s strategic plan initiatives related to diversity and { Brooke Barnett } global engagement.

Among her duties will be convening Elon’s Inclusive Community Council, being a resource in the strategic hiring of faculty and for employee resource groups, working with the Office of Student Life on multicultural academic programming and intercommunity relations, enhancing the residential campus experience and living-learning communities, administering diversity grants for Elon’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, and working with Elon’s Isabella Cannon Global Education Center to boost academic programs with an international perspective. Prior to her appointment, Barnett served as senior faculty fellow and adviser to the president.

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Kenn Gaither, associate dean of the School of Communications, has co-authored a book with a colleague at the University of Oregon. Globalization and Public Relations in Postcolonial Nations: Challenges and Opportunities explores how postcolonial nations use public relations to benefit citizens and communicate across cultures.

Rodney L. Parks has been named Elon University’s new registrar. Parks succeeds Mark Albertson, one of Elon’s longest-serving administrators, who retired in December. Prior to coming to Elon, Parks served as senior associate registrar at the University of Georgia.

“The same system of laws that made it possible for my great-great grandmother to be sold into slavery later made it possible for me to gain a strong education and, five generations later, to be the mayor of the largest city in North Carolina. ... We cannot take that legacy for granted.”

Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx delivered Elon Law’s 2012 Joseph M. Bryan Distinguished Leadership Lecture on Nov. 13. Visit elon.edu/magazine to view video excerpts from his speech.

CAMPUS UNCOMMONS NATALIE ALLISON ’13

Jana Lynn Patterson doesn’t buy into the popular stereotype of lazy, entitled college students.

The assistant vice president for the Office of Student Life, who arrived on campus in 1986, says her daily dealings with students remind her most often of their resiliency, not their weaknesses.

“I see students when they are at their very worst, when they’re sick or there has been a profound trauma,” she says.

“I just have such great admiration for how they are able to rebound and carry on in the face of adversity.”

This is palpable in her on-campus interactions with students who are grappling with a personal or family crisis. The support and resources she provides are often matched with positive students willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. It’s not always a glamorous job and Patterson says her peers often question how she manages.

“A lot of people can’t do my job because you have to be able to deal with the hard stuff and remain positive; you have to be able to deal with ambiguity,” she says. “The reward is watching people be successful.”

She frequently reminds students there are few situations that will prohibit them from being successful.

Her commitment to students is one she also sees mirrored in the faculty and administration on campus.

“That’s one thing I’m most proud of at Elon,” she says. “We continue to focus on the students.”

What faculty or staff member do you think is uncommon? Send a suggestion to themagazineofelon@gmail.com.

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UNDER THE OAKS

LONG LIVE ELON

A LASTING LEGACY

BY MEGAN MCCLURE

F { Cliff & Anne Sanford }

or Cliff and Anne Sanford of Burlington, N.C., the decision to support Elon with a planned gift was an easy one.

After devoting their careers to improving the lives of young people, the couple wanted their legacy to support a cause close to their hearts.

“We wanted to make a gift that would be used for educational purposes and specifically for scholarships to help students who need financial assistance,” Cliff, a retired family services consultant, says. “We know a lot of young people need student loans to pay for school, so we wanted to help students get out of school unencumbered.”

The couple first connected with Elon in 1968, when Cliff ’s job as a family services consultant at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill led him to work on a project nearby at the former Elon Homes for Children, which placed children in foster homes and facilitated adoptions. As he learned more, he came to admire the college’s educational quality.

BB&T GIFT BENEFITS HUNT SOFTBALL PARK Elon received a $500,000 gift from BB&T Corporation, one of the nation’s largest financial services holding companies, to complete fundraising for Hunt Softball Park. In recognition of the gift, Elon trustees approved the naming of BB&T Field.

“As part of our mission, BB&T strives to make the communities in which we work better places to live and we are proud to support Elon University,” BB&T City Executive Bill Gomory said. “We are confident this facility will help Elon student-athletes in their efforts to achieve success.”

BB&T Field features a high-tech clay infield with optimal drainage, allowing games to be played within minutes of a rainstorm. The park, which opens in the spring, includes brick grandstands, a

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concourse and concessions area, batting cages and bullpens. The next phase of the project is construction of a field house with a locker room, team lounge, coaches’ offices and training facilities.

“The generous support of BB&T will allow us to finish the work on one of the nation’s finest NCAA Division I softball facilities,” said Elon University President Leo M. Lambert. “Hunt Softball Park, including BB&T Field, will position Elon student-athletes to achieve higher levels of excellence in competition.”

Hunt Softball Park is named for Vicky and Sam Hunt of Burlington, N.C., who gave lead gifts of more than $1.25 million for the project. Vicky Hunt is an Elon trustee and Sam is a local business leader and a softball fan.

“From my first knowledge of Elon, I learned that as far as university administration is concerned, the top expectation of faculty is that they teach,” Cliff says.

After the Sanfords moved to Burlington in 2000, their connection to Elon grew. They took advantage of the university’s renowned cultural programming, and more fully recognized the impact Elon had on its students and the surrounding community. These experiences inspired the couple to create a charitable remainder unitrust that will provide scholarships to Elon students with financial need.

“We both have been so impressed with the university, and thought the trust was a good way to provide income for us and provide for our children, but also to support the university,” says Anne, who worked for several years as an advocate for disabled children, securing grants to fund services and developing early childhood education techniques. “This form of trust is a very practical means for people with limited wealth to give a gift that is lasting and meaningful.”

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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT BRIAN BAKER NAMED ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY ADVANCEMENT

E

lon staff member Brian Baker has been named assistant vice president for university advancement. He will lead major gift fundraising efforts, including Elon’s current campaign to complete a major expansion of the School of Communications. Other areas of responsibility include planned giving, foundation relations and prospect research. Baker also serves as liaison to the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business.

“I am extremely grateful to President Leo M. Lambert and Jim Piatt (vice president for university advancement) for this opportunity,” Baker says. “Our job in the Office of University Advancement is to engage Elon parents and alumni in the life of the university and match their philanthropic values with the university’s priorities. Building relationships with our constituents and helping them impact the lives of Elon students is one of the great joys of my work.”

Baker joined Elon as a major gifts officer in September 2005, and most recently served as executive director of major and planned giving. He played an integral role in the Ever Elon campaign, the university’s largest and most successful fundraising campaign to date, which was completed in December 2011.

Before joining Elon, Baker spent five { Brian Baker } years at the University of Louisville, first in athletics and then as associate director of development. He is a 2000 graduate of Wake Forest University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and minored in journalism. He lives in Burlington, N.C., with wife Katy and their two children, Jack and Andrew.

Sophomore mathematics majors Robin French, Jaime Morin and Stephanie Stanglin have been selected to participate in the Elon Noyce Scholars Program, which encourages talented science and mathematics majors to complete a teacher education program and earn teacher licensure in addition to their bachelor’s degree. Each of the students will receive a 21,900 scholarship during both their junior and senior years to pursue teaching licensure in mathematics.

Senior journalism majors Kassondra Cloos and Rachel Southmayd received funding from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to travel to Havana, Cuba, in January to complete a project on sustainable farming. The duo worked with Associate Professor Glenn Scott and Pulitzer Center reporters to edit their work, which will be featured on the Pulitzer Center’s website.

In November, seniors Rachel Wilson, Kelsey Van Dalfsen and Cecilia Smith were recognized at the Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemistry Society for their research presentations. Wilson was recognized for a best oral presentation, Van Dalfsen for best group oral presentation and Smith as runner-up for oral presentation.

{ David Goltz ’13 & Caroline Scalici ’13 }

Several seniors in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business won accolades this fall at national and international sales competitions. David Goltz and Caroline Scalici won the Overall Team Championship in November at the 2012 Russ Berrie Institute National Sales Challenge. Goltz was also named the Overall Individual Champion among 60 students, and placed second in the speed-selling event and first in the role-play event. Scalici placed in the top 10 in both events. In October, Caitlin Jones was named the overall champion at the International Collegiate Sales Competition.

The Elon team, which included Jones, Oliver Goddu, Nicholas Sissine and Lauren McKenzie, placed third in the team awards.

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PHOENIX SPORTS ▶ elonphoenix.com

FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE

BY GABRIELA SZEWCOW ’13

B

efore every game, the Elon men’s soccer team suits up in the locker room, waiting for the coach to give a pre-game speech. Their socks are labeled left and right, and each player is sure to place them on the correct feet.

Except for Chris Thomas. The senior forward just grabs his socks out of his bag and puts them on whichever foot feels right.

It’s a small superstition, but it seems to work for the Snellville, Ga. native, whose 23 goals and 51 points this past season have shattered all previous Phoenix records and made him the nation’s leading scorer.

That accomplishment earned him a spot as a semifinalist for the 2012 Hermann Trophy, All-American accolades from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, an invitation to the 2013 Adidas Major League Soccer Player Combine and a place on the 2012 Soccer America MVP teams, among other national recognitions.

But success did not come easy to Thomas.

While he knew he was a talented player, he struggled during his earlier college years to use his talent to achieve the overall goals of the team.

“Junior year, I was at my worst,” he recalls.

Though he scored 10 goals that season, he was disappointed in himself. “I let a lot of things get to my head.”

Thomas wasn’t starting, and it affected his attitude both on and off the field. After many talks with his coaches, he realized he wasn’t working hard enough and didn’t deserve to have a starting spot that year.

Determined to change that, Thomas made a complete turnaround and finished his final season with outstanding results.

“He wanted to make sure he performed very well his senior year,” Phoenix head soccer coach Darren Powell says. “He certainly has. It’s been exceptional. He’s not just good

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{ Senior striker Chris Thomas’ prolific 2012 campaign earned him several postseason accolades, including an invitation to the 2013 Adidas MLS Player Combine. }

on the field; his attitude and dedication off the field is the best he’s ever had.”

Thomas attributes much of his success to former soccer player and Elon alumnus Brad Franks ’11.

“We were on the way to the lake one weekend at the beginning of the summer and he told me that he wanted me to spend the summer working really hard, getting fit and working on my soccer skills,” Thomas recalls.

He took Franks’ advice to heart and shortly after was named the Southern Conference Player of the Month for both September and October. He has been the conference’s player of the week three times in the season.

Thomas talks to Franks all the time and sees him as an unofficial coach and mentor.

He also appreciates the support he receives from coaches, teammates, friends and his parents, who made the trip from Atlanta to attend as many games as they could.

Loyal fans have been there for him and the team, too.

“The crowds have been unbelievable and they’ve given us a lot of support,” Thomas says.

These days, thinking about team rather than individual accomplishments is how Thomas stays motivated.

“The first thing I do is to do whatever I can to help the team out,” he says. “Because when I try to do the right things for the team, things usually fall right into place on the field. And that’s usually when I find the ball right at my feet and I’m able to put it in the back of the net.”

Prospects of playing professionally are looking good. He was selected by the New England Revolution in January during the MLS Supplemental Draft, along with senior midfielder Gabe Latigue.

If playing soccer is not in the cards, Thomas plans to use his degree in sport and event management to work in a professional facility or for a sports team. He also has a little-known passion that he might turn into a job someday.

“I’m a big bowling person,” he says. “If everything else doesn’t work out, I’d like to be the manager of some kind of bowling alley.”

Thomas still has time to decide his next move. For now, he can bask in the glory of a successful season.

PHOENIX SPORTS

LACROSSE UPDATE:

What are your goals for the team?

Q&A WITH COACH JOSH HEXTER

For our student-athletes to have a great, well-rounded experience, so when they leave in four years, they’ll be prepared for the next step but can also look back and say “That was a great four years!” Hopefully along the way we’ll win a few championships as well.

BY CAITLIN O’DONNELL ’13

Elon University has added women’s lacrosse as the 17th varsity sport and 10th women’s athletic program on campus. Under the direction of head coach Josh Hexter and assistant coach Virginia Crotty, the team will start play in 2014 as part of the Atlantic Sun Conference.

How does women’s lacrosse fit at Elon?

The athletics department and Elon in general knew they wanted to add a female sport and when they looked at the demographics, lacrosse just made sense because there are many kids here already from New England and the mid-Atlantic area, which are two major hotbeds for lacrosse.

Any fun facts about the team?

In our 2013 class, we have players essentially from the entire Eastern Seaboard. I didn’t expect that. Lacrosse is such a small world that when you add a new program to the mix, everyone knows about it. Add Elon’s academic reputation, and you get a really hot program.

What can fans expect from the team?

We want to play a fun, fast, upbeat style of lacrosse. We’ll be aggressive, so we should be fun to watch!

How is recruitment going?

Recruiting has been great. There are 20 women coming in from the 2013 class who will essentially start the team. There are four players committed from the 2014 class but we’ll bring about eight or so total from that class. We’ll carry a roster size of about 33–34 women.

When does competition begin?

Our first conference match will be sometime in February 2014. Practice will start in September.

What’s your main concern right now?

Scheduling, making sure there are only five games for us this year. Furman and Mercer will be added in 2015 but there are 11 or 12 out-of-conference games to schedule.

Mellette receives honors Besides concluding the season with a league-leading 108 points and 18 receiving touchdowns, senior wide receiver Aaron Mellette became the first Elon football player to ever appear in the Senior Bowl, which has been played annually since 1950, and the second Phoenix to participate in a football all-star game

{ Cameron Silverman ’14 }

at the NCAA Division I level. The 2013 Senior Bowl was played on Mobile, Ala., on Jan. 26.

In addition, Mellette was a first-team All-Southern Conference selection by both the league’s coaches and media members and placed eighth in the voting for the Walter Payton Award, which is presented

annually to the top player in the Football Championship Subdivision. The Sanford, N.C., native also received All-American honors from the Walter Camp Football Foundation, the Associated Press, the American Football Coaches Association and The Sports Network/ Fathead.com.

IN THE ZONE

BY KEREN RIVAS ’

In November, Phoenix men’s tennis player Cameron Silverman achieved something no other player in the program’s history had done before: He was one of 32 players nationwide selected to compete at the U.S. Tennis Association/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (USTA/ITA) national indoor championships in New York.

While Silverman did not advance past the first round, the tournament was another highlight in an already impressive season for the junior from Mount Kisco, N.Y. During the ITA Carolina Regional tournament leading up to the national competition, Silverman defeated Duke University’s Henrique Cunha, who at the time was ranked 1 in the nation. He finished the 2012 season with an overall record of 12–5 and recently earned a  21 national ranking in singles.

Not bad for a player considered “talented but lazy” by some coaches during his freshman year.

“I didn’t take it as an insult because it was exactly true,” Silverman, a business marketing major, says. “My work ethic was not the best.”

Supported by his teammates and the coaching staff at Elon, Silverman gradually changed. He began working out and with the help of head tennis coach Michael Leonard, learned to better focus on his opponents to anticipate their next move.

“He is an unbelievable strategist,” Silverman says of Leonard.

When he returned to school last fall, he was ready to take on any challenge that came his way. After the win at the regionals, he says, “I felt I could beat anyone.”

That sense of confidence has energized the entire team.

“Playing on the big stage was a good experience for him,” Leonard says. “When he first got here, he was very laid back, he was a little bit unfocused. He has grown a lot and become a leader for the team.”

Teammate Chris Geaslen ’15 agrees.

“He’s our best player and sets the tone for what we are trying to do,” he says. “We are a young team, and he realizes it’s his role now to take control and lead.”

Silverman’s next goal is to help the team win the Southern Conference title and reach the NCAA tournament in the spring. On a personal level, he wants to continue surpassing expectations.

“I hope I’ve proven some coaches wrong,” he says. winter 2013 11

BY KATIE DEGRAFF

EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS Ben Evans never doubted what he wanted to be when he grew up.

A teacher. No question. But what to teach?

That, he says, is what college is for.

“I wanted my professor’s job,” he says. “I knew in high school that I wanted to make a career in academia, I just didn’t know in what exactly.”

It didn’t take him long to find out.

As a student at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn., Evans searched for his ideal discipline and found it in physics.

“It’s just the way I think,” he says. “I’ve always been curious about the way things work, why the universe operates the way it does. Physics is my language.”

After earning his undergraduate degree, Evans pursued doctoral studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He completed his doctorate and came to Elon in 2008 as an assistant professor of physics.

Since then, Evans, who in 2012 received the A.L. Hook Emerging Scholar Professorship in Science and Mathematics, has created the unexpected: a fully functioning graduate

{ Assistant Professor of Physics Ben Evans works with Elon undergraduate students in his fully functioning graduate lab. }

12 the magazine of elon

lab composed of undergraduates. Students spend years working with Evans as they identify research interests, collect and analyze data and carve out a niche in their respective fields.

They publish work in academic journals.

They present at international conferences.

They network with faculty at other universities as they prepare for graduate school.

“The key is finding students early so that they have multiple years to work on their research,” Evans says. “They’re working well beyond the requirements of a research course.

These are students who see this as part of their future.”

he lab is organized around Evans’ research in biomedical nanoscience, which focuses on using magnetic nanoparticles to develop new cancer treatments that could transform the way drugs are delivered to tumors and limit patients’ exposure to toxins.

His research forms the lab’s foundation but students dictate the direction of their own projects.

This year the lab has four graduating seniors. Next year will be something of a re-building year as Evans works closely with younger students to launch multi-year projects. And there’s no need for students to compromise their academic interest to fit the lab’s direction.

“Dr. Evans is open to anything,” says senior Julie Ronecker. “My research interest is in biochemistry but that was fine with him. We fed off of our excitement and combined our interests into a shared project.”

Ronecker is one of two Lumen Prize winners working with Evans. The Lumen Prize is Elon’s premier award supporting multi-year academic research and creative achievement.

Ronecker and fellow Lumen recipient Ali Deatsch, whose interest is in physics, joined the lab in their first year at Elon. Now, both are mentoring first-year students who will continue their work when they graduate in May. Two other seniors, Willem Prins, who focuses on biomedical engineering, and Mike Berg, whose specialty is biology, are working with Ronecker and Deatsch on the same nanoparticle, but exploring different applications of its use.

So what does this mean for Evans? A busier schedule.

“He has to do so much background work.

He has to read papers in our area of interest so that he can have an understanding of the

T

subject,” Ronecker says. “He has to know how to grade our work. Basically, he has to know more than us.”

Since receiving the Hook Professorship, which funds opportunities for faculty to mentor students and involve undergraduates in research, Evans says the nature of his work hasn’t changed but he’s been able to more easily fund the lab and travel opportunities.

He will hold the rotating professorship for three years.

A visit to the lab uncovers as many as 12 active projects. The students duck and weave around each other as they work. And every Monday they come together for an hourlong lab meeting to share the week’s progress and plot the next move.

It’s an informal affair. Evans high-fives students for their achievements, passes out pertinent academic articles and jots notes about reordering materials. Then it’s time for project reports.

Prins has just finished data collection and is ready to start writing for publication.

Deatsch’s new piece of equipment is in and she’s ready for the next stage of her research.

Ronecker recently went to Chapel Hill to use equipment at a UNC lab. She explains her results and Evans interjects with questions as she talks to clarify her findings.

He’s teaching them through his tone and his inquiries. After each student concludes his or her debriefing he asks, “So, what do you want to do next?” He offers suggestions but follows them up with, “You don’t have to agree.”

n addition to the weekly lab meeting, each student meets with Evans individually every week and countless emails, texts and impromptu chats pop up as the projects unfold. Evans and his wife, Beth, have hosted students for dinners in their home. The students know his children and conversations about life, politics and the future can be just as important as conversations they have with Evans related to research.

He’s also helping students build their networks by introducing them to members of his own graduate lab now working and teaching at institutions such as UNC-Chapel Hill and the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering in Greensboro, N.C. “What Ben is doing is both rare and important,” says Adam Hall, assistant professor of nanoscience at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. Hall and Evans met as doctoral students and are in the early

I

“I’ve always been curious about the way things work, why the universe operates the way it does.

Physics is my language.”

— Ben Evans

stages of collaborating on a research project that will bring together graduate students in the UNCG nanoscience program and Elon undergraduates.

“For a lot of scientists, it is just easier to concentrate on graduate students who will be sticking around for many years,” he says.

“Many people miss the fact that undergraduates often bring with them a level of excitement for the subject that can foster real innovation.”

Deatsch first connected with Hall when she traveled to Greensboro to review samples in a helium ion microscope. Since then, she’s also worked with two other colleagues Evans met in graduate school.

“Tapping into his network has already been useful to me,” she says. “It’s taught me the power of professional connections and I hope I can turn around and pass that on to others in the future.”

Deatsch and Evans will travel to Italy this spring for poster presentations. In February 2012, Evans traveled to San Diego with three students for the Biophysical Society’s annual meeting; they’ll go again this year when the meeting convenes in Philadelphia.

“That’s where it really clicks,” Evans says. “I watch them and I can see that they understand what they’re doing rises to the level of graduate and professional work.”

As the seniors roll toward graduation, Evans is working on three papers with three separate students. Soon they’ll graduate, but he anticipates the push toward publication will continue even after the students graduate.

What will they do when they leave Elon?

Graduate school. Medical school. Or perhaps a career in teaching. Long after they’ve left Elon, lessons learned in Evans’ lab will propel these students to success and very well could inspire them to share that knowledge with others, just as he did with them.

winter 2013 13

BY ROSELEE PAPANDREA

PAVING THE WAY The passing of the Civil Rights Act was still a year away. Seemingly peaceful protests for racial equality erupted in violence, and most universities, especially in North Carolina, hadn’t yet considered integrating.

It was 1963.

Aware of the civil unrest happening around the country, Glenda Phillips Hightower, at the time a senior at an all-black high school in Burlington, N.C., kept her focus narrow. She needed to get into college, one her family could afford.

“We were always told: ‘You must get an education because an education is the only thing that can’t be taken from you,’” Hightower says. “‘They can take your clothes.

They can take your car, but they can’t take what’s in your head.’”

A native of Alamance County, Hightower, 68, lived only about five miles from then-Elon College. Still, to a young black woman who grew up in the rural South, it was on the other side of the world—a very white world.

But when her principal told her officials at Elon wanted her to attend the college on scholarship, it was an appealing option. Brandeis University in Massachusetts made an offer, too. A bout with infectious hepatitis that almost took her life, and urging from her parents convinced Hightower to stick closer to home.

In the fall of 1963, Hightower started at Elon as the college’s first and, at that time, only full-time black student, unaware of the significance that decision was going to have on future generations of black students at Elon.

14 the magazine of elon

GETTING STARTED Despite the racial tumult and potential for danger, Hightower recalls no new-student jitters. Thoughts about whether others would accept her or make her feel comfortable were far from her mind.

“It wasn’t about whom I would encounter,” she says. “It was about getting an education.

I couldn’t afford to be nervous.”

A student affairs officer arranged for a seamless transition. Registering for classes, buying books and even attending classes on that very first day were uneventful. There weren’t any protestors or media present to document the momentous occasion.

“The university, without discussing it with me or making it known to me, had made an incredibly responsible and forward-looking decision to integrate Elon without drama, without violence and without trauma to anyone, including me,” she says.

At the time, Elon College, under the leadership of then-President J. Earl Danieley, was still part of the Southern Convention of the Congregational Christian Churches.

Other churches in the convention in the southeastern part of Virginia and in rural North Carolina were firmly against integration. On a national level, however, there was a push to begin that process.

Danieley’s friends in the national church encouraged him to begin admitting black students.

“I told them, ‘When Elon has a qualified

winter 2013 15

black applicant, I will admit that person,” he recalls.

When Hightower’s application arrived, Alfred Hassell, the admissions director at the time, brought it to Danieley’s attention.

“She had every qualification,” Danieley says. “I said to go ahead and admit her like he would anyone else without regard to color.”

Looking back, it was a bold move, though to Danieley, Hightower was just like any other Elon applicant, and he wanted her treated that way.

A DIVIDED WORLD At Elon, Hightower majored in pre-medicine.

Housing wasn’t offered but she was permitted to go anywhere on campus.

“Allowed? Yes. Welcome? That was another story,” she says.

For the most part, she avoided the cafeteria and the dorms, although she did visit some Northern girls after they seemed at ease conversing with her. However, after a couple of visits to their dorm, she was told not to return.

Racism—blatant or subtle—didn’t worry Hightower.

“I wasn’t afraid of coming to school or dreading that someone would call me the N-word,” she says. “I was worried that I couldn’t learn fast enough.”

A product of a poor, segregated high school where multiple students shared the same textbook, Hightower leaned on her love of research and ability to hold her own in deep discussions. Still, she often felt like she was in over her head.

{ A clarinetist netist in high school, Glenda Phillips Hightower wer (far right) joined Elon’s lon’s marching band shortly ortly after enrollingg in 1963. }

“I had a penchant for learning, but I was not as accomplished as my white counterparts at school,” she says.

Life at Elon was new and exciting. She can still hear the sound of her English literature professor speaking Gaelic. She smiles as she recalls the beret the college’s chaplain wore, tilted to one side, during chats they occasionally shared on the porch of the administration building.

A clarinetist in high school, she quickly joined the marching band. The band director, Jack O. White, offered her private bassoon lessons and went out of his way to make her feel welcome.

All the band members wore the same uniform and despite White’s attempts at

A YEAR OF FIRSTS

T

he year 1963 saw two significant events that marked the beginning of racial integration at Elon. In addition to enrolling Glenda Phillips Hightower as a full-time student that fall, earlier in the spring the school also admitted Paul deMontaigne to its evening program.

At the time, deMontaigne, a native of Martinique, was an instructor at Palmer Institute, an all-black school in Sedalia, N.C. (between Elon and Greensboro). He wanted to pursue a graduate degree and needed to complete a few undergraduate courses.

He applied to Elon and was admitted. According to Durward T. Stokes’ book, Elon College: Its History and Traditions, Earl Danieley, president at the time, was so concerned about possible repercussions that he accompanied deMontaigne to his first class, where he was accepted by his peers without incident.

When deMontaigne did not return to classes after the first day, Danieley went to Palmer Institute to find out why and learned deMontaigne couldn’t afford his tuition.

Danieley told him tuition wouldn’t be a problem and deMontaigne resumed his studies, thanks to several faculty members who paid for his fees. While neither Hightower nor deMontaigne graduated from Elon, they opened the door for other students, including Eugene E. Perry, who in 1969 became the first black student to graduate from Elon.

16 the magazine of elon

inclusivity, Hightower still stood out. A manager of a restaurant the band stopped at on the way home from a trip to East Carolina one night made that evident.

He put a shotgun on the counter, shouted “get that N out of here” and refused to serve her, Hightower recalls. Clearly bothered by the situation, White bought food and took it to her on the bus.

Hightower never forgot it. White didn’t either. The next day, unbeknownst to her, he showed up in Danieley’s office.

“He was fit to be tied,” Danieley says.

“The man had no racial feelings, and he couldn’t imagine why anybody would be ugly to this little girl. He was furious.”

Danieley felt limited in what he could do to rectify the situation, but he made a call to then-North Carolina Gov. Terry Sanford because he believed he was “forward thinking.”

In response, Sanford sent the person in charge of race relations in his office to the restaurant.

“He told that restaurant manager that he had embarrassed the state of North Carolina by failing to serve one of our students,” Danieley says.

TOUGH CHOICES Hightower faced other challenges due to the color of her skin, but it was her health (she fell ill with hepatitis again) and a boyfriend at home that led her to leave Elon in the middle of her sophomore year, a decision that still weighs heavy on her heart 50 years later.

“I disappointed my black community, my church and my parents,” she says. “I made them cry.”

The hepatitis frightened her. She thought she was going to die, and she was quite taken by the new boyfriend. They eloped. She quit school and moved to Washington, D.C. The conversation she had with Danieley about the decision to withdraw was pleasant but left an ache inside her.

“He said, ‘Maybe you’ll get better, and you don’t have to go,’” she recalls. “I think he was very much trying to be my advocate and protector. He reassured me that I was welcome to be on campus.”

To this day, Hightower holds Danieley in high regard.

“I love him now the same way I did then,” she says. “He’s a kind gentleman. He’s compassionate and sensitive.”

A young and fiercely independent woman, Hightower didn’t ask for help from Danieley or anyone else, though she quickly knew her choice had radically changed the course of her life.

“The instant I eloped with this guy, I wanted to snap my fingers and make it go away,” she says. “I couldn’t make it go away.”

The plan changed. Hightower’s desire for an education did not. Starting in January 1965, she enrolled in any course that fit in with her work schedule, first as a clerk typist and eventually as managing editor of a publishing company.

She divorced her husband after two years and 11 months and never remarried.

Her college credit hours from Federal City College, Howard, Georgetown and George

Washington universities slowly added up. She headed to the University of Iowa in 1974 to finally finish her degree.

Although she loved words and journalism was her passion, a lack of jobs determined the next path. She opted for the reasonable career choice.

“I needed a marketable degree,” she says.

“Someone said to go to nursing school. You can always get a job.”

Hightower spent her entire career working as a nurse for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Iowa and eventually in Durham, N.C. After her father was killed by a drunk driver in December 1975, she moved back to North Carolina to be closer to family. She retired from nursing in 1999 and currently works at a crisis center in Durham, where she lives.

COMING FULL CIRCLE Reflecting back, she wishes her career had warmed her heart more but recognizes the value in the work she did. “I saved a lot of lives,” she says. “I made major inroads. I’ve done something worthwhile.”

It’s taken much longer to reconcile those conflicting thoughts—and forgive herself— for the decision to leave Elon.

“I was ashamed of giving up my education and embarrassing my community,” she says.

“I didn’t want to talk about it. I couldn’t see the big picture.”

In 2002, she returned to campus after almost 40 years to take part in an event that has since been named the Phillips-Perry Black Excellence Awards in honor of her and

Eugene Perry, the first black student to graduate from Elon College in 1969.

She attended that banquet and two others since then but still held tight to the shame.

“What I did about Elon was deeply painful to me,” she says, adding that her father always said that an obstacle was just something to get around. “I was stopped. Elon changed my life forever.”

Fifty years later, it’s clear Hightower also changed Elon. Her yearbook photo hangs on the Wall of Fame, the focal point in the African American Resource Room in Elon’s Multicultural Center. The exhibit serves as both a history lesson and reminder of the role black students have played in the university’s success.

Hightower’s photo is first on the wall for a reason.

“She paved the way,” says Janice Ratliff, program assistant for student development and auxiliary services at Elon University.

Ratliff was on the committee that worked closely with L’Tanya Richmond, the university’s former multicultural affairs director who developed the resource room and Wall of Fame.

“The time she came to Elon was a tense time,” Ratliff says. “I can’t even fathom what that was like for Glenda coming to Elon as a freshman in college and dealing with all she had to deal with.”

Over the years, Ratliff has worked with many accomplished black students. Some of their photos also hang on the Wall of Fame—from Bryant Colson, the first black editor-in-chief of The Pendulum, Elon’s student newspaper, in 1978 to Akilah Weaver, the first black female student to serve as executive president of the Student Government Association in 2000. Each overcame barriers, making it easier for students who followed.

“I think Glenda was a brave young person,” Ratliff says. “Although she may not have been in tune with what was ahead for her, her presence at Elon was impactful.”

As Hightower’s heart softened with time, her feelings about her Elon experience—and the challenges she overcame to enable integration—have evolved. She now understands the impact it had on campus.

Creating an inclusive community that provides a comfortable campus climate for a diverse student body remains one of Elon University’s priorities, a well-worn path now and one Hightower helped pave 50 years ago.

“Even though I didn’t graduate, it made a difference,” she says. “I didn’t behave in a way that caused them to close the doors. It opened the doors some more for somebody else.”

winter 2013 17

IN HIS ELEMENT

BY EMMA JONES

T

he chatter of dozens of high school girls fills the room at St. Mary’s School in Raleigh, N.C. Supported by a cane, Chris Hendricks ’07 walks in, takes a seat and begins to sing, accompanied by guitarist Mark Mckee.

A minute later, the room is riveted, the girls clapping and bobbing their heads. Hendricks is completely engrossed. It’s clear he’s in his element.

Watching this scene, no one would know that when Hendricks was young, his parents were told he would probably never walk. It’s almost impossible to imagine that just a few years ago, Hendricks spent many of his days in a wheelchair.

His performance finishes to rousing applause from the girls. Hendricks leans in to the microphone. “I’m not here to inspire you,” he says quietly. “I’m just going to tell you a story, and you can take from it what you will.”

The story he tells is his own. Hendricks suffers from cerebral palsy, a disorder that can severely affect brain and nervous system function. But that hasn’t stopped him from aggressively pursuing his dream of being a musician, a dream he is actively realizing with his group, the Chris Hendricks Band.

It’s been a busy year for the band. Their nationwide tour included stops in New York, Arizona and California for a performance at the Los Angeles House of Blues. While on tour, Hendricks got to sit down with artists Dave Matthews and Ray LaMontagne, two major influences on his own music. More recently, Hendricks and his band mates—Mckee on lead guitar, Chad Lister on rhythm guitar, Michael Bare on bass and Saul Johnson on drums—have been in the studio recording their new EP, “Meant to Survive,” a fourtrack album released earlier this year.

18 the magazine of elon

Chris Hendricks ’07 talks to students at St. Mary’s School in Raleigh, N.C., after delivering an anti-bullying message as part of the Breaking Down Barriers program.

GETTING THERE Survival is a word Hendricks knows well.

As a child, Hendricks underwent a series of treatments and surgeries related to his cerebral palsy. He frequently needed a wheelchair and in high school weighed less than 90 pounds. He endured physical and verbal taunts from other students and still bears a scar underneath his chin, a wound opened three times by school bullies. Persistently ignored, harassed or underestimated, Hendricks spent most of his high school years very much alone.

“I could see in the eyes of the people around me that they were afraid of me,” he says, rubbing the scar. “But when I got picked on or beat up, it was a form of attention. At least someone acknowledged my existence that day.”

Hendricks saw college as an escape, a way to completely reinvent himself. Elon was the first school he visited.

“I walked on campus and I just knew,” he says. “This was the place for me. I wasn’t used to people being so welcoming. Everyone treated me like a person and seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. I couldn’t go down the sidewalk without someone saying hello.”

At Elon, Hendricks talked to everyone.

He wielded humor as a tool to boost his confidence. “I realized that if I could create comfort for myself, I could create comfort in others, and that’s how I was going to form relationships.”

He befriended a football player who introduced him to the gym, where he fell in love with exercise. He undertook a daily workout regimen that would put most athletes to shame: two hours in the gym, an hour of swimming and another hour of racquetball, a pursuit Hendricks still jokes about.

“Imagine a kid who can barely walk chasing a ball bouncing at 60 miles an hour around a room,” he laughs. “I guarantee you there’s a YouTube video of it somewhere with a million hits that I’m getting no credit for.”

Over the course of his freshman year, Hendricks underwent an astonishing transformation. He gained more than 50 pounds, mostly muscle from his intense workouts, and left his wheelchair behind.

With his own physical struggles and successes as fuel, Hendricks threw himself

into his studies as an exercise/sport science major and planned to become a pediatric physical therapist. He believed his personal experience with physical and social struggles would allow him to be not just a therapist for children, but a mentor as well.

That all changed his junior year when he first picked up a guitar. Through music, Hendricks found a new outlet for his thoughts and experiences.

“I was passionate about having a voice. I was passionate about having something to say. I realized my message didn’t apply just to people with disabilities,” he says. “It applied to everyone.”

While finishing his degree, he started playing at open mics and Battle of the Bands competitions. Slowly he started booking gigs, and the Chris Hendricks Band came into being. In 2011, Hendricks hit the big time when his single “Noise” was chosen as the theme song for the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers. And recently, many years after a childhood spent attending shows at the Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, N.C., with his dad, Hendricks performed there for a sold-out crowd along with popular band Delta Rae.

BEYOND THE MUSIC Though his music reflects his life—his battles and Herculean efforts to overcome them are apparent in his lyrics—singing wasn’t enough for Hendricks. He began to see instances of bullying in the news, stories about teenagers committing suicide after intense verbal and physical abuse by peers.

Suddenly, bullying became a buzzword.

“It’s like the adults woke up one day and said, ‘Hey! Bullying is happening! That’s bad!

We need to fix that!’” he shakes his head and says quietly. “But I can tell you from expe-

rience that it’s been happening for a long, long time.”

Wanting to do something about it, Hendricks started the Breaking Down Barriers program, which keeps the band busy with a packed schedule of events like the one at St. Mary’s School. They are reaching hundreds of elementary to high school students through a series of in-school presentations that weave performances of Hendricks’ pop-rockalternative music into an intensely personal delivery of his anti-bullying message.

Hendricks doesn’t walk into a room full of kids and tell them not to bully each other.

His delivery is much more nuanced. For him, it’s about encouraging students to find their own passion and drive. Hendricks found his through music.

“It took me a really long time to figure out that I mattered … that I mattered whether the people around me wanted me to or not,” he says.

Passion leads to confidence, and it’s a lot harder to be afraid of those who are different when you’re sure of your own identity, he adds. “People who picked on me grew up to be perfectly legitimate adults because they found themselves.”

Hendricks has certainly found himself in his music. His diagnosis has not closed a door, but instead served as a guide to his life’s work as a musician and educator. When asked where he sees himself in 10 years, he replies, “On the road! Touring, for sure.

Maybe overseas.”

But more importantly, he sees his disability taking a backseat.

“I see the music swallowing up everything else. The music and the message will be the same.”

Visit chrishendricksband.com to keep up with Hendricks and the band.

winter 2013 19

THE POWER OF NETWORKING

BY KEREN RIVAS ’04, DANIEL J. ANDERSON, & NATALIE ALLISON ’13

There was a time when good grades and a solid resume were all it took to achieve success after graduation.

READY TO GET INVOLVED? Let us know if you have a job or internship opportunity by contacting: Sarah Thomas ’05 G’07 associate director of corporate and employer relations in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business » sthomas@elon.edu » 336-278-5965 Lauren Limerick associate director of corporate and employer relations in Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences » llimerick@elon.edu » 336-278-6554 Tom Brinkley executive director of the Student Professional Development Center » tbrinkley@elon.edu » 336-278-7452

20 the magazine of elon

Today that’s no longer the case. Learning new software or conducting case studies in the classroom is not enough as employers are placing more emphasis on “real world” experiences—internships, externships, job shadowing—while decreasing oncampus recruitment and in-house training efforts.

“Unfortunately, a four-year degree is not enough to guarantee employment,” says Michael Rodriguez, an assistant professor of marketing in Elon’s Martha and Spencer Love School of Business.

“I always tell my students that projects they’ve done in class are not going to intrigue an employer, but what they’ve done outside the classroom will, because (those experiences) allow them to create and share a unique story about themselves.”

At colleges across the country, this has meant reinventing career services offices and engaging students in career exploration earlier rather than later. At Elon, it has resulted in the creation of the Student Professional Development Center, which includes the Office of Career Services and the Office of Corporate and Employer Relations. It has also led to the strengthening of alumni, parent and student networks.

“The ease of networking today, given the access to and availability of new technology, has increased access to one another,” says Tom Brinkley, executive director of the Student Professional Development Center. “Elon alumni, students, parents and friends of the university share a common bond that comes from their Elon experience, and they understand the value of connecting with each other.”

Elon is tapping into the power of these connections through programs such as The Elon Mentor Network, which allows students seeking advice and direction for internships and job opportunities to connect with Elon alumni and friends around the world. The Student Professional Development

Center is also developing stronger relationships with Elon affinity groups, such as the Young Alumni Council and Parents Council, which has taken on the challenge of identifying up to 50 new internships for Elon students.

“One of the strengths of universities is the relationships students forge with each other and faculty and staff. These relationships become hubs in a powerful network,” says Connie Book, associate provost for academic affairs and professor of communications. “At Elon we are also fortunate that parents and even grandparents are our networking partners, expanding what alumni and classmates can bring to the table.”

Brinkley says students are encouraged to develop a four-year career plan early in their college career. Among other things, this plan calls for students to meet a career adviser their first year, search for internships their sophomore year, study abroad their junior year and apply for jobs or graduate programs their senior year, all the while working on building a strong resume and preparing for job interviews.

Rodriguez says these activities are crucial if students want to be competitive and set themselves apart, adding that internships in particular are important because they provide experience, but also a way to build professional networks.

As demand for internships and job placement increases, alumni, parents and peer connections will continue making a difference in the success of Elon students in years to come.

“A powerful network is critical to our students’ future success and the future of the university,” Book says. “This network becomes leverage and places our stakeholders in the opportunities and challenges they desire and deserve.”

{ (l-r) Curtis Media Group President & COO Phil Zachary P’13 says his company has hired four Elon graduates in recent years, including Jamie O’Brien ’10 & Sydney Little ’10. }

The parent connection ith so many talented students entering the workforce each year, Elon parent Phil Zachary P’13 says the old adage that “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” cannot be truer these days.

That’s why he often keeps Elon graduates in mind whenever there is an internship or job opening at Curtis Media Group, the Raleigh, N.C.-based radio company where he serves as president and chief operating officer. In the past two years, his company has hired four Elon graduates.

Jamie O’Brien ’10 and Sydney Little ’10 are two of them. Both started with entry-level jobs but have taken on new duties after proving themselves to their supervisors.

“Once I got my foot in the door, the hours built up and I was given more responsibilities,” says O’Brien, a broadcast communications major who, after a year with the company, was given a full-time position as an on-air traffic reporter for Radio 96.1 WBBB. Little, a strategic communications major, started as a sales assistant but recently was promoted to assistant director of digital operations. She credits a prior internship at a record label in Raleigh for preparing her for life after Elon and allowing her to showcase her skills, which ultimately resulted in a strong recommendation when she applied for the Curtis Media job.

W

While Zachary knows firsthand how well prepared Elon students are for the workplace, he also knows they don’t always have the opportunity to show “the full Elon package” to potential employers who are being inundated by resumes.

That’s when professional connections—especially from parents—can make a difference.

“We all have contacts in the business world, friends or family, who could help current Elon students get internships or come to campus to foster relations to understand the type of institution Elon is,” says Zachary, a member of Elon’s Parents Council and chair of its career committee.

“It’s an investment of time and effort every parent needs to make.”

Claudia Jepsen P’15 ’16, executive director of marketing and brand development for This Old House Ventures, a division of Time Warner, says parents are Elon’s best advocates. She learned about the school through a coworker. After falling in love with the campus during a visit, she soon became an Elon parent and a fierce supporter of the university.

Recently invited to join Elon’s School of Communications Advisory Board, she offers her experience to students and often calls the human resources directors at Time Warner’s various divisions to find out about job or internship openings and get advice on how students can best

navigate the hunt. She says students need all the help they can get to distinguish themselves when competing with hundreds of applicants.

“The goal is to make the HR people familiar with the school,” she says. “I’ve never met most of them, but if you just pick up the phone at your own company, people will answer. If every parent did the same, we’d create a powerful network of opportunity for Elon students seeking work and internships.”

Anthony Sirabella P’14 and Elias Rauch P’15 are also working to create opportunities for Elon graduates and boost the university’s reputation in the Northeast.

Both are members of the Parents Council.

Elon’s alumni base is still young when compared with larger institutions, Sirabella says, which means parents can play an important role in getting the word out about the university. “I always talk to people at other businesses and ask, ‘Would you happen to have an opening for a business student coming out of a liberal arts school?’”

Last year, during a casual conversation with the head of human resources at the New York-based online retailer Bluefly Inc., he asked that question. When the person said yes, Sirabella immediately contacted Elon. As a result of that exchange, Elon senior Hope Williams, a marketing major, landed an internship last summer

winter 2013 21

doing email marketing for the company.

“That is the art of networking, of creating a connection, whether with someone you just met or a longtime friend,” Sirabella says.

Rauch, chief investment officer with Gitterman & Associates Wealth Management in New Jersey, came to campus last fall to interview students for a paid winter internship at his firm. He has taken interns from other universities in the past and wanted to give Elon students that opportunity. His goal, he says, is to expose businesses in the New York-New Jersey area to Elon students and to give those students access to a network that’s taken him 30 years to develop.

He also wants to lead the way and show other parents a different way to be involved.

“At this stage, parents have the assets,” he says. “I need to show my son and other Elon students that they are going to have to take the baton from me and do the same thing” for future generations of Elon students.

Helping ‘brothers and sisters’ succeed or many students, the key to a successful career is just getting their foot in the door, and for a growing number of students, that door is opened by Elon alumni.

Kristin Hegel ’06 is a one-woman career center for Elon students at FremantleMedia, one of the world’s largest producers and distributors of entertainment. She is associate manager for creative services and has guided more than 20 students in the Elon in Los Angeles program to internships at the company’s North American headquarters in Burbank, Calif. She has developed a strong pipeline to the company’s human resources office over the years.

“I get so much amazing feedback from the HR department and the actual departments they’re interning with,” Hegel says. “Elon people are hard working, dedicated and smart. HR loves them—they’re a different class of people.”

Every student participating in the Elon in LA program is required to complete an internship, so the demand for placements in professional settings is a big challenge.

F

Hegel and many other committed alumni form a powerful and growing Elon network that make the program work.

Hegel says she loves to help Elon students build their professional networks because she remembers how tough it was to get started in Los Angeles on her own. Among those she has helped is fellow alumna Andrea Bernick ’11, who is the executive assistant to FremantleMedia’s president for Kids & Family Entertainment division.

“I sent Kristin my resume and told her I was really interested in a position,” Bernick recalls.

“I kept in contact with her throughout my interview process. I asked her questions and she helped prep me for my interview and gave me the guidance I needed to get familiar with the company.”

After Bernick got the job, Hegel took her to lunch and introduced her to others at the office. It wasn’t long before Bernick was in a position to help Elon students get internships at the company.

“It’s really awesome because we all look out for each other,” Bernick says. “There are so many people who work in reality television

WHY NETWORKING MATTERS According to a Class of 2012 survey conducted three months after graduation by the Office of Career Services at Elon …

%

of respondents reported they were enrolled in graduate or professional programs

22 the magazine of elon

%

of respondents reported they were employed …

%

%

%

obtained the job lead through an internship

obtained the job lead through family or friends

obtained the job lead through Elon alumni

and of those reporting employment

« { Kristin Hegel ’06 & Andrea Bernick ’11, front, have served as career mentors for fellow alumni Chris Bosak ’13 & Brittany Barbieri ’13 at FremantleMedia in California. }

and we’re always bouncing ideas off of each other and trading information about agents and what our next projects are. It’s like we’re a bunch of brothers and sisters who want to help each other succeed. It’s a community.”

Bernick says the Elon alumni network in California is raising the university’s profile and reputation on the West Coast.

“Out here, Elon is no longer that little school in North Carolina that no one has heard about. In this industry, it’s starting to become well known,” she adds. “When people hear you went to Elon they’re willing to hire you because they’ve had all these great interns.”

Across town at Original Productions, 2012 graduates Liv Dubendorf and Clint Edmondson credit alumna Michelle Niland ’03, a co-executive producer at the production company, for arranging internships that later turned into full-time positions as story producers.

In turn, Dubendorf and Edmondson recommended Sean Glynn ’11 for an internship and Andy Hurst ’12 for a full-time position.

“When you get to this point, you’re thinking about the future and where you’re going,” Edmondson says. “When you see someone who has made that trek and done so well with it, it puts the creeping insecurities to rest.”

Dick Schulz ’11, a unit production manager at the video website “What’s Trending,” got his start with the help of a fellow Elon alumnus and soon after hired two Elon students as interns at the company.

“I wasn’t the greatest high school student and somehow I got into Elon and grew so much,” Schulz says. “I became so much of a different person that I feel like I really owe it to Elon to do my best to help today’s students.”

Schulz says the students return the favor by being great assets in the workplace.

“It’s incredible when an intern comes in. Even if their ideas aren’t especially groundbreaking, they definitely are a breath of fresh air,” Schulz says. “They make us think in different ways.”

BEYOND THE NETWORK I’ve been lucky during my time as an Elon student. An internship at a local Merrill Lynch office following freshman year set me up to obtain a position with Ferrell Capital Management in Greenwich, Conn., the following year.

The experience I gained in these two positions helped me attain the ever-important junior-year internship at Ernst & Young in their Charlotte, N.C. office, which fortunately for me, has led to a job following graduation in a very shaky economy.

As good as all this sounds, the luckiest part is not that I was selected for those positions. It’s that I could accept them because I had somewhere to live.

All too often, students are restricted in the opportunities they can embrace by something as simple as location. Sure, some students have an uncle in Manhattan or a high school buddy in Chicago. I, for one, live in Southern Delaware, home to approximately zero substantial corporate offices, and the majority of my small family lives, I’m sorry to say, nowhere close to any area where I would want to work.

When I worked in Greenwich, my girlfriend’s childhood friend’s family hosted me. This past summer in Charlotte, my

aunt’s best friend from high school opened her door to me.

These connections were every bit as important as obtaining the summer position and opportunities like this can make or break a student’s future. Many internships are unpaid and without a wealthy donation from Mom and Dad, Inc. or Grandparents, LLC, a realistic housing opportunity just isn’t available.

For those parents and alumni who offer employment or internship opportunities for Elon students, we owe you huge thanks. If your company can’t offer an Elon student a position, I suggest you consider housing an Elon student for the summer or a semester. You could be the difference in a student’s decision to accept an incredible offer or head home for the summer.

In the past two years, I’ve lived with three different families (including one when I was abroad) who generously threw caution to the wind and took a chance on me. In all cases, I walked away with friends, mentors and lifelong connections. The most important door you might be able to open isn’t the one to your office but to your home.

David Campbell is a senior from Milton, Del., majoring in accounting and finance.

Making connections on campus hen Mike Nowak ’11, a finance and entrepreneurship major, began searching for jobs, he soon noticed a gap between his and other students’ dream positions and the contacts they needed to secure those jobs.

But with thousands of Elon students who have held internships and parents with a range of employers, Nowak knew there was a large network most Elon students hadn’t tapped into.

“I knew there were a lot of parents of students who had affiliations with the employers students wanted,” Nowak says. “The goal was then to connect those students who wanted certain jobs and internships with the students who had those jobs and internships or who had connections to them.”

After working on the idea for roughly 1½ years, Nowak launched The Elon Network in 2011.

“I hated how networking events were usually run,” he says. “Everyone dresses up, looking the same, and is thrown into a room and has to make sense of who is there. By the end of the night, you’ve spent an hour trying to find someone who does something that interests you.”

The Elon Network’s solution? Student representatives wear color-coded T-shirts, according to the industry in which they have connections. That way students, with the help of greeters around the room, can easily find people with the connections they need.

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Brian Serow ’12, a marketing and entrepreneurship major who directed the event last year, says students involved in planning the event have begun to encourage broader networking—beyond securing one particular job or internship—to build longerlasting connections.

The event, now in its third year, is scheduled for April 16. Welsford Bishopric ’14, who is leading the efforts this year, became involved after attending the event his freshman year.

“I was blown away by what I saw. People who normally wouldn’t interact within our Elon bubble were working together to learn about and advance their careers,” says Bishopric, who plans on landing a job in investment banking. “The career I am pursuing is one that is known for being hard to break into, and I knew how frustrating that could be for students in similar situations.”

Tom Vecchione, executive director of Elon University’s Office of Career Services, says his office has supported students’ initiatives with The Elon Network from the beginning, seeing peer-to-peer networking as an effective tool for students.

“We know it’s a prime opportunity and an easier way to network,” Vecchione says.

“It’s a safer way in general to do it. It’s much easier to go to someone your own age or a couple years ahead of you when you’re looking for a job.”

winter 2013 23

ALUMNI ACTION

EXPANDING YOUR NETWORK Dear Elon alumni,

O

n behalf of the Elon Alumni Board, I would like to thank alumni, parents and friends who came together in January for National Networking Week.

Events were held by chapters in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charleston, Charlotte, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York City, Philadelphia, Richmond, Seattle, North Carolina’s Triangle and Triad and Washington, D.C. These gatherings presented an amazing opportunity for alumni to connect in cities around the country.

While networking has been around for a very long time, the concept has dramatically evolved in recent years through the advent of social media, which allows people to make multiple connections simultaneously rather than one at a time. And while social media is an excellent tool to build contacts, it will never replace personal contact and topflight communication skills. To excel at networking, you need to be good at both. { John Hill ’76 } Using networking effectively can have a remarkable impact on your professional and personal life. The key is to understand that networking is more about giving than getting. You will be amazed at how your networks will expand if you share your expertise and lend a hand and open a door to others.

As alumni, our love for Elon is a common bond that provides a natural opportunity to connect. There are more than 30,000 Elon alumni in our network and when you consider parents, friends and professional connections, the number is much higher.

We are currently launching a massive and energized campaign to engage our alumni. Programs such as the National Networking Week, Elon Mentor Network and other tools already in place are making it easier for alumni to expand their networks.

Now is the time to jump on board.

We encourage you to consider connecting with us on LinkedIn or through Facebook, joining a mentoring network, contacting Elon’s Office of Corporate and Employee Relations to share internship or job opportunities at your company, or attending an upcoming chapter meeting or event.

The possibilities to grow your personal and professional network are endless. We can’t wait for you to be an active part of the Elon network.

John Hill ’76 President, Elon Alumni Board

24 the magazine of elon

Thank you Elon alumni for a successful Homecoming 2012!

More than 1,200 alumni returned to campus Oct. 19–21 to celebrate their Elon heritage and participate in the more than 100 events the Elon Alumni Association planned for graduates and their families. Some of the highlights of the weekend include: » Members of the Class of 1962 celebrated their 50th class reunion by making a gift to their alma mater.

» The Elon Black Alumni Network honored outstanding alumni Frank Haith ’88, L’Tanya Richmond ’87 and Melissa Jordan ’04 during the Black Alumni Scholarship Gala. » The Elon LGBTQIA Alumni Network hosted several inaugural events to celebrate diversity and honored three leaders who are making a difference on campus and the community at large: Kirstin Ringelberg, Elic Senter ’99 and Lowry Sinclair ’65.

To see photos from Homecoming weekend, including some submitted via Instagram, see the inside back cover or visit elon.edu/magazine.

We’re inviting alumni to join us this April in making a difference in communities near and far as part of Elon’s nationwide month of service. » Take part in one of the many activities sponsored by Elon’s regional alumni chapters and clubs. » You can also register your own service activity at elon.edu/riseupandserve. » If you register at least three weeks in advance of your service project, the Alumni Association will send you a free T-shirt for you and any guests who join you in service. » After you’ve completed your project, post a story, photo or both on the Elon Alumni Association Facebook page to let others know about the impact you’ve made.

For more information, go to elon.edu/riseupandserve or call the Alumni Association at (877) 784-3566.

ALUMNI ACTION

UPCOMING EVENTS Saturday, April 20 The Young Alumni Council will celebrate the accomplishments of 10 talented young alumni during a Top 10 Under 10 banquet.

Congratulations to the 2012 alumni award recipients The Elon Alumni Association recognized four graduates for professional achievement, community service and contributions to Elon during an Oct. 20 ceremony. » Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award Christopher P. Martin ’78 P’13 » Young Alumna of the Year Award Alexandra E. Ellis ’05

The awards will be given to alumni who have recently enjoyed major professional success, made a difference in their communities or been loyal supporters of Elon and graduated from the undergraduate programs from 2002 to 2012.

Questions? Contact Colleen Cooper ’08, coordinator of young alumni and student engagement, at ccooper4@elon.edu.

A call for volunteers Are you interested in volunteering for your Homecoming 2013 affinity or class reunion? Let us know!

Below are all the groups and classes celebrating their milestone reunions Nov. 8–10 during the 125th Homecoming celebration.

Class Reunions 1963 » 50th reunion 1968 » 45th reunion 1973 » 40th reunion 1978 » 35th reunion 1983 » 30th reunion 1988 » 25th reunion 1993 » 20th reunion 1998 » 15th reunion 2003 » 10th reunion 2008 » 5th reunion Please contact Jozi Snowberger ’07, associate director of annual giving, at jsnowberger@elon.edu if you are interested in serving as a class reunion volunteer.

» Young Alumnus of the Year Award Michael G. Long ’04

Weekend of April 26–27

» Distinguished Alumna of the Year Award A. Christine Baker G’88

The Elon Black Alumni Network will host a Black Alumni Summit.

Affinity Reunions

The summit will kick off Friday with a golf tournament and conclude on Saturday with the annual Phillips-Perry Black Excellence Awards Banquet.

Kappa Sigma 40th Reunion

A new tradition: Alumni Family Visit Day

For more information about the summit, contact Durice White ’09, assistant director of alumni engagement, at dwhite15@elon.edu.

Alpha Xi Delta 20th Reunion

Habitat for Humanity/Elon Volunteers!

25th Reunion Omega Psi Phi 30th Reunion Sigma Kappa 15th Reunion Sigma Phi Epsilon 40th Reunion

More than 70 people attended the inaugural Alumni Family Visit Day on Nov. 10. The event included campus bus tours, a tailgate festival with entertainment for the entire family, tickets for the Elon vs. Samford football game and dinner. Sad you missed this opportunity to reconnect with your fellow alumni? Don’t fret. The Alumni Association is hosting a Spring Alumni Family Visit Day on May 11. Save the date! For more information, contact the Office of Alumni Engagement at alumni@elon.edu.

Did you know?

Alumni can receive an @elon.edu email account through Gmail and stay connected to their alma mater.

Interested? Contact the Office of Alumni Engagement at alumni@elon.edu.

Sport & Event Management Society 10th Reunion Tau Kappa Epsilon 45th Reunion Zeta Phi Beta 20th Reunion Please contact Hillary Bruce ’08, coordinator of alumni engagement – affinity programs, at hbruce@elon.edu if you are interested in serving as an affinity reunion volunteer.

winter 2013 25

2

with the chapter since moving

said Barton, who has been active

to a wide range of our members,”

chapter plans activities that appeal

their own version. “Our alumni

organized Seattle-area alumni for a game of bowling at The Garage in Capitol Hill.

event. Kaitlin Griffith ’08 was one of the lucky winners! Seattle: Marty Kelly ’08

Chapter Co-President Michelle Foley ’08 helped raffle off Elon prizes at a Nov. 8 social

food to be distributed to those in need in the greater Philadelphia area. Richmond:

families joined forces Nov. 17 to volunteer with the share Food Program and package

Charlotte alumni to reconnect in a different setting.” Philadelphia: Alumni and their

to the Queen City after graduation. “The painting event was a great opportunity for

1

’09, attendees used a rendering of the statue by a professional artist as a guide to paint

Stadium. As part of the event organized by chapter board member Allison Barton

art studio to paint a familiar scene: the Phoenix Rising statue that overlooks Rhodes

Charlotte: This fall, members of Elon’s Charlotte alumni chapter gathered at a local

Chapter happenings

4

3

ALUMNI  Richmond  Seattle  Charlotte  Philadelphia

ON THE TOWN

ALUMNI ACTION

Oct. 9. Boston: Dave Porter P’12 headlined the Nov. 2 event at Boston College Club.

update on the faculty/student experience at the home of Bill ’68 and Marsha Herbert on

global economy. Charlottesville: Associate Professor of History Charles Irons gave an

Sept. 20 event at the Metropolitan Club included panels on the business of Broadway and the

for Elon events in three cities. Look for spring events happening near you! New York: The

Alumni, parents and friends enjoyed a night with President Leo M. Lambert as part of Evening

An evening to remember

go to elon.edu/alumni.

cities. For future chapter or club events

connect to the Elon network in their

Charleston, Charlotte, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York City, Philadelphia, Richmond, Seatle, North Carolina’s Triangle and Triad and Washington, D.C. We hope all alumni were able to

in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston,

Week. Events were held by chapters

To keep up with spring events in your area, go to elon.edu/alumni.

Elon vs. Columbia • Dec. 22

» NYC Basketball Gamewatch

Elon vs. Duke • Dec. 20

» Washington, D.C. Basketball Gamewatch

Elon vs. Samford • Nov. 10

» Atlanta Football Gamewatch & BBQ

Elon vs. Citadel • Nov. 3 (picture below)

» Charleston Tailgate & Football Game

Homecoming Game Watch • Oct. 20

» NYC Football Gamewatch

Elon vs. Appalachian State • Oct. 6

» Triangle Football Gamewatch

Elon vs. UNC • Sept. 1

» Washington, D.C., Football Gamewatch

January for National Networking

country who came together in

Elon alumni across the country came together to cheer on the Phoenix in the fall.

PHOENIX PRIDE

and friends in cities around the

Thanks to all the graduates, parents

National Networking Week

CLASS NOTES

Dorothy Williams Darden and husband David Darden, Sr. ’50 have been married for 66

 What do

you love about Elon?

The colonnades and squirrels?

College Coffee? Friends or soul mates met under the oaks?

In honor of the university’s 125th anniversary celebration, which kicks off this fall, we are compiling a list of 125 things you love most about your alma mater.

Mail us your entries, including photos, or submit them online at elon.edu/magazine. Don’t forget to include your class year!

years and are now retired and living in the Veterans Apartments in Suffolk, Va. They have five children, nine grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. David says Dr. Reynolds and Dr. Smith greatly impacted his career at Elon. ■ Violet Blackmon Peele shares her favorite Elon memory: singing in a rendition of Handel’s “The Messiah” in the Elon Choir.

She is especially grateful to professors Fletcher Moore and John Westmoreland for making her Elon experience so special. Now retired and living in Oklahoma City, Violet enjoys reading The Magazine of Elon and encourages students to “finish the course.”

Marion B. Chase, Jr. says his Elon years are a “long happy memory.” He fondly remembers the after-dinner piano listenings in West Dorm and thanks Dean Bowden, professor Stewart in the accounting department, Mr. & Mrs. Howell in the business department, Carl and Louis Allen, and roommate Charles Tedder for making his time at Elon special.

He encourages students to work hard and not to get discouraged.



 Jeanette Oldham ’52 & Dalton F. Oldham

attorney, learned to be honest, work hard and be kind to all people while studying at Elon.

Dean Bowden played a special part in his time at Elon, and he particularly remembers the Christmas parties held for the children at the Christian Orphanage. “Work hard, be a good citizen and respect [your] parents, have faith,” Jack says to today’s students.

Robert Lee Daniel, Sr. thanks Elon for his education and allowing him to live the American Dream. A retired dentist, Robert now manages real estate and enjoys traveling with his wife, Shirley Williams Daniel. His favorite memories of Elon include the friendships he made here. He says Dr. Earl Danieley and Dr. Albert Coble, also a classmate in dental school at the University of North Carolina, greatly influenced him. While at Elon, carpooling to Bible studies secured his faith. He encourages current students to “listen to your professors, but learn the facts for yourself.”



Gail Campbell Allcock ’67 (r)

Debbie Jones Bise ’75, Ricky E. Bise ’77 & daughter Lindsey

28 the magazine of elon

Jack A. Moody, a retired



George G. Shackelford is



Jeanette D. Wilson Oldham



Jane Boone McGavran is en-

now retired after spending 43 years in education. George thanks Elon for providing him with an education for life and fondly remembers the friendliness of the people on campus including many students as well as professor Paul Reddish, Dr. Jet Pierce and Dr. Ferris Reynolds. He shares this advice to students: “Be friendly to all.

Study hard. Enjoy learning.” and Dalton Fairfax Oldham celebrated 60 years of marriage on 8/8/12. While her husband served for 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, Jeanette worked at the YMCA for 30 years, teaching swimming lessons and winning 10 medals for swim meets.

joying life and is thankful for each day, as she continues to experience “reasonably good health.”

Happy about Elon’s continued progress, Jane fondly remembers her graduation and treasures Dr. Hook, Dr. Sloan, her French and English professors, Dr. Howell, Dr. Barney and Lila Newman. She encourages current students to work hard, don’t give up, be healthy and enthusiastic. ■ James R. Rhodes, retired, now volunteers with Urban Ministry and Mobile Meals, sings in his church’s choir and participates in various committees. He fondly remembers Fletcher Moore, John Westmoreland, A.L. Hook, Dr. Avizonis and Dr. Reynolds, who made his time at Elon special. While at Elon, he sang in the college choir and directed the band. He also recalls when the entire college was within the brick walls and the field house being built, which was the first building outside these walls. To students, he encourages to concentrate on academics: “Take and pass courses.

That will prepare you to be an asset to society, not a liability!”

For 35 years, William Lewis Robertson taught in high school, served as athletics director and coached high school sports, including football, baseball, basketball, tennis and track. He is proud of his many players who went on to play college sports. He fondly remembers Dr. Danieley and coach Doc Mathis, who gave him a full scholarship to play sports at Elon. A member of the



Elon Phoenix Club, William supports Elon sports and attends all basketball, football and baseball games. He encourages today’s students to plan for the future, seek knowledge and be positive. ■ Wayne F. Vestal says Elon prepared him well for a career in education.

Now retired, Wayne volunteers, sings in his church choir and plays golf. He and his wife, Betty J. Davis Vestal, enjoy their grandchildren.

Among his favorite Elon memories are trips with the Elon Choir, playing in the band, living in East Dorm and participating in intramural sports. He remembers Dr. Earl Danieley, Dr. Cunningham in the history department, John Westmoreland from choir and the “guys in East Dorm.” To today’s students, Wayne shares: “Take advantage of the opportunity of a firstclass education and savor all the aspects of the college experience.”

Sylvia Smith Burgess cherishes the friendships she made while at Elon, which are “still as strong as ever,” and the relationships she had with Dean Danieley and John Graves. Though retired, Sylvia volunteers in her church and community, loves to visit Elon’s beautiful campus, and tell others about the high-quality education Elon offers. On occasions, Sylvia can be caught wearing her golden alumni medallion and Elon T-shirt. She encourages students to “take advantage of all the wonderful studies and extracurricular activities such as Student Christian Association, choir and services projects.”





Mary Anne Thomas Johnston,

retired from working at a travel agency and teaching, now lives at the Village at Brookwood in Burlington, N.C., with her husband, Leslie C. Johnston ’57. She fondly remembers touring with the choir during springtime to New England and New York City, and her favorite Elon memory is meeting her husband. Fellow music students Jerry Smyre ’56, Nannette Matchan Smyre ’56, Jackey Love Ginn and Ann Wilson Williams, and professors Fletcher Moore, Ferris Reynolds and Jonathan Sweat also made her Elon experience special. Many of her family members play active roles on Elon committees, and with her family, she established a scholarship in her husband’s

CLASS NOTES

memory for golf and tennis. Mary Anne encourages students to “enjoy all the wonderful activities which bring you closer to fellow students. You will be making some lifelong friends.” ■ Allen J. Martin, Jr. is now retired yet has many memories of Elon, including the mid-morning break in the student union and volunteering as a Big Brother at the Elon Homes for Children. Classmates, Professor H.H. Cunningham, for whom he has established a scholarship, and Dr. Earl Danieley, who still remains a close friend, made a great impact on Allen’s life. He attends campus activities often and would do more if he lived nearby.

He is also a member of the Order of the Oak and has a plaque with his name in Whitley Auditorium’s lobby. Allen offers these words of wisdom to current students: “Enjoy your experience. Make long-lasting friendships. Look forward to each copy of the magazine. Remember Elon in your will.

Enjoy the beauty of the campus. To me, it is overwhelming compared to the ’50s when I was there.”



Peggy J. Harrison Thompson

taught eighth grade North Carolina history in Beaufort County Schools, and now retired, she enjoys traveling. Her favorite Elon memories include the May Day Celebration in 1956, when she and five other first-year girls did the Charleston, and Homecoming in 1955, when Ladies Hall was decorated and earned honorable mention. She mentions that living in Ladies Hall was an experience.

J. Earl Danieley, whom she kept up with through 1991–92 when her daughter, Jennifer, attended Elon, and John Foster West, for whom she babysat and whose daughter later babysat for her children, made her Elon experience special.

Additionally, Elon still plays a role in her life today when she occasionally hears from fellow classmates. She also met and married her now-deceased husband, Gary Boyd Thompson ’61, while at Elon.

Richard C. Cecil, Jr. says Elon saved him, just as it did his classmate, the late Al Capuano (see Capuano’s class note in the magazine’s summer installment).

At the end of his school year in 1956, Richard decided to leave the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and enlist in the U.S.



Army. Before doing so, he went to Elon and asked if he could transfer after his Army tour. In 1958, while in Korea with three months left, he applied for early release in order to attend Elon’s summer session.

Elon recommended this decision and the Army approved it. Richard finished his degree in business administration during the summer of 1960, and in 1962, he changed his career to education. With the G.I. Bill, Richard received his masters’ degree and advanced diploma in counselor education from the University of Virginia. ■ Katherine C. Hughes Elder retired from teaching and is now very active in her church. She fondly remembers belonging to a sorority at Elon and participating in day student activities. Tessie Taylor, her shorthand teacher, and Frances Longest, her typing teacher in high school and at Elon, played significant roles in Katherine’s life. She moved back to Elon years ago, and now her grandson is a second-year student at Elon. Katherine encourages students “to study and participate in student activities.” ■ Rebecca “Becky” Hatch Tucker and her husband, George M. Tucker, who married at the First Congregational Christian Church in Burlington, N.C., celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on 11/25/12. ■ Edward C. Wilson, married to Nancy A. Hudson, is now retired and is writing and preaching. He is amazed by Elon’s growth—not only in numbers, but also in academics. John S. Graves and Ferris Reynolds made his Elon experience special. He stays connected to his alma mater through a planned giving contribution. Edward remarks that students should “make for some happy memories while making the world larger than your own heart; look to the interests of others.”



Clyde “Ted” L. Fields, Jr.,

now retired, remembers the “panty raid in the women’s dorm.”

Dr. Earl Danieley and Professor Reynolds made his Elon experience special. His parents also lived in Elon, and his father, Dr. Clyde Fields, was in fundraising after he retired from the ministry. He suggests to current students to “study hard, make friends: they could be of tremendous value after graduation.” ■ Victor Harvey Hoffman is the retired father of Joseph

{ Students work in a science lab in Duke Building during the 1960s. }

CHARITABLE GIFT ANNUITIES CAN PROVIDE INCOME FOR LIFE a charitable gift annuity of $10,000 or more to Elon will guarantee you a fixed income for the rest of your life. With market interest rates near historic lows, a gift annuity is an attractive way for you to increase your income and make a gift to Elon at the same time. You will receive immediate tax benefits and can defer capital gains. The payment rate of a charitable gift annuity depends on your age at the time of the gift—the older you are, the higher the rate.

rates as of january ,  ONE BENEFICIARY

T WO BENEFICIARIE S

AG E

ANNUIT Y R ATE

AG E

ANNUIT Y R ATE

60 65 70

4.4% 4.7% 5.1%

60/65 67/67 71/73

4.0% 4.4% 4.7%

Annuity rates are subject to change. The annuity rate remains fixed once your gift is made.

To calculate a gift annuity for you, your spouse or a family member, visit elon.plannedgiving.org.

Talk with us today about how you may benefit from a life income gift to Elon and other gift planning opportunities. please contact: Carolyn DeFrancesco, Director of Planned Giving (336) 278-7454 • cdefrancesco@elon.edu • elon.plannedgiving.org

winter 2013 29

CLASS NOTES

Paul Hoffman ’90. He says: “At my age there ain’t no memory!

Actually too many to relate here,” suggesting Elon was a very special time of his life. Dr. Ferris E. Reynolds contributed to his Elon experience. Victor has moved to be closer to campus, and he enjoys many Elon functions. To current students he says, “Think! Have an open mind.” ■ Charles “Charlie” B. Rayburn is now retired, and fondly remembers math classes and football at Elon. He thanks Elon for his education and “jobs for life,” including being a high school math teacher and football coach

for 30 years. He also is grateful to Elon for his former wife, Bonnie L. Rayburn ’61, and their children continue to have a special place in his heart. To current students, Charlie says, “Elon gives you the key to life and success—you need to open the door.”



Robert D. Stanco ’62 received

honorary membership in the Georgia Veterinarian Medical Association after working 50 years as a veterinarian sales representative. He lives in Marietta, Ga.



Mary Coolidge Ruth and Bill Ruth participated in the 2012



Gail Campbell Allcock, a



Noel Allen, founding partner



James R. Bowman has retired



Debbie Jones Bise, a retired

Photo courtesy of Capt. Jane Campbell, U.S. Navy Director of Press Operations.

Graham (N.C.) Hydrocephalus Association WALK in October for a cause near and dear to their hearts.

Their granddaughter, Ashley, was born with hydrocephalus in 2003 and is now in the third grade. They are proud of Ashley’s “can do” spirit and “her parents’ attentiveness to her challenges.”

A cheerful group of Elon University alumni, including several members of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, gathered Sept. 14 at The Virginia House on Norfolk Naval Base to witness Vice Adm. William E. Gortney ’77 receive his promotion to four-star admiral. Following the ceremony, Gortney relieved Adm. John C. Harvey Jr. as United States Fleet Forces commander aboard the USS Harry S. Truman.

Attending the festivities were Henry Pittman ’72, Mopsi Pittman ’72, Gary Evans ’74, Zene Fearing ’76, Jane Coradi ’77, Les Hall ’77, Wanda Hall ’77, Amy Tucker ’77, Jay Butler ’78, Bunny Carr ’78, Rick Coradi ’78, Bryant Kirkland ’78, Harriet Kirkland ’78, Tom Summers ’78, Bobby Tucker ’78, Perry Black ’80, Mike Bordone ’80, J. King White ’80, Bill Day ’81, Greg Blackburn ’83 and Steve Leach ’90.

White shares this note about the experience: “During every change of command, there is always a time when the outgoing and incoming commanders make a point to mention their alma mater. For Navy officers at this level, it’s always the Naval Academy and no other institution getting the shout out. Following his promotion ceremony at Virginia House and before we departed for the change of command ceremony on the Truman, Bill circulated word among his fraternity brothers that strongly encouraged our entourage to really whoop it up when he mentioned Kappa Sigma and Elon.

Well, you don’t say no to a four-star admiral, and I can attest we definitely got the crowd’s attention when the Elon entourage loudly and vigorously answered his shout out! All were duly impressed that their new leader went to college elsewhere— and impressed that so many of his Elon friends would celebrate him and our alma mater with such enthusiasm.”

30 the magazine of elon

retired teacher, participated in the Greater Cleveland Triathlon on 8/5/12, completing her 10th triathlon. After finishing in the top 10 percent in her age group, she qualified for the 2012 USA Triathlon – Olympic District National Championship.

of Allen, Pinnix & Nichols, PA, was named in the 2013 edition of Best Lawyers as the 2013 Raleigh Administrative Regulatory Law “Lawyer of the Year.” after 40 years with Norfolk Southern Corporation, where he served as industrial development manager-N.C. since 1986. He and his wife, Vicki Province Bowman, reside in Statesville, N.C. school principal, husband

Ricky E. Bise ’77, assistant director

of career and technical education for the Knox County (Tenn.)

Schools, and their daughter, Lindsey, won an all-expense paid trip to Disney World, thanks to a nomination by one of Ricky’s former students. In her entry to the theme park’s contest, the former student praised the Bise family for helping her finish high school and earn a full volleyball scholarship to attend college, adding that the Bises did more for her than words

can explain: “They changed my life.”



Gwendolyn Crawford Manning {M.Ed.’89} has re-

tired from Guilford County (N.C.) Schools after 35 years in education.

She taught grades K-3 and spent the last 27 years of her career at Gibsonville Elementary School where she supervised several Elon education majors. She lives in Gibsonville, N.C.

At an Oct. 23 ceremony in Corning, N.Y., Mike “Radar” Robinson received the Chairman’s Outstanding Belt Award from Corning CEO and Chairman Wendell Weeks. A certified Six Sigma Black Belt, “Radar” has been active in leadership development for more than 25 years, and the award recognized him as the premier development professional in Corning’s DMAIC Six Sigma program.



As an undergraduate student, Carol Fountain Nix worked in Elon’s publications department, and when she graduated, the department hired her as a designer.

During this time, they developed the first Elon “brand,” and the college began to move all of its communications efforts in-house.

She also served two terms on the advisory board for the School of Communications and was a full-time adjunct professor in 2010. Carol says the education and preparation that Elon provided her was unparalleled; she is eternally grateful for amazing mentors: Nan Perkins, Susan Klopman, Gayle Fishel and Terri Kirchen. After running a business for most of her career, Carol is thrilled to be back on a college campus again, working as director of marketing communications and public relations at the NC State University’s College of Design, where she received her master’s degree in graphic and industrial design. She also directs a corporation-funded design program. She lives near downtown Raleigh, N.C., with her life partner of more than 12 years and their two standard poodles.

An abstract painter and cycling enthusiast, Carol owns FountainArts, which features her signature line of wine-inspired gourmet serving ware and gift items.





Loukia Louka Borrell,

married to Gordon P.

CLASS NOTES

A LITERARY HOMECOMING

BY SAM PARKER ’13

E

mily Hubbard Nelson ’98 has built her life around one motto: “It’s better to do it and regret it than to regret not doing it.”

She came up with the phrase during her time at Elon through the Adventures in Leadership program, which is offered to incoming students.

Nelson, who graduated with a degree in communications, has often revisited that message to encourage herself to pursue even bigger dreams— including writing and self-publishing her first novel, Thrown, which was inspired by her Elon days and uses the campus as its setting.

“I knew in the back of my mind that I’ve always wanted to write,” says Nelson, who owns a small printing company in Raleigh, N.C. “I had the chapter format in my head and I just kept playing around with the characters and how they met.

One day, I just sat down and wrote it out.”

Thrown began as a secret, a project not even her husband, Walter, knew about. But after completing the book’s first chapter, Nelson shared it with a close

group of girlfriends who encouraged her to keep writing. For the next eight months, she developed the story’s plot while researching dialogues, settings and publication formats.

The title, Thrown, stems from the feeling of being tossed into an unexpected situation, such as the one the main character finds herself in.

Phoebe Price begins her Elon years with everything planned out, but when she meets an attractive man in her Winter Term course, she’s forced to improvise.

“Phoebe’s sworn ‘I’m here to learn, I’m not here to fall in love,’” Nelson explains.

“She’s completely thrown off her game of what she expects her life to be.”

A love story with a twist of action and adventure, Thrown is a book all readers can relate to, Nelson says. The main characters are modeled after combinations of her Elon friends and takes place at Elon, circa 1994. Some of the campus and nearby locations mentioned in the book include Alamance Building, West Hall, The Lighthouse, Sidetrack Grill and Harrison’s.

“I knew it would be a good setting,” Nelson says about using Elon at the center of the novel. “Alumni who have read it have said, ‘Oh, it’s so nice to go back.’ They’ve enjoyed being reminded of the things that made Elon home for people. I think it’s one of those things even students who are graduating now can relate to—the feeling you get when you drive over those railroad tracks.”

Nelson recently published a sequel, Caught, which follows her main characters after graduation from Elon.

“It was easy to do with the way Thrown ended,” she says of writing the sequel. “I had an initial idea of where I wanted the story line to go but the story came together as I was in the midst of writing Caught.”

While not always easy, Nelson says the entire experience has been a rewarding process.

“I learned early on that it’s OK to ask for help,” she says. “Throughout this journey, I have been blessed with people who passed along their expertise to make this process become a reality.”

Emily Nelson‘s novels are available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Hard copies can be ordered through lulu.com.

{ Emily Hubbard Nelson ’98 }

winter 2013 31

CLASS NOTES

things we love about elon

Keith Merritt ’91, Jill Talley & son Joel Patrick

Wha is it you love about Elon?

What The ssquirrels? College Coffee? Dr. D? Wha Whatever it is, we want to know. In honor of the school’s 125th anniversary celebration, which kicks off this fall, we are compiling a list of 125 things you love most about your alma mater.

Go to elon.edu/magazine and submit your comments today!



Catherine Wahl Morgan ’00, Jay Morgan & daughter Calla Hayden

Scott Slepokura ’00, Katy Tatro Slepokura & children

This past September, Mark Haapala earned a master’s of science in human resources development from Villanova University.

Mark and his wife, Jill, live in Charlotte, N.C.,with their two children, ages 18 and 12. ■ Keith B. Merritt and his wife, Jill Talley, welcomed a son, Joel Patrick Merritt, on 12/31/11. Keith is a staffing manager for BAE Systems in McLean, Va. The family lives in Vienna, Va.



Lindsay Richards ’97

32 the magazine of elon

Keith Davis ’01

Paul David Grimes ’02 & daughter Lola Camille

Donna Lynne Tucker Petherbridge is the associate

provost for instructional technology support and development in distance education and learning applications at NC State University.

Donna is also an adjunct assistant professor in the Leadership, Policy and Adult and Higher Education Department in the College of Education at NC State, where she has taught online classes, mentored graduate students and served on dissertation committees.

Donna has more than 15 years of experience in supporting higher education faculty members in leveraging technology. She was recently awarded the NC State University 2011–12 Workforce and Human Resource Education Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Service.



John Mock, a member of

the National Auto Sports Association (NASA), has been racing his old Porsche for many years.

After racing in the rain in the NASA Championship Race at the MidOhio Sports Car Course, he won first place. John and wife Becky live in Burlington, N.C.

 Matt Carson ’01, Amey Sasser Carson ’02 & daughter Emilie

Bryan Philip Daughtry has

been promoted to executive vice president of strategic relations for a financial services corporation. He and wife Michelle live in Galena, Ohio.



John Mock ’95

Christi Chandler Floyd ’97

Borrell, has published her first novel, Raping Aphrodite, which is available for the Kindle and in paperback through Amazon, and for Nook through Barnes & Noble.

She served as editor-in-chief for The Pendulum from 1984 to 1985.

Amy Sheedfar Roberson and

her husband, John Robert, welcomed a daughter, Chloe Louise, on 10/24/12. ■ Jim Royer, a firefighter and paramedic, and his wife, Diane, a teacher, were

married on 7/24/09 in Seagrove, Fla. Three years later, they welcomed a daughter, Gabriella Grace, on 7/4/12. They say: “She is our living and gorgeous gift from God. We are incredibly blessed and thrilled to have her in our lives.”

Gabriella’s grandparents, Bob and Maureen Royer, who live in Dallas, Texas, are also very happy.



Christi Chandler Floyd



Heather Maltese Dorfer and



Catherine Wahl Morgan

reports that her sapling has grown very tall over the past 15 years at her parents’ home in Virgilina, Va. ■ Lindsay Richards celebrated her eighth year with Universal Health Services, Inc., where she is an international marketing coordinator. Also, in September, she completed her first half marathon, and in November, she ran her second. She has completed 19 races in the past two years, after only starting to run at age 35. Additionally, Lindsay has joined the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training to raise money for blood cancer research and cover patient copays. She ran in the Disney World Marathon in January, with the goal to raise $11,100. She and husband John Abel live outside of Coatesville, Pa. ■ Jennifer Regina Lang was promoted in August to assistant professor of history and chair of the instructional technology committee at Delgado Community College in New Orleans. She lives in Metairie, La. ■ Ginny Watkins Russo welcomed a daughter, Charlotte (“Charley” for short), on 6/1/11. She joins older brother Tony. husband Daniel Dorfer welcomed a son, Carson Daniel, on 11/26/12. He joins older brothers Gavin and Blake. Heather is a financial stock trader at Sandler O’Neil Asset Management. The family lives in Manalapan, N.J. and her husband, Jay Morgan, welcomed a daughter, Calla Hayden Morgan, on 9/22/11.

■ Scott Slepokura, husband to Katy Tatro Slepokura, received a master’s degree in economic crime management from Utica College and is currently a police detective in Bridgewater, N.J.

Donnell Baldwin married Courtney Arrington on 9/16/12. Donnell is a menswear stylist for Ralph Lauren Media.



CLASS NOTES

{ In his role as director of international programs at Boston College High School, Carmody led students to Beijing for five weeks. }

{ Dan Carmody ’01 }

A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

BY NATALIE ALLISON ’13

G

lobal-mindedness is a familiar concept to Dan Carmody.

A 2001 alum and human services major, he was a member of the Peace Corps, worked abroad as a school counselor and met his wife while living in Honduras.

Now, as director of international programs at Boston College High School, Carmody is working to ensure the next generation of students can reap the benefits of a global education.

As part of a worldwide network of more than 500 Jesuit schools, BC High will open a comprehensive center for international studies in the fall, with Carmody leading the charge to expand students’ education abroad.

“It puts us in a pretty incredible position to develop exchange programs with those schools,” Carmody says of the Jesuit school network.

Through the center, students will have opportunities for international service immersion and short-term exchange programs, which are already available at the school, in addition to teacher exchange partnerships. The school will also consider semester-long exchanges.

But Carmody and BC High haven’t waited for the opening of the school’s international center to begin strengthening relationships with Jesuit schools abroad.

In the summer of 2012, BC High hosted a five-day colloquium that brought together more than 400 heads of Jesuit secondary schools from 60 different countries. It was the first time school leaders had ever met as such a large group to talk about ways to collaborate.

“It had never been done before,” Carmody says. “Most everyone loved the idea. Some people thought we were crazy and it would never work, but we started planning it about two years ahead of time.”

A global education committee that BC High created several years ago initially developed the idea for such a large-scale conference.

“As we started that committee, we said, ‘It would be pretty incredible if all the Jesuit schools worldwide came together to provide these global opportunities for students,’” Carmody recalls.

They spoke with local, regional and national Jesuits within the United States before bringing the idea before the Society of Jesus’ Father General. During the planning process, a six-member conference committee met with various Jesuit secondary education delegates in Vatican City and parts of Africa, South America and Europe for an international perspective.

“We thought, ‘If we are going to plan a

global conference, we need global input,’” Carmody says.

The colloquium was held entirely by BC High and conducted using the three languages of the Society of Jesus—Spanish, French and English. The conference featured a series of keynote addresses, workshops, collaboration sessions and small group discussions.

Because documents are important to Jesuits, Carmody says, what came of the conference was a two-page vision statement detailing how the schools wanted to proceed.

The network of schools plans on assembling again in four or five years.

“There was so much information, people need time to go back and put new practices into place and have time to prepare for a second colloquium,” he says.

Carmody says he hopes to make a trip back to Elon, where he worked for Elon Volunteers! and Habitat for Humanity as a student, to “pick their brain” about internationalizing education and how BC High could continue developing its programs abroad.

“We came from a lot of countries and cultures and had a lot in common, but found out how different we were as well,” he says of the colloquium. “We think we do things great at Boston College High School, but it’s amazing to see how schools are run in India or South America. We want to see how we can adopt things we learn from other schools and make them our own and other schools do the same thing.”

winter 2013 33

CLASS NOTES

■ Matt Carson and wife Amey Sasser Carson ’02 welcomed a

daughter, Emilie Morgan, on 6/27/12. ■ After working as promotions director for Cox Media Group in Athens, Ga., David Ratz has been promoted to events/promotions director for Cox Media Group in Jacksonville, Fla. He oversees all radio station concerts, events and contests for all five radio stations in the cluster. ■ Keith L. Davis was awarded the 2012–13 Spotlight Teacher of the Year Award for Grover C. Fields Middle

School by the Craven County (N.C.) Public School System. He was selected by his colleagues for his work with at-risk students through theater arts and a reading program that encourages AfricanAmerican males to grow in reading competency and make positive life choices. Keith will be competing for the 2012–13 Teacher of the Year for the school district in Craven in April. He lives in Dover, N.C. ■ Christopher Michael Walk welcomed a son, Michael Bruce, on 11/26/12. Christopher is a residential contractor and owner of Christopher Walk Contracting. He lives in West Palm Beach, Fla.



Lisa Ann Duncan ’03, Eric Michael Duncan ’02 & daughter Ava Elizabeth

Marsha Kmiec Jordan ’02, Bryan W. Jordan & son Jaxon

Amy Grzeskiewicz Barcliff ’02, James Barcliff & friends

Caitlin Molloy Navarro ’04, Scott Navarro ’04 & daughter Olivia Davis

Aubria Williams Kindle ’05 & Cecil Haldane Kindle III

Justin McCarthy ’04, Alison Edwards McCarthy ’04, & children Aubrey & Henry William

Kristen Farley ’05, John Farley & son Jack

Katie Shepard Schanely ’05, Will Nuckols ’01 & Bryan Schanely

34 the magazine of elon

Genevieve McLaurin Kruger ’02 & daughters

(l-r) Jessy Byers ’05, Lauren Gray ’05, Carson Delfer Rhodes ’05 & Katie White Radkowski ’05

Lindsey Paquette Barnes ’06, Andrew Barnes ’06 & daughter Hartley Grace

Amy Grzeskiewicz Barcliff

and James Barcliff were married on 8/25/12 in Annapolis, Md. The couple celebrated with Amy’s fellow alumni: Marshall Glass ’00, Patrick Kennedy ’01, Courtney Wells ’01, Kelley Kruse Bronson, Christine Glatsky, Kathleen Zalos Shumake, Sara Beaty ’03, Lauren McNally Carr ’03, Jenny Brown Flaherty ’03, Brett Hamilton ’03, Stafford Lewis Kim ’03, David Vichesky ’03 and Caitlin Lutz Ward ’03. The couple live in Annapolis, Md.,with Jim’s three handsome sons. ■ Ally Brunetti, who lives in Manhattan, is currently appearing in national commercials for Pajama Jeans, Slim & Tone Leggings, and the video game “Ghost Recon.” She also has the lead in the upcoming Web series “Bad Hair Daze.” ■ Eric Michael Duncan and Lisa Ann Duncan ’03 welcomed a daughter, Ava Elizabeth, on 10/17/11. ■ Jamesia Green Hale earned a master’s degree in management and public relations from the University of Maryland, University College, where she was inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. She lives in Upper Marlboro, Md. ■ Paul David Grimes and his wife, Erin Hite Grimes, welcomed a daughter, Lola Camille, on 3/30/12.

■ Marsha Kmiec Jordan and her husband, Bryan Wayne Jordan, married on 12/5/09. They now announce the birth of their son, Jaxon, on 5/4/12. ■ Genevieve McLaurin Kruger and Chris Kruger welcomed a daughter, Isabelle Lavon, on 8/21/12, just in time for Chris to meet her before deploying to Afghanistan Sept.

3. He is a U.S. Army pilot. The family lives in Clarksville, Tenn. ■

Jacquelyn Stanley Vecchioni and

her husband, Ricky, welcomed a daughter, Laeowyn Moirae, on 8/15/12.



Ryan Buckley has been



Christopher William Davis



Kristen Farley, and her

promoted to a producer for CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront.” ■ Lisa Goldstein Kirsch produced along with her husband, Brendan, who also directed, a documentary called “The Hopeful.” It is now available to watch on iTunes, Xbox, Amazon Instant Video and Vudu, as well as through Comcast and Verizon FiOS. is now a published author.

After six years of writing and conducting historical research, he has completed and independently published How the Grail Became Holy: A Quest to Discover the Origin of the Holy Grail Legend. A work of historical nonfiction, the book attempts to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding one of the Western World’s most pervasive legends. He and wife Leah live in Greensboro, N.C. ■ Justin McCarthy and Alison Edwards McCarthy welcomed a son, Henry William, on 8/29/12. He joins older sister Aubrey. ■ Caitlin Davis Molloy Navarro and Scott Edward Navarro welcomed a daughter, Olivia Davis, on 1/4/12. They live in Coatesville, Pa. ■ Kristen Meetre Puckett, a fourth grade teacher in the Alamance-Burlington School System, married Dennis Puckett on 7/21/12. Alumni in attendance include Anita Oakley Choim ’94, Jennifer Michie Reed ’95, Brandi Anderson Lewis ’03, Scott Lewis ’03, Rique Cox, Amanda Huffman and Blaine Huffman. husband, John, welcomed a son, John Joseph “Jack” Farley III on 4/1/12. ■ Carson Delfer Rhodes married Riley Rhodes on 8/18/12.

The couple live in Highlands Ranch, Colo. ■ Katie Shepard Schanely and Bryan Schanely were married on 10/13/12, with the bride’s brother, Will Nuckols ’01, in attendance. The couple live in Fairfax, Va. ■ Kip Smith and Tyanna Hightower Smith were married on 10/6/12 in Hanover, Md. Alumni in attendance were Blanca Ashton ’03, Adina Dorch ’03, Austin-Drake James ’03, Justen Baskerville ’04, Cameron Kirby ’04, Alfred White ’04, Elliot Rushing,

CLASS NOTES

Carla Seay and Clement Ogborno ’07. Kip is the athletic director

and registrar for School Without Walls High School in Washington, D.C. The couple live in Laurel, Md. ■ Aubria Williams and Cecil Haldane Kindle III were married at a small outdoor ceremony on 10/6/12. Aubria is a database specialist for the Washington State Migrant Council.



Andrew Barnes and Lindsey Paquette Barnes welcomed

a daughter, Hartley Grace, on 7/5/12. ■ Megan Sue Bonstein married Elliot James Christ on 9/15/12. Megan is a social worker for the Jewish Association Serving the Aging in New York. ■ Lyndsay Conroy Johnson, and her husband, Sam, welcomed their second son, Ryan Joseph, on 7/29/12.

He joins older brother Connor.

Three weeks later, they moved to Quantico, Va., for Sam’s work as a captain in the USMC. Lyndsay recently earned her certificate in nutrition from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and taught prenatal classes at a local pregnancy center in Pennsylvania. She plans to continue her work with nutrition by holding seminars and teaching classes. ■ Matthew J. Lardie and Leland Garrett were married on 10/15/11. Alumni in attendance were David Weaver ’04, David Zell ’05, Jackie Milazzo, Summer Schlesinger, Michael Purcell ’07, Eric Garren ’08, Justin Garren ’08, Jerome Lewis ’10 and Aaron Michael ’11. Matthew is a freelance food writer, and the couple live in Durham, N.C. ■ Brian Christopher Lynch and Laila Mary Hannallah Lynch ’08

were married on 8/25/12 at the Wianno Club in Osterville, Mass.

Alumni in attendance included Scott Christenbury, Jennifer Pontier Fleury, Matthew Klein, Elizabeth Shandley, Jordan Searles ’07, Chad Bradley ’08, Brielle Day ’08, Brooke McQuade ’08, Mike Scott ’08, Lara-Anne Stokes ’08, Scott Mackenzie ’09, Christina Mangano ’09 and Emily Hurwitz ’10. ■ Amy Estes Miller and her husband, David, welcomed a son, Sean Walter, on 8/22/12. Sean joins his older sister, Estelle Sophia. ■ Chelsea Wilkinson and Jamie Lee Garland were married on 9/7/12 in Scarborough, Maine. Alumni in attendance were Jacquelyn Anderson, Christine Littlejohn

FINDING HER CALLING

BY NATALIE ALLISON ’13

C

hristel Aviles ’98 still remembers how out of place she felt during her biology classes at Elon.

She wanted to pursue a career that allowed her to help people and majoring in biology seemed like a good place to start. Soon, however, she discovered that was not the right fit for her.

“I remember saying to myself, ‘I just want to help people in a different way,’” Aviles says.

It wasn’t until she started doing community service as part of the Isabella Cannon Leadership Fellows program that she found her true calling and quickly changed her major to human services.

“My experience at Elon completely shaped my desire for service learning,” she says.

Today an independent curriculum developer for Journey Girls, a program she started for girls in grades six though eight that uses adventurebased activities to encourage personal development, Aviles has spent the past 14 years helping young people discover the same passion she developed at Elon.

But her college journey wasn’t easy. After becoming pregnant the summer before her junior year, giving birth the first night of spring break and going back to her classes two weeks later, Aviles continued her job of dispatching for Campus Safety in the evenings, determined to graduate with the help of others.

Vickie Moehlman, now a captain for Campus Safety and Police, had her daughter watch Aviles’ daughter, Domonique, while Aviles worked.

Aviles’ roommate helped her move off campus.

Others, such as Janice Ratliff, program assistant for student development and auxiliary services, offered a support system as Aviles made preparations for and lived out life as a mother in college.

“People encamped around me and my daughter,” Aviles says. “They put together a major support system for me to finish school.”

Shaped by her Elon experience, Aviles now works to positively impact the lives of middle school girls in the Philadelphia, Pa., area through the Journey Girls program, which incorporates service learning projects, mentoring, outdoor

activities and retreats to strengthen self-esteem, self-awareness and confidence.

Aviles’ passion for service is also palpable in Domonique, now 15 years old. Inspired by her own countless hospitalizations due to severe asthma, she decided to do something to help families of asthmatic children pay for preventative supplies and costs associated with hospital visits. She also wanted to entertain the children while they lay in hospital beds.

After sitting on the idea for a year, Domonique, now studying vocal performance at a performing arts high school, launched the Breathtaking Youth Players with a performance at a Camden Riversharks baseball game in the spring of 2011. She hopes the group’s performances will one day be live streamed to hospital televisions.

{ Christel Aviles ’98 & daughter Domonique }

Just like Domonique, Aviles’ other four children, ranging in age from 3 to 11, are no strangers to volunteering and service projects.

They often collect money from friends and family members to buy gifts or toiletries to give to needy children.

“My children are born and bred in some level of service learning,” Aviles says. “They all have this kind of passion,” something she traces back to her Elon days. “If it wasn’t for Elon and having leadership experiences there, I wouldn’t have developed my love for service like this.”

As she looks ahead, Aviles says she wants to expand her educational program to charter and private schools in the Philadelphia area to allow girls from different backgrounds to connect across the board.

“I love it,” she says of working with young girls, adding that service will always be a part of her life. “It’s who I am, truly.”

To learn more about Journey Girls and Breathtaking Youth Players, visit upfromhere.org.

winter 2013 35

CLASS NOTES

Can

you say...

quas·qui·cen·ten·ni·al Don’t worry, we can’t either.

Regardless of how you say it, it’s coming and we want you to be a part of it! In honor of Elon’s 125th anniversary celebration, which kicks off this fall, we are compiling a list of 125 things you love most about your alma mater.

Submit your comments today at elon.edu/magazine.

Chalko, April Duffy, Erin Follett Schneider and Chris Chalko ’07 G’09.

Scott Adams just completed two years as a Communications Fellow with International Justice Mission (IJM) in Kampala, Uganda. He reported on human rights abuses against widows and orphans, raised media awareness and helped coordinate community education programs.

Scott now lives in Washington, D.C., where he works as a writer for IJM’s U.S. office. ■ Jennifer R. Budd is an associate at the law firm, Cohen, Seglias, Pallas, Greenhall & Furman, in Philadelphia, Pa., where she practices litigation.

Primarily, the firm represents contractors, subcontractors, architects, engineers and property owners in disputes that arise during the construction of roads and buildings. ■ Elizabeth Sherron Casteel and Aaron Casteel met



while attending United Methodist church summer camps together as teenagers. They reconnected after college, married at Beth’s church and now have a small hobby farm together on the old family homestead. Katherine Morris ’07, Jen Romano ’07 and Lauren Taylor ’10 served as bridesmaids, and Beth Overman ’07 made the couple’s wedding cake. ■ Robin Minette, and her husband, Greg, welcomed a son, Justin, on 5/2/12. They live in Valdosta, Ga. ■ Caroline Geiger Pendleton married Gray Ellis Pendleton on 9/22/12 in Raleigh, N.C. Alumni participating in the wedding were Courtney Bowman Arnheim, Dan Fawley, Bridgette Guedri, Jason King, Sarah Rixey, Remy Shu, Emily Wesiberg and J.D. Yearwood. Alumni in attendance were Toby Arnheim, Katie Bigarel, Caroline Carithers Close, Steve Dahlem, Mike DeFlaun, Caroline Carithers Close, Steve Dahlem, Mike DeFlaun, Brittin

Eustis, Jamie Grauel, Matt Kerley, Kim Miller Ianucci, John Pharr, Meghan Killorin Rorie, Paul Skrickus, Steve Zaicko and Alex Sewell ’08. Caroline is a credit an-

alyst with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The couple live in Raleigh, N.C. ■ Shantia Joy Stanley married Joshua Scott Coley on 10/6/12.

The couple shared a Harlem Renaissance themed wedding at the Durham (N.C.) Arts Council with friends and family. Alumnae in attendance, also from Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., included Anita Alston, Eden Esters, Whitney Rhone, Erica Ayala ’08, Kendra Barkely ’09 and Dorian Wanzer ’09. ■ Allison Cody Turner and Nick Turner welcomed a son, Isaac, on 3/29/12. He joins older brother Asher.

Lauren Durr Emery and Matthew Emery married on 7/12/12 with Professor Jeffrey Pugh officiating. Guests



In Memoriam Geneva Way Sloan ’28, Sanford, N.C. 10/29/12.

Sara Virginia Hook Burton ’37 GP’95, Rock Spring, Ga. 11/29/12.

Sara Virginia was the daughter of the late Jessie Dawson Hook, a 1915 alumna, and Alonzo L. Hook, a 1913 alumnus and beloved longtime faculty member at Elon. Part of a long line of Elon alumni, Sara Virginia loved growing up in Elon with her sisters—Irene Hook Covington ’41, Jeanne Hook Harrell ’45 and Patricia Hook Neal ’47—and participating in music and plays while in college. A memorial service was held Jan. 19 on Elon’s campus.

John Boyd Clapp ’42, Greensboro, N.C. 8/24/12.

Cyrus “Ed” Edwin Watts ’43, Ormond Beach, Fla. 7/25/12.

Virginia Jeffreys Darden ’44 P’67 ’74 ’78, Suffolk, Va. 9/8/12.

John P. Snyder, Jr. ’50, Virginia Beach, Va. 10/12/12.

William R. Kivett ’51, Williamsburg, Va. 9/1/12.

Herman Allen Flynt ’52, Asheboro, N.C. 9/28/12.

Richard H. Lee, Jr. ’52, Blackstone, Va. 8/25/12.

James L. Clyburn ’53, Raleigh, N.C. 10/13/12.

Joseph Martin Parker, Jr. ’54, Winston-Salem, N.C. 8/6/12.

John S. Collie, Jr. ’55, Reidsville, N.C. 8/23/12.

Jack Emerson ’56, Chesterfield, Va. 9/19/12.

Paula Rebecca Stewart Loy ’57, Lake Worth, Fla. 9/6/12.

Terrell King Duncan ’58, Burlington, N.C. 11/12/12.

Sam McGehee Fretwell ’58, Cornelius, N.C. 10/25/12.

Roy Gene Gilliam ’58, Rocky Mount, N.C. 9/26/12.

Louis Bailey Wilkins ’58, Elon, N.C. 11/21/12.

William “Bill” Clinton Ingold ’59 P’76, Elon, N.C. 1/7/13.

Grant Burns ’60, Henderson, N.C. 6/15/12.

Clyde Nelson “Ted” Eanes ’61, Roanoke, Va. 7/23/12.

Brenda Gayle Sutton White ’61, Pittsboro, N.C., 8/14/12.

36 the magazine of elon

Sallie Pridgen Anderson ’62, Yanceyville, N.C., 11/29/12.

Cecil Ray Apple ’62, Reidsville, N.C., 4/22/12.

Willa Campbell Gold ’67, Reidsville, N.C. 12/5/2012.

Edgar “Eddie” Fields Harris ’67, Burlington, N.C. 11/26/12.

Timothy A. Edwards ’69, Staunton, Va. 12/15/11.

Cleo Perdue Short ’70 P’97, Rapidan, Va. 10/21/12.

Jesse Paul Thomas ’71, Asheboro, N.C. 8/23/12.

Margaret “Meg” Reynolds Waddell ’73, Elon, N.C. 8/14/12.

Edwin “Ned” C. Wright III ’73, Cambridge, Md. 11/9/12.

William Howard Rogers, Jr. ’74, Greensboro, N.C. 12/3/12.

Larry Calvin York ’74, Winston-Salem, N.C. 10/8/12.

Elnora Grace Dillon Agee ’77, Lebanon, Tenn., 12/10/12.

Leonard “Lenny” Stadler, Jr. ’77, Reidsville, N.C. 10/22/12.

William D. “Bill” Vestal ’82, Burlington, N.C. 11/19/12.

Carrie Susan Town Brennan ’88, Keller, Texas 8/17/12.

Kenneth “Ken” Christian Drumheller ’88, Richmond, Va. 9/6/12.

Nancy Covington Dickens ’92, Sanford, N.C. 11/28/12. Nancy’s

family roots at Elon extend back to the 1910s. She was the granddaughter of the late Jessie Dawson Hook , a 1915 alumna, and Alonzo L. Hook, a 1913 alumnus and beloved longtime faculty member at Elon. Her parents, Irene Hook Covington ’41 and the late M. Cade Covington ’41, and her surviving siblings are all Elon alumni.

Christopher Barnes Pettee ’06, Harrison, N.Y. 11/4/12.

friends Jo Ann White, Wytheville, Va. 11/28/12. Jo Ann was the wife of

Professor Emeritus of Music Jack O. White and mother of two Elon alumni, Jon White ’72 and Reggie White ’77.

CLASS NOTES

Megan Bonstein Christ ’06, Elliott Christ & friends

Chelsea Wilkinson Garland ’06, Jamie Garland & friends

Caroline Geiger Pendleton ’07 & Gray Pendleton

Elizabeth Sherron Casteel ’07 & Aaron Casteel

Lauren Durr Emery ’08, Matthew Emery & Jeffrey Pugh

Shantia Stanley L’07 & friends

Lauren Kelly Griffith ’08 & Chuck Griffith ’09

included Laura Sinden Callinan, Marty Callinan, Hillary Stoker, Christopher Guadrea, Nolan Wildfire, Daniel Smith, Brad Hartland, Todd Ruffner, Sean McCauley, Marissa Hardcastle, Jason Eden, Pat McNeely, Cole Gorman ’09, Andrew Durr ’12 and Sarah Rezac ’12. The couple live in Winston-Salem, N.C. ■ Lauren Kelly Griffith and Chuck Griffith ’09 were married on 5/27/12 in St. Petersburg, Fla. The couple live in Jacksonville, Fla., where Chuck is finishing his last semester of law school. Nathan Copeland ’07 and Bradley Dorton ’09 were groomsmen. Other alumni in attendance include Chuck Griffith ’79, Kristen Colasurdo Bacarella, Sally Brauer, Robin Buzby, James Cooper, Rachel Cruise, Lynn Cupero, Anne Carroll Ratcliffe, Maggie Rust, Brett Samaha, Lauren Yatko, Martha Allen ’09, Matt Allen ’09, Emily Allshouse ’09, Katina Boozer ’09, Chris Eydt ’09, Jim Frisch ’09, Colby Hart ’09, Stuart

Allison Cody Turner ’07, Nick Turner ’07 & sons, Asher & Isaac

Karen Hooper Ellis ’09, Taylor Ellis & friends

Macfarlane ’09, Mark McHugh ’09 and Graham Rountree ’09.

■ Cara DiSisto Verwholt and

Danny Verwholt were married on 8/25/12 in Basking Ridge, N.J. Maggie McHarris was the maid of honor and Crystal Grandison and Melissa Askew were bridesmaids.

Alumni in attendance include Katie Dondero, Sarah Gottfried, Laura Heisch, Megan Long, Maggie Paulin, Kristen Templin and Laura Ward ’10.



Matthew Lardie ’06 & Leland Garrett

Chelsie Wagner Counsell and Travis Counsell ’11 were

married on 6/16/12 in Killington, Vt. They had a morning ceremony under blue skies and a fun-filled day with volleyball, canoeing and Ultimate Frisbee, all the while, Chelsie was still in her wedding dress! Live music and a bonfire ended the day. Chelsie and Travis live in Tallahassee, Fla., with their dog, Stellaluna. Chelsie is completing her master’s degree at Florida State University and Travis is managing a local bicycle shop. ■ Karen

Brian Lynch ’06, Laila Hannallah Lynch ’08 & friends

Cara DiSisto Verwholt ’08 & friends

Chelsie Wagner Counsell ’09, Travis Counsell ’11 & friends

Hooper and Taylor Ellis were mar-

ried on 6/9/12 at the Clebourne House in Fort Mill, S.C. Alumni in attendance included Matt Casavecchia ’06, Brian Hooper ’06, Jessica Casavecchia, Katherine Black, Hallie Kilmer, Phillip Sholes, Lauren Ellis ’10 and Amy Rajacich ’11. ■ Andrea West Houghton earned a master’s degree in higher education administration with a concentration in international leadership from Old Dominion University in August. She and her husband, Bryon Houghton, live in Charlotte, N.C. ■ Perkins Morgan is pleased to announce the launch of her Virginia-based company, Paisley & Jade (paisleyandjade. com), a boutique specializing in eclectic rentals, small-scale design services and custom fabrications for special events. Perkins lives in Richmond, Va. ■ Amy Cranfold Tucker and Andrew Tucker were married on 6/9/12. The couple live in High Point, N.C. ■ Chad Zimmerman and Katherine Parr

were married on 11/10/12. Rob Smeaton was a groomsman. Other alumni in attendance included Molly Donahue, Trevor Healy, Spencer Pulliam, Samantha Semeraro, Elizabeth Spangler ’10 and Justin Sposato ’10.



Christine Cordeira recently

received a master’s degree in counseling and personnel services from Fordham University in New York City. She will be working as an elementary school counselor in the Glen Ridge School District of New Jersey. ■ Elizabeth Cogswell Eggleston and Cary Eggleston were married 9/22/12 in Raleigh, N.C. The couple met on move-in day their freshman year and lived across the hall from each other in Virginia Hall.

Alumnae in the bridal party included Laura Dailey ’09, Kathryn Williams ’09, Katie Hatcher and Anna Yarbrough. Ashley Lawton ’11 and Bailey Sullivan ’11 served as greeters. Other alumnae in attendance included Courtney

winter 2013 37

CLASS NOTES

Hurley, Katelyn Paul ’11 and Katie McKenzie ’12. The couple



graduated from Elon with a strategic communications degree and now lives in Washington, D.C., where she works at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. She recently finished a wildlife film internship in South Africa with National Geographic television host and wildlife expert Ryan Johnson. Anne was his first film intern, and under his tutelage, she created a short documentary on rhino poaching and the patrolmen

now live in Richmond, Va., where Susan was recently promoted to studio director at The Wellness Village. ■ Jonathon Peter Michael and Jenna Michelle Farley ’11 were married on 8/4/12. The couple live in Belmont, N.C.

 Anne Randolph Goddard ’12

Help us keep you in touch with your classmates and Elon.

If you have moved, send us your new address and telephone number.

Anne Randolph Goddard

Catherine T. Serex received

a Master of Letters in peace and conflict studies from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland on 11/30/12.

Turn yourself in!

who risk their lives to save them.

After spending a month on a game reserve in South Africa, writing, filming and editing, she published her finished product on YouTube.

Anne has received recognition from World Rhino Day, an event supported by the World Wildlife Fund, and other wildlife conservation organizations. Passionate about rhino conservation, she aims to present her documentary at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival.

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MAKING A DIFFERENCE

FOR THE LOVE OF ELON

{ Courtney Jones Willis '00 & Jean Loy Toms '60. }

BY MEGAN MCCLURE

F

or 38 years, Jean Loy Toms ’60 has upheld an important tradition: making an annual gift to support her beloved alma mater.

“Elon has given me so much, so I want to give back to Elon,” says Toms, an Alamance County native and retired community college professor who discovered her love for teaching while earning a business education degree at Elon.

“I may not have a lot of money to give, but I give consistently because I want to help students get the fine education Elon offers.”

Toms designates her gifts to Elon’s annual fund. These gifts support the best of Elon: student scholarships, quality academics, outstanding faculty and premier facilities. Annual funds also support the Elon Experiences of study abroad, service learning, internships, leadership and undergraduate research.

These distinct programs and opportunities set Elon apart

for Courtney Jones Willis ’00, whose undergraduate experience inspired her to make annual gifts to her alma mater every year since graduation.

“Elon gave me a holistic college experience,” says Willis, an ordained minister who graduated with a degree in English before attending Princeton Theological Seminary. “The relationships I developed with faculty and staff, the internships I had and my campus involvement gave me the knowledge, experience and courage to pursue life beyond Elon.”

She considers alumni support vital to Elon’s success.

“I think even small annual donations make an impact at Elon when combined with other gifts,” Willis says. “Giving financially feels like a natural extension of my love and enthusiasm for Elon. I believe in Elon, and I believe my contribution directly enables students to enjoy all Elon has to offer.”

In the past fiscal year, annual gifts of $100 or less brought in more than $520,000 to the university, while collectively donors gave more than $5.5 million in annual gifts. Alumni donors like Willis and Toms are part of The 1889 Society, a giving society launched in conjunction with Elon’s upcoming 125th anniversary. Alumni who make a gift at any level through May 31, 2014 will be included in the society and maintain membership by making a gift every fiscal year.

Toms and Willis are proud to be inaugural members.

“When I think about what bonds us as alumni, I think of our love for Elon, the passion for this place and our experiences here,” Toms says. “Our financial support as alumni demonstrates our pride in the university. If we support Elon together, we can do great things for the university that did great things for us.”

LEARN MORE Annual gifts can be designated to support Elon’s Greatest Needs, the Parents & Grandparents Fund, Phoenix Club, School of Law Annual Scholarship Fund or a specific academic school, department, student club or organization.

You can also make a difference at Elon with a planned gift by contacting Carolyn DeFrancesco, director of planned giving, at (336) 278-7454 or cdefrancesco@elon.edu.

Visit elon.edu/giving for more information.

winter 2013 39

Hundreds of alumni came to campus in October for Homecoming 2012.

Here are some images from that weekend, including many submitted by students and alumni via Instagram.

Go to elon.edu/magazine to view more.

Office of Alumni Engagement PO Box 398 Elon, NC 27244 Toll Free: (877) 784-3566 elon.edu/alumni Change Service Requested

(l-r) First-year students Abby Moylan, Emily Stone and Rebecca Tillem were among the many students who got a chance to play in the snow after a winter storm blanketed the campus Jan. 18.

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