New members’ first meeting with the full board will be on Friday, Oct. 9 as part of Homecoming & Reunion Weekend.

Andrew Gillette ’08
Andrew Gillette is the lead commercial architect at EY. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Elon and his Master of Business Administration from the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School in 2017. He regularly shares his expertise with students in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business by serving as a judge for their žĂžĂČČ case competition and at the Tremont Center in Charlotte.

While at Elon, Gillette was active with Sigma Phi Epsilon, as an Isabella Cannon Leadership Fellow, and with Elon Volunteers!.

Dan Hanson ’05
Dan Hanson is currently the change management lead at Under Armour. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Broadcast Communications from Elon and a Master of Arts in Government from Johns Hopkins University. Dan has stayed actively engaged with Elon and his alumni network since graduating and has also served on the Young Alumni Council.

Hanson lives in Baltimore with his wife Kristin Simonetti Hanson ’05.

Jeff Michel ’83
Jeff Michel was a member of the Elon Football Team and Kappa Alpha fraternity during his time at Elon. Since graduating, he has remained connected to Elon through the Phoenix CLub and Elon Athletics, Life @ Elon and as a regular volunteer.

Michel lives in Burlington, North Carolina and serves as a vice president at Glen Raven.

Caroline York-Ingram ’12 G’15
While at Elon, Caroline York-Ingram was active with Omicron Delta Kappa, Elon Research Forum, Summer Fellow, Admissions žĂžĂČČ Visit Assistant, was a Leadership Fellow, and a Watson-Odyssey Scholar. She received both her Bachelor of Science and Master of Physician Assistant Studies from Elon. As an alumna, she has served as an Elon Q&A volunteer, Class Speaker and Elon Day volunteer.

Currently, York-Ingram is a Physician Assistant at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist and lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The article, “,” was published Sept. 8 in the Journal of Sport Management, a leading scholarly journal in the sport management field. Dabbs and Burton collaborated on the research with Jeffrey Graham of Texas A&M University and Anton Schulz of Texas Tech University.

Using in-depth interviews with 16 women NCAA head coaches, the researchers explored how coaches responded to unexpected career-defining moments, primarily termination or institutional investigations. Their analysis identified three interconnected themes: an abrupt and isolating separation from the professional world; an attack on personal and professional identity; and lasting consequences affecting finances, health, families and future plans.

Rather than viewing forced job loss simply as a professional transition, the research frames the experience as a broader life crisis and points to the need for more humane off-boarding practices within sport organizations, including compassionate communication and access to independent mental health, financial and career-transition resources.

“This topic is important to me because the experiences of women coaches following an investigation or forced exit are rarely discussed openly,” Dabbs said. “These women entrusted us with deeply personal stories about losing not only their jobs, but also their professional identities, financial security, relationships, and sense of belonging.”

Dabbs said she hopes the findings will draw greater attention to the experiences of women coaches and encourage sport organizations to reconsider how they handle difficult career transitions.

“I wanted this research to give them a voice, shed light on a serious problem within college coaching, and encourage sport organizations to develop more ethical and humane exit strategies,” she said.

The publication also represents the culmination of a faculty-student research collaboration between Dabbs and Burton, who worked on the project while an Elon student. Burton played a pivotal role in the study’s qualitative data analysis, working with the 16 interview transcripts and collaborating with the research team to examine, code and organize the coaches’ experiences into the themes ultimately presented in the article.

Dabbs mentored Burton throughout the process, žĂžĂČČ her how to conduct qualitative data analysis and write the methodology section of a scholarly article.

“Her careful engagement with the participants’ stories contributed meaningfully to both the rigor of the analysis and the development of the manuscript,” Dabbs said.

For Dabbs, Burton’s involvement illustrates the value of providing students opportunities to participate directly in research. Such collaborations allow students to apply concepts learned in the classroom while gaining firsthand experience with how scholarly research is conducted and developed.

“They learn to work carefully with evidence, recognize patterns, question their assumptions, and communicate findings responsibly,” she added.

Another benefit? The experience can also reshape how students view their own place within an academic and professional community.

“žĂžĂČČ gain confidence from knowing that their work can contribute to meaningful conversations in their field,” Dabbs said. “Mentored research helps them see themselves not only as students, but also as scholars and professionals whose ideas and contributions matter.”

žĂžĂČČ will host “United in Purpose” on Thursday, Nov. 5, bringing together alumni, parents and friends of žĂžĂČČ and Queens University of Charlotte for an evening of connection and community.

The event will be held at Urban Garden in Charlotte and begin at 6:30 p.m. with a hosted reception featuring hors d’oeuvres. Guests will gather at 7:30 p.m. for a special program featuring remarks from žĂžĂČČ President Connie Ledoux Book. A dessert reception will follow the program and conclude the evening. Business attire is requested.

United in Purpose
Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026
6:30 p.m. — Hosted reception with hors d’oeuvres
7:30 p.m. — Program
Dessert reception to follow until 9 p.m.

Urban Garden
150 N. College St.
Charlotte, NC 28202

Register at or contact advancement@elon.edu.

Plain White T’s headlined last year with over 2,000 alumni, students and friends in attendance! As a fan-favorite Homecoming event, Rock the Block will once again transform into a full music festival experience featuring a variety of food trucks, a bar, activities and an end-of-night fireworks show.

O’Neal will perform from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Rock the Block and the Homecoming Concert are open to all members of the Elon community for free, so register for today!

can vividly remember the exhilaration of running onto the field this past weekend with the University of Pittsburgh football team, gimbal in hand, as more than 40,000 fans roared around him.

What happened next is a little hazier.

“I essentially blacked out on adrenaline for the first 10 minutes of game action,” Henneman laughed.

It was Henneman’s first game day working on the sidelines for Pitt football – and a surreal introduction to his new role as the program’s assistant director of creative content.

The Elon alumnus was there to capture an up-close look at Pitt’s season-opening 59-14 victory over Miami (Ohio) on Sept. 5. Once the final whistle sounded, his responsibilities only grew. Henneman took the lead editing “” Pitt’s long-running video series that tells the story of a victory through behind-the-scenes content.

For Henneman, the assignment represented another milestone in a professional journey that has moved quickly.

His path to Pitt began shortly after his May 2025 graduation from Elon, where he majored in journalism and built a portfolio that stretched well beyond traditional reporting.

As a student, Henneman worked with Rising Phoenix and Elon Athletics video production. He also spent nearly two years interning with The Burlington School, chronicling its high-level prep basketball program. Following graduation, he continued sharpening his skills as a videographer with the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Those experiences ultimately led him to Pittsburgh.

In January, Henneman initially joined Pitt Athletics as an assistant director of video production, creating content across the university’s athletics programs. After six months, he accepted a position supporting Pitt football. But Henneman wasn’t quite ready to give up basketball.

He negotiated a hybrid role that allows him to remain the secondary video contact for Pitt men’s basketball.

“I couldn’t get myself to leave my basketball roots behind,” Henneman said.

Being a major content contributor for both programs, he said, is a “dream come true.” It has also brought considerably more responsibility.

While the football staff was away during July, Henneman filmed basketball summer workouts, helped lead the rollout of new NIL initiatives for Pitt Athletics, and traveled to New York City to cover volleyball standout Olivia Babcock at the Collegiate Women Sports Awards.

Then came football season.

When fall camp opened in August, Henneman’s days regularly stretched from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week. He produced short-form content from daily practices and longer-form mic’d-up features while documenting the weeks leading into the season.

“Practically living in the facility gave me an eye-opening perspective of the upper echelon of college athletics.”

– Cap Henneman ’25

Amid that demanding schedule came one of his biggest opportunities.

At the end of fall camp, Henneman spent a week shooting and editing the “” his first true “passion project” since arriving at Pitt. The finished video was shown at the program’s kickoff luncheon and student bonfire pep rally, played on the stadium scoreboard before the season opener, and released on social media.

Creating a longer, storytelling-driven piece reminded Henneman of the projects he pursued at Elon.

“It was refreshing to create a storytelling-centric piece that I could be proud of,” Henneman said.

That same approach carried into his first football Saturday.

After documenting Pitt’s season-opening victory, Henneman shifted almost immediately from capturing the story to assembling it. For “” he storyboarded the video and constructed its game-action sequences, working alongside colleagues who handled the introduction, graphics, color grading and sound effects.

There was also a tighter turnaround. The popular series, previously released on Wednesdays, was now due Monday.

“Despite the lack of social life and free time that football season brings, I can confidently say I am doing something that I truly love,” Henneman said. “I feel like I have found my footing within the creative team, and look to keep improving as the season moves forward.”

“I’ve always been a writer, but I never believed I could write a whole novel,” said Schramm, who majored in philosophy and journalism in 2008. “But during the pandemic I saw all these people living their dreams and I thought maybe I could do that too. This is when I came up with the idea for my novel and started writing.”

The young adult novel, “,” tells the story of high school senior Sydney Hoffman as she sees pink neon countdown clocks over people’s heads 72 hours before they die. This has left her cynical, closed off and alone until she meets Peter Beckett, who changes everything she believes about life and death. Peter convinces Sydney she does not have to handle the countdowns alone, and together they help strangers live their best final hours.

“It felt like everyone around me had a clock over their head during the pandemic and I was really struggling to figure out how to live a meaningful life with the threat of the world possibly ending at any moment,” said Schramm. “I was sort of learning alongside the main character, Sydney, how to enjoy life and be present.”

During this time writing the novel became cathartic for her.

“My classes at Elon influenced my writing so much,” said Schramm. “This book is very philosophical and so many of the ideas in there are from my time eating bread around the fireplace in the philosophy building talking about existentialism and what it means to live an examined life. One of the teachers in the book is named in honor of one of my favorite philosophy professors, Dr. Jegstrup. She pushed me harder than any teacher ever has, and I owe so much to her and her classes.”

Schramm was originally only a journalism major, but that all changed after she took a philosophy class taught by Associate Professor Elsebet Jegstrup.

“After the first class, I walked directly to the registrar’s office and immediately changed my major to philosophy,” Schramm said. “I only needed one day for it to change everything.

Publishing a novel was not exactly what she thought it would be. While writing her debut novel, Schramm learned from other authors how the publishing world worked.

“One of the things I didn’t realize was how long publishing takes,” Schramm said. “My auction for “72 Hours of You” happened in early 2024 and it just recently came out.”

Life as a debut author has been a dream come true for Schramm. She has had the opportunity to meet many creative colleagues and visit stores to sign copies of her book.

“I feel wildly lucky that this is my job,” Schramm said. “To see my debut novel translated into so many different languages has been such an incredible gift.”

Now working on her second young adult novel, “Kiss Me Like the Last Time,” about a girl who kisses someone for the first time while also experiencing her last kiss with them at the same time, which is set to publish in 2027.

Schramm is also publishing her first debut adult novel in 2028 titled “The Eternal Deaths of Hattie Gold,” about a woman who is training to become Gen-Z Death.

While at Elon, Schramm participated in Greek Life and developed strong relationships with faculty.

“I loved attending Elon and being in the Department of Philosophy,” Schramm said. “The philosophy department was such a special tight-knot space, and I am forever grateful that I changed my major to philosophy.”

Schramm is earning her PhD in creative writing.

The journey resulted in three intertwined research projects collectively called “Mission America.” Abby Zampier ’02, a psychology major, examined the effects of the attacks on volunteers; Cheryl Olsen ’02, a business administration major, analyzed their impact on charitable organizations; and Mary Zappulla ’02, a broadcast communication major, documented the journey in a film titled “.”

“We really grew up,” said Zappulla, now a showrunner, director and producer. “We were independent. We were out driving across the country with no parents and with no maps and trying to figure it out. As a producer, it taught us a lot about how to make things happen.”

The three friends were living together when the attacks happened on Sept. 11, 2001, and remember spending the entire day watching news coverage. Each also had a personal connection to the events. Zampier’s brother worked at the World Trade Center but was out of town on a business trip that day. Olsen’s father worked at the Pentagon, and Zapulla’s mother worked in government.

“At first everyone was talking about the attacks, and then it stopped,” Zampier told the Magazine of Elon in 2002. “We were still affected by Sept. 11, and we wanted to see how it was affecting everyone else in the country.”

The three completed the project during Winter Term 2002. A faculty member who owned a car dealership loaned them a van, and they began their journey at the World Trade Center, just months after the attacks.

From there, they traveled across the country, stopping to interview people about how Sept. 11 had affected them and their communities. One of those stops was the site of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Zappulla told the Magazine of Elon in 2002 that interviewing people there left her emotional, and the three women say those conversations remain on their minds 25 years later.

“The people there felt for everybody because they had experienced something like that before,” said Zampier, who now works in real estate.

The students accumulated more than 18 hours of footage for the documentary, conducting interviews in the winter cold as they made their way across the country to California. They took only one day off because of rain.

Looking back, Olsen is struck by both the circumstances surrounding their journey and the willingness of strangers to speak openly with three college students.

“We were at war at the time, and we were attacked. It’s crazy that we felt comfortable going out into the United States by ourselves and to talk to random people about this moment,” said Olsen, who now lives in San Francisco. “It’s so defining back then how the nation really came together and, now if that were to happen, it might be a little different going up to people and asking them how they feel about issues that are serious.”

That spring, the three presented their work at Elon’s žĂžĂČČ research forum, then called the Student Undergraduate Research Forum.

For Zappulla, the project offered a way to process an event that had unfolded hundreds of miles from Elon while better understanding how people across the country were experiencing its aftermath.

“In North Carolina, you’re so far removed, and it made us feel part of what happened, not that it’s a good thing, but it was doing something to express how we were feeling,” Zappulla said.

A five-minute clock was counting down. Fallon’s challenge was to lift Thor’s hammer before time ran out. MrBeast watched from outside the box, and Chris Hemsworth arrived as Thor to smash the glass and save the day.

The setup was ridiculous by design. Dyer and his team had started with a simple question: What kind of challenge could bring together MrBeast’s oversized videos, Hemsworth’s history as Thor and Fallon’s willingness to play along?

For Dyer, the segment worked because it did more than copy something popular online. It gave “The Tonight Show” its own way into the joke.

“We never really did trendy content just because everyone else was doing it,” Dyer said. “What is our spin on it? What is our story? How can we subvert people’s expectations?”

Dyer has been asking versions of those questions since his time at Elon. He arrived on campus already interested in broadcast, having focused his college search on communications programs. As a broadcast and new media major, he learned how an idea moved from a script to a finished piece.

Professors Staci Saltz and Thomas Nelson gave him room to work across writing, videography, photography, editing and directing. In the studio and in the field, he learned how to build a project “soup to nuts.”

“They really allowed me to flex my creative muscles,” Dyer said. “I learned all aspects of media production and strategy. That was pretty formative for me.”

He graduated in 2011 as digital video was beginning to change the television business. Dyer started in digital operations at TV Land, then moved to Comedy Central, producing online content for programs including “South Park,” “Key & Peele” and “Nathan For You.”

The platforms were still developing their identities as places to watch video, which gave Dyer room to test ideas and learn what worked. He credits his early progress to an eagerness to take on assignments beyond his job description.

“I never said no to an opportunity,” Dyer said. “I had a drive to continue to push the envelope, learn more and become better every day.”

In 2015, he joined the team building the digital presence of “The Daily Show” as Trevor Noah became host. The group had the chance to establish a new voice, try original formats and respond to the news with the speed of an online newsroom.

One of those formats was “Between the Scenes,” which captured Noah talking with the studio audience during commercial breaks. Dyer helped launch and produce the digital series, and the team won a 2017 Creative Arts Emmy Award for outstanding short-form variety series.

The series grew from a culture in which writers, producers, correspondents and members of the digital team could all shape an idea. Dyer remembers Trevor Noah telling the staff that a good idea could come from anyone, whether it came from an intern, a writer or a producer.

“A great idea really can come from anywhere and anyone,” Dyer said. “Share, bounce things off each other and engage with your team. Through collaboration, the best ideas will come.”

That lesson followed him to “The Tonight Show” in 2021. Dyer joined as head of digital while the show was still navigating pandemic-era production and remote guests. As performers and live audiences returned to Studio 6B, he began expanding the show’s digital originals, videos made specifically for people watching online rather than repackaged television clips.

His team worked with nearly every part of the show. They collaborated with writers, segment producers, talent bookers, NBC press, marketing, and the larger staff and crew at the show to turn an appearance into something that could connect beyond the television broadcast.

Dyer approached each idea “fan first.” Before the cameras rolled, he wanted the team to understand the audience, the guest and the platform where the video would land. A TikTok video should feel natural on TikTok, he said, but it should still sound and look like “The Tonight Show.”

During Dyer’s tenure, he said, the show’s following across digital platforms grew from just over 50 million to more than 100 million. The show generated 50 billion views during his five years there. He points to those numbers as a team accomplishment, shared by Fallon and the people working across the production.

Leading that growth also changed how Dyer viewed his own role. He began paying closer attention to what each person on his team could become instead of limiting people to the jobs they had been hired to do. Delegating decisions and tasks gave younger producers room to grow and freed him to keep learning.

By the time he left the show in February 2026, Dyer felt confident that the team could continue without him. That made the timing right for another shift.

He joined Ampersand, the production company founded by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, as head of digital programming and development. The move has taken him from building digital extensions of established television programs to developing series from their earliest ideas. His current work includes “Celebrity Substitute”, a YouTube series where some of the world’s most recognizable stars step in as teachers for unsuspecting public school students.

Dyer sees that move as part of television’s future. A series no longer needs to begin with a network time slot and find an online audience later. It can start on YouTube and reach viewers directly, without asking them to change their habits.

“A show is only good if people watch it,” Dyer said. “I want to meet people where they already are.”

The screens and platforms keep changing. His reason for making the work has remained simple: to give people something that brings them joy or laughter.

For Elon students hoping to enter the industry, Dyer’s advice is equally direct. Do not wait for perfect equipment, the perfect idea or the most recognizable company name. He remembers carrying a BlackBerry as a student; today, students have a 4K camera in their pockets and an immediate way to share what they make.

“Just start making things,” Dyer said. “Start creating. You’ve got to start somewhere. Make things that you’re passionate about, and let your passion guide you.”

After returning from a study abroad experience in Argentina, Lauren Jablon ’24 was keen to get involved in independent research to round out her žĂžĂČČ experience. Jablon, a Writing Center consultant and professional writing and rhetoric major, returned to campus in winter 2024; by the time she graduated at end of spring semester, she had collaborated with Julia Bleakney, director of The Writing Center, and Paula Rosinski, director of Writing across the University, to research and publish a chapter related to students’ early adoption of and attitudes towards generative AI.

During the spring 2025 semester, Joblon worked on analyzing and visualizing the survey results. Her keen insights as a student and writing consultant, as well as her background in rhetoric and writing studies, helped the research develop in valuable ways. She presented an early version of this research at the 2025 Spring Undergraduate Reserch Forum and then turned her attention to the book chapter.

Joblon’s research was eventually published in the first full-length book about writing centers and generative AI: , edited by Elizabeth Buck and Joshua Botvin, published by WAC-Clearinghouse in early 2026. Her chapter, “,” coauthored with Bleakney and Rosinski, presents an insightful analysis of Writing Center clients’ early views on the affordances and limitations of AI-use throughout the writing process.

The full schedule of events and activities can be found on the 2026 Homecoming & Reunion Weekend webpage.

The weekend kicks off with Rock the Block on Friday night featuring a Homecoming Concert you won’t want to miss! Food trucks and a bar will surround Young Commons, adding to the music festival experience, and the night will end with a fireworks show.

On Saturday, wake up to breakfast pastries and a commemorative coffee mug at Welcome Home College Coffee before joining friends at the All Alumni Tailgate! Taking place at the Schar Center, this year’s All Alumni Tailgate will include beer, new food stations, a DJ, and plenty of reserved tent space for reuniting with your Affinity, Class, Cohort and Greek reunions.

After the tailgate, find your seats to watch Elon football take on Wofford at 2 p.m.

With so much more in store, including celebrations for our affinity networks, and class and Greek reunions (some listed below), we can’t wait to celebrate Homecoming & Reunion Weekend 2026 next month.

• Elon Black Alumni Network (EBAN)
• Elon LGBTQIA Network
• Elon Latin/Hispanic Alumni Network (ELHAN)
• Alpha Chi Omega’s 25th Anniversary
• Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.’s 35th Anniversary
• Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.’s 45th Anniversary
• Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.’s 40th Anniversary
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• Phi Mu’s 55th Anniversary
• Zeta Tau Alpha’s 55th Anniversary

Learn more about the weekend’s full schedule of eventsĚý˛š˛ÔťĺĚý.