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.”

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.”

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
• °­˛šąčąč˛šĚýśŮąđąôłŮ˛šâ€™sĚý15łŮłóĚý´Ą˛Ô˛Ôžąąšąđ°ů˛ő˛š°ů˛â
• Phi Mu’s 55th Anniversary
• Zeta Tau Alpha’s 55th Anniversary

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

Alumni, parents and friends of Elon are invited to come together for an Evening for Elon in Chicago. Connect with fellow members of the Elon community and hear a few highlights from campus.

The event will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at the Chicago Cultural Center. Join us at 6:30 p.m. for a reception featuring a hosted bar and hors d’oeuvres before gathering for a special program at 7:30 p.m. with remarks from President Connie Ledoux Book.

Evening for Elon in Chicago with President Connie L. Book 
Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026
6:30 p.m. Hosted reception with hors d’oeuvres
7:30 p.m. Program with remarks by President Book

Chicago Cultural Center
77 East Randolph Street
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Business attire
Cocktail reception with hors d’oeuvres

Register at  or contact advancement@elon.edu.

The annual recognition honors emerging public relations professionals making their mark on the industry in the early stages of their careers. For Gibson, the recognition gave her a chance to appreciate how much she and HCM have grown in a relatively short time.

“PRNEWS is one of the most respected platforms in the industry, so it’s an honor to be recognized,” Gibson said. “I’ve spent the past few years watching Hannah Cranston Media grow from a team of three to a team of more than 20, and most days I’m too deep in pitching and problem-solving to stop and think about how far we’ve come.”

While Gibson has built her career in public relations, many of the skills that guide her work today were developed through her experiences as a journalism major at Elon.

The Honors Fellow was heavily involved with Elon News Network as an anchor and multimedia journalist, while also participating other immersive experiences like FreshTV. Those opportunities helped establish a foundation in storytelling that she continues to draw upon while working on the public relations side of the media industry.

“Elon gave me a passion for storytelling and a tenacious curiosity, both essential to my career,” Gibson said. “Working as a reporter and anchor with ENN taught me what it takes to build a good story, and what makes people actually connect with one – the human element has to come first.”

That journalism background, Gibson said, has proved especially valuable as she develops stories and works directly with reporters.

“It’s shaped how I think about what a good story looks like and made me a better resource to the journalists I work with today,” she said.

Following graduation, Gibson spent three years with Jennifer Bett Communications before joining HCM in early 2024 as senior manager of public relations. She was promoted to director of public relations and business development six months later.

In her current position, Gibson oversees the agency’s consumer packaged goods, women’s health and wellness client roster, with responsibilities spanning client strategy and media relations. Her work can range from developing pitch strategies with colleagues to staffing events with reporters and cultivating media relationships. “My job changes shape depending on the week – which is one of the best parts,” she said.

Gibson credits much of her professional growth to learning the importance of surrounding herself with people committed to their work and to one another.

“Bet on people over playbooks. In an industry built on relationships, we can teach anyone to write a pitch or find the right story – but working alongside people who are passionately determined and hungry to see their teams succeed is an irreplaceable, unteachable quality.”

– Amanda Gibson ’21

Gibson also points to retired Elon faculty members Rich Landesberg and Glenn Scott as influential mentors. She credits Landesberg with instilling a respect for journalism’s ability to serve communities, an outlook that has influenced the brands and people she chooses to work with. Her research with Scott examining how stories are told around major events also continues to inform her approach to identifying stories and perspectives that might otherwise be overlooked.

Those lessons, along with the relationships she developed during her žĂžĂČČ years, remain important to Gibson five years after graduating.

“Beyond the classroom, the friendships and mentors I found at Elon continue to be a bedrock of both my life and my career,” Gibson said, “I’m endlessly grateful for my time Under the Oaks.”

As digital editor at WUSA-TV, a CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C., Rosenthal handles a wide range of responsibilities, from writing for the station’s website and producing social media content to gathering sources and reporting in the field. The journalism major said she fell in love with news reporting when she was in high school, which led her to apply to Elon.

“I joined my high school newspaper club in ninth grade, and it was the 2016 election season,” Rosenthal recalled. “There was a ton of news, and I got the ‘news bug,’ and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

At Elon, Rosenthal found opportunities through student media to develop her reporting skills outside the classroom.

“I feel like the hands-on experience that I got working with my peers and friends, and actually going out and doing reporting, and putting together a paper every week showed me more of the skills that I use on a day-to-day,” Rosenthal said.

She also credits The Pendulum’s critique sessions with žĂžĂČČ her how to receive feedback and use it to improve her work.

“You don’t need to qualify a mistake or qualify a reason why you did this or that,” Rosenthal said. “What I learned so much from critique was how to take feedback and move forward and use that in the next piece. Now I’m somebody who asks for feedback all the time because, I think, in part, because of those critiques.”

Those lessons have followed Rosenthal into her professional career. Earlier this year, she spent three weeks covering a murder trial in Fairfax, Virginia, an assignment she described as a significant learning experience.

“My station sent me to a murder trial in January, and I spent three weeks covering a very high-profile case every day in court, and that has been a huge learning and žĂžĂČČ moment for me,” Rosenthal said. “I feel like I learned so much from covering this trial, especially as somebody who has covered many court hearings and smaller things.”

For current Elon students interested in journalism, Rosenthal recommends getting involved in student media early and pursuing the subjects that interest them.

“My biggest advice is to be involved in student journalism,” she said. “Just start doing stories and meeting people and doing things that are out of your comfort zone. When I was at Elon, I was interested in courts. I would go to the courthouse in Graham to pick up court documents for stories, and go to the police station, and pick up crime numbers, and things like that. If there’s something that you’re interested in, just start doing it.”

Like Rosenthal, Phengsitthy discovered her love of writing through her high school newspaper, where she served as editor-in-chief. She brought that interest to Elon, double majoring in Communication Design (now Visual Communication) and Media Analytics while becoming heavily involved with Elon News Network.

“I’ve always been a writer,” Phengsitthy said. “I know that people don’t really like talking about high school when they talk about their experience, but high school is when I really started.”

Phengsitthy served as design chief of The Pendulum during her sophomore year and managing editor as a junior. She credits those experiences with providing the foundation for her professional journalism career.

Everything I did in Elon News Network is what set me up for my journalism experience today. I joke with my friends that ENN was like my third degree in college because I got so much done and learned so much there. From just writing every single day, that’s what helped me get better.

— Nyah Phengsitthy ’23

While at Elon, Phengsitthy interned with Bloomberg Law on its environment desk. Following graduation, she returned to the organization through a rotational program and now works as a health reporter. In that role, she has covered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, drug pricing and other complex issues affecting the pharmaceutical and health care industries.

Her work at Bloomberg Law requires reporting on complex subjects, but Phengsitthy said young journalists shouldn’t feel pressure to become experts on every topic they cover. Instead, they should focus on developing the skills necessary to find knowledgeable sources, understand complicated information and explain it clearly to readers.

“Be an expert in being a reporter and writing and learning how to break down information for your readers,” Phengsitthy said.

Phengsitthy also encourages Elon students to complement their campus journalism experience with internships that allow them to apply their skills in professional settings.

“You can have all the skills, and you can have all the clips that you have from ENN, but it’s more powerful if you go and get to apply them somewhere else,” she said, noting the value of internships. “The more experience you have, the better.

“The job market is really hard right now, but I feel like if you’re able to show that you can get your foot in the door somewhere, that’s good.”