More than 50 African-American alumni of the past four decades gathered on campus April 23-24 for the African-American Alumni Summit hosted by Elon's Office of Alumni Relations. Attendees focused on how the more than 1,200 African-American alumni of Elon can partner with the university to engage in the life of the campus, particularly for African-American students.
“We want to walk out of here knowing where we are going,” said Mike Duggins ’92, president of the African-American Alumni Group. “We want to set attainable goals, and I want to see progress made each year.”
On Friday, alumni took part in tours of campus and a welcome dinner with President Leo M. Lambert at Alamance Country Club. At the dinner, alumni listened to juniors Brittany Carroll and Eugene Daniel share insights about the experience of African-American students at Elon today. Seniors Keadrick Peters, Brandon Helton and Kristen McDonald, junior Nneka Enurah and sophomores Trevor Wynn and Brea Hamilton were seated at the alumni tables and shared their stories as well.
On Saturday, alums heard presentations from Elon representatives about various aspects of the African-American experience on campus, from recruitment to student life to supporting the university as alumni. In between presentations, alumni broke into small groups where they had the opportunity to share with one another and Elon staff members ideas to help Elon succeed in its mission to increase and promote diversity on campus.
“Keep Elon in the conversations you have around your professions and be a mouthpiece for the university,” said Priscilla Awkard ’95, former African-American Alumni Group president.
A particular point of pride for Awkard and other alums attending the summit was the announcement that fundraising for the African-American Scholarship has nearly reached $50,000, the level required to endow the scholarship. The African-American Alumni Group, in partnership with campus organizations, has been raising funds to go toward the scholarship endowment for the past three years.
“This is going to be the best thing we can do to support the African-American students of today,” Awkard said.
At the conclusion of Saturday’s discussions, alumni consolidated their ideas into four concrete goals for the next year:
- Create a structure for the African-American Alumni Group, including officers, committees and committee chairs, by Homecoming 2010
- Have an alumni presence at S.M.A.R.T. (Student Mentors Advising Rising Talent) Orientation at the opening of school in August 2010
- Fully endow the African-American Alumni Scholarship by May 2011
- Create a website for the African-American Alumni Group.
With the business of the summit completed, alumni joined current students, faculty and staff at the the annual Phillips-Perry Black Excellence Awards Dinner held in Alumni Gym.