9 // � e Legacies of Elon’s Leaders

Barry BradberryPHOTO BY JUSTINE SCHULERUD

� e Legacies of Elon’s Leaders // 10P

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A promising career lay before Barry Bradberry when he fi rst arrived in Elon, NC working for a congressman as a campaign worker. But that career was not in politics.

Bradberry met Dean of Admissions Marydell Bright at an alumni event, and she asked him to do a little work in admissions.

“I was going to work from September to Christmas and then go back to the Virginia House of Delegates and work for another delegate,” Bradberry said. “The president at the time was Fred Young. He said, ‘You’re doing a pretty decent job. Why don’t you stay here a year?’ Stayed a year. After that, I knew I was home.”

He put down the campaign stickers and picked up admissions brochures. It has been 35 years since then.

“I’ve really been a part of three universities,” he said. “Every 10 years, the place changes.”

The “good ole days” are now, Bradberry said. Twenty-fi ve to 30 years ago, Elon was a person’s fi rst shot at college. If they were unable to get into major universities, they came here for a semester and ended up staying all four years.

“Being here 35 years, I can honestly say that there isn’t one person who I’ve worked with that I wouldn’t work with again,” he said.

During his decades here, Bradberry has played witness to “The Elon Way”: You do what you need to do to get the job done and put students fi rst.

“A statistic never paid a dime of tuition,” he said. “You can run all these numbers by, but you’re dealing with real people and real needs.”

Bradberry said he’s always been able to sleep at night because he has never had to oversell Elon.

“We have to have enrollment, but my job has never been directed to numbers,” he said. “You can’t be all things to

all people. If we don’t have the program, we don’t have the program.”

Elon respects the past but can see the future, Bradberry said, and with only eight presidents in the institution’s history, an unheard of legacy of sustained leadership is in existence here.

Bradberry considers himself to be a second-in-command kind of guy, though he doesn’t shortchange himself with that title because there’s always a need for that runner-up.

“I probably fail more than anyone at Elon,” he said. “I’ve learned from every one of my mistakes, and there’s a reason for everything happening in life and at Elon.”

Bradberry calls his leadership style unconventional. He seeks to ensure certain things are done correctly, and he wants to make sure people are treated as they should. He acknowledges not everything that goes wrong can be fi xed, and not everyone can be made happy. But we can carry out simple acts of courtesy and kindness.

“I have so many things in my life that I cannot put a dollar value on,” he said. “My opportunity to work here, my family and my friends and Elon as a whole – I can’t out a dollar value on it. It’s priceless.”

Bradberry came very close to not attending college because of his obsession for cars. But he resisted the urge and became the fi rst person in his family to attend college.

“Nobody ever tells their parents when they are younger that they want to be an admissions counselor,” he said. “We just ride around and say hi to people. I have a gift of gab. I enjoy what I do and I love the students here. …I want to make sure every part of this university is successful. Whatever admissions can do to make others successful is what we’re all about.”

Story By Jack Rodenfels & Ashley Barnas

MISTAKES MAKE THE MAN, EMBRACE THEM

PHOTO BY JUSTINE SCHULERUD

GET TO KNOWBarry Bradberry

Arrived at Elon in 1975

Bradberry loves buyingjunk and fi xing things up

Favorite car: Mustang, American muscle