SPRING 2016
I AM ELON BY KIM WALKER
Watch the full story at
www.elon.edu/magazine Kelly Richard wants to make things happen, and she sees Elon as the place to do it. “Elon is not an environment full of closed doors,” the junior says. “If I knock on a door and ask if it can be opened for me, almost always the answer is ‘yes.’ The well of opportunity is incredible.” An English major with a teaching concentration, Kelly opened a chapter of the national organization She’s the First, which promotes education for girls in developing countries. So far the Elon chapter has raised nearly $1,500 to support the organization. In addition to working with student groups, Kelly tutors at Elon’s Writing Center and volunteers with the Elon Academy, a college access and success program for local high school students. Kelly was a sophomore in high school when she decided to pursue a career in teaching. She is working with students at Western Alamance High School as a student teacher as well as researching the use of graphic novels to teach Shakespeare. The goal is to make his works engaging for all types of students. She will spend the summer in India working as a curriculum team intern for VOICE 4 Girls, an organization that organizes empowerment camps for girls. In her position, she will help write and structure curriculums for their programs. She spent two years doggedly pursuing the opportunity and ultimately got not only the internship but also a grant to cover the costs. Coming from a family of teachers, Kelly understands the importance of good educators and is ready to jump in. “I’m doing all of the preparation work now, and I’m so excited to try it all out and see if my passion translates,” she says. “I simply want to do what I can to help others. What a great way to spend your life.” Kelly is Elon. Visit www.elon.edu/magazine to see more of her story, part of our “I Am Elon” multimedia series featuring Elon students in their own words.
CONTENTS The Magazine of Elon | spring 2016
16 THE VALUE OF TINKERING BY KEREN RIVAS ’04
Elon’s Maker Hub provides a space where students can tinker and learn through failure.
19 A TALE OF TWO WELLS BY XERNAY ANIWAR ’17
Over the span of Elon’s history, the campus has been home to several wells, including the Old Well.
20 COVER STORY
THE LONG ROAD BY KEREN RIVAS ’04
The story of the black experience at Elon includes highs, lows and amazing perseverance by determined individuals.
28 BIG THINKING, SMALL LIVING BY ERIC TOWNSEND
Dustin Pfaehler’s legacy at Elon is the research he’s conducted on a hand-built tiny house found at Loy Farm.
30 AN ELON LEARNING CURVE(BALL) BY CONOR O’NEILL ’11
An infielder turned pitcher, Tom Brewer translated the lessons he learned during a semester spent at Elon in 1951 into a successful professional career.
2 Under the Oaks 10 Long Live Elon 13 Phoenix Sports
15 Point of View 33 Alumni Action 37 Class Notes
UNDER THE OAKS
▶ from the PRESIDENT
Focusing Institutional Culture on What Matters Most
facebook.com/leomlambert twitter.com/headphoenix
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ver the course of the past two years, I have had the wonderful opportunity to be part of a team writing a book to be published this spring by Jossey-Bass titled “The Undergraduate Experience: Focusing on What Matters Most.” My collaborators are Peter Felten, professor of history and assistant provost for teaching and learning at Elon (and our team’s fearless leader); the husband and wife team of John N. Gardner and Betsy O. Barefoot, eminent scholars of higher education who also happen to be parents of an Elon alumnus; and Charles C. Schroeder, one of the nation’s leading voices in student affairs administration. It was truly a privilege to be part of a team of scholars and practitioners and to take the time to look back over our decades-long careers in higher education and reflect on the big question of what matters most in undergraduate education. During long team conversations held in the jury room of the Elon University School of Law, and reflection and writing time carved out over holiday breaks and in the summer, we developed a set of six core themes that guided our work. In a nutshell, our book is about institutional culture. As President Freeman A. Hrabowski III of the University of Maryland Baltimore County observed in his foreword for our volume, “the substance of an institution’s culture is particularly critical to what we can achieve.” Above all, we believe institutional culture dedicated to excellence in undergraduate education must be relentlessly focused on student learning. And excellent colleges and universities organize themselves in such a way that all people on campus—faculty, administrators, board members, direct-service providers and
students—see themselves as part of a community of learners. As self-evident as it seems to say that learning matters, institutional cultures can easily drift into more peripheral territories. We also focus on deep, personal, meaningful human relationships as the heart of the undergraduate experience, especially between students and mentors who will provide intellectual and personal challenge, help students discover their gifts and talents, and put students on a path of meaning and direction. Institutions that place a premium on human relationships of all types— student-to-student, student-to-faculty member and so on—are intentional about cultivating them. Our book also emphasizes how much setting high expectations matters on campus, especially about what students will achieve and the overall excellence of the student experience. Institutional cultures with high expectations send appropriate messages to incoming students and support the high aspirations of faculty and staff in and out of the classroom. Many actors on and off campus, everyone from parents to trustees to alumni, play vital roles in communicating these high expectations.
“Institutions that are never satisfied with the status quo, avoid complacency and experience a continual state of ‘positive restlessness,’ foster an ethos of innovation and evidence-based experimentation, which is central to a dynamic learning environment.”
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HONORING COMMITTED SERVICE TO ELON
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{ Back row, from left: Peter Felten, Leo M. Lambert & John N. Gardner. Front row, from left: Charles C. Schroeder & Betsy O. Barefoot. }
We also address the crucial idea of alignment in our book. Too often, higher education institutions seem to be a collection of disconnected silos, organized for the benefit of those at the top of the organization chart. When examined from a student point of view, institutional policies, resources and systems should be aligned to support the university’s learning mission. As simple as this seems, alignment takes focus to achieve. We also touch on how a culture of improvement matters to a learning-focused campus. Institutions that are never satisfied with the status quo, avoid complacency and experience a continual state of “positive restlessness,” foster an ethos of innovation and evidence-based experimentation, which is central to a dynamic learning environment. Finally, we reflect on how much leadership matters in shaping institutional culture. Leadership at every level of the university— not just the top—is crucial. The work of articulating and enacting institutional mission and vision is a shared responsibility, and without good leadership at every level, institutions will drift aimlessly, losing sight of the essential purpose of educating students. In an era when there is much talk in the popular media about higher education being in a state of crisis, my co-authors and I take a much more optimistic view. Indeed, “The Undergraduate Experience” is replete with example after example of effective and inspiring institutional practices from colleges and universities across the country. Higher education may not be broken, but all of us need to act with purpose and urgency to shape institutional cultures to focus on what matters most. Leo M. Lambert President
arents Wes Elingburg and Mark Mahaffey, who have dedicated years of service as members of the university’s Board of Trustees, were recognized March 31 with honorary doctorates. President Leo M. Lambert conferred the Doctor of Humane Letters degrees during Spring Convocation in Alumni Memorial Gymnasium. “I am honored to have worked closely with both Wes Elingburg and Mark Mahaffey, honored to thank them for their passionate and committed service to Elon University,” Lambert said before reading the degree citations. Elingburg was elected to Elon’s Board of Trustees in 2005 and served as chair from 2012 to 2014. He and his wife, Cathy, are generous Elon benefactors, providing support for the Elon Academy, athletics programs and a variety of construction projects including the School of Communications, Alumni Field House and Alumni Memorial Gymnasium. The Wes and Cathy Elingburg Room in the Student Professional Development Center is named in their honor. Members of the Numen Lumen Society, they also endowed the Wesley R. Elingburg Professorship. They are the parents of Nolan H. Elingburg ’11 G’13. “When people ask me what makes Elon so special, my response is always, ‘It’s the people in the community,’” said Elingburg. “The people here at Elon are good, good people. They always have as their priority what is best for students.” Mahaffey was elected to Elon’s Board of Trustees in 2001 and chaired the board from 2010 until 2012. He and his wife, Marianne, have supported many of Elon’s capital projects, including Belk Library, the Ernest A. Koury, Sr. Business Center, Alumni Field House and the Numen Lumen Pavilion. The chaplain’s office in the latter is named in their honor. Members of the Numen Lumen Society, the Mahaffeys generously support Elon athletics, the School of Law and Elon Academy. The international study experiences of two of their children, M. Thomas Mahaffey ’97 and Kiley Mahaffey Tollberg ’01, prompted the couple to endow the Mark T. and Marianne Mahaffey Scholarship for International Study and Service to provide support for students pursuing service projects abroad. “Elon is a family. It is so unusual. It welcomes you with a warm heart the moment you join the fold,” Mahaffey said. “I will always be very proud to be associated with Elon, an inspiring national institution with a proud past and an even greater future.”
{ From left: Wes Elingburg, Elon President Leo M. Lambert & Mark Mahaffey. }
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UNDER THE OAKS
EXTRAORDINARY SERVICE
The Magazine of Elon spring 2016 | Vol. 78, No. 2 The Magazine of Elon is published quarterly for alumni, parents and friends by the Office of University Communications. © 2016, Elon University ED I TO R
Keren Rivas ’04 D E SI G N ER S
Garry Graham Bryan Huffman PH OTO G R A PH Y
Kim Walker ED I TO R I A L S TA FF
Holley Berry Katie DeGraff Roselee Papandrea Eric Townsend CO N T R I B U TO R S
Belk Library Archives and Special Collections Shakori Fletcher ’16 Xernay Aniwar ’17 Kyle Lubinsky ’17 Sarah Mulnick ’17 Sarah Collins ’18 V I C E PR E SI D EN T, U N I V ER SI T Y CO M M U N I C AT I O NS
Daniel J. Anderson
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ongtime Professor of Political Science Chalmers Brumbaugh received the surprise of a lifetime in March, when representatives from North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration interrupted a department meeting to present him with one of the state’s highest honors: the Order of the Long Leaf Pine. Brumbaugh, whose dedication to experiential education and civic engagement has inspired generations of Elon students, was overwhelmed and humbled by the award. “I view this award as recognition for university educators who have contributed to the growth and development of students across the state,” he said. The Order of the Long Leaf Pine is among the state’s most prestigious awards. It recognizes individuals who have provided extraordinary service to the state and their communities.
Brumbaugh has served on the North Carolina State Internship Council, a governor-appointed role, for 18 years. The council oversees 80 summer interns in state agencies each year.
Members of the council nominated Brumbaugh for the recognition. Brumbaugh joined the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Elon in 1986 and later served as department chair for 12 years. Throughout his career, he has devoted his energies to Elon’s model of engaged and experiential learning. In 2008 the university honored Brumbaugh with its Ward Family Excellence in Mentoring Award. In 2012 he was named Advisor of the Year in North Carolina for his work with Elon’s chapter of the North Carolina Student Legislature. Other Elon University leaders who have received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine include President Emeritus J. Earl Danieley ’46, Vice President Emerita Jo Watts Williams ’55 and former head football coach Jerry Tolley, who led Elon to two national championships in the early 1980s.
ED I TO R I A L O FFI C E S
The Magazine of Elon 2030 Campus Box Elon, NC 27244-2020 (336) 278-7415 www.elon.edu/magazine B OA R D O F T R US T EE S, C H A I R
A PIONEER IN LEGAL EDUCATION
Dr. William N.P. Herbert ’68
Charlottesville, Va.
ELO N A LU M N I B OA R D, PR E SI D EN T
Walter “Cam” Tims ’00 Raleigh, N.C.
YO U N G A LU M N I CO U N C I L , PR E SI D EN T
Scott Leighty ’09
Greensboro, N.C.
PA R EN T S CO U N C I L , CO - PR E SI D EN T S
Owen & Beth Dugan P’15 P’16
Wellesley, Mass.
SCHO OL OF L AW ADV ISORY BOARD, CHAIR
David Gergen
Cambridge, Mass.
S C H O O L O F CO M M U N I C AT I O NS A D V IS O RY B OA R D, C H A I R
Michael Radutzky P’12 P’17 Summit, N.J.
M A R T H A A N D SPEN C ER LO V E S C H O O L O F B USI N E SS A D V IS O RY B OA R D, C H A I R
William S. Creekmuir p’09 p’10
Atlanta, Ga.
PH O EN I X C LU B A D V IS O RY B OA R D, C H A I R
Mike Cross
Burlington, N.C.
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groundbreaking new curriculum at Elon University School of Law has earned national attention from U.S. News & World Report. An article in its “Best Graduate Schools 2017” guidebook, published in March, features five law schools that are reimagining their approaches to legal education with a focus on practical experience at lower overall costs to their students. Elon Law leads the list for focusing heavily on “individualized mentorship by working attorneys and faculty members and extensive experiential coursework.” The article also praises the school’s redesigned two-and-a-half year curriculum and its commitment to reduce tuition “by 12 percent to a flat $100,000 for the whole package.” “It is fabulous to be recognized for Elon Law’s innovative and entrepre-
neurial approach to legal education, integrating thinking and doing in a logically sequenced course of instruction,” said Luke Bierman, dean of the Elon University School of Law.
“Elon Law’s pioneering students and creative faculty are to be commended for helping to redesign and reinvent what it means to learn how to be a lawyer.”
UNDER THE OAKS
SYLLABUZZ
BY KYLE LUBINSKY ’17
COR 328 – Modern Summer Olympic Games
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or many countries, participating in the Summer Olympics is a source of national pride. But there is more to the games than just athletic competition. For the upcoming games in Brazil, there are bragging rights at stake for the first South American country to host the international event. But reports of water pollution near Olympic venues and the recent Zika virus outbreak—not to mention the country’s unstable political situation— have raised safety concerns for the athletes. Some nations are even threatening not to participate. There is also the issue of financing the event in times of economic austerity. Carol Smith, associate professor of health and human performance, looks at these and other complexities that surround this world event as part of “Modern Summer Olympic Games.” The class incorporates the philosophy, history and economics of the games. A wide variety of writing assignments, including short, informational papers and longer research papers, help students gain a comprehensive understanding of the Olympics. The classroom portion of the course is discussion-based. This format allows for all students to talk and contribute to the class, Smith says, while giving them more ownership and a greater commitment to learning about the topic. In order to get the full picture, students consider the significance of global events taking place around the time of the games. For example, students must complete a paper about the 1936 Olympics in Germany and reflect on events at the time, such as having legendary athlete Jesse Owens, an African American, compete during a period when Adolf Hitler was gaining power and preparing for World War II.
Smith’s interest in the Olympics drives her to continue teaching the class. The high level of competition and stories behind the athletes also compel her. “I love the Olympics. Most people do,” says Smith. “It is ever evolving, and there are many ‘behind-the-scenes’ stories of multiple athletes, not just Usain Bolt or Tyson Gay, but athletes many of the general population might not know.” While many students who take Smith’s class have competed in athletics at some point in their lives, they come from a variety of majors. They find common ground, however, in their love for the Olympics. Whatever their interest, Smith hopes they all gain a better appreciation for the games and develop a deeper understanding of all the complex issues that the event entails. “I really hope students will learn more about what makes the Olympics, the Olympics,” says Smith. “For instance, what about the athlete who has the chance to represent his or her country at the games, but realistically might not have any chance for a medal? [It’s] so much more than just the athletes striving for greatness.”
ABOUT THE PROFESSOR Carol Smith joined the Elon faculty in 1999. She teaches in the Department of Health and Human Performance and serves as the coordinator of the adventure-based learning minor. Her research interests involve adventurebased learning and how it impacts students, including retention rates of first-year students, leadership characteristics, moral reasoning and locus of control.
RECOMMENDED MATERIALS • “Chariots of Fire” film • “The First Olympics: Athens 1896” television series • “Rome 1960: The Olympics that Changed the World” by David Maraniss • www.olympic.org
A new leader for the School of Education V. Ann Adams Bullock, an associate professor of education from East Carolina University, has been named dean of Elon University’s School of Education. Bullock will oversee 22 fulltime faculty members from the Department of Education and six faculty members from the Department of Health and Human Performance, as well as five full-time faculty members from other departments within Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences who work with the university’s teacher education programs. She begins her new role on June 1. Bullock has served as chair of ECU’s Department of Elementary and Middle Grades Education for the past two years, guiding its strategic direction and vision. She has written or contributed to several books, book chapters and journal articles about her research on developing teacher portfolios, conducting assessments of student learning and classroom environments, and preparing teachers for middle grades education, among other topics. Bullock also has made dozens of presentations at international and regional professional conferences over the past two decades and has received more than $3 million in funded grants. “Throughout her remarkable career, Ann has demonstrated time and again that the best way to prepare future educators is through collaboration,” said Elon University Provost Steven House. “She works tirelessly with her students, faculty, administrators and local school teachers to not only educate, but inspire future generations of classroom leaders. Ann also has an entrepreneurial mindset, with an excellent understanding of teacher education and assessment, as well as considerable experience working at the state and national levels.” Elon’s School of Education enrolls more than 250 undergraduate and approximately 75 graduate students. It offers undergraduate and graduate degrees leading to North Carolina teacher licensure. spring 2016 5
UNDER THE OAKS
A BOLDER LOOK
F “You have to be imaginative. … You need to be innovative. You have to believe in a purpose larger than yourself if you are going to amount to much. And those are the lessons I have taken from each and every person I’ve written about.” —Walter Isaacson, acclaimed journalist and author of “The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution,” during his address at Elon’s Spring Convocation March 31.
or the first time in 15 years, the university’s graphic marks and logos have been given a new, bolder look with strong ties to Elon’s heritage and traditions. The new university symbols are built upon the foundation of the Elon wordmark in the classic Bembo font, which has been used since the 1990s. New athletics symbols feature updated versions of the Phoenix mark that was adopted in 2000. Maroon and gold, adopted as the Elon colors in about 1910, are used in all the marks. As with previous versions of Elon’s visual identity, the new primary signatures feature a leaf icon, symbolizing the university’s name, which is the Hebrew word for oak. The newly designed leaf icon is surrounded by a maroon-and-gold shield—half of the icon is in the shape of an oak leaf
“The fallout from the abuse is profound. It’s really hard for victims of online harassment to get a job or keep a job. It’s just so much easier and so much cheaper [for companies] to hire someone who comes without baggage.” —Legal expert and author Danielle Keats Citron during a March 10 keynote address on cyberstalking as part of Elon’s Lauren Dunne Astley Memorial Lecture.
and the other half is in the shape of flames, a connection to the historic 1923 fire that destroyed the college’s Main Building in 1923. The college rose from the ashes of that fire to become today’s thriving institution, providing the inspiration for the athletics mascot, the Phoenix. The flame-leaf icon and shield evoke a spirit of personal growth and transformation, which is the hallmark of an Elon education. The new identity system also includes a bold stylized E monogram that can be used for a wide variety of purposes, both institutional and athletics. Members of the campus community were given shirts, hats and window stickers at the annual Elon Day celebration on March 8, and shirts were distributed at the season finale men’s and women’s basketball games on Feb. 25 and 26. New Elon gear is now available for purchase at the Elon University Barnes & Noble Bookstore.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT change in their communities. Brown, who serves as first-year class Student Government Association president, will serve as a mentor for Elon’s Odyssey Scholars Program in the summer.
The National Campus Compact selected Kenneth Brown ’19 as one of 218 Newman Civic Fellows across the nation. The award recognizes students who are passionate about making lasting 6 the MAGAZINE of ELON
Senior Alexandra “Allie” Barteldt and junior Benjamin Lutz have each received a Critical Language Scholarship from the U.S. Department of State to study Hindi in Asia and Arabic in Africa, respectively. As part of the program, Barteldt and Lutz will travel overseas this summer to further their studies in foreign languages critical to U.S. diplomacy and outreach.
Several School of Communications students and graduates received awards in the spring. At the 2016 Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts, seven entries submitted by the school received awards, including a first-place finish by Nick Margherita ’14 G’15. In the 2015-16 Hearst Journalism Awards Multimedia II/News competition, Gary Grumbach ’16 finished 10th and Kate Murphy ’15 placed 16th, while The Pendulum, Elon ‘s student newspaper, won an Apple Award for Best Newspaper in its circulation category from the College Media Association.
In addition, Katy Canada ’15, Al Drago ’15, Leena Dahal ’17, Alex Simon ’17, Stephanie Hays ’18 and Hali TauxeStewart ’18 receive regional awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. Michael Dufour ’16, Chris Soloway ’16, Amelie Speer ’16 and Rebecca Karpinos ’18 placed third out of 16 teams in the East Division I of the Society for Human Resource Management Student Case Competition and Career Summit in March. The annual competition charges students to apply their classroom knowledge to a realistic human resource situation.
CAMPUS
UNCOMMONS BY SHAKORI FLETCHER ’16
When Robin Plummer first learned to sew at the age of five, she developed a passion for color and textile that would last a lifetime. Six years ago, as she was looking for a new challenge, Plummer’s passion led her to give custom quilts a try. Since her first project in 2010, the president’s office assistant has completed more than 125 quilts for family, friends, charities and clients around the world. Plummer, who is essentially self-taught, uses a Bernina 830 sewing machine to make her quilts startto-finish from home. “Wasn’t it Franklin D. Roosevelt who said, ‘Every garage needed a car?’ she asks. “Well, Robin Plummer says, ‘Every bed needs a quilt.’” Once Plummer realized her productivity exceeded the need of her immediate family and friends, she started sharing her projects and ideas through Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. She also opened a shop on Etsy.com, an e-commerce marketplace for handmade, vintage and uniquely made items. “From that, I’ve sent quilts around the world. They’ve gone to Australia, Israel, the United Kingdom, France and Canada,” she says. “To me, that’s amazing.” Plummer finds ideas for new quilts in an array of places, including requests from clients. In one instance, a woman preparing to move to a new home asked Plummer to make a quilt resembling the flower garden she couldn’t take with her. “She drew the pattern and asked if I could make a quilt from it,” she says. “So I just let my creative juices start to flow, and it really turned out to be an adorable quilt.” Plummer also creates quilts to donate to various organizations and fundraising events. She’s created sensory weighted blankets for children with autism, quilts for Relay for Life and Project Linus, memory blankets for friends with loved ones who have passed away, a quilt for a family friend undergoing chemotherapy and wedding quilts made of fabric signed by wedding guests. Plummer, whose dream is to one day open a quilt shop, offers this advice to those looking to take on creative projects: “If the project doesn’t come out as you envisioned it, make something else out of it,” she says. “It may end up being better than your original idea.” What faculty or staff member do you think is uncommon? Send a suggestion to themagazineofelon@gmail.com.
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Retired Chief Justice Henry E. Frye to deliver 2016 Baccalaureate address
CAMPUS HAPPENINGS
calendar
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For a complete list of events, check the E-net calendar at www.elon.edu/e-net/calendar. WEDNESDAY, MAY 18
Senior Class Picnic with Faculty and Staff A farewell picnic for all graduating seniors and Elon faculty and staff hosted by the Office of Alumni Engagement. FRIDAY, MAY 20
Message by retired Chief Justice Henry E. Frye, the first African American elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in the 20th century and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of North Carolina. FRIDAY, MAY 20
COURTESY OF NBC NEWS
Baccalaureate
Legacy Reception for Graduates and their Alumni Parents, Grandparents and Siblings Alumni who are parents, grandparents or siblings of 2016 graduates are invited to this reception hosted by the Office of Alumni Engagement. SATURDAY, MAY 21
126th Commencement Ceremony David Gergen, CNN political analyst and co-director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, will deliver Elon’s 126th Commencement address.
he Hon. Henry E. Frye, the first African American elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in the 20th century and, later, the first African American to serve on the North Carolina Supreme Court, will deliver Elon’s Baccalaureate address May 20. Frye serves on the Board of Advisors for Elon University School of Law. In addition to his community and civic service, Frye has more than 24 years in the private practice of law, 14 years in the N.C. General Assembly, 10 years as president of a local bank, two years as an assistant U.S. attorney, two years as a law school professor and more than 17 years on the state’s Supreme Court. In 1968 he became the first African American to be elected to the N.C. House of Representatives in the 20th century. He served in the House for 12 years and was then elected to a two-year term in the Senate. In 1983 Frye became the first African American to serve on the state’s Supreme Court. He was appointed by former Gov. Jim Hunt to serve as chief justice in September 1999. He retired from the court in 2001 and shortly thereafter became an attorney with Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, LLP. He retired from that practice in March. The university will honor Frye at the ceremony with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in recognition of his service to Elon, North Carolina and his profession.
FACULTY/STAFF SPOTLIGHT Elon University Registrar Rodney Parks has been awarded a $50,000 grant for a comprehensive student record project. Funded by the Lumina Foundation, in conjunction with the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers/Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, the project will accelerate the creation of a student record that will incorporate, and go well beyond, the traditional academic transcript. Director of Athletics Dave Blank has been selected by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics as its 2015-16 Football Championship Subdivision Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year. Blank, one of four national recipients of the award, will be recognized in June during NACDA’s 51st Annual Convention in Dallas. Elon women’s basketball head coach Charlotte Smith has been named an assistant coach for the 2016 USA Basketball Women’s U18 National Team, USA Basketball. The team will compete at the 2016 FIBA Americas U18 Championship from July 13-17 in Valdivia, Chile, where the top four finishing teams will earn a berth into the 2017 FIBA U19 World Championship.
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Professor of Philosophy Yoram Lubling (above) co-authored “Peace in Motion: John Dewey and the Aesthetics of Well-Being.” In the book, Lubling argues leaders in democratic societies must do a better job of asking vulnerable people what they consider to be in their own best interests before crafting public policies that make erroneous assumptions.
In REMEMBRANCE Earlier this year, the Elon community mourned the passing of a beloved faculty member and two generous benefactors.
Doug Noiles GP ’17 passed away Jan. 25 in New Canaan, Conn., following a lengthy illness. He and his wife, Edna Truitt Noiles ’44 GP ’17, were instrumental in the creation of two signature Elon University programs: the Vera Richardson Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life and the Elon Academy, which is a model for college access programs. Their granddaughter, Josephine Gardner, is a junior at Elon. Professor Heidi G. Frontani, a faculty member in the Department of History & Geography, died of a sudden illness Feb. 26. Frontani had been a prolific scholar and student mentor since joining the Elon faculty in 1998. At the time of her death, she was serving as a Senior Faculty Research Fellow, working on a book on charitable foundations and the birth of medical philanthropy in Africa. She also held many leadership roles over the years, most recently as co-chair of the implementation and assessment team for the Presidential Task Force on the Black Student, Faculty, and Staff Experiences at Elon. Maurice John Koury, a prominent Burlington, N.C., businessman and a generous supporter of Elon, passed away March 7. He was the recipient of an Elon honorary doctorate and was a passionate advocate for higher education and college athletics through his association with Elon and his alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was instrumental in the construction of Elon’s Ernest A. Koury, Sr. Business Center, making a major gift for the project in honor of his brother, who attended Elon and was a trustee from 1976 to 1996.
Top Fulbright producer Elon University is featured on an annual list of American master’s-level institutions whose graduates received Fulbright student awards for 2015-16.
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lon University has been named a top producer of Fulbright students for 2015-16 after four graduates in last year’s senior class were awarded the prestigious international fellowship to research or teach English overseas. The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announced in February its list of American schools that produced the highest number of Fulbright students last year. Top-producing institutions were highlighted the same day in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Elon tied for #8 on the list of American master’s-level institutions whose graduates
received Fulbright student awards. Three graduates in the Class of 2015 received Fulbright English Teaching Assistant grants: Christine Fortner (Thailand), Jason Waterman (Malaysia) and Omolayo Ojo (France). Mary Rouse received a Fulbright to study political communication at Royal Holloway, University of London. Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 360,000 participants, chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential, with the opportunity to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions for shared international concerns.
GR∑∑K LIFE With more than 80 years of fraternity and sorority h istory at Elon, Gr eek l i f e i s w e l l e s ta b l i s h e d on campus. The Office of Fraternit y & Sororit y Life supports Elon’s Greek communit y and advocates for thE academic success and developm e n t of all members. Below are somE recent figures related to Greek life at Elon:
25
The number of active fraternity and sorority chapters registered on campus. This includes eight Interfraternity Council chapters, seven National Pan-Hellenic Council chapters and 10 Panhellenic Council chapters.
250+
The number of leadership opportunities (president, treasurer, committee chair) chapters offer that are connected to the Elon Experiences transcript, which documents students’ participation in five key program areas: leadership, service, internships, global engagement and undergraduate research.
34,575
The number of hours fraternity and sorority members spent during 2014-15 engaging in service and philanthropic activities.
$229,043
The total dollar amount donated to charities by Greek organizations during 2014-15. Roughly 40 percent of that year’s ElonThon donation was raised by chapters in the fraternity and sorority community.
1 Metric Ton
The equivalent amount of food that was collected in less than two hours during the annual Greek Week Food Drive in April. Source: Elon’s Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life
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LONG LIVE ELON
of donors celebrated #ElonDay 2016 in grand Donors make March 8 Thousands fashion, making March 8 the single greatest day of giving history by contributing 3,749 gifts totaling more A banner day for Elon inthanElon’s$955,000. A series of generous matching and challenge gifts throughout the day encouraged widespread participation, thanks to donors including the Brightwater Fund and the Jarecki Family Foundation, Elon University Trustee Cindy Citrone P’17 and Rob Citrone P’17, Gary and Roberta Kleiman P’17, Elon University Trustee Dave Porter P’11 P’19 and members of the Elon Alumni Board and the Young Alumni Council. Members of the Elon family also took to social media in droves, reaching more than 4,500 mentions on various channels during a celebration that called for the university community to make March 8 “a banner day for Elon.” “Elon is a rare place that fosters the growth of the whole individual. Elon Day is a day to invest in the future of our university, so that
more students can find their home and become successful, thoughtful and positive contributors to our communities,” said Youth Trustee Jasmine Turner ’15 during a special College Coffee commemorating the day of giving. “Through giving back, I feel that my connection to Elon remains strong.” In addition to the morning College Coffee, other on-campus events included “A Toast for Elon” for seniors and an #ElonDay Student Party later in the evening. Elon Law also hosted #ElonDay events on the Greensboro campus. In addition, hundreds of alumni participated in events hosted by the university’s regional alumni chapters and clubs. The events took place in 36 cities spanning the globe from London to Los Angeles. For photos of the daylong celebration, visit this issue’s inside back cover.
Alumni gifts fuel Schar Center progress BY JALEH HAGIGH
Philanthropic support for the Schar Center continues to grow following recent major gift commitments from two Elon trustees who are among the university’s most generous alumni donors. To date, alumni and parents have contributed a total of $13.5 million toward the $24 million goal for the convocation center, which will provide a premier facility for Phoenix athletics and university events and is a key objective of the Elon Commitment strategic plan. The 160,000-square-foot Schar Center will fulfill a longstanding need for a large gathering space to host convocations, national and international performers, and athletics events. The more than 5,000-seat arena will also serve as the new home for Elon’s basketball and volleyball programs. The Schar Center will be located on
10 the MAGAZINE of ELON
approximately 20 acres adjacent to Elon’s athletics facilities. President Leo M. Lambert thanked Elon trustee Howard Arner ’63 and his wife, Beverly Frye Arner ’66, of Jacksonville, Fla., and trustee Ashton Newhall ’98 and his wife, Becky, of Owings Mills, Md., for their generous commitments to the Schar Center.
{ Howard ’63 & Beverly Frye ’66 Arner }
“It is always gratifying to see the leaders of our university—trustees who are also proud alumni—support bold initiatives that will fuel Elon’s continued ascent,” Lambert said. “The Schar Center will be truly transformational, and we are grateful to the alumni and parents who continue to move the university forward in powerful ways.” The Arners have faithfully supported scholarships for student-athletes, including establishing the Arner Family Football Scholarship, as well as construction of Rhodes Stadium. They have also made a generous estate gift to help build a robust pipeline of support for Elon’s future. In recognition of their most recent gift, the studentathlete entryway in the Schar Center will be named in their honor. The Newhalls have loyally supported Phoenix athletics, as well as the Elon Academy, Numen Lumen Pavilion and
{ Ashton Newhall ’98 } the Ernest A. Koury, Sr. Business Center. Their gift to establish the C. Ashton Newhall Endowed Lecture Series brings successful entrepreneurs to campus to share their experiences with students. One of the two video boards in the Schar Center arena will be named in honor of the Newhall family.
LONG LIVE ELON
EXPANDING OPPORTUNITY BY JALEH HAGIGH
end of the McMichael Science Center parking lot, adjacent to Colonnades Dining Hall. Sankey Hall will feature additional classrooms and student-faculty engagement spaces, as well as two new academic centers that will serve students in all majors. The new centers will focus on financial education and design thinking, inspiring students to come together to create innovative solutions to complex challenges. Sankey Hall is one of two new academic facilities being planned as the university continues progress on the Elon Commitment strategic plan. Program planning is also underway for a new building for the physical sciences.
“A man of his generation” { Architectural rendering of Sankey Hall }
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lon parents Jim and Beth Sankey of Charlotte, N.C., have made a generous naming gift in support of the expansion of the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business. The new 28,000-square-foot building, currently under design, will be named in honor of Jim Sankey’s father, the late Richard W. Sankey. “This naming gift from the Sankey family is a remarkable example of philanthropy in action at Elon,” President Leo M. Lambert said. “As parents of two Elon graduates and an incoming first-year Elon student, the Sankeys have seen firsthand the impact and value of an Elon education. Our community is truly grateful to the Sankeys for their leadership and generosity in support of this important strategic initiative.” A former Elon trustee, Jim Sankey is chief executive officer and president of InVue, a thriving global company based in Charlotte that produces innovative security devices to protect smart phones, tablets and other high-end retail products. His late father was a business leader and entrepreneur in Jim’s hometown of Canton, Ohio. It was there that in 1972, Richard Sankey launched a successful plastics design company called Alpha Enterprises. That company was the predecessor to InVue. “I really wanted to name this building in honor of my dad,” Jim Sankey said. “I give a lot of credit for my success to my dad. He was a hard-working, self-made man and a man of his word, which I admired a great deal.”
An engaged Elon family Jim and Beth Sankey have been generous Elon benefactors since 2008, making major commitments to support construction of Alumni Field House and the Numen Lumen Pavilion among other university priorities. In making their most recent gift, the couple said they are proud to have their family’s name associated with a top-50 undergraduate business school and a university with a growing national reputation. The Sankey family includes sons Clay ’12 and Wes ’13, and daughter Brooke, who will enroll in the fall as a member of the Class of 2020. “Elon is always trying to improve the student experience and is a university that is committed to excellence,” Jim Sankey said. “We feel very blessed to have had success in our lives, and are honored to share that with today’s students.”
Richard W. Sankey Hall Richard W. Sankey Hall will accommodate the growth of the Love School of Business, which has outgrown the 60,000-square-foot Ernest A. Koury, Sr. Business Center that opened in 2006. In the past decade, enrollment in the Love School has increased 80 percent. About 1,700 students, or about 30 percent of the university’s total enrollment, study in one of the school’s undergraduate majors or graduate programs. The Sankey commitment is the first major gift made toward the project’s $8 million goal. The three-story building will be located on the north
Raised during the Depression, Richard Sankey learned early in life the importance of hard work, fairness and integrity. After serving for two years in the U.S. Marines, Sankey graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1952 with assistance from the GI Bill and built a successful career in sales in Canton, Ohio. He was proud to be the first person in his family to graduate from college. “My dad was a man of his generation,” Jim Sankey said. “He expected a lot out of himself and those around him.” After working initially in the wire fabrication business, Richard Sankey launched Alpha Enterprises and over time grew the plastics design company into a successful business venture. In 1984 Jim Sankey was working in sales and living in Los Angeles when his father developed health problems. He returned to Ohio to help his father run the business. Richard Sankey retired in 1989 and Jim took over leadership of the company, adding lucrative manufacturing, marketing and sales divisions to grow the business. Over the next couple of decades, Sankey built up four separate business divisions within Alpha. He then sold off the divisions, the last of which was in 2007, and launched InVue. The company now dominates the market by securing expensive electronics and other consumer products while allowing them to remain “in view” of customers. InVue currently does business in 70 countries around the world. Richard Sankey died in 2013. Though he didn’t live to see his name on the new building, Jim said his father would be pleased. “I think my dad would be proud to have his name on a facility at Elon.”
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making a difference
{ A LIFE@Elon participant, Jackie Boada made a planned gift in support of Elon’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program. }
Returning Kindness N
LEARN MORE
about how you can 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. You can also visit www.elonlegacy.org. To learn more about LIFE@Elon, contact Kathryn Bennett at kbennett9@elon.edu.
12 the MAGAZINE of ELON
ot everyone gets a second chance to be a student, but that’s exactly what happened to Jackie Boada when she discovered LIFE@Elon, a lifelong learning institute that meets every semester on Elon’s campus. In addition to serving as her introduction to the university, Boada says the program’s weekly sessions, where topics range from history to art to religion, have also helped her make new connections within the surrounding community and offered her “many windows on many subjects.” “It does make you feel like you are a student again, except you don’t have homework unless you want to make some for yourself,” says Boada, who is originally from New Jersey and moved to Alamance County in 2012. “Sometimes you want to delve into the subject a little deeper.” After enrolling in LIFE@Elon, Boada found another valued resource at the university when she began attending physical therapy sessions at Elon’s School of Health Sciences. The sessions,
BY MEGAN MCCLURE
“At every session, I felt so comfortable and confident that the students knew what they were doing. They were always so kind and encouraging.” and the positive interactions Boada experienced with the graduate students providing them, inspired her to create a planned gift in support of the university’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program. “I wanted to make a difference in someone’s education,” says Boada, who was particularly impressed by how the program prepared students to approach health care with a sense of compassion and kindness. “At every session, I felt so comfortable and confident that the students knew what they were doing. They were always so kind and encouraging.” As Boada continued to see improvements in her physical strength from attending the sessions, she also became more passionate about supporting the students dedicated to providing those services to the public. “Physical therapy really does change your body and
make you stronger,” she says. “That’s so important for so many people.” To support the school, she chose to set up a charitable gift annuity, a gift that generates immediate financial and tax benefits for Boada while also providing financial resources for the university. The gift continues a lifetime of philanthropy and involvement that also includes Boada’s service as chairwoman of the American Red Cross chapter in Williamsburg, Va., as well as the community’s charter president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. For Boada, it’s an act of kindness that honors a university community she has come to feel a part of. “Elon is a very high quality university, and the people here are just wonderful,” she says. “I’m proud to support Elon in this way.”
PHOENIX SPORTS
▶ elonphoenix.com
From the GROUND UP
Women’s lacrosse captains Megan Griffin and Kelli Stack look back at the evolution of the program from a dream into a powerhouse. BY SARAH COLLINS ’18
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s first-year students, Elon University seniors Megan Griffin and Kelli Stack had no intention of playing varsity collegiate lacrosse. Now, as captains of Elon’s Division I women’s lacrosse team, the two have watched the program turn from a dream into a nationally recognized powerhouse. The pair became friends during their first semester at Elon while playing club lacrosse. They tried out for the Division I team later that year and were selected as two of the team’s five inaugural players. “It was a tough transition that first year,” says Stack, a marketing and entrepreneurship double major. “We had club practices, but we also had five-person practices with the new coaches.” A lacrosse team needs to have at least 11 players and a goalie to play—Elon’s original team had less than half the players needed for a scrimmage. “We were missing a significant portion of a team,” recalls Griffin, an exercise science major. “We did a lot of shooting drills. But the repetition of the skills was helpful.” By the time the first season began, the coaches had scouted 21 first-year recruits. Suddenly, the team quadrupled in size. “That was a big year,” Stack says. “It was an exciting time, but it was challenging because they were transitioning to college life and the coaches were starting a brandnew program.” The team’s first game ended in a 25-4 defeat against Duke University. The { Megan Griffin ’16 } team, however, has never been intimidated by challenge. “Our coaches tell us, ‘We want you to make mistakes, because that’s how you learn,’” Griffin says. “I don’t think you hear that from other collegiate programs. We play by taking risks, and that’s really helped our team grow.” Stack also emphasizes the team’s slow-but-steady mentality. “For us, winning has never been the ultimate goal,” she says. “Our coach always tells us to focus on the little things, because that’s what leads to improvement.” Focusing on those “little things” paid off in a big way for Griffin and Stack, who led their team in February to another challenge against Duke—and won. “It was really emotional,” Stack says of the win. “I think we just looked at each other afterward and were both thinking about how we’d come full circle.”
{ Kelli Stack ’16 }
Even in the wake of that win, the team is focused on improvement. “This win put us on the map, but it’s in the past now,” Stack says. “We’re just taking the energy from that win and continuing to move forward.” During the team’s first season, the players and coaches met several times to discuss their identity as an emerging program. These meetings helped the team develop a culture of support and mutual respect both on and off the field. “None of us had ever played college lacrosse before, so that really evened the playing field,” Stack says. “We don’t separate by grades. There’s never been any ‘freshmen pick up the balls’ or anything like that, and I think that’s something that’s really echoed into later years.” The team also enjoys fun activities while on the road. From line dancing in Tennessee to visiting a manatee exhibit in Florida, the team never stops growing together. “I’m excited to come back and see the growth of the program, but I’m most excited to see how our teammates have developed academically and professionally,” Griffin says. “I can’t wait to see where they’ll be in the future.” Both women said they couldn’t imagine being college athletes anywhere besides Elon. “My professors know who I am as a person and know what I’m interested in,” Griffin says. “So many of the opportunities I’ve had at Elon have been a result of having positive relationships with my professors.” After graduation, Stack will begin her career with a Washington, D.C.-based health care and education company. Griffin plans to attend graduate school to become an occupational therapist for autistic children. SPRING 2016 13
PHOENIX SPORTS
▶ elonphoenix.com
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT KATHERINE SHERIDAN ’17 BY XERNAY ANIWAR ’17
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ince she was a little girl, Katherine Sheridan knew she wanted to be a cheerleader. Not surprisingly, she’s been a part of the Elon Cheerleading team since her first year and currently serves on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. In this role, she coordinates community service work for the team and plans team-bonding activities. With her involvement in cheerleading, a job with Campus Recreation, Tri Sigma sorority activities and academic studies, the Hopkinton, Mass., native keeps a busy schedule. She recently carved out a few minutes to sit down with The Magazine of Elon and share a few things about herself.
She’s interning at NASDAQ this summer. As a double major in marketing and finance with a minor in communications, Sheridan secured a marketing communications internship with the second-largest stock exchange in the world. “I want to work in marketing within the financial industry, so this is perfect for me,” she says.
14 the MAGAZINE of ELON
She could live off doughnuts. “I love Krispy Kreme,” she says, though she also assures us that as a New Englander, she’ll always have a soft spot for Dunkin Donuts. In fact, she can often be found at the Burlington, N.C., store with her teammates at breakfast time.
She’s well travelled. Sheridan celebrated her high school graduation with a mother-daughter trip to Paris. Since she’s been at Elon, she’s studied abroad in Spain, Morocco and Greece. “One day we went camel riding on the beach in Morocco and it was so cool,” Sheridan says. “I was completely out of my element.” She also describes the Parthenon in Greece as “the most beautiful place” she’s ever seen.
She loves to run long distance. Amidst a busy schedule, she says running is an easy way for her to stay in shape. She even hopes to one day run the Boston Marathon. Since the start of the race is right in her neighborhood, “hopefully after I graduate, I can start training.” As a child, she dabbled in gymnastics, but her passion has always been for dance. Sheridan has taken everything from hip-hop to jazz to ballet— she even mastered pointe work. And while not her first love, her time with gymnastics has allowed for what she calls “basic tumbling,” also known as a back handspring.
AFTERSHOCKS: The Bombing in Brussels BY MYKEL DODSON ’10
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“As much as you tell yourself, ‘I’m not going to let the terrorists affect the way I live my daily life,’ there is no escaping the fact that we are now living in a new reality.”
arch 22 began like any other day. I was riding the train home after an early morning appointment for my yearly checkup. The train had stopped at the Brussels Schuman station when a terrorist bomb exploded at my next stop, Maelbeek station, about 100 yards away. In an instant, I was thrust into the center of an event that riveted the attention of the world. We were quickly evacuated from the station by police and metro employees. Most of us were a little confused as to what was happening, thinking it was just precautionary. I earlier learned from a friend that two bombs had exploded at the airport. The smoke was already creeping out of the tunnel and filling the station before we reached the street, and I began to wonder if these events were related. On the street level, there were paramedics and other first responders attending to injured citizens on the sidewalk while police blocked off ordinarily bustling streets. Reality began to set in—this wasn’t a precaution, but a horrific emergency. I can vividly remember the smell, and I can still clearly see graphic images in my mind. I walked for an hour to get back to my apartment; the city was eerily quiet. In all, 35 people, including three suicide bombers, were killed and more than 300 others were injured. The days and weeks following the attacks brought a jumble of emotions and conflicted thoughts. I am still processing what happened. In some ways, things have gotten back to normal, but then again, life will never be quite the same in Brussels. I’m not fearful for my personal safety, yet I don’t have the same relaxed and secure feeling I had before the bombings. It’s hard not to think about the attacks most days. Metro delays and train rerouting, along with an increased police presence, are clear reminders of what took place. On the metro, riders carry on their daily conversations, but you can see them stealing glances at anyone traveling with luggage.
We know some of the perpetrators are still at large. Could that person over there be part of a sleeper cell? It’s difficult not to be suspicious. As much as you tell yourself, “I’m not going to let the terrorists affect the way I live my daily life,” there is no escaping the fact that we are now living in a new reality. We don’t know if there are more attacks coming, or if this was just an isolated incident. We just don’t know. I do know that I feel sorry for the city of Brussels and what it is going through. This is a place that deals with the implications of a huge wealth gap between the rich, who live in comfortable and modern parts of the city, and the “croissant pauvre,” the poor population, many of them Muslims, who live in a crescent of depressed neighborhoods. These are places of high unemployment and hopelessness, fertile recruiting grounds for radical causes. Now Belgians are contemplating what the media refer to as “homegrown terrorists.” In café conversations, people say they can’t believe their own countrymen could turn against them. Everyone is wondering what went wrong. How did we lose these young men? What needs to be done at the community level to curb radicalization? And yes, there is anger and the rise of influence of some anti-Islam right-wing extremist groups promising some sort of drastic action. These aren’t easy issues. Personally I don’t believe we should point our finger at religion as a sole proprietor of extremists. There are political, socio-economic and cultural factors at play as well. As we think about the implications of these attacks, it’s very important that we not lose sight of the global perspective. While the media focuses a great deal of attention on incidents in major Western cities, we need to remember that people around the world are struggling with acts of terrorism. When I see the Pray for Paris or the Pray for Brussels campaigns, I think that’s really great. But these are not the only places that need our help and attention. Jakarta, Lahore, Ankara, GrandBassam, Mogadishu and many others have suffered attacks just in the past few months. It is clear that this is an issue in need of global awareness and action. If we only pay attention to cities we’re all most familiar with, it creates an us-versus-them mentality. We shouldn’t put our grief on different tiers. We should feel the same kind of pain for places in Turkey, Mali and Ivory Coast. Victims everywhere deserve our prayers. We are all in this together. Mykel Dodson ’10 is a graduate student studying new media and European society at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, the Flemish university in Brussels. He arrived in the city last August. spring 2016 15
The Value of Tinkering 16 the MAGAZINE of ELON
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Elon’s Maker Hub provides a space where students can tinker and learn perseverance through failure. BY KEREN RIVAS ’04
SK ANY STUDENT IF THEY LIKE TO FAIL, and the answer would most likely be “No way.” Yet, we know from experience that failure is an important component of the learning process. But how can one make that concept tangible to students in a practical, nonthreatening way? Simple: give them access to a space where they can gather to create, tinker, explore and discover using a variety of tools, materials and knowledge that support a maker mindset—taking ownership of your learning, developing your intrinsic motivation and embracing failure as an essential component of your learning process. The maker movement is taking root in communities around the globe and on college campuses across the country. It’s also the essential principle behind Elon’s Maker Hub, which opened last fall in Harper Hall of the Colonnades neighborhood. The idea for a maker space at Elon began organically in 2013, after conversations between a group of faculty and Teaching and Learning Technologies staff led to instructional technologists Michael Vaughn and Dan Reis visiting similar spaces at other universities to explore the possibilities of bringing such a space to Elon. They discovered that some were housed in the library, while most were located in engineering/environmental studies schools. After talking with faculty and staff across the university, the pair also realized there was no boundary for the maker philosophy: there were people across all disciplines interested in making things, which meant the Hub would embody all the engaged principles that characterize Elon. Christopher Waters, assistant vice president for technology and chief information officer, who was tasked with coordinating the efforts to make it all happen, says the challenge was to find a location that would attract a wider range of students while fitting within ongoing engaged learning initiatives at the university. The latter provided the answer: the perfect location to engage students is in a residence hall. “It was a way to put into practice what we say on a regular basis,” says Waters, not only about experiential learning but also about collaborating with partners across the university to create an environment for learning. “At Elon, one of the ways you learn is through experience. By partnering with Student Life to create the space, it became uniquely Elon.”
Making the space Since the Hub opened, more than 800 people have visited the space on the first floor of Harper Hall. It offers self-contained modules in five areas—3-D printing and design, mobile programming, electronics, e-textiles and microcomputing—and gives visitors access to tools, supplies and knowledge to pursue a project of their choosing. “The knowledge is really the most important part,” says Vaughn, who alongside Reis oversees operations at the Hub. A staff of nine students manages day-to-day operations and offers weekly sessions based on their own interests, whether it’s 3-D printing, computing, origami, knitting or baking. While it can be intimidating to see all the high-tech equipment, the space is set up to make beginners feel comfortable. In addition to providing access to tutorials, it has experienced staff eager to guide visitors in their area of interest. “If you’ve never written code in your life but have always wanted to build an SPRING 2016 17
I think making anything, whether it’s for science or art or whatever— making something with your hands, understanding how things are put together—gives you an appreciation for craftsmanship, and helps you in everything in life.” –Maria Falbo, adjunct assistant professor of physics app, we can help you get started,” Vaughn says. “We want people who think they don’t belong to be in the space.” Reis agrees. “Makers come from nearly every department and unit on campus,” he says. “We want people to realize: this is your space.” Senior Connor TeVault is one of the space’s student staff members. “I’ve been following the maker movement since 2013,” says TeVault, who has built his own 3-D printer using parts 3-D printed at the Hub. “It’s always been a passion.” A self-proclaimed tinkerer, the physics major and applied mathematics minor worked alongside Vaughn and Reis during summer 2015 to prepare the hardware and space prior to its opening, an experience that taught him new skills: planning, budgeting and managing a team, among others. “It was an eye-opening experience,” he says. “It made me more confident in my abilities.” Like all Hub staff members, TeVault provides training on equipment and guidance to anyone who needs it. He’s been amazed at the results he has seen in students who came into the space with doubts about their own abilities. He believes students with a maker mindset don’t view a lack of success as failure, which is why he thinks having the Hub is so important for the university. “Everyone can be a maker,” he says. Vaughn believes today’s culture of standardized testing in K-12 education is creating a generation of students who lack an understanding of how learning works, a willingness to struggle with complex ideas and theories, and the resiliency to fight through failure. In contrast, he says, maker spaces like Elon’s Hub allow students to go through trial and error to produce a final product. Many academically bright students, he adds, are perfectionists who give up after only failing once. The iterative process they engage in as part of any maker project—plan, try, fail, try again—forces them to embrace failure and continue working at it until they get it right. “The core foundation is, as educators, we love learning. When you make something, you experience that,” says Vaughn. “But you don’t always get it right the first time around. Failure is OK because it’s valuable.” 18 the MAGAZINE of ELON
Using the space
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he best part so far, Reis says, has been hearing ideas from students who are eager to discover how things are made and from faculty interested in using the Hub in their classes. Joel Hollingsworth, senior lecturer in computing sciences, encouraged students to use the space as part of his “Internet of Things” class. Assistant Professor of Art History Holly Silvers invited students in her “Vikings, Saxons, and Monks” Winter Term art history course to use the 3-D printers to create an artifact based on readings done in class. And Adjunct Assistant Professor of Physics Maria Falbo incorporated a new maker assignment where students built an instrument to measure the position of the sun or moon in her “Introduction to Astronomy” course. “I was really excited to see what they came up with,” Falbo says. “I’m a fan of making. I think making anything, whether it’s for science or art or whatever—making something with your hands, understanding how things are put together—gives you an appreciation for craftsmanship, and helps you in everything in life.” Assistant Professor of Biology Eric Bauer agrees. Regardless of what career students pursue, they will have to demonstrate some element of creativity along the way. “You are going to have to make something, whether it’s an article for publication or a new engineering piece of software,” he says. “You are the creator and that’s where your value is.” Besides encouraging students to use the space, Bauer has used the Hub’s 3-D printer to print parts and to solder together electronic components for equipment he uses as part of his research. One such piece was a micromanipulator, which is used to position an object with very fine precision under a microscope and hold it in place. He also created a light-filtering system (pictured) to use with existing microscopes in his lab. Bauer’s research involves toxicological screening of chemicals for potential harm to animals. In order to identify chemicals that might need more detailed investigation, he treats zebrafish with a chemical. He then uses a fluorescent dye to examine how well certain structures on the
fish survive the treatment. “I can put a very small fish underneath the microscope and if the light shows the glow nicely, then the fish is unharmed,” says Bauer. “But if there is presence of a damaging chemical, it won’t glow anymore.” He says he would be hard-pressed to find the budget to purchase a similar light-filtering system for all the students in a typical class. Being able to make them himself, he adds, frees his budget for other things. In an effort to give students the same opportunity to turn an idea into reality, students were encouraged in the fall to apply for an Elon Kickbox, which, as the name suggests, is a box that comes with guidance, resources and a $300 gift card to help them develop an original project. Because students need to find a sponsor during the application process, Vaughn says the process allows for interactions with students even before the project starts. “It’s an innovative way to fund a student project.” The 10 students who were selected in January have been working throughout the spring semester to complete their projects, which range from a smart mirror that provides weather and news updates, to an app that allows the user to transfer unused money from gift cards to developing economies across the globe. The participants presented their projects at the Student Undergraduate Research Forum and showed off their work at the local Burlington Mini Maker Faire in April. Though it’s only been open for less than a year, Waters says they are already looking for ways to expand the space. It’s something Hub users will welcome. “I wish it were bigger,” Bauer says. “As great as it is, the demand is there to be even more. It’s the classic, ‘if you build it, they will come’— and they have come.” Beyond finding alternatives to grow the physical space, Vaughn says they plan to continue growing the maker community on campus by not only focusing on the Hub but also on other existing spaces, such as the Loy Farm’s workshop, art labs, electronic labs for engineering, music studios and kitchens across campus. “These are all maker spaces that don’t have a connection to each other.” He hopes the Maker Hub can serve as a connector for all them. He and his team also would like to see more academic integration with the hub and for students to use the space beyond classwork. “The most important project that they can expect to work on is themselves,” Vaughn says. “You are the project we are working on.”
From the ARCHIVES
A Tale of Two Wells Over the span of Elon’s history, the campus has been home to several wells, including the Old Well. BY XERNAY ANIWAR ’17
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nown as the “Old Well,” the site of Elon’s first well and water source is located at the intersection of Whitley, Carlton and Alamance buildings, nestled sweetly under a gazebo. Students and faculty often sit on the wooden benches to check their phones, submit assignments and chat with friends. The well looks nothing like it used to; in fact, it’s now just a bubbling water fountain with a pedal. But in the late 1800s, the scene looked much different. According to Elon historian George Troxler, over the span of the school’s history, the campus has been home to several wells, including the Old Well. When the college opened in 1890, water was drawn from that well, which was located west of the Administration Building, the precursor to the modern-day Alamance. It was a hand-dug well that was probably about 30-to-40-feet deep, and wide enough to throw a few chairs into it (we’ll get to that later). As these were the days before the modern luxuries of indoor plumbing and heating systems, the female students who lived on campus were charged an extra fee of $25 per year to cover the cost of housekeepers who, among other things, fetched water from the well for them. In 1904 several first-year male students took it upon themselves to dismantle classroom chairs and throw them into the well, effectively contaminating the only source of drinking water for the college. The escapade left about 133 students stuck drinking soda pop from the corner store until the damage was fixed. The year 1910 brought the creation of a drilled well, which according to archival
accounts, was 100 feet deep and could yield 100 gallons of water per minute. It was located near today’s Scott Plaza, just northwest of Fonville Fountain, and sported an electric pump that moved water from the well into a 10,500-gallon wooden tank that sat atop West Dormitory. When indoor plumbing came to campus in 1907, the positioning of the tank had allowed for water to flow down into the surrounding buildings, helped along by gravity. A few years later, in 1912, the wooden tank unsurprisingly began to show signs of decay and water damage. In turn, a 50,000-gallon steel tank was erected next to the well. Unfortunately for the aesthetic of the campus, the tank served as an unauthorized billboard for fraternity slogans in the 1920s, when non-academic Greek organizations were formed on campus. By 1978 the Town of Elon completed a 200,000-gallon water tank, and a year later the well tower was torn down. Although the Old Well was no longer used, it has never been forgotten. Once described as a “trysting place of youthful lovers”—male and female students were not allowed to socialize except during certain hours—the Class of 1926 saw it fit to put up wooden beams around it, creating a sitting area “for the ladies” in the summertime. Fifty years later in 1976, the same class decided to add bricks and mortar, making it into the version we see today, and one of the oldest historic landmarks on campus. spring 2016 19
COVER STORY
the
long BY KEREN RIVAS ’04
{ From left: Bryant Colson ’80, Glenda Phillips Hightower & Associate Professor Emerita of English Wilhelmina Boyd. } 20 the MAGAZINE of ELON
ROA D The story of the black experience at Elon includes highs, lows and amazing perseverance by determined individuals.
he Elon that Glenda Phillips Hightower and Eugene Perry ’69 remember is not the same one they encountered when they visited the campus in February. Some of the buildings looked the same and many of the oaks they had passed on their way to class were still there. Yet it all felt completely different. As the first black students to attend Elon full-time, their experience was shaped by societal norms that had kept blacks and whites separated throughout their entire lives. And while there was no violence during their time as students, their experience was very different from that of today’s black students. “[Times] were different,” Hightower says. “They were just different. Race relations had to make some giant leaps to get where we are now.” Hightower and Perry couldn’t have imagined in the 1960s, that more than 50 years later, they would be standing in Moseley Center, surrounded by a large crowd of students, faculty, staff and administrators
who had come together for one purpose: to unveil their portraits in recognition of their pioneering spirit. “They did something extraordinary, something historic, and something that we perceive today as incredibly generous,” said Elon University President Leo M. Lambert during the unveiling. “They persevered. And in the process, Glenda and Eugene changed Elon College and paved the way for thousands of black students, faculty and staff to follow them. Thank you for never giving up. Thank you for leading this institution to a better place. Thank you for choosing the path of love and sacrifice.” It was a path they took not knowing where it was going to lead, a path that in some ways had been forged by others even before Hightower and Perry were admitted at Elon, and one that the institution and black students continue to broaden for generations to come.
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{ Photograph taken between 1890 and 1906 of East Dormitory depicting its female residents and the black staff they hired. }
DEEP Even before the college was founded in 1889, a strong black community had settled near the railroad tracks at what was called Mill Point, near the current intersection of Williamson and Lebanon avenues. In “From a Grove of Oaks: The Story of Elon University,” George Troxler, professor emeritus of history and university historian, writes that having labor available for loading and unloading railway cars likely influenced area mill owners to ensure a railway stop was established in that location. Regardless of what first attracted them to that area, the presence of a black Lutheran church at Mill Point makes it clear this was a grounded community. The church appears in records as far back as 1877, making it the first black Lutheran congregation to be recorded in North Carolina. Blacks had few opportunities back then, having lost the short-lived liberties they enjoyed during Reconstruction, the period from 1865 to 1877 following the Civil War. In the aftermath of an attempt by white and black Populists and Republicans to gain control of state governments, rigid antiblack laws were enacted in Southern states at the end of the 19th century. These laws, which came to be known as “Jim Crow laws,” made it almost impossible for blacks to vote, prohibited them from holding local offices and mandated racial segregation in all public facilities, including schools. With no political or economic power, blacks were once again suppressed and restricted by laws that determined where they could live, work and go to school. “This was three steps backwards in terms of race relations,” Troxler says. “There were a lot of racial tensions. It would take time for mindsets to change.”
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It was against this backdrop that Elon opened its doors. Not surprisingly, black men and women from the nearby community, now known as the Ballpark Community, participated in the early growth of the college, starting a relationship with the institution that continues to this day. At first, blacks served as hired hands, doing mostly housekeeping work for faculty and students. In “Elon College: Its History and Traditions,” Durward T. Stokes gives the account of Pink B. Comer, a black man who was hired in the early 1900s to care for the Rev. James W. Wellons, an original member of the college board of trustees, when he lived at the college after retirement. Comer also looked after the athletic grounds. “There were few opportunities for people in this community to work except as domestics, custodians and in agriculture,” Troxler says, adding that textile mills were strictly segregated and there was no nearby opportunity for them to be tenant farmers. The college offered a steady source of employment. Indeed, some, such as Comer and maintenance worker Andrew Morgan, worked for the college for decades, becoming fixtures in the community. When the school laid out a new athletic field south of the campus, in what is now The Station at Mill Point, it named it Comer Field. When Morgan’s house burned down in the 1950s, the college raised funds to pay for it to be rebuilt. And when he died in an accident a decade later, then President J. Earl Danieley ’46 gave the eulogy at his funeral. Morgan’s wife, Hattie Burton Morgan, cooked in the dining hall and several other members of their extended family have worked at Elon in various capacities throughout the years. Janice Ratliff,
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THE LONG ROAD
a program assistant in the Office of Student Health and Wellness, who is retiring in May after 30 years of service, is one of them. Morgan was her great uncle, though she considers him her grandfather since he raised her mother. Like him and many other relatives who also found employment at Elon, Ratliff grew up in the Ballpark Community. “They all moved to the area after [Morgan] got the job at Elon,” she says. “Of the original family members who didn’t move away, about 80 percent of them worked at Elon and the descendants are still here,” she says. “There is at least a third generation of one family still working here.” Growing up in a segregated community, Ratliff never thought she would one day work at Elon, at least not as a staff member. “When I graduated from high school [in 1961], Elon wasn’t even an option,” she says. “Black people didn’t work here except for in housekeeping and dining services. Things have evolved.”
THE
TO INTEGRATION
While the Christian Church, Elon’s founding denomination, was mostly a rural, white, Southern church that often aligned with the social order of the time, there are clues in the university’s archives that provide an insight into the institution’s desire to be more inclusive. Leonidas L. Polk, a farmer and the leader of the Farmers’ Alliance, a movement that received much support from black voters during the 1890s, was invited to speak at the school’s Cornerstone Laying Ceremony in 1889. Though illness prevented Polk from attending, “there must have been some political consideration from the board to make that choice,” Troxler says. In 1927 Elon hosted a convention of the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions. Twenty North Carolina schools, including six black institutions, sent representatives. According to news reports at the time, it was the first time black students had been invited to a conference in a Southern white college. The event was described by Elon President W.A. Harper in his book, “Character Building in Colleges,” as an example of how a “vexing and ever recurring Christian problem” was addressed in a Christian way. “Here was a real situation loaded with dynamite, or prophetic with hope for a Christian solution of the [race] question,” Harper wrote, adding that the campus “became a laboratory in the race question for about a month,” with classes, discussion groups, student meetings and chapel services engaging in discussions. “What Harper and the college were doing was liberal for the day,” Troxler says. “This speaks, in some respects, to the fact that we have been a leader. This was the first Student Volunteers meeting in the South where black and white students were together.” Yet, Troxler adds, at other times, “we haven’t been enough of a leader.” That was the conclusion L’Tanya Richmond ’87 reached when she decided to tell the story of Elon’s first black students as she created a “Wall of Fame” in Elon’s Multicultural Center, and later as she prepared her master’s thesis in 2005. Prior to the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education, in which the U.S. Supreme Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional, white and black schools in Alamance County were significantly unequal in terms of facilities, faculty and library resources. As Richmond details in her thesis, no action was taken to integrate public schools in the area for almost 10 years. While state colleges and universities adopted the court’s ruling starting in 1956, it wasn’t until 1963, the year before the Civil Rights Acts was passed, that Elon and other Southern private colleges started a slow integration process. Elon chose to open its doors to black students at the same time other schools were integrating. Guilford College and Wake University enrolled their first black students in 1962. Duke University admitted black undergraduate students in 1963, while Davidson { From left: L’Tanya Richmond ’87, Andrew Morgan & members of the Black Cultural Society. } spring 2016 23
College did so the following year. “We were not the first nor the last,” Troxler says. It was a step in the right direction, though it was limited for various reasons. While there was support from the national United Church of Christ to integrate, the local church might have felt differently, Troxler says. In fact, the decision to integrate was made by President Danieley alone and was not part of a comprehensive plan for desegregation. Danieley says he knew that if he asked the board of trustees to pass a resolution in favor of integration, as the national church had asked him to do, they could have voted against it, closing the door for any chance at integration. Instead, the administration decided to reach out to the local schools looking for black students in good academic standing who were good scholarship candidates. “When we get an application,” Danieley recalls telling church officials, “we are going to accept this student.” When Hightower, an honors student at a local high school, applied, she was immediately accepted. The oldest of nine siblings, she had been taught by her parents about the power of education. But nothing had prepared her for an integrated classroom. She had attended black schools, lived in a black community and worshipped in a black church her entire life. While Elon wasn’t her first choice, it was the closest to her family and the one that offered the most financial assistance. “I was not financially prepared to attend college,” she told Richmond in a 2005 interview. “Naturally, the schools to which I had applied were black institutions that had very little funding for scholarships. … Elon offering admission and tuition, that was the answer.” She arrived at Elon in fall 1963 as a pre-medicine major and joined the marching band as a clarinetist. Her scholarship only covered the cost of tuition, so she continued living at home. She walked unescorted to class each morning, and while she didn’t experience open hostility on campus, there was little interaction with her peers. Just as segregation laws had shaped her life, her white peers had been conditioned to see black students differently. At the same time, she didn’t know how to behave around black employees at the school. “We were not clear, or not comfortable, that we should talk to each other,” she recalls. “Race relations in the 1940s, ’50s, ’60s were rigid, severe, unaccepting, uninviting and unwilling. So to be here, neither of us wanted the other to be in trouble.” In the classroom, the challenges continued. While Hightower was valedictorian in high school, she soon realized she had not received adequate preparation. The textbooks she had often used in class were old or inferior in quality to those used by her white counterparts.
{ Mary Carroll ’81 }
She withdrew from Elon in 1964, due in part to an illness. Though she eventually earned a degree from the University of Iowa in 1974 and spent her entire career working as a nurse, her decision to leave Elon weighed heavily on her mind for many years. She felt as if she had let her community down. Richmond describes her withdrawal as “inevitable.” With no support system in place, it was a tall order for her to succeed. “Administrators and faculty at Elon were white and had also grown up with Jim Crow laws. They had experienced little to no interaction with blacks,” Richmond writes. “The focus of most
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Southern private colleges and universities at this time was to secure federal funding and do what was required legally, not morally.” Perry came to campus in fall 1965 determined to see his Elon experience through to the end. Just like with Hightower, Elon wasn’t his first choice, but it was the most economical option. He also joined the marching band. Danieley was always encouraging him and professors were cordial to him, he told Richmond in an interview, but he did experience a few racially charged incidents around campus, though he never reported them. “I didn’t discuss it because I think it was just the way things were,” he told Richmond. Instead, he preferred to focus on his studies—he majored in social science—and in 1969, he became the first black student to earn an Elon degree. He went on to receive two master’s degrees and had a varied career that included serving as a Navy chaplain, a teacher and a drug counselor.
FROM THE
ONWARD
In the following years, many more black students followed in their footsteps, their experiences varying depending on their expectations and backgrounds. The Rev. Marvin Morgan ’71 describes his student experience as “overwhelmingly positive,” adding that his Elon education transformed his life. Prior to enrolling at Elon in January 1968, Morgan had spent the previous two and a half years with IBM, in Rochester, Minn., and later at the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. “That job was offered to me prior to my completion of my senior year at James E. Shepard High School in Wake County, where I was an honor student,” he says. Race relations were still difficult nationwide and riots were common, particularly after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in April of 1968. All this uncertainty, Morgan says, gave new meaning to a phrase in the Negro National Anthem, “when hope unborn had died.” “That’s what it felt like outside the campus,” he says, adding that the campus for him “was an incubator for improved racial relations: if we study together and then later live and work together, that could make a difference.” He fondly remembers the vast outpouring of support he and other minority students received following King’s assassination. That show of support and empathy by fellow students and faculty, he says, helped to shape his decision to remain in school at a time when some black students dropped out of predominantly white institutions in order to reassess the full implications of gaining an education in such a setting. Like Perry, he was determined to stay at Elon. “I felt torn for having made that decision, but grateful,” he says. “I felt the need to be out in the streets, where the ‘real action’ was taking place. I later learned there was real action taking place as we grew in our levels of tolerance at Elon.” He went on to earn a master’s degree from Duke University Divinity School and a doctoral degree from Drew University. As more black students enrolled at Elon during the 1970s, they gained enough numbers and confidence to form their own support systems. In 1974 the Black Cultural Society was established, serving as the catalyst for other groups to form. A singing group led by members of the physical plant soon became the Elon College Gospel Choir, which was
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formally established in 1977, enriching the spiritual experience of students. The following decade, chapters of four historically black Greek organizations were established, providing much-needed opportunities for social interactions. Bryant Colson ’80 entered Elon in fall 1976. He served as the editor of The Pendulum for the 1978-79 academic year and was elected president of the Student Government Association his senior year. His leadership legacy, Richmond wrote, continued at Elon at a time when black student enrollment was gradually increasing. Even as students started gaining ground, they relied heavily on black staff members for support, including Ratliff. When she came to Elon in 1980 to work in the Office of Cooperative Education, she joined a core group of black office workers, including Marsha Boone in admissions and later Betty Covington in academic advising, who had been hired in an effort to diversify the make-up of the staff. This gave Ratliff the opportunity to be a much-needed source of encouragement for a new generation of diverse students. “Black students would come to our office for support because they didn’t have any other place to go,” Ratliff says. “They came to Elon because of scholarships or other financial aid. There was a need for somebody to support them.” Along the way, these staff members impacted the lives of countless black students, such as Darryl Smith ’86, who came to Elon in the 1980s on an athletic scholarship and worked in the cafeteria washing dishes to earn some income. “They believed in me and supported me,” he says of Elon’s black staff members, as well as others, like Lela Faye Rich in advising, who impacted his time as a student. While the black student community was small, Smith says, it was a tight community. “We supported each other and took care of each other,” he says. “We couldn’t imagine just how a simple gesture, like a home-cooked meal when we were away from home, or just words of encouragement can shape someone’s life. They were proud to see the progress we had made that they might have not made, and behind the scenes, some of them lived through us.” While much had changed at Elon, certain instances of prejudice remained. When Mary Carroll ’81 entered Elon in 1977, she was the only black student in her dormitory (Staley Hall). While she had corresponded with her roommate over the summer, when the roommate and her mother saw her on Move-in Day, they were visibly shocked, she told Richmond in a 2004 interview. “I truly believe to this day that she thought I was white,” Carroll continued in that interview. “They never said, ‘I don’t want her sharing the room with a black girl,’ but it was very obvious.” She didn’t see the girl again. Two years later, when Carroll, who was representing the Black Cultural Society, was elected Homecoming Queen in 1979, she became the first black student to be crowned queen. That was also the first Homecoming Court not to be included in the school yearbook. “The black student community was so angry and shocked by the yearbook staff ’s negligence that they decided to organize a protest on campus to burn their yearbooks,” Richmond wrote. “Black students were upset with Elon’s administration because the omission had been
THE LONG ROAD
acknowledged as a simple oversight. … It shows how the students in numbers start to feel empowered to challenge uncharted areas of social and governmental participation.” Decades later, Elon changed its housing policy to make it clear it embraced diversity, respect and responsibility and that the institution was committed to offering an “integrated learning community for our students to grow and become active members of a global society,” Richmond wrote. However, it wasn’t until 1987 that Elon hired its first full-time faculty member, Wilhelmina Boyd, in the Department of English. A beloved teacher, she developed new African-American courses that eventually gave way to the founding of the African and African-American studies program in 1994. A student award was established in her honor in 2008, and in 2012 the home of the interdisciplinary program in Alamance Building was named the Wilhelmina Boyd Suite. Additional support for recruiting and retaining minority students was implemented during the late 1980s and 1990s. In 1988 Richmond
became the first black admissions counselor whose main purpose was to develop a recruitment plan to increase minority enrollment, something she did successfully. In 1992 the African-American Resource Room was established after a group of black students petitioned the school to set aside a space on campus where all faculty, staff and students could explore cultural diversity, with an emphasis on African-American culture. The following year, the Office of Minority Affairs was created and Richmond was appointed as its founding director. The Multicultural Center opened a decade later under Richmond’s leadership to better serve an increasingly diverse student body and support diversity education opportunities for all students, and in 1997 she created Elon’s “Wall of Fame.” Richmond also established Elon’s Black Excellence Awards Banquet, which recognizes black students for their academic achievement. The banquet was renamed the Phillips-Perry Black Excellence Awards Banquet in 2006 to honor two of Elon’s first black students. Many black students who enrolled at Elon from the 1990s forward “felt totally inclusive in the college environment,” Richmond wrote. The college had changed and the experiences of black students before they came to Elon had also changed. That was certainly the case with Marvin Morgan’s children, Akilah and Marvin Jr., who graduated from Elon in 1996 and 2009, respectively. He can still remember walking across campus with his oldest daughter in 1994 while reminiscing
{ Above: Members of the Omicron Iota chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, one of four historically black Greek organizations to form on campus during the 1980s. } spring 2016 25
about his days at Elon. “My daughter said, ‘Dad, this is not the same Elon you attended.’ She was absolutely right,” he says. “Virtually everything had changed in those 20 years. At a very early point in life, people are having more diverse cultural experiences and that has helped to shape their response to all stimuli. My children spent their entire lives in predominantly white schools. When they arrived at Elon, I thought they were going to find their way to the Multicultural Center, make their presence known and get involved in issues.” When he stopped by the center during one of his visits to campus, Morgan discovered that neither of his children had visited the space, nor did the staff know them. “There was a reason for that,” he says. “My children’s background had been very different from my own and that helped to shape their way of functioning around Elon.”
THE ROAD As the campus continued to diversify, the 21st century brought different challenges and opportunities for the university to improve the experience of all students. In 2010 Lambert began the implementation of the Elon Commitment, a strategic plan to guide the institution for the next 10 years. Among its top priorities is an “unprecedented commitment to diversity and global engagement.” In terms of racial diversity, that meant the adoption of diversity plans by offices across campus and the implementation of new programs for students. Faculty members are also encouraged to create and incorporate diversity infusion projects in the classroom and campus conversations on race and diversity are common. Randy Williams was hired as presidential fellow, special assistant to the president and dean of Multicultural Affairs, and in fall 2014 the Multicultural Center’s name was changed to The Center for Race, Ethnicity, & Diversity Education to more accurately reflect its role in the university’s diversity and inclusion efforts. “Most societal institutions, including higher education, are grappling with creating a more inclusive environment for their communities,” says Williams, who was recently appointed associate vice president for campus engagement. “Having been in higher education for more than 20 years, I am proud to be a member of the Elon community, which works toward the vision of everyone experiencing inclusion, despite the challenges of reaching such a goal.” For Morgan, who serves on the board of trustees, the diversity portion of the Elon Commitment speaks volumes regarding how far Elon has come over the years. “If we deal creatively with issues related to diversity here at Elon, our graduates will be enabled to deal with these and other issues when they travel, study and work abroad,” he says, adding he is particularly thrilled to see the diversity that is now evident among Elon faculty and staff. Faculty ethnic diversity has increased in recent years from 10 percent to 15 percent, and from 18 percent to 22 percent for staff. It’s a reality that hasn’t escaped Associate Professor of English Prudence Layne. A past coordinator of the African and African-American studies program, she has been promoting and advocating for racial diversity on campus since joining the Elon faculty in 2005. “We’ve come a mighty long way in many regards,” Layne says, adding that blacks are now represented on the board of trustees and senior positions, as well as in leadership positions across campus. “We’ve had a lot of firsts, but we still have a lot of other firsts to get to, a lot of barriers to dismantle.”
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A report last fall from the university’s Presidential Task Force on Black Student, Faculty, and Staff Experiences showed just how much work is still left to do. Among other things, the report found that almost 60 percent of black students surveyed felt Elon needed to make improvements to be considered an inclusive campus. Among 63 black faculty and staff who participated in the survey, 74 percent said they have experienced disparaging race-related comments at Elon. Of the 151 black students who also took the survey, 65 percent reported the same. “Whether the subject is race or understanding the religious and spiritual traditions of others, we have to be invested for the long term,” Lambert says. “We strive to be an institution of higher learning that is always getting better on every front, including being an ever more inclusive community.” Elon’s continuing work certainly feels the influence of national racial tensions. The August 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown, a black teenager, at the hands of a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., sparked weeks of protest nationwide and drew attention to the Black Lives Matter movement, which has been described as a new civil rights campaign for the modern era. At Elon, racial incidents, including acts of racial bias, were reported in 2011, 2013 and 2015, sparking campus-wide outcry and conversations that, while painful at times, Layne says, have been healthy. “Our community, including nonuniversity residents, has shifted to think in ways and about issues that were not covered before,” she says. “Issues of race, identity and culture are being discussed throughout the institution.” “We are committed to thinking carefully about how our corner of the world can make an important contribution to systemic change that is so much in need across our nation,” Lambert says. “They are many powerful voices in our nation today calling for us not to show our highest character as an American people. Closer to home, we have witnessed members of our own community who have been targets of slurs for one reason only—because they are black. We cannot afford to have any group feel at the margins of campus life or to waste precious intellectual and emotional energy on questions about whether Elon is a place where they can belong and thrive.” For that to happen, deeper questions need to be considered. The issue of class disparity due to race, for instance, hasn’t been solved, Layne says. “We sometimes have generations of families working in the Physical Plant, for example, but why haven’t they broken the cycle to move beyond those positions? Have we talked about that?” she asks. “They clean and maintain the physical environment of our institution, walk the annals of history in the library but don’t have access to the same educational resources.” Racism and oppression operate in systematic, pervasive ways, she adds, and are rooted in a “fundamental ignorance and lack of understanding of human beings and who we are.” Black Student Union President Alex Bohannon ’16 agrees. “We don’t have people walking around in white hoods as much as they used to, but because of that change, it’s confused some folks into thinking that racism no longer exists or that we can worry about it less,” he says. While he doesn’t believe Elon has an “abundance of racists,” Bohannon says there is a culture of apathy on campus that will take time to change because it involves diversifying the student body. That can only happen by providing additional financial aid to be able to attract and support students from all types of backgrounds. “As human beings, we are conditioned to be concerned with our own circles, with our own self,” he says. But “when you have different people from different marginalized identities in a place, it adds a sense of empathy around
“
Our community, including nonuniversity residents, has shifted to think in ways and about issues that were not covered before. Issues of race, identity and culture are being discussed throughout the institution.
”
—Associate Professor of English Prudence Layne
everyone else’s struggle because everyone is aware that everybody has their own struggle.”
me on that road not chosen, and I still feel like I’m sometimes on that road.”
Despite all these challenges, Bohannon would not change his Elon experience for anything. “I have been challenged a huge amount and not just in terms of academics and intellect but personally my identity has been challenged,” he says. “I am more salient in all of the different forms of my identity because I came to Elon. And it is the challenges, the difficulties that make us better and have a more profound change.”
For Hightower, her portrait is a reminder that despite all the challenges she endured, Elon chose to integrate the campus in a peaceful manner, and for that, she’s grateful. “When I was coming to this institution by myself, I thought about other places that were violent,” she says. “Other places that weren’t handling it the way that we were handling it.” To those who see her portrait in Moseley Center, she adds, “it’s going to say, come one, come all. See what can happen to you? Give it an opportunity.” Moving forward, she hopes the black student experience at Elon is not seen as a separate experience but rather as “part of the community of Elon—an integrated community that says that every single person invited to matriculate at this university is valuable to us. Every person. That’s what I would like to see.”
It’s a perspective both Hightower and Perry also share. Having their portraits unveiled brought their Elon experience full circle, for it acknowledged their personal struggles as part of the larger context of how the black experience continues to evolve at Elon. “When I talk to some of my brothers or former classmates, my experience at Elon was different from what they experienced,” Perry says. “But I hold no regrets for the Elon experience because, in the words of Robert Frost, I guess it put
{ Clockwise: President Leo M. Lambert, Glenda Phillips Hightower and Eugene Perry ’69 during the unveiling of their portraits; Black Student Union President Alex Bohannon ’16 speaking out against acts of bias and discrimination during a 2015 rally organized by students; Associate Professor of English Prudence Layne. }
Adam Constantine ’10 contributed to this story.
spring 2016 27
Big thinking, SMALL LIVING BY ERIC TOWNSEND
{ Encouraged by his mentor, Michael Strickland in the Department of Environmental Studies, Dustin Pfaehler ’16 has built a tiny house as part of an independent research project. }
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T
Dustin Pfaehler’s legacy at Elon is the research he’s conducted on a hand-built tiny house found at Loy Farm, where faculty and administrators hope to launch a living-learning community for students who want to simplify their lives.
he small house atop a flatbed trailer at the university’s Loy Farm originated from a joke. In the fall of 2014, shortly after attending a Sierra Club-sponsored campus screening of the film “Tiny: The Story of Living Small,” Dustin Pfaehler quipped to an academic mentor in the Department of Environmental Studies about the benefit of building his own tiny house to save rent money. Pfaehler laughed at the idea. His adviser and mentor, Michael Strickland, didn’t. “He actually thought it was great,” Pfaehler recalls. More than a year later and after extensive research into the history of tiny houses, what you see on the farm is a great example of sustainable living, and a potential model for a future living-learning community comprised of similar small houses. The house is Pfaehler’s independent research project—the last credits he’ll earn before his graduation this spring— and one he built himself. Upon entering the 120-square-foot house is a kitchenette with a working sink, a toaster oven and a small refrigerator. A shower and toilet area is off the kitchen. To the immediate left is a hand-built table and folding chair where Pfaehler often works on his laptop. Right behind him is a wooden ladder that takes him to a lofted mattress atop the kitchenette and shower. The house connects to the power grid via a nearby pavilion and storage barn. Water is pumped in from a well on the farm and a bin traps runoff from the kitchen and the shower. A propane tank helps heat water. The toilet requires use of disposable waste bags since it’s not hooked up to a sewer line or a septic system, though Pfaehler only uses it in case of emergencies since he maintains a nearby apartment and spends much of his time on main campus. By turning his small house into an independent research project, Pfaehler is helping environmental studies faculty and the Center for Environmental Studies determine the feasibility of a living-learning community at Loy Farm where students might one day live in similar fashion in exchange for their labor on the farm. It’s a deal that would help the farm amplify its regional impact. Because the volume of fresh produce from the farm is limited by the number of people available to harvest it, having students live just yards away would create additional opportunities for providing locally grown fruits and vegetables both on campus and in the community via local food banks. The department will likely include a proposal for a Loy Farm living-learning community in a forthcoming five-year strategic plan. “There’s avid student interest in it,” Strickland says. “It is a fascinating academic experiment in scaling down and this aligns perfectly with our emphasis on sustainability at the farm.” But interest alone isn’t enough. Faculty and staff are already giving thought to what
types of students might thrive full-time in a small house, and Pfaehler is contributing to those discussions with his data collection. Since finishing the house during Winter Term, he has spent long days on Loy Farm, tracking water and electricity output and journaling his reflections on his sparse quarters. “It’s very cozy, surprisingly,” Pfaehler says of his research. “Being out here alone is kind of neat. It’s quiet, so when there’s noise, I’m definitely startled.” Pfaehler may have been the ideal Elon student to attempt a small house research project. When not helping his parents with the family’s South Carolina carpentry and interior millwork business, he’d spend much of his time outdoors, kayaking or backpacking when the opportunity presented itself. He initially came to Elon for environmental engineering but later decided on environmental studies. In line with his commitment to sustainability, Pfaehler built the house with as much recycled material as possible. He started the project last summer on a flatbed trailer acquired near home. In his free time at the family warehouse, he’d use power equipment to erect a frame, roof and walls, almost all of which he obtained as surplus from a track builder who conducted business with his father. At the end of last October, a family friend transported the house and trailer to Elon. Pfaehler completed the interior work over the fall semester and into Winter Term. Other small houses are now in the initial stages of construction on Loy Farm under the supervision of Robert Charest, an associate professor of environmental studies who teaches courses on sustainable architecture and design. Student interest in small houses coincides with national attention on the trend. Stories abound of homeowners choosing to downsize for both ecological and economical reasons. HGTV has even gotten in on the trend with shows such as “Tiny House Hunters” and “Tiny House, Big Living.” Popularity is strongest among young people and those without children in the home. There are a number of reasons supporters have cited in popular media for why they’ve downsized to homes that, in some instances, are less than 100 square feet. It’s economical. It fosters creativity. It’s better for the planet. Pfaehler says that once he leaves Elon, he’ll either take the house with him to a new town for a job in environmental fieldwork, or possibly relocate it to undeveloped family land in the mountains of western North Carolina. Those who have been part of Pfaehler’s journey at Elon are just as eager to see where life takes him—with or without a trailer in tow. “There’s something exciting about figuring out how to be efficient and small,” Strickland says of Pfaehler’s house. “You can graduate from college and own your own home for less money than people spend on cars. There’s a freedom in that, being able to just pack up and go.” spring 2016 29
TT Y OF JOH N BRI PH OTO CO UR TES
An Elon learning
CURVE (ball) BY CONOR O’NEILL ’11
30 the MAGAZINE of ELON
An infielder turned pitcher, Tom Brewer translated the lessons he learned during a semester spent at Elon in 1951 into a successful Major League Baseball career. The path to becoming an All-Star pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and a good friend of baseball legend Ted Williams brought Tom Brewer through Elon College in the spring of 1951. It was there Brewer refined his touch on the mound, learned he was tipping his pitches—and how to fix that—and discovered his best chance to play in the major leagues rested in his future as a pitcher. All during one school year. “I can’t say enough about Elon, because they were so good to me up there,” says Brewer in a slow, Southern drawl from his home in Cheraw, S.C., the town where he was born, raised and has lived for most of his life. The name “Tom Brewer” is nowhere to be found among the list of letter winners in the history of Elon baseball. But Brewer’s experience at Elon isn’t a figment of his imagination. There is an Austin Brewer—Tom Brewer’s middle name—listed as the team’s strikeout leader in 1951. That’s a mark made possible by Brewer’s relationship with scout Mace Brown. It was Brown’s friendship with Elon coach Jim Mallory that forged a connection and led to a workout for Brewer. With no prior knowledge of Elon, Brewer was invited to visit, traveled to the school for a workout and accepted an offer to join the team, all in a week’s time. “I worked out for them up there, and that was it. [Mallory] said, ‘You wanna come to Elon? You’d fit right in here.’ I said, ‘That’d be fine,’” Brewer recalls. And the rest, as the saying goes, is history.
added. Brewer’s work ethic also led him to learn different types of fastballs. He already had a sinking fastball, but he started to work on a cutter: a pitch that later led his Boston Red Sox teammate Ted Williams, one of baseball’s greatest hitters, to claim that Brewer broke too many of his bats during spring training. Elon went 16-9 in Brewer’s one season, winning nine of the last 10 games. But in April of that spring, Brewer signed a professional contract with Boston. That put Brewer in the hands of the High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms in the North Carolina State League. It was a trial by fire { Coach Jim Mallory (front row) and Tom Brewer (second row) at Elon in 1951. } for Brewer, who transitioned from his first season with Elon into his successful the other way,” Brewer explains. first professional experience in the same “When you get up there, you’ve got to make spring. “I didn’t have any idea of what I was yourself do things to improve.” going to get into. I found out right quick when It was a humbling experience not too I got over there,” he says. uncommon in the sport. “You know when you go out and a ballclub just hits you hard … sometimes it will stick in your mind. ‘How in the world do they keep doing that to you?’” Brewer says. “After you do it and get hit a few times, you wonder why they’re hitting you so hard; you change in a hurry.” Brewer also added to his pitch arsenal while at Elon. Arriving as a fastball-curveball pitcher, he wanted to add dynamics to what pitches he could call upon, so a changeup was
***
After finishing the season with the Hi-Toms, Brewer was drafted in December of 1951 and served in the Army for two years. He was never deployed, although there were a couple of times he thought he would be called upon during the Korean War. His pitching arm stayed sharp, playing in active service leagues that featured major leaguers scattered
PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN BRITT
rewer came to Elon as more of an infielder than a pitcher, with the ability to play third base or shortstop. The team already had several players at those positions, among them Elon Sports Hall of Famer Scott Quakenbush ’53, who Brewer noted would have been hard to move out. When Mallory, whose own professional career lasted for 54 games, asked him whether he’d rather be an infielder or a pitcher, he asked Mallory in return what his opinion was. “He said, ‘The quickest way for you to get to the major leagues is with your arm,’” Brewer says. “I said, ‘OK, we’ll go whatever way you say.’” There were some changes that needed to be made, though. The most immediate was that Brewer was tipping his pitches, giving away what kind of pitch he was throwing before he’d make the delivery. Intensive work with Mallory followed, and yielded rapid results. One workout on the mound stands out for Brewer. Mallory, who was at the plate, called out every pitch correctly before Brewer threw it. He knew then, it was time to make a change. “It took a lot of hard work on my part to make myself do things like that, because when you’re young, you’re a little bit hardheaded and don’t want to change the way you’ve been doing things when you’ve been
spring 2016 31
throughout the country. He had a 35-7 record in those two seasons. Though by then married, Brewer planned on returning to Elon when he was discharged in December of 1953. Then came a spring training invitation from the Red Sox. “I said, ‘If I make the team, I’ll probably just stay in baseball.’ And that’s what happened,” Brewer says. The then-22-year-old threw 27 straight scoreless innings in his first professional spring training, earning a spot with the Red Sox as a reliever. That didn’t last long either; he was moved into the rotation in his rookie season. Brewer had cracked his way into a major league rotation, pitching home games in Fenway Park and accelerating a baseball education that had taken shape at Elon. There was an art to each part of baseball for Brewer, and he saw the best way to learn that of pitching was to listen to Williams, an eventual Hall of Famer who won six batting titles, two of which came in 1957-58, when Brewer was on the team. “Ted and I were good friends, when we traveled on the planes, he and I would sit
32 the MAGAZINE of ELON
together,” Brewer says. “I told him, ‘I want to learn all I can about pitching, but the only way I can learn about pitching is to listen to you talk about hitting.’ Every time he got a new kid on the block, they wanted to talk about hitting. I would eavesdrop, I wouldn’t even tell him I was around, I would just get up that close to him to hear what they were talking about.” They were friends, with a respect derived from some of the stubbornness and desire to improve that was on display at Elon. During spring training, Williams asked pitchers to throw the ball down the middle in batting practice. Brewer refused, telling Williams, “I’m not going to throw you something fat down the middle of the plate to hit every time I come out here to pitch batting practice. I’m going to work on things that I need to, to help me.” Brewer was 91-82 in eight seasons with the Red Sox, his best season coming in 1956. That’s when Brewer was 19-9 with a 3.50 earned run average and a selection to the American League All-Star team (he even made the cover of Sports Illustrated). He led Boston in wins, complete games (15), shutouts (four) and innings pitched (244 1/3), and also racked up 28 hits over 94 at-bats (a .298 average). “He had a stellar career,” says John Britt, who has written about Brewer. “He had a winning record in a losing team. He pitched against everybody—Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Yogi Berra. He was good.” In his last season in 1961, during which he turned 30, Brewer was limited to nine starts—he had at least 28 in each of the previous six seasons—by arm fatigue. He decided he could no longer help the Red Sox. “It was just a matter of me being a little bit more relaxed and saying, ‘No, you can’t do all this that you want to do.’ I wanted to do what was right to help the ballclub and play my part as a
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOHN BRITT
He already had a sinking fastball, but he started to work on a cutter: a pitch that later led his Boston Red Sox teammate Ted Williams, one of baseball’s greatest hitters, to claim that Brewer broke too many of his bats during spring training.
ballplayer, and to help anybody I could to progress as much as they possibly could,” he says. Now 84, Brewer has no regrets. His house is full of memories from his time with the Red Sox but also from the life he built with his late wife, Barbara, and their three children. He has since remarried and lives with wife Norma. Most of his post-baseball career was spent as a probation officer for the South Carolina Probation Office and as a pitching coach for the Cheraw High Braves at his alma mater, Cheraw High School, where the baseball field is named in his honor. The town even declared March 21, 2009, “Tom Brewer Day” in honor of his contributions to the school and the community. According to a story Britt heard, Brewer would often be found on Sunday afternoons sitting by the pitcher mound at a public park in Cheraw with a bucket of baseballs willing to train any kid that would come by. “He did this every Sunday for 50 years,” Britt says. “That says just about everything you need to know about his character.” More than any other work, Brewer says he got the most satisfaction out of working with young pitchers. He took pride in weeding bad habits out of players 10, 12 years of age— habits like the ones he lost at Elon. “They all wanted to learn, and it was a good feeling to work with kids of that age,” he says. “Before we started, I would have a conversation with all the kids and tell them what I expected. … A lot of them went on to pitch in high school. That was a good feeling, knowing that they were taught the right way to start with.”
ALUMNI ACTION
We all share a great love Dear Elon alumni,
T
he older I get, the more I grow to understand the adage, “time flies.” This is certainly true of the year I have spent as president of your Elon Alumni Board. While the time felt short, I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished together over the past several months. Take Elon Day. On March 8, we exhibited to ourselves—and to the world—the love and pride we share for our university. We outpaced our giving by more than 1,000 gifts over last year. That means more than 3,700 alumni, parents, friends, seniors, faculty and staff believe what Elon is doing is valuable. And for the first time, the Elon Alumni Board committed to Elon Day like never before, stretching their usual giving in ways both large and small to sponsor the $100,000 Champion Challenge. Thanks, EAB, for showing us how to be Elon’s partners, advocates and investors. We also saw some significant changes in Homecoming 2015, including a new paperless registration process. We implemented a new homecoming app that put the schedule of events, social media connections and campus maps right at the fingertips of all who attended. This was a direct result of the work and input of the board, and I’m excited to say even more changes are in store for Homecoming 2016, so plan to be there.
The board has grown this year to better represent our full alumni body. We have made, and will continue to make, significant strides in inviting alumni from a range of geographical areas and graduating years to join us in this work. These alumni will continue to focus on Elon Day, homecoming, strategic planning, improving the alumni campus visit experience and how best to communicate with our ever-changing alumni population. We hope you have experienced some of the improvements along the way. There is much more to come. One of the issues I personally focused on this year was raising awareness of this board with our alumni body. I want all alumni to know that EAB is committed to you and representing your interests and needs with our university leadership. We are also fortunate to have a Young Alumni Council representing alumni who are 10 years or less from graduation, including the Class of 2016. Most importantly, a growing number of alumni became partners, advocates and investors this year. This, after all, is the ultimate goal. Thank you for joining us and your peers in service opportunities, mentoring, giving and showing the world what Elon graduates are all about. It has been one of my greatest honors to serve my alma mater in this way over the past year. I will take many memories with me, including that of my dear friend, Cam Tims ’00, who takes leadership of EAB this spring. Chris Bell ’92 will come alongside as president-elect and I will continue to serve with them as past-president for the next year. I am looking forward to their outstanding leadership. Shannon Moody ’94 Elon Alumni Board President
SUCCESSFUL EVENINGS Did you know? Starting in September, Elon brought alumni, parents and friends of the university together with President Leo M. Lambert in 13 cities— including Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Tampa—for our annual Evening for Elon series. Each program featured a campus update from President Lambert as well as time spent honoring several alumni and parents of the university who frequently give back as partners, advocates and investors. More than 2,000 alumni reconnected with Elon through these events in 2015-16.
#ELONDAY
Your annual gift of any amount helps Elon’s national rankings,
strengthening the value of an Elon degree. Elon’s fiscal year closes May 31, 2016. If you haven’t made a gift to Elon since the start of this fiscal year on June 1, 2015, visit www.elon.edu/makeagift to support Elon today! Not sure when you last made a gift to Elon? Go to www.elon.edu/honorroll to see a full list of current donors. The 1889 Society honors Elon’s most loyal alumni donors— those who have given annually for two or more consecutive fiscal years. Alumni who set up a monthly or annually recurring gift automatically become members. For more information on the importance of The 1889 Society and membership, visit www.elon.edu/1889society.
spring 2016 33
on the town
ALUMNI ACTION
Alumni chapters & clubs celebrate #ElonDay A record-setting 800-plus alumni attended one of 36 #ElonDay parties on March 8 hosted by Elon’s alumni chapters and clubs around the world. These events provided an opportunity for alumni to celebrate their alma mater on #ElonDay no matter where they live. Many alumni also took the opportunity to make a gift to the university in honor of #ElonDay. { Triad, N.C. }
{Wilmington, N.C. } { New Jersey }
{ London }
Alumni professional development In an effort to provide professional development programs for alumni, chapters in major cities participated in a series of events in April. These events featured guest speakers, panelists and breakout sessions on a large variety of topics. • Ryan Vet ’13 talked with members of the Triad Alumni Chapter on March 31 at HQ Greensboro about his lifelong journey in entrepreneurship. • The Philadelphia Alumni Chapter had focused, small-group conversations on personal brand development and home buying in Philadelphia with Joyel Crawford ’97 and James Shaver ’12 on April 6. 34 the MAGAZINE of ELON
• The New York Alumni Chapter met April 20 with Ben Pascale ’12, a LinkedIn senior account executive who shared tips for optimizing LinkedIn profiles to attract recruiters, and Avery Lucas ’13, a ClassPass customer experience lead who discussed how the company serves as a fitness resource.
ALUMNI ACTION
CHAPTER & CLUB HAPPENINGS Alumni chapters and clubs are actively planning events. Check your local chapter or club’s Facebook page for events near you: ✪✪ Atlanta Alumni Chapter Golf Tournament Friday, May 13 The Golf Club at Bradshaw Farm ✪✪ Washington, D.C. Alumni Chapter’s 7th Annual Phoenix Open Monday, June 6 Reston National Golf Course ✪✪ Boston Alumni Chapter’s 2nd Annual Golf Tournament Friday, June 17 Wayland Country Club
Keep ELON in the Know
If you have recently moved or changed jobs, make sure to update your information at www.elon.edu/alumniupdate to receive information about upcoming events in your area.
TO FIND A CHAPTER NEAR YOU, GO TO www.elon.edu/alumni.
Email jboozer@elon.edu to register for any of these events.
LGBTQIA Alumni Network Regional Event Members of the LGBTQIA Alumni Network gathered at the Human Rights Campaign headquarters in Washington, D.C., for a planning retreat on Feb. 26-27. In conjunction with the meeting, and in partnership with the Office of Alumni Engagement and the Gender and LGBTQIA Center, the network hosted its first regional event. The social event was open to all members of the alumni community and gave members of LGBTQIA communities the opportunity to meet and reconnect in the nation’s capital.
CALLING for
VOLUNTEERS!
The Elon Black Alumni Network (EBAN) and LGBTQIA Alumni Network are accepting nominations for new leadership members, with terms to begin June 1. There are many opportunities to get involved including: regional programming, student outreach, events and homecoming, philanthropy, communications and more. For more information about Elon’s affinity networks or to apply for leadership, contact Deidra Smith, assistant director of alumni engagement, at dsmith79@elon.edu. spring 2016 35
ALUMNI ACTION
TOP 10 UNDER 10 CELEBRATING THE SUCCESS OF YOUNG ALUMNI
{ Back row from left: Garrett A. Turner ’08, Mitch K. Pittman ’09, Tyler J. Brandt ’06 & J. Parker Turner IV ’06. Front row from left: Kendra Nickel-Nguy ’08, Justine M. Davis ’08, Amanda Brown Marusiak ’10 & Hallie Kilmer Cornetta ’09. } Ten distinguished young alumni were recognized April 2 at the annual Top 10 Under 10 Alumni Awards program. President Leo M. Lambert joined family and friends to recognize the professional achievements and personal journeys of the 10 award recipients. In its sixth year, the Top 10 Under 10 Alumni Awards program highlights and celebrates alumni who have graduated within the past decade, are distinguished in their professions and communities, and serve as active partners, advocates and investors in Elon. ✪✪
Tyler J. Brandt ’06, real estate acquisition representative, Murphy Oil USA
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Kendra Nickel-Nguy ’08, associate attorney, K&L Gates LLP and board president, AWAKE
✪✪
Hallie Kilmer Cornetta ’09, vice president of human capital, Red Ventures
✪✪
Mitch K. Pittman ’09, reporter, KOMO-TV
✪✪
✪✪
Justine M. Davis ’08, doctoral student and Ford Fellow, University of California, Berkeley
Garrett A. Turner ’08, vice president of global strategy, Liberty Port, LLC
✪✪
✪✪
Clint Irwin ’11, professional soccer player, Toronto FC (in absentia)
J. Parker Turner IV ’06, president, Liberty Port, LLC and managing partner, Roundtree Valley Enterprises
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Adam S. Kaplan ’12, Broadway actor (in absentia)
✪✪
Amanda Brown Marusiak ’10, epidemiologist and infectious disease control program coordinator, ExxonMobil Corporation (Houston)
36 the MAGAZINE of ELON
For more information about the recipients or the Top 10 Under 10 Alumni Awards program, contact Jill Hollis ’13, coordinator of alumni engagement and special events, at jhollis@elon.edu.
CLASS NOTES
CLASS 47| NOTES
Lewis Nance fondly
remembers his time at Elon. Some of the people who made his college experience special include A.L. Hook 1913 and J. Earl Danieley ’46. He’s thankful to Elon for introducing him to his late wife, Helen Hudgins ’46, who served as a college nurse, and for providing them with a good foundation. He lives in Georgia.
80|
Bruce Morgan was recently
named chief executive officer of Kids Across America Kamps, a Christian summer sports camp that serves approximately 7,000 urban young people from across the nation every year. He and wife Vicki have four children. They live in Missouri. • Betty Burton Thayer was named chair of Homes and Rooms, a recently launched company that helps vacation rental property owners to increase bookings and save time. She and husband Henry Morris split their time between London, Switzerland, Italy and Florida.
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Steve Higgins was recently promoted to president of Carter, an international consulting company that provides counsel in the areas of philanthropy, organizational development and
governance. He and wife Char reside in Vero Beach, Fla., with their three children.
95|
David Clubb was recently
appointed executive director of the Cranwell International Center and instructor at Virginia Tech, leaving his previous position as assistant vice president for international education at Norwich University. He lives just outside of Blacksburg, Va., with his wife, Shannon Kuhns Clubb, and their five children.
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Jennifer Curtin ran her
first marathon in March in Myrtle Beach, where she placed second in her age group and earned a qualifying time for the 2017 Boston Marathon. Her two daughters, accompanied by Lisa Pope and Sarah Smith, cheered as she crossed the finish line. • Christopher Landino was recently hired as the director of academic advising and career services for Penn State Lehigh Valley. He lives in Bethlehem, Pa.
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Kara Falck Bolling recently recorded her second album with Lulu’s Fate, a traditional Americana band based in Washington, D.C. The band recorded the album in January at Ottoman Empire Studios in Farmville, Va., which happened to be owned by Tray Eppes ’74. Tray, who is also a master potter and owns a rustic pottery studio called Cowpalace Productions, built the studio inside a barn on his family’s farm. He and wife Jo Ann provided hospitality and expertise during the band’s recording weekend. Kara calls Tray “a kindred spirit and a testament to the fun and interesting people that come out of Elon.”
Lisa McAlister has been
named co-general counsel for American Municipal Power, Inc. In her new role, she will serve as general counsel for regulatory affairs. Lisa joined AMP ALUMNI ALBUM
in 2012 as deputy general counsel FERC/RTO affairs. She has been active nationally serving as vice chair and now chair of the American Public Power Association.
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Bruce Morgan ’80
Mike Buurman ’00, Ashleigh Pauley & friends
Lindsey Vogel Cave ’04, Sean Cave & son Hunter Aiden
Marsha Jordan ’02, Brian Jordan & children
Charla Johnson Halverson ’04, David Halverson & sons Tanner, Landon & Brody
Mike Buurman and Ashleigh Pauley were
married 10/17/15. Alumni in attendance included Adam Oldham ’97, Heath Oldham, Kami Lenius Weaver and Traci Schroyer Hanser ’01. The couple also welcomed their first child, Elizabeth “Ellie” Claire, on 7/8/15. They live in Roanoke, Va.
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Donnell Baldwin and wife Courtney ArringtonBaldwin co-authored “GROOMS: A Professional Stylist’s Guide to Wedding Day Apparel for Every Budget.” Since its December 2015 launch, the book has been featured in WWD, Esquire, Brides, Essence, Ebony and Refinery29. Donnell is a deputy styling editor for luxury menswear online retailer MR PORTER.
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Marsha Jordan and Brian Jordan welcomed daughter Kaelyn on 11/4/14. They live in Colfax, N.C. spring 2016 37
CLASS NOTES
HEART OF A COACH BY KYLE LUBINSKY ’17
{ Robert Cody ’80 has coached high school football for more than 30 years. }
F
or many collegiate athletes, playing professional sports is an aspiration. For others, playing a sport helps them find their calling in life. For Robert Cody ’80, a backup quarterback at Elon in the late 1970s, the lessons learned at the college level have translated to success as a high school coach. The idea of coaching football began at Elon, Cody says. During his tenure as a member of the football team, he learned how to draw up plays and learn opposing teams’ game plans. “It wasn’t all that difficult for me,” he says. “I was on the scout team. [I was] learning the other team’s plays.” After graduating from Elon in 1980 with a degree in health and physical education, Cody remained in North Carolina after accepting a
38 the MAGAZINE of ELON
teaching job at Rocky Mount High School and later Johnson County Schools. But he still hoped to be head coach for a football team. Then, on a family vacation, his life changed forever. While reading a newspaper, he noticed an ad for a coaching position at Plymouth (N.C.) High School. Feeling that he had nothing to lose, Cody applied for the position. When he was offered the job, he took it. In his first season, the team went 8-3. But after this initial success, the team went through a lull for a while. That changed in 1992 with the addition of the recreation department, which allowed players to develop before joining the varsity team and offered Cody more competitive players to choose from. He typically gives 22 players the
chance to play every week, and no spots on the field are guaranteed, making every practice a battle for
position. While Plymouth has enjoyed success during the last decade, it took patience for Cody’s teams to win consistently. At first, Cody was on his own—the team didn’t have a band, and support from the school was lackluster at times. “You can’t turn something around in two or three years,” he says. “It takes you a decade.” The turnaround at Plymouth culminated in a state championship in 2006, and the team has consistently contended for the title since, winning state championships in 2007, 2012 and 2015. “He’s had a tremendous impact” in the region, says Wesley Stokes, director of transportation and athletics for Washington County Schools. “Football here in the 1970s was good, but then we went through a dry spell. After he got it going, we’ve been a contender.” More importantly, Cody is building confident young men. “He’s such a great teacher,” says Stokes. “He doesn’t do a lot of yelling. He goes and individually talks to players.” For many in Plymouth, the high school football team is a source of strength. Cody currently employs five of his former players as coaches. Many of the players he coached during his younger days now have sons who play for the team. “It’s a real family environment down here,” he says. Not much has changed for Cody since he started at Plymouth in 1985. He still gets up on the weekend and mows the grass on the football field. After 31 years, though, there isn’t much he’d change. “I don’t think anything is better than having a group of people that all have the same goal,” he says. “It’s what happens at state championships— there can’t be a personal milestone bigger than a team milestone.”
CLASS NOTES
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CHARITABLE GIFT ANNUITIES CAN PROVIDE INCOME FOR LIFE a charitable gift annuity of $10,000 or more to Elon will guarantee a fixed income for the rest of your life. With market interest rates near historic lows, a gift annuity is an attractive way 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 april 17, 2015 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.
Donnie Peters received the Media Person of the Year Award in February at the American Poker Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. Donnie is the editor-in-chief of PokerNews.com, a global leader in poker media. The award is presented annually to the media person judged to have been a leading personality in poker media for the given year. The American Poker Awards have recognized leaders in the North American poker industry and poker players for more than a decade.
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Sean Cave welcomed son Hunter Aiden on 1/21/15. The family lives in New Orleans. • Charla Johnson Halverson and David Halverson welcomed son Tanner on 1/29/15. He joins older brothers Landon and Brody. • Jeff Trauring was named senior corporate public relations manager at Medtronic, a medical services and technology company. He lives in Minneapolis.
To calculate a gift annuity for you, your spouse or a family member, visit www.elonlegacy.org.
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Talk with us today about how you may benefit from a life income gift to Elon and other gift planning opportunities.
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please contact: Carolyn DeFrancesco, Director of Planned Giving 336-278-7454 ■ cdefrancesco@elon.edu ■ www.elonlegacy.org
Lindsey Vogel Cave and
Fabyan Saxe and Brittany Saxe ’06 welcomed son
Tatum Daniel on 12/10/15. Tatum joins big brother Fynn. The family lives in Burlington, N.C. Anthony Catalano and
Lauren Heflin were married 12/5/15 in Atlanta. Alumni in attendance included Monica Catalano ’02, Brandon Hayes ’05, Fabyan Saxe ’05, Keenan Benjamin, Matt Cassidy,
Lindsay DePree, John Lagowski, Jason Lotz, Brittany Saxe, Leigh Stallings, Paige Richardson Vasami, Brandon Diggs ’07, Junior Nombre ’07, Chris Vasami ’07, Tara Mulcahy ’08, Jackie Nombre ’08 and Alex Douyon ’09. • Gabrielle McGee and Molly Heffernan ’11 opened
the bell at the New York Stock Exchange during Women’s History Month with their team at the Tory Burch Foundation. The foundation empowers women entrepreneurs in the United States by providing access to capital, education programs and networking events. Gabrielle is director of digital, marketing and special projects and Molly is manager of digital and marketing at the foundation.
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Samantha Schroeder Carlino and David Carlino
welcomed son Kent Scott on 8/7/15. The family lives in Dana Point, Calif. • Emily Gentry and Ryan Escano were married on
ALUMNI ALBUM
Fabyan Saxe ’05, Brittany Saxe ’06 & sons Tatum Daniel & Fynn
Anthony Catalano ’06, Lauren Heflin & friends
{ Students participate in a May Day celebration during the 1950s. } Gabrielle McGee ’06, Molly Heffernan ’11 & co-workers spring 2016 39
CLASS NOTES
TURN YOURSELF IN! www.elon.edu/classnotes Help us keep you in touch with your classmates at Elon.
CLASS NOTES
10/10/15. Emily is an administrative assistant with Duke University Hospital. They live in Durham, N.C. • Lisa Bodenhorst Hudson and Jeff Hudson welcomed son Carter on 5/17/15. The family lives in Charlotte, N.C.
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Ellen Clemons and Stu Gowdy were married
8/22/15 in Maine. Alumni in the wedding party included Brian Covington ’07, Morgan Massey Kelley ’07, Devin Kelley ’08, Preston Campbell, Alexandra Frye Covington, Andrew Dodd, Kristen Schroth Dodd, Kyle Schutt and Alissa Wilke Ward. Ellen is a growth manager with Smashing Boxes and Stu is a software developer at Prometheus Group. They live in Raleigh, N.C. • Lauren Duffy and Patrick Duffy welcomed son Patrick Shepherd on 10/19/15. The family lives in Raleigh, N.C.• Bethany Goodell and Logan Faber were married 10/11/15 in Littleton, Colo. Alumni in attendance included Elizabeth Miller Gutierrez, Samantha Noble Kelly, Rebekah Lashof and Christopher White. • Carolyn Klasnick and Stephen Brooks were married 1/9/16. Carolyn works as an
A Lifelong MAKER BY SARAH COLLINS ’18
E
ver since he worked on the construction of Elon’s Center for the Arts as a student in the 1980s, Joel Leonard ’87 has been interested in how humans create. Now, as an internationally recognized leader of the maker movement, Leonard is advocating for the construction of maker spaces across North Carolina. Leonard has long recognized the national need for more technically oriented professionals as members of the baby boomer generation begin to retire. In 2002 the Lexington, N.C., native wrote the “Maintenance Crisis Song,” which emphasizes the growing need for technical knowledge. The song went viral and was played at conferences worldwide and at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The song was even performed before U.S. Congress in 2008 during the THRIVE Competitiveness Briefing. “Writing that song changed my life,” Leonard says. “A buddy of mine
40 the MAGAZINE of ELON
executive producer for Post Script Productions. They live in Pittsburgh.
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Nicole Frank and Michael
Leckie were married 9/12/15. They live in Boston, where Nicole works in marketing for the Boston Ballet. • Erin Harbaugh and Russell Reese were married 9/26/15. Elizabeth Ramsey Horn was a bridesmaid. Erin is a media analyst with CalAtlantic Homes. They live in Scottsdale, Ariz. • Shana Simpson and Anthony Boney were married 10/30/15. Alumni in the wedding party included Alisha Richardson, Danaka Williams, Lyllian Wimberly and Shante Barnwell ’11. They live in Greensboro, N.C.
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Anna Hunsucker and
Zollie Woodlief were married 10/16/15. Alumni in attendance included Maddie Phillips ’08, Kate Austin ’10, Brent Gilmore ’10, Katie Pietrowski ’10, Jessica Bednarcik, Alex Dunn, Karen Grunwald, Tory Hill, Brittany Ison, Ashley Kiely, Kimberly Likman, Lindsay Mass, Hillary Noble, Margaret O’Neill, Christy Schmidt, Eileen Burkhardt ’12, Ryan Keur ’12 and Keagan Gros ’13. They live in Charlotte, N.C.
said the magic words—he said I couldn’t do it— and I did it.” Leonard has since been asked to speak at maintenance conferences around the globe. From the Middle East Maintenance Society to the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and
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Collin Cooper {Law ’12}
was recently named one of the Triad Business Journal’s “40 Leaders Under 40” for his professional success and national service work with the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division. • Grant De Roo and Stephanie Quinn ’13 were married 6/6/15 in Bettendorf, Iowa. Alumni in attendance included Scott Christopherson, Brandon McRae, Kathleen Price, Katie Seringer, Andrew Somers, Sam Upton, Phil Anderson ’13, Cody Benoit ’13, Maggie Blehar ’13, Melanie Catts ’13, Laura Hashem ’13, Sarah Kowalkowski ’13, Stephanie Lindeman ’13, Michael Palombo ’13, Kristen Sandler ’13, Liz Stillerman ’13, Logan Sutton ’13, Allie Weller ’13, Sarah Deike ’14, Hallie Fasanella ’14, Alice Smith ’14, Meaghan Walsh ’15 and Blair De Roo ’17. They live in Iowa City. • Elise Delmerico and Alex Lake ’13 were married 7/11/15 in Winchester, Va. Alumni in the wedding party included Allison Parker ’11, Sarah Clancy, Daniel Henke, Sarah Oldham, Ken Dunkle ’13, Darien Flowers ’13, Trey Newstedt ’13 and Bethany Lake ’18. Other alumni in attendance included Amanda Fish ’11, Steffen
Technology, his message has reached audiences worldwide. This May, Leonard will speak at the Euro Maintenance Conference in Greece. In recent years, Leonard has made major waves in the maker world closer to home. He oversaw the construction of The Forge, a maker space in Greensboro that promotes collaboration between seasoned professionals and young innovators. The space, located in an old blacksmith shop on Lewis Street, will expand to a new location this spring. Leonard is impressed by Elon’s support of the maker movement. After touring the Maker Hub, located on the first floor of Harper Hall in the Colonnades neighborhood, he praised Elon’s commitment to developing well-rounded thinkers. “The skills developed there will be critical in helping [students] secure employment in this techdominated marketplace,” he says. Leonard also collaborates with NewtonConover (N.C.) Middle School, a science, technology, engineering and math school that teaches students how to write grants to fund innovative projects. He thinks Elon could develop a similar experience for students by recruiting Burlington-based companies to fund Maker Hub projects. “Elon is building a talent pool that is much needed,” Leonard says. “These development and design skills will serve students well in the future.”
CLASS NOTES
A Simpler Method BY SARAH COLLINS ’18
K
atie Burke ’03 might be a young financial planner, but she has more experience in personal finance and entrepreneurship than many professionals gain during long careers. That robust experience led her last year to open her own firm, Method Financial Planning. Burke staked her claim in the financial advising world shortly after graduating from Elon with a degree in finance when she joined a Baltimore-based firm as a mutual fund accountant. When given the chance to work for a Wall Street firm in Philadelphia, she took it and was relocated to San Diego two years later. “I had never been to California before I got on the plane to move there,” she says, “but you only have a couple times in your life to make that decision to go out and chase something that crazy.” When a few advisers from her company decided in 2009 to open their own firm, she knew this was the next big move for her career and after a few months began a new chapter with Delphi Private Advisors. She earned her certification as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ during this transition. “Anyone can do financial planning, but the CFP® designation shows a higher level of professionalism and expertise,” she says. Burke spent more than five years with Delphi. During her last year there, she took on the role of business and operations manager. It was this experience
that inspired her to found Method Financial Planning, a firm centered on advising busy professionals and young families. She decided to focus primarily on this demographic after noticing a need for financial planning resources among younger generations. “Now I’m working with clients who are young families and professionals, people more like myself,” she said. That’s not to say success has come easy. Throughout her career, Burke has experienced the challenges of working in a male-dominated field. “I only ever had men as my bosses, and only worked with a few other women as peers,” she says. “I definitely had some internal self-doubt, hoping that clients would take me seriously as a woman in this field.” It’s not an unfounded fear. According to a 2013 PricewaterhouseCoopers report, based on data from 20 global markets, women comprise nearly 60 percent of employees in the financial services industry, but only 19 percent hold senior level roles. Luckily for Burke, her transition has been smooth thanks to the overwhelming support she received from her inner circle—much of which traces back to her Elon roots. “I got such a great response from my friends at Elon and my sorority sisters,” she says. “There’s such a sense of community at Elon.” Outside of Method, Burke is heavily involved in her community. In 2011 she co-founded San Diego Women in Finance, an organization that hosts monthly events for area women who work in finance or are interested in the field. She also mentors students at a local high school. “I always had really good mentors through professors and Career Services at Elon,” Burke says. “No matter where you are in your career, you need mentors.” She says she has plans to expand her business in the coming years and open additional offices in other parts of the country. “I felt comfortable going out on my own because of my experience on the client side and the business side,” Burke says. “I had the experience to back it up, and that all started with my education at Elon.” To learn more, visit www.methodfinancialplanning.com.
ALUMNI ALBUM Bredahl, Elli Broujos, Becca Moffett Buck, Kathryn Farmer, Sarah Graves, Elena Pipino, Emily Banks ’13, Kirsten Ferreira ’13, Laura Hashem ’13, Kirsten Holland ’13, Anna McCracken ’13, Greg Nantz ’13, Parker Tobin ’13 and Ally Briggs ’14.
They live in Dallas with their rescue puppy, Staley, named for their dorm at Elon. • Haley Pope and Weston Wise {DPT ’12} were married 5/17/15 in Asheville, N.C. They live in Boulder, Colo., where Haley works for the Nature Conservancy and Weston works as a physical therapist.
13|
In March, Sarah George traveled to Morocco with two other members of the Class of 2013, Paul Beatty and Bill Utasi. They carried along an Elon T-shirt to represent their alma mater in the Sahara. Sarah is an enterprise account manager for Bigcommerce and lives in Austin, Texas. Bill works at Boeing in supplier management and lives in Baltimore, while Paul is a special assistant to Maryland’s Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford and lives in Annapolis.
Samantha Schroeder Carlino ’08, David Carlino & son Kent Scott
Carolyn Klasnick Brooks ’09 & friends
Emily Gentry ’08 & Ryan Escano
Bethany Goodell Faber ’09 & friends
Lisa Bodenhorst Hudson ’08, Jeff Hudson & son Carter
Ellen Clemons Gowdy ’09, Stu Gowdy ’09 & friends spring 2016 41
CLASS NOTES ALUMNI ALBUM
Shana Simpson Boney ’10 & Anthony Boney
Erin Harbaugh Reese ’10 & bridesmaid Elizabeth Ramsey Horn ’10
Anna Hunsucker Woodlief ’11, Zollie Woodlief & friends
Collin Cooper G’12
Grant De Roo ’12, Stephanie Quinn De Roo ’13 & friends
Elise Delmerico Lake ’12, Alex Lake ’13 & friends
Haley Pope ’12 & Weston Wise G’12
Bill Utasi ’13, Sarah George ’13 & Paul Beatty ’13
PUTTING PASSION INTO ACTION SARAH MULNICK ’17
B
randon Landreth ’11 has always been passionate about service and public health. Last academic year, he was able to put that passion into action thanks to a fellowship at East Carolina University School of Dentistry, where he’s a dental student. As part of his North Carolina Albert Schweitzer Fellow project, he designed and implemented weekly lessons on health, wellness and oral hygiene for elementary students in rural Greene County. The fellowship provides the means to develop a pipeline of emerging medical professionals who enter the workforce with the tools and commitment necessary to address unmet health needs in the community. The county has one of the densest Hispanic populations in the state, and Hispanic children are one of the highest risk demographics for cavities. For a year, Landreth and another fellowship recipient worked in conjunction with a community dental clinic to recruit kindergarten through fifth grade students for a dental screening and sealants program. They also taught in schools
42 the MAGAZINE of ELON
(both in Spanish and English) and distributed 1,000 toothbrushes. “As I look back now and reflect on my fellowship year, it is quite rewarding to know that I helped teach over 1,100 children proper oral hygiene behaviors and how to make nutrition
choices that are healthy,” he says. The biology and statistics major added his experiences at Elon, both in and out of the classroom, helped him to prepare for the challenges and successes of this fellowship. While at Elon, Landreth was president of Epsilon Sigma Alpha service fraternity, a founding member of the Delta Upsilon chapter and worked closely with New Student and Transition Programs. “As a public health minor at Elon, the classes that I took were essential to understanding the challenges children in Greene County face when it comes to their oral health,” he says. After graduating from Elon, he went on to earn his master’s degree in public health from ECU before beginning dental school. He is expected to graduate in 2017 and plans to go into practice as a general dentist while continuing to work with underserved populations. He is considered a Fellow for life, and will use the sustainable funds from the program to continue providing toothbrushes and oral health lessons to children in need.
CLASS NOTES
Real-world COLLABORATION BY SHAKORI FLETCHER ’16
M
eredith Worsham ’06 always knew she wanted to work in New York City. She moved immediately following graduation, and started eight years ago in a junior level position for About.com, one of the largest Internet sites dedicated to solving problems and learning something new. Two years ago, the About.com brand underwent a complete reinvention, just as Worsham became head of public relations for the site. It became her responsibility to tell media outlets the story of the new About.com. “When our new leadership team came in, they challenged the entire company to think creatively and differently—to be a company of innovation,” she says. “It was really refreshing, and scary, to be challenged like this and to think of new ways to tell our unique story.” This rebranding meant a relaunch of the site, more than 100 new hires and new content, product and data teams. Another focus was to more prominently highlight About.com’s experts: the 1,000-plus content creators on the site who are knowledgeable about travel, health, style, money and food, among many other topics. Worsham knew she needed to find someone to create documentary-style videos to help tell the story of the new About.com, starting with a video on the site’s senior executive team. That’s when Worsham remembered classmate Brian Stansfield ’06 had moved to New York City to open a Run Riot Films office, and thought he’d be a perfect fit for the task. “I wanted to tell their story in an interesting way and that’s when I asked Brian to help produce a mini documentary on three of them,” she says. “I had seen his work with Run Riot and knew he had the look and feel that I was going for and I was excited to work with a friend from Elon that I had known for so long.” Stansfield hit it off with the About.com executives, and has since been hired to create multiple promotional videos for the company. He is particularly excited to have been able to include other Elon alumni in the projects as well, including Anthony Saladino ’10, whose music with band Animal Years was used in one of the videos, and Brooke Morrison ’09, who served as talent in another About.com video. “There’s multi Elon-alumni crossover going on in these videos,” Stansfield says, “which I think is great.”
{ Meredith Worsham ’06 & Brian Stansfield ’06 }
For Worsham, the value of the Elon connection is in the spirit of collaboration that extends far beyond campus. “Elon is such a special place and gave me relationships with some of the most talented, smartest people that I know and am fortunate to work with in my career,” she says. “They taught me collaboration and the value of the Elon connection. Wherever you go, there are always Elon alums who want to help you.”
friends
IN MEMORIAM Dorothy Bowden Shoffner ’32,
Roz Bromley Roane ’52,
Joe Carroll Ball ’75 P ’00,
Angie Henry Utt ’42,
Arthur William “Bill” Arnette ’59,
Hope Amick Gregory ’77,
Virginia Oakley Day ’43,
Bobby Franklin Johnson ’59,
Bettie Rader Grubbs ’46,
James “Jim” Richard Holland ’60,
Wayne H. Smith ’48 P’91,
William “Bill” H. Boone ’62,
Barbara Haynes Francis ’49,
Mary Glenna Teer Smith ’64,
John Richard Taylor Jr. ’50,
Mary Jo Alford Scarce ’69,
Thomas David Johnston ’52,
Susan Victoria Bley ’73,
Burlington, N.C., 11/6/15. New York, N.Y., 12/6/15.
Brownwood, Texas, 1/18/15. Greensboro, N.C., 11/28/15. Morganton, N.C., 11/20/15. Newport News, Va., 11/16/15. Suffolk, Va., 11/5/15.
Chapel Hill, N.C., 9/21/15.
Largo, Fla., 11/17/15.
Graham, N.C., 7/15/15. Elon, N.C., 11/19/15. Sylva, N.C., 11/1/15.
Durham, N.C., 12/25/15. Durham, N.C., 12/5/15. Danville, Va., 11/15/15.
Pawleys Island, S.C., 12/25/15.
Burlington, N.C., 10/28/15. Burlington, N.C., 10/3/15. A former North Carolina Baton Twirling State Champion, Hope loved performing during Elon’s football halftime shows. Phyllis Marion Middleton ’80,
Greensboro, N.C., 10/19/15.
Anna Marie Rice Curtis ’83,
Burlington, N.C., 11/19/15.
Wesley G. Brogan, professor emeritus
of education and human services, and former associate dean of academic affairs, died Dec. 12, 2015. He joined Elon’s faculty in 1979 and retired in 1996. Lou Stewart Holt, widow of Frank S.
Holt Jr., died Jan. 31, 2016. The Frank S. Holt, Jr. Business Leadership Award was named in his honor. Patsy Everhart Palmer, widow of
John Pinson ’85,
Charlotte, N.C., 12/7/15.
former Elon trustee the Rev. Mel Palmer, died Dec. 26, 2015.
Jill Deneene Hall ’90,
James “Jim” T. Toney, associate
Charlotte, N.C., 4/5/15.
professor emeritus of economics, died March 7, 2016. He started working at Elon in 1960 and retired in 1991. spring 2016 43
MARCH 8, 2016 #ELONDAY
Elon students, alumni, parents, faculty, staff and friends came together March 8 to celebrate #ELONDAY 2016 around the world. Here are some of the images they posted on social media to share their pride in Elon.
A BANNER DAY FOR ELON
Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Durham, NC Permit # 104
Office of Alumni Engagement PO Box 398 Elon, NC 27244 Toll Free: (877) 784-3566 www.elon.edu/alumni Change Service Requested
{ Elon’s Department of Performing Arts presented “PULSE: Spring Dance Concert,” an original choreography dance program. }