Alumni

On Feb. 23, Elon University President Leo M. Lambert and Scott Saylor, president of the North Carolina Railroad Company, toured the construction site of a new pedestrian tunnel under the railroad tracks on campus. The underpass is expected to open in late April.

At the deepest point of the 2009 financial woes, a class of Elon philosophy students turned to 19th century American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson to help understand America's response to the economic meltdown. What they found is published in new book titled "The Only Sin is Limitation: Essays on R.W. Emerson's multi-faceted influence on America."

Three Elon University alumni have been named recipients of Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarships to help fund graduate studies overseas. Their recent selection brings to six the number of Elon students or alumni chosen for the prestigious award since 2006.

Elon University senior John McGreevy flew to Haiti over Winter Term as part of a research project. Within days he found himself helping the wounded, the widowed and the children made orphans following the impoverished nation’s largest natural disaster in generations. The environmental studies and biology double major from the Philadelphia region recently spoke with E-net about his experience.

Since Feb. 1, 272 young alums have contributed $18,139 to the university as part of the Challenge, which was issued by Elon alumna and trustee Kerrii Brown Anderson ’79, former CEO of Wendy’s International, to boost participation in annual giving among graduates of the past decade. The Challenge, including a 5-to-1 match by Anderson, concludes on Feb. 28.

A fundraising effort by the Elon University men’s golf team and spearheaded by an MBA student debuts next month with “Eagles for Haiti,” a pledge drive that asks sponsors to donate money toward recovery efforts in the battered Caribbean nation for every eagle scored this season by male golfers in the Southern Conference.

The challenge was issued Feb. 1 by Elon alumna and trustee Kerrii Brown Anderson ’79, former CEO of Wendy’s International, to increase participation in annual giving among young alumni. During the first week of the challenge, 84 young alums contributed $9,702 in gifts to Elon.

An Alamance County family has donated to Elon a quarter acre next to the northern edge of campus near Rhodes Stadium, where a two-room wooden building first opened before the Civil War still stands as one of North Carolina’s original public school facilities.