B. Grant Hayes, PhD, Distinguished Professor

Interim Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

The sun glistens on my desk as I compose this month's message and ponder the thought that it’s time to look beyond the Horizon. As Chancellor-elect Rogers takes ECU into a new era, I am very optimistic for the future of our university. Like many of you, I’ve been in academia for many years, and I’ve come to realize that higher education is always evolving. In order for us to thrive after this pandemic, it’s crucial for us to acknowledge the lessons brought on by the past year. As we continue to plan for the future, how might we incorporate the lessons we learned in dealing with COVID-19 in the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, and public service? An important question, I think.

Over the past several months, futuristic trends have already emerged in our work and have been accelerated by the pandemic. I see this as our moment. You – as faculty, staff, and administrators – play a critical role in advancing solutions to our most urgent challenges. You have the knowledge, expertise and passion to create a sustainable future together thorough an innovative, shared vision. Chancellor-elect Rogers mentioned in his remarks to campus that we must be innovation-driven, and I agree. I know that your creative ideas, however big or small, will be critical for us moving forward together in our changing university.

Change is inevitable, and we must pursue bold and innovative approaches to future directions and strategies. We must be forward-thinking and harness our intellectual strengths and research to engage in collaborative and interdisciplinary work that improves the quality of life, education and health for the many individuals in our community, the region, and beyond. They are counting on ECU, and we will deliver as we have for more than a century. We have work to do – let’s keep going!

Thank you so much for all you are doing. I am grateful to every single one of you.

My best,

Grant

BY THE NUMBERS

PIRATE ACADEMIC SUCCESS CENTER

PASC Partnerships Support Academic Success

Student success happens when partnerships among departments and colleagues are cultivated. In the last few months, campus collaborations with Campus Living, Academic Advising, and Faculty have played an important role in keeping academic support services relevant for ECU students learning in a COVID campus environment.

• Referring At-Risk Students: Residence hall coordinators and academic advisors are referring students with academic concerns to the PASC for staff follow-up. Similarly, any student identified by faculty with Starfish flags are contacted to encourage usage of PASC services. Essential to supporting student success, campus partners can refer at-risk students using Student Referral Form for PASC Services. All students will be contacted by phone and email within 2 business days following the receipt of the referral.
• Connect for Success Call Center: Prioritizing outreach to on campus students, peer success navigators engage with residence hall students on a bi-weekly basis throughout the semester. Playing an instrumental role, Campus Living’s Mike Perry assists in collecting accurate cell phone numbers for call center lists. Extending call center activities to tutoring services, students also receive personalized text messages informing them of specific course supports and facilitating easy appointment scheduling.
• Alumni Career Panels: In collaboration with Preprofessional Advising (Elizabeth McAllister), Chemistry Department (Lisa Bennett), and Nursing Advising (Abby Paul), PASC alumni have shared their career expertise and experiences with current ECU students. Hosted every Wednesday night in February, over 150 students have participated.
• Admissions: PASC has been a stop for in-person campus tours since November 2020. Working collaboratively with Stephanie Whaley and Robert Olewine, PASC will host Admissions nights in March and April for admitted students and parents. Sessions will focus on academic success services for incoming students and learning community supports for neurodiverse students.
• Special Populations Support: Gear Up NC and Biology’s Primer grant (Dr. Heather Vance Chalcraft) are two examples of extended support services for specific student groups. Faculty and staff who wish to establish academic supports for a specific student group are encouraged to contact Elizabeth Coghill at coghille@ecu.edu.

Special Recognition

Elizabeth Coghill, Director of the Pirate Academic Success Center, has been awarded a Level 4 Lifetime Certification by the National College Learning Center Association (NCLCA), as part of NCLCA's Learning Center Leadership Certification Program. This certification exemplifies a commitment to excellence in learning assistance.

OFFICE OF GLOBAL AFFAIRS

The Fourth Annual International Achievement Awards were announced on February 22nd. This year, in lieu of an award ceremony, the Office of Global Affairs teamed with University Communications to spotlight the accomplishments of three faculty and two international student winners.

• Dr. Stacy Warner, from the Department of Kinesiology in the College of Health and Human Performance, received the Award for Achievement in International Teaching. Dr. Warner has been organizing study abroad opportunities for her students at ECU since her arrival in 2010, most recently focusing on sport and social change in the context of Australia and New Zealand.
• Dr. Borim Song, from the School of Art & Design in the College of Fine Arts and Communication, received the Award for Achievement in International Research and Creative Activity for her research on intercultural and cross-cultural art education practices and the introduction of contemporary East Asian artists in American K-12 art classrooms.
• Dr. Priti Desai, from the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences in the College of Health and Human Performance, received the Award for Achievement in International Service and Engagement for a career of volunteering, mentoring and training, in the areas of child life and psychosocial care on nearly every continent.

Two international students received $500 scholarships for their academic accomplishments and their commitment to serve the Eastern North Carolina region.

• The International Graduate Student Award went to Annija Veinsteina from Latvia who, in addition to making progress on her MBA, has contributed over 600 hours of community service to the Greenville community for such causes as Rise Against Hunger, Aces for Autism and local food banks and humane societies.
• Faisal Abouelhassan from Qatar is a business administration student with a concentration in finance and a minor in political science. Faisal has maintained superior academic marks while serving as treasurer of ECU’s Model United Nations Club and in the Arab Student Union. He has also contributed to the local community by volunteering with the Rise Against Hunger campaign in Greenville.
• Contributions to the International Student Scholarship Fund can be made through the Global Affairs Advancement portal.

In addition to the faculty and international student awards, 72 ECU students also received study abroad scholarships through the Thomas W. Rivers Foreign Exchange Scholarship Fund this year. In total, over $99,000 in scholarships were awarded, bringing the four-year total to $575,000 in university-level study abroad scholarships. To provide flexibility in the wake of the ongoing pandemic, this year’s awards can be used through July 2022.

• Contributions to study abroad scholarships can be made through the Global Affairs Advancement portal.

Special thanks to Dr. Mark Johnson for organizing last month’s International Student Writers Colloquium. The colloquium, sponsored by the Office of Global Affairs and the Graduate School, featured four nationally prominent educators and researchers in second language acquisition. Over sixty professors and administrators from across the UNC system attended the two-day workshop. Resources from the colloquium will be available from the University Writing Center for faculty who are interested in improving their mentorship of international student writers.

Upcoming Programming

Financial Planning Workshop: Thursday, March 4th at 3:00 PM on Webex.

Finances can be intimidating when students are thinking of studying abroad. Join us for this financial planning workshop to learn how to budget expenses for your time abroad!

Africa Faculty Interest Group: Monday, March 8th at 3:00 PM on Teams.

Featured presentation from Trenton Zylstra, who shares his research on Gambian watercraft.

Latin America and the Caribbean Faculty Interest Group: Thursday, March 11th at 4:00 PM on Teams.

Featured presentation on the Fulbright Program from ECU’s Fulbright alumni and advisors.

International Coffee Hour: Dinner with the Dean. Friday, March 12th at 3:00 PM on Webex.

Join Dean Gemperline as he showcases his cooking skills while answering questions about graduate school. All are welcome!

International Coffee Hour: Money Management. Friday, March 19th at 3:00 PM on Webex.

Join us for money management tips and cultural etiquette surrounding cash, tipping and payment. Designed for international students and students traveling abroad, but all are welcome!

OFFICE FOR EQUITY & DIVERSITY

Diversity and Inclusion Research and Scholarship (DIRS) Program - 2021 – 2022 Internal Seed Grant Opportunity

The Office for Equity and Diversity is pleased to announce that the Diversity and Inclusion Research and Scholarship (DIRS) Program for 2021 – 2022 is now accepting applications. Application Due Date: April 5, 2021 (by midnight)

The DIRS Program is a faculty development and seed grant program that provides funds to departments with faculty who engage in research projects related to diversity, equity, inclusion and/or cultural competence. Faculty members may apply for financial assistance for either diversity-related research expenses and/or reassignment from teaching assignments for up to one academic year.

In addition to the regular request for applications, there is a special DIRS topic for 2021: Advancing Equity through Transformational and Systemic Change. To support ECU’s ongoing efforts to address equity gaps in faculty, staff, and student access and success, the Office for Equity and Diversity is inviting DIRS proposals from research teams with an aim of understanding and ameliorating socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, sex and/or gender inequities. Research teams may propose projects involving active collaboration between academic and support units.

Interested faculty must apply via a Qualtrics survey, and applications must include:

1. two-page vita;
2. statement of support from the unit Chair;
3. detailed description of the research project's objective, outcomes, and timeline; and a
4. data-informed approach, including one or more findings related to climate surveys, institutional equity data, or statistics.

Please visit the following links for more information, DIRS Website and DIRS Program Application.

OFFICE OF RESEARCH, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & ENGAGEMENT

2021 Research & Scholarship Awards

East Carolina University faculty will be honored Tuesday, March 2, at 5 p.m. at the university’s fifth annual Research & Scholarship Awards ceremony. A pair of Five-Year Research & Creative Activity Award winners will be recognized at the event, along with outstanding researchers and artists in each ECU college and school. Additionally, the event honors faculty inventors that were awarded patents in 2020 and the 2020-21 Engagement and Outreach Scholars Academy cohort for their community engagement efforts over the past year. Learn more about the award winners online and attend the event using the following link.

2021-22 EOSA Cohort Announced

The Office of Community Engagement and Research announced its latest cohort for the 2021-22 Engagement and Outreach Scholars Academy last month. Twelve faculty members were selected from five colleges for the cohort. EOSA is a national model for engaged scholarship, providing professional development and project support for research that connect campus with eastern North Carolina communities. Faculty selected to the program participate workshops and develop a research project with graduate and undergraduate students in partnership with a community organization. These projects result in a culture of partnership, reciprocity and high-quality scholarship. Learn more about the program online.

2021-22 EOSA Cohort Members

• Natasha Bell, College of Engineering and Technology
• Rachel Gittman, Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences
• Jarvis Hargrove, Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences
• Jennifer Hodgson, College of Health and Human Promotion
• Laura Levi Altstaedter, Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences
• Amy McMillan, College of Business
• Angela Novak, College of Education
• Ciprian Popoviciu, College of Engineering and Technology
• Joseph Reid, College of Business
• Rita Soulen, College of Education
• Scott Walfied, Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences
• Emily Yeager, College of Health and Human Promotion

North Carolina Research Data Available

In support of ECU’s mission to serve rural communities, REDE has undertaken the development of an interactive data database for ECU faculty and students focusing on eastern North Carolina. Database topics include data sets related to agriculture, demographics, economics, education, employment, housing, and public health. This on-going project is designed to provide researchers with a broad suite of regionally-specific data at the eastern North Carolina county level, state level and national level. Access the data online through the DRIVE East Data website.

PIRATE NATION GIVES

Pirate Nation Gives is coming on March 17! Our fifth annual day of giving is a 24-hour online fundraising event that brings the ECU community together to engage with and give back to the university we love. When Pirate Nation comes together, we accomplish great things. Supporting ECU on Pirate Nation Gives is a way for us all to show how Pirates care and Pirates share. Every gift advances ECU's mission of service and makes a difference. Learn more HERE.

COLLEGE UPDATES

COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES

ECU English alumna Cecilia Shelton (PhD, ‘19), now an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, has been selected as the recipient of the 2021 Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) Outstanding Dissertation Award in Technical Communication for her project “On Edge: A Techné of Marginality.” This prestigious national award is a credit to Shelton’s important work and to the excellent mentoring she received in ECU’s PhD program in Rhetoric, Writing, and Professional Communication. This is the second year in a row that an ECU RWPC alumna has received this award; Temptaous Mckoy received it in 2020. View Shelton’s dissertation online.

Alecia Hatcher (English Rhetoric, Writing, and Professional Communication PhD student) has accepted an offer to join the faculty of the University of Scranton as a tenure-track assistant professor. Hatcher will be part of a cluster of new faculty building a minor in Black Studies.

New Online MS in Planning and Development

The Board of Governors recently approved the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment’s request to establish an MS degree in Planning and Development.

“We’re very excited to be able to offer a new online master’s degree in planning and development. The program builds on our BS in Community and Regional Planning [formerly known as the BS in Urban and Regional Planning], the only accredited undergraduate planning program in North Carolina,” said Dean of Graduate Studies Dr. Paul Gemperline.

The program will offer students three areas of emphases, including coastal/environmental planning, rural/regional planning, and urban/community planning. All three fit well with ECU’s mission of public service and regional transformation, and “will meet the needs of working professionals who seek to advance their career,” said Gemperline.

ECU hosts Hostile Terrain 94, highlighting humanitarian crisis at U.S., Mexico border

East Carolina University is co-hosting Hostile Terrain 94, a set of global events occurring in more than 150 cities that illuminate the humanitarian crisis occurring at the United States and Mexico border. The events are a participatory art project supported and organized by the Undocumented Migration Project, a nonprofit arts-education-research collective aiming to humanize the migrant experience. ECU events run through September 1 and are co-sponsored by the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Anthropology, and partially funded by the North Carolina Humanities Council. For more information and to register for any of ECU’s virtual events, visit the university’s Hostile Terrain 94 website.

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

International Partnership

Students and Faculty from the School of Hospitality Leadership‘s Dimensions of Tourism course recently partnered with their counterparts from the Dominican Republic’s Iberoamerican University. The course, held virtually with daily live videoconferencing, compared and contrasted tourism issues and tourist attractions. Since 2013, more than 250 students have conducted projects with students representing more than 40 institutions from approximately 25 countries. For more information, please click here.

Pirate Entrepreneurship Challenge

The second round of this year’s Pirate Entrepreneurship Challenge (PEC) is complete, and six teams will move on to the final round, scheduled for April 8, 2021.

Held virtually Jan. 27, 20 teams vied for six spots and a shot at winning almost $150,000 in cash and in-kind prizes. Each team submitted a three to five minute video, which was reviewed by a panel of five judges before the second-round virtual event.

PEC finalists moving on to the third round can be found below, along with their mentors/judges.

• Campus Hub (higher ed smartphone app) – Dr. Jay Golden, ECU Entrepreneur in Residence
• Tracks Golf (trackable golf balls) – Dennis Tracz, director, Accelerate Rural NC
• InHouse Call (communications tool) – Ryan Butcher, serial entrepreneur
• Colorful Desires (minority business platform) – Dana Newell, founder, Benton Newell Communications
• Alinement Dancewear (dance clothing) – Hallie Hawkins, business counselor, SBTDC
• Booze Juice (alcoholic juice box) – Miller School of Entrepreneurship

For more information about the PEC’s second round, click here.

Virtual Career Fair

The School of Hospitality Leadership recently hosted its first virtual career fair on the Handshake platform. Working with the COB Career Center, SHL set up the fair that provided 28 employers access to more than 100 future leaders in the hospitality management industry. A resume book of all registered students was sent to each employer, which led to each student averaging more than three interactions with individual employers. Participating companies represented North Carolina, Washington, Illinois, Ohio, Virginia and South Carolina. Students had a chance to participate in information-sharing sessions in either a group setting or in one-on-one meetings. To prepare for those one-on-one meetings, SHL hosted a series of practice interviews before the fair that featured SHL’s advisory council members conducting interviews. For more information, click here.

Bilateral Agreement

The College of Business (COB) has established its second bilateral agreement. The most recent agreement is with Pitt Community College, which allows students who complete the Associate in Applied Science (AAS) – General Business Administration to transfer seamlessly into the BSBA program at ECU. Last year, the COB entered into a similar agreement with Lenoir Community College.

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Ashley Ruzick, a College of Education alternative licensure student, won the “2021 Teaching Team to Watch” award from the North Carolina Association for Middle Level Education. She received this award as part of a team of three teachers. Learn more.

Library Science student Carrie Watson was recently published in the journal “Public Services Quarterly” as part of the journal’s column “Future Voices in Public Services.” Carrie discussed how more research is needed on data usage at smaller academic libraries to better serve their faculty, students and host institutions. Learn more.

Department of Educational Leadership student Rodney McNeill was featured as COE’s student of the month. McNeill is pursuing his Doctor of Educational Leadership (EdD). He is working on a dissertation on undocumented students and their access to higher education. Learn more about McNeill.

Dr. Crystal Chambers was highlighted as the COE Faculty Profile for February. Dr. Chambers is passionate about higher education and the college choice of rural students. She is also a part of THRIVE@ECU. Learn more about Dr. Chambers.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

East Carolina University has received a nearly $1.9 million grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation for the creation of a pharmaceutical manufacturing training center. The Eastern Region Pharma Center is designed to teach students and pharmaceutical employees advanced manufacturing techniques and address a need for pharmaceutical workers with four-year college degrees in an area known as the BioPharma Crescent, which includes Pitt, Johnston, Wilson, Nash and Edgecombe counties in eastern North Carolina. The project will initially draw on faculty expertise from the departments of engineering, technology systems and chemistry — and later from the colleges of business and education. Dr. Harry Ploehn, dean of the College of Engineering and Technology and leader of the project, said the center brings ECU and regional assets together to recruit students to lucrative careers in the pharmaceutical industry and train workers, thus growing and retaining a needed workforce that will also benefit the region’s economy.

Dr. George Wang, professor and chair of the Department of Construction Management, has been named the first Gregory Poole Equipment Company Distinguished Professor at East Carolina University. The regional construction and industrial equipment dealer began building an endowment to recognize an ECU construction management professor in 2012, and this is the first year the honor has been bestowed. Wang has been teaching at ECU since 2007 after spending a dozen years working in industry.

Dr. Tarek Abdel-Salam, associate dean for research and director for the Center for Sustainable Energy and Environmental Engineering, has been elected to leadership roles in two international organizations. He will serve as the vice chair for operations of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Terrestrial Energy Systems Technical Committee for 2021-23. AIAA is the world’s largest aerospace technical society with nearly 30,000 members and 95 corporate members from 85 countries. He was also elected to serve as the 2021 chair of the Sustainable Development Committee of the Society of Automotive Engineers International, a global organization of more than 128,000 engineers and technical experts in the aerospace, automotive and commercial-vehicle industries.

Three faculty members in the Department of Engineering recently passed the prestigious Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) exam, including the first female professor in the department to do so. Drs. Natasha Bell, Shanyue Guan and Surganga Gunerathne join the ranks of four others in the department with their PEs, including Drs. Randall Etheridge, Hayden Griffin Jr., Ed Howard and John Reis. Administered through the National Council of Examiners for Engineers, the advanced professional licensure exam tests competency in various engineering disciplines.

COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS & COMMUNICATION

Vidant Health and ECU’s Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival have partnered to provide live music performances for community members receiving their COVID-19 vaccine at the Vidant/Pitt County large-scale vaccine clinic at the Greenville Convention Center. The live performances include vibrant classical music aimed at creating an atmosphere of beauty for those receiving their vaccine. “I am very proud to have this wonderful partnership with Vidant,” said Four Seasons Artistic Director Ara Gregorian. “Four Seasons is committed to bringing great music and musicians to as many people as possible and I can think of no better way to do this during the pandemic than bringing musicians from around the world to regularly perform at the large-scale vaccine clinic.” In other news, the Festival partnered with the Concert Truck to create and produce a children’s series supporting the building blocks of music. Four episodes (Rhythm, Melody, Harmony and Story Telling) have been distributed statewide to elementa¬ry school teachers, with more than 40,000 children served to date.

Cynthia Bickley-Green’s (art education) painting “Sound/COVID-19” adorns the cover of the latest edition of the North Carolina Literary Review.

Virginia D. Driscoll (music therapy) serves as the Editor of Book Reviews for the open access journal Dialogues in Music Therapy Education. The journal highlights critical conversations and innovations in music therapy education and clinical training through the dissemination of creative and scholarly works. The journal centers the voices of formal and informal educators, students and those whose perspectives have historically been marginalized. The first issue was published in December.

At the North Carolina Cultural Arts Live Conference in December, School of Theatre and Dance Director Jayme Host presented “Teaching Environmental Literacy through Dance” and Patch Clark (theatre for youth/theatre education) presented “The Virtual Staging of A Woman Called Truth: The Journey, History and Impact of Sojourner Truth.”

Keiko Sekino (piano) served as a panelist at the Southeast Regional Conference of the Association for Asian Studies in a session titled “Traditions of Nōgaku Theater in Western Art Music and Opera,” hosted virtually by the Carolina Asia Center at UNC-Chapel Hill.

The University of Utah will host Jessica Teague (ballet) as an expert panelist discussing “Post-Neoclassical Ballet: Linages and Lines of Flight” on March 2.

Andrea VanDeusen (music education) published “You want to build a wall?: politics in the music classroom” in Arts Education Policy Review. She has work in press with Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education entitled “Revealing whiteness in preservice music teacher preparation.”

Cynthia L. Wagoner’s (music education) “Integrating Literacy within the Performance Classroom” appeared in the Music Educators Journal in June 2020. “Preservice Music Teacher Identity Construction Through Metaphor” was published in December in the Journal of Music Teacher Education.

The College of Fine Arts and Communication Access, Belonging, Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (ABIDE) committee awarded funds to Jessica Teague (dance) to support guest artists and teachers in a World Dance course offered this semester. ABIDE supported Patch Clark’s (theatre for youth/theatre education) proposal entitled “Inclusive Storybook Theatre,” which will support the interpretation and performance of children’s books that focus on diversity, inclusion and building caring communities. Additional awardees include Cynthia Bickley-Green (art education), Catherine Garner (collaborative piano), Dan Shirley (voice) and Borim Song (art education).

Jennifer Love Gironda (BFA ’01, MAEd ’09) received the Liman Award for Excellence in Arts Education from the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, Florida. The educator was also recognized as her school’s Teacher of the Year.

Christopher Short (BM ’19) and Andrew Whitlow (MM ’19) have launched a professional vocal ensemble and service organization named Servire. Their mission is to bring a helping hand to organizations and communities in need. Learn more HERE.

COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN PERFORMANCE

Congratulations to Paul DeVita, kinesiology professor and director of ECU’s Biomechanics Lab, whose osteoarthritis work with colleagues at Wake Forest University, Vanderbilt University, Boston University, UNC School of Medicine, University of Sydney and The University of Melbourne was published in February in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The research, titled “Effect of high-intensity strength training on knee pain and knee joint compressive forces among adults with knee osteoarthritis. The START randomized clinical trial,” can be found online HERE.

Congratulations to Stacy Warner, professor in the Department of Kinesiology, and Priti Desai, associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science, who received 2021 ECU International Awards. Dr. Warner received the International Teaching award; Dr. Desai received the International Service and Engagement award.

Thank you to all who joined us for the Aging Well Together Documentary Film Festival last month! If you missed any of the film discussions, you can catch them HERE.

HONORS COLLEGE

Honors College students have built a partnership with the ECU Community School. One of the first ideas they have implemented are weekly art sessions. Learn more about this partnership.

Find Your Voice, an Honors College group focusing on sexual assault advocacy, is creating a virtual art gallery “Love Shouldn’t Hurt.” The gallery is centered around interpersonal abuse, violence and manipulation and will premiere in March. Learn more.

Honors College senior Tiana Washington has fully embraced ECU’s motto of servire from her work at the Third Street Education Center and READ ENC to her participation in the Books that Embrace Race fundraiser and Student Perspectives magazine. Learn more about how Tiana is a change maker here.

A group of ECU Honors students is hoping to help solve climate change one piece of fruit at a time. The Edible Landscape initiative is an opportunity for students, faculty, staff, parents and community members to enjoy the fruits of their labor by creating an orchard on campus. Learn more.

Five Honors College students received the 2021 Robert H. Wright Alumni Leadership Award. Victoria Chan is a double major in public health studies and psychology with a minor in composite natural science. Adam Butler is a public health studies major with minors in composite natural science and mathematics. Dana Shefet is a public health studies major with minors in nutrition, composite natural science and mathematics. William Guiler is a double major in psychology and multidisciplinary studies – neuroscience. Jamie Chamberlin is a double major in chemistry and biochemistry. Victoria, Dana and Jamie are also EC Scholars.

The Honors College welcomed 57 candidates to a virtual Selection Sunday on February 14. This year, the college used Cadence, a virtual event platform, to host the event. Finalists participated in interviews, viewed student showcases and listened to panel discussions. They were also able to interact with current EC Scholars and alumni in one-on-one and group discussions. Learn more about this year’s finalists here.

INTEGRATED COASTAL PROGRAMS

The third installment of the Coastal Studies Institute’s Meet the Scientist was held on February 25, 2021. The episode was streamed live via Youtube and featured Dr. Lindsay Dubbs (CSI, UNC-CH) who shared her perspectives as a biogeochemist and ecosystem ecologist for CSI and the ecosystem characterization work that she has conducted in the Gulf Stream for the North Carolina Renewable Ocean Energy Program (NCROEP).

Dr. Kimberly Rogers (Dept. of Coastal Studies; DCS) chaired a session at the seventh annual Gobeshona Global Conference, hosted online by the International Center for Climate Change and Development in Bangladesh. Gobeshona means "Research" in Bangla, and the annual conference series centers on "actionable research" that can inform climate actions and effective policies for supporting vulnerable communities. This year's conference theme was "locally-led adaptation". The session was convened with colleagues at the International Research Institute and Wageningen University focused on creating a research showcase for early-career STEM faculty, particularly women, from regional universities in coastal Bangladesh. The session brought young scientists from Bangladesh and other least-developed countries who are conducting place-based research, but who may be overlooked in national-level policy discussions regarding local-level climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, together with global researchers and policy makers to the facilitate the establishment of an "Emerging Science Leaders Network". The session highlighted the importance of engaging with faculty at local universities to ensure that successful adaptation to coastal change requires bottom-up, locally-led applied research and inclusion of local voices.

Dr. Mike O’Driscoll (DCS), Charlie Humphrey (Env. Health Sciences), and John McCord (Coastal Studies Institute), recently began a project with TetraTech Engineering to provide research support to develop the Nags Head Decentralized Wastewater Management Plan. The project will include an evaluation of the influence of rising groundwater levels and coastal storms on their decentralized wastewater infrastructure, assessment of future management options, and the development of a community engagement program.

Dr. David Lagomasino (DCS) is a co-author of a recent publication in Geophysical Research Letters. The paper, entitled Space‐Borne Cloud‐Native Satellite‐Derived Bathymetry (SDB) Models Using ICESat‐2 And Sentinel‐2, notes that regular monitoring of coastal bathymetry is critical for maintaining a strong coastal economy (see image of bathymetry of nearshore Bermuda). This information provides important insights into beach processes, navigation, and storm impacts. Though satellites have been used to model the seafloor bathymetry in coastal waters, sonar data collected from ships are still needed to ensure its accuracy. This study is one of the first of its kind to create and validate these models using only satellite data. We used a combination of new European (Sentinel-2) and US (ICESt-2) satellites to overcome the challenges of collecting sonar data. The combination of satellite imagery and space lasers we were able to estimate coastal bathymetry across Biscayne Bay (Florida), Crete, and the island nation of Bermuda. The techniques work best for clear and shallow water, but we are expanding on this work to test its ability darker waters.

Dr. Reide Corbett (DCS) recently published two papers with co-authors from several institutions across the U.S., U.K., Australia, Hog King and Singapore. In the first paper, entitled Pollen Geochronology from the Atlantic Coast of the United States during the Last 500 Years and published in Water, we combine new and published pollen data from eight coastal wetlands (salt marshes and mangroves) along the Atlantic Coast of the United States (U.S.) from Florida to Connecticut to define the age and uncertainty of 17 pollen chronohorizons. We found that 13 out of 17 pollen chronohorizons were consistent when compared to other age markers (radiocarbon, radionuclide 137Cs and pollution markers). This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of pollen geochronology to improve the robustness of the age–depth model.

The second paper, entitled The geomorphic impact of mangrove encroachment in an Australian salt marsh and published in Estuarine, Coastal, and Shelf Science, focuses on the challenge of mangroves encroaching into salt marshes throughout the world as a result of environmental change. We found that salt marshes and mangroves have equivalent sediment trapping efficiencies along the wetland edge and suggests that a relatively narrow zone of mangroves does not impact salt marsh accretion, and activities that limit mangrove encroachment into salt marsh, such as removal of seedlings, will not improve the capacity of salt marsh to trap sediments.

Dr. Corbett was recently featured in the OBX Voice as part of a new series focused on helping the community get to know some of the local leaders. Corbett, Executive Director of the Coastal Studies Institute, was interviewed by the local paper to give a personal touch to who he is and how he ended up at CSI and interest in the area.

The second annual ECU Semester Experience at the Coast is well underway on the ECU Outer Banks Campus, and sixteen students interested in coastal studies have swapped Greenville for Roanoke Island this spring. The semester-long undergraduate residential program features six different courses that give the students opportunities to learn about coastal resources, sciences, and management through in-person classes and field experiences. The inter-disciplinary courses offerings include the fields of biology, anthropology, geology, oceanography, environmental engineering and art, and are taught by faculty from ECU’s Department of Coastal Studies, Department of Biology and School of Art & Design. Whether in the classroom or out in the field, the Semester Experience at the Coast students are getting great experience that will prepare them for their post-college careers. Stay tuned to the CSI website for more of the students experiences as the semester continues.

ACADEMIC LIBRARY SERVICES

Join the Friends of Joyner Library and the School of Art and Design on March 2 at 3:00, for a virtual celebration of the 13th annual graduate student exhibition and award recipients. This annual exhibition features artwork by current graduate students in the ECU School of Art and Design Master of Fine Arts program. Diverse works included prints, drawings, textile, metal designs, sculpture, photography, ceramics and more. Congratulations to all the artists who entered the exhibit! Join us via WebEx (password: SOADAwards).

The ECU Libraries recently negotiated a new agreement with Elsevier. Read more about it HERE.

Alternative Textbook Program – Call for Applications

Proposals due by March 8, 2021

Joyner Library is seeking applications from ECU faculty to participate in the 2021-2022 Alternative Textbook Program. Ten awards of up to $1,000 each will be awarded. Faculty will be notified by March 22, 2021.

Faculty may select one of two options for this year’s program:

• Option 1 - Traditional Alternative Textbook Program: The traditional Alternative Textbook Program, where faculty switch from a commercial textbook to course materials that are free for students. These materials may include open textbooks, library subscription materials, open educational resources, and other free materials. Extra weight may be given to classes with 100 students or more, general education courses, or distance education courses.
• Option 2 - Alternative Textbook Program: Building more inclusive and/or local course materials. To increase representation and localization within course materials, faculty are asked to create supplemental materials and/or course assignments to accompany their current textbook(s). These supplemental materials should focus on increasing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within course materials. Alternatively, faculty can focus on localizing course materials to North Carolina, eastern North Carolina, or the ECU community. For this option, materials must be openly licensed under an appropriate Creative Commons license to support use by other faculty and instructors. Created materials must be free for students.

Click HERE for more program information and to apply. Questions? Please contact the Scholarly Communication Department at scholarlycomm@ecu.edu.

Gale Digital Scholar Lab will offer a training session for ECU faculty (Thursday, March 4)

As a reminder, thanks to a grant-funded project, ECU now has access to Gale Digital Scholar Lab, an analytics tool that mines text data, requires no coding experience, and is easy to use. For more information about this tool or to R.S.V.P. for the training session taking place on March 4 at 11:00a - 12:00p, please email Cindy Shirkey at shirkeyc@ecu.edu.