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Members of Elon's Black Alumni Network welcomed members of the Class of 2011 and honored three outstanding African-American graduates at the annual African-American Commencement Reception Thursday evening. The group also announced the recipient of the Black Alumni Network Scholarship, which has been endowed by gifts made by Elon's African-American graduates since 2007.

Alice Turner '10 played the lead role in the Burning Coal Theatre Company's production of "My Name is Rachel Corrie," a powerful drama based on the diary of a young American woman who was killed in the Gaza Strip while trying to prevent an Israeli bulldozer from demolishing a Palestinian home.

Angie Lovelace '10, an interactive producer at CNN, was part of a reporting team that won a Peabody Award for their coverage of the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

David Stephens, a 2008 graduate of Elon's master of business administration program, recently completed his law degree at Elon University School of Law, becoming the first person to earn three different degrees from the institution. His experiences were the basis of an article in the spring 2011 issue of The Magazine of Elon. Continue reading this post to learn more about Stephens' story.

Meghan Kingsley '07 appeared on the May 7 episode of "ESPN Sports Saturday" in a segment about Francisco "Paco" Rodriguez, a professional boxer who died after an October 2009 title bout. Rodriguez's family decided to donate his organs, and Kingsley was one of four women whose lives were saved by the transplants. Kingsley and the organ recipients met the Rodriguez family for the first time as part of the show.

After seven seasons as the head men's basketball coach at the University of Miami, Frank Haith '88 has been hired to the same position at the University of Missouri.

Letitia Lee '99, an accomplished artist and muralist, appeared in the Sunday, April 24, episode of the hit ABC reality show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." Lee designed and painted a mural for one of the bedrooms in the Virginia Beach, Va., home rebuilt during the show.

Elon’s Department of Performing Arts teamed with the School of Communications to produce a series of videos that offer a behind-the-scenes look at the department’s February production of “Rent.” Meet the cast and crew, watch how the costumes and sets came together and learn about the technical work that went into bringing the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning musical to McCrary Theatre.

Check out additional interviews with NBC’s Brian Williams and the panelists from the 2011 Convocation for Honors. Then submit your comments about the five great challenges facing the United States in the decades to come on our Convocation website.

In his book, “Better Living Through Laughter: An Attitude to Live By,” Stephen Patterson '73 seeks to reintroduce adults to the lifestyle benefits of laughter. In this excerpt from the book, which is available at Barnes & Noble.com, Patterson teaches the reader how to change their attitude about a typical life stressor – a traffic jam – by introducing laughter into the situation.