79 // � e Legacies of Elon’s Leaders

Tom Nelson

PHOTO BY JUSTINE SCHULERUD

� e Legacies of Elon’s Leaders // 80P

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Tom NelsonPeople fall in love, fall into place and, in the case

of Tom Nelson, fall into a job. Nelson was driving from Florida to Connecticut over Spring Break when he got off I85-N at Huffman Mill to eat at Ruby Tuesday. While on his way to eat, he saw a sign for Elon University.

“I saw the sign and ended up at Sidetrack,” Nelson said. “I looked around campus and it was a pretty place. I wrote to the head of the journalism program and got a job.”

Nelson attended Boston College where he got a bachelor’s degree in history, and then he went to Syracuse University where he got a master’s degree in radio, television and fi lm. He was working as a television news reporter, when he fell into another opportunity.

“Becoming a teacher was all accident,” Nelson said. “I was a news reporter and was changing planes when I saw an advertisement that said a school needed a professor because the previous professor, Richard Bond, died.”

Nelson said he was drawn to Elon University originally because it reminded him of his undergraduate experience at Boston College. Over time, he has found a new appreciation for Elon.

“Students have become much more sophisticated,” Nelson said. “They are much more applied, serious and focused in general.”

Nelson feels that in order to be a good leader, one must have the proper mix of physical and spiritual.

“There are exceptions to the rule where people who are not impressive physical specimens make excellent leaders,” Nelson said. “But the spiritual element needs to be there. A good leader understands what moves people forward – it’s not just chemicals, but also

ideals. It is not enough to say to a bunch of guys on a landing craft ‘kill, or they will,’ you need to tell them to kill for a higher purpose.”

Over the years, Nelson’s perception of a leader has changed. He said that early on he felt leadership was strictly a matter of personality. Now, he sees that personality is a superfi cial trait.

“This is cliché, but when I was growing up I admired the leadership of President Kennedy,” Nelson said. “We were young and he was cool. It was America. He was all personality. But Washington was a remote man, but he was a leader.”

Nelson said he continues teaching because he thinks people are funny. He enjoys coming to work each day to interact with the students. Every student stands out for some reason. Nelson stands out for students as well.

“He’s provided a good mix of classroom and life skills,” said junior Lindsay Humbert. “He’s also not shy with sharing stories, either current or oldies. It’s nice to have a teacher not be afraid to show his or her human side, too. He gets that his students are people.”

Nelson has also been working on a project outside of the classroom. He recently fi nished creating a project called “Prisoners of Plenty.” It is about German military members captured during World War II who were sent to a prisoner’s camp in Kansas.

His work refl ects what he teaches in the classroom—this is a globalized world where everyone is connected.

“I think just as the citizen needs spirituality to feel the connection to the oversoul, so too does the citizen need globalization to feel the connection to the body politic,” Nelson said.

Story By Rebecca Smith

THE BODY, THE SOUL AND ODD CHANCE

PHOTO BY JUSTINE SCHULERUD

GET TO KNOWTom Nelson

Arrived at Elon in 1996