Eric Townsend

As Miles Williams ’15 co-captained the Elon Phoenix football team over the past year, he was also conducting undergraduate research just a few miles away on the way hip hop music might help African-American children develop self-confidence and a sense of self.

Visits to Birmingham, Selma and Atlanta culminated with Elon students meeting Martin Luther King III, the oldest son of the slain civil rights leader, and King III's wife, Arndrea Waters King.

Jones' visit comes on the heels of the Iowa caucuses and just prior to New Hampshire's presidential primary election.

The associate professor of education from East Carolina University will oversee an Elon school with 22 full-time faculty members and five full-time faculty members from Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences, who work with teacher education programs.

Glenda Phillips Hightower, the first African-American to enroll as a full-time Elon student, and Eugene Perry '69, the first African-American to receive an Elon degree, will have formal portraits unveiled during a McKinnon Hall event.

Paper, glass, aluminum and plastics can now be placed in the same recycling bins around the Elon University campus.

More than a dozen events in February will honor African-American contributions to the campus and the world as Elon University celebrates Black History Month.

Doug and his wife, Edna Truitt Noiles ’44 GP ’17, made a gift to Elon in 2003 to establish the Vera Richardson Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life, and their later support of the Elon Academy has helped dozens of local high school students pursue dreams of a college education.