How well do you know your Elon colleagues? Do you know what their jobs entail? Learn more about their positions -- and their personalities -- by reading the E-people feature in each issue of @Elon.

Michael Williams says life in Moseley Center can be hectic at times. As director of campus center operations and conferences, he has learned to expect the unexpected when he gets to work. So when FedEx delivered a canister for Elon's biology department one weekend, he called lab manager Catherine Newsome right away. She suggested that he open the container.

"I'm not opening this!" he said. "There could be somebody's body part in here!"

Although this was a false alarm (he later learned that the canister contained a preserved specimen), Williams has found that deliveries, requests and questions are common at Moseley, and he welcomes them. "I like to be able to help people," he says.

Williams has been helping people for a while. Before coming to Elon, he worked as a substitute teacher and then as an Upward Bound counselor for Union College in Kentucky, where he helped students make the transition from high school to college. "I've never left student life!" he says.

As a student at Carson-Newman College in Tennessee, Williams majored in secondary education and was a nose tackle on the football team. He remembers that he and his college teammates (including Pat Apke, who Williams would meet again here as assistant football coach) were big rivals of Elon.

Williams came to Elon in October of 1998. He enjoys solving problems and trying to make things work for people with the resources available. At Moseley, those resources are plenty.

"We're the hub for a lot of major campus activities for students, faculty and staff," Williams says.

Groups can book rooms for meetings and conferences, reserve vans and cell phones for trips and get help with A/V equipment through Moseley. Students can arrange shuttles to the airport, get their Phoenix cards, check their mail, grab a bite to eat or relax in the popular fireplace lounge. Many people call Moseley to get directions or general information about Elon as well.

"You never know what the problem is going to be," Williams says, noting that he even helped jump-start the car of a stranded parent during Open House. In the summer, conferences and athletics camps keep things exciting at Moseley when campus is relatively quiet.

Williams says he enjoys the challenge of maximizing the space available at the campus center, and he is quick to praise other members of the Moseley team. He credits assistant director John Graves with the success of Midnight Meals, a low-risk alternative for students on Thursday nights. He adds that switchboard operator Dottie Barr has been a big help to his department and is an asset to Elon. Williams likes helping the student workers learn and grow, and he hopes to give them a broader perspective of what it means to work in student life and perhaps start similar careers of their own.

In addition to their other duties, Williams and the staff often represent Elon while working with the public. For instance, a group from Converse College toured Moseley recently to get ideas for their own campus center. They were impressed.

"I think we do a pretty good job," he says. "The students take pride in it. We enjoy the challenge of making it work."