MOE Winter 2018

WINTER 2018

I AM ELON

BY KIM WALKER

As she watched a performance of “The Nutcracker” at age 5, Cassandra Tumasz ’18 became enthralled by dance. “I love the snow, the music, the technical elements.

To me, ballet is the epitome of grace and beauty.” She quickly began dance classes, eventually advancing to 10 classes a week by the end of high school. She was certain that she wanted to be a professional dancer.

Now in her final year at Elon, Cassandra is majoring in dance performance, pairing it with a second major in dance science, a field she plans to pursue once dancing professionally becomes physically

impossible. “It’s the perfect major because in addition to dance, I’m drawn to science and finding ways to better my dancing.” Her Lumen Prize research is investigating how types of imaging affect dancers’ stress levels and performance. She will use the data she collects to choreograph three dance pieces that illustrate her findings.

Cassandra says the most influential course she’s had at Elon isn’t a dance class, but rather a Winter Term religion course called “Animals and Religion: Do All Dogs Go To Heaven?” It challenged her to reexamine her cultural perspective on animals and eventually inspired her to become a vegan, consuming no animal products. She says it’s not only changed her diet and understanding of cooking and flavors but

also led her to embrace her own values, rather than following those around her.

When she is not in class or studying, Cassandra teaches dance and gymnastics classes at a small studio in Gibsonville, North Carolina. She sees herself in the young performers. “I have one student whose eyes just light up when it’s time for ballet class.

She’s so motivated and eager, illustrating that dance instruction goes beyond movement,” Cassandra says. “It fosters determination, persistence and discipline.

I love seeing students so willing to put in the work.”

Cassandra is Elon.

Visit elon.edu/magazine to see more stories that are part of our “I Am Elon” series.

CONTENTS The Magazine of Elon | winter 2018

16

COVER STORY

A HOLISTIC APPROACH

BY KEREN RIVAS ’04 & ALEXA BOSCHINI ’10

A new engineering program at Elon aims to prepare students for solving complex problems.

20 A JUMP INTO LAW

BY ERIC TOWNSEND

After a parachuting accident ended her military career, Joleen Parks found a calling in the legal profession.

22 A NEW BLUEPRINT

BY MADISON TAYLOR

How the Elon football team turned a seven-game losing streak in 2016 into a historic season a year later.

28 GUT INSTINCT

BY ALEXA BOSCHINI ’10

The billions of bacteria that populate our intestines influence a wide range of processes in our bodies— including our behavior and brain development.

30 RIPPLE EFFECT

BY OWEN COVINGTON

Associate Professor of English Prudence Layne is fostering intercultural opportunities for staff members in South Africa and beyond.

33

FROM THE ARCHIVES

SETTING THE TONE

BY ROSELEE PAPANDREA TAYLOR

More than 55 years ago, the “Emanons” laid the foundation for a successful jazz program at Elon.

2 Under the Oaks 11 Long Live Elon 14 Phoenix Sports

34 Point of View 35 Alumni Action 39 Class Notes

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▶ from the PRESIDENT

{ President Leo M. Lambert in his new office at the Martin Alumni Center. }

A Love Letter TO ELON T

facebook.com/leomlambert twitter.com/headphoenix 2 the MAGAZINE of ELON

his is my last Magazine of Elon column as president. Leading Elon for the past 19 years has been an indescribable joy and immense privilege. Universities are part of the bedrock of American society, and our greatness as a nation will always be inextricably linked to the discovery, creativity and critical thinking fostered by institutions of higher learning. The responsibility entrusted to colleges and universities to prepare men and women of intelligence and character for leadership and service for the greater good is a weighty one. I have shared this responsibility—in what has felt to me like a sacred partnership—with the entire Elon community: students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees, parents and friends. We are united by Elon’s clear mission so squarely focused on students, by the deep and abiding bonds of our community, and by the experiences we have shared working shoulder to shoulder in building an institution that is admired as a model of transformation and innovation.

And so, in my final column, I want to pay tribute to the many groups of people who love Elon and who have shaped the institution’s character through their dedication.

Elon’s faculty members do the critical work of shaping the minds, hearts and spirits of young people every day. They inspire creativity, curiosity, passion, challenge, perseverance and the understanding that the privilege of an Elon education carries with it the expectation of service beyond self.

Elon’s staff—from gardeners to IT professionals to admissions counselors—devote their special talents to create an amazing environment dedicated to student learning and growth. They are mentors and teachers in their own right, and they have amazed me by deepening the institution’s culture of student-centeredness during an unprecedented era of growth and change.

Elon’s students have been a constant source of inspiration and pride. The human transformation that takes place between the ages of 18 and 22 is a wonder to behold, as late adolescence blossoms into young adulthood. These are years of identity formation, finding one’s place, and discovering one’s gifts and passions, containing moments of both jubilation and heartache.

I believe in the students of this generation. I have watched them blossom during the past two decades and admire their intelligence, work ethic, sense of fair play, drive to achieve and good hearts.

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“ We are united by Elon’s clear mission so squarely focused on students, by the deep and abiding bonds of our community, and by the experiences we have shared working shoulder to shoulder in building an institution that is admired as a model of transformation and innovation.”

Elon’s Board of Trustees has been wise, generous, forward-looking, risktaking, supportive and encouraging. They do all the things a great board should do for a university: hold up high aspirations, take the long view, ask the hard questions and understand how special Elon’s culture is to its success.

Elon’s alumni body is one of our greatest institutional treasures. Investing in our alumni body has been one of the main pillars of our current strategic plan, the Elon Commitment. We have witnessed the “Elon Network” gain power and strength, seen alumni chapters grow in number and activity, and experienced an explosion of alumni engagement in this decade. I have every confidence that Elon’s alumni body will be the booster rocket propelling the university to even higher levels of excellence in the coming decades.

Elon parents have served as a surrogate alumni base for Elon at a time in our institution’s history when our true alumni are extraordinarily young— 64 percent in their 20s and 30s. Parent leaders on Parents Council, the Board of Trustees, the President’s Advisory Council and the advisory boards for our schools have brought wisdom, experiences from other campuses and philanthropic power to the university. Many have adopted Elon as a second alma mater. Elon parents have made a truly critical difference in Elon’s rise in national stature.

My senior staff has been a cherished group of colleagues and dear friends.

Time spent in conversation with such an intelligent and thoroughly committed group of men and women has always made me feel like I was enrolled in a spirited, high-level seminar about higher education in the U.S. We have learned so much from each other, celebrated Elon’s progress together, supported each other during trying times, and often mused about how lucky we have been to walk this journey together.

I will always be grateful to my predecessors, Dr. J. Earl Danieley ’46 and Dr. J. Fred Young, for their unfailing encouragement and friendship. Both left a lasting legacy at Elon that will never be forgotten, and it was my privilege to build upon their achievements. No one is more excited that I am to have Dr. Connie Ledoux Book assume the role of No. 9. I have such admiration and respect for her judgment and intelligence and I know she will be brilliant as our new leader.

Above all, I am grateful to my wife, Laurie, and my daughters, Callie and Mollie, for their constant love and support over the past 19 years. They have been by my side at every step and I could not have done this demanding job without them. Laurie and I look forward to remaining involved in the Elon community for many years when we return from our sabbatical year, and I am hoping many alumni will come by to greet me in my new office in the Martin Alumni Center when you return to campus.

We have many more great things to accomplish in support of this great university and its students, and I look forward to our work together in the years to come.

Long Live Elon!

Leo M. Lambert President

{ Furman Moseley, center, poses with President Leo M. Lambert and past and current recipients of the Susan Scholarship. }

SISTERHOOD OF SCHOLARS

M

embers of the Elon community gathered during Homecoming weekend to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Susan Scholarship, an Odyssey Program scholarship endowed by Furman Moseley ’56 in honor of his wife, Susan.

Attendees learned of the impressive accomplishments of some of the university’s Susan Scholars, including Nicole Morillo ’12.

Growing up in a single-parent home, college and Elon seemed out of reach for her. “Although I had the grades and although I had the passion and the desire and the dream and the hope, we just did not have the money,” Morillo said. “My dream could have dried up, and my story could have ended there.” Instead, she learned of the Odyssey Program at Elon and the Susan Scholarship, which made attending Elon a possibility. “You gave a young woman from Queens, New York, the privilege of attending an amazing institution,” Morillo said about the Moseleys. “Elon taught me so much about community, about mutual support, about love and the power of passion and hard work. I am blessed enough to be able to stand in front of my students, and my own child, and teach them the same things.”

“What we’ve seen here today is the undeniable impact made possible by the education of Elon women in a sisterhood of scholars known as Susan,” said Jean Rattigan-Rohr, executive director of community partnerships and director of the Center for Access and Success, which includes the Odyssey Program. “Clearly these young women have already started to impact the world in incredibly positive ways, and just think—they’ve only just begun.”

Since its creation in 2007, the Susan Scholarship has been awarded to 41 Elon students, with four incoming female students selected each year. The scholarship is part of the broader Odyssey Program, a highly selective program for students with exceptional ability and promise who have high financial need and are often the first in their families to attend college.

Calling the event “a distinct honor,” Moseley paid tribute to his wife in offering his appreciation for the thoughts and comments from those who spoke of how the scholarship has touched their lives. He noted that it was in 1958 through a chance encounter on a beach in California, that he met the woman whose name the scholarship carries, a woman who would become his wife and change his life forever. “The randomness of chance is a wonderful life force that adds verve and unknowing quality to life, and makes it interesting,” Moseley said. “I am delighted to hear that Susan is the force she is in your lives, because she is an extraordinary person and would delight to know that she has been a constructive force in part in your young developing lives.” winter 2018 3

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The Magazine of Elon winter 2018 | Vol. 80, No. 1 The Magazine of Elon is published quarterly for alumni, parents and friends by the Office of University Communications. © 2018, Elon University ED I TO R

Keren Rivas ’04 D E SI G N ER S

Garry Graham Bob Nutt Billie Wagner PH OTO G R A PH Y

Kim Walker ED I TO R I A L S TA FF

Holley Berry Alexa Boschini ’10 Owen Covington Roselee Papandrea Taylor CO N T R I B U TO R S

Belk Library Archives and Special Collections Sarah Collins ’18 Madison MacKenzie ’18 Noah Zaiser ’20 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

P

aul Parsons, who came to Elon in 2001 as a professor and dean of the School of Communications, will conclude his service as dean at the end of the 2017–18 academic year. Following a sabbatical, Parsons will teach full time in the school.

“Serving as dean with talented faculty, staff and students has been the honor of a career,” Parsons said.

“I love coming to work every day and playing a role in Elon’s extraordinary trajectory. But I also believe fresh leadership is healthy for a school to keep the momentum going.”

Since its founding, the School of Communications has grown to more than 1,250 undergraduate and graduate students and 75 full-time faculty and staff, with majors in journalism, strategic communications, cinema & television arts, communication design, media analytics and sport management. Elon is one of only 18 private universities with an accredited communications school. The school’s accomplishments during Parsons’ tenure include:

• Completing a major building project that more than doubled School of Communications space, including the addition of Dwight C. Schar Hall, Steers Pavilion, the Snow Family Atrium, Turner Theatre and Citrone Plaza, along with the remodeling of McEwen and Long Buildings • Creating student opportunities such as the Live Oak Communications student agency, elondocs documentary program, Cinelon Productions and Maroon Sports • Inaugurating the Master of Arts in Interactive Media degree and partnering with Elon’s Martha and Spencer Love School of Business to offer a corporate communications concentration in the Master of Science in Management degree • Establishing the Imagining the Internet Center and becoming home to the North Carolina Open Government Coalition’s Sunshine Center • Establishing and staffing the Elon in Los Angeles program • Publishing the nation’s only journal of undergraduate research in communications since 2010 • Receiving the discipline’s national Equity & Diversity Award for the school’s success in building faculty diversity and gender equity A national search is underway to recruit the school’s next dean.

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

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT Senior Amy Mullan has been recognized with the Community Impact Award for outstanding leadership and service by North Carolina Campus Compact, a statewide network of colleges and universities with a shared commitment to civic engagement.

Mullan has made addressing hunger a key goal of her service and scholarship at Elon. As the student director of Elon’s Campus Kitchen Project, she guides 15 student leaders working to fight hunger through direct service and advocacy.

B OA R D O F T R US T EE S, C H A I R

Kerrii Brown Anderson ’79

Columbus, Ohio

ELO N A LU M N I B OA R D, PR E SI D EN T

Chris Bell ’92

Raleigh, North Carolina YO U N G A LU M N I CO U N C I L , PR E SI D EN T

Kelly Smith ’14 Oxford, Mississippi

PA R EN T S CO U N C I L , CO - PR E SI D EN T S

John & Kristin Replogle P’18 Raleigh, North Carolina

SCHO OL OF L AW ADV ISORY BOARD, CHAIR

David Gergen

Cambridge, Massachusetts 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, New Jersey

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 B OA R D O F A D V IS O R S, C H A I R

William S. Creekmuir p’09 p’10

Atlanta, Georgia

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, North Carolina

4 the MAGAZINE of ELON

An 11-person Elon team from the School of Communications’ Imagining the Internet Center collected and published ethnographic video research captured at the U.N.-facilitated Global Internet Governance Forum at United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Dec. 17-20. The team conducted a video survey to measure international communications experts’ attitudes regarding key issues tied to current trends and the likely future development and impacts of the internet. David Bockino, assistant professor of communications, and Elon senior Melissa Douglas led the documentary research contingent to Geneva, with Janna Anderson, director of Imagining the Internet, running logistics and building and managing the web pages for the project.

The research team included undergraduate students Maya Eaglin ’18, Alex Hager ’18, Jackie Pascale ’18, Cammie Behnke ’19, Meagan Gitelman ’19, Jared Mayerson ’19, Emmanuel Morgan ’19 and Alexandra Roat ’19.

Elon Sales Team members Sarah Chadwell ’18, Josh Ellsworth ’18 and Emily Freirich ’18 finished among the top 20 in the 2017 Great Northwoods Sales Warm-up hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Chadwell, a marketing major, placed ninth overall, earning the School Champion Award for the best overall Elon score. Ellsworth, a finance major, and Freirich, a marketing major, finished 12th and 18th, respectively. The Elon Sales Team had the third-highest combined team score.

Mia Faith Chamberlain, a member of Elon Law’s Class of December 2017, is among 10 students from across the country selected to attend the First Liberty Fellowship program presented by the First Liberty Institute, a legal organization dedicated solely to defending religious liberty for all Americans. As part the fellowship, Chamberlain visited the U.S. Supreme Court, the Library of Congress and the National Archives, and participated in lecture and networking events with leaders advocating religious freedom for all.

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#1

TOP MARKS

Elon University’s quality of academic programs, as well as its affordability, received national recognition in the fall.

• Elon ranks among the nation’s top universities in student engagement, according to the 2018 Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings. Elon’s No. 33 ranking in student engagement among 1,054 four-year colleges is the highest for North Carolina schools and leads Elon’s list of peer institutions. Overall, the university ranked No. 145, which puts it in the top 15 percent nationally.

• The Princeton Review ranks Elon the nation’s No. 4 “best administered” business school and also ranks Elon among the top business schools in the Southeast in its 2018 edition of the “Best 267

Business Schools.” Meanwhile, the undergraduate business degree program at the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business ranks No. 48 in the U.S., according to a new survey published by business education news outlet Poets & Quants. Elon ranks 37th for academic experience and 40th for the employment of its graduates.

• Kiplinger’s Personal Finance rates Elon as one of the nation’s top values in private higher education in its 2018 edition of the “Best College Values.” Elon ranks No. 40 among private universities that provide outstanding value along with academic quality and No. 17

in the lowest total annual cost of attendance. This is Elon’s 12th consecutive best-value recognition

by Kiplinger.

• For the third consecutive year, Elon University School of Law made the “The Best 169 Law Schools,” a guide published by The Princeton Review based on an 80-question survey in which students rate their schools on several topics. The college guide also listed Elon Law among the top 10 schools in terms of the number of hours students report studying outside of class and the level of ambition among students at the school.

• College Consensus, a new approach to college quality measurement, ranks Elon No. 61 in the nation and No. 3 in North Carolina. In its ranking, the organization combines the results of the most reputable college rankings and thousands of real online student reviews. Elon’s ranking among 1,062 colleges and universities is based on its evaluation by U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, the Center for College Affordability and Productivity and Washington Monthly, along with student reviews posted on Niche, Unigo, My Plan, Cappex and Students Review.

Honoring the Clohan family

E

{ The Clohan family was joined by President Leo M. Lambert as they cut the ribbon for the newly renamed Clohan Hall. }

lon University honored the contributions of the late Robert A. Clohan III ’67 and his family with the Dec. 7 dedication of Clohan Hall in the Colonnades Neighborhood. Clohan Hall, which opened in 2007 adjacent to the Ernest A. Koury, Sr. Business Center, was previously named Colonnades Dining Hall and includes a first-floor market and deli and a second-floor restaurant and dining commons.

The renaming follows a $2 million gift from Robert Clohan and his son, Charles Clohan ’98. Their gift is supporting construction of Richard W. Sankey Hall, a three-story, 30,000-square-foot facility adjacent to Clohan Hall that is scheduled to open later this year. “In supporting the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business and Sankey Hall, the Clohan family has embraced our vision for a relationship-rich and student-centered learning environment that places a premium on mentoring and challenging students to develop ethical leadership, creativity, keen intellect and practical problem-solving skills for lives of meaning and purpose,” President Leo M. Lambert said during the dedication.

Three generations of the Clohan family are part of the Elon family. In addition to Robert and Charles Clohan, the family’s Elon connections include Robert’s daughter, Lisa Clohan Rankin ’02, grandchildren Brad Clohan ’10 and Madisen Johnson ’20, and niece Katie Clohan ’19.

An enthusiastic champion for Elon, Robert Clohan’s impact can be seen across Elon’s campus, including in the Inman Admissions Welcome Center, which features the 175-seat Clohan Theatre. He was also a loyal annual donor to scholarships and made a significant estate gift to Elon, helping to sustain the university for generations to come. Charles Clohan has also been a devoted supporter of Elon, making annual gifts to the Love School of Business, as well as supporting scholarships and the Phoenix Club. He is a member of the 1889 Society, which recognizes donors who make annual gifts to the university, and in 2016 was named to the board of trustees.

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Broadening Horizons

E

lon has introduced a new study abroad experience in Dunedin, New Zealand, for students in the School of Education. Officials from both institutions joined President Leo M. Lambert in the fall for a signing ceremony at Elon.

The program is a partnership with the University of Otago in Dunedin and Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania. Beginning this spring, a cohort of Elon Teaching Fellows will travel to the University of Otago. The program will later expand to be open to all students in the School of Education.“This new partnership provides students with an exciting opportunity to gain knowledge and training that will be essential to their roles as future educators,” Lambert said.

“Elon students will gain practical experience in the classroom and a global perspective on education that will serve them well throughout their careers.”

As part of the program, Elon students will enroll directly at the University of Otago and will live in university flats with other students.

Along with coursework, students will participate in placements in local schools that will give them the opportunity to engage with the local education system and gain practical experience in comparative education. Founded in 1869, the University of Otago is New Zealand’s oldest university, with more than 20,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Dunedin is a city of about 125,000 on the southeast coast of the South Island of New Zealand.

{ University of Otago Vice Chancellor Harlene Hayne, left, and Arcadia University Vice President of the College of Global Studies Lorna Stern, right, join Elon President Leo M. Lambert in signing the new agreement. }

6 the MAGAZINE of ELON

“As we look at what democracy looks like, and say we want to build a kind and loving country, say we want to build something great, I think we need to look to our roots and the lessons learned from indigenous people. A democracy is something you make with your hands and your heart, and when we make this, it is not just with words—it also takes your actions.”

—Activist Winona LaDuke, a member of the Ojibwe tribe, during a Nov. 28 lecture sponsored by Elon’s Liberal Arts Forum

“Higher education is your ability to take what you have and take what you’ve learned and use it to make us all better, to lift us all up, to create more pathways.

We stand here as those who have that opportunity in our hands. So the biggest question then becomes what are we going to do with it. There is no prerequisite to be active. There is no single degree nor job description nor financial obligation to make your voices heard.”

—Best-selling author and social justice advocate Wes Moore during a Jan. 10 celebration of the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

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LIFELONG CONNECTIONS Associate Professor of Physics Tony Crider’s ability to effectively communicate science to experts and non-experts alike has empowered hundreds of students from all majors throughout his time at Elon. Through his mentorship, students recognize that their doubts serve as important steps in their own learning, and that their questions will be met with openness and encouragement.

The recipient of the 2015–16 Daniels-Danieley Award for Excellence in Teaching, Crider’s impact on students goes beyond the classroom.

Tony Crider

BY MARIA TEMMING ’16

T

ony Crider is basically the poster-professor for liberal arts education.

The heart of the liberal arts is the idea of educating a whole person— letting people explore all their myriad academic passions and finding ways to combine them. Dr. Crider doesn’t just have his own broad spectrum of academic pursuits, teaching courses on everything from astronomy to virtual reality. He’s also incredibly supportive to students like me, who studied physics and creative writing.

As the adviser of my two-year Honors thesis, professor Crider helped me craft the quintessential interdisciplinary project: writing three chapters of a popular science book about the Order of the Dolphin, the attendees of the first scientific conference on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence in 1961. This project involved historical research on scientific fields like radio astronomy and neuroscience, and shaping that research into a creative nonfiction tale. When I describe my thesis project to people, I often get the question: “How did you get away with that?” My locked-and-loaded answer is that I was fortunate to attend a school like Elon, which promotes cross-fertilization among students’ disparate interests. But more specifically, I was fortunate to attend Elon and meet Dr. Crider, who was as excited as I was to venture into unconventional intellectual territory.

Even now, thinking about the amount of time, thought and energy that professor Crider devoted to advising my Honors thesis is staggering. During my data-gathering days, he’d frequently pop up in my inbox with research tidbits, like some obscure magazine article from decades ago with a curious one-line

reference to the Order. During the writing phase, he offered quick feedback on drafts ranging from higher-order revision recommendations to fact-checks.

My Order of the Dolphin project was a significant leg-up when I applied to MIT’s science writing graduate program. And in 2016, when I continued working on the book for my MIT master’s thesis, I bounced ideas off professor Crider via email, and he happily sent me comments on a draft. When I received compliments on my end-of-year thesis presentation this past spring, I knew it was only because I’d designed and delivered my talk based on the principles Dr. Crider taught me.

And now, months into my first full-time job as a technology writer for Science News magazine, I know my science writing career would not have been possible without professor Crider’s mentorship.

Maria Temming ’16 is the technology reporter at Science News magazine in Washington, D.C. After earning degrees in physics and English at Elon, she earned her master’s degree in science writing from MIT. In addition to Science News, Temming has written for NOVA Next, Scientific American, Sky & Telescope and the Elon Technology Blog.

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A BRIGHT STAR

F

ireworks bursting in the sky above Moseley Center capped a Homecoming celebration honoring President Leo M. Lambert and Laurie Lambert and their family for their service to Elon during the past two decades.

The tribute before a crowd of hundreds of alumni, students, faculty, staff and university friends who gathered on East Haggard Avenue and Young Commons added to the excitement of the second annual Rock the Block community party. “We have a lifetime of great and important work ahead of us to steward and guide Elon’s future,” Lambert said following a video tribute that recounted many great moments from his career. “I look forward to joining in that work so that Elon’s lamps—Numen and Lumen—will shine brightly and welcome generations of students. I look forward to my new chapter here with joy and anticipation.”

The Rock the Block community party brings together generations of alumni along with current students, faculty and staff for an evening of fun and fellowship. It helped kick off a weekend that drew a record number of alumni and their families who returned to campus for Homecoming (read more on page 35). Central to the night was the tribute to the Lamberts, with Elon alumni from across more than five decades offering their thoughts about the role President Lambert has played in guiding Elon to become a national university, and the important work that Laurie Lambert has done by his side and in so many corners of the broader community. Lambert will conclude his service as president in the spring and continue to serve Elon as president emeritus. President-elect Connie Ledoux Book starts her term as Elon’s ninth president on March 1.

SYLLABUZZ

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BY SARAH COLLINS ’18

atherhood is a topic often subject to slander in popular media. The themes of “deadbeat dad” and “clueless father” are echoed throughout entertainment and advertising in the United States. These notions can harmfully impact the way society defines the role of fatherhood.

In “HSS 330: Fatherhood,” Associate Professor of Human Service Studies Judy Esposito calls upon students to challenge these problematic sentiments. “I encourage students to look at the role of the father in the family from multiple perspectives,” says Esposito. “I also challenge students to look at the family and definitions of family more broadly, and to be more sensitized to the messages that exist in the media about what a family is supposed to look like.”

Esposito taught the course for the first time in 2010. Since then, she has led the advanced studies course seven times, both

8 the MAGAZINE of ELON

HSS 330A: Fatherhood

on campus and online. As for the makeup of the class, Esposito says that although she typically has more female students, she had more male students than ever before in her most recent Winter Term section. As part of the course, Esposito challenges students to critically examine multiple films and has them select a film of their choice to round out the analysis. In addition, students study academic texts and engage in class discussions.

Another key component of the class requires students to develop an interview guide, which in turn helps them conduct two interviews: one with a father, and one with any other individual of their choosing— father, mother, brother, sister, grandparent.

While many students choose to interview their own fathers, Esposito says students may choose to interview any meaningful person in their lives. She emphasizes that the course

is not a lesson in how to be a father but rather a way for students to understand that “family” means different things to different people. Students take the course for a variety of reasons, depending on the ways in which fatherhood has impacted their lives.

While Esposito provides the perspective of licensed counselor and parent, she also invites several fathers to visit the course as guest speakers. She welcomes fathers of biological and foster children, stay-at-home fathers and parents of children at varying developmental stages to discuss their experiences with students, who in turn share their own stories. “It takes a certain level of comfort to be vulnerable and to share your personal experiences with fatherhood,” says Esposito. “I feel really privileged that students feel comfortable sharing their responses with me.”

FACULTY/STAFF SPOTLIGHT Oxford University Press published the fourth edition of Professor of Philosophy Anthony Weston’s textbook, “A 21st Century Ethical Toolbox.” First published in 2001, the book offers highly practical orientation, optimistic outlook and wide range of tools including creative problemsolving, dialogue skills and moral vision, along with a diversity of moral frameworks presented as complementary rather than in competition. Hackett Publishing Co. has also released the fifth edition of Weston’s “Rulebook for Arguments,” which was first published in 1986.

Associate Professor of Communications Ben Hannam has published a new book, A short film by Assistant Professor of “Oh @#$% I’m Graduating! A Student’s Guide Communications Doug Kass won Best to Creating a Killer Portfolio.” Published by Editing at the 2017 Free Spirit Film Festival in Kendall Hunt, the text is a full-color, 236-page Dharamsala, India. “Gull” also captured the Best resource filled with useful, actionable advice to Performance Art award at the upcoming Avalonia help students’ portfolios stand out in the right ways.

Film Festival in Providence, R.I., and has been accepted It provides students with insight on how to brand to seven festivals. Lecturer in Communications themselves, develop a personalized narrative for their Ryan Witt and alumni Evan McGillivray ’16, portfolio, and target a portfolio’s content for a Brian Szymanski ’16 and Mitch Herndon ’17 specific audience. also worked on the project.

MORE THAN BOOKS A central part of Elon’s culture of engaged intellectual inquiry, Carol Grotnes Belk Library provides expertise, collections and spaces to meet and anticipate the evolving information needs of Elon and to preserve the university’s history. Here are some figures on how the library supported teaching and scholarship at Elon during the 2016–17 academic year.

1.73

MILLION+

The number of titles held as part of the library collections, which include books, e-books, DVDs, music CDs, audiobooks, periodicals and archival resources.

394,046

The annual number of people who visited the library during the 143 hours per week it was opened during the year. Visitors in a typical week totaled 10,150.

7,957 ABOUT THE PROFESSOR Judy Esposito has taught at Elon since 2003.

An associate professor of human service studies, Esposito is a licensed professional counselor and former school counselor.

Her research interests include clinical supervision, empathy development and play therapy with children and families.

RECOMMENDED FILMS • “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979) • “Black or White” (2014)

The number of participants who attended the 432 research instruction sessions offered by faculty librarians.

7,034

The number of questions answered by Belk librarians in person, by telephone, email or chat. In addition, there were 504 one-on-one research consultations with students, faculty and staff.

253

The number of students who contacted their Personal Librarian. The program matches every new student during their first year at Elon with a librarian to help them find quality resources.

Source: Carol Grotnes Belk Library

winter 2018 9

SPRING

UNDER THE OAKS

CULTURAL CALENDAR

PREVIEW For a complete list of events, check the E-net calendar at elon.edu/e-net/calendar.

MONDAY, MARCH 5 Lawrence Wright, “How to Carry the Story (from Start to Finish)” LIBERAL ARTS FORUM LECTURE

A Pulitzer Prize-winning author and investigative journalist, Wright uses a painstaking methodology to distill complex subjects and extensive research into riveting nonfiction prose.

THURSDAY, APRIL 5 Elon University Spring Convocation with Angela Duckworth A 2013 MacArthur Fellow, Duckworth shares what can be gleaned from modern experiments in peak performance and what she has learned from interviewing other high achievers from academics, business and sports.

President Leo M. Lambert to deliver Commencement address

I

n one of his first acts as president emeritus, Leo M. Lambert will deliver Elon University’s 128th undergraduate Commencement address on May 19.

The selection was made by President-elect Connie Ledoux Book after reviewing recommendations made by the senior class officers.

“I cannot think of a better way to cap President Lambert’s 19-year career than by delivering the final charge to the Class of 2018,” said Book, who succeeds Lambert as Elon’s ninth president on March 1. “President Lambert welcomed them to campus four years ago and has been the leader of the institution throughout their undergraduate careers. The senior class officers and I felt it only fitting that he should give them a final send-off before they embark on their professional journeys.”

Lambert announced in February 2017 he was stepping down as Elon’s eighth president.

One of the most influential figures in the history of the university, Lambert has served as Elon’s president since January 1999.

Throughout his presidency, Lambert has been an advocate for the highest levels of academic

excellence, increasing resources for faculty and supporting development of the Elon teacher-scholar-mentor model.

Following a sabbatical year dedicated to writing a new book, Lambert will continue service to Elon as president emeritus and professor, and will be available to teach and support the university’s advancement and alumni engagement offices. The 128th undergraduate Commencement exercises are scheduled for 9:15 a.m. May 19 at Scott Plaza. For more details, visit elon.edu/commencement.

TUESDAY, APRIL 10 George Dyson, “Artificial Intelligence: From Analog to Digital and Back”

FOSTERING CREATIVITY

PHI BETA KAPPA LECTURE

The best way to gain a sense of where artificial intelligence is taking us is to look back at how we got to where we are today.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11 Jill Lepore, “The Rise and Fall of the Fact” JAMES P. ELDER LECTURE

A staff writer at The New Yorker, Lepore is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and an affiliated faculty member at Harvard Law School.

THURSDAY–SUNDAY, APRIL 12–15 Department of Performing Arts presents William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” One of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies, “Twelfth Night,” features unrequited love, mistaken identity and gender-bending disguise.

10 the MAGAZINE of ELON

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he fall welcomed the addition of a new creative space at Elon: Maker Hub – Downtown. Located on the third floor of Elon Town Center on North Williamson Avenue, the second makerspace boasts twice the space of the original, which opened in Harper Hall in the Colonnades Neighborhood in 2015.

Elon students, faculty and staff can use any of the tools available in the space for advanced prototypes and fabrication. These tools include 3D printers, saws, power tools, a sewing machine, a CNC router, a laser engraver, microcomputers, microcontrollers, soldering irons and various other electrical components to create electronics projects. “The tools that we’re able to offer at Maker Hub – Downtown are pretty exciting,” said Dan Reis, a senior instructional technologist with Teaching and

Learning Technologies who oversees both makerspaces at Elon. “They are going to allow Elon students, faculty and staff to do things that they haven’t been able to do before.”

With the opening of Maker Hub – Downtown, the first hub will continue to have a focus on 3D printing as well as equipment to work with textiles and fabrics, with an embroidery machine added to that location at the request of users. Since the space officially opened in early September, about 15 classes have now been to the Maker Hub – Downtown for orientation sessions.

Along with Elon 101 classes, the visiting groups represent a variety of disciplines, including education and communications, Reis said.

LONG LIVE ELON

Enhancing Elon’s learning environment

BY JALEH HAGIGH AND MADISON TAYLOR

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elieving in the impact and value of an Elon education,

university trustees, alumni and parents have made generous gift commitments to endow transformative scholarships and a professorship, enhancing the learning environment for all students.

A gift from Trustee Vicky Hunt and her husband, Sam Hunt, of Burlington, North Carolina, will establish a scholarship in the university’s Odyssey Program, helping to make an Elon education possible for outstanding students with significant financial need.

The Sam and Vicky Hunt Scholarship will assist two students each year in the Odyssey Program, a highly selective opportunity for students with exceptional ability { Vicky & Sam Hunt } and promise, including students who are the first in their families to attend college.

“Sam and I love Elon, and we enjoy being able to support the university,” Vicky Hunt said. “All scholarships are impactful, but the Odyssey Program is a transformational scholarship because it gives the recipients the chance to have an amazing Elon experience. We believe in building the endowment at Elon, and we like that this gift will go on helping students long after we are gone.”

Sam and Vicky Hunt have been loyal supporters of scholarships at Elon, as well as Phoenix athletics and the Elon Academy, the university’s college access program. They have also helped to build Elon’s campus, making lead gifts to Hunt Softball Park and to support construction of the Schar Center, the university’s convocation center, which is scheduled to open in 2018. Sam Hunt has had a long career building two companies: Hunt Electric Supply with his father and his son, Sam, and Atlas Lighting, which Hunt sold last year. Hunt served four terms as a member of the N.C. House of Representatives and also served as the state transportation secretary. Vicky Hunt has served as an Elon trustee since 1997 and is also active with Hunt Electric Supply.

Sklut family endows professorship, scholarship

Trustee and parent Eric Sklut p’14 and his wife, Lori Sklut p’14, of Charlotte, North Carolina, have made a commitment through the Levine-Sklut Family Foundation to strengthen funding for a Jewish Studies professorship and to endow a scholarship to bring outstanding students to Elon.

The Lori and Eric Sklut Endowed Professorship in Jewish Studies is the latest in a series of gifts from the Sklut family, which has been a driving force for creating a dynamic program of Jewish life on Elon’s campus. The couple established the Lori and Eric Sklut Emerging Scholar Professorship in 2011 and named the Sklut Hillel Center, creating a permanent campus home for Jewish students. The couple also served as inaugural co-chairs of Elon’s Jewish Life Advisory Council and continue to participate actively on the council. Their son, Mason Sklut, is a 2014 Elon graduate.

“It’s been exciting to see Jewish life grow at Elon, and we want that to continue,” said Eric Sklut, who has served as a trustee since 2015. “Elon’s very thoughtful and methodical approach to Jewish life and Jewish studies has been transformative, and knowing that the students and faculty wanted that as well has been rewarding.”

The Skluts said they hope their gift to the professorship will fund opportunities for students to learn more about the Jewish faith and other religious traditions, both in the classroom with faculty and from high-profile speakers brought to campus. “Some students have never met others of a different faith, so this gift could help start that dialogue among Elon students,” Eric Sklut said. “This will have a powerful impact when students leave Elon and begin to have these conversations in the real world.”

{ Lori & Eric Sklut P’14 } winter 2018 11

LONG LIVE ELON The Skluts are also committed to broadening access to an Elon education, which inspired them to endow the Lori and Eric Sklut Elon Engagement Scholarship. An important component of Elon’s enrollment strategy, Engagement Scholarships assist highachieving students eager to take advantage of the university’s renowned engaged learning programs. The Lori and Eric Sklut Elon Engagement Scholarship will assist two students each year and include a one-time grant for each student to participate in the Elon Experiences (global study, internships, undergraduate research, service learning or leadership) or a creative project designed by the student.

“I’ve had the opportunity to meet students interested in going to Elon who were gifted,” Sklut said. “Knowing they could only attend a school like Elon through a scholarship made that even more important to us. If you can attract those students, you elevate the university’s reputation even further.”

Lindleys make valuable estate gift

Trustee, alumnus and parent Jack R. Lindley Sr. ’56 p’83 and his wife, Dorothy “Dot” C. Lindley p’83, of Burlington, North Carolina, have continued their faithful support of Elon by making a second generous estate gift to the university.

In recognition of their gift, Elon will name the second-floor lobby in Richard W. Sankey Hall the Jack and Dorothy Lindley Gathering { Jack ’56 & Dot Lindley P’83 }

12 the MAGAZINE of ELON

{ Mike & Sue Gannaway P’02 }

Space. Sankey Hall is the new three-story, 30,000-square-foot facility under construction on the north end of the McMichael Science Center parking lot. The building will include the Doherty Center for Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship, Chandler Family Professional Sales Center, a Design Thinking Center and Financial Education Center, which are available to students in every major, school and college.

“I love Elon,” Jack Lindley said. “I was a student when Elon was very small and to see the university grow substantially and become a national institution has been amazing and makes me proud. Elon has been blessed with good leadership and we are pleased to have been a part of this growth.” he Lindleys have been among Elon’s most devoted donors, making numerous gifts to support scholarships, athletics and the Ernest A. Koury, Sr. Business Center. In 2008, the couple made their first estate gift, which will endow the Jack R. and Dorothy C. Lindley Scholarship in the future. Their second estate gift will provide valuable unrestricted resources to support the university’s top priorities. The Lindleys are members of Order of the Oak, which recognizes donors who make planned gifts to Elon. “Elon has given us a lot of opportunities that we would not have had otherwise and has enriched our lives tremendously,” Dot Lindley said.

Jack Lindley serves as chairman of Industrial Paper Products and has been an enthusiastic supporter of his native Alamance County and Elon. He has served as an Elon trustee since 2001 and is the recipient of the university’s Frank S. Holt Business Leadership Award and Distinguished Alumnus of the Year award. The couple’s son, Jay Lindley, is a 1983 Elon alumnus.

“I believe that education is important to the economic future of our community and to the next generation,” Lindley said.

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Gannaways endow Business Fellows Scholarship

A commitment from Mike and Sue Gannaway p’02, of WinstonSalem, North Carolina, will establish the Gannaway Family Business Fellows Scholarship, helping to attract top students to the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business.

“I think Elon is a great university,” Mike Gannaway said.

“I wanted to help Elon get the best students in the country to elevate the academic experience at the university.”

The Gannaways’ commitment will provide assistance to two Business Fellows each year, giving them access to distinctive Fellows courses, global engagement opportunities and interaction with seasoned business professionals.

A retired corporate executive, Gannaway serves as executive-in-residence in the Love School of Business and is also a member of the school’s board of advisors and the advisory board for the Chandler Family Professional Sales Center. Gannaway brings several decades of corporate leadership experience to his teaching duties in the Love School, including executive positions with Estee Lauder and Revlon, as well as Hanes Brands/Sara Lee and VF Corp., from which he retired in 2015. The couple’s son, Thomas, is a 2002 Elon alumnus.

Alumnus honors late wife with scholarship

Dr. George P. Bullock ’47, of New Bern, North Carolina, has honored his late wife, Mary Baxley Coxe Bullock ’47, by establishing a scholarship to broaden access to an Elon education. The Mary C. Bullock ’47 and George P. Bullock ’47 Business Scholarship will assist students in the Love School of Business.

Mary Bullock graduated from Elon with a degree in business, while George Bullock earned his degree in biology after returning home from service in World War II. He later earned a degree from Auburn University’s veterinary school. After settling in New Bern, George Bullock practiced veterinary medicine, while Mary served as a high school English and business teacher and guidance counselor before moving onto a successful career in real estate.

“Elon was always very important to my parents,” said the couple’s daughter, Mary Coble, who joined her father in endowing the scholarship. “It’s where they met, and they have fond memories of all that. I thought (endowing a scholarship) was a wonderful way to honor her.”

LONG LIVE ELON

making a difference { Left: Charlie Davis ’72 is a member of the 1889 Society, which honors loyal Elon donors.

Below: Davis presenting the Class of 1972 gift to Assistant Vice President of University Advancement John Barnhill ’92 during Homecoming. }

A true Elon fan C

harlie Davis ’72 wasn’t supposed to go to Elon. In fact, the native of Davidson County, North Carolina, originally planned to join his sister and several of his high school classmates at Western Carolina—a university that happens, like Elon, to have been founded in 1889.

But then, late in his senior year, Davis experienced a change of heart that set him on an entirely different course.

“I started thinking about it, and I decided I did not want to go where I knew too many people,” says Davis. “I looked at a couple of other schools, and then my dad and I drove to Elon.”

LEARN MORE The trip turned out to be well worth the effort, sealing Davis’ decision to The 1889 Society honors loyal donors who give annually to Elon enroll at Elon despite the fact that all for two or more consecutive years. the rooms on campus were already For more information, please visit assigned for the upcoming academic year. (Luckily, a room became available elon.edu/1889society. in Brannock Hall just three weeks into his first semester on campus.)

And so began Davis’ passion for his alma mater, which now spans nearly five decades. Like so many alumni, an important part of his Elon story is a faculty member who offered him guidance and support: Janie Council, who taught accounting at Elon from 1960

to 1984 and was named Outstanding Professor of the Year seven times during her career. “I owe a lot of credit to Ms. Council for everything she taught me not only about accounting, but life in general,” says Davis. “She believed in me and showed me the importance of believing in myself. To this day, I try to keep an optimistic outlook because of the example she set. That goes back to Elon being more concerned about the student than anything else.”

Davis credits this steadfast commitment to putting students first—even through periods of significant growth and change at the university—with making him almost “evangelical” about Elon and inspiring his consistent financial support. His loyalty is recognized through his membership in the 1889 Society, which honors Elon donors who support the university every year. “It’s just easy to give to Elon,” says Davis referencing his history as a donor, which stretches back to the mid-1980s. “I try to give consistently every year, and it’s really become second nature to me.

I’ve been happy to do it and wish that I could give more. I’ve also found that when you give something, you usually get twice as much in return.”

BY MEGAN MCCLURE

In Davis’ case as a Phoenix Club donor, that return is helping to make a college education possible for Elon student-athletes, especially those who would not be able to attend the university without a scholarship. His deep belief in Elon has also taken other forms. In recent years, he has partnered with Elon’s Student Professional Development Center to help connect students with internship and job opportunities. In addition he served as a member of his 45th class reunion committee last year, helping plan events, spreading the word about the reunion to classmates, and asking them to support the class gift.

The culmination of the committee’s efforts at Homecoming weekend this past November also coincided with another special milestone for the Davis family: the 10th class reunion of his daughter, Amanda Baker, who followed in her father’s footsteps when she graduated from Elon in 2007. “I know how much Elon has meant to me and how much it means to her. Sharing that connection with her and with my wife, Vicki, is very special,” he says. “Every school promises a lot, but I think Elon truly delivers.” winter 2018 13

PHOENIX SPORTS

▶ elonphoenix.com

Bonds of BROTHERHOOD The “Varney Boys” met as student-athletes at Elon but the bond they developed on the football field made them brothers for life. BY KEREN RIVAS ’04 { Thirteen members of the “Varney Boys” came together to celebrate their friendship during Homecoming 2017. This year will mark the 65th year the group will assemble on campus. }

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ob Kopko ’58 still remembers his first day on campus. He was 19 and had just left his hometown in Pennsylvania after being recruited by the late Coach Harry E. “Sid” Varney to play football at Elon. He stepped off a bus, climbed “the wall” that enclosed the campus then and fell asleep on the steps in front of Alamance. When he opened his eyes, he saw Homer Hobgood ’56. “We are bound to each other,” Kopko says of teammates like Hobgood who played under Varney between 1953 and 1959, and who became friends for life.

A coach who challenged his players and worked them hard, Varney is the key reason for the men who gather each year at Homecoming—a group commonly referred to as the “Varney Boys.” Extra running following grueling practices, sometimes in 110-degree weather, made the players realize they needed to rely on each other, and push each other to give it their best. “We bonded because he was going to kill us all,” says Lynn Newcomb ’58, a member of the Elon Sports Hall of Fame, with a laugh. “We came from different backgrounds, undisciplined. We had to pull together and we had to do it together.”

“Once we stopped complaining, that’s when we became a team,” Kopko says, adding that for a while, they were at odds with the coach, who led Elon to an undefeated record for the 1957 season. “He knew what he was doing. Nobody [in this group] is a failure at anything. We sure hated him at first, but now we love him. And this group of men— we have a bond you wouldn’t believe.”

Bob Stauffenberg ’58, an All-American and another Hall of Fame inductee, agrees. “We really care about one another, which goes beyond football,” he says. “Coach Varney was a special guy. He knew he wasn’t one of the greatest minds in football, but he knew something about human nature.” The difficult experiences they went through

14 the MAGAZINE of ELON

in the name of the sport taught them to believe in each other and in what they were trying to accomplish, resulting in resilient individuals on and off the field.

“I feel like they are my family, my second family,” Newcomb says. “I really needed them, and they’ve been there for me.”

Kopko is the leading force in bringing the former Elon players and their families back together each year, not only for their Homecoming reunions but for other life milestones. “Any time there is a funeral, we are there,” he says, adding that when Varney died in 2011, about 20 of his former players were there to pay their respects. The group also established the Varney Scholarship, which supports a deserving Elon football player each year. When the university opened Rhodes Stadium in 2001, Varney’s former players raised $100,000 to name one of two stadium boxes in Varney’s honor.

“We are the most stick-together group of athletes that has ever crossed this campus. We are the group who came with nothing and left with a lot,” says Eddie Bridges ’57, adding that he came to Elon with two T-shirts and two pairs of jeans but left with an education that prepared him for a successful career in wildlife conservation. “We take a lot of pride in what we’ve given back to Elon, and we are extremely grateful for what we received from Elon.”

Elon’s recent success on the football field was an extra incentive for the men to come together once again this past Homecoming. Perhaps they see a bit of Varney in first-year Coach Curt Cignetti and much of themselves in this year’s squad. “We’re so proud of them,” Kopko says.

“We’re excited about the team and about the coach.”

While the group has diminished in size with time—there are only 50-some former Varney football players remaining—their desire to come together has not wavered. Come Nov. 2, it will be the 65th year the group comes together for Homecoming, a tradition they are proud to continue for years to come. “As long as there is one of us alive, this will continue,” Stauffenberg says.

It’s a sentiment shared by the rest of the Varney Boys. “I want us to be remembered as faithful—we were faithful until the end,” Newcomb says.

PHOENIX SPORTS

▶ elonphoenix.com

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT BRYANNA HAMES ’18 BRYANNA HAMES STARTED HER ATHLETICS CAREER AS A BASKETBALL PLAYER. A tryout in ninth grade exposed her to track and field

BY MADISON MACKENZIE ’18

and she was hooked on throwing events—shot put, discus, hammer. Now a member of the Elon women’s track and field team, Bryanna is leaving a mark at Elon.

A marketing and strategic communications double major, she was selected All-Academic by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association in summer 2017. During her junior campaign, she became Elon’s first athlete to qualify and compete at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and earned honorable mention laurels in the discus (161’ 10”/49.32m). She was also a two-time All-Colonial Athletic Association selection with her runner-up finishes in discus and the shot put at the CAA Championships. She concluded the 2017 regular season with a new school record in the shot put (49’ 1”/14.96m).

She spoke with The Magazine of Elon about life outside athletics.

She is almost busier off the field than on it. When she isn’t training or on the track, she is involved in many other activities. She is vice president of Elon’s chapter of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, a Bible study leader with Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a student group she helped start at Elon, and is involved in many community service projects. “In the spring I’m going to work with the Positive Attitude Youth Center,” she says.

Her faith stays with her even inside the circle.

Bryanna’s pre-meet rituals include gospel music, getting in the right head space and praying. “I listen to gospel music because that music fills me with positive vibes … and I pray every time before I go in the circle.”

She prefers DC to Marvel.

She grew up around hundreds of comic books because her dad was a collector as a child. Even though he favors Marvel, Bryanna says she has always preferred DC Comics.

“I was Wonder Woman for Halloween—I love her. She is who I want to be.”

Her car is her singing stage.

When no one is around, she lets loose and belts out her favorite music at the top of her lungs.

But her car is not the only place she uses as a stage. “When I’m alone, I will dance in the mirror like I am five years old with my hairbrush. I don’t even care.”

She wants to make a difference in the sport at Elon. Though she could have attended a Power Five conference school, when considering what college to attend, Bryanna looked for a school where she could leave a mark. “I needed to go somewhere that needed me just as much as I needed them and I wanted to maximize my potential as an athlete and a student,” she says. “I wanted to make my mark and help show the rest of the world how great Elon is and showcase my talents.”

winter 2018 15

COVER STORY

A HOLIST T

here was a time when a purely technical focus was all an engineering student needed to be successful.

But technological advancements and changes in how information is delivered and consumed have radically changed the way we interact with the world. Gone are the days of working in a vacuum. Collaboration and innovation are now a part of everyday life. When it comes to engineering, there has been a shift to a more holistic approach to create innovative thinkers.

“There’s a lot of unhappiness about the way engineers are prepared, particularly at the undergraduate level,” Richard Miller, president of Olin College of Engineering and a leading force behind the reinvention of engineering education, said during a recent interview. “This past commencement season, fewer than 5 percent of undergrads got a degree in any kind of engineering at any university in America. And one of the few things that America still exports is technology and entrepreneurship, which is pretty hard to do without having any engineers.”

According to a recent survey by Engineering.com, a leading online destination for engineers of all disciplines, recruiters reported that besides technical knowledge, they seek engineering candidates who are problem-solvers, who can think critically, who are motivated and who have communication and interpersonal skills. “There is real need to have engineers who are well-versed in the arts and sciences so that they have the background to identify and navigate increasingly complex problems in today’s world,” says Gabie Smith, dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences.

In response to this new reality, Elon is launching a four-year engineering program in the fall that aims to produce engineers capable of tackling difficult problems and affect change in the world. For years, Smith says, the Office of Admissions has reported that a four-year engineering degree is one of the most requested programs prospective students look for at Elon. That, paired with a higher demand nationwide for

16 the MAGAZINE of ELON

A new engineering program at Elon aims to prepare students for solving complex problems.

IC APPROACH careers in STEM fields—science, technology, engineering and math—made the decision to add the new program more appealing. “With this degree program we are launching a truly innovative curriculum that is unlike many other undergraduate engineering degrees,” she says.

“It is designed to build on the very mission of our institution while meeting the needs of the marketplace.”

BUILDING ON A STRONG FOUNDATION For students like Matthew Del Valle ’21, the program couldn’t have come at a better time.

From an early age, he knew he wanted to spend his life building, creating and researching. In middle school, he transformed his garage into a makeshift workshop where he could often be found tinkering with mechanical parts and building robots. That passion sparked his interest in engineering, a career path that ultimately led him to Elon. His brother, Kyle, who graduated in May with a finance degree, had a positive experience at the school, but Del Valle had some hesitations. At the time he applied, Elon only offered a dual-degree engineering program, which allows students to begin their studies at Elon before transferring to another institution to complete their engineering degree. Del Valle didn’t want to change schools halfway through his undergraduate experience. Luckily for him, toward the end of his senior year of high school, he learned of Elon’s plans to introduce the new four-year engineering program in 2018.

That news changed everything. “Because of my brother’s experience, I had faith in Elon. I

BY KEREN RIVAS ’04 AND ALEXA BOSCHINI ’10

CREATING AN INNOVATION HUB The launch of the four-year engineering program this fall has created the need to expand existing facilities. Currently housed in McMichael Science Center, the new program calls for greater integration and collaboration with other disciplines and a more hands-on curriculum approach.

To accommodate these demands, the Elon University master plan calls for a three-story facility to be built next to McMichael building. “It will create an innovation hub and allow for in-depth collaboration,” says Vice President for University Advancement Jim Piatt, adding that the building will complete a quadrangle with McMichael and Richard W. Sankey Hall, which opens in the fall and will house the Doherty Center for Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship, Chandler Family Professional Sales Center, a Design Thinking Center and Financial Education Center.

“It will exemplify the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship on the heart of campus.”

The new building, which will be approximately 30,000 square feet, will feature entrepreneurship and design spaces; design workshops for engineering students; classrooms designed for lectures, seminars and group work; studentfaculty engagement spaces; laboratories and lab prep spaces; and research pods for equipment

and research materials. Such spaces are crucial for the successful implementation of the program, says Sirena Hargrove-Leak, an associate professor of engineering who is leading the new four-year engineering program at Elon.

One of the requirements by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc., the accrediting body of engineering programs in the United States, is to offer sufficient facilities for courses such as senior design. The course, she says, allows students to engage in real-world projects so they can put into practice all of the foundational material they have studied during their first three years at Elon.

“Having a facility for them to do real hands-on work that models the work of a practicing engineer is extremely important,” Hargrove-Leak says. “They need to have space to be able to work. They need to have storage for their developing prototypes. They need to have equipment in order to build them and test them. Facilities are absolutely essential for a course like that.”

The estimated cost for the new building is $12 million. For more information about this project and ways to support it, contact Brian Baker, associate vice president and director of principal gifts, at (336) 278-7453 or bbaker7@elon.edu. winter 2018 17

{ Associate Professor of Engineering

Scott Wolter works with Michael Dryzer ‘19 and Caitlin Niven ‘18 in a lab in McMichael Science Center. } had trust in Elon that whatever they do with this program, it will end up being great,” says Del Valle, now a first-year student at Elon studying biomedical engineering. “I think it’s going to be an incredible addition to this school. Elon has so much to offer already, but this will bring in a completely new wave of students.”

Smith says she sees the new program as the natural evolution of engineering at Elon, which traces its beginning back to 1999 when Associate Professor Emeritus of Engineering Rich D’Amato was hired to launch a new engineering affiliate program with North Carolina State University. “Elon was the university I always wanted to be at,” says D’Amato, who had worked for NASA and obtained degrees in aerospace engineering, ocean engineering and environmental civil engineering before pursuing a career in teaching. “We had some very fine students, as good as others I had taught at larger institutions.”

The partnership with N.C. State was the first step in Elon’s dual-degree engineering program.

Students in that program spend the first three

years of their undergraduate studies at Elon, taking a wide range of science, math, computer science and other Elon core courses along with discipline-specific courses. They then transfer to an affiliate engineering university for two more years and graduate with two degrees—one in engineering from the affiliated university and one in a complementary science or math program from Elon.

When the program began, the first step was crafting what those first three years would look like. How could Elon best prepare students for the next steps in their education and careers?

The answer was a robust foundation in the arts and sciences, along with engineering groundwork. “It’s clear this is an addition to their education because a chemical engineer doesn’t learn enough chemistry to get a chemistry degree,” D’Amato says. “A mechanical engineer doesn’t take as much math as our students do.

It makes for a more complete engineer. Plus, at Elon we have a strong emphasis on writing and reading, and most engineering schools still don’t make a big deal of that. They truly get a liberal arts degree along with an engineering degree.”

The program initially offered mechanical engineering and civil engineering concentrations, both of which are rooted in physics. Over the years, other departments partnered with the program, expanding the disciplines Elon’s engineering students could study. As the program’s success grew, so did its affiliate partners. In addition to N.C. State, Elon’s dual-degree students can transfer to eight other institutions, including Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, University of Notre Dame, University of South Carolina and Clemson University.

What started in 1999 with a handful of students grew to more than 81 in 2013. The success of the program led Elon officials to start considering the possibility of offering a fouryear program. “The data supports the fact that we have a successful, growing program,” says Sirena Hargrove-Leak, an associate professor of engineering who is leading the new four-year engineering degree. “And so the natural progression was to offer students the option to stay on campus to complete their engineering studies.”

“These traits will make for a very unique program that allows the student to both explore their interests in engineering and develop a global perspective in ways that purely technical institutions cannot.”

18 the MAGAZINE of ELON

| THE NEED FOR A NEW APPROACH But relying on a conventional curriculum—one focused strictly on technical courses—was not the answer. If the dual-degree program had proven anything, it was the need to include arts and sciences offerings as part of any new program. “Elon is exceptional in its ability to focus on the student and make a well-rounded individual,” says Jake Smith ’18, a dual-degree student who is completing his electrical engineering degree at Georgia Tech. When he first came to Elon in 2012, he wanted to pursue an engineering physics degree, but after his experiences in and out of the classroom, he decided to become an electrical engineer. “The atmosphere at Elon encourages exploration of one’s interests,” he says. “I was able to work on a number of research projects at Elon, which helped spark my passion for electronics and circuits.”

Ashley Davis ’08, associate director of health economics at RTI Health Solutions who studied engineering mathematics, agrees. “The dual-degree experience helped me to not only become a well-rounded engineer but also a great communicator,” she says. “The liberal arts component is not something an engineering student may be encouraged to explore at another university and I’ve found it invaluable in my career.”

While Elon’s dual-degree program has been successful, it is clear engineering as a career has a problem, Hargrove-Leak says. “Part of that problem is that it’s a lot of math and science in the early semesters and that’s just not attractive to many students,” she says. “A traditional engineering program does not include as many opportunities for elective study outside of the major, but when you bring in many of the liberal arts education and experiences, you not only graduate a better engineer who is capable of solving problems, but you also have a breadth { Associate Professor of Engineering Sirena Hargrove-Leak is leading the new four-year engineering degree. }

of experience so those students can lead a more balanced lifestyle.”

Students in the new four-year engineering program are required to complete Elon’s core curriculum, which means they have the opportunity to explore courses in civilization, society and expression. They are also able to engage in the Elon Experiences—global study, undergraduate research, service, leadership and internships. In the past, Hargrove-Leak says, these areas were known as “soft skills” in the engineering world, but employers are recognizing the power such skills have for success in the workplace.

She still remembers a conversation she had some years ago with an employer who had hired a student who had completed the dual-degree program at Elon. “We were talking and then there was this beautiful moment when she mentioned this new hire and I said to her, ‘Oh yes, that was one of our students,’” Hargrove-Leak recalls. “And she said, ‘Wait, he graduated from N.C. State,’ and I said, ‘Yes, he did, but he was a dual-degree student from Elon.’”

The employer went on to rave about how the candidate, in a competitive interview process, distinguished himself above all others because it was evident he was able to communicate effectively and was skilled at working with others. “They could identify that in the interview process,” Hargrove-Leak says. “Employers do recognize the difference.”

Smith certainly has noticed that, too. “I am finding that employers are extremely interested in candidates who have both the technical skills from an engineering school but also the communication skills to explain technical details effectively,” he says. “These traits will make for a very unique program that allows the student to both explore their interests in engineering and develop a global perspective in ways that purely technical institutions cannot.”

Beyond the rewards of taking part in an inclusive, broad-based engineering program, students are able to complete all their studies on the Elon campus. It’s an appealing proposition, particularly for those students who, like Del Valle, want to pursue various interests. Besides studying biomedical engineering, he is minoring in music technology.

“I’ve loved music my entire life and I want to keep that going,” he says. “Elon is so versatile. You can really do what you want with your education here.”

A HOLISTIC APPROACH

Five skills recruiters seek in an engineer: 1. Technical skills 2. Communication skills 3. Interpersonal skills 4. Problem solving and critical thinking 5. Enthusiasm, commitment and motivation Source: Engineering.com

Students pursuing the Bachelor of Science degree in engineering can choose from: • biomedical engineering concentration • computer engineering concentration • create their own concentration

Students in the dual-degree program can specialize in engineering physics; engineering mathematics; environmental science/environmental engineering; bio-physics/biomedical engineering; chemistry/chemical engineering; and computer science/engineering.

For more information on both programs, visit elon.edu/engineering.

For sophomore Skylar Barthelmes, being able to compete for Elon’s track and field team without disruptions while getting an engineering degree was a strong incentive. “I was a chemistry major taking engineering classes with hopes to pursue a chemical engineering degree,” she says.

She is now enrolled in the four-year engineering program because it allows her to spend all her undergraduate years at Elon. “I have a coach who is willing to schedule practice times around my class schedule so I don’t have to worry about conflicting with a team practice schedule.”

Hargrove-Leak hopes more students like Del Valle and Barthelmes enroll in the program, not only for the sake of its success but for the betterment of society as a whole. “We have an aging infrastructure in this country that needs repair and we need to have knowledgeable, skilled people to make those repairs,” Hargrove-Leak says. “We also have an aging workforce in engineering. The Baby Boomers are retiring and we need to replenish that knowledge and skill. This program allows us to be a part of the solution.” winter 2018 19

A JUMP INTO After a parachuting accident ended her military career, Joleen Parks found a calling in the legal profession.

BY ERIC TOWNSEND

I

t was a new type of parachute that Staff Sgt. Joleen Parks wore as she fell from a Blackhawk helicopter five years ago during a routine training exercise. Her normal responsibilities had little to do with jumping from aircraft, but when you serve in Psychological Operations, part of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, you’re required to do this sort of thing every few months.

The jump was to be among the last training exercises Parks would complete before packing her bags and leaving for Mauritania in West Africa to use her anthropology degree, and her Army training in the art of public persuasion, to combat the creeping influence of Boko Haram, a regional Islamic State terror

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{ Joleen Parks with husband Aaron and children Connor and Audrey. }

group. She leaned out the chopper’s open door. The onboard jumpmaster tapped her shoulder and Parks pushed herself free of the Blackhawk with no idea that it would be her last leap for the U.S. Army and her first step toward a legal career.

Parks was the oldest of five children born to her father, a welder, and a mother who worked as an emergency medical technician in a small Idaho town. Growing up in a two-bedroom home, Parks was “the kid who had to have someone come and take away the book at night and turn off the light.” She was also the first in her family to enroll in a fouryear university, eventually graduating from

Boise State University in 2005 with a degree in anthropology.

Parks flirted with the idea of law school but felt a stronger calling. A brother had enlisted in the U.S. Army after the September 11 terror attacks and their grandfather had served in the Airborne between World War II and the Korean War. Besides, she reasoned, what better way to put an anthropology degree to practical use than to help foster national unity in Iraq, the cradle of civilization? “It’s easy for us to say, ‘First I’m American, then I’m a North Carolinian,’” Parks says. “For them, tribe comes first. We were the ones who put the borders on their map, after all.” She discovered the benefits and opportunities of her work during a 2007

LAW tour in Baghdad as she helped organizations host events that brought together Sunni, Shia and Kurdish communities.

After a short stint in the Reserves and the arrival of a daughter, Parks returned to active duty in 2011 with the hopes of rejoining Psychological Operations. She and her Air Force husband, Aaron, had again relocated to North Carolina for military service, and it was over the weedy fields of Fort Bragg that she found herself falling to the earth before deployment to Africa.

She recognized it on impact, the excruciating pain in her ankle and back. Parks lay on the ground for a moment before hobbling out of the jump zone. What was diagnosed was a severely sprained ankle and damaged spinal discs that forced the Army to yank Parks from her mission to Africa—“I was not happy about that at all, to put it mildly”—and onto desk duty. Less than two years later, Parks was medically retired.

“What do I do with my life?” she remembers asking herself. “I was 32 and retired and staring at myself, saying, ‘what do I do now?’”

A Boise State classmate provided the answer: law school. A few months after her discharge, Parks was on the phone with her friend, a public defender in Minnesota who reminded Parks of earlier interest in the legal profession. Parks started researching schools and discovered Elon Law. Beginning in August 2015, Parks commuted every day from her home near Fort Bragg to Greensboro. It required help from neighbors and family for child care, and little room for error. If a class or program changed its start time, Parks often missed the activity, either arriving later or leaving early because of family obligations.

Parks knew public interest work was her calling. Growing up in rural Idaho, where many families lived modestly, it was easy to see disparate treatment in the courts. Those with money had lawyers handle simple matters like traffic tickets or misdemeanor charges. Those who lacked money often faced license suspensions and possible jail time for similar infractions. A minor nuisance for some people could, for others, lead to a loss of job, or a loss of child custody.

Then you have her military training. The U.S. Army further refined her focus and discipline. In Psychological Operations, there was always the need to quickly analyze complex situations and,

more importantly, to assess the motives of the people around. That proved critical.

The summer after her first year at Elon Law, Parks interned for a local district attorney, helping prosecutors strike prospective jurors from a felony trial because of body language and reactions to statements in the courtroom. “She’s extremely bright. She’s great with communicating with people, which, particularly in public defense work, your ability to communicate with all types of people is important,” says Emily Mistr, who guided Parks during her subsequent Elon Law residency-in-practice at the Wake County Public Defender’s Office. “You know that she has a long story that has been difficult at times, but she still maintains a positive attitude and clearly has a desire to help people.”

Later, at Elon Law’s Humanitarian Immigration Law Clinic, Parks assisted a client with a minor criminal record who was referred to the clinic by an immigrant advocacy organization. In another instance, Parks wrote a brief in connection with an asylum case for a West African woman who had suffered from extreme forms of gender-based violence and risked being subjected to female genital mutilation if returned to her home country. “Joleen proved to be a zealous advocate for her clients,” says Katherine Reynolds, a clinical practitioner in residence at the clinic and Parks’ supervising attorney. “She found solutions to every obstacle that stood in the way of preparing a complete application, securing evidence for refugees facing hardships in health, age and accessibility. And she always brought an interesting perspective to discussions on immigration policy, shaped in part by her military service.”

Though you won’t notice it, Parks does it all with constant pain. Her back injury from the training jump, using a new parachute system that was under evaluation, haunts her still. Doctors have recommended she consider additional surgeries.

As a law graduate studying for the bar exam, that’s not happening soon. “I don’t have time,” she says, “to lay on my back for 12 weeks to heal.”

Parks was one of 111 students who graduated as part of Elon University School of Law’s Class of December 2017, the first to finish a new curriculum that emphasizes practical training unlike any other law school in the country. Graduates

{ Elon Law Dean Luke Bierman hoods Joleen Parks during a Dec. 16 ceremony. }

completed the same number of credit hours as their counterparts in other institutions but in less time and with a full-time, course-connected residency-in-practice during part of their second year. By completing their studies in 2.5 years rather than the traditional three years for which law schools are known, Elon Law graduates gain early entry into the profession at a cost savings in both tuition and living expenses.

Seated in the audience cheering her were her husband, Aaron, and their 8-year-old daughter, Audrey, and 3-year-old son, Connor. “Our daughter is excited and proud of her mom. She’s been to a few events at the school and she got to listen in and hear judges. It helps her understand a little bit and it’s helped her excitement grow,” Aaron Parks says. “This has been one heckuva ride, a journey, getting to where we are today.

She really worked hard.”

Now that school and the bustle of the holidays are behind her, Parks is excited to move to Twin Falls, Idaho, where Aaron accepted what she described as “an amazing job opportunity about 30 minutes from where I grew up.” Her goal after taking the Idaho bar exam this summer is to work as a court-appointed defense lawyer, helping those who have little or nothing to their name. Her military experience and the lessons she learned as an Elon Law student align with a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson that Parks frequently cites: “To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded.”

“I thought I was poor when I was growing up, but once you see the way women and children in the Middle East live, we had everything compared to them,” Parks says. “I’ve worked my butt off for 20 years, but I have so much!

If I can give back to those with less than me ...

I’ve succeeded.” winter 2018 21

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS AND HONORS

a new blue

Most wins (4) against ranked opponents in Elon football history.

Tied for second best turnaround in program history.

Second FCS playoff appearance in program history.

First FCS playoff game at Rhodes Stadium.

Longest Elon football winning streak in 37 years.

Coach Curt Cignetti: Named CAA coach of the year and a finalist for Eddie Robinson Award given to the FCS national coach of the year (finished fourth in the voting).

Linebacker Warren Messer: A finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, given to the top defensive player in the FCS (finished 10th in the voting). Named to first team all-conference by the CAA and member of two All-America teams for FCS players.

Quarterback Davis Cheek: Named CAA Offensive Rookie of the Year. A finalist for the Jerry Rice Award, given to the top freshman in the FCS (finished fifth in the voting, the highest ever for an Elon player).

Receiver Kortez Weeks: Named to second team of the Phil Steele FCS Freshman All-America team.

CAA All-Conference selections besides Messer included: Second team, running back, Malcolm Summers; offensive lineman, C.J. Toogood. Third team, receiver, Kortez Weeks; safety, Chris Blair; and offensive lineman Ikenna Nwokeji.

Three members of the Elon football team— defensive lineman Nick Groll, running back Malcolm Summers and sophomore tight end Matt Foster— selected to the CoSIDA Academic All District 3 team.

22 the MAGAZINE of ELON

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ueprint

A NEW BLUEPRINT

How the Elon football team turned a seven-game losing streak in 2016 into a historic season a year later.

BY MADISON TAYLOR

C

hris Blair ’18 was at home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for the Christmas holiday on Dec. 20, 2016, when he heard the news.

Rich Skrosky, his football coach at Elon University—the coach who recruited him not once but twice—had resigned to take an assistant coaching job at Florida International University.

Blair was stunned. His teammates were, too.

“We didn’t expect it,” says Blair, then a junior safety who had just completed a frustrating 2016 season in which Elon finished 2-9, with seven straight losses and a last-place finish in the Colonial Athletic Association conference. It was a lost season the players thought should have been much more successful. Veteran players like Blair and linebacker Warren Messer ’19 of Garner, North Carolina, waited anxiously over the break for any word about who might replace Skrosky, who left Elon after three losing seasons to become offensive coordinator at FIU. Skrosky first recruited Blair when he was an assistant to former Elon coach Pete Lembo at Ball State University in Indiana. Blair’s first year at Ball State didn’t work out as he had hoped—he missed his family and North Carolina. When Skrosky took the Elon head coaching job, he asked Blair to take a look at the campus and follow him. “I fell in love with it,” Blair says.

Despite the mounting losses, Skrosky’s sudden departure at Christmas 2016 was unsettling for the players. The team members wondered what might happen next. Before the calendar turned to 2017 they had an answer.

One name quickly emerged as Skrosky’s replacement. Curt Cignetti was offered the head coaching job at Elon on Dec. 31, 2016, 11 days after Skrosky’s resignation. Blair and his teammates began researching their new coach immediately. A wealth of information was available online in seconds.

A couple of things got Blair’s attention right away. First, Cignetti’s resume included four years as an assistant coach for the University of Alabama where he was a receivers coach and recruiting coordinator for arguably the best major college football program in the nation. Cignetti was on head coach Nick Saban’s staff when the Crimson Tide won a national Football Bowl Subdivision title in 2009. Second, Blair was impressed by Cignetti’s success at his then-current post at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Under Cignetti, the NCAA Division II school had a record of 53-17 with three playoff appearances. “I knew then we were going to win,” Blair says. “That [type of success] comes from leadership.”

He had no idea then how accurate his prediction would turn out to be.

{ Elon Phoenix Head Football Coach Curt Cignetti } winter 2018 23

“It’s about attitude.

{ Elon’s eight-game winning streak included four victories over opponents ranked in the FCS top 25. }

HOPE FROM THE HOLIDAY SEASON What turned into a historic fall 2017 was beyond even the most hopeful prediction in December 2016. Elon’s seven-game losing streak to finish the season included several lopsided defeats. The low point was a devastating 44-14 home loss on Senior Day to Rhode Island, one of the weakest teams in the CAA.

The thought of a break-even season in 2017 appeared impossible to outsiders looking in. So what occurred—a six-game turnaround, an eight-game winning streak, four victories over top-25 FCS opponents, a national ranking in the top 10, a battle for the conference championship with No. 1 ranked powerhouse James Madison, and the first FCS playoff berth for Elon since 2009—seemed unfathomable. By coincidence the turnaround began during the holiday season of hope.

On Christmas Eve of 2016, Cignetti was first contacted about the head coaching vacancy at Elon. He had a house full of people that day. He and wife Manette lived in Indiana, Pennsylvania, where his father, Frank Cignetti, completed the kind of coaching career that carves statues. Frank Cignetti’s success at IUP landed him in the College Football Hall of Fame. The field there is named for him. When the head coaching job opened at IUP in 2011, Curt Cignetti decided to leave the University of Alabama, where success and all that follows is almost guaranteed. He admits it was a gamble going from such a large and nationally prominent football program to one substantially smaller. There would be less of everything at IUP, including salary. But IUP had one thing Cignetti was looking for most: a chance to be a collegiate head football coach. It was a bet that would pay off.

When Elon came calling in 2016, Cignetti’s Crimson Hawks team was coming off a 10-2 season and second-round playoff exit. He antici-

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pated even bigger things for IUP in 2017. Cignetti was very familiar with Elon and interested in what the university had to say. He first learned about it as an assistant under then head coach Chuck Amato at N.C. State. And in 2005, Cignetti visited the campus and interviewed for the Elon head coaching vacancy created when Paul Hamilton left after a two-year record of 6-16. Elon hired Pete Lembo from Lehigh, who would lead Elon to a 35-22 record over the next five seasons. Not long after Lembo arrived at Elon, Cignetti moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to join Saban’s staff.

Another opportunity to coach at Elon was appealing. While at N.C. State, the Cignettis lived in Cary and missed the North Carolina climate. As it turns out, Cignetti was also high on Elon’s list of candidates in December 2016. Elon Athletic Director Dave Blank knew a lot about the Cignetti family from his time as a basketball coach at Lock Haven, which plays in the same conference as IUP. Blank was also well aware of what Curt Cignetti was accomplishing at IUP in his first shot as a collegiate head coach. “I felt it was important, and President Lambert agreed, that we hire someone with head coaching experience,” Blank says. “Curt’s background stood out as someone I wanted to meet.”

Cignetti arrived for his Elon interview on Dec. 30, 2016. The changes in place on campus since 2005 impressed him right away. The athletic facilities were markedly improved, including the construction of Alumni Field House where the football offices, locker room and training facilities are located behind Rhodes Stadium. “When I got down here and saw everything that had been built since my last time here, it got my attention,” Cignetti says, sitting in his immaculate office on the second floor of Alumni Field House. “Everything was in place.

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A NEW BLUEPRINT

If you’re not a relentless competitor, you’re not on the field.”

They just needed a leader, someone with a blueprint.”

Cignetti was offered the job 24 hours later and quickly accepted.

He was confident in his blueprint even though prior to his arrival, Elon recorded six straight losing seasons. He was about to become the fourth head coach in eight years. He gave away little about how he planned to rebuild Elon’s football fortunes when he was introduced at a press conference on Jan. 3, 2017. He made a vow to “change the culture” and added, “I totally believe we will win here.”

Messer was an early believer. He felt a kinship to his new coach immediately. A linebacker preparing for his junior season, he drove to Elon from his parents’ home in Garner to attend the press conference.

“I’m passionate about football and I knew right away he was just as passionate about the game. I felt a connection between us,” Messer says.

Blair also liked what he saw in Cignetti that day. The press conference was held in the field house’s second-floor meeting room, which overlooks Rhodes Stadium from one end zone to the other. Blair noticed Cignetti kept looking away from the assembled crowd and out over the field. “I thought, this is a man of action,” Blair says. “A press conference comes with the job but what he really wanted to do was go to work.”

The players would soon find out what that means.

REDEFINING THE ELON BRAND

The first thing Elon football players see on the left as they enter the locker room is a sign that reads in giant type, “Do Your Job!” A second sign further down provides another message, “Be Relentless!” And as the players leave the room, a sign above the exit offers one final and important piece of the overall message. It simply reads, “FINISH!”

Those are just three sections that make up the core of Cignetti’s coaching philosophy and, by extension, what evolved into Elon’s new brand of football. The locker room signs speak to the change in culture Cignetti began to instill. Cignetti tells his players he expects them to be relentless, resilient, physical, fast and finishers who always do their assigned jobs. These messages are reinforced each day until the players say them as a matter of routine. “You have to be a relentless competitor.

We’re going to finish what we start. We don’t have any self-limitations.

Don’t look at the scoreboard. Have fun,” Blair says, echoing his coach.

“It’s about attitude. If you’re not a relentless competitor, you’re not on the field. That resiliency is something he brought to the program as well.”

When Blair thinks back to the lost season in 2016, he believes an inability to overcome adversity wrecked Elon’s season. It happened after the team’s signature win over nationally ranked William & Mary. “That was a big win, I think they were ranked in the top 10, and we were excited. But after that game, when adversity hit, we didn’t know how to respond.”

Some changes such as the locker room signs or a different logo on the team’s helmets are cosmetic, reinforcements of the idea that Elon football should be played at a new championship level. When a slogan was discussed for the Elon football Twitter account, Cignetti suggested “A new brand of ball.” Told that was a bit long for a Twitter hashtag slogan, they came up with #FindTheEdge. “It was all about creating a new brand,” Cignetti says.

Greater mental and physical challenges are also part of the Cignetti blueprint honed by not only his father but also his playing days at the University of West Virginia under legendary coach Bobby Bowden, his years as an assistant for Amato at N.C. State and national championship coaches Johnny Majors at Pittsburgh University and Saban.

Cignetti started addressing mental toughness a month after taking the job. He began with a series of mat drills at 6 a.m. three days a week. The high-intensity drills are crafted to build agility, speed and explosiveness. Typically in February, the sessions would be conducted indoors but a shortage of gym space at the time forced the workouts outdoors, sometimes in below-freezing temperatures. The sessions were even more grueling than usual and served multiple purposes. “It builds mental toughness and resiliency. I see who will pay the price and who won’t,” Cignetti says. “They weren’t fun times in the beginning for the players but they really responded.”

Cignetti often introduces some problematic wrinkle during the mat drills, which are supposed to be achieved perfectly or the team must go through the series again, something no player wants. “The first few drills when I introduced adversity it was like shattering a glass ball. The team had no resiliency,” Cignetti says. “In three weeks when I introduced adversity they became like a rubber ball that would bounce right back.”

{ Chris Blair ‘18 } winter 2018 25

{ Coach Curt Cignetti led Elon’s football team to a historic season in 2017. } These early lessons were critical as the 2017 season unfolded and Elon faced one close game after another. Elon’s eight wins came by a total of 31 points over some of the best teams in the FCS. Any one great or botched play in those games could determine the outcome. The players learned to succeed during tough moments. Missed extra point? No problem. Starting running back injured? Bring in the next player. Give up a go-ahead touchdown with time running out? We got this. “All our games were close, many coming down to the last play. This year we were able to out-execute other teams,” says Messer, whose fourthquarter interception led to the game-winning field goal against nationally ranked Richmond. “This year we won almost all our close games, except the last one. We out-executed Furman the first time and they out-executed us in the second.”

Blair also notes Cignetti’s confidence in what he was teaching.

During an early meeting with the players the coach named off the teams from 2016 that had big one-season improvements. He told them that three or four teams had six-win turnarounds from the previous season. “I said this could be us if we pay the price,” Cignetti says.

“And he was right,” Blair says.

SPRINGBOARD TO THE FALL The formula for turning Elon into the kind of football team “that gives other teams nightmares” began to take shape in spring practice. Players noticed more teaching and attention to conditioning. There was less emphasis on hitting and more on thinking about how to play the game.

The team was still working hard, but the focus was directed on game situations rather than scrimmages. “I think the work ethic was always there, but coach Cignetti made us better football players. Our football IQ became better,” Blair says.

Cignetti salutes his assistant coaches. “I felt it was important to hire good people—all of our coordinators are from winning programs—and many of our position coaches spent time at Ohio State or Penn State,” Cignetti says. “Our director of strength and conditioning, Brian Phillips, came to us from (Army) West Point. He made a huge difference. Our players spend as much or more time with him as anyone else.”

Conditioning and strength are critical. Cignetti wants players who are not only strong but explosive. Phillips is tasked with training players to move in all directions quickly, jump and shift gears in a moment’s notice. “Win the line of scrimmage, minimize turnovers and make explosive plays. Those three things determine the outcome of football

26 the MAGAZINE of ELON

games,” Cignetti says. By the time spring practice began, Cignetti had a receptive audience. “I was really happy with the way we practiced. They came to practice focused and ready to go.”

As spring practice ended, no starting quarterback was identified.

Davis Cheek ’21 from Matthews, North Carolina, enrolled early at Elon, only a handful of weeks after Cignetti was hired and a few months removed from a successful senior year at Butler High School that ended in the third round of the state playoffs. Cheek was recruited by Skrosky and decided early that he wanted to enroll and play for Elon. Cignetti convinced him to stay the course after Skrosky’s departure. “I was in church the day he called. I had a good feeling about Elon after that.

Coach talked highly about Elon and what he wanted to do here. And he had a great background,” Cheek says. “I decided to stay with Elon and I’m happy with my decision.”

Cheek was most impressed with Cignetti’s confidence and the blueprint he had for Elon. “It made me think, he knows what he’s talking about. You can always tell when someone is genuinely passionate about something. And he is passionate.” Cheek was told the competition for the starting quarterback job would come down to which player performed best. A bout with mononucleosis during spring drills slowed Cheek’s progress to only a few snaps, but he performed well in the spring as did Jalen Greene ’21 of Durham, North Carolina. As Elon prepared for its first game with Toledo, the matter of a full-time starting quarterback was still unresolved. Cignetti would play both Davis and Greene until one emerged as the clear winner.

FINDING A WAY TO WIN Winning isn’t the only measure of a college athletic program but it’s a very significant one. Blank tries to view it through the eyes of the players. “We hadn’t won in a while and no one wants that for the guys in our program. You can see the frustration on the faces of our players.

They’re asking themselves, ‘why can’t we win?’”

The players were hungry to win. “If you haven’t had a plate in three years, you’re starving,” Blair says with a laugh. Blair heard questions from the public, too. A business management major, he worked an internship at Glen Raven, a textile manufacturing company in Alamance County. “Everybody there kept asking, ‘when are you guys going to start winning?’,” Blair says.

The answer would be surprisingly soon. The players and coaches believed it, but few others did. Two Elon players joined Cignetti at the annual CAA conference preseason media day. That’s when assembled reporters interview players and coaches for season preview stories, select preseason players of the year and rank how they believe the teams will finish by the end of the season. It was a long and lonely day for Messer and his roommate, offensive lineman Alex Higgins ’19. The pair sat at the Elon table with only Burlington Times-News sports writer Adam Smith for company. At one point a Virginia newspaper writer who covers James Madison stopped to ask the Elon players what it was like to play a team like the Dukes, the No. 1 FCS team in the nation. “I thought, you want me to talk about how good they are,” Messer says.

Elon was picked to finish 11th in the 12-team conference by the media that day. “It was hard to represent Elon at that time. Being that irrelevant was hard. It was like we didn’t exist. That’s when I said, ‘things have to change,’” Messer recalls.

The players were also taking a cue from their coach, who believes “you have to balance what’s attainable. Stay focused on the present moment. Work as hard as you can and improve. Take control of the

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A NEW BLUEPRINT

placency about what happened last year. That’s in the past.”

BUILT TO LAST

{ Warren Messer ’19 led the Phoenix with 12 tackles against the University of Albany. } controllables and maximize your opportunities. This gives you the best chance to be successful.”

But the season-opening game posed a daunting challenge. Toledo entered 2017 as preseason favorite to win the Mid-American Conference and notch a postseason FBS bowl berth. It accomplished both with an 11-3 mark, a conference title and a spot in the Dollar General Bowl. Elon entered as an almost seven-touchdown underdog. Cignetti tried to keep the focus on what’s attainable. “Our goal when we went to Toledo was to be relentless, physical, fast and finish from beginning to end,” he says.

The final score was a 47-13 loss for Elon, but Cignetti liked what he saw from his team. The Phoenix only trailed 19-7 at halftime. Some big plays in the third quarter made the score deceptively lopsided. “If we continue to fight like that, we’re going to improve and we’re going to celebrate in the locker room this year quite a few times,” Cignetti told the Burlington Times-News after the Toledo game. The postgame locker room celebrations began a week later at Furman and continued for seven games thereafter. With Cheek set at quarterback and Kortez Weeks ’21 emerging as a receiving threat, Elon was able to establish an ability to run the football behind a veteran offensive line. The eightgame winning streak included four victories over opponents ranked in the FCS top 25, including No. 8 Richmond. Meanwhile Elon rose to No. 7 in the FCS rankings.

The eight-game winning streak came to an end, 16-6 at frosty New Hampshire. That still left what would be a monumental game in recent Elon football history, a Nov. 18 showdown at Rhodes Stadium against No. 1 James Madison with the CAA championship on the line. In front of a crowd of 8,662, the stronger, deeper and more experienced Dukes methodically outmuscled Elon on the line and rolled to a 31-3 win to close the regular season. For the players, being a part of a game like that one was significant. “In the offseason we wanted to get to this point.

It was basically a confidence builder to see we could compete with the No. 1 team in the nation. It was our goal. We strived to be great,” Messer says.

The growing interest in Elon football on campus and in the community was also important, Blair adds. “To see the larger crowd as the season went on gives you a feeling of pride.”

Elon’s season ended a week later with a disappointing 28-27 loss to Furman in the first NCAA football playoff game contested in Rhodes Stadium. “At the end of the day, we would have liked to finish better.

But as we sit here today, none of our players are satisfied. They all have that hunger. They understand that everything will have to be earned.

Nothing is given,” Cignetti says. “There can’t be contentment or com-

Cignetti doesn’t like the expression “magic season.” He believes it connotes something that might happen once in a lifetime. He’s looking for long-term success and the magic moments that occur as a result.

Cignetti arrived at Elon in January 2017 with a blueprint. He was greeted by talented players who were ready to win. “We wanted to work hard and improve, and we did that,” Cignetti says.

Blair graduates in the spring and already has a job lined up with Compass Group USA, a food and hospitality services company where he completed an internship. First he’s working toward a larger immediate goal, playing professional football. He sums up his senior season at Elon this way: “It’s the start of a new beginning. People here are ready for a winning team. This place can be rockin’. This place can be sold out every home game.”

“We won more games this year than in all my three previous years combined,” Blair adds. “We were looking for the right leadership and we got that. You can see the results.”

Meanwhile, Elon’s returning players are already pointing to the 2018 season. “The class I came in with, the Class of 2019, we knew we would be the class that would get it done and change things around at Elon,” Messer says. “We knew it wouldn’t be easy. We still know there is more to change. We still haven’t played our best football game.”

Toward that end, Messer says he wants to be a better leader next season.

Cheek is working to get bigger, stronger and faster.

“We have to do the little things and it starts now and continues through the season,” Cheek says. “A national championship, that’s the goal. There are smaller goals along the way but if you’re not playing for a national championship, you’re playing to lose.”

Cignetti knows the path ahead won’t be any easier. A blueprint is merely that until it’s completed.

Nothing is given. Respect is earned. There is plenty of work ahead for the coaches { The team celebrates the Nov. 4 win against and players. “Football is the Towson Tigers. } about recruiting and development,” Cignetti says.

“Last year we had to develop the players we had. We had to adjust some things. We wanted to become the kind of team other teams hate to face.

We’re not at the point where we’re creating nightmares, yet.”

winter 2018 27

BY ALEXA BOSCHINI ’10

The billions of bacteria that populate our intestines influence a wide range of processes in our bodies—including our behavior and brain development.

{ Associate Professor of Biology Jennifer Uno works with Alex Ball ‘18 & Emily Bell ‘18 in a laboratory.

Their research focuses on gastrointestinal biology. }

28 the MAGAZINE of ELON

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The notion that bacteria living in our intestines could control our behavior sounds more like the plot of a science fiction movie than real human physiology.

But our digestive tracts are actually home to billions of friendly bacteria collectively called the microbiome, and mounting scientific evidence suggests these bugs have an impact on how we think and the choices we make.

Associate Professor of Biology Jennifer Uno dedicates her research to the mysteries of the microbiome, and how our genes, diet and environment affect the role it plays in our physiology, behavior and brain development. “From a physiology standpoint, your intestinal tract is its own little world,” Uno says. “It has its own little immune system. It has to be able to deal with all the happy, friendly bugs that live in the intestine and find a way to cohabitate with them because they are beneficial, but also be able to mount an appropriate immune response if you happen to be exposed to salmonella or listeria.”

Little scholarship exists on the relationship between exercise and the intestinal microbiome, so Uno is working with Marc Gibson ’18, a biology major and Elon College Fellow, to study that connection. Gibson recruited Elon athletes and non-athletes to participate in the study, and he and Uno are analyzing the types of bacteria that comprise the microbiome in both groups as well as how those bacteria function. Studying student-athletes is beneficial, Uno says, because their schedules are so regimented that it’s easy to verify exactly how often they exercise.

Uno and Gibson also have a clearer picture of both groups’ diets than they would studying a broader population, since most students eat at least a portion of their meals on or around campus.

They want to learn how the microbiome changes depending on the food people eat, the types of athletic activities they engage in and how frequently they exercise. “I’m guessing we’re going to find certain bacteria in the exercising population that are associated with more lean individuals,” Uno says. “There is a molecule called short-chain fatty acids that is found to have a lot of positive health benefits in the intestine. I think exercise may promote some of the bacteria that are better at producing those.”

The literature on the impact of diet on the microbiome is more robust.

Generally, if you ingest fewer calories than you burn, you’ll lose weight.

But the makeup of your microbiome also plays a role in weight gain.

GUT INSTINCT

A diet that is higher in fat and sugar will populate the intestine with bacteria that will make you metabolize and extract calories differently than a person with a healthier diet. And once those bacteria arrive in the intestine, they can actually influence your dietary habits and preferences.

Uno cites a study that showed transferring the gut bacteria of an obese mouse to a thin mouse makes the thin mouse gain weight. Not only does the thin mouse change physically but its eating behaviors change, with a new preference for fattier foods. “A lean person can eat a bowl of Cheerios and an obese person can eat a bowl of Cheerios, and the lean person will get a certain caloric value from it but the obese person will actually get more calories because of the bugs that have populated their intestine,” Uno says. “The more high-fat, high-carb, high-sugar diet you eat, the more you tend to crave that stuff.”

Uno attributes those eating behaviors to the gut-brain axis, or the communication pathway that links intestinal physiology to behavior.

She is currently working with students on two other studies rooted in the connection between the gut and the brain. Uno and Alex Ball ’18, a biochemistry major and Lumen Scholar, are exploring the potential link between autism and the microbiome, and together with Emily Bell ’18, a biology major and Honors Fellow, Uno is researching the microbiome’s possible role in anxiety disorders. “Autistic kids tend to have issues with what they eat,” Uno says. “They’re very selective, and any time you’re selective about what you eat it’s going to impact the microbiome. Is that then exacerbating their behavior?

It seems like there is some sort of impact.”

Uno and Ball are using antibiotics to modify the microbiomes of zebrafish, which are translucent at a young age making their nervous systems easily visible for study.

After altering the microbiome, Uno and Ball noticed the fish began to swim farther apart from each other, a sign of decreased social interaction. Next, they will examine whether those findings connect to serotonin, a neurotransmitter found in both the brain and the gut that some scientists believe is linked to autism. Uno and Bell are also analyzing zebrafish in their anxiety study. When they modulated the fish’s microbiomes with antibiotics, they noticed a change in the fish’s cortisol (a hormone responsible for stress responses) as well as an uptick in anxious behaviors.

The gut-brain axis is a relatively new field of study, so any findings Uno and her students discover will help other scholars exploring the microbiome’s significance. Uno says there is often a certain stigma surrounding the gut, but in her eyes, it’s the coolest organ around. “Just like we don’t have to think about breathing, we don’t have to think about what our guts do,” she says. “It has all of this interesting stuff contained in one organ. Just when I think I’m done and want to look at something different, something like the gut-brain axis will come along and reinvigorate me.”

winter 2018 29

Associate Professor of English Prudence Layne is fostering intercultural opportunities for staff members in South Africa and beyond.

RIPPLE

FFECT

BY OWEN COVINGTON

F “We want to focus on building individuals and their skills, while using the group dynamic itself as a support mechanism to support their growth.”

–Prudence Layne

30 the MAGAZINE of ELON

or Patrick Rudd, the boxes holding more than 7,000 books meant going back to basics. In his role as coordinator of library instruction and outreach services at Elon’s Carol Grotnes Belk Library, Rudd regularly helps students understand the wealth of resources Elon has in its expansive library.

But in January 2015, Rudd and the students in “The Call of South Africa” study abroad course faced a more elemental task—sorting thousands of children’s books into broad categories. They were alphabetizing the books, which had been donated mostly by the Elon program, to help outfit the library in the Ekukhanyisweni Primary School in Alexandra, South Africa, one of the few schools in the region with its own library. “I had never done a service-learning project like this before, and certainly not in another country,” Rudd says of the experience. “For me, the greatest part of study abroad is I was working with students, but we were really learning and doing together.”

Rudd made the journey to South Africa that year, and then again in 2016, at the invitation of Associate Professor of English Prudence Layne, who conceived of and leads the annual Winter Term program. The interdisciplinary course challenges students to consider the role literature and the arts play in a democracy. A central focus of the January program, and its fall semester preparatory course, is comparing the anti-apartheid struggles in South Africa with civil rights struggles in the United States.

During the service-learning program, students spend time primarily in Cape Town and the townships surrounding Johannesburg.

Rudd’s inclusion in the program is part of an intentional effort by Layne to help bring the expertise of Elon staff members to bear within the South African communities the program visits during a month of travel and study. The hope is that while sharing their talents in South Africa, they will bring their experiences back to campus and have an additional impact here. “I really wanted to do something different in the South Africa program,” Layne says. “I began to think about elements of the course I wanted to develop that might be out of my areas of expertise, or might provide a professional development opportunity for a staff member. My theory is, a well-designed experience, regardless of the duration, can build and foster intercultural learning.”

|

RIPPLE EFFECT

Finding the right fit One of the bedrocks of an Elon education is providing the opportunity for students to study abroad during their time at the university. That extends to providing Elon’s faculty and staff with those types of opportunities as well. Multiple study abroad programs include faculty co-leaders who share organization and instructional duties for international study experiences. Elon also encourages the participation of staff members in support roles for study abroad programs.

What sets Layne’s approach apart is that she has carved out opportunities for staff members to be integral participants. Layne has been deliberate in selecting staff members with specific skills that can offer a broader benefit during the Winter Term program. She has identified opportunities in South Africa for those staff members to develop themselves personally and professionally, with the goal that they return to Elon with new ideas and a broader perspective. “We want staff members to not just throw a dart and say, ‘I’ve always wanted to go to Australia,’ and then hop on board,” Layne says. “What we do as individuals has ripple effects in the world. We want to focus on building individuals and their skills, while using the group dynamic itself as a support mechanism to support their growth.” { Patrick Rudd, coordinator of library instruction and outreach services at Elon, worked with students in “The Call of South Africa” study abroad course in 2015 & 2016. Above: Students planting trees on the University of Cape Town’s campus to help reduce Elon’s carbon footprint. }

winter 2018 31

Layne’s first selection to participate?

Elon President Leo M. Lambert. Before she invited him to play a role in the course in 2010, Lambert had not participated in an Elon study abroad program. His experience in South Africa, which included a meeting with Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, helped shape the president’s views on what the multifaith experience at Elon could be. “Our class had the opportunity to celebrate morning Mass at St. George’s Cathedral with Archbishop Tutu and to enjoy breakfast with him afterwards,” Lambert says. “One cannot help but be awed by the sense of history in St. George’s—a focal point for people of diverse faiths to come together in opposition to a cruel, unjust and inhumane system of apartheid.”

By getting buy-in for her approach from the top, Layne hoped that university and department leaders would see the value in their staff members participating in a meaningful way in study abroad. “In this case, a trickle-down effect is more effective than coming from the bottom up,” Layne says.

That was one motivation for Layne to invite Robert Buchholz, associate vice president for facilities management and director of physical plant, to be part of the program in 2017. Along with the skills and expertise Buchholz would bring to the program, she wanted to get his support for members of his staff to participate in study abroad programs in the future. She had also been impressed with the breadth of recycling efforts she had seen in the South African townships she and her students had visited. In his role at Elon, Buchholz oversees the university’s sustainability efforts, from recycling to planting trees and decreasing waste, and she saw an opportunity for Buchholz to share what the university is doing with those who could benefit in South Africa, while also getting ideas to take back to Elon.

The bulk of Buchholz’s career was spent in the U.S. Navy, where he performed many of the same duties he does for Elon’s campus, but at military properties around the world.

Well-traveled from his time in the Navy as well as time spent exploring with his wife, Pam, Buchholz says he had never considered traveling overseas with students. “I asked her, ‘why me?’”

32 the MAGAZINE of ELON

{ Jill Heyes of Original T-Bag Designs speaks to “The Call of South Africa” 2018 Winter Term class. Below: Students sort thousands of children’s books to help outfit the library in the Ekukhanyisweni Primary School in Alexandra, South Africa. }

Reaping the benefits

Buchholz recalls. “She told me she thought that it would be good for me to come down, see what they did, and maybe find something I could learn and bring back to Elon.”

Meaningful encounters While in South Africa in January 2017, Buchholz was introduced to Original T-Bag Designs, an organization founded in Cape Town by Jill Heyes to use recycled tea bags as the raw material for a variety of arts and crafts products. The goal of the organization is to encourage local women to express their creativity while earning a living, with Original T-Bag Designs products sold both locally and globally. That interaction prompted Buchholz to take the lead on a project on Elon’s campus to gather used tea bags that are then sent to Original T-Bag Designs for their use. The inaugural efforts collected nearly 300 tea bags, which were presented to Heyes during this year’s class visit and tour of the facility. The program’s alumni hope to increase the awareness of this business and sustainable practice.

Buchholz views the program’s partnerships with organizations in South Africa as another pathway to reduce Elon’s carbon footprint.

Transportation for students traveling abroad is the second-largest greenhouse gas-producing activity for the university, and Buchholz was considering ways to offset those activities.

Working with Elaine Durr, Elon’s director of sustainability, Buchholz determined the university should explore planting trees abroad to highlight its emphasis on study abroad while helping to reduce the impact from the university’s carbon footprint.

This January saw the planting of 20 yellowwood trees at the University of Cape Town, a site for semester-long study abroad for Elon students. More trees will be planted in the future. “Now we have an international forest,” Buchholz says.

He views the Navy as a service organization, and puts higher education into that same category. Participating in this way in Layne’s course “was just taking that service to another dimension in a way I hadn’t thought of before,” he says.

Layne turned to Rudd to advance work her students had been doing since 2007 to help develop the library in the Ekukhanyisweni Primary School in Alexandra, which sits northeast of Johannesburg. For Rudd, it was an opportunity to do something he has wanted to do for years.

“The South African education system, which has gone through revolutionary change, in its current model, does not often have libraries in schools, particularly in township schools” like Ekukhanyisweni, Rudd says.

Rudd signed on to participate in 2015 and 2016 in what would be a two-pronged approach —increasing and organizing the books and resources in the school library and assisting the new librarian to build those connections to the classroom. “In a sense, it was trying to bring life back to this space, and really give it purpose and help the teachers in the school understand this was a resource to be used,” Rudd says.

Learning about another country and culture side-by-side with Elon students was invaluable for Rudd. He has traveled in Europe, but South Africa awoke in him a desire to know more about the country’s history and place within the larger continent. During one leg of the return flight from South Africa, he sat next to a student, and they spent the eight-hour stretch sharing their thoughts about the experience they had just had, and how it was shaping their worldviews. “You’re confronted with things that are challenging, and sometimes you and the student are equally challenged,” Rudd says.

“Those are pretty powerful things, as you see how students learn outside the traditional classroom environment.”

Rudd was able to share his expertise to help rejuvenate the library in Ekukhanyisweni Primary School, and took much away from his two visits to South Africa. When he assists students with research, he now asks deeper questions about what voices might be missing from the resources he connects them with, and more closely examines who is creating the narrative.

“It was a very powerful experience personally in better understanding my own country, and its past,” he says. “That’s the real value of study abroad, when it works well—you can’t help but come back and tell others about what you experienced. Even though I’m no expert, and I don’t have all the answers, I can at least share what I observed. I feel called to do that.”

From the ARCHIVES

SETTING THE TONE More than 55 years ago, the “Emanons” laid the foundation for a successful jazz program at Elon.

BY ROSELEE PAPANDREA TAYLOR

F

or a jazz band that gave itself a fairly unassuming name when it started more than 55 years ago at Elon, the “Emanons,” or “no name” spelled backward, gained international acclaim for its performances across the globe.

It’s a distinction the group, which evolved into the Elon University Jazz Ensemble in the late 1990s, continues to have today with its many trips abroad.

When the group was first organized in 1962 by thendirector Jack O. White, it attracted many talented musicians. While it was technically a jazz band, over the years the Emanons played a wide variety of genres, including big band and rock, interpreting songs from Count Basie to Chicago to Maynard Ferguson. The group performed at venues ranging from high school and college auditoriums up and down the East Coast to { Jack O. White, upper left, started the New York’s Lincoln Center and at the “Emanons” in 1962. The group performed Grand Ball for the Duke and Duchess of at venues around the world. } Luxembourg. “For a group which has no name (‘no name’ spelled backward), they have made a name for Elon College and themselves,” according to a 1975 article in the Burlington Times-News.

In 1964, just two years after White started the ensemble, the band was playing at the New York World’s Fair and was asked to return as featured artists the following year. The Emanons was named an “All American Entertainment Troupe” by the U.S. Department of Defense in the early 1970s and was featured for a week at the Roosevelt Roads Naval Base in Puerto Rico. The group received an invitation to the Montreaux Switzerland International Jazz Festival and represented the DOD in 1972 in a European tour. The ensemble also was considered special guest artists and received the key to the city of Dudelange in southern Luxembourg. They were the

featured attendees of New York’s First Annual Brass Conference in 1973 and performed annually at Disney World for years.

When the band played on campus, it was mostly for athletic and annual events, including performances during Family Weekend. On occasion, the Emanons played alongside the “Showband of the Carolinas,” the former name for Elon’s marching band, which was also under White’s direction. Together the two groups performed pieces by Billy Joel, Chicago and Stevie Wonder. The Emanons performed and won awards at multiple jazz festivals, including the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Collegiate Jazz Festival and the UNC Wilmington Collegiate Jazz Festival. Many of the group members became certified music teachers and musicians after graduating from Elon.

When White retired from Elon in 1986, the Emanons had completed 23 tours under his direction. White, who was named professor emeritus, received the prestigious Elon Medallion in 1995. He was later named band director emeritus. Following White’s departure, Michael Lewis served as director for four years. Thomas Erdmann, professor of music, directed the group from 1990 until 1996.

Today, under the direction of Professor of Music Jon Metzger, the Elon University Jazz Ensemble performs its versions of standards, jazz classics and student arrangements. During Winter Term, the Jazz Ensemble embarks on a simulated professional tour, offering students the opportunity to experience life as working musicians. The band includes five saxophones, four trumpets, four trombones, and a percussion section with a piano, bass, guitar, vibraphone, drums and auxiliary percussion. A vocalist is often included in the ensemble. winter 2018 33

Finding my ‘kuleana’ MARIA ANDREINA BARRETO ’19

Maria Andreina Barreto is a junior majoring in strategic communications and minoring in literature and creative writing. She and 22 other students were in Hawaii as part of the “Hawai’i: Nation or State?” Study USA course in January when a missile alert was accidentally issued for the state.

Below are her thoughts from that experience, which she first expressed in a column for Elon News Network, the student-run news organization where she serves as copy chief.

My heart was pounding against my ribcage, but I couldn’t tell whether it was from the running or the sheer panic.

34 the MAGAZINE of ELON

F

or a solid 38 minutes, my classmates and I sincerely believed we were about to die. At 8:08 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 13, I was lying in bed when I was startled by my phone buzzing. A message in all caps blared across the screen warning me of a ballistic missile on track for Hawaii. It didn’t make any sense.

I didn’t believe it.

Half a second later, a loud banging shook the walls.

I heard a panicked yell, and leapt out of bed faster than I ever thought possible. My suitemates, with whom I shared a connecting door, were pounding on the walls, doors, anything to get our attention. We met them out in the hallway, their faces red and tears streaming. The only logical place to head to was the basement. We raced down the stairs and managed to find our way there. My heart was pounding against my ribcage, but I couldn’t tell whether it was from the running or the sheer panic. Soon enough, the rest of my classmates and our professors trickled down into the basement to join us.

People were breaking down in bathrooms, strained phone calls home, bones locked in place, tearstreaked faces—it was a sight I hope I never have to see again.

After a solid 15-20 minutes, we were finally notified that the alert was a false alarm. Someone had simply pressed the wrong button.

It was a mistake, a mistake that sent an entire state into a panic.

At this point, the room breaks out into a nervous laugh.

Our professors postpone our class time, giving us time to recollect our thoughts. In creative writing, professors say readers may not remember what you say, but they remember exactly how you make them feel. I don’t know if I can explain the absolute-tothe-bone, at-my-core, pure fear. But it’s an emotion that I don’t think I can ever forget. Fortunately, our schedule

that day was light, but none of us were feeling up to it. And that morning was all anyone could talk about. The vendors, shoppers, street performers—even the restaurant where we grabbed lunch—was filled with talk of the seemingly near-death experience.

The sad truth is that this is the world we live in. The way the United States is progressing, fear is becoming a part of our daily diet. Natural disasters, the potential of a third world war, the rise and empowerment of hate groups, are all hanging over our heads. If this poisonous back-and-forth between our country and North Korea escalates, the same fear the state of Hawaii felt will spread to the entirety of the United States. And because of Hawaii’s location, it’s at risk more than any other state on the mainland.

The “Hawai’i: Nation or State?” Study USA course is not a vacation. I’ve spent more time getting my hands dirty than I have lying on a beach drinking a piña colada. I’ve learned about a people whose culture is being desecrated, whose land is being stripped from them, who can’t afford to live in the homes their ancestors made for them. Imagine a group of foreigners coming in and turning your home into a tourist destination. Imagine being banned from speaking your native language. Imagine all your traditions buried and culture destroyed. That’s the truth of what’s happening in Hawaii. And the worst part is that I’m helpless to stop it.

After expressing our helplessness to Jon and Jamaica Osorio, our contacts in the Hawai‘inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, they told us something I know will stick with me for the rest of my life. The word “kuleana” in Hawaiian means responsibility: to our land, our family, our friends, to the world around us. They said the best thing we can do for the people of Hawaii is take the lessons we’ve learned and apply them to our own lives—figure out our kuleana.

In this 2018 midterm election year, my kuleana is to vote. Yes, the presidential election matters, but the midterm elections matter so much more. Stagnation in the United States is incredibly dangerous. We need change. We need to vote. I refuse to feel so helpless again, especially in the wake of this false missile alarm. I refuse to ever accept my fate again. I refuse to sit by and watch the opportunity to affect change pass by. I can only hope the rest of the United States feels the same.

ALUMNI ACTION

Celebrating Elon athletics

W

ith 2017 in our rearview mirror and a new year of opportunity ahead of us, I write to you about an important asset of our university—Elon athletics. As a proud member of the Class of 1992, I am no stranger to the expansion and progress that has shaped Elon since my graduation. No aspect of the university has been left unimproved, especially athletics, which has earned top rankings on the field and in the classroom.

Just this fall, Elon football head coach Curt Cignetti led the Phoenix to a dramatic improvement and an appearance in the Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs (read more on page 22). On the court, Elon women’s basketball consistently improves every year and won the 2017 Colonial Athletic Association regular season and tournament championship. While a winning season is easy to celebrate, Elon’s student-athletes have been just as successful academically. When the NCAA announced the 2016–17 Graduation Success Rate data for all Division I institutions, Elon achieved the highest score in the CAA, with six Phoenix programs earning a perfect 100 percent GSR score.

In the fall, Elon athletics will take another big step forward with the

completion of Schar Center, a 160,000-square-foot, 5,100-seat arena that will be three times the size of Alumni Gymnasium and serve as the new home of Phoenix basketball and volleyball. This exciting new convocation center will also host a wide variety of campus events and celebrations.

As alumni we have an incredible opportunity to embrace this renewed energy and celebrate athletics as a cornerstone of the alumni experience. By volunteering, attending events on and off campus, and investing in our student-athletes by giving to the Phoenix Club, our support helps make Elon athletics competitive. The Elon Alumni Board is proud to represent alumni student-athletes and share their enthusiasm as Elon’s athletic programs continue to grow in size and reputation.

During the current and future seasons, I challenge all alumni to don their favorite maroon and gold and fill the stands in support of our student-athletes. Together, our collective participation will help our teams succeed and support the students who make up the foundation of our university.

Chris Bell ’92 President, Elon Alumni Board

FRIENDSHIPS REKINDLED AT HOMECOMING 2017

A

record-breaking 2,700 Elon alumni returned to campus to celebrate Homecoming 2017 on Nov. 3–5. East Haggard Avenue and Young Commons were filled with alumni, students, faculty and staff for Friday night’s Rock the Block community party as they enjoyed music, had their pictures drawn by caricature artists and tasted culinary treats from a variety of food trucks. The evening’s highlight was a tribute to President Leo M. Lambert and Laurie Lambert, who were joined on stage by their family to help kick off a fireworks display over Moseley Center (see page 8).

Dozens of runners and walkers turned out early Saturday to participate in the Homecoming 5K Brick Run/Walk. By midday, many more had begun to gather by Lake Mary Nell.

Classes and affinity groups celebrating reunions crowded under tents to share food and stories, with crowds clad in maroon and gold making their way to Rhodes Stadium to see the Phoenix in a thrilling 33–30 overtime win over Towson at Rhodes Stadium. More photos of the weekend can be found in this issue’s inside back cover.

SEE YOU AT HOMECOMING 2018, NOV. 2–4!

winter 2018 35

ALUMNI ACTION

on the town

Get ready for

ELON DAY 2018 is quickly approaching on Tuesday, March 13. Once again all 38 of Elon’s alumni chapters will host an Elon Day Party, so you can celebrate Elon wherever you are. Watch for more information coming soon. elon.edu/elonday

CHAP TER HAP

A lumni chapters were busy hosting several events during the latter part of 2017. Find a chapter in your area at elon.edu/alumni and stay connected throughout 2018.

{ Tampa Bay }

ՔՔ The Tampa Bay chapter took a private tour of the Amelie Arena guided by Brian Fink ’08, video coordinator for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Following the tour, the group attended a Lightning game together.

ՔՔ Dallas alumni attended a Mavericks NBA game.

ՔՔ The Atlanta chapter hosted an ugly sweater party and raffled off an Elon ugly sweater.

ՔՔ Richmond alumni gathered in December for their annual chapter holiday party.

36 the MAGAZINE of ELON

PENINGS

{ Dallas }

ALUMNI ACTION

EVENING FOR ELON SPRING DATES ANNOUNCED

Membership Report 2018

Thank you to all alumni who took part in the Alumni 360 program during 1% the past year. Below is a snapshot of the latest group of alumni who35% will Membership Report receive quaterly surveys during 2018. Their feedback will shape the alumni 2018 experience for years to come. Learn more at elon.edu/alumni360.

972

TOTAL MEMBERS

{ President-elect Connie Ledoux Book meets with Elon staff members in the fall. }

During the past few months, President-elect Connie Ledoux Book has attended many events in preparation for her March 1 presidential transition. In January, she kicked off the 2018 Evening for Elon series in Charleston, S.C., and will be visiting additional cities this spring to give a campus update to alumni, parents and friends. Save the dates below, and look for more information closer to the event dates:

April 18: Charlotte, N.C. April 25: Atlanta, Ga.

May 3: Raleigh N.C.

972

Undergraduate degree: TOTAL MEMBERS

45% arts and sciences

1% 64% Female

Male

Other

Top 4 professional industries:

64% 20% business Female Male 18% education

22% business 23% communications Undergraduate degree:

35%

Other

9% communications Top 4 professional industries:

8% education 45% arts and sciences

9% health care 20% business

22% business 18% education 36% have a graduate or advanced degree 23% communications 9% communications 8% education

9% health careyears Class

represented:

36% have a graduate or advanced degree1940s–’70s 7% 7%

1980s

Class years represented:

{ Atlanta }

Members represent 38 states plus several international locations Top three foreign countries: 1. Canada 2. Thailand 3. United Kingdom

Members represent 38 states plus several international locations Top three foreign countries: 1. Canada 2. Thailand 3. United Kingdom

12% 1990s 7% 1940s–’70s 31% 2000s 7% 1980s 43% 2010s 12% 1990s 31%

2000s

43% 2010s

KEEP ELON IN THE KNOW { Richmond }

If you have recently moved or changed jobs, make sure to update your information at elon.edu/alumniupdate to receive details about upcoming events in your area.

winter 2018 37

ALUMNI ACTION

Celebrating alumni excellence

Several alumni were recognized during Homecoming weekend for their professional acumen, service to the community and dedication to their alma mater. The Elon community gathered Nov. 3 on Phi Beta Kappa Commons to honor five alumni with the 2017 Alumni Awards.

Recognized were: ✪✪ Susan L. Yow ’76,

✪✪

✪✪

✪✪

✪✪

{ From left: Ashleigh J. Palmer Weathers ’08, Brandon S. Shore ’08, Garrett A. McKnight ’94 & Susan L. Yow ’76. }

The 2017 Elon Black Alumni Network Awards, presented at a Nov. 4 celebration, honored: ✪C herrel Miller Dyce, assistant professor of education and faculty fellow for The Center for Race, Ethnicity, and Diversity Education, Elon University – K. Wilhelmina Boyd Outstanding Service to Students Award ✪B lake Thompson ’13, founding teacher and head football coach, Livingston Collegiate Academies – EBAN Distinguished Young Alumnus Award ✪S abrina Harris ’07, assistant professor and Undergraduate Rehabilitation Services Program coordinator, Coppin State University – EBAN Distinguished Young Alumna Award ✪M ichael Rodgers ’97 (in absentia), vice president, development and philanthropy, New York Road Runners – Eugene Perry ’69 Distinguished Alumnus Award ✪S tacey Mahoney ’00 (in absentia), senior sales excellence lead in search sales operations, Microsoft – Gail Fonville Parker ’70 Distinguished Alumna Award 38 the MAGAZINE of ELON

retired women’s basketball coach – Distinguished Alumna of the Year W. Cecil Worsley III ’86 P’14 (in absentia), president, Springer Eubank Oil Company, and owner, Black Gold Holdings, LLC – Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Ashleigh J. Palmer Weathers ’08, tax supervisor, Warady & Davis LLP – Young Alumna of the Year Brandon S. Shore ’08, senior director of football administration, Miami Dolphins – Young Alumnus of the Year Garrett A. McKnight ’94, senior vice president and managing director of private client advisory, Northern Trust Company – Distinguished Service to Elon

Recognized on Nov. 4 with the 2017 LGBTQIA Community Enrichment Awards for their advocacy work and vital role in the LGBTQIA communities were: ✪M ichael Long ’04, senior adviser to the Democratic Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Hon. Nancy Pelosi ✪A my Belfer ’19, human services major, with minors in Spanish, theatre arts and poverty and social justice ✪L auren Clapp ’13, mental health patient navigator, Callen-Lorde Community Health Center ✪C edric Pulliam ’12, human rights and policy adviser, U.S. Department of State’s Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Health Diplomacy ✪B rian O’Shea ’04 (in absentia), manager, office of the chief executive officer, The Children’s Place

CLASS NOTES

CLASS 60| NOTES

Claude Franklin Dover was

inducted into the Eastern Alamance High School Athletic Hall of Fame in October. A career educator and administrator, Franklin was instrumental in coordinating the booster club at Eastern Alamance, bringing parents, businesses and the community to support all school coaches and teams.

65|

Despite having graduated more than 40 years ago, Beverley Powell Blondell

reports she and other Elon friends from the classes of 1964, 1965 and 1966 get together as often as they can. Their most recent get-together happened in May at the Virginia farm of Gail Hettel LaRose ’64, where they took the opportunity to go to the Gold Cup Race together. In attendance were Carol Trageser Schwartz ’64, Pat Sandbank Bohanan, Sandy Nagy Monger, Joya Ryerson, Joyce Howell Turner, Kathy Sandefur White, Eileen Cobb ’66, Mary Benson Daniels ’66 and Helen Claxton McCotter ’66. Beverley lives in Oakton, Va., with husband James.

66|

In October, Mary Coolidge Ruth and Bill Ruth participated in the 5th Annual Walk to End Hydrocephalus in Charlotte, N.C., to support

74|

Legendary Major League Baseball Umpire and former Elon quarterback Joe West has been named one of the 15 members of the 2018 class of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. He is the longesttenured umpire now working in the league with more than 40 seasons under his belt. So far he has worked in six World Series, nine League Championship Series and three All-Star games.

The newest class will be enshrined during the 55th annual induction banquet May 4 at the Raleigh Convention Center.

their granddaughter, Ashley, and others who have endured multiple brain surgeries as a result of the disease. The Ruths’ daughter-inlaw, Christy Chappell Ruth ’95, is a founder and co-chair of the event, which was attended by hundreds of people including Elon alumni Jim Humphrey ’60 and Faye Gordon Humphrey ’61. The event raised more than $62,500 to support education and research, and the Ruths are thankful to all their friends who helped out. • John Sellers and wife Faye were recently honored with an Individual Philanthropist award from the Shenandoah chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. John and Faye are active volunteers at the Sentara ALUMNI ALBUM

RMH Medical Center guest services desk. Also active at Elon, the couple endowed the John H. ’66 and Faye T. Sellers Elon Engagement Scholarship in 2017.

84|

Mark Kemp went on a 10-day mission trip to Bublochi, Moldova, in September through Global Health Outreach, an organization that plans trips through the Christian Medical and Dental Society. The only dentist on the team of 11 medical professionals, Mark spent his time in the small town of 2,000 people pulling teeth and providing fillings. In the past, he has taken part on similar trips to Haiti, Kenya, Colombia and Romania. He lives in Burlington, N.C.

86|

Bill Coffman {MBA ’88}

visited Elon during Homecoming to celebrate Sigma Pi’s 40th anniversary. With more than 60 brothers participating in a golf tournament, the group enjoyed dinner on campus together, attended an alumni meeting and cheered on the football team after tailgating. More than 100 brothers and sweethearts were able to represent Sigma Pi during the short reunion.

Beverley Powell Blondell ’65 & friends

(l-r): Mary Coolidge Ruth ’66, Bill Ruth ’66, Christy Chappell Ruth ’95, Faye Gordon Humphrey ’61 & Jim Humphrey ‘60

96|

Liz Babb was promoted

to coastal region preconstruction coordinator for Wade Jurney Homes in October. In that role, Liz handles all permitting and job starts for the company, oversees vendor relationships and manages pricing.

She lives in Wilmington, N.C.

97|

Joy Crawford and Jake Persofsky were married 7/7/17. Elon alumni in attendance included Jennifer Quinn Kuhn and Laura Batz Turnbull. In addition to her recent nuptials, Joy experienced some career highlights

Bill Coffman ’86 G’88 & his Sigma Pi brothers winter 2018 39

CLASS NOTES

Through a fictional lens Tesa Jones ’73, known as Teri Ranney to her Elon professors and peers, has written two novels inspired by her memories of Elon.

BY SARAH COLLINS ’18

F

or alumni, returning to Elon’s campus evokes memories of time spent walking along the brick paths or watching the autumn leaves fall Under the Oaks. For Elon alumna and author Tesa Jones ’73, known to her peers as Teri Ranney, such memories of campus inspired her first two novels, “Cobwebs of Time” and “Reflections of Memories.”

“Elon is a character in the books and you watch it evolve and change as the decades move forward,” says Jones. “Anyone who loves the campus will enjoy them.”

The novels were a labor of love for Jones and the results of several

{ Jo Watts Williams ’55 and Barbara Cini G’11 pose with Tesa Jones ’53, center, during a recent book signing event on campus. }

40 the MAGAZINE of ELON

decades of work. After drafting her first manuscript for “Cobwebs of Time” in the early 1980s, she set her writing aside following the birth of her son. It wasn’t until after her children went away to college that Jones began the pursuit of publishing her work. In 2002 Rutledge Books published Cobwebs, a story of four young college students growing up in 1970s America. But Jones knew there was more to the story. She began drafting “Reflections of Memories” as the prequel to her first novel.

Published in August 2017 by Archway Publishing, the second novel is a love story featuring Elon in a more historic time. The story follows the lives of Richard Malone and Caroline Sue Miller, who live on opposite sides of the societal fences in a 1920s western Pennsylvania coal town. Despite the economic differences between their families, the two become best friends, a friendship that eventually blossoms into a bond that continually pulls them together.

Although Jones assures that the stories are fictional, she says the characters and events in each novel were influenced by her own experiences at Elon. She was a member of Elon’s cheerleading squad during an era that welcomed Elon’s first male cheerleaders.

As a “flyer” who loved being at the top of the pyramid, Jones recalls many Elon football victories. She lived on campus from 1969 to 1973 and she fondly remembers her time spent first in Staley Hall followed

by Virginia, which still houses students in the heart of Elon’s historic campus. “I loved dorm life, my Zeta sisters and my roommates,” she says. “Those women became my best friends.”

Jones also fondly remembers Vice President Emerita Jo Watts Williams ’55, whom she credits for having a profound impact on her.

“Dr. Jo Williams was my rock, an amazing woman and role model for me and many other students at Elon,” Jones says, adding that she was delighted to see Williams at a book signing event she held at Elon during Homecoming.

Jones has loved storytelling since she was 10 years old, and she has always had a desire to bring her Elon memories to life through writing. As for a third novel, Jones hints that she’s already begun writing—and Elon is set to be featured once again.

“Everybody can find themselves in my books,” says Jones. “You can find your innocence or your experiences because they’re all not that different.”

A retired teacher and mother of two, Jones lives in Mooresville, N.C. Learn more about her books at booksbytesajones.com.

CLASS NOTES this past fall. Essence Magazine published her first print and online career advice feature in September, and President Leo M. Lambert invited her to speak to students and faculty about career and leadership development in November. She lives in Philadelphia.

01|

T.J. Reynolds-Emwanta was

named Business Woman of the Year for 2016-17 by Davie Business Women’s Association. After beginning her career at a corporate law firm, T.J. shifted her focus to helping mentally ill adults obtain Social Security Administration benefits. She now co-owns First Empressions, a business consulting firm, and Cissy’s Closet, a gifts and

accessories boutique, in addition to engaging in volunteer work. She lives in Advance, N.C., with her husband, Felix, and their daughter.

02|

Matt Coltrera reports he, John Cale and Aaron Easley

brought their families together for a vacation to the Bahamas in May. The three met as brothers of the Kappa Alpha Order Fraternity, and their friendship remains strong 15 years later. Allie, Sloan and Thomas Cale joined Lillian and Eleanor Coltrera alongside Meredith ’03, Quinn and Emory Easley. Matt lives in Raleigh, N.C., while John lives in Williamsburg, Va., and Aaron in Charlotte.

03|

Katie Berman and Bradley Thomas were married 9/16/17 in Baltimore, where they live. Alumni in attendance included Katie Previc Ballengee, Mary Droggitis Cohen, Jessica Messier and Melissa Damaso Pickering. Katie is a fifth grade teacher.

04|

Lindsey G. Baker and

husband Matt welcomed son Brooks Hunter on 8/24/17. Lindsey is senior manager of partner relations at the National Association of Corporate Directors.

The family lives in Falls Church, Va.

05|

Darris R. Means, an assistant

professor in the University of Georgia’s College of Education, is one of 30 people

selected as a 2017 National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow. Darris was selected for the $70,000 award among more than 200 applicants. He will spend a year studying college access and choice for rural black high school seniors.

He lives in Decatur. • Kat Parker and Chris Wallace ’06 were married 4/8/17 in Ponte Vedra, Fla. The couple graduated from Elon a semester apart, but did not meet until six years later.

They quickly realized how much they had in common, including some of the same friends and favorite Elon hangout spots. Alumni in attendance included Amanda Falknor ’97, Mike Falknor ’04, Nancy Moore ’04, Brett Pladna ’04, Dave Crowder, John Gattulli , Josh Morin,

ALUMNI ALBUM

Joy Crawford ’97 & friends

T.J. Reynolds-Emwanta ’01

John Cale ’02, Matt Coltrera ’02, Aaron Easley ’02 & their families

Katie Berman Thomas ’03 & friends

Lindsey Baker ’04, Matt Baker & son Brooks Hunter

Kat Parker Wallace ’05, Chris Wallace ’06 & friends winter 2018 41

CLASS NOTES

FINDING GOLD

BY TOMMY KOPETSKIE

In truth, the title J McMerty ’00 gave his new documentary, “A Year with Betty Gold,” is a bit of a misnomer.

For one, the insight artist Betty Gold shares isn’t limited to the past year, but rather is drawn from her 82 years of life, including her many professional and personal peaks—of which there are many—and valleys. Secondly, McMerty, a filmmaker and the director of the Elon in LA program, admitted he filmed the project over the course of 18 months, and the editing process afterward lasted about the same.

Indeed, “A Year with Betty Gold” has been a part of McMerty’s life for three-plus years, and he’s thrilled to finally share it, and Betty, with audiences worldwide. The documentary made its world premiere in November at the 2017 Mallorca International Film Festival in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. It also won a jury award for best film and best screenplay at the 2017 Milwaukee Women’s Film Festival. “The film is really a

biography of her life, as well as a glimpse into the mind of a contemporary abstract artist,” McMerty says.

Born during the Great Depression in Austin, Texas, Gold followed her interests in art and worked and trained under the tutelage of sculptor Octavio Medillan. Best known for her large-scale metal sculptures, she began her career at a time when women were locked out of the art market. She rose to international prominence, having her work included in more than 75 permanent collections around the world.

After moving full time to Los Angeles five years ago, McMerty was introduced to Gold by a mutual friend. That encounter eventually led to a video project in Gold’s Venice Beach studio. After two hours of filming, McMerty could see the potential for something greater: an introspective dive into her life.

McMerty estimates he filmed more than 100 shoots during the documentary. Once filming was over, he turned the editing process over to two Elon alumni: Laith Majali ’05 and Katrina

{ J McMerty ’00 & artist Betty Gold at the 2017 Mallorca International Film Festival. }

Taylor ’04. Both McMerty and Gold find it fitting that the film’s world premiere is set at the Mallorca film festival. Palma de Mallorca is home to more than a dozen of Gold’s awe-inspiring sculptures. “She has lived this unbelievable life and I think people will come away from the film really liking her. If that’s the one reaction people have—‘Hey, it was nice to meet Betty’—then I’ll be thrilled.”

ALUMNI ALBUM

Amber Camp ’06, Matthew Camp ’06 & children

Will Huddleston ’09, Lauren Sharp Huddleston’12 & friends 42 the MAGAZINE of ELON

Susan Shore ’07

Crystal Grandison Markey ’08 & friends

Rik Kielbasa G’10

Angela Sparrow McKeand ’10 & Timothy McKeand

CLASS NOTES David Schickert, Catie Callahan ’06, Jen Crowder ’06, Kristi Pladna ’06 and Natalee Tubman ’06. Kat and

Chris live in Jacksonville.

06|

Amber and Matthew Camp welcomed daughter

Charlotte Ann on 8/2/17. She joins siblings Benjamin and Abigail.

The family lives in Randleman, N.C. • Britten Pund was named the 201617 AIDS Drug Assistance Program Champion of the Year. The award recognizes individual, community, government and corporate leaders working to improve access to care and treatment for people living with HIV/ AIDS. Britten is the director of health care access at the National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors and lives in Ellicott City, Md., with husband Zack.

07|

Susan Shore published two

books in 2017, “Finally a Flowerpot” and “Purpose of a Teapot.” The children’s books are the first in a series that aims to help young people with inner healing. For more information about her books, visit triedbyfirepublications.com.

Susan lives in Trinity, N.C.

08|

Crystal Grandison and Eddie Markey were married 10/14/17 in Lake Placid, N.Y. Alumni in attendance included Alpha Xi Delta sisters Megan Long Leffner, Maggie McHarris, Maggie Paulin, Laura Heisch Smith, Kristen Templin, Cara DiSisto Verwholt, Melissa Askew Winterling, Katherine Black ’09, Lauren France ’09, Caroline Matthews ’10 and Jennifer Statler ’10.

Crystal is the senior director of marketing at ExecOnline. They live in Bayside, N.Y.

09|

Will Huddleston and Lauren Sharp ’12 were married

7/15/17 in Kent Island, Md. Alumni in attendance included Alex Satterfield ’08, Kelly Merrick, Morgan Rierson ’10, Paul Schifano ’10, Katherine Mantz Ciambrone ’12, Sara Krajewski ’12, Joe Adams ’13 and Nicole Adams ’13. Will is an accountant at Northrop Grumman and Lauren is marketing manager at the Hippodrome Theatre. They live in Baltimore. • Chad Zimmerman and wife Katherine welcomed daughter Quinn Augustine on 10/28/17. Chad recently accepted an assistant chief counsel position with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

The family lives in Lancaster, Pa.

10|

Truliant Federal Credit Union recently promoted Rik Kielbasa {MBA ’10}

to the newly created role of chief digital officer. He is leading efforts to develop and coordinate Truliant’s digital member experience strategies, as well as directing a new Innovation Team at the credit union. Rik and wife Beverly live in Kernersville, N.C. • Angela Sparrow and Timothy McKeand were married 7/16/16.

Alumni in attendance included Zach Lose ’09, Lindsay Depow, Melanie Johnson, Kristi McGrath Lose, Laura Smith, Kate Warihay and Lauren Hawkesworth ’11. Angela is a registered nurse with UNC Healthcare.

They live in Raleigh, N.C.

11|

Constance “Concy” Ridenour and Raleigh Richards were

married 8/12/17 in Leland, Mich., where they live. Elon alumni in attendance included Sheila McGregor ’10, Vincent Ayube, Lilly Bancroft, Braeden Bumpers, Katie Canavan, Henry Clougherty, Molly Cox, Kyle Eaton, Stephen Fales, Colin Gilmore, Allaire Guralnik, Wes Horbatuck, Ashley Kiely, Lindsay Mass, Margaret O’Neill Matook, Dan Montalvo, Matt Mueller, Christy Nagle, Taylor Risley, Eileen Rogan, Dan Rutherford, Jessie Schroeder, Nick Siciliano, Anna Stroman, Zach Widdoss, Johnny Woodson and Rhett Richards ’14.

12|

Lauren Girvan and Ryan Potts were married 10/21/17.

Alumni in attendance included Chelsea Anderson ’10, Chris Peele ’10, Rachel Zeilinger ’10, Nicole Deering Dressel ’11, Steve Dressel ’11, Amanda Kuss ’11, Christopher Markwood ’11, Matt Morales ’11, Matthew Trucksess ’11, Bryan Vivona ’11, Wyatt Brady, Joseph Christovao, Erik Higbee, Eric Menchaca, Joseph William Misko, Emma Welcher, Michael Botto ’13, Danielle Dannenberg ’13, Tony Gurry ’13, Jay Rosencrans ’13 and Siaolan Wong-Albigese ’13. Lauren is a relationship manager at PNC and Ryan is a manager at Deloitte. They live in New York. • Emily Martino and Evan Vogini were married 8/19/17.

Alumni in attendance included Ellie Jesse ’10, Christina Belchere, Edie Cohen, Meghan Delaney, Ashleigh Green, Emily Ojerholm, Katie Olesczuk, Kami Philips, Chloe Riley and Ryan Schneider. Karin Sipe ’14 was the event coordinator at the wedding venue. Emily is an attorney with Eaton Corporation.

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.

CURRENT RATES ONE BENEFICIARY

TWO BENEFICIARIES

AGE

ANNUIT Y R ATE

AGE

ANNUIT Y R ATE

60

4.4%

60/65

4.0%

65

4.7%

67/67

4.4%

70

5.1%

71/73

4.7%

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

To explore a gift annuity for you, your spouse or a family member, visit ELONLEGACY.ORG. Talk with us today about how you may benefit from a life income gift to Elon and other gift planning opportunities. please contact: Carolyn DeFrancesco, Director of Planned Giving 336-278-7454 ■ cdefrancesco@elon.edu ■ elonlegacy.org.

{ The Elon Marching Band in downtown Burlington, N.C., in the mid-1960s. }

winter 2018 43

CLASS NOTES

Sweet Success other volunteer activities. “I loved my Elon experience. It allowed me to explore what I wanted and to find my strengths within the curriculum,” he says. “I left with a strong understanding of what it takes to be a leader.”

Following graduation Smith spent three years working on Capitol Hill for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont. This opportunity allowed him to directly pursue his passions to enact policy change. However, he quickly encountered the challenges of working in Washington. “From 2011 to 2014, it was really a contentious time to be in Washington,” he says. “I was working on immigration reform, voting rights, gun violence legislation and { Chas Smith ’11, right, is the co-founder of Sap! } human trafficking prevention, but it was at a time when there wasn’t a lot getting done. It made me reflect on how change gets made and the Chas Smith ’11 is the co-founder various paths I could take to make a difference.” of Sap! Beverages, a company Energized to seek out new solutions, Smith moved back to his home state to earn his MBA at that offers healthy, plant-based the University of Vermont, which specializes in social impact entrepreneurship. The program allowed him to alternatives to sugary drinks. develop the foundation for a business, which became the beginnings of Sap!. For Smith, having a socially

BY SARAH COLLINS ’18 responsible business model was key. “The better we do, it means more jobs are created in Vermont,” he s a Vermont native, Chas Smith ’11 and says, “more trees get utilized instead of cut down and his family have harvested maple sap for customers get healthier products.” generations. Three years ago, Smith, along The brand’s products are currently sold in nearly a with his cousin and father, decided to turn their longthousand stores in the Northeast. In the future, Smith held tradition into something more—a family business. would like to see the company strategically expand Enter Sap! Beverages, a beverage company to new markets such as the Pacific Northwest and Los dedicated to bringing the best of nature to the drink Angeles. “Death in the beverage industry is going too aisle. The company’s all-natural products are mavericks wide, too quickly,” he says. “We want to support each in the sparkling water category: they deliver just new market. We’ve had a lot of initial success, but we the right touch of sweetness without the use of any don’t intend to scale overnight. It takes a lot of time, artificial flavors or ingredients. “For a long time, people blood, sweat and tears to build a national brand.” were not looking for healthier beverages,” Smith says.

Smith credits Elon for instilling in him the courage “That has changed dramatically.” Sap! Beverages are to take on the challenge of founding a company. “The made by tapping trees to release maple tree sap and biggest thing I’ve taken away is keeping an open mind birch tree sap, water-like substances that are extremely about what you don’t know,” says Smith. “Enacting rich in nutrients and have other health benefits. The a vision takes a lot of time. Founding a company is sap is then concentrated slightly to bring out the simultaneously the most thrilling and frightening thing natural sweetness and carbonated to reach peak flavor.

I’ve ever done, but there’s nothing like working for Smith left his roots in maple country to attend Elon, yourself to make your own vision become a reality.” graduating in 2011 with degrees in political science and economics. During his time at Elon, he was heavily Learn more about Smith’s business at involved in Periclean Scholars along with a host of sapmaplewater.com.

A “

44 the MAGAZINE of ELON

They live in Pittsburgh. • Devon McGowan Wachtmeister and husband Kurt Wachtmeister welcomed daughter Greta Violet on 4/20/17.

Devon is a public health analyst with RTI International. The family lives in Warrenton, Va. • Michael Russell Warren and Julia Brooke Realmuto ’13 were married 9/9/16.

Alumni in attendance included Sheila McGregor ’10, Colin Gilmore ’11, John Woodson ’11, Christine Begley, Brittany Bowers, Alice Chambers, Allie Esielonis, Chris Fry, Kristin Griffin, Nikki Heilman, Drew Hinzman, Brian McGerigle, Mark Sundman, Louie Tambellini, Brittany White, Kelly Autenrieth ’13, Bert Brokaw ’13, Andrew Krech ’13, Ben Unger ’13 and Victoria Selover ’15.

They live in Charlotte, N.C.

16|

Tony Weaver Jr. was among the 30 successful leaders under the age of 30 Forbes included in its “30 Under 30 Education 2018” list for leading the pack in education innovation.

Tony is the founder of Weird Enough Productions, an education technology company focused on combating media misrepresentation through original content production and media literacy education.

With 13 original short films and a web comic in development, Weird Enough Productions impacts some 3,200 students, according to Forbes. In 2016 Tony was named a Black Male Achievement Fellow

by Echoing Green, an international organization that identifies exceptional emerging leaders and helps them impact the world. He has also received fellowships from Camelback Ventures and The Peace First Foundation.

CLASS NOTES

13|

Melissa Deaton {MBA ’15} and Lucas Troutman ’14 were

married 7/15/17. Melissa is the owner of Simply Oak Boutique and Lucas is the director of marketing and sales at Graham Marine Sales.

They live in Burlington, N.C. • Mary Jackson and Ben Walker were married 3/4/17 in Durham, N.C., where they live. Many of their Elon friends were in attendance. • Anna McCracken and Michael Slattery were married 8/12/17. Anna is a communications adviser with the U.S. Agency for International Development. They live in Washington, D.C. • Caroline Meyer and Evan Cianchette ’14 were married 6/24/17 surrounded by many of their Elon friends. They live in Cape Cod, Mass.

14|

Kyra Gemberling and Tyler Molinaro were married

10/21/17 in the bride’s hometown of Charlotte, N.C. Spencer Barnardo and Ryan Molinaro ’16 {DPT ’19} served as maid of honor and best man, respectively. Nick Martin ’13, Cara Goode Molinaro ’16 and Noah Sakin ’16 were members of the wedding party. More than a dozen alumni from the classes of 2014, 2015 and 2016 were also in attendance. The couple lives in Richmond, Va., where Kyra is a communications associate at The Steward School and Tyler is an account manager at K-Line America.

• Truliant Federal Credit Union promoted Sherri Thomas {MBA ’14} to the role of senior vice president of

16|

Jim Chadwick is happy

to report his Elon oak tree is alive and well, growing in his parents’ backyard in Old Greenwich, Conn. He has even put a fence around it to prevent deer from having a go at it. Jim says he is not sure what percentage of Elon saplings grows to maturity, but he can vouch for one being on its way. He works as an analyst for SocialFlow, a young analytics company in New York City that helps news companies engage with their readers.

ALUMNI ALBUM

Constance Ridenour Richards ’11, Raleigh Richards ’11 & friends

Lauren Girvan Potts ’12, Ryan Potts ’12 & friends

Emily Martino Vogini ’12, Evan Vogini & friends

Devon McGowan Wachtmeister ’12, Kurt Wachtmeister & daughter Greta Violet winter 2018 45

CLASS NOTES

Focused on SERVICE

BY MADISON MACKENZIE ’18

L

ike many of his classmates, Matthew McKenzie ’16 did volunteer work during his time at Elon. In fact, by the time he graduated, 89 percent of the Class of 2016 had participated in a service opportunity. But for McKenzie, his commitment to helping those in need did not end at graduation.

McKenzie attended Elon as part of the engineering program, spending three years on campus studying computing sciences and two at the University of Notre Dame. The computer engineer began an internship in the summer of 2015 with Ford Motor Company, which resulted in a full-time job offer with the company’s IT department the following fall. Starting with his internship, he took advantage of Ford’s commitment to giving back and got involved in volunteering through the company. “Ford has a great opportunity for employees where they allocate 16 hours of volunteering per year, even as an intern,” says McKenzie, adding he decided to volunteer with Gleaners Community Food Bank.

The nonprofit organization collects and distributes roughly 39 million pounds of food per year throughout five counties in Southeastern Michigan. This impressive reach kept bringing McKenzie back to the food bank. His dedication earned him a spot in Ford’s Thirty Under 30 program, whose fellows are made up of 30 diverse U.S. Ford employees who are under the age of 30 and who are selected from more than 300 competitive applications

IN MEMORIAM Mary Stimson Sheppard ’39, Winston-Salem,

N.C., 12/20/17.

Anthony Festa Jr. ’47, Duluth, Ga., 11/14/17.

John Sparks ’50, Greensboro, N.C., 11/16/17.

Clarence Swinney ’50, Burlington, N.C., 10/13/17.

James “Jim” E. Cates ’51, Tequesta, Fla., 12/15/17.

Ann Matkins Wilkins ’53, Greensboro, N.C.,

12/26/17.

Carmelita Laverne Brady Davis ’54, Whispering

Pines, N.C., 10/11/17.

Harold “Wink” Hoover ’55, Eden, N.C., 10/12/17.

Lula Bunker White ’55, Raleigh, N.C., 11/01/17.

C. Orville Light ’58, Eden, N.C., 11/17/17.

46 the MAGAZINE of ELON

across the country. “The program is run by Ford Motor Company Fund, the philanthropic portion of Ford Motor Co., and it is an innovative corporate leadership course to engage younger employees through working and learning about philanthropic organizations,” he says. “The community theme for 2017 was food insecurity, so all the nonprofits participating in the program had a focus on food.”

This aligned perfectly with his past volunteering efforts at Elon.

As a first year, McKenzie began taking cooking shifts with Campus Kitchen and by the time he was a junior he was the director of the organization. “I am sure that the Campus Kitchen experience was a factor in being selected for the Thirty Under 30 program and it gave me insights that I’ve used in our project at Gleaners.”

As a fellow in the program, McKenzie learned civic engagement and leadership skills with a focus on philanthropy and volunteerism. He not only developed a sense of what it takes to run a charity, but also how to cultivate strategies to help nonprofits connect with younger generations who represent a future donor and volunteer base. On a more personal level, the program allowed McKenzie to grow professionally. He collaborated with employees in other departments, including finance, product development and manufacturing, exposing him to a wider range of skills and making him a more versatile employee. More importantly, the program solidified his commitment to service. “I’ve started to notice and pay more attention to my community,” he says. “I’ve taken more time to reflect on what is important to me and what can be done to help those in need.”

Dr. Franklin D. Pattishall ’58, Charlotte, N.C.,

9/24/17.

Hedrick Isley ’59, Hartwell, Ga., 09/14/17.

Ikey Tarleton Little ’59, Alameda, Calif., 11/14/16.

A longtime supporter of her alma mater, Ikey established the Ikey Tarleton Little Endowed Scholarship to assist students from North Carolina’s Anson County or students pursuing a degree in theatre arts.

Vernon Carlyle Grimes ’60, Greensboro, N.C., 11/21/17.

Vernon Merit Cheek Jr. ’62, Mebane, N.C., 12/10/17.

Jerry Franklin Nance ’63, Fieldale, Va., 11/23/17.

L. Don Jenkins ’64, Burlington, N.C., 12/22/17.

Robert “Bob” Clohan III ’67, Vienna, Va., 10/30/17. A champion for Elon, Bob supported

the construction of many exceptional facilities on campus, including the Ernest A. Koury, Sr. Business Center, Inman Admissions Welcome Center and Richard W. Sankey Hall. In addition, he was a loyal annual donor to scholarships.

Dorothy Harris Bailey ’69, Mt. Airy, N.C., 11/13/17.

Walter “Doug” Smith ’71, Pilot Mountain, N.C., 11/13/17.

Gary Lee Walker ’72, Greensboro, N.C., 9/18/17.

Howard A. “Buddy” Cannon ’74, Greensboro, N.C., 11/24/17.

Julius Taft Sanders Jr. ’73, Charlotte, N.C., 9/14/17.

Kateland “Katie” Bunch ’10, Asheboro, N.C., 2/10/17.

Harrison Durant ’18, Elon, N.C., 12/08/17.

human resources and organizational development in November. Sherri has assumed full responsibility of the department, which oversees employee relations and administration of employee benefits.

She lives in Oak Ridge, N.C., with her husband, Ronald, and three sons.

15|

Mary Kate Gorman and Ryan Waetjen were married 7/15/17.

Mary Kate is a teacher in the Alamance-Burlington School System and Ryan works in sales at Lenovo.

They live in Durham, N.C. • Caleigh Erickson and Cameron Saucier were married 8/13/17. They are thankful

to Elon for bringing them together.

Caleigh is a QA analyst at CFA Institute and Cameron is associate editor at S&P Global. They live in Charlottesville, Va.

16|

After a winter of growing indoors at a friend’s apple farm, Austin Urban says his Elon oak tree reached almost six feet and was ready to be planted in October at his family’s golf course, Copake Country Club, in upstate New York. After his parents rescued the course 11 years ago, they decided to use an oak tree as the symbol of the Copake brand

and planted one on the back of the 18th green. Unfortunately, that tree died and was cut down the summer after Austin graduated from Elon.

Now his Elon oak tree is growing in that same spot, something that brings joy to Austin’s heart. “What a coincidence the tree that has become our country club’s brand was also the symbol of the growth of so many Elon students, including myself,” he says. After working at Morgan Stanley for a year as an investment manager in Boston, Austin now serves as Copake’s director of golf operations.

www.elon.edu/c lassnotes

CLASS NOTES

TU R N YOURSELF IN!

Help us keep you in touch with your Elon classmates.

ALUMNI ALBUM

Michael Warren ’12, Julia Realmuto Warren ’13 & friends

Anna McCracken Slattery ’13, Michael Slattery & friends

Kyra Gemberling Molinaro ’14, Tyler Molinaro ’14 & friends

Caroline Meyer Cianchette ’13, Evan Cianchette ’14 & friends

Melissa Deaton Troutman ’13 G’15 & Lucas Troutman ’14 Mary Jackson Walker ’13, Ben Walker ’13 & friends

Caleigh Erickson Saucier ’15 & Cameron Saucier ’15

Mary Kate Gorman Waetjen ’15, Ryan Waetjen ’15 & friends winter 2018 47

Fireworks, food, football and friends made Homecoming 2017 a weekend to remember for the more than 2,000 alumni who attended the festivities.

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

{ Students took advantage of a January winter storm to play outside as the Elon campus was blanketed under more than eight inches of snow. }

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