Malvin Artley, adjunct professor of music and a longtime member of Elon’s music faculty, received the first Maxine Swalin Outstanding Music Educator Award from the North Carolina Symphony Sunday, May 18. The award, which recognizes an individual who instills and inspires a love of music in North Carolina children, was presented at the symphony’s music teacher appreciation concert at the BTI Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh.
Artley has been associated with the music department at Elon since his appointment as associate professor of music in 1965. He was promoted to professor in 1969. He founded the Elon College Orchestra and served as its first conductor, served as president of the National School Orchestra Association and was state president of the American String Teachers Association. A noted violinist, Artley has introduced hundreds of local youth to music through his work as a private instructor and assistance to the Burlington City Schools. He retired in 1986, but continues to teach as an adjunct faculty member. He received the Elon Medallion, given to individuals who have rendered outstanding service to the university and are distinguished by the unusual length and quality of their service, in 2001.
Maxine Swalin and her husband, Benjamin, established the children’s concert division of the North Carolina Symphony in 1945. Largely because of the Swalins’ efforts, the General Assembly provided fiscal support in 1945 for the symphony’s education program, which brings live symphonic music to children throughout the state. Maxine Swalin, who turned 100 earlier this month, presented the award to Artley.