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PHOTO BY ASHLEY BARNAS In a quiet nook of second-floor Belk Library one can find former Dean of Cultural and Special Programs George Troxler diligently working on a book of Elon’s history. Troxler was a political science major with a pre-law emphasis as an undergraduate, before his interest shifted to history. He came to Elon in 1969 as a part-time administrator and taught two courses. He eventually dropped his teaching position to become more immersed in his administrative position. The campus’ exposure to the arts had fallen to the wayside, so Troxler was asked to step up. Named to the position of Coordinator of Cultural Programs in 1984, he was put in charge of bringing guests and performers to campus, organizing the cultural calendar and supervising the fall convocation and spring commencement. “Fred Young had a checkbook, and I have a telephone – as long as he has and I have, we can do it,” Troxler said. “It’s one thing to take a program and run it. It’s another thing to create a program and that was fun.” Retiring from his position in May 2009, Troxler received a reassignment by President Leo Lambert to compile a book on the history of Elon. Troxler explained that the book will have less text, be less of an institutional history and have more pictures with longer captions. “George is great at putting the history of Elon into context of what was going on in North Carolina and the United States, really bringing the history to life,” Special Collections Librarian and Archivist Katie Nash said. “His book will make a huge impact at Elon, because the book will not only be visually stimulating... the text to go along with each picture will be most intriguing.” Troxler wants his book to be something you place on your coffee table and say, “That’s where I went to school.” As a leader, Troxler said he strives to be inclusive, leads by consensus and gets everyone on board. Those qualities were especially evident when he ran convocation and commencement for many years. In order for those events to run smoothly, each individual’s help is crucial, from the students who carry gonfalons to the workers who set up the stage and chairs. Though he has been around Elon for more than four decades, Troxler considers himself to be the new kid on the block compared to the historical expertise of Nash and Dr. Earl Danieley. He knows the past 40 years best, he said, but a fun field trip for him is down the hall of second-floor Belk to visit Nash in the archives to get some answers about years beyond. Nash will have the photos, documents and answers he’s seeking, Troxler said. “It takes the historian and the archivist working together to do it,” he said. Nash, on the other hand, considers it an honor and privilege to be working with the new kid on the block. “It is nice to work so closely with someone who actually benefits from the organized collections, [and someone who] also can give me helpful insight on how to either rearrange some things or arrange them differently in the future in order to maximize the benefit for the end user,” Nash said. “George has a great sense of humor and is one of the kindest people I know, so we have had a good time learning about different aspects of Elon’s history.” Troxler said it is nice at this stage in his career to look back and see what has happened during his time here. Everything Troxler has accomplished as Dean of Cultural and Special Programs is because he has had tremendous support, he said. He enjoyed Elon in 1969, but now the students and the institution are even better. Every program Elon holds and every event it sponsors is carried out with care and diligence to ensure it is special, memorable and different from anything else, he said. For decades, Troxler was the man quietly spearheading it all. For now, he is the man sifting through yellowed pages and photographs, and wading among shelves of books to document it all. Story By Ashley Barnas GET TO KNOW George Troxler Arrived at Elon in 1969 Favorite campus visitors: - The three former presidents who visited Elon: Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush - Archbishop Desmond Tutu - John Glenn - David Halvetson LIVING, PRESERVING ELON’S HISTORY 25 // e Legacies of Elon’s Leaders
