Truitt Center Reconciliation Award

This award is presented to a student who best exemplifies the vision of Douglas G. Noiles and Edna Truitt Noiles ’44, who endowed the program in the Vera Richardson Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life “to enable Elon students to learn about their own and other faiths and to live lives of reconciliation.”

Presented by Janet Fuller, University Chaplain, Lecturer

Transcript of Commendations

Janet Fuller, University Chaplain, Lecturer

The Truitt Center Reconciliation Award is presented to a student who best exemplifies the vision of Douglas G. Noiles and Edna Truitt Noiles ’44, benefactors of the Truitt Center which, “…enable(s) Elon students to learn about their own and other faiths and to live lives of reconciliation.”

Michelle Russell has been a quietly powerful, inspiring, and caring ambassador for multifaith and the Truitt Center for three years. She is beloved and admired by students and staff, ever reliable, always welcoming, skilled at engaging students from diverse religious and nonreligious backgrounds in deep conversations, and supporting students who are struggling or questioning.  Michelle really left her mark her junior year directing our Ripple Interfaith Conference. After a full year and countless hours of planning, team-building, and directing a team of student leaders, over 120 participants from 20 colleges and universities had a seamless and inspiring Ripple 2019 experience. She has excelled as a multifaith engagement intern and a Truitt Center student worker, and she was the lead presenter for a session at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Toronto on “Developing and Empowering College Students as Interfaith Leaders.” A religious studies major, Michelle is a wonderful human being with a bright future.  I am delighted and honored to award the Truitt Center Reconciliation Award to Michelle Russell.