Archive for March 31, 2011

Almost 40 years ago, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill professors Donald Shaw and Max McCombs introduced a theory that drastically changed the field of communications. Earlier in the semester, Elon students got the opportunity to learn about it firsthand from one of the men who originally devised it in a half-semester agenda-setting course.

Elon senior Ted Slusher, a Cadet in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) Detachment 605, was awarded the Silver Valor Award on Thursday, March 17 for his voluntary act of heroism while serving as a Cadet Training Assistant at the Maxwell Six Field Training Unit at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.

Author and illustrator Mike Berenstain, whose parents, Stan and Jan, created the iconic children's literature series The Berenstain Bears, visits Elon this week for a public lecture that will explore the importance of early literacy and the art of writing and editing for children.

Jeffrey Clark, professor of mathematics, gave a presentation on "Using Python in Teaching Numerical Analysis" at the International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics in Denver on March 18.

The Third Annual Nazim Hikmet Poetry Festival, which honors the work of Hikmet, the Turkish poet, has invited Kevin Boyle to read a few poems on April 17th in Cary, NC.

Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon and Elon's Commencement speaker this spring, is serving as the Pentagon's official spokesman for the U.S. military operations in Libya. Gortney held a media briefing on the combat operations on March 19.

Two Elon alumni are providing our community with their perspectives on the disasters in Japan and the effects on the people there. Amy Jo Jenkins '05 expressed her thoughts in a telephone interview and Asami Sudani '06 provided a written message via Facebook.

Alex Ellis, a 2005 graduate of Elon's music theatre program, will be featured in a Webseries called "Diary of a Chorus Girl." The series, which premiered on YouTube's DanceOn channel Wednesday, March 16, will chronicle Ellis' experiences while making her Broadway debut in the ensemble of "Catch Me If You Can."