Eric Townsend

Alexa Carlin, vice president of finance for the Elon student entrepreneurship club Student Entrepreneurial Enterprise Development (SEED) and a freshman entrepreneurship major, addressed an audience of more than 100 participants on Feb. 11 at the 3rd annual University Entrepreneurship Summit of North Carolina in Greensboro, N.C.

Elon University's Doherty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership has been selected as an entrant endorser for the 2011 MassChallenge because of its deep involvement in the global entrepreneurial ecosystem. MassChallenge is running the largest global startup competition to catalyze the launch and success of high-growth, high-impact new businesses. The $1 million competition will launch on March 7, 2011.

What does it take to sell someone on your idea for a new product or service? A good pitch certainly helps - especially one you can give to a prospective investor in less than a minute, a skill that won Elon University junior Brian Serow top prize in a contest at the 2011 MIT Global Startup Workshop in Seoul, South Korea.

Running a lemonade stand can be the first step toward a business career, as hundreds of children will discover Saturday when they set up shop across Alamance County as part of the national ‘Lemonade Day’ project. For Tim Porter, however, Lemonade Day means so much more, and the Elon University senior believes what kids have already learned through his efforts will stay with them forever.

Amanda Leigh Clark '11, a biochemistry major and Lumen Scholar from Skaneateles, N.Y., has received a $5,000 fellowship award from the Phi Kappa Phi national academic honor society to help fund her graduate studies at the University of Rochester School of Medicine.

Events leading up to Commencement 2011 take place this week as Elon prepares to graduate its 121st undergraduate class, its MBA and Elon Law class, and its second class in the iMedia graduate program. Activities for seniors start May 18, with a class picnic, an evening gala, receptions and dinners on the agenda.

Members of the Class of 2011 and their parents can now download customized news releases for distribution to hometown newspapers that publish information on academic achievements.

Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon and the public face of the U.S. Navy during the rescue of the Maersk Alabama ship captain taken hostage by Somali pirates two years ago, will deliver Elon University’s 121st Commencement address on May 21, 2011.