Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / Sept. 5, 1985, edition 1 / Page 6
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Page 6 The Pendulum 40 Years Danieley began teaching career at Elon in 1946 ^ mmmm ■^1 •i .¥% Dr. Ear! Danieley Thursday, September 5,‘1985 Amtrak Continued from page 5 By Jane Kid well Editor At 61, Dr. James Earl Danieley, Powell professor of chemistry, is beginning his 40th year on the faculty at Elon. He has served as academic dean and was the sixth president of the col lege, serving from 1958 to 1973. Since he is also an Elon alumnus, he has been associated with Elon for a total of 44 years. Danieley began teaching here in September of 1946, only four months after graduating from Elon with a major in chemistry. He explained that with World War II veterans entering colleges that year, there was a great need for professors. Elon had to take someone without a graduate degree, so college officials decid ed to take someone they knew, he said. They hired Danieley, and at 22, he found himself teaching students with whom he had recently been in school. He said he had no problems with that because he was a lab assistant as a student and often gave lectures. Young Generalist “In those days, you didn’t teach just your little specialty,” said Danieley. “I taught college algebra, trigonometry, physical science, public speaking, debating and parliamentary pro cedure.” He said he taught 15 classroom hours and 12 lab hours per week. Danieley attended UNC- Chapel Hill in the summers, ear ning a master’s in educational ad ministration in 1949 and a doc torate in organic chemistry in 1954. He also served as a visiting professor there for three summers. Danieley was academic dean of Elon from 1953 until 1956 when he became a postdoctoral research associate at The Johns Hopkins University. Surprise Election While at Johns Hopkins, Danieley received a phone call from a member of the Elon Board of Trustees. The trustee said that Danieley had been elected presi dent of Elon. “You are crazy!” Danieley said to the man. “I did not apply for the presidency,” he said. “I did not know I was being considered.” At first, Danieley was not especially interested in the job. He said his wife had been secretary to the previous presi dent and was thoroughly familiar with the pressures and work load of the position. But after thinking it over, the 32-year-old Danieley accepted the job. “(My wife and I) were both committed to Elon and felt it was something we needed to do,” said Danieley. “And we’re glad we did.” During Danieley’s administra tion, many new buildings were erected on campus, including Brannock, Hook, Sloane, Staley and Moffit residence halls. Harden Center, Jordan Gym, McEwen Library, Powell building and the president’s house. Alamance, Mooney, and Duke buildings were completely renovated. “1 enjoyed the first 12 years of the presidency,” Danieley said. He said he enjoyed the challenges and excitement. “The last four years were more routine. There were more meetings, more pressures and more paperwork,” said Danieley. “One thing about the presiden cy was I could never, never be completely free of it,” he said. “I like to work, but there was just never any time. I was never off duty, there was always something.” Return to Classroom After serving as president for 16 years, Danieley announced his retirement. He laughed and said, “I didn’t want to be selfish; I wanted to let someone else have the fun.” “I had never been a fiill-time teacher after receiving my doc torate until after retiring from the presidency,” said Danieley. “And I had always wanted a teaching career.” Danieley said he is glad he returned to teaching. He plans to stick with it four more years before retiring. He said when he does retire, he may go to work in the nursery at his son’s landscap ing business. Another possibility is that Danieley will run for a public of fice after his retirement. An ac tive Alamance County Repub lican, he said he has a “partly un satisfied political interest” that he would like to fulfill if he is in good health, perhaps by running for the state legislature. Among his other activities, Danieley sometimes serves as a parliamentarian for various clubs and organizations. He is registered with the National Association of Parliamentarians. He is also a member of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors until his term expires in 1991. As often as possible, Danieley speaks before clubs and groups about diabetes, a disease which he developed during his term as president. After joining a study group researching diabetes at UNC, Danieley lost about 70 pounds and, as a result, was able to stop taking insulin. He said he now feels good about himself. “I have a desire to help others en joy not only longer, but better quality lives,” he said. Danieley, aside from devoting 40 years to Elon, has been very active in church, civic and com munity affairs. He has received several honors, including honory degrees from Catawba College and Campbell University. destinations, primarily due to rock-bottom airline prices. Because in-state success of the Carolinian was offset by low ridership past Raleigh, Amtrak estimates it has lost $800,000 on the route. Amtrak has said it would consider continuing the train another year if the state would in crease its subsidy above the $436,000 subsidy it made last year. Brittain lungs and liver. She received chemotherapy treatments once a month for the next year. Then, when doctors performed ex ploratory surgery on her, they could find no trace of cancer. Everything seemed fine for about a year, several friends recalled, but during the summer of 1984 doctors found that Brittain had developed cancer of the colon. She underwent surgery before classes began for the Fall Semester and was not able to return to her teaching until the Spring Semester. “During the Fall Semester there was a student who came to me three or four times asking when Dr. Brittain was coming back,” said Mackay. ”He was in a class that she was supposed to have taught and he said that if he had known that she wasn’t going to be able to teach it he would have dropped the class.” “I was always impressed by her steadiness and calmness in dealing with her illness and how she continued to remain very pro fessional in her work,” said Richard McBride, school chaplain. “She was so upbeat that Another onlooker, Gus Bailey, said he was sorry to see the train go. He had hoped to ride it to the state fair in October, he said. Don Lashley, a Burlington photographer, along with his wife and children, rode the train to Raleigh and back to Burlington on its last run. The Lashley s said they were sorry to see the train go, but they were all glad they had the chance to take a ride on the Carolinian while it lasted. sometimes you forgot that she even had cancer.” In July, Brittain’s husband. Gene, di^ of a heart attack. Even though she was extremely weak because of surgery and the cancer itself, she insisted on flying down to Texas to be at Gene’s graveside service. “They were an extreme ly close couple,” said McBride, “In fact, 1 guess you could call them the best of friends.” “Gene always went to educa tional conferences with her and they would just look at it as a vacation,” said Mackay. “They did everything together. In fact, one time when she took a cake decorating class, he decided to take it too, just to be with her.” Six weeks after her husband’s death, Mary Brittain died of cancer. “She displayed an open and warm spirit to the very end,” said McBride. “We were all drawn so close to her because she was a model of the virtues we admire, both in her professional life and her family life. She set the pace for how an advisor and teacher should relate to students.” GIVE YOUR HAIRSTYLE SOME FIZZ Fizz styling loam gives your body, shine and styling ptiwer it can and shake up your Shake up F. Scott’s “Professional Hair Designers” Edgewood Village Shopping Center 584-0600 f- 9i continued from page 5
Elon University Student Newspaper
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Sept. 5, 1985, edition 1
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