MITCHELSON'S MEMO
Charlottesville (VA), Athens (GA), Gainesville (FL), Oxford (MS), Ithaca (NY), Flagstaff (AZ), Boulder (CO), Burlington (VT), Boseman (MT), and others... these cities frequently make the list(s) of great college towns in America and I have visited them all. I lived in Athens (UGA) for nearly 15 years. I want to add Greenville, NC to the list of great college towns, and the sooner that it’s on that list, the better for us all. Make no mistake, ECU’s fortunes are inextricably tied with those of our city’s. Our co-dependence is undeniable.
As I think about the last 20 years that I have resided in Greenville, I am really pleased with what’s happening. ECU is a much better university and Greenville is a much better college town by almost any measure. More importantly, we have rekindled the love affair between the two entities (town/gown) in a very positive way. It’s always nice when there is admiration in a co-dependent relationship. We now have opportunity to co-brand these two entities in ways that have not been accessible in the past. For us, this effort is already paying dividends in student recruitment. Distant high school counselors, parents, and prospective students are clearly impressed with the imagery of Greenville’s urban amenities and its walkability. This past Saturday we shared a new video about Greenville with over 2,500 admitted students and their families.
The city’s development is making our university a better destination for employees and students and we are taking full advantage within our own marketing strategies. Greenville’s Uptown District is particularly important within this evolving relationship. Total investment in Uptown since 2010 surpasses $600 million, and many new projects are planned. It is in all of our best interests to support the ongoing development of Uptown Greenville by loving our city and the Uptown District. ECU has a growing presence in the District with the Registrar’s Office located there (on 5th) and REDE’s relocation from Greenville Center to Uptown scheduled later this year. We all marvel at the velocity of the “Dickinson Redo” and the cool opportunities to play, work, live, and eat. I’m looking forward to being in Uptown for PirateFest on April 12 and 13. I can’t wait to see Tone Loc (think, "Funky Cold Medina") down at the River on Saturday evening. And while we’re at it, don’t forget our second annual GradBash on May 2!
ECU has a bright future and it is comforting to know that it is entwined with Greenville’s. Our growing recognition of that symbiosis over the past few years has been a very important ingredient in our strengthening partnership. You will be hearing of more opportunities for collaboration, but in the interim: love your city!!
Regards,
RonM
UPCOMING EVENTS
Research & Creative Achievement Week begins Monday, April 1. This week-long event provides both undergraduate and graduate students an opportunity to present their research. Students present both poster and oral presentations throughout the week at this conference-style event. Find the schedules for presentations HERE.
On April 4 the Office for Faculty Excellence will be providing an information session titled, "IPAR: Academic Program Review and IPAR Resources." This session will provide a general overview of ECU's Academic Program Review process. Participants will be informed of the major steps in planning and conducting a formal comprehensive review of undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs that do not have external specialized accreditors. Participants will also be introduced to IPAR's APR Dashboard and the ECU Analytics Portal during the session. For more information, please contact Beverly King.
The final Voyages of Discovery Series speaker, Dr. Lisa Randall, will visit campus on April 4. Dr. Lisa Randall is an acclaimed Harvard physicist and author of the book Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs. Randall's studies involve the most fundamental questions about the nature of matter, space and the universe. Her research into extra dimensions of space, particle physics and cosmology has made her one of the most important and cited theoretical physicists today, and she was named one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People." Click HERE to purchase tickets.
Pirates Vs. Cancer will be taking place on Friday, April 5. This is a one-of-a-kind event that is uniting ECU students and staff behind a common goal: empowering children to beat cancer and improving the lives of kids battling deadly cancers right here in eastern North Carolina. Participants from all over ECU will join together to shave their heads, cut their hair and create awareness by standing in solidarity with these brave children. Funds raised will support programs and services for pediatric cancer patients at James and Connie Maynard Children’s Hospital at Vidant Medical Center. For more information, click HERE.
EFFECTIVE INSTITUTIONAL PRACTICE
Check out the new College STAR 3-2-1 Videos (3 UDL principles, 2 minutes, 1 teaching idea) HERE. These short videos are designed to spark teaching ideas, but take only two minutes of your time. Each showcases faculty in a variety of disciplines using instructional practices aligned closely with the principles of Universal Design for Learning. Be in touch with College STAR or the Office for Faculty Excellence if you would like to learn more about an idea in one of the videos - or if you would like to make one. Check out one of the videos with Dr. Lindsay Masland below:
PIRATE ACADEMIC SUCCESS CENTER
The Pirate Academic Success Center (PASC) hosted the “NERD4LIFE” North Carolina Peer Leadership Statewide Conference on Saturday, March 23, 2019. Students and professional staff from learning centers across the state attended the annual, student-led conference. The keynote speaker on Understanding Imposter Phenomenon was Ashley Cleland, Associate Director of ECU’s Women and Gender Office. PASC tutors and mentors presented concurrent sessions in partial fulfillment of College Reading and Learning Association certification levels two and three. PASC student presenters included: Ethan Lazo, Nicholas Lanfranchi, Jacob Hyatt, Anne Creech, Beverly Baker, Elizabeth Boyd, Thais Oliveira, Noah Dove, Joseph Kradel, Joshua Fitzgerald, Godgive Umozurike, Julie Jacobs, Hannah Turner, Jennifer Giacalone, Jordan Campbell, Star Wilson, Morgan Fried, Kelsey Lewis, Ryan Patton and Cameron Smith.
On March 30th, four PASC tutors, Godgive Umozurike, Julie Jacobs, Hannah Turner, and Jennifer Giacalone, traveled to South Carolina’s peer leader statewide conference to present "The Independent Student: A Holistic Approach to Tutoring." PASC students were joined by professional staff members Monique Barrett and Abby Benzinger.
GLOBAL AFFAIRS
The Global BEEHIVE project, sponsored by a US Department of Education Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language grant, welcomed GPE partner institution members to campus over spring break for an intensive five-day workshop. The bees were quite busy as they worked together to develop collaborative Global Virtual Exchange courses in Business and Education. BEEHIVE members included participants from Mexico, Netherlands, China, France, and Chile, along with Drs. Allen Guidry, Amy Swain, and Tope Bello from ECU. The program was facilitated by Drs. Jami Leibowitz, Chris Brighton, and Biwu Yang in the Office of Global Affairs.
Student participation in ECU faculty-led study abroad programming is expected to rise by another 14.6% this summer over last year’s record numbers. Preliminary estimates show 487 participants in 41 faculty-led programs, up from 425 participants in 37 programs last summer. In addition, 12 ECU students are expected to participate in a short-term study abroad program hosted by Shanghai Ocean University - a strong institutional partner.
In January 2019, the Office of Global Affairs began a new initiative for international student recruitment and engagement through International Student Ambassadors. We have eight outstanding international students across all levels of study who stepped up in a volunteer capacity to represent the ECU international student community among their peers and to prospective students. In April they will take an active role in the admission and enrollment process by hosting two virtual events for international students admitted for Fall 2019, to dive deeper into studying at ECU and life outside the classroom.
OFFICE FOR EQUITY & DIVERSITY
The Office for Equity and Diversity is committed to assisting units in recruiting and retaining diverse faculty and staff through a variety of diversity and affirmative action initiatives.
Diversifying East Carolina University’s faculty pipeline with emphasis on groups underrepresented in their field is the primary objective of the Emerging Scholars Symposium, hosted by the Office for Equity and Diversity. The inaugural Symposium was held on March 12-14, 2019 and brought in several advanced doctoral students and post-doctoral scholars to engage with ECU academic leaders, learn about faculty life at ECU, and showcase their research.
In addition to an opening welcome dinner and coffee with the Provost, the Symposium featured a series of workshops and related networking breaks around research support, community engagement, and teaching and student success at ECU and their role in academic success. Participants spent dedicated time with their host departments, meeting with faculty and presenting their research. Tours and panel discussions also provided the scholars with information about the campus and Greenville community.
Participants in the March 2019 Symposium had this to say:
- “this experience was top-notch,”
- “I felt the willingness and support of ECU and the community towards the success and growth of new faculty,” and
- “I was impressed by the opportunity … to build a strong foundation to enhance diversity and student excellence while meeting the mission of ECU. I was equally impressed by the commitment of university leaders and ECU staff to faculty excellence.”
The Office for Equity and Diversity had a great response to our call for applications to participate in the Symposium, and the selection process was very competitive. We plan to host our next Emerging Scholars Symposium in the near future. For more information about the Emerging Scholars Symposium, please contact the Office for Equity and Diversity at oed@ecu.edu or 328-6804.
ACADEMIC OUTREACH, CONTINUING AND DISTANCE EDUCATION
The goal of Testing Services is to provide ECU students with a testing environment that is fair, comfortable and secure. To further reinforce the academic integrity of the examination process, Testing Services added several key features to the ECU Proctoring Center at 1031 W.H. Smith Boulevard and the Testing Center located in Brewster D-102. These enhancements supplement the services provided by the proctoring staff at both testing locations.
A new proctoring software program is being deployed on 100 of the testing stations used to administer computer-based tests. This software will enable proctors to interact with examinees in real time during an exam without disturbing other examinees. The software will also provide the proctoring staff with enhanced abilities to monitor examinees during testing sessions.
To increase the observation coverage of the examination process, 23 additional high-definition cameras are being installed in the testing areas at both testing sites. These cameras will supplement the existing camera monitoring systems at both locations.
Increasing numbers of students are enrolling in DE/Online courses. These additions to the proctoring services provided at both testing sites will ensure the measurement of academic proficiencies of all examinees takes place in an impartial, secure and consistent manner.
RESEARCH, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND ENGAGEMENT
ECU’s second annual Purple and Golden Bus Tour rolled out of Greenville on March 4, making 10 stops in eastern North Carolina while traveling 423 miles over two days. The tour, hosted by REDE, carried nearly 50 ECU faculty researchers and staff leadership across the region. The event is designed to introduce researchers to the culture, geography, heritage, economy and assets of eastern North Carolina. The program encourages partnerships that create long-term benefits for the people and communities of the region. Learn more about the bus tour HERE.
The Office of Research Integrity and Compliance reminds all EHRA employees, regardless of employment status, to complete a Conflict of Interest disclosure at least annually as a condition of employment. The annual disclosure period begins on July 1 and ends on April 30. Annual disclosures must be submitted through the Activities, Interests and Relationships system no later than April 30. Any financial interest in an external entity that is related to your professional employment at ECU should be reported. A financial interest is defined as anything of economic value, including a fiduciary duty with an entity external to the university. Examples include, but are not limited to, positions such as director, officer, partner, consultant or manager of an entity (paid or unpaid); salaries; consulting income; equity interests; honoraria; gifts; loans; and travel payments. In addition to annual disclosures, some activities may necessitate filing a transactional disclosure. At a minimum, these self-initiated disclosures are required for each project funded by a federal sponsor and/or upon acquiring intellectual property rights, but other situations or activities may also require filing a transactional disclosure. Should you have any questions related to disclosing conflicts of interest, please contact the Office of Research Integrity and Compliance at 328-9473 or 744-4140.
REDE is currently recruiting students for internships as part of the university’s RISE29 entrepreneurship program. RISE29 connects small business ideas with regional community need. Fueled by big data analytics, student teams develop and launch microenterprises, strengthen existing businesses with long-term continuity plans, and commercialize new technology that enhances the region. The summer internships begin in May and last through June. Learn more HERE.
The Office of Research Administration has launched Finding Funding, a newsletter dedicated to providing ECU researchers with potential funding opportunities from a wide spectrum of disciplines. Each month, the newsletter provides highlighted funding opportunities, news and notes from funding agencies, upcoming research sessions and events, and a link to funding opportunities by disciplines. Check out past newsletters or sign up for the next Finding Funding by emailing smithmatt17@.ecu.edu.
The Office of Undergraduate Research announced its Undergraduate Mini Awards last week. Undergraduate Research Mini Awards are up to $600 awards made to students in the spring or first summer session to support mentored research projects. Priority is given to students from majors in education, business, communication and the arts, criminal justice and other social science disciplines, humanities, mathematics, and computer science. The following student researchers received UR Mini Awards this spring:
- Melany Contreras, Chemistry/Physics
- Jordan Harris, Nutrition and Dietetics
- Desiree’ Pope, Political Science
- Deena Kayyali, Nutrition and Dietetics
- Katherine Di Filippo, Social Work/Accounting
- Dani Foster, Biochemistry
- Eleanor Chappell, Elementary Education
- Hannah Moore
- Sarah Bammel, Communication
- Madeline Fleishman, Political Science/Security Studies/International Studies
COLLEGE UPDATES
COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES
Melany Contreras, a sophomore majoring in chemistry and physics with a minor in mathematics, has been accepted to study for six weeks in Oxford, England. Contreras was accepted as an Associate Member of the University of Oxford under the educational auspices of the Oxford Study Abroad Programme being held this summer. “I am shocked, and I am also elated for the opportunity,” Contreras said. She also thanked her mentor, Dr. Andrew Morehead, associate professor and chair of chemistry, for his helpful feedback and guidance.
Dottie Dator, a doctoral student in the pediatric school psychology program, was recently presented with the North Carolina Association for Behavior Analysis 2019 Student Scholarship Award.
Cassie Meyer, a sociology alumna who graduated in December 2018, won the 2019 Howard Odum Award for Best Undergraduate Paper of the Southern Sociological Society. Meyer’s paper “Paternal Incarceration during Childhood and Adolescent Academic Achievement, Behavior and Peer Groups,” was her senior honors paper at ECU under the direction of Dr. Colin Campbell. She will receive the award during the SSS annual meeting held April 10-13, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Caley Kropp, a doctoral student in the clinical health psychology program, has received a scholarship to travel to and present research at a meeting of the Heart Rhythm Society this May in San Francisco, California. The scholarship encourages collaboration of clinicians and researchers, provides speciality educational experiences in electrophysiology and promotes mentoring for early-career health care professionals. Kropp and ECU’s cardiac psychology team have been recruiting local participants from rural pharmacies in eastern North Carolina to be administered a free heart-health screening for possible AFib. The results will be presented at the meeting and have broad implications for cardiovascular care in North Carolina and beyond.
COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
To encourage and increase campuswide participation in next year’s Pirate Entrepreneurship Challenge, COB and the Miller School of Entrepreneurship has started the Ideation Champion Program. It’s a summer-pay opportunity for ECU Faculty to champion students to participate and pitch their ideas in a collegewide competition, hosted by the faculty. Winners of the college-specific competitions will move on to the second round of the Pirate Entrepreneurship Challenge. Champions will be paid $1,000. Selected individuals must be current faculty at the time of payment. Opportunity is limited to one Champion per college. For more information, click HERE, or, email David Mayo at mayod@ecu.edu.
Drs. Jenna Lee, Craig Marshall and Stephanie Bae each presented papers at the Annual Southeastern, Central and South America (SECSA) Federation Conference in Sarasota, Florida. In addition to her presentation, Dr. Jenna Lee was invited to be a panelist for the Research Forum “Challenges of an assistant professor in Maintaining a Research Pipeline.”
An interdisciplinary team of COB faculty won the prestigious Educational Innovation Award Competition of the Decision Sciences Institute for their innovation “Analytics Develops Teamwork Abilities that enhance the Learning of Analytics.” Over several years, Dr. William Swart, professor of marketing and supply chain management, was able to transform one of the most challenging and feared courses in ECU’s Master of Business Administration program into what students today proclaim as one of the most valuable courses in that program. Together with Richard O’Dor, director of the College of Business Communications Center, Dr. Judy Siguaw, professor of marketing and associate dean of research and faculty development, and Dr. Joy Karriker, associate professor of management, the course was transformed to employ the principles of flipped learning.
More than 1,100 students attended the fifth annual Business Leadership Conference, a one-day event where East Carolina University College of Business (COB) juniors, seniors and graduates heard from 35 local, national and international business leaders and entrepreneurs. Conference speakers represented hospitality, banking, finance, accounting, insurance and health care industries and participated in more than 30 breakout sessions. This year’s keynote came from Brian Hamilton, founder of Inmates to Entrepreneurs, a national program that helps people with criminal records start their small businesses.
Drs. Michael Harris and Dennis Barber III of the Miller School of Entrepreneurship recently attended the 2019 National Small Business Institute® (SBI) Conference in Orlando, Florida. At the conference two College of Business student teams won awards in the National SBI Project-of-the-Year Competition, including a first and third place finish. In addition to student awards, Barber won the Homer L. Saunders Mentor Award and the Best Empirical Paper Award for his paper entitled “Do Management Accounting and Control Systems Stifle Innovation in Small Firms led by Owner-Managers with High Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation? A Mediation Approach.” His co-authors included Dr. Amy McMillan in COB’s Department of Management and Drs. Whitney Peake, LeAnne Coder and Dawn Bolton of Western Kentucky University.
On February 22, 2019, AAA Carolinas Insurance in Charlotte hosted students from the Risk Management and Insurance (RMI) Program for a site visit. Twelve students and two faculty members enjoyed hearing from AAA representatives, including ECU RMI alumnus Spencer Phillips and Jim McCafferty, president and CEO of AAA Carolinas Insurance. While the relationship with AAA is less than 2 years old, the company has already hired several ECU RMI graduates, and several more are applying now for upcoming openings.
In collaboration with Howard University, ECU’s Division of Research, Economic Development and Engagement, Office for Equity and Diversity, and the College of Business have collaborated to sponsor an interdisciplinary course that focuses on examining and developing inclusive economies in Eastern North Carolina and Washington, DC. The students traveled to each University to visit their respective community partners. The course will end with student’s sharing presentations of recommendations. COB’s Dr. Ericka Lawrence led the course.
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
The College of Education’s Diversity Committee hosted their Spring Speakers Event, “Investigating the Matrix of Dominance Through Audism,” on March 12 at the East Carolina Heart Institute. Dr. Flavia Fleischer, Professor in Deaf Studies at California State University Northridge (CSUN), and Dr. Will Garrow, Associate Professor in Deaf Studies at CSUN, talked about the interconnectedness of audism—the systematic oppression of Deaf people—and other forms of oppression, like racism and sexism. Rooted in the Critical Race Theory concepts of micro, meso, and macro-aggressions, their presentation provided an intersectional analysis of the lived experience of the Deaf community. Joining Drs. Fleischer and Garrow were two Deaf People of Color, Ms. Jaspreet Ghotra and Mr. John Pak, who provided first-hand narratives illustrating those concepts. Ms. Ghotra and Mr. Pak—also CSUN lecturers— shared very personal examples of how audism, racism, and sexism have impacted their lives and schooling, and how access to signing and Deaf culture has helped them thrive in the face of oppression. The presentation had clear implications for the need for schools, universities, and the broader community to give students full access to their linguistic and cultural capital. Read more HERE.
The Hidden No More: STEM Women of Color event, sponsored by the Morehead planetarium, the NC Science Center, the NC space grant and East Carolina University, Office of Equity and Diversity was held at the ECU Student Center on Wednesday, March 20. The event highlighted the accomplishments of women of color who historically have faced considerable challenges pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Attendees were introduced to people like Ann Vaughan Hammond and Peggy Vaughan, the daughter and daughter in law of Dorothy Vaughan, who was portrayed by Octavia Spencer in the movie Hidden Figures, along with Dr. Rhea Miles, the first African American female to earn a PhD in science education from the University of Virginia and the first African American female to earn tenure in science education at East Carolina University. Read more HERE.
Dr. Andrew Daire, Dean of the College of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University, was the keynote speaker at the College of Education’s recent Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Engagement Symposium. Research, particularly externally funded research, plays an important role in the scholarly and financial development for academic programs. However, faculty often develop innovations with commercializable potential that are left untapped. Dr. Daire’s presentation provided a detailed primer on how faculty can parlay current research interests into fundable and commercializable innovations.
The Department of Educational Leadership has partnered with Craven County Schools to deliver the Master of School Administration (MSA) degree to a cohort in New Bern, NC. The College of Education’s MSA program incorporates the practices and principles of service-learning and servant leadership. ECU’s MSA program builds “servant leadership capacity” through a leadership development model that starts with authentic service opportunities in local schools. The MSA students complete Service Leadership Projects each semester and serve and support real improvement efforts, as they collaborate with their school partners. The fourteen members of the ECU MSA Craven Cohort completed their first Service Leadership Projects this past fall as Craven County experienced the devastation and aftermath of Hurricane Florence. Craven County Schools were closed for several weeks. Many of the initial Service Leadership Projects were set aside to focus on meeting the basic needs of students and their families. Two MSA students, Jenn Blair and Whitney Hernandez, focused their Service Leadership Projects on hurricane relief efforts and the transition back to school after the hurricane. Read more HERE.
On Wednesday, March 13, the College of Education hosted two early-career scholars as part of the ECU Office of Equity and Diversity's Emerging Scholars Symposium: Demtrice Smith-Mutegi, an EdD candidate in Science Education from Morgan State University; and Veronica Wylie, a PhD candidate in Educational Leadership at Jackson State University. Smith-Mutegi and Wylie interacted with COE faculty and staff throughout the day and gave presentations on their work and research to an engaged audience on Wednesday afternoon. Smith Mutegi's research focused on motivational factors influencing teaching among science teachers from underrepresented populations and Wylie's research centered on mindfulness-based interventions as an alternative to deficit-driven discipline models. Read more about the Symposium in the Office for Equity and Diversity's feature of this issue of First Monday.
Supported by a national collaborative with Sanford Education Programs, Rural Education Institute (REI) associates, Christina Tschida, Judy Smith, Sharon Floyd, and Kristen Cuthrell, shared Sanford Education resources with teachers, administrators, and university clinical supervisors at the recent Clinical Teacher’s Conference. To learn more about the social-emotional curriculum, professional training, and philanthropy resources that are available to educators at no cost, click HERE. Read more about REI current activities HERE.
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
Dr. Merwan Mehta, a professor in the Department of Technology Systems, was awarded the second runner-up prize and a check for $100 in the Best Paper Competition at the Engineering Lean Six-Sigma Conference organized by the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) in Atlanta, Georgia. The title of the paper is "Lean Six-Sigma Leadership Insights from President Lincoln." The paper was also published in the February 2019 issue of the IISE’s trade journal under the title “Leadership Lessons from Honest Abe.”
Dr. David Batts of the Department of Technology Systems made the case for ECU’s Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology program in an Ask-an-Expert interview with TheBestSchools.org.
Students in the industrial distribution and logistics (IDIS) program toured Consolidated Electrical Distributors (CED) in Winterville as a learning activity for a hands-on warehousing course. CED is one of the nation’s largest electrical supply distribution networks, with nearly 600 locations in 47 states. Students were able to see first-hand how products move through a local distributor, from receiving operations to product storage, and then through order picking to serve customers.
Charly Tanner, a junior in the Information Computer Technology program, has been selected as the first intern for the Red Hat Academy, a role he will assume in May 2019. The Red Hat Academy provides curricula and support for almost 400 schools in North America and more than 1,000 globally to provide training and testing in Linux and open source technology.
Students in the industrial distribution and logistics (IDIS) program spent the semester working on a service-learning project with two local industry partners. Fastenal, a leading industrial distribution company, operates a vendor managed inventory (VMI) operation within the Greenville facility of Thermo Fisher Scientific. The VMI houses over 15,000 part numbers, valued at approximately $20 million. Students working in teams of two were tasked with conducting on-site, physical inventory counting within the Fastenal VMI. During the semester, students counted over 5,400 unique part numbers with a counting accuracy over 96 percent. For more information click HERE.
A group of more than 20 computer science students visited IBM’s Research Triangle Park Data Center with associate professor Qin Ding. Many of the students are members of the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Student Chapter and Women in Computer Science. The visit was hosted by Bill Buchanan and Michael Case at IBM. Buchanan is an ECU alumnus and a member of the department’s advisory board. He conducted an information session on IBM’s hiring process, which the students found very informative, Ding said.
Dr. Ali Vahdati, assistant professor of engineering, is working to improve precision medicine using computers and machine learning. His research using semantic data integration, standardization and dimensionality reduction to predict outcomes in bariatric surgery was recently published in the journal Computers in Biology and Medicine.
Six students from the information and computer technology program traveled to Greensboro to participate in the Tracer FIRE workshop sponsored by the Department of Computer Science at N.C. A&T along with Sandia National Labs. The event gave students insight into how to recognize adversarial tactics within the kill chain such as reconnaissance, attack vector, exploitation and exfiltration.
COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS & COMMUNICATION
School of Communication students Matthew Prensky, Lauren Bright and Thomas Weybrecht received multiple awards at the 2018 North Carolina College Media Association Conference for their work with the East Carolinian. Weybrecht won an honorable mention in photography. Bright won an honorable mention in digital storytelling. Prensky won an honorable mention for opinion writing and first place for news writing.
Art Educator Nanyoung Kim’s article, “Colorful Box,” is in the April issue of Arts and Activities. In other news, her sculpture, “The narrow gate” was accepted into the Down East National Juried Sculpture Show at Emerge Gallery.
ECU Storybook Theatre performed “Tales from Around the World” for teachers and media specialists at the Librarian-to-Librarian Summit held at Joyner Library on February 23. On March 16, Storybook participated in A Time For Science’s Solar Express program. Costumed as the planets, students created a fact-sharing interactive solar system for children and families for five hours.
COLLEGE OF HEALTH & HUMAN PERFORMANCE
HHP got a jump start on Pirates Aboard, welcoming admitted students to campus on March 15. More than 100 future HHP Pirates and their families toured labs and classrooms and met current students, faculty and staff.
Dr. Sheresa Boone Blanchard, assistant professor in the department of human development and family science, served as a panelist for the Children’s Equity Project and the Bipartisan Policy Center working meeting, “Closing Opportunity Gaps: The State of the Data and Evidence-Base,” on February 27-28 in Washington, DC. The meeting convened early childhood and education researchers, policymakers and other experts working to bridge opportunity gaps and create more equitable learning systems for young children to discuss the state of evidence that can then inform policies to improve our systems in supporting all children.
The ECU Family Therapy Clinic held its annual open house on March 14. As part of the event, Dr. David Geissler and Dr. Rita Gillis were honored with the Excellence in Collaborative Biopyschosocial Care Award for their support of the Family Therapy Clinic, Family Therapy and Medical Family Therapy students, and the community as a whole.
Dr. Jeffrey Brault, associate professor of kinesiology, has been selected to serve on the editorial board for the Journal of Applied Physiology for a two-year term through 2021. Editorial board members are selected on the basis of their scientific expertise, commitment as a reviewer for the journal and recognized stature in the field.
The Exercise is Medicine program received Silver recognition from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). The program’s leadership team, including kinesiology faculty members Dr. Katrina DuBose and Sue-L Cohen, along with Student Affairs partners Suzanne McDonald, Georgia Childs and Lanika Wright, and students from all areas of campus, will be recognized at ACSM’s national conference in late May.
HONORS COLLEGE
Four EC Scholars have been recognized with Phi Kappa Phi accolades; awardees from left to right: Glenesha Berryman, English (Graduate Fellowship), Madie Fleishman, political science and security studies (Outstanding Senior), Arvind Rajan, biochemistry (Outstanding First-Year Student), and Grace Krell, engineering with music minor (Outstanding First-Year Student).
As she wraps up her junior year, preparing for finals, pursuing research, and strengthening a globally travelling wellness organization, EC Scholar Jocelyn Bayles is competing as a top finalist for the Truman Scholarship, the premier graduate fellowship in the United States for those pursuing careers as public service leaders. The Truman Foundation identifies young people at an important inflection point in their development—when they are college juniors—and recognizes and rewards their commitments to devote themselves to public service. Each year, hundreds of college juniors compete for roughly 60 awards. The rigorous selection process requires that good candidates have a strong record of public service, as well as a policy proposal that addresses a particular issue in society.
Sophomore ECU Honors student Hunter Whittington is one of 262 students nationwide selected as a 2019-2020 Newman Civic Fellow by Campus Compact, a Boston-based nonprofit organization working to advance the public purposes of higher education. Hunter became interested in politics while still in high school, when he started working on voter outreach during the 2016 election. Since then, he has conducted research on millennial voter turnout, organized voter registration drives, worked to keep polling places open on campus and advocated for student voter rights.The Newman Civic Fellowship is a one-year experience emphasizing personal, professional and civic growth for students who have demonstrated a capacity for leadership and an investment in solving public problems.
INTEGRATED COASTAL PROGRAMS
Integrated Coastal Programs (ICP) has launched their newsletter, CoastLines. Click HERE to view their inaugural newsletter.
A recent article in Scientific American highlights the research of Dr. Rachel Gittman, CSI assistant scientist and assistant professor of Biology. The article, by Rowan Jacobsen, is entitled “Rebuilt Wetlands Can Protect Shorelines Better Than Walls.” The article highlights research Gittman conducted as a graduate student and also now at ECU along the coasts of North Carolina that suggests marshes and other types of “living shorelines” provide better protection for shorelines than hard protection options, such as sea walls and bulkheads. The article also highlights ongoing work by the Nature Conservancy, led by Dr. Mike Beck, to quantify the socioeconomic benefits of using natural and nature-based approaches for coastal protection. Lastly, the article makes a case for policymakers and coastal planner to consider living shorelines as a cost-effective option and highlights some recent and pending legislative actions that intended to promote the use of living shorelines for coastal protection.
Dr. Mike O’Driscoll, of the Department of Coastal Studies, and his research team were featured in a recent article by the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership for their work on coastal ecological flows. Ecological flows describe the quantity and timing of water flows required to sustain freshwater and estuarine ecosystems. Their work is helping to develop a program to characterize how river flows are changing in eastern North Carolina and the potential impacts to aquatic organisms. The article can be found HERE.
East Carolina University’s Integrated Coastal Programs (ECU ICP) and the Coastal Studies Institute (CSI) are hosting an Open House from 1:00 – 4:00pm on April 13, 2019 at the ECU Outer Banks Campus location in Wanchese, North Carolina. The public is welcomed and encouraged to attend this free event. Attendees will be able to tour the campus, grounds and facilities, learn about current research and education programs, take part in family friendly activities and interact with faculty and staff from ECU, CSI and partners including North Carolina Sea Grant, NOAA’s Monitor National Marine Sanctuary and the Outer Banks Center for Dolphin Research. The LEED gold certified ECU Outer Banks Campus is located at 850 NC 345 Highway, approximately one mile from the highway 64 and NC 345 intersection.
Dr. Reide Corbett, Dean of Integrated Coastal Programs, was invited to join the NC Sentinel Site Cooperative Core Management Team (CMT). This team promotes the work of the NC Sentinel Site Cooperative (NCSSC) across the region, helps to set priorities and provides input and direction to the coordinator and chair of the cooperative, and assists in expanding the NCSSC with new partners and resources. The NCSSC creates a network of partners throughout the region to promote and sustain long-term research and monitoring programs. The NCSSC region was recently expanded to include the NE region of coastal NC. To learn more click HERE.
Dr. David Griffith and colleagues conducted a rapid ethnographic assessment in 2016 among fishermen, their communities, and fisheries along the Gulf of Mexico coast, five years after the Deepwater Horizon blowout of 2010. The research from Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana elicited information on individual and collective experiences with the disaster, including their perceptions of the lingering consequences of BP’s “out-of-sight, out-of-mind” strategy—their attempts to sink the oil with dispersants. Focusing on clean-up efforts, this article reports that no community visited was completely spared the effects of the spill, although its impacts were clearly uneven based on proximity to the spill and political/economic responses to the clean-up. Findings indicate that coastal fishing communities in Louisiana appear to have suffered the most in terms of enduring adverse impacts, and have yet to fully recover. The research was part of NOAA fisheries’ continuing attempts to maintain the health and integrity of Gulf of Mexico fisheries. You can find the paper, "Out of sight, out of mind: the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the fishing communities of the Gulf of Mexico," by David Halmo, David Griffith, and Brent Stoffle, HERE.
ECU Integrated Coastal Programs and the Coastal Studies Institute (CSI), in partnership with KidWind, Jennette’s Pier and Appalachian State University, are gearing up to host the North Carolina Renewable Energy Challenge—a team engineering challenge and qualifying event for the national KidWind competition. The event will take place on April 6, 2019, at the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus in Wanchese. During the competition, 4th-12th grade student teams will compete in one or more of renewable energy categories including wind, solar, and ocean energy. Teams in this year’s Renewable Energy Competition at CSI will showcase and test their handcrafted solar, wind, or ocean current energy harvesting devices, and present their design process to a panel of judges. Teams will also learn about advancements in various fields of renewable energy, including the North Carolina Renewable Ocean Energy research program led by CSI. In addition to the Renewable Energy Challenge itself, student teams will participate in “instant challenges” that include designing devices that create energy from flowing water, construction of a sailboat, and building a tower tall and strong enough to hold up a miniature turbine.
Guy Iverson successfully defended his dissertation, entitled, “Nutrient contributions from septic systems in nutrient-sensitive watersheds: Quantifying nutrient inputs, reduction methods, and economic feasibility.”
Guy Iverson also recently co-authored a manuscript, titled, "Geochemistry of Flood Waters from the Tar River, North Carolina Associated with Hurricane Matthew." The study aimed to examine water samples that were collected over a two-week period after Hurricane Matthew moved through the state. The results indicated that wastewater, possibly from sanitary sewer and confined animal feeding operation overflows, was a major source of increased nitrate concentrations in the flood water.
Eugene Frimpong was the lead author in a recent publication, titled, "Measuring Heterogeneous Price Effects for Home Acquisition Programs in At-Risk Regions." The article examines hypothetical home price offers on homeowners' willingness to participate in buyout programs for flood-prone structures. Results indicate that price does have a positive effect on the likelihood of a homeowner accepting an acquisition offer.
ECU ICP and CSI hosted two teacher workshops on the ECU Outer Banks Campus in the month of March 2019. On Saturday, March 16, teachers participating in the 2019 Energy Literacy Fellows Program visited the ECU Outer Banks Campus to learn about the research and projects of the North Carolina Renewable Ocean Energy Program (NCROEP). During the workshop, teachers engineered and tested small wave energy devices and heard from Dr. Lindsay Dubbs, the Associate Director of the NCROEP. An EARTH Satellite teacher workshop was held on March 23, in partnership with Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). Part of a national initiative, the EARTH Satellite workshop is a professional development program that brings together educators and researchers with the goal of bringing real data into classrooms. Teachers in the EARTH Satellite workshop interacted with Mike Muglia, Research Associate and Assistant Director for Science and Research for the North Carolina Renewable Ocean Energy Program and Scott Curtis, faculty member and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geography, Planning & Environment. Muglia and Curtis presented their research and publicly available data, engaging with the teachers as they developed standards-based lesson plans centered around their science.
ACADEMIC LIBRARY SERVICES
Joyner Library was awarded a North Carolina Humanities Grant to expand upon its 2016 “Beyond Bricks and Mortar” project. Two of the project’s three free community engagement workshops have taken place this spring at the Lucille W. Gorham Inter-Generational Center, with one still to come. National Parks Service oral historian and former ECU faculty member Dr. Lu Ann Jones led workshops on planning and recording oral histories in February. Jennifer Daughtery, ECU’s North Carolina Collection librarian, led community members through genealogy tracking methods, following family heritage lines and DNA scopes in March. In April, public historian Dr. Anne Whisnant will lead “Map Your History,” a workshop focused on using digital mapping tools.
Katy Webb, associate professor and head of research and instructional services, received the Dean of Students’ Creed Award for exemplifying the four pillars of the East Carolina University Creed: integrity, diversity, responsibility, citizenship.
Joyner hosted its sixth annual Human Library on March 27. At the Human Library, stories are found in people, not on shelves. Attendees checked out human “books” for conversations, one-on-one or in small groups. Among this year’s 20 “books” were a police officer, a person with bipolar disorder, a drag queen, a vegan, a member of the Mormon Church and a witch. The Human Library creates opportunities for real conversations between people with diverse views, backgrounds and experiences to build connections and understanding.
The “Más de una historia” photography exhibit is on display in Joyner’s RIS hallway, through May 10. The exhibit documents the stories and experiences of farmworkers, mostly in the Carolinas, over the past quarter century, and it celebrates 25 years of creating community with farmworkers and students in the Southeast through Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF). On March 26, Joyner Library, in partnership with SAF and the College of Health and Human Performance’s Department of Health Education and Promotion, hosted a panel discussion featuring SAF students, educators and researchers, discussing experiences of and issues faced by migrant farmworkers.
In May 2016, ECU adopted a data governance regulation aimed at establishing clear lines of accountability and decision-making responsibilities for management and use of institutional data; facilitating consistent handling of data; and ensuring consistent policies, regulations, rules, and procedures regarding data and enterprise data management. The regulation defined the roles of groups including data trustees, data stewards, the Data Stewardship Committee, and the Enterprise Data Management Steering Committee. Since 2016, these two committees have actively developed guidelines for institutional data access, quality, and usage; established University-wide data definitions and data security classifications; and developed a communication strategy for sharing information across the University. The new University Data Governance website is the first step in the communication plan. The website describes the basics of data management and is your one-stop shop for finding relevant statutes and regulations, all of the University’s data management committees, popular ECU datasets available for use, and additional data resources at ECU. If you have questions about where to store electronic data, please see Cloud Computing and ECU Data. An information grid for sensitive data storage and transmission is also available.