Eric Townsend

The national office of Campus Compact and The Jenzabar Foundation recently announced the awarding of three grants that will create “Best in Class” Student Service Leadership Conferences in 2010 to promote civic engagement and inspire future generations to make a difference.

The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded associate professor Shawn Tucker an Enduring Questions Grant to fund the development of a new interdisciplinary course, "Pride, Humility, and the Good Life," that will help students define their own concepts of pride and humility through research and analysis.

An article written by sociology professor Tom Arcaro has been published in the most recent edition of Skeptic magazine, a quarterly publication by the Skeptics Society.

When Jack Lang, the owner of a North Carolina mulch company, impulsively buys the house across the street from where he lives, it’s the final straw for his wife, Beth, who flees into the arms of Jack’s best friend. What happens next is the plot to “This is Just Exactly Like You,” Elon University associate professor Drew Perry’s debut novel and a work of fiction garnering rave reviews from national book critics.

Elon University young alumna Kristine Silverstri served as a guest writer this week for Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof, who published on his newspaper blog Silvestri's account of contracting malaria when she visited Ghana in late 2008.

Three staff members were honored May 28 in McCrary Theatre during Elon's annual Staff Appreciation Day. Jeff Brenner was named Physical Plant Staff Member of the Year, Bernice Foust was named Office Staff Member of the Year and Mary Wise was named Administrative Staff Member of the Year.

Following the 2001 terror attacks and a push for security of government information, constitutional protection for published works grew exponentially, making access to records, including traditionally public documents, more difficult for journalists. "Access Denied," a new DVD co-produced by the Elon University Program for Documentary Production, chronicles that trend and offers additional tips and resources for reporters.

The United Church of Chapel Hill is celebrating its centennial anniversary, and on May 23, 2010, the church unveiled a bronze plaque listing all of its former pastors, including Elon University president emeritus J. Earl Danieley.

Efforts of Elon University volunteers at Homecoming 2009 bore fruit in Haiti this spring as meal packages distributed by the Stop Hunger Now project fed hundreds of residents left homeless from a January earthquake that killed a quarter million people.

A university senior and his family want to raise awareness of suicide prevention strategies as they compete for a $50,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project, and he needs the Elon community’s help with online voting for the Hold Hope Initiative in memory of his brother.