Alumni

Ali Ford of the Phoenix women’s basketball team was named the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year by both the Southern Conference Sports Media Association and the 11 head coaches. Ford became the second straight Elon player to receive the award, after Tiara Gause picked up the honor last season. Ford was also the only underclassman named to the coaches’ All-Southern Conference team.

Elon University has been recognized for the fourth year in a row as a national leader in service-learning and civic engagement. The Corporation for National & Community Service named the university this week to the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll With Distinction for exemplary service efforts to America's communities.

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.