Dan Anderson

Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof will headline a daylong celebration of the liberal arts and sciences on April 13, as Elon University installs its new chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.

About 2,500 books donated by Elon students faculty and staff are headed to the library at the University of Ghana. The book drive was coordinated by Brian Digre, professor of history and leader of Elon's Ghana Winter Term program.

Elon alumnus and well-known local restaurant entrepreneur Chris Russell will open his newest establishment this spring at the Williamson Avenue location previously occupied by Brown & Company, which has closed. The restaurant will be called "The Town Table, food and drink," and is part of the university's plan to attract more privately owned businesses to the areas surrounding campus, serving Elon's students, faculty and staff and the entire local community.

A team of Elon journalists led by Janna Anderson, associate professor and director of Elon's Imagining the Internet Center, is providing daily online news coverage of the fourth Internet Governance Forum facilitated by the United Nations in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

Jerry Tolley, who retired Dec. 31 after a 31-year career of service to Elon, donated a special clock to the university archives on his last day on the job.

In its annual "Year in Photos" feature, the Office of University Relations has collected some of the best Elon pictures from 2009 in a retrospective slide show.

With a winter storm scheduled to hit our area this afternoon and tonight, tonight's Elon faculty/staff holiday party has been rescheduled for 1 p.m. Please gather at the Moseley Center for some festive food and fellowship and feel free to bring along your family members if they're available. After the party, get an early start on the holiday break and take the rest of the afternoon off!

The Elon University Board of Trustees voted unanimously Dec. 14 to approve a $586 million strategic plan that will guide the university's development during the next decade. "The Elon Commitment: Engaged minds. Inspired leaders. Global citizens.," was created over the past 15 months, involving the entire community of students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and friends in a discussion about Elon's future.

The Daily Beast, one of the leading new Web-based media outlets, has named Elon one of the decade's hottest colleges. The list of 15 colleges and universities ranks schools that make up a "whole new class of first-choice schools" that have "transformed the collegiate landscape" during the past 10 years.

The Office of University Advancement has launched a new online Honor Roll of Donors as a companion to the print version of the Elon Society Honor Roll that appeared in the fall issue of The Magazine of Elon. All donors who made a gift to Elon during the past fiscal year (June 1, 2008 – May 31, 2009) are included in the searchable database.