Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / Dec. 1, 2016, edition 1 / Page 12
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REMEMBERING DANIELEV Danieley’s commitment to chemistry ciassroom remembered by faculty, students Danieley works with a chemistry modeling set while teaching a class in 1986. PHOTO COURTESY Of IWVERSflY ARCHIVfS Alexandra Schonfeld Assistant Litestyle Editor @aschonfeld096 It wasn’t long after graduat ing from Klon College that J. Earl Danieley came right back to the classroom. And between then and spring 2015 when he finally re tired from teaching, the chemistry department — and so much more — was forever changed. “When he [first started teaching at] Klon, chem istry was a .service de partment that didn’t really have ma jors— it was just to serve other depart ments,” said Karl Sienerth, p ro fe s s o r and chemis try depart ment chair, who joined Hlon’s facul ty in 1998. “He was one of the people who helped transform it into a de partment that would stand alone.” (iene Crimley III, professor of chemistry, former department chair and longtime friend of Dan ieley, came to Klon in 1987 to as sist Danieley in his overhaul of the chemivStry department. “I le had lab drawers full of pa pers,” Crimley said. “All these old tests. I looked at them and said, ‘Oh my gosh.’ He put some tests out there — they were long tests.” Kor the 10 years following, (Irimley and Danieley — along with Ray (tovington, who was aLso a.ssisting in the revitalization of I THINK A LOT OF WHAT WE CALL THE'ELON PERSONALITY’WAS CREATED OR ENGENDERED BY EARL KEEPING EEON A GIVING AND WELCOMING PLACE [AS WEEEAS] BROADEY WEECOMING AND DIVERSE. KARL SIENERTH FORMER CHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT CHAIR the chemistry department — went go to the YMCA together at 6 a.m. before morning classes. “You get close to people early in the morning,” Grimley said. If anyone had a question or concern about the chemistry de partment or the university as a whole, they knew they could ask Danieley — and he would have an answer. “He was a good, sage, wise person who you could go to,” Sienerth said. “He was humble.” Sienerth recalled how, unlike many chemistry professors who teach to non-majors, Danieley nev er glazed over the tough stuff. “He would not [shy away from the math-orient ed stuff]. He stuck to his guns,” he said. “In terms of his teaching, he was rigorous and he felt that students should understand how the world works.” Junior Alessandra Brainard took CHM 130: “Introduction to Chemistry” with Danieley and recognized the expectation he had for his students. “He would call every stu dent to the board to perform chemical bonds far outside of our spectrum of knowledge,” she said. “He desired everyone to face a challenge and aspire to rise above the occasion as well as demonstrate a passion that he Danieley teaches chemistry to a group of students during the 1349-1950 school year. exuberantly possessed within the subject of chemistry. “In turn, students pushed themselves everyday with a desire to meet the Doctor’s standards and demonstrate to him their compre hension in order to impress him.” Senior Jade Marson said that Danieley taught like no oth er teacher she had had before. Throughout the semester, Danie ley would take each student out to lunch, and Marson remembers her turn, when they ventured to a local hot dog restaurant. “When we sat down, I didn’t ask a single question I had pre pared because Dr. Danieley had immediately starting asking about me,” Marson said. “He genuinely wanted to hear all about my life, my family, my friends and my past” Sienerth believes that of Dan ieley’s Elon legacies, the most im portant is rooted in Elon’s students and faculty. PHOTO COURTtSYOF UNIVERSITY AfiCHIVlS PHOTO'^URTESY OF UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES Danieley explains chemical equations in a chemistry class sometime between 1958 and 1969. “I think a lot of what we call the ‘Elon Personality’ was created or engendered by Earl,” he said. “Keeping Elon a giving and wel coming place [as well as] broadly welcoming and diverse. Continu ing to strive in those areas would be keeping him alive in terms of who he was and how he impacted the university.”
Elon University Student Newspaper
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Dec. 1, 2016, edition 1
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