Elon Grad Endows Professorship on Family History & Healing

A powerful gift is helping the next generation understand how we heal from history's wounds.

Joan Danieley graduated from Elon University in 1982, and her education there shaped her values around diversity, integrity, and respect. Now retired from a career in healthcare, she has made an estate gift to establish the Joan Danieley Distinguished Professorship, supporting faculty whose work explores family histories and reconciliation.

The professorship will support scholars across multiple disciplines including history, psychology, sociology, and communications. Their research and teaching can explore topics like the legacy of slavery, the aftermath of Nazi Germany, displacement of Native Americans, and today's political divides.

Danieley's passion for this work grew from an unexpected source. Watching PBS's "Finding Your Roots," where Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. explores celebrities' ancestry, she witnessed how discovering family connections to slavery and the Holocaust affected people today. "All these years later, the impact is palpable and the reconciliation continues," she said.

Her own family history mirrors these complexities. Reading a history of Alamance County, she discovered her great-great-grandfather was strongly anti-slavery, while her great-grandmother's family owned many slaves. "We are all a mixture of contradictions upon which we layer the values we choose as our personal values," she reflected.

The Danieley family has deep roots at Elon. Her uncle, J. Earl Danieley, served as the university's sixth president for 16 years and taught there for 70 years total. Known affectionately as "Dr. D," he championed higher education across North Carolina until his passing in 2016.

The Ripple Effect

This professorship creates space for difficult conversations that can transform understanding. Students and faculty will explore how personal and collective histories shape who we are today, building skills in empathy and dialogue that extend far beyond campus.

Provost Rebecca Kohn praised the investment in "life-changing teacher-scholar-mentors" who prepare students for success. The gift demonstrates how philanthropy can advance rigorous scholarship while creating space for courageous conversations communities need.

Danieley hopes her gift will continue the work Elon started in her own life. "It was there that I began to get clarity on my values and the willingness to discuss these complex issues," she said.

Her vision is clear: "Leaving a legacy of love and reconciliation is how I want to be remembered."