Eric Townsend

North Carolinians are evenly divided on the way President Barack Obama is handling his job as president, according to the latest Elon University Poll. Nearly half of poll respondents favored an end to tax cuts for households making more than $250,000 a year but keeping cuts in place for everyone else.

Representatives from many of North Carolina’s private colleges and universities visited Elon University this week for a conference believed to be the first of its kind for independent colleges on the creation and expansion of college access and success programs for first-generation, low-income or minority students.

Paul Miller, a professor of exercise science, will serve as the first division chair for the newly approved Health Sciences Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research.

Jeff Carpenter never thought he’d personally witness the overthrow of a government, but for the new assistant professor of education, a teacher exchange program to Kyrgyzstan in April was cut short for that very reason. The revolution had an unintended consequence back home, as Carpenter discovered, and it’s one he’ll share with his Elon University students in the years to come.

Will China be the next world superpower, or will its political system implode as pressure builds from social inequalities that have appeared in recent years as economic advancements fuel its growth? NPR correspondent and China Road author Rob Gifford fears the latter, and in his Sept. 21 remarks as part of the 2010-11 Elon Common Reading Lecture, he shared with his audience why that’s the case.

Thirty-eight high school juniors and seniors from around the region attended an informational event on campus Monday evening to learn more about the teaching profession from students and faculty in the Elon University School of Education.

Elon University senior Natalie Lampert recently co-authored an article about the international AIDS Conference that was featured in The Vienna Review. An international studies major and social science fellow, Lampert spent the summer interning at the English-speaking newspaper in Vienna.

NPR correspondent Rob Gifford, author of Elon University's 2010-11 Common Reading selection China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power, will speak Tuesday night for the Common Reading Lecture. The book describes Gifford's 3,000-mile journey across Route 312 from Shanghai to China's western border with Kazakhstan.

Brian Digre, a professor of history and coordinator of the international studies major, will speak about his summer experiences in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait in a presentation on Monday, Sept. 20, at 12:15 p.m. in Lindner 206.