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¸£ÀûÑÇÖÞ¹ú²ú¾«Æ· senior Kelly Erin McCarty has been named the recipient of a DACOR Bacon House Foundation fellowship for graduate study in international affairs, an award of up to $10,000 that will assist her this fall as she begins work toward a graduate degree related to human rights and social justice.

Thirteen rising juniors at Elon have been named recipients of the 2009 Lumen Prize, the university’s premier award that comes with a $15,000 scholarship to support and celebrate their academic achievements and research proposals.

North and South Carolinians are feeling the pinch of a rocky economy, with nearly half of respondents in the latest ¸£ÀûÑÇÖÞ¹ú²ú¾«Æ· Poll witnessing their retirement plans lose at least a quarter of their values alongside a drop in the values of their homes.

The ¸£ÀûÑÇÖÞ¹ú²ú¾«Æ· Board of Trustees inducted new member C. Ashton Newhall at its spring meeting, which was held April 17-18 on campus. Newhall is a 1998 Elon alumnus and co-founder of Montagu Newhall Associates, a venture capital firm headquartered in Owings Mills, Md.

North and South Carolinians believe that the United States is on the wrong track but generally approve of President Barack Obama’s performance during his first 100 days in office, according to the latest ¸£ÀûÑÇÖÞ¹ú²ú¾«Æ· Poll. In particular, Carolinians are divided on the way Obama is handling the economy.

Trustee Jay Hendrickson ’71 and his wife, Amy ’69, of Raleigh, N.C., are among the 12 recipients of the 2009 Southern Conference Distinguished Service Award. The SoCon award recognizes individuals from its member institutions who have contributed to all aspects of the university.

Thomas Moore, a bestselling author whose life work has been to help others develop and deepen their own spirituality, comes to ¸£ÀûÑÇÖÞ¹ú²ú¾«Æ· on April 23 for a 7:30 p.m. lecture in Whitley Auditorium that explores how universities provide for the mind - but not as much for the soul - in the way they prepare students for life.

Elon's men's basketball, women's cross country, women's golf, softball and volleyball teams are among the top teams in the nation in the 2009 NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores, which were announced April 22. The Elon teams rank in the top 10 percent of NCAA Division I teams in the nation in their sports.

Elon physics professor Pranab Das oversees more than $6 million of grant funds supporting scholarship around the world. As the leader of three major initiatives funded by the John Templeton Foundation, Das is probing the limits of human understanding on questions that have existed for millennia.

This year 36 Elon students will be presenting at the 23rd National Conference on Undergraduate Research set for April 16-18 at the University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse. Read this note for a list of the students and their research topics.