George and Carole Troxler Seminar Room dedication set for Tuesday, Feb. 25

The Department of History and Georgraphy seminar room (Lindner Hall 110) will be formally dedicated in honor of Carole Watterson Troxler and George W. Troxler at 5 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 25. Elon’s board of trustees named the room for the two emeriti professors of history who have contributed a combined 77 years of service to the Elon community.

The Troxlers are accomplished scholars who have contributed to the preservation and public dissemination of history. “We are thrilled to recognize Carole and George Troxler’s contributions in a most appropriate way, naming an academic facility that will be used by generations of future history and geography students,” said Elon President Leo M. Lambert.

Carole Troxler is the author of five books, including The Loyalist Experience in North Carolina (1976), Shuttle and Plow: A History of Alamance County, North Carolina (1999) and Farming Dissenters: The Regulator Movement in Piedmont North Carolina (2011). Most of her award-winning articles in scholarly journals explore the impact of the American Revolution on the southern backcountry and the subsequent loyalist migration to Canada and the Bahamas. She was a pioneer in the study of black loyalists. Carole regularly taught advanced courses in the histories of England, Ireland, Scotland, Europe, Canada and Latin America and also western civilization surveys. Her seminars ranged from Tudor England to methods of researching local history. Responding to the Elon honor, she remarked, “There is nothing on which I would rather have my name than a history seminar room.”

George Troxler spent 16 years as a history faculty member before being appointed to lead Elon’s cultural programs in 1985. He led the university’s efforts to bring internationally acclaimed speakers and performers in music, dance and drama to the campus, and he managed Commencement, convocations and other major campus events. Following his retirement in 2010, George Troxler began research for the new book, From a Grove of Oaks: The Story of Elon University, which will be published in March 2014. The book is the first detailed study of Elon’s history in more than 30 years, and is richly illustrated with more than 400 photographs and illustrations.

George and Carole Troxler have been honored with the Christopher Crittenden Memorial Award from the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association and the Federation of North Carolina Historical Societies for lifetime contributions to the advancement of North Carolina history.

The Troxlers have been philanthropic supporters of the university, establishing the Troxler-Watterson Endowed History Scholarship and the Watterson-Troxler Scholarship to assist students studying history.