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East The Magazine of East Carolina University winter 2011 ECU climbed from a teachers college to a major university and medical center by always reaching for the next level. Are we there yet? viewfinder Pirates Have Hooks Who needs a sword or an eye patch when you can show Pirate pride with the finger hook? The Boneyard student section in the new horseshoe at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium was full of hooks at Homecoming. East The Magazine of East Carolina University winter 2011 36 18 28 F EATURES 18 ARE WE THERE YET? By Mary Schulken ’79 It’s been a long climb for East Carolina, the scrappy little teachers college that fought epic battles to become a major university and medical center. Have we arrived? And if so, how do we know? 28 STOCKING THE PANTRY By Steve Tuttle ’90 Just two years out of college, Sam Wornom co-founded The Pantry chain of convenience stores and grew it into nearly 500 locations. In the second act of a stellar business career, he’s again proving he can spot business opportunities that satisfy consumer appetite. 32 EASIN G THE OUCH By Marion Blackburn Cecelia Valrie ’99 is identifying new ways to help sick children feel less pain and lead more normal lives. 36 the umpire of eligibili ty By J. Eric Eckard Tim Metcalf, who’s responsible for keeping ECU out of trouble with the NCAA, relies on a 484-page book of rules. And the rules change every year. DE PARTMEN TS FROM OUR READERS . 3 THE ECU REPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 WINTER ARTS CALENDAR . . . . . . . 16 FROM THE CLASSROO M . . . . . . . . 32 PIRATE NATION . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 CLASS NOTES . 43 UPON THE PAST . 60 32 2 Are we there yet? While she was researching material for the cover story in this issue, Mary Schulken ’79 talked with alumni and friends who exhibited varying degrees of the famous ECU chip-on-the-shoulder attitude. Some she talked to had it bad, relating vivid memories of times when they perceived ECU’s dignity was slighted in the public square or on the football field. Others seemed to have much less of this aggrieved underdog attitude. Younger alumni didn’t know what she was talking about. That’s when it occurred to us that you can often predict how an alumnus feels about East Carolina by what it says on their diploma. If yours says East Carolina College, you probably have a bad case of the chip because you were here when the school really did suffer at the hands of state budget writers, a time when it was ridiculed on editorial pages for aspiring to become a university. If your diploma says East Carolina University, you probably have either a mild case of the chip or none at all, depending on whether you graduated before or after the medical school opened in the early 1980s. That was one of the more interesting things we discovered while digging into the origin of East Carolina’s redheaded stepchild mentality and how Leo Jenkins used it to rally the troops during epic battles with the powers that be in Raleigh. At first we didn’t understand why younger alumni exhibited hardly any trace of ECU’s classic underdog mindset. They gave us blank looks when asked how it felt to graduate from an up-and-coming institution that could achieve great things but for…. They were quick to set us straight: We didn’t go to an up-and-coming anything. We graduated from a major research university with highly regarded schools of business, education, nursing, communication and fine arts. One with a nationally acclaimed medical school, an engineering program and a school of dental medicine about to open. One that’s becoming pretty hard just to get into. That’s when Schulken and I began to wonder: Maybe East Carolina has arrived. One hundred years after Robert Wright first began “to dream dreams and see visions” for the school’s future, maybe it’s time to declare victory in the school’s long battle for acceptance and respect. What a long, strange trip it’s been. Are we there yet? How do we know? from the editor Volume 9, Number 2 East is published four times a year by East Carolina University Division of University Advancement 2200 South Charles Blvd. Greenville, NC 27858 h EDITOR Steve Tuttle ’09 252-328-2068 / tuttles@ecu.edu ART DIRECTOR/DESIGNER Brent Burch PHOTOGRAPHER Forrest Croce COPY EDITOR Jimmy Rostar ’94 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Marion Blackburn, J. Eric Eckard, Bill F. Hensley, Kara Loftin, Anna Logemann, Peggy Novotny, Steve Row, Mary Schulken ’79, Karen Shugart, Meagan Williford CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Jay Clark, Doug Smith CLASS NOTES EDITOR Joanne Kollar ecuclassnotes@ecu.edu ADMINISTRATION Michelle Sloan h Assistant Vice Chancelor for University Marketing Clint Bailey East Carolina University is a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina. It is a public doctoral/ research intensive university offering baccalaureate, master’s, specialist and doctoral degrees in the liberal arts, sciences and professional fields, including medicine. Dedicated to the achievement of excellence, responsible stewardship of the public trust and academic freedom, ECU values the contributions of a diverse community, supports shared governance and guarantees equality of opportunity. ©2011 by East Carolina University Printed by Progress Printing U.P. 11-046 63,500 copies of this public document were printed at a cost of $36,455 or $.58 per copy. East The Magazine of East Carolina University winter 2011 My mother was a Beckwith girl Thanks for the article on Kate Beckwith [the elegant lady principal who taught the social graces during East Carolina’s earliest days]. My mother, Sarah Gilliam Daniels, was there in 1923–25 and I’m sure she brought the values she learned from Mrs. Beckwith back with her and carried them forward in her teaching career in Halifax and Franklin counties. She came to ECTC on a state grant that required her to teach in a poor county. She taught in Halifax County a few years before coming home in Franklin County to teach there. I followed a lot of women in my family who graduated from East Carolina and taught school. I have a Bible that belonged to an aunt signed by Dr. Wright in 1927. I have bricks under the cupola for my mother, my daughter and myself. My youngest daughter, Michelle Susan Moser ’88 ’96, taught there for two years. I have a question about something my mother alluded to over the years: In those days, did schools require women to stop teaching if they got married? —Bob Daniels ’59, Wake Forest Editor’s note: We put that question to Jo Ann Norris of the Public School Forum of N.C. in Raleigh. Her answer is yes, many school districts would not employ a married woman. “I have had somewhere a copy of the duties of teachers and the prohibition of marriage was in the list,” Ms. Norris says, adding that the ban likely gave rise to the phrase, “old maid school teacher.” My mother-in-law was, too I am the daughter-in-law of Essie Woolard Clark ’14 who was quoted in the [story about Mrs. Beckwith]. Mrs. Clark was true to the words in your article. She grew up in a large family in Cross Roads Township in Martin County. She went on to be a schoolteacher in eastern North Carolina in elementary education. She was the mother of seven children, all of whom graduated from North Carolina’s public universities. All three of her daughters graduated from East Carolina. She was grandmother to 21 grandchildren, all of whom are college graduates. Several of her grandchildren graduated from ECU, including one who was one of the first graduates of the medical school. All of her great-grandchildren who are of age have graduated from four-year institutions as well. Mrs. Clark created a legacy of education that began at East Carolina and continues to this day. Mrs. Clark passed away in 1990 and was always proud of her affiliation with East Carolina. —Betty D. Clark ’56, Williamston Another Miss North Carolina It has been brought to my attention that my name was left off the list of ECU alumni who are former Miss North Carolinas. I was Miss North Carolina-USA for 1989 and placed in the top 15 at the 1990 Miss USA pageant. In addition, I was awarded the “Betty Lane Evans” swimsuit award at the Miss North Carolina finals in 1985. Thanks for your attention to this and I look forward to visiting ECU for some football! —Jacqueline Padgette ’90, Raleigh Editor’s note: This discussion started two years ago with a Timeline item noting the 50th anniversary of the crowning of Betty Lane Evans ’58 as Miss North Carolina. The story said five other alumnae were later chosen either Miss North Carolina or Miss North Carolina USA, a rival pageant. Since then we have had letters from three alumnae pointing out omissions to the list. With the addition of Ms. Padgette, the list now stands at 10: Joan Melton ’58 in 1956; Evans in 1958, Anita Johnson in 1969, Patsy Gail Wood in 1971, Mary Rudroff, also in 1971 (a year when ECU students simultaneously held the competing crowns), Lynn Williford ’79 in 1981, Ms. Padgette ’90 in 1989, Monica Polumbo in 2001 (chosen Miss Congeniality at the Miss USA pageant), Dana Reason in 2003, and Kristen Dalton ’09 in 2008 (chosen Miss USA in 2009). from our readers Read East online at www.ecu.edu/east How do I subscribe? Send a check to the ECU Foundation. How much is up to you, but we suggest a minimum of $25. Your generosity is appreciated. n 252-328-9550 n www.ecu.edu/devt n give2ecu@ecu.edu Join the Alumni Association and receive a subscription as well as other benefits and services. Minimum dues are $35. n 1-800-ECU-GRAD n www.piratealumni.com n alumni@PirateAlumni.com Join the Pirate Club and get the magazine as well as other benefits appreciated by sports fans. Minimum dues are $75. n 252-328-4540 n www.ecupirateclub.com n contact@ecupirateclub.com Contact us n 252-328-2068 n easteditor@ecu.edu n www.ecu.edu/east Customer Service To start or stop a subscription, or to let us know about a change of address, please contact Lisa Gurkin, gurkinl@ecu.edu or 252-328-9561 Send letters to the editor to easteditor@ecu.edu or 1206 Charles Blvd. Building 198 Mail Stop 108 East Carolina University Greenville, N.C. 27858 Send class notes to ecuclassnotes@ecu.edu or use the form on page 46 3 Sarah Gilliam Essie Woolard 4 What does college really cost? The UNC system is beginning to look at how much college costs the same way a parent does: the bottom line. And in that light, tuition becomes just one expense item among many, and not even the largest. Besides tuition, there’s a dorm room and a meal plan, books and supplies, travel and insurance as well as personal expenses for cell phones and laptops. In a report issued this summer, the UNC Board of Governors says that, all things considered, it cost $16,405 for an undergraduate in-state student living on campus to attend East Carolina in 2009–10. That’s third highest among the 16 campuses, behind UNC Chapel Hill ($17,424) and N.C. State University ($16,028). The least expensive campus was Fayetteville State University ($12,363); the average of all 16 was $15,216. Where do families get the money to pay for college? Nearly two out of every three East Carolina students receive some type of financial aid, according to the report. Those loans pile up quickly; the 1,683 in-state students who graduated in the 2009–10 school year had accumulated an average $19,987 in student loan debt. There are many grants and scholarships available to qualifying students that generally don’t have to be repaid. Taking that into account, the net cost of a year at ECU for families earning less than $30,000 a year fell to $5,299 in 2008–09, the report says. The net cost for families earning less than $48,000 was $7,232 per year. Across the UNC system, tuition on average rose 5.1 percent in 2007, 1.2 percent in 2008, 2.8 percent in 2009 and 23.1 percent this year. Still, the cost of attending ECU and every other UNC school is among the lowest among their peer institutions. The report was informational only but it notes that one area of future concern for the Board of Governors is the wide disparity in what UNC campuses charge for things beside tuition. East Carolina had the highest “non tuition fee” total among UNC schools, at $11,998 per year. By contrast, a similar group of charges at Fayetteville State was $8,552. Differences in student athletic fees, activity fees and the charge for the student recreation center account for much of the differences among campuses, officials say. Generally speaking, these nontuition fees are highest at the larger campuses with NCAA Division I sports programs, lower at schools with smaller sports programs. the ecU Report Adapting to the way students learn these days—which is in small groups rather than individually—the first floor of Joyner Library was remodeled to create a comfortable, inviting space where they can work together on class assignments. The Collaborative Learning Center has seating for 525, with high-tech computer stations, lounge chairs and booths. Among other new offerings, Ask-a-Librarian Services allow students to ask for help in person, through e-mail, instant messaging, text or phone. State-of-the-art technology allows students to make a digital video recording of a class presentation or group project, play it back and save it on a computer. The Pirate Tutoring Center and University Writing Center also moved to the first floor of the library to increase face-to-face contact with students. ECU best in three benchmarks East Carolina ranks high in new studies conducted by the UNC Board of Governors measuring how well the 16 campuses are doing at achieving three important public policy goals. The campuses were measured on graduating more and better-trained schoolteachers, on producing greater numbers of nurses, and on expanding access to college through online education. Here’s a summary of the reports: Nurses: By a wide margin, East Carolina continues to produce more nurses than any other UNC campus, and its graduates have one of the highest passing rates on the state licensure exam. East Carolina conferred 1,131 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral nursing degrees in 2009. UNC Chapel Hill, with 666 nursing graduates of all types, was second among the 11 UNC campuses with nursing programs. UNC Greensboro, with 651 nursing graduates, was third. Of the 257 ECU nursing graduates who took the state RN exam for the first time in 2009, 248 passed, a 96 percent passing rate that’s second only to Carolina’s 97 percent rate. East Carolina has about doubled its nursing graduates in the past decade, rising from 529 in 1997 to 1,131 in 2009. Online education: The number of degree-seeking students taking online courses through one of the 16 UNC system campuses soared from under 7,000 to more than 56,000 in the past 10 years. The 16,603 who were taking courses at ECU account for about 29 percent of the total. For the fall 2011 semester, 27,813 online students were enrolled at ECU, which was among the first to push online education. Its successful model later was expanded into a systemwide approach exemplified by the UNC Online portal. As a sign of how pervasive distance education has become, an online student now can choose from among 3,368 courses to complete one of 234 degrees, certificates or licensure programs offered completely or mostly online. Teachers: East Carolina not only produces more schoolteachers of all types than any other UNC campus, it’s also doing a good job graduating teachers with specialized skills that are in greatest demand such as math and science. ECU graduated 796 teachers of all types in 2008–09, the last year for which complete data is available. Appalachian State University was second with 580 graduates. Looking at key needs, ECU was No. 1 in producing middle grades math teachers, No. 1 in middle grades science teachers, No. 1 in secondary grades science teachers, No. 1 in middle grades education teachers and No. 2 (to UNC Greensboro) in special education teachers. He makes chemistry fun Students actually like science since Ythol Arul ’09 began teaching last year at Richlands High School in Jacksonville. “The enrollment for chemistry courses has increased by more than 50 percent since he started teaching there,” says C.J. Korenek, human resources director for Onslow County Schools. Arul, who teaches chemistry honors, earth science and earth science honors, was recognized as Onslow County School’s 2010 Beginning Teacher of the Year. “He’s very hands on and is such a positive force, and it’s his excitement—you see it every day in his classroom,” said beginning teacher coordinator Darlene Burgess. “Students sense his excitement and they pick up on that.” Born in Cambodia among the Montagnard people, Arul emigrated when he was 6. Before coming to Raleigh in 1992 he had no formal education and could not speak a word of English. Sponsored by a Lutheran church in Raleigh, Arul and his family moved to Cary in 1999. He graduated from Cary High School, came to ECU and completed a BS in science education with a chemistry concentration. He received the Latham Award of Excellence in Teaching in 2009 and was the 2009 Student Teacher of the Year. “I am by no means a great science teacher, but my hope is that others may think of me as a great communicator and a very relational person,” says Arul, who also is an assistant coach for the school’s volleyball and track and field teams. “I believe that it is my passion for chemistry and my ability to relate and connect well with my students that has helped me to have a successful first year. However, I know that I have much to learn about this profession. But that is the beauty of being a teacher; every day is a learning experience. Both for students as well as for teachers.” — the Jacksonville Daily News contributed to this report Ythol Arul 5 Provided 6 the ecu report Gift creates McGee Professorship Wingate University President Jerry McGee ’65 has pledged $333,000 to East Carolina to establish the Jerry McGee Distinguished Professorship in the College of Health and Human Performance. The gift qualifies for state matching funds from the Distinguished Professors Endowment Trust created by the General Assembly. Dean Glen Gilbert said the gift “will create a legacy that celebrates his inspiring history with the college and is especially promising in the current economic climate where competition to recruit exceptional faculty continues to increase.” In the 18 years McGee has been president, Wingate achieved university status while about doubling in size to 2,400 students. The school, located near Charlotte, is recognized as one of the best small liberal arts colleges in the South. It offers 32 undergraduate majors, six master’s degrees and doctorates in education and pharmacy. McGee previously served at Gardner-Webb University, Meredith College and Furman University. Throughout his 37-year career in higher education, McGee also worked weekends as an official at college football games, mostly in the ACC. A field judge, he worked more than 400 regular-season games and dozens of bowl games. After officiating at his third national championship, McGee retired his yellow flag after the 2009 game. “As I watched the clock wind down,” he said then, “I thought about many people who had helped me along the way, including East Carolina coach Jack Boone who hired me as an intramural football official when I was a college sophomore.” “Like so many of ECU students, he embodies the American dream that determination and an education can make a bright future possible,” Gilbert said. “He grew up with little or no financial resources and sometimes had to literally fight his way to and from school.” A native of Roberdel, a mill village near Rockingham, McGee was a member of the Phi Epsilon Kappa fraternity and the 1963 varsity baseball team. His mentors were professor Clint Strong and coach Boone, who hired McGee as the student director of intramural programs, the income from which allowed him to stay in school. Although he enjoyed sports, he also remembers spending many nights studying with classmates who remained lifelong friends,” he said, mentioning Jimmie Grimsley ’66 ’67 of Winterville, UNC Pembroke Chancellor Charles Jenkins ’66 ’67 ’68 and Jack Bobbitt ’66 ’70 of Blounts Creek. McGee has two sons—Ryan, a graduate of the University of Tennessee, who is a senior writer for ESPN the Magazine; and Sam, a graduate of Wake Forest University and Yale Law School, who is a practicing attorney. He was married to Hannah Covington McGee for 33 years before her death in 1999 and recently married Marcella McInnis of High Point. McGee said he made the commitment to establish the professorship because the education he received at East Carolina changed the course of his life. Many pictures were dusted off and published to mark the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s campaign appearance in Greenville on Sept. 17, 1960, and now two home movies have been discovered showing Kennedy’s motorcade and his speech at College Stadium. One of the films, donated by University Book Exchange owner Don Edwards of Greenville, has been digitized and is available for viewing at Joyner Library. It is posted on East’s web site, www.ecu.edu/east. The film includes footage of Kennedy’s motorcade nearing the stadium and his remarks from the podium. A second film of Kennedy’s appearance has been donated by Amy Leggett Brake ’78 of Rocky Mount and her sister, Susan Leggett Hancock ’76 of Beaufort. Their film, which was shot by their mother, captures the motorcade as it arrives on campus before the stadium event. University historian John Tucker said it’s hoped that eventually both films will be digitized and made available for public viewing on the University Archives web site. 7 Balancing badge and book Television is loaded with cop shows in which quirky lab workers find the evidence to solve the crime. TV forensic scientists usually are hip and cool, like NCIS’s eccentric medical examiner “Ducky” Mallard and Goth-dressing forensic specialist Abby. For the real Duckys and Abbys of the world, however, analyzing crime scene evidence is much less glamorous. The work often is frustrating and painstaking but it’s mostly routine, as students minoring in forensic science at ECU know all too well. Offered by the Department of Criminal Justice, the program focuses on criminal investigation and crime scene investigation—the crucial nuts and bolts of police work. The program has 354 students in the bachelor of science program and 43 in the master’s program. One important thing the cop shows do get right, according to instructor Dennis Honeycutt, is showing the division of labor in crime scene investigation between agents at the scene carefully gathering and packaging evidence for examination later in the morgue and lab. “Courses in the minor give students the chance to spend time at mock crime scenes finding and processing evidence such as blood and other body fluids, weapons, and fi bers,” says Honeycutt, a nationally recognized crime scene expert who has worked on many high-profile cases over a 30-year career. “The students then follow that evidence into our forensic laboratory where they learn to use the equipment and techniques necessary to identify, classify and prepare the evidence for further analysis.” Cops are cops but forensic scientists are a different breed, says department chair Bill Bloss, because they usually are “educated in the natural sciences such as biology or chemistry.” Still, there’s a strong partnership between police work and the academic community, even in disciplines as diverse as accounting—the source of forensic accountants who investigates white-collar business crimes, Bloss says. “There’s even a forensic subfield in entomology concerned with studying insect infestation in human remains,” he adds. As police work becomes more complex, there’s a greater demand for college-educated investigators equipped with specialized skills. “In today’s job market, law enforcement agencies are hiring in many different disciplines,” says Honeycutt. “At present jobs are fairly plentiful in the latent evidence (fingerprint) field, DNA analysis, drug chemistry and in computer forensics. But whether on the collection side or the analysis side, the most valuable forensic workers are those who truly care about the service they’re providing, no matter what the discipline. Success comes from the tenacity to go the extra mile and make sure evidence is processed correctly and thoroughly.” —Peggy Novotny News briefs Walk-in docs: Faculty and staff and their families can now receive fast medical care at Student Health Services on Main Campus. The new practice site for ECU Physicians’ Rapid Access service, led by Dr. Susan Keen ’94 ’97 ’03, a clinical assistant professor of family medicine at the Brody School of Medicine. ECU employees can make same-day appointments or just walk in. The practice has two exam rooms, complete with purple and gold tiles. Pharmacy, laboratory and radiology services are also available. ECU adds degrees: East Carolina has received authority from the UNC Board of Governors to begin offering three new degrees—a bachelor of science in geographic information science and technology and master’s degrees in biomedical sciences and in security studies. The master’s in security studies “will provide students an interdisciplinary approach to understanding and addressing the diverse domestic and international threats to U.S. security,” the school says. ECU also has begun planning to offer a Ph.D. in economics. Project HEART honored: An AmeriCorps program based in the College of Education that places tutors in schools and afterschool programs to help high-risk kids in the region was featured in a national publication of the American Services Commission, which operates the AmeriCorps program. Project HEART, for High Expectations for At-Risk Teens, was one of 39 AmeriCorps programs nationally chosen for publication. The program is a regional partnership between ECU, AmeriCorps, the North Daily Reflector Image Collection Provided 8 Carolina Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service, community colleges, local schools and Boys & Girls Clubs. Started in 2000, Project HEART helps teens stay in school, graduate, go to college and return to their community to help others. In a press release, Gov. Beverly Perdue said “Project HEART is a great AmeriCorps program that is shining a light on North Carolina at its best.” Helping farmers: ECU’s Center for Survey Research is helping North Carolina farmers combat the notion that run-off from farming operations is a major cause of pollution. With backing from the Environmental Education Fund and the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center, the center is conducting focus groups around the state on the topic of rural development and environmental sustainability. “Many people think that agricultural runoff is one of the key sources of environmental pollution when in actuality, municipalities are the main source,” said center director Mandee Foushee Lancaster. So far, the center has interviewed farmers in Rutherford, Warren, Polk, Sampson, Moore and Randolph counties and plans are being made to collect data in Robeson, Pitt, Bertie, Pamlico and Lincoln counties. Sex offenses increase: The number of forcible sexual offenses reported on Main Campus in 2009 increased to nine from three the previous year, about the only statistic in an annual report by the ECU Police Department that rose from the prior year. Included in the statistic are all incidents of a sexual nature reported anonymously to any campus official. Most other on-campus crimes declined from 2008 to 2009, with arrests for weapons law violations dropping from 11 to eight, arrests for drug law violations falling from 59 to 49, arrests for liquor law violations falling from 303 to 133, and robberies dropping from one to zero. For at least the third year in a row, no crimes were reported on the Health Sciences Campus. Also for at least the third year, no hate crimes were reported on either campus. Another record enrollment ECU set another record for enrollment fall semester with 27,813 students, up 143 from this time last year. Most of this year’s enrollment growth is in the Graduate School, which rose to 6,014 students from 5,892 last year. This year’s freshman class grew from 3,956 to 4,193. Officials said dealing with the continued enrollment growth was eased by the fact that Scott Residence Hall on College Hill reopened after an extensive renovation and addition that raised its capacity to 613. With all residence halls full, the number of students living on Main Campus fall semester exceeded 5,000. “These are very positive numbers for the university, especially considering the uncertain state of the economy and the higher costs this year,” said ECU spokesman John Durham. “We look forward to a productive, exciting year with another record-setting student body.” ECU showed improvement in the percentage of freshmen returning for their sophomore year, which indicates fewer are dropping out. This widely watched retention rate is the ecu report Hoping to encourage more students to spend a semester studying abroad, East Carolina staged an International Fair this fall that brought representatives of 21 foreign universities to campus. Students asked questions about what it would be like study in China, Netherlands, Australia or one of the other 18 countries represented. Only 41 ECU students were studying abroad this fall, a number the university is working to increase. The shorter and less expensive summer study abroad programs are more popular. This past summer, 277 students traveled abroad as part of 23 different programs. the highest it has been in 10 years, at 81.33 percent, up from 78.8 percent the previous year. “We have invested a lot of time and energy in improving our retention figures across the campus, and we are pleased and encouraged by these numbers,” Durham said. “We will continue our efforts and look forward to even better retention rates as we move ahead.” The numbers for fall 2010 aren’t official until released by the UNC General Administration along with similar data from other universities in the state system. —Anna Logemann ECU rolls out e-Proctoring ECU has solved a problem that is preventing the UNC system’s online education program from growing into academic disciplines that require students to sit for monitored exams, something that’s hard to arrange when students in a class may live anywhere in the country. The solution is to identify local educators or people like librarians who could be trained once to become a proctor, as exam monitors are known. Their names would go into a database that any campus in the UNC system could tap as a resource. At exam time, the professor can give students lists of approved proctors in their area. This so-called “write once, deploy everywhere” approach is much more efficient that the current fragmented system. The e-Proctoring system, which will be based at ECU, went live fall semester and was demonstrated for the Board of Governors at its Oct. 7 meeting. A ECU staff member will provide oversight for the system, which will serve students enrolled through any of the 16 UNC system campuses. For the time being ECU will be the only campus using all the e-Proctoring features; several other campuses, including UNC Chapel Hill, are on a slower roll-out. ECU and N.C. State were pioneers in online education in North Carolina and continue to operate the largest programs in the state. ECU now smart phone-friendly East Carolina rolled out a new generation of technology that allows students to use their smart phones to access the same level of interactive online services as has been delivered to their laptops. By redesigning the university’s main web portal to display on the tiny screens of iPhones, Droids and other smart phones, it’s now possible for students to log on to Blackboard to see their grades and homework, or go to OneStop to check financial records, while walking between classes. ECU’s mobile site was developed by staff in four and a half months, with the majority of that time spent on researching the capabilities and limitations of smart phones, and then testing designs on real and simulated mobile devices. The mobile site has had approximately 70,000 users in the first weeks since it launched at the start of fall semester. Of those, 34 percent are Android powered devices, 25 percent are iPhones, 16 percent are Blackberries, 13 percent are iPads and 11 percent are iPod Touches. A “you are here” geolocation service displays a map on smart phones that shows your location on campus and give directions, a feature that is useful to lost freshmen as well as returning alumni. “The mobile market is continuing to grow and change by leaps and bounds,” said Joe Norris, ECU’s chief information officer. “Our students, faculty, staff and alumni are part of this market—many of them stay on the go and rely on their smart phones and other mobile devices to get information quickly and from any location.” “Our extensive research led us to the decision to base the mobile interface in a web environment rather than an application, so that the site would be viewable on many different devices and operating systems,” explained Jo Lynne Daughtry, senior IT specialist. “Whether you’re using a Droid with the Android operating system, an Apple iPhone, or even a desktop computer, you can easily navigate the mobile site.” —Meagan Williford 9 10 the ecu report Closing the diploma gap East Carolina has attracted notice for graduating African-American students at rates similar to their white counterparts, defying a national achievement gap. A report from Education Trust, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that works to close achievement gaps, recognized ECU and two other universities in the UNC System, UNC Charlotte and UNC Greensboro, as leaders in graduating African-American students. Among African-American ECU students, 56.2 percent graduate, while 55.4 percent of white students do. Nationally, African- American students earn bachelor’s degrees from four-year institutions at rates nearly 20 points below those of their white peers, according to the report. Education Trust analyzed federal data for 293 public and 163 private colleges. Rates cited are three-year averages, based on statistics for 2006 through 2008. For-profit and historically black institutions were not examined. This is the second time Education Trust has cited ECU’s success in graduating African-American students. In 2004, the organization noted that ECU’s graduation rate among black students was almost double the rate of similar universities. —Greenville The Daily Reflector Degrees on the chopping block Looking for ways to cut the budget, the Board of Trustees is considering dropping some degree programs that attract few majors or merging similar majors that overlap. Although the board has performed these reviews since 1993, they seem more urgent this year as shrinking budgets grow ever tighter. Briefing trustees at their Sept. 16 meeting, Provost Marilyn Sheerer said three programs were cut after the last such review, in 2008. At that time 22 others were flagged for low productivity, 15 agreed to increase enrollment, six were retained with future low enrollment likely, and one was combined with another program on campus. The low productivity list, Sheerer told trustees, doesn’t address matters of a program’s quality or student achievement. It simply means that the program didn’t meet a certain threshold in enrollment or graduation numbers. For bachelor’s degrees, that means programs are to be reviewed if they have awarded fewer than 20 degrees in the last two years, unless upper-division enrollment in the most recent year exceeds 25 or degrees awarded in the most recent year exceeds 10. The thresholds for master’s, professional and doctoral programs are lower. Newer programs are given time to grow enrollment and thus aren’t flagged for review. The General Assembly in 1993 directed the UNC Board of Governors to biennially identify programs that are, in the words of the legislation, of “low productivity or low priority or are unnecessarily redundant.” College of Business Dean Rick Niswander pointed out that some programs traditionally on the low-productivity list, such as physics and philosophy, don’t usually have many majors, but hundreds if not thousands of students pursuring different majors are required to take those core courses. Such programs, Niswander said, have “significant service to the rest of the university, Jay Clark 11 Jeanne Robertson regardless of how many majors they have.” Eliminating health sciences programs that have been on the low-productivity list would jeopardize the Brody School of Medicine’s accreditation, said Phyllis Horns, vice chancellor for health sciences. Enrollment and graduation figures are among several factors that will determine a program’s future, Sheerer said. “When we talk to the deans, we’re not just talking about numbers,” Sheerer said. “We’re talking about market. We’re talking about the success of the graduates. We’re talking about why they’re continuing to support this program.” Clarice Cato Goodyear, liaison to ECU from the UNC Board of Governors, said the BOG wishes to sustain unique programs that further institutional missions, such as the ones offered by the medical school and the aviation program at Elizabeth City State University. “We’re trying to identify signature programs and encourage those programs to be supported, which means, realistically, something has to give,” she said. It’s expected that the trustees will announce their decision at their spring meeting. Department chairs, in consultation with deans, will determine how to respond if their program lands on the list. If, as is usually the case, they don’t believe the program should be eliminated, they can suggest ways to increase enrollment, offer to combine it with another on-campus program or investigate ways to collaborate with another UNC system institution. In the last three budget years, ECU has lost more than $106 million in recurring and nonrecurring funds, and budgets are expected to remain tight in coming years. The elimination of many programs, however, would raise a thorny question: What to do with displaced tenured faculty? Sheerer said many UNC campuses are awaiting guidance on that question from the UNC General Administration. —Karen Shugart, ECU News Services Intern joins staff Anna Logemann, a native of Winston-Salem and a graduate student at East Carolina University, is serving an internship with East magazine diring fall semester. She is writing news and feature stories for the magazine and helping out in other areas of University Publications, including helping produce short videos shown on the ECU web site. Logemann is enrolled in the master’s of communication program at ECU. Her area of focus is health care communication. She also is a teaching assistant this semester in the School of Communication. She completed her undergraduate work with honors in May 2009, earning a bachelor’s in broadcast journalism. Grant to build dental centers A grant of $1.76 million will help the School of Dental Medicine build its first two community service learning centers in northeastern North Carolina. The three-year grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration is targeted for the planned centers in Ahoskie and Elizabeth City. The funds will help establish a dental residency program, recruit faculty staff and residents, develop and promote dental practices to underserved patients and provide office and dental equipment for both facilities. Each center will be a fully functioning general dentistry office with 14 operatories, X-ray equipment, educational spaces and more. Officials are working on the property deeds for the centers and plan to open them by 2012. “It is especially gratifying to see our success getting the grant since no one at our school has much experience preparing such grant proposals,” said dental school Dean James Hupp. “Plus, the team did this work while preparing for our national accreditation evaluation. Such efforts will help us leverage state funds to replace some that we lost due to the state’s budget difficulties.” A full-time dental school faculty member will staff each center, along with dental hygienists and other staff members. Fourth-year dental students and residents will train at the centers. Dr. Gregory Chadwick, associate dean for planning and extramural affairs, has described the centers as similar to “moving the fourth floor of the dental school—the clinical training—off campus to rural areas of our state where dental services are needed.” A third center is planned for Sylva in western North Carolina’s Jackson County. A total of 10 centers will be built in underserved areas across the state at sites to be determined. The School of Dental Medicine has begun its accreditation process and is interviewing its first group of applicants. The school plans to admit its first students next fall, with plans to admit 50 students each year. The N.C. General Assembly has provided about $90 million in funding for construction of the school. —ECU News Services New fraternity on campus The first new fraternity on campus in many years has received its national charter as the Pi Nu chapter of Phi Gamma Delta. A year after starting as a colony, the new fraternity has 42 members—including two top SGA officers—and 16 pledges. Meanwhile, Sigma Tau Gamma, which originally joined the Inter-Fraternity Council in the 1970s, is undergoing a re-founding and is operating as a colony; it expects to receive its national charter this spring. Both fraternities focus on academics. Phi Gamma has four other chapters in North Carolina, at N.C. State, UNC Wilmington, Davidson College and UNC Chapel Hill. A third group is in the process of founding a chapter of Alpha Tau Omega on campus. ECU now has 16 fraternities and 15 sororities. the ecu report Eas t C a r o l i n a t i m e l i n e Connecting town and gown As ECTTS starts its second year, walking over from town to view the handsome new buildings becomes a popular Sunday afternoon outing for Greenville residents. It’s quite a hike because town ends where Fifth Street stops at about Cotanche Street. From there the strollers follow a sandy path across “Buzzard’s Roost” ravine—site of the town slaughterhouse— and up the hill through dense underbrush to the school. The town begins extending Fifth Street and in 1910 the school plants a hedge and lays a wooden sidewalk on its side of the new street. Four years later the school builds a home for President Robert Wright across Fifth Street (photo), now the Career Services Building. With Fifth Street now connecting town and campus, the growth of Greenville—which had been spreading west from Five Points—reverses course toward the college. Amelia Earhart visits She gets a big laugh during a Jan. 15, 1936, assembly in Wright Auditorium when she says her biggest fear is trying to balance a salad on her lap while flying. In an oral history recorded later, Lucy Stuart Parrish Murphy ’37, one of the students who greeted her, says Earhart was wearing a dress she designed and made herself. “She was vivacious, charming, poised and beautiful. She wore her evening gown with grace and assurance. I was awestruck that she not only knew how to make a plane fly but she could also make a sewing machine fly, and very successfully!” Earhart disappears over the Pacific 18 months later. “When she became lost,” Murphy adds, “it was unconceivable that she could really have any problem—just a matter of misreading a map, perhaps a dense fog. Even today, I often think she will just walk in with a smile and ‘What’s up?’” 100 YEARS AGO 75 YEARS AGO Campaign nears $200 million goal The generosity of thousands of alumni, supporters and friends has pushed the Second Century Campaign over the $181 million mark toward its goal of $200 million, reaching a campaign milestone more than a year ahead of schedule. The university expected to meet or surpass the $200 million goal in 2011, which would be an especially successful effort given the economy. “We have the momentum and commitment to raise $200 million and more to support every aspect of the university, including student scholarships, professorships, lectureships, research and outreach, facilities, and athletics,” said Vice Chancellor for University Advancement Mickey Dowdy. “We are grateful for every contribution, especially during a time in which budgets are strained all over. With increasing demands for funding across the university, it is imperative that 2011 is the year that ECU meets and exceeds its $200 million goal.” The Second Century Campaign was launched publicly in March 2008, with the goal of providing financial support for the bold vision set out by ECU Tomorrow: A Vision for Leadership and Service, the university’s strategic plan adopted by the Board of Trustees in Chancellor Steve Ballard accepts the 2010 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Award during a Sept. 23 gala in Washington, D.C. Presenting what’s known as the Freedom Award are Under Secretary of Defense Robert Hale (left) and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs Dennis McCarthy (right). East Carolina was recognized by the Defense Department for its support of employees and staff members serving in the National Guard and Reserves. Before the event Ballard met with Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Sculls and crossbones Left high and dry after a June 1970 warehouse fire that destroys most of the equipment, the crewteam regroups and presses ahead. Training on improvised facilities on the Tar River and the Pamlico Sound, crew then races to a surprisingly successful 1971 spring season by defeating some Northern schools with long-established programs. The sport becomes a rage on campus when Pirate oarsmen take sixth place in the Dad Vials Regatta in Philadelphia and second place in the Grimaldi Cup races in New York. They even beat Carolina. But student interest in a sport so unusual in the South soon fades. Crew isn’t mentioned in the yearbook after 1976. Images courtesy University Archives Riding shotgun with Leo As enrollment zooms past 5,000 in the fall of 1960, newly installed President Leo Jenkins knows he must delegate authority to have time to pursue university status. He elevates Robert Holt from registrar to dean with broad discretion to run the campus. To keep up to date, Jenkins asks Holt to ride with him on his frequent speaking engagements around the state. They debate politics and educational policy as they barrel down the back roads of eastern North Carolina, with both occasionally talking into tape recorders to note decisions made. Jenkins’ rhetoric sways public opinion but it’s glowing praise in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ 1963 reaccreditation—an effort led by Holt—that provides irrefutable proof that East Carolina is ready for university status, which finally comes in 1967. After a 34-year career with the school, Holt retires in 1984. 40 YEARS AGO 50 YEARS AGO 2007. While fully funding that ambitious vision would take more than $1 billion over the next decade, the Second Century Campaign is a first step toward accomplishing great things at ECU. Since that launch, alumni and friends have contributed gifts large and small, voicing their continued commitment to the university. That commitment is embodied in donors like Marguerite Perry, who taught foreign languages at ECU for 47 years. A long-time supporter and volunteer for ECU, Perry has established several scholarships, funds and charitable gift annuities to benefit ECU and its students. She remains involved with the university through programs such as the Women’s Roundtable, Retired Faculty Association, and the advancement councils of the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences and Foreign Languages and Literatures. “I am proud to say that dedicated alumni and friends like Marguerite Perry are the norm at ECU, rather than the exception,” said Dowdy. “Her contributions and planned gifts have had, and will continue to have, an incredible impact on ECU’s students, faculty and staff for many years to come. Her loyalty to ECU and the diversity of her contribution sets a wonderful example for the whole Pirate Nation.” Gifts may be designated for the program, college or school, or area of the donor’s choice. For more information about the Second Century Campaign and how you can contribute, call Dowdy at 252-328-9550 or visit www.ecu.edu/devt. —Kara Loftin Marguerite Perry 14 Stadium video upgraded Fans raving at the quality of the videos shown on the new scoreboard in Dowdy- Ficklen Stadium can’t see the reason for the improvement. It’s hidden in a control room tucked under the giant scoreboard. There, live feeds stream into a new state-of- the-art video production facility from five new Panasonic HD cameras positioned around the stadium. The cameras capture game action, crowd shots, halftime activities and presentations on the field during game breaks. Before this year ECU Athletics rented a production truck and hired local television station personnel to produce the stadium’s video show. Now, that work is done by a staff led by Mike Myles, who serves as technical director for home football game coverage. When the football season ends, the control room will be used to produce coverage of baseball and softball home games, as well as soccer, volleyball, and basketball in the 2011–2012 season. Men’s Basketball Schedule Nov. 15 vs. Campbell Nov. 18 vs. N.C. State Nov. 19 Charlotte or George Mason Nov. 21 Charleston Classic Nov. 24 vs. Lenoir-Rhyne Nov. 27 vs. UNC Greensboro Dec. 1 vs. UNC Charlotte Dec. 04 vs. Fayetteville State Dec. 07 vs. Old Dominion Dec. 19 at Coastal Carolina Dec. 22 at George Washington Dec. 29 at Clemson Jan. 03 at N.C. Central Conference games Jan. 8 at Memphis Jan. 12 vs. Alabama Birmingham Jan. 15 vs. Tulane Jan. 19 at Central Florida Jan. 22 at Marshall Jan. 26 vs. Southern Miss Jan. 29 vs. Houston Feb. 2 at Southern Methodist Feb. 5 vs. Central Florida Feb. 12 vs. Marshall Feb. 16 at Tulsa Feb. 19 at Southern Miss Feb. 23 vs. Texas El Paso Feb. 26 at Rice March 2 vs. Memphis March 5 at Alabama Birmingham Conference Tournament Women’s Basketball Schedule Nov. 12 vs. American Nov. 14 at Western Carolina Nov. 19 vs. UNC Wilmington Nov. 22 vs. Virginia Union Nov. 26 vs. Maryland Nov. 28 vs. Massachusetts Dec. 2 at VCU Dec. 5 at Charlotte Dec. 8 vs. Hampton Dec. 20 vs. UCLA (in Hawai’i) Dec. 21 at Hawai’i Dec. 29 vs. Prairie View A&M (in Iowa) Dec. 30 vs. Florida A&M (in Iowa) Conference games Jan. 6 at UTEP Jan. 9 vs. Memphis Jan. 13 at Tulane Jan. 16 vs. Rice Jan. 23 at Southern Miss Jan. 27 vs. UAB Jan. 30 vs. UCF Feb. 3 at Marshall Feb. 6 at Memphis Feb. 10 vs. Southern Miss Feb. 13 at Houston Feb. 17 vs. SMU Feb. 20 at UCF Feb. 24 vs. Tulsa Feb. 27 vs. Marshall March 3 at UAB Conference Tournament the ecu report Art professor Robert “Bob” Ebendorf received the state’s highest honor, the North Carolina Award, along with five other leading cultural figures. Gov. Beverly Perdue and Cultural Resources Secretary Linda Carlisle presented the awards at the N.C. Museum of History. The award “celebrates creativity and innovation, two values which sustain our economy, our culture and our people,” said Perdue. Ebendorf has been a leader in the studio jewelry movement since the early 1960s and is world renowned as an artist and teacher. In addition to gold, silver and bronze, unusual materials such as fossils, animal claws or even soda pop pull tops find their way into his creations. Previous honorees in Fine Arts included painter Francis Speight, musician James Taylor, jazz great Billy Taylor, actor Andy Griffith, painter Bob Timberlake, and folk and bluegrass music legend “Doc” Watson. His work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Smithsonian Institution, the Mint Museum in Charlotte and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He came to ECU in 1997 and was named the Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor of Art in 1999. Distinguished professors in biology Mark Brinson and Robert Christian are retiring after long careers at East Carolina. Brinson, who came in 1973, received the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor Award and the Board of Trustees Lifetime Achievement Award. Christian, who came in 1981, has directed 17 master’s theses and two doctoral dissertations. Sociology professor Jeffrey C. Johnson is the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor for 2010. The award recognizes a professor whose career exemplifies a commitment to and a love for knowledge and academic life, as demonstrated by outstanding teaching and advising, research and creative productivity. During 30 years here, he has mentored more than 16 master’s students and 19 doctoral students. Maria C. Clay was appointed chair of the Department of Bioethics and Interdisciplinary Studies (formerly the Department of Medical Humanities) at the Brody School of Medicine. She had served on interim basis since 2008. Phillip H. Pekala was named chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Brody, which he joined as a faculty member in 1981. Pekala had served as the interim chair since 2006. New senior level staff members in the Office of Student Affairs include Bobby Woodard ’98, the new executive director of Student Involvement and Leadership in Mendenhall Student Center. He was associate dean of students and director of the Tate Student Center at the University of Georgia. Kathleen Hill is the inaugural director of Assessment, Research and Retention, a new position. She was a program manager for the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at Ohio State University. Bill McCartney is the associate vice chancellor for Housing and Dining. He was director of International House at the University of Chicago. Syed Ahmed is the new chair of the Department of Construction Management in the College of Technology and Computer Science. He comes from Florida International University in Miami, where he was an associate professor and graduate program director. Stephanie George and Chad Bosseti have joined the faculty of the Department of Engineering and will specialize in biomedical engineering. Ricky Castles also joined the faculty there to teach computer engineering. U N I V E R S I T Y L I F E Brinson Christian 15 Gregorian joins noted quartet When the Daedalus Quartet performs on campus this winter as part of the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, one of the players will look quite familiar. One of the two violinists is Ara Gregorian, artistic director of the festival and a member of the ECU string faculty since 1998. Being asked to join a group praised by the Philadelphia Inquirer as playing so sweetly that “seams between instrumental timbres seemed to disappear” is a large feather in Gregorian’s already well-decorated hat. “I’ve always wanted to be in a string quartet. The Daedalus Quartet already is 10 years into a great career, and I can step into place to help build where they are going,” he says. Based in New York City (Columbia University) and Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania) for concerts and master classes, the quartet also performs between 50 and 80 concerts here and abroad. It has built a repertoire that “spans the earliest quartets to pieces being commissioned now,” Gregorian says. Despite this new demand on his time, Gregorian remains committed to East Carolina, to teaching and to supervising the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, which began its 11th season in September. “It will still get my full attention,” he says. Because his teaching involves mainly one-on-one instruction with ECU string students, that arrangement should be flexible enough to accommodate periods to travel with the quartet. In a newspaper interview last March, violist Jessica Thompson said quartet members already were familiar with Gregorian. “We’ve played with him many times. We also read with a lot of different violinists and rehearsed with several different people. We just really felt a musical connection.” The quartet, with Gregorian in one of the violinist’s chairs, also will play in the regularly scheduled January concert of the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival (Jan. 13–14). Gregorian says he would like to bring the other three players to Greenville more frequently. For all of Gregorian’s varied interests since leaving the Juilliard School, this is the first time he has been a member of a full-time string quartet. “I always tried to wait for the right opportunity. This is thrilling, this is great, and I am having a wonderful time.” The Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival begins its winter series in A.J. Fletcher Music Hall with concerts in December and January and a special event for donors in February. Receptions follow all the events. • On Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 3 at 8, the festival features “The Road Less Traveled,” with Shostakovich and von Dohnanyi and Ravel’s La Valse for two pianos. • On Jan. 13 at 7 p.m. and Jan. 14 at 8, “Festive Beginnings,” with the Daedalus Quartet, will perform string quartets by Mozart and Schumann and a Dvorak piano quintet. • On Feb. 6 at 3 p.m. the festival honors donors with “Dynamic Duos,” featuring Gregorian on violin and Robert McDonald on piano for sonatas by Schumann, Beethoven and Franck. The festival will offer two free events this winter in its “Next Generation” series of concerts. • On Nov. 14 at 3 p.m., the Daedalus Quarter will perform Schubert’s String Quartet in D Minor, D. 810 “Death and the Maiden.” • On Feb. 13 at 3 p.m., violinist Elina Vahala will perform Bach’s Double Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor. Raman Ramakrishnan, cello; Min-Young Kim, violin; Ara Gregorian; Jessica Thompson, viola 16 17 Who’s in town? S. Rudolph Alexander Performing Arts Series brings pianist Emile Pandolfi to Wright Auditorium on Dec. 1. He’s known for lush arrangements of show tunes and classical music. Opole, the National Philharmonic of Poland, will come to ECU Feb. 10 for a concert consisting of Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute, Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, the “Eroica.” The Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, rooted in the African-American experience, will perform Feb. 23. Student and faculty ensembles: The Wind Ensemble, Concert Band and Symphonic Band will present a concert Nov. 16 at Wright Auditorium. The School of Music’s percussion players and ensembles will play Nov. 17 at Fletcher Recital Hall, and the Guitar Ensemble will perform at Fletcher Dec. 1. The School of Music’s combined holiday concert leads off a series of seasonal concerts Dec. 4 at 3 p.m. in Wright Auditorium. The choral music program, under the interim leadership of Alfred E. Sturgis, will present a pair of seasonal music concerts before the winter break. The Chamber Singers, with Sturgis directing, will perform Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m., and the University Chorale and St. Cecilia Singers, under the direction of Dr. Jeffrey Ward, will perform Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m. Both performances will take place at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. The ECU Symphony Orchestra will present a concert Dec. 4 in Wright Auditorium featuring guest violinist Wolfgang David playing Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D-major. Also on the program is Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 in E-flat. On Feb. 12, the orchestra will perform the suite from Stravinsky’s The Firebird, and faculty member Christine Gustafson will be guest soloist in Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 2 in D. Both concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m. The Music School’s jazz program will be represented in a combined jazz band concert Dec. 3 at Wright Auditorium. The popular Jazz at Christinne’s series, featuring students and faculty members, is continuing its third season. After September and October programs, the performances, with TomtheJazzman as host, return on Jan. 21 and Feb. 18. Performances begin at 8 p.m. in the restaurant at the Hilton Greenville Hotel. The Fisk on Fourth concert series, sponsored by the Musical Arts Education Foundation, will bring Dr. Ann Labounsky, chairman of the sacred music and organ program at Duquesne University, back to Greenville Feb. 5 to present a recital with Andrew Scanlon, organist-choirmaster at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and organ professor at ECU. Their joint recital at St. Paul’s will begin at 7:30 p.m. Theatre programs: The School of Theatre and Dance’s annual dance extravaganza, part of the ECU/Loessin Playhouse season, is scheduled Jan. 27– Feb. 1. Dance 2011 will feature original choreography by faculty members and guest artists and will include ballet, tap, jazz and modern dance styles. Exhibitions: The School of Art and Design winds down its annual faculty exhibition Nov. 22 at the Wellington B. Gray Gallery and then sponsors its annual show of student and faculty work Dec. 2–4. From Jan. 13 to Feb. 19, the gallery will present the Seventh Photographic Image Biennial Exhibition. Juror Keith Carter will give a talk to open the exhibition Jan. 13 at 5 p.m. 2W0in11ter Arts Calendar by steve ro w 18 19 It’s been a long climb for East Carolina, the scrappy little teachers college that always looked up and reached high. In the 1960s, it fought the state’s higher education establishment to become a university, instigating wrenching changes that yielded the current UNC system. In the 1970s ECU fought a bitter political battle for funding from the General Assembly to open a medical school. But in recent years the climb has seemed easier. When East Carolina proposed expensive capital projects—new classroom buildings, the East Carolina Heart Institute, the Family Medicine Center—the General Assembly was surprisingly generous and old critics were muted. When ECU proposed opening a dental school, newspapers that once editorially questioned the school’s academic capabilities published supportive opinions. The General Assembly funded the school and has stuck with it through a deep recession. Why was it so hard back then and so relatively easy lately for East Carolina to gain public recognition and generous state funding? Observers say it’s because ECU proved it could deliver what it promised. Give us the money to build a medical school, ECU said, and we will train family doctors who stay and improve health care in the East. Today the Brody School of Medicine is nationally recognized as a leader for accomplishing that mission. Give us more classrooms and labs, ECU said, and we’ll confront the state’s critical need for teachers, nurses and health care workers. ECU has doubled the number of its graduates entering those crucial professions. So when East Carolina pointed to a glaring need for more dentists in counties east of I-95 and proposed building the second school of dentistry in North Carolina to address it, its record, its reputation and a sense of momentum weighed in its favor. “ECU already has a fine track record of looking out for the health care interests of rural residents,” said an editorial in the Raleigh News & Observer. After a trip of a century, perhaps it’s time for East Carolina—and its alumni—to ask: Are we there yet? And if so, how do we know? Are We There Yet? Key steps on a long march 1907 Born: East Carolina Teachers Training School is founded as a two-year teacher’s school that by law cannot offer instruction equal to that offered at Carolina. The school opens in 1909 with 123 students, 104 women and 19 men; the first class graduates in 1911. 1910 Charter amended: The legislature allows ECTTS to offer a four-year, college-level program. The first students to complete the four-year program graduate in 1913. 1921 Going to college: ECTTS is renamed East Carolina Teachers College. Enrollment is about 500. A year later, ECTC awards its first bachelor degrees to Gertrude Chamberlain and Virginia Pigford. 1929 Mastering the subject: ECTC is authorized to begin a master’s degree program. 1932 More firsts: There are enough men enrolled to start basketball and baseball teams, which are called the Teachers. Henry Oglesby becomes the first man to graduate from ECTC. Enrollment passes 1,000. 1933 Advancing by degrees: ECTC awards its first master’s degree to Annie Boone Haskett. 1948 Choose a major: Growth in academic programs allows ECTC to award both bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degrees. 1951 Losing a letter: Allowed to offer degrees in disciplines other than teaching, ECTC becomes East Carolina College. Charles Jenkins ’66 ’67 ’68 heard the talk about East Carolina College from some teachers in his rural eastern North Carolina high school. “Based on a few comments teachers made, ECU was in a developing stage, a stage of developing its academic reputation,” says Jenkins, a retired university administrator. But it was the graduates he knew personally, not the talk he heard, who shaped his view of the institution. “My positive image of ECU was based on a number of teachers and coaches in the public schools who had gone to ECU and the positive image they had,” he says. Jenkins had bumped up against a defining factor in East Carolina’s life: the school’s origins. As a teachers college sprung from a rural region, it lacked the standing and history other institutions enjoyed. “It suffered from the fact it was ECTC (East Carolina Teachers College),” says Jack Claiborne, retired associate editor for the Charlotte Observer and longtime observer of the state’s higher education. “The promise of the teacher colleges by the end of World War II was beginning to sound hollow.” Fast forward to 1996, and the picture looks different. When Michael Aho ’02 was shopping for colleges, the strength and national reputation of East Carolina’s special education program drew the attention of the honor student from Virginia Beach. He wanted strong academics and a robust campus life, including football and marching band. By M ary S chulken ’ 7 9 20 Charles Jenkins ©2007 Raul Rubiera 21 “Before I got there and when I was there, my sense was it was a place on the rise, a place doing what it needed to do to get where it was going,” Aho says. Now an analyst for the federal government covering United Nations peacekeeping efforts worldwide, he credits the depth in teaching and practical learning experiences he gained at ECU for landing him in a field where he is thriving. Aho, too, had bumped up against a new defining factor in East Carolina’s story: Its academic maturity and competence. His and Jenkins’ experiences, some 40 years apart, bookend the journey the university has made and its change in standing. “It works hard at teaching and research and public service and when you do those things well, you develop a reputation that’s gold,” says Bill Friday, who presided over the UNC system for 30 years. How do you measure success? On the football field, East Carolina prides itself on playing hard teams and winning games with an underdog attitude. A competitive football program has provided a visible rallying point for the institution’s growth. Yet sustainable academic maturity— growth in scholarship, funding and outreach —along with a record of public service, are what boosted its standing and changed perceptions. The numbers tell the tale. In 1982 ECU had 14,510 students; it offered 93 degree programs and conferred 2,646 diplomas. By 2009 everything had doubled. Enrollment was 27,654; the university offered 202 degree programs and conferred 5,589 diplomas. It’s been the fastest-growing UNC campus for several years, still third overall in enrollment to N.C. State and, just barely, to UNC Chapel Hill. “It’s one of the really great stories of growth, but not just growth for growth’s sake; there’s quality in programs and initiatives and service,” says Friday, who remains the unofficial dean of higher education in North Carolina. Alisa Chapman ’96 ’06 ’09 considers Friday a mentor. As associate vice president for academic affairs for the UNC system, she directs policy for K–16 education. She has turned to him with questions and to talk through ideas. In more than a decade working in North Carolina’s system of higher education, she has learned to recognize practical milestones that signal a campus’s growth. They include expanding enrollment, an array and diversity of programs, high standards and applied research. “In that sense I believe ECU has arrived,” Chapman says. “There are a number of areas it has confidence and a culture of confidence in its expertise.” Examples are growing Michael Aho Alisa Chapman Provided, ©2009 Provided 22 school leaders, distance and online education and rural health care. Jenkins spent 39 years at UNC Pembroke, 16 as provost and chief academic officer and a year as interim chancellor. He helped guide that institution’s growth into a leading provider of teachers and school administrators in southeastern North Carolina. So he knows from experience what it takes to build a university’s standing. “The largest contributor to one’s reputation and integrity is years of service and length of tenure,” Jenkins says. “It takes some time.” Yet it also requires specific credentials. For six years Jenkins visited institutions in other regions as a commissioner for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. SACS looks at certain criteria to judge the academic health of a university, he says. Among them: The quality of the faculty based on their scholarly preparation and participation in research. Documentation the institution and students are doing quality work. Financial and physical resources that support academic excellence. He sees large strides in those areas at ECU in the five decades since he was a student. Look at ECU’s numbers, he says. Since 1982 bachelor’s degree programs more than doubled, from 51 to 110. Master’s degree programs show a similar spurt, from 36 to 76. Doctoral degree programs in research and scholarship more than tripled, from five to 16. Then-and-now snapshots of the faculty show it’s not only much bigger but also more diverse. Since 1995, the faculty grew by 639 members, the numbers of women increased 8 percent and the number of minorities rose 10 percent. Similarly, snapshots of the student body and freshmen classes in 1995 and 2009 show campus diversity and test scores rising. Minorities in the student body increased from 12.3 percent to 20 percent. In 2009, more students were coming from urban counties such as Wake, Mecklenburg and Cumberland. Students were coming from 33 states. The average SAT of entering freshmen rose from 913 to 1046. Diversity is particularly important because it’s a key component of academic maturity. It signals a university has broad appeal and offers students a rich learning experience, says ECU Provost Marilyn Sheerer. “Our students will be working in a very diverse world. We need to be able to prepare them in an institutional setting for what they will face,” she says. 1960 Leo takes charge: Long-time dean Leo Jenkins becomes president; enrollment passes 5,000. School of Business and School of Nursing open. First dorms rise on College Hill. 1962 More schools: The School of Art and the School of Music open, joined a year later by the School of Education. 1965 Integrating: Transfer student Hubert Walker becomes first the African- American to receive a master’s degree; a year later Laura Elliot becomes first African-American to become an undergraduate. A two-year construction program begins that adds 10 buildings to Main Campus. The legislature gives ECC $1.5 million to study the creation of a two-year medical program, provided the school raise $4 million on its own. 1967 Good as the rest of them: After a bruising fight that gives birth to the current UNC system, East Carolina College is designated a comprehensive four-year university, as are the state’s two other teachers colleges, Appalachian and Western, and the largest historically black school, N.C. Central. 1971 A drop of medicine: The legislature allows ECU to start a one-year medical training program. 1972 All in the family: ECU officially joins the new UNC system. 1974 Pivotal political victory: Urban legislators finally are persuaded to allow ECU to establish North Carolina’s second four-year state medical school. SNAPSHOT: The student body today is more diverse, has higher test scores and comes from a broader region of the nation. 1995: 17,923 students • 12.3% minorities • Average freshman SAT: 913 • Top 5 N.C. counties represented in student body (in order): Pitt, Wake, Craven, Wayne, Cumberland. • 24 states represented in freshman class 2009: 27,654 students • 20% minorities • Average freshman SAT: 1046 • Top 5 N.C. counties represented in student body (in order): Pitt, Wake, Mecklenburg, Cumberland, Wayne. • 33 states represented in freshman class Source: ECU fact books 23 Mary Chatman ’90 ’96 ’10, senior vice president and chief nursing officer at Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah, Ga., graduated salutatorian of her small high Hyde County high school, then earned her first-ever D in a chemistry course at ECU. She needed a college experience, she says, that was varied and rigorous. She found it. “What I realized was that I had become at expert in high school at reading, memorizing and ‘regurging’,” she says. “I learned instead at ECU to take the knowledge and apply it. It’s a university that takes academics seriously.” SNAPSHOT: The growth in undergraduate enrollment is impressive and tends to overshadow huge strides made in graduate and professional programs. 1982: 12,239 undergraduates • 2,058 master’s students • 12 doctoral research students • 201 doctor’s degree/professional students 2009: 21,458 undergraduates • 5,439 master’s students • 363 doctoral research students • 394 doctor’s degree/professional students Source: UNC general administration SNAPSHOT: In the span of a generation, ECU doubled the number of degrees it offers. 1982: 93 degree programs • 51 bachelor’s programs • 36 master’s programs • 5 doctor’s degree/research programs • 1 doctor’s degree/professional program 2009: 202 degree programs • 110 bachelor’s programs • 73 master’s programs • 16 doctor’s degree/research programs • 3 doctor’s degree/professional programs Source: UNC general administration SNAPSHOT: Like the change in the student body, the faculty is bigger and more diverse. Faculty today tend to be younger than before. 1982: 1,143 faculty members • 36.2 percent women, 63.8 percent men • 8.3 percent ethnic minorities • 61.2 percent had 10 years or less of service with university • 50 percent tenured 26.7 percent on tenure track 2009: 1,782 faculty members • 44 percent women, 56 percent men • 18 percent ethnic minorities • 68 percent of faculty had 10 years or less of service with university • 42.1 percent tenured 20.9 percent on tenure track Source: ECU fact books Mary Chatman Provided 1975 It’s official: The ECU School of Medicine is established by an act of the legislature. First medical students enroll two years later. 1983 Dr. Pirate: ECU confers its first Ph.D., in anatomy, to Thomas Curry Jr. 1987 Saving lives: First heart transplant performed at ECU. 1989 Growing like topsy: The student body passes 15,000 with big growth in students seeking advanced degrees. Leo Jenkins dies. 1996 Rising expectations: Average SAT score of entering freshmen breaks into four digits, increasing from 900 to 1015 in four years. Joyner Library collection passes one million books. 1998 Growing by degrees: The number of degree program hits 200, up from 94 in 1982. The university adds 64 new degree programs in 1998 alone—35 bachelor’s degrees and 25 are master’s. The number of doctoral programs in research nearly doubles, from eight to 14. 1998 Enriching students: EC Scholars Program begins, providing top freshman recruits with four-year scholarships and enrichment learning focused on nurturing intellectual curiosity and leadership. It’s official: The Carnegie Foundation bumps ECU up a notch, rating it a Doctoral Research Intensive University. 1999 Poignant pigskin upset: With eastern North Carolina flooded by Hurricane Floyd, the nation watches the Pirates come from behind to defeat the ninth-ranked Miami Hurricanes, 27-23, in an upset played in borrowed Carter- Finley Stadium in Raleigh. 24 Show me the money Rob Nelson was in charge of the numbers for the UNC system as its vice president for finance until retiring in 2010. He did not graduate from ECU, but observed it as a child growing up in Pitt County. “The physical transformation I saw and experienced … is ECU has certainly grown up facility-wise, and is, in my view, competitive with UNC Greensboro, UNC Charlotte and N.C. State, excluding the Centennial Campus, and to some degree, UNC Chapel Hill,” Nelson says. State appropriations, Nelson says, shows ECU has financial momentum. Its ability to get capital funding from the state legislature is a critical indicator of clout, he says. ECU’s momentum perhaps began when it ranked third among the 16 UNC campuses, behind larger N.C. State and UNC Chapel Hill, in construction dollars per full-time equivalent student it got from the $2.5 billion university bond referendum passed by voters in 2000. ECU’s momentum built in 2004, Nelson says, when the legislature approved $380 million in spending for health-related university facilities. UNC Chapel Hill’s new cancer center and the cardiovascular center at ECU accounted for two-thirds of that money. In other areas of funding, Nelson sees ECU lagging. Although it’s the third-largest campus, it consistently ranks fifth or sixth among the 16 UNC schools in state appropriation per full-time equivalent student, he says. By that same measure, it ranks consistently sixth or seventh among its national peers. ECU ranks fourth, behind Chapel Hill, N.C. State and N.C. A&T, in sponsored research dollars, he says. Throughout its growth, East Carolina has been the underdog, Nelson says. But it turned that position into a winning strategy. “Rather than feeling inferior and sorry for itself, ECU has fought hard and pushed folks to recognize the school’s potential and demanded the resources to grow and succeed,” he says. There’s no doubt East Carolina once had to fight hard for every dollar. In an oral history for Mary Jo Bratton’s book on the school’s history, ECU President Leo Jenkins described how money followed reputation in a pyramid of education power and money in North Carolina. Legislators believed “Woman’s College (now UNC Greensboro) and (UNC) Chapel Hill should, and State should be the apex. They should be at the top. They should have the most money. They should have the best instruction and the most difficult courses. In the middle would be East Carolina, Appalachian and maybe West(ern) Carolina. At the bottom of the apex should be the black colleges and the Indian college, Pembroke.” The underdog wins Pine forests and the occasional tobacco field line U.S. 264 until you hit Greenville’s city limits, and the landscape suddenly changes into the sleek architecture of a modern medical center. Several new medical buildings partially shield an older one farther off the highway. That’s the nearly 40-year-old, five-story concrete building housing the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. It’s never been pretty, but it is loved. Ask almost anybody what factor changed ECU’s image the most, and they will tell you it was securing a medical school against powerful opposition, then building it into a pipeline for primary care doctors. “ECU has done what it says it would do by bringing improved health care to eastern North Carolina,” says Charles Mercer, a Raleigh attorney who sits on the UNC Board of Governors. Mercer, who grew up in eastern North Carolina, was a student at UNC Chapel Hill during much of the medical school debate. “I think the success of the medical school and the other increased academic offerings has had a transforming effect on that university not just in North Carolina but throughout the U.S. and beyond,” he says. Medical campus ca. ’91– ’92 Provided AP The numbers, again, offer proof. Both Appalachian State University and ECU started as teaching colleges. Nelson compared the full-time equivalent enrollments of those campuses in 1972 and 2010 as well as their appropriations. Here’s what he found: ASU is 2.3 times bigger now than in 1972. Its budget is 18 times larger. ECU is 2.5 times bigger now, but its budget is 27 times larger. “That’s indicative of the growth which could be attributed to the med school and related allied health programs,” Nelson says. The political fight for the med school cast the former teacher’s college in its signature, unifying underdog role. On the opposite side were some of North Carolina’s most powerful figures and forces: Bill Friday, politicians from the urban Piedmont crescent and editors of the state’s largest newspapers. Playing the role of the small school striving for a deprived region proved a perfect tool to manipulate debate and direct the emotions of supporters. How it happened In a 2007 interview in East, former U.S. Senator Robert Morgan ’47 recalled the critical votes in the General Assembly that elevated East Carolina to university status. During that summer of 1967, Morgan was both chair of the East Carolina Board of Trustees and an influential state senator. “Originally, I introduced a bill in the Senate just to cover East Carolina, and it passed the Senate. But when it got over to the House, they killed it. To say it in the nicest way possible, a lot of them thought we just weren’t qualified to be a university. “One night later I got a call from [former governor] Terry Sanford, and he said the problem was that East Carolina’s base of support wasn’t broad enough. He said I ought to include Appalachian and maybe Western in the legislation because it would give some recognition to all the old teacher training schools, and because doing that would get more votes. So we did. That bill was introduced in the Senate and it passed. But when we sent that bill over to the House it ran into trouble again. “The opponents put an amendment on the bill to make N.C. A&T a university, too, because they believe it would kill the bill if it included one of the historically black schools. They thought eastern North Carolina just wouldn’t take that. But when the bill came back to the Senate, we said it would be a fine thing for A&T to be a university. And after the Senate concurred in the House amendment, I gave the only speech I ever gave from the podium of the Senate. I said East Carolina knew what it was like to suffer from some bias, and so we welcomed A&T because they had suffered, too.” 25 Charlotte Observer, April 25, 1967 Provided 1999 Room to learn, grow: Final phase of 10-year, $30 million expansion and renovation of Joyner Library doubles the size of the heart of campus academic life. 2003 I’ll take ECU, thanks: Randolph Chitwood, the nationally renowned heart surgeon who pioneered clinical use of da Vinci robotic surgery at ECU, turns down an offer from Harvard University to run its heart institute. 2005 A higher threshold: 36.7 percent of entering freshmen rank in the top one-fifth of their high school class, compared with 29 percent in 1991, reflecting the impact of rising admission standards. 2007 Opening doors: Access Scholars program kicks off, providing freshmen who demonstrate academic merit and financial need with $5,000 annual stipend; fundraising doubles number of scholarships in the second year. 2007 All smiles: N.C. General Assembly establishes a dental school at ECU, the state’s second. 2009 Distance learning: Online enrollment leads the UNC system, hitting 6,079, nearly doubling in four years since 2005, when 3,696 students took classes online. Today, online students compose 22 percent of ECU’s total enrollment. 2010 Academic stars: Honors College is established and welcomes its inaugural class of 105 high-performing students invited to enroll based on academics and character. Sources: UNC General Administration, ECU Fact Book, ECU Archives Then-President Leo Jenkins seized upon it both to whip up the faithful and shame opponents into getting on board. That often-antagonistic posture put Jenkins, in charge of one of North Carolina’s individual campuses, squarely opposite Friday, head of the newly unified UNC system. It was the same adversarial relationship they had during the university status battle. “Universities have different ways of making points as they progress. His was challenging things in the public arena,” Friday says. “I saw that beneath that…was a solid wall of caring about eastern North Carolina.” Friday now says outright that ECU has grown into one of North Carolina’s brightest gems. “It is an aggressive, full partner in the state’s higher education. It has carried its share of that burden and I think done so with great strength.” ECU’s impact in eastern North Carolina has moved it into an elite group of institutions, he says. “You have in universities the teaching and research. But the best institutions add a third element, the element of public service,” Friday says. “I don’t know any place that does it with a more devoted and creative spirit than East Carolina.” Ditch the chip, keep the passion Given what East Carolina has accomplished, can it still play the underdog with a straight face? Has the time for angst and antagonism on behalf of a striving institution passed? Observers like Nelson see a new day. “I think the mere establishment of the new (dental) school speaks volumes of the respect ECU has earned over the last 40 years, in higher education and in the legislature.” The state’s large newspapers supported the school on the basis that East Carolina’s successful record with primary care doctors put it, not Chapel Hill, in the best position to train rural dentists. “ECU’s medical school has used the same method to recruit and train rural family doctors,” said the Charlotte Observer in an editorial published Nov. 6, 2006. “And what better way to increase the number of rural dentists than to train them in a rural area?” Even with a sea change in reputation, the strong emotions unleashed by the battles for university status and the medical school have lingered. They lend a harder edge to the feelings of many with direct ties to that chapter of the school’s history—an edge that 26 has begun to feel out of place against the backdrop of today’s university. “It’s who you ask, and my generation has experienced it,” says Carl Davis ’73 of Raleigh, assistant general manager for WUNC-TV. “Nobody wants to hear it,” says Aho. “They’ve never wanted to hear it, particularly in the state. Getting on board as a university and the fallout from the medical school and the legislative component are things that happened so long ago they are no longer relevant.” Aho sees a chip-on-the-shoulder attitude as an anachronism. “Most of it is self-initiated group-think: Let’s share this view with each other so we can share this view with each other,” he says. “All of it, at least, for my contemporaries, is unnecessary. The chip on the shoulder is misplaced.” Having a determined underdog spirit is healthy, says Charles Jenkins. But having a chip on your shoulder is not. “We are way beyond having a chip on our shoulder when you have accomplished what ECU has accomplished,” he says. “If that’s still there, and it’s not clear to me it is, we need to recognize that’s just baggage.” Chatman is among less than 1 percent of chief nursing officers for medical centers nationwide who are African-American women. Having a chip on your shoulder doesn’t matter so much as how you respond to that chip, she says. “If you let your ‘chip’ become you, then it’s a liability,” she says. “If you use it to push and constantly become better, that’s an asset.” Observers say it’s time for East Carolina to ditch the chip—but keep the passion. The energy that once focused on earning respect can now be focused on urgent work at hand—improving health care in the rural East, strengthening schools and supporting a more diverse economy—and on furthering the record of public service that has won the admiration of former opponents such as Friday. “I don’t know anybody who’s self-conscious about the state of East Carolina University,” says Friday. “Self-conscious is not a phrase to use if you are from ECU. That university is moving. It can demonstrate it’s impacted the region.” “I think there is a clear view that whatever you think of the university, the people who come out of there are capable of doing the things they do,” says Aho. So are we there yet? “We certainly are not there,” says Charles Jenkins. “We won’t ever get there. There’s always changing needs. We need to continue on this same projected path, continue to be strong in service to the region we are bound to and in academic progress.” “Continue the passion for the university and its mission to serve eastern North Carolina and the state of North Carolina,” says Mercer. “Continue to grow your academic reputation…continue to attract talented faculty…continue to emphasize retention of students…and increase graduation rates…continue to be devoted to that mission…Servire.” East About the author: Mary Schulken ’79 has compiled a stellar career in journalism as a reporter and editor at the Greenville Daily Reflector, as an op-ed page editor of the Charlotte Observer and now as a blogger for Education Week. She remains connected with ECU as president of the Comm Crew, the alumni group for the School of Communication, and as a member of the Board of Visitors. 27 28 29 Stocking the Pantry Just two years out of college, Sam Wornom co-founded The Pantry chain of convenience stores and grew it into nearly 500 locations. In the second act of a stellar business career, he’s again proving he can spot business opportunities that satisfy consumer appetite. 30 Sam Wornom III ’65 keeps a heavy winter coat handy in his office at Imperial Freezer Services, a sprawling building that sits off U.S. 1 in Sanford, about 30 miles south of Raleigh. He throws it on to give visitors a tour of the 125,000-square-foot facility, which essentially is a giant icebox. “We store food items for several companies until they need it,” he explains. Food products move in and out of the plant through 16 truck bays and two railroad bays. “About 60 percent of what goes through here is bound for overseas, mostly poultry products,” he adds. That product is stored in a section of the warehouse that remains in perpetual deep freeze, kept at a constant 10 below zero. “You don’t want to go back there,” he deadpans. Wornom co-founded Imperial in 1995. It’s one of several enterprises he’s started since 1987 when he sold The Pantry chain of convenience stores at the tender age of 45. “I’m really not active in the management here,” Wornom says about Imperial. “I’ve done this business like most companies I get involved with now. I can spot a business opportunity and negotiate a deal but then I turn over the actual running of the business to people who are good at that, people who are smarter than me.” Wornom, a Lambda Chi brother, was just two years out of East Carolina then he opened the first Pantry store, but he knew the mercantile trade. As part of a business class project, he helped open a new concept for Garner-Wynne-Manning, a Greenville wholesale supplier of notions, over-the-counter drugs and sundries. Garner-Wynne opened a Big Value Discount Store in downtown Greenville, and Wornom started working there part-time. After graduation he took a full-time job managing a Big Value store in Tarboro and then moved to Sanford when Garner-Wynne opened a store there. But Wornom wanted to go into business for himself, and he needed a partner. At a Sanford Jaycees meeting he met the perfect one in Truby Proctor, whose family owned Lee-Moore Oil Co. in Sanford. Wornom knew how to stock and operate a store that stayed open late and sold a few common household products; Proctor knew the oil and gasoline delivery business and their partnership began. “In most small towns back then, you couldn’t buy a quart of milk or get gas after five o’clock. We thought we could make money serving that need.” Then he pauses in reflection. “Actually, I don’t believe I have ever had an original idea. I didn’t even have the idea of starting the Pantry. Truby and I together came up with the concept.” Gas and groceries Those two elements—gas and a grab bag of groceries—create what we know today as the convenience store. It was a formula Wornom and Proctor repeated again and again in other stores they opened in central North Carolina, always on the main drag of small towns that had at least 750 homes within a couple of miles. With each new store they refined the concept until they had the process down cold, using profits from existing stores to pay for opening new ones. Wornom and Proctor were able to add additional stores through the help of two dairies who were losing shelf space in the big chain supermarkets. The handful of Pantry stores swelled to dozens, then hundreds, across the Carolinas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. Wornom branched out into other businesses. He became associated with another Sanford-based business, Trion Inc., a manufacturer of commercial, industrial and residential indoor air products. He bought into the Mack Stores chain, which also was headquartered in Sanford, when its owners retired. Now occupied with other interests, Wornom needed someone to take over management of the young but growing Pantry chain. He turned to an ECU alumnus, Gene Horne Jr. ’64, who had taught school in Maryland after college and tried his hand at running a store. Horne joined the Pantry in 1973 and led it through a period of explosive growth. He remained a top executive of the company after the company was sold to Montrose Capital, an investment firm renowned for its famous shareholders, including Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s, and Wayne Rogers, the former Trapper John on the TV series M*A*S*H. The company later went public and rebranded many of the stores under the Kangaroo name. The Pantry remains one of only two Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the Raleigh area. Throughout their careers, both Wornom and Horne kept close ties with East Carolina. Wornom joined the Board of Visitors and was a founding member of the Chancellors’ Society. A member of the Order of the Cupola, he was honored with an Outstanding Alumni award in 1980. He was appointed to the Board of Trustees in 1983 and served there for eight years, serving as chairman from 1990–91. Horne, a Kappa Alpha brother, received the Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award in 1988 and chaired the College of Business Golden Anniversary Campaign. New horizons, old friends Roddy Jones ’58 of Raleigh was skeptical at first when Wornom called in 1997 to propose investing in a new bank. Even though he didn’t know much about banking, Jones listened because he valued Wornom’s advice. “I have known Sam for so long I’m embarrassed to say because it makes us look old,” Jones laughs. “He is the type of guy who is analytical about every decision he makes in business, which I think has done well for him over the years. So when he called me about becoming a founding director of Capital Bank I knew it would be a smart move. I’ve been in construction and real estate development my whole life. I By Steve Tutle 31 knew very little about banking. But I knew Sam and if he said that was a good deal, that’s all I needed to know.” Charles Atkins ’75, president of a real estate development company in Sanford, had the same reaction when Wornom called him about investing in the bank. Capital Bank began in Raleigh and quickly grew into 33 branch offices across North Carolina with $1.6 billion in assets. He invests in other ventures through Nouveau Investments, the financial vehicle he created to manage his business interests. While his business interests have ranged far and wide, he’s remained close to home in other areas of his life. He’s active in Lee County community, where for decades he’s been the force behind the local Boys & Girls Club as well as a National Trustee for the organization. He’s a deacon at Jonesboro Heights Baptist Church. and he helps the local United Way drive and several other civic organizations. One reason he’s fond of his alma mater is because that’s where he and his wife, Sandy, met as students. She left college early to get married. After raising two daughters she came back to ECU and became a student again, staying in Greenville during the week with a daughter, son-in-law and their first grandchild, going home on weekends. Sandy completed her degree in 1999 in business education. Nowadays, Sam and Sandy are in town so much that they have a condo here. He’s currently serving on the ECU Foundation and is involved in many other aspects of university life. They rarely miss a football game because those are prime opportunities to spend time with family. In Wornom’s case, family includes children and grandchildren, his old Lambda Chi brothers, Sandy’s old Chi Omega sisters and several other alumni whose business careers and his have intersected over the years. James Maynard ’65 of Raleigh, founder of the Golden Corral restaurant chain, is one of those old friends. “Sam Wornom is one of the most dedicated Pirates I have known,” he says. “The university has been very fortunate to have Sam’s wisdom and advice for more than 25 years. We need more like Sam.” Wornom, Jones, Maynard and two other alumni, the late Pat Draughon ’60 and Alvin Hutzler ’65, teamed up in 1983 to establish the Pirate Club’s Endowment Fund to provide scholarships for student-athletes. Now 68, Wornom remains fit and trim through a strict diet and regular exercise. He looks back and wonders how it all happened so fast. He was just a kid out of Hampton, Va., who came to East Carolina with a group of students from his hometown and ended up enrolling here because a friend did. He picked business as a major because he had to write down something. “I was 17 so I picked business for no real reason other than I felt like it would be interesting,” Wornom says in retrospect. “It seemed to be a good choice. I am very thankful for the blessings and opportunities the Lord has given me.” East from the classroom Cecelia Valrie (right) is mentoring doctoral student Jessica Tomasula. 33 Her classroom has no walls, but Cecelia Valrie ’99 teaches every day. Whether working with doctors at the medical school on programs for chronically ill children or helping her students grasp the complexities of kids’ pain, she’s doing all she can to educate others about making life better for sick children and their families. By profession she’s a developmental health psychologist, but her expansive knowledge and restless curiosity have taken her far beyond her field’s traditional boundaries. Her goal is enabling children with lifelong, painful illnesses like sickle cell anemia to have more normal lives. She’s researching the special psychology that affects them, and sharing that information with their doctors, families and teachers. As the recipient of a $600,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health, she’s creating a novel research program using cutting-edge technology like smart phones, iPods and even wristwatch computers. Using these gee-whiz tools, she’ll collect information from kids about what makes them feel better. She’ll combine that with what she knows about developmental psychology—the science of how we mature emotionally and intellectually—to craft approaches that allow children to grow and thrive despite long-term pain or medical conditions. “Sick children experience acute pain, and have to undergo intensive medical procedures,” Valrie, 32, says. “They miss school, and have physical and psychological complications because of their illnesses. If they’re going to lead good lives, they need people who understand these stressors and who can assist them in the process.” After graduating from ECU summa cum laude with a dual degree in psychology and math, she received master’s (’04) and doctorate (’06) degrees from UNC Chapel Hill in developmental psychology. She joined ECU’s psychology department in 2006. In addition to her research and work with kids and professionals, Valrie teaches psychology at all levels and supervises doctoral students as part of the university’s new Ph.D. in health psychology. This program, one of very few in the nation, examines the emerging field of how we think about health—and how that affects our physical condition. It also explores the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness, as well as factors that affect both mental and physical well-being. The doctorate has tracks in clinical health psychology and pediatric school psychology. It enrolled its first students in 2007 and today has about 30 enrolled. Kathleen Row, chair of the department of psychology, applauds her colleague’s work in this emerging field. “She was here as an undergraduate, and we’re thrilled to have her back as a faculty member,” Row says. “She’s an excellent teacher and outstanding researcher—just an all-around academic citizen, who’s willing to pitch in with what needs to be done.” Easing the ‘ouch’ Cecelia Valrie is identifying new ways to help sick children feel less pain and lead more normal lives. By M arion B la c kburn 34 Sickle cell research Sickle cell disease is Valrie’s research focus and although not a physician, she has learned a great deal about the disease and its effects on children. It’s an unplumbed area of study; previously, people with sickle cell disease didn’t always reach adulthood, especially with serious forms of the disease. These days, medical advances mean people with sickle cell disease often have a life expectancy to the 60s and beyond. So it’s important for them to have healthy development along the way, even as they deal with the hardships of their disease. Sickle cell disease in this country mostly affects African-Americans. The trait creates sickle-shaped red blood cells that cannot pass through vessels properly and become clogged, leading to pain and tissue death. Pain can begin as early as 6 months old, with childhood strokes a possible complication. While it’s hard on children, it’s also tough for parents. “Parents are under quite a bit of stress when they have a chronically ill child,” Valrie says. By showing parents how to work with their children on specific goals despite the discomforts of illness, they can usher their kids forward developmentally. Strong families, she says, raise strong, happy children. “We want to make sure families don’t feel they’re all alone,” she says. ���We want to give them, and their children, a sense of hope, that that they can plan for adulthood while they also understand the struggles of their disease.” She’s interested in evaluating all types of pain management methods and sleep disorders in children, since pain disrupts a child’s nighttime rest, compounding the effects of the illness. These facets of health are critical for psychologists, parents, teachers and doctors: sooner or later, health problems take a toll on a child’s ability to learn and grow. Equipped with a better understanding, adults can stand by children as they grapple with their health problems. Her interest in childhood development takes her into other research areas, including blood diseases (hematology), obesity and chronic pain. Charles W. Daeschner II, division chief for pediatric hematology-oncology at the Brody School of Medicine, is a mentor on her NIH grant. “I’ve known Dr. Valrie since she was a student at Chapel Hill,” he says. “I was very pleased when we could recruit her as faculty. She has a strong interest in children with chronic illnesses, and has brought a new depth to our comprehensive sickle cell clinic. We’re hoping to find some things that will show us how to better work with our kids. Because living with a chronic disease is very emotionally stressful.” Teacher and mentor In addition to working with doctors, nurses and other psychologists, Valrie also teaches life-span development—how people develop over the course of their lifetime—to psychology majors, nurses and teachers, along with the history of psychology. She works closely with doctoral students in research and scholarship. Kristen Alston, 23, a clinical health psychology doctorate student, shares Valrie’s interest in sickle cell disease. Growing up with a close family member who had a chronic disease gave her a personal interest in these illnesses. “Sickle cell disease is the most commonly inherited blood disorder, but people with it have the least access to comprehensive care,” Alston says. “I think that’s unacceptable.” She wants to change that. “It used to be that no one looked at how this disease would affect a person mentally and psychologically,” she says. “Now we’re looking at that a lot more.” While it’s a new field, she believes her mentor is having a vital role in research. In addition, Valrie is her biggest cheerleader. “I can truly call her a mentor,” she says. “As a first-year student, you can get in over your head. But I can count on her to help me realize what’s feasible, and how to take things step by step—and stay on track.” Valrie parcels her time among many roles—conducting research and supervising graduate students, delivering lectures and educational presentations, collaborating with providers at the medical school to develop programs, and working with the kids she enjoys so much. What’s really exciting these days is the technology available for research and the promise it holds to allow professionals to better understand what works for kids—and what doesn’t. She’s making good-use gadgets like smart phones to record children’s pain levels. “This technology will completely change the way we do research.” When she’s not at work, she enjoys movies, especially the independent kind. “I like to escape into a good story,” she says, noting that comedies are always a good choice. “I love to laugh.” Sickle cells Normal red blood cells NASA Andrew Mason Would you still go to church if you knew you could live to be 500 while still enjoying good health? With some futurists saying that medical advances will permit such Methuselah-like life spans in the next 20 to 30 years, that question is more than just idle speculation. Genetic engineering, tissue and organ replacement, the merging of computer technology with human biology, advanced scanning technologies, robotics and nanotechnology all play a role in this unfolding drama. While achieving what the authors call “practical immortality” sounds like wonderful news at first, two East Carolina professors argue that society hasn’t thought about what it really means. In Religion and the Implications of Radical Life Extension, co-edited by religious studies professor Calvin Mercer ’97 and philosophy professor Derek Maher, the case is made that we should begin that conversation now. “One need only reflect briefly on the economic, political and social implications of people living for such long periods to realize the significance of ‘practical immortality,’” Mercer said. “I think this and related human enhancement issues, in time, could trump terrorism, the economy, and global climate change as the leading political and social issue of our world.” The media carry stories about relevant medical breakthroughs and occasionally suggests their more radical implications. “However, the significance of these developments has not yet dawned in the public’s mind,” Mercer said. “Radical life extension and related research constitute one of the most urgent public debates that needs to occur in our society.” Mercer thinks that funding for radical life extension research will be less problematic than many other domains of medical research. “Once the wealthy class sniffs the possibilities of living forever, the money pipelines will open widely,” he said. Religion and the Implications of Radical Life Extension Palgrave Macmillan 208 pages, $79.95 Neighbors talking across the backyard fence is the paradigm America ought to pursue to combat its illegal immigration problem, not the implied threat of a 2,000-mile-long barrier, or so sociology professor Lee Maril argues in his aptly named new book. Using interviews as well as local, state and federal government documents from 1999 to the present, Maril suggests a concrete and steel barrier isn’t the best solution to a human relations problem. The author suggests that policies requiring a focus on the human issues involved, political negotiation and compromise are a better path. The book is based on interviews with border residents, educational leaders, Border Patrol agents, county officials and others whose views are seldom heard. He also talks at length with major defense contractors, military leaders, national politicians, environmental activists and even the Minutemen. The Fence Texas Tech University Press 354 pages, not yet priced You know the Internet has changed the way we live. But just think about how it’s changed the way we do business. That’s what marketing professor Tracy L. Tuten ’88 ’90 ’00 does in Enterprise 2.0: How Technology, eCommerce, and Web 2.0 Are Transforming Business Virtually. The two-volume book set grew out of her previous book on social media marketing. Enterprise 2.0 is the industry term for the business tools and processes that are made possible by Web 2.0 technology, the second generation of the World Wide Web that involves social networking as well as more dynamic and shareable content. Research predicts that enterprise spending on Web 2.0 technology will reach more than $4.5 billion by 2013. Tuten said despite this rapid growth and strong interest, little is available to inform business leaders about the resources and potential applications of new Internet technologies. Her book rectifies that. Enterprise 2.0: How Technology, eCommerce, and Web 2.0 Are Transforming Business Virtually Praeger Publishers 522 pages, $124.95 BOOKS BY FACULTY Tracy L. Tuten 35 The Umpire of Eligibility Tim Metcalf, who’s responsible for keeping ECU out of trouble with the NCAA, relies on a 484-page book of rules. And the rules change every year. 38 Tim Metcalf remembers the call well. He was working at Georgia Southern University at the time, and an assistant coach there had just dropped off a women’s soccer recruit at the airport, officially ending the school’s 48-hour time limit to woo the prospective athlete. But a snowstorm had closed the 16-year-old’s destination airport, and there were no more flights out of Savannah that day. The coach phoned to ask Metcalf: Should I turn around and pick her up and violate NCAA rules or leave her there and hope for the best? “I told him to pick her up and take her to a hotel,” says Metcalf, who now is East Carolina’s director of compliance. “There’s the legal thing to do, and there’s the moral thing to do. I’m not going to leave a 16-year-old girl at an airport a thousand miles from home.” By J . E ric E ckard For doing what he knew was the right thing, Metcalf and the coach received letters of admonishment from the NCAA, and the recruit wasn’t allowed to enroll at Georgia Southern. It was clear what to do then. These days, hardly any of Metcalf ’s decisions are so easy because the rules governing college recruiting have become so complex. This year’s NCAA book of rules covering everything from eligibility to financial aid is 484 pages long and more than three inches thick. And it changes every year. “One of the toughest things about the job is you get questioned on things, and you get 99 out of 100 correct. The one you get wrong is the one they remember,” Metcalf says, adding a bit wistfully, “Nobody pulls for the umpire.” It’s a stomach-churning kind of job. “We have to be right every time. There’s no kinda-sorta. And if we’re not, and we overlook something, that student-athlete might not be eligible. That’s a lot of pressure.” UNC Chapel Hill was expecting to be sanctioned for NCAA violations involving contact between players and sports agents. It could happen here. With recent success throughout Conference USA in football and talk of an automatic BCS bid for the conference champion, pressure on compliance offers at all member schools is compounded. More sports agents are scouting the C-USA ranks hoping to find the next Chris Johnson, the former ECU running back now setting NFL rushing records with the Tennessee Titans. “With 80 former C-USA student-athletes on opening day NFL rosters last year, our institutions take agent and extra benefit issues very seriously, and I would expect that to continue in the future,” says Rob Phillippi, C-USA associate commissioner for compliance and academics. Metcalf says most of his dealings with sports agents have been issue-free, especially because the state of North Carolina requires agents to register with schools. Although it’s not required, he takes the extra step of asking all agents looking at ECU players to go through him. “It’s a byproduct of success, and it can be a good thing or a bad thing,” he says. “You do what you can to police it, but we don’t always know who our student-athletes talk to every day.” Why? Blame YouTube, instant messaging, smart phones and social media sites that have made contact between college coaches and recruits as easy as clicking a mouse. “Times have changed a lot because of technology,” says Metcalf, who worked in the compliance department for eight years at Georgia Southern before coming to ECU in 2006. “There are more rules and more interpretations to keep up with that technology. And not only are there different rules and interpretations for different sports, but sometimes for the same sport. Very few times will a coach ask me a question where I can say yes or no. It’s always evolving.” No college sports program is perfect, and ECU—like most Division 1 schools—has self-reported inadvertent violations to the NCAA. But the NCAA hasn’t imposed any penalties on ECU stiffer than those 39 the school knew it would get for reporting minor violations. A few years ago the ECU’s men’s basketball team was in danger of losing future scholarships for not meeting the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate, a formula that measures graduation rates, academic performance and other factors. Although the team scored below the NCAA standard in its most recent multiyear evaluation, it has made enough progress to avoid penalties. It helps, except when it hurts Technology is both a boon and a bane for athletes and college compliance officials. In some ways it can make Metcalf ’s job easier. He’s currently evaluating a software program that would allow him to monitor coaches’ phone calls to recruits. Now, coaches turn in paper phone logs of those calls once a month. Technology also makes it much easier these days for high school athletes who aren’t among the top recruits to get coaches’ attention—and scholarship offers. You take the digital home movies Mom shot of your high school games, sit down at a laptop and edit those into a highlight reel and then upload it to YouTube. It was different back in the olden days of, say, five years ago. Back then, according to Josh Smith, a senior tackle on ECU’s football team, many prospects looking for scholarship offers were still mailing VCR tapes to coaches. “Technology wasn’t where it is today,” says Smith, a 2005 graduate from Garner High School. “I had to make my own videos and send out the tapes. It was so hard in high school to get your name out. It was a hectic experience.” Smith committed to ECU after his junior year in high school when he was named to the all-conference team and crowned the state’s defensive player of the year. By the time he graduated, the coach who recruited him had departed and Skip Holtz had arrived. Holtz wanted to red-shirt Smith his freshman year. Smith didn’t want to spend a year warming the bench so he decided to enroll in a prep school in Rhode Island. After a year there he transferred to Western Carolina University. After a year there he transferred to ECU and sat out the 2007 season, as required by the NCAA. He finally got to play in 2008 as a red-shirt sophomore. Smith traces his long and winding road from Garner to Greenville to his original aversion to the recruiting process. “I committed here so quick that I never got any other offers. Most [of my high school teammates] waited, but I hated [the recruiting process]. Should I have waited? Yes. Do I regret it? Not at all. But a year would have made a big difference.” During Smith’s odyssey high-profile scandals erupted at the University of Miami and the University of Colorado, which led to new limits on perks recruiters can offer. The NCAA even banned text messages from coaches to prospective players. “There’s lots of information out there for recruits—instantaneous information,” Metcalf says. “People communicate through texts, e-mail, instant messages and social networks. Trying to stay on top of that is a never-ending process.” ‘Something new every day’ On a given work day Metcalf might check the eligibility of an incoming student-athlete, send out eligibility waivers for transferring students, process eligibility lists for various sports, call NCAA or conference officials for information or field calls from coaches, students, staff or parents asking for interpretation of the rules. And he does that for all 17 sports teams at ECU, not just football. He attends seminars regularly to bone up on new rules and updates on existing regulations. He’s supported by an administrative assistant, a graduate assistant plus help on financial aid and academic issues from Rosie Thompson-Smaw, the senior women’s associate athletic director. Organizationally, the compliance office sits outside the athletics department to avoid conflicts of interest. “There’s something new every day—no two days are alike.” Philippi, the C-USA official, says recruiting rules change every year. “For example, 50 suggested changes relating to recruiting were submitted in 2009,” he points out. In the past six years, rule changes have included banning the use of private planes and limos on recruiting trips; schools no longer can plaster a recruit’s name on the backs of jerseys or the scoreboards at games; seventh- and eighth-graders now are considered basketball prospects covered by recruiting restriction. Recruiting was much simpler a few decades ago when NCAA rules mostly dealt with policing booster club slush funds. Roy Bush ’73 of Harrisburg, who played a year of football at ECU under a full scholarship in 1965 before heading off to the Vietnam War, says contacts and visits weren’t an issue in his day. “Everything went through my [high school] coach,” says Bush. “He wanted to funnel it to make sure nothing went wrong. With all the [technology] now, things don’t have to be funneled through high school coaches.” With the rise of sports opportunities outside high school such as Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and other traveling teams, today’s high school coaches aren’t always privy to the recruiting process. Britney Roper, a redshirt junior volleyball player at ECU, says when she was being recruited from Pender High School most of what she learned about the process came from college coaches. “They told me that they can’t do this or they can’t do that. They said, ‘I can’t call you all the time, but if you have any questions, call me.’ For some athletes, it can be somewhat of a hassle because you want to find out as much information as you can. “But I understand why they do it,” Roper adds. “The rules are in place for high school kids to still be kids. Recruiting almost requires you to mature faster.” Metcalf is very much aware of that and does what he can to help. “I don’t have any biological kids, but I have 500 children, and I feel responsible for them. Figuratively, I’ll give them a hug when they need it and a kick in the butt when they need it. But it can be a challenge.” East 40 pirate nation Beth Grant and Alison Brown Yes, Pirates can play roundball With all the recent talk about East Carolina’s losing records in basketball, it’s easy to forget that the school once dominated in the sport and had players drafted into the pros. But there were, players like Bobby Hodges ’54 ’61, who was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL and by the Philadelphia Warriors of the NBA. A product of Grainger High School in Kinston, Hodges came to Greenville in the fall of 1950 and made the football team as a freshman on a team that went 7-3 under Coach Bill Dole. He played both tackle and end. As a senior and team captain, he caught 10 touchdown passes in an 8-2 season and made the NAIA All- American team. The team compiled a 25-14-2 record during his four years. When the football season ended each year, Hodges immediately joined the basketball team, playing center on teams coached by Howard Porter. After mediocre 13- 11 and 14-11 records during his first two years, things picked up. Hodges led the Pirates to an 18-5 record as a junior and capped it off with a magnificent senior year that saw the team win 23 games while losing only two. He averaged 26.7 points per game in 1954 and scored a total of 2,018 points during his career, an ECU record that still stands. Again, he was named a basketball All- American along with All-North State Conference. He had a long career mainly in education but worked at jobs as varied as head basketball and football coach at Lenoir-Rhyne University and as commissioner of the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles. Now 79 and a Wilmington resident, Hodges remains an avid ECU fan and attends as many games as he can. “A bad back keeps me from getting around as much as I would like,” he explains. The back problem also keeps him off the golf course where he used to shoot in the high 70s. “But I do a lot of reading, travel whenever I can, and go the YMCA as often as possible for some light workouts.” “By the time I got to ECU in 1956, Bobby was already a legend” said long-time friend Charlie Adams ’59 ’62 of Cary, former director of the N.C. High School Athletic Association. “He was fiercely competitive, but off the field
Object Description
Description
Title | East : the magazine of East Carolina University |
Other Title | Magazine of East Carolina University |
Date | 2011 |
Description | Vol. 9, no. 2 (winter 2011) |
Digital Characteristics-A | 5 MB; 64 p. |
Digital Format | application/pdf |
Full Text | East The Magazine of East Carolina University winter 2011 ECU climbed from a teachers college to a major university and medical center by always reaching for the next level. Are we there yet? viewfinder Pirates Have Hooks Who needs a sword or an eye patch when you can show Pirate pride with the finger hook? The Boneyard student section in the new horseshoe at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium was full of hooks at Homecoming. East The Magazine of East Carolina University winter 2011 36 18 28 F EATURES 18 ARE WE THERE YET? By Mary Schulken ’79 It’s been a long climb for East Carolina, the scrappy little teachers college that fought epic battles to become a major university and medical center. Have we arrived? And if so, how do we know? 28 STOCKING THE PANTRY By Steve Tuttle ’90 Just two years out of college, Sam Wornom co-founded The Pantry chain of convenience stores and grew it into nearly 500 locations. In the second act of a stellar business career, he’s again proving he can spot business opportunities that satisfy consumer appetite. 32 EASIN G THE OUCH By Marion Blackburn Cecelia Valrie ’99 is identifying new ways to help sick children feel less pain and lead more normal lives. 36 the umpire of eligibili ty By J. Eric Eckard Tim Metcalf, who’s responsible for keeping ECU out of trouble with the NCAA, relies on a 484-page book of rules. And the rules change every year. DE PARTMEN TS FROM OUR READERS . 3 THE ECU REPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 WINTER ARTS CALENDAR . . . . . . . 16 FROM THE CLASSROO M . . . . . . . . 32 PIRATE NATION . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 CLASS NOTES . 43 UPON THE PAST . 60 32 2 Are we there yet? While she was researching material for the cover story in this issue, Mary Schulken ’79 talked with alumni and friends who exhibited varying degrees of the famous ECU chip-on-the-shoulder attitude. Some she talked to had it bad, relating vivid memories of times when they perceived ECU’s dignity was slighted in the public square or on the football field. Others seemed to have much less of this aggrieved underdog attitude. Younger alumni didn’t know what she was talking about. That’s when it occurred to us that you can often predict how an alumnus feels about East Carolina by what it says on their diploma. If yours says East Carolina College, you probably have a bad case of the chip because you were here when the school really did suffer at the hands of state budget writers, a time when it was ridiculed on editorial pages for aspiring to become a university. If your diploma says East Carolina University, you probably have either a mild case of the chip or none at all, depending on whether you graduated before or after the medical school opened in the early 1980s. That was one of the more interesting things we discovered while digging into the origin of East Carolina’s redheaded stepchild mentality and how Leo Jenkins used it to rally the troops during epic battles with the powers that be in Raleigh. At first we didn’t understand why younger alumni exhibited hardly any trace of ECU’s classic underdog mindset. They gave us blank looks when asked how it felt to graduate from an up-and-coming institution that could achieve great things but for…. They were quick to set us straight: We didn’t go to an up-and-coming anything. We graduated from a major research university with highly regarded schools of business, education, nursing, communication and fine arts. One with a nationally acclaimed medical school, an engineering program and a school of dental medicine about to open. One that’s becoming pretty hard just to get into. That’s when Schulken and I began to wonder: Maybe East Carolina has arrived. One hundred years after Robert Wright first began “to dream dreams and see visions” for the school’s future, maybe it’s time to declare victory in the school’s long battle for acceptance and respect. What a long, strange trip it’s been. Are we there yet? How do we know? from the editor Volume 9, Number 2 East is published four times a year by East Carolina University Division of University Advancement 2200 South Charles Blvd. Greenville, NC 27858 h EDITOR Steve Tuttle ’09 252-328-2068 / tuttles@ecu.edu ART DIRECTOR/DESIGNER Brent Burch PHOTOGRAPHER Forrest Croce COPY EDITOR Jimmy Rostar ’94 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Marion Blackburn, J. Eric Eckard, Bill F. Hensley, Kara Loftin, Anna Logemann, Peggy Novotny, Steve Row, Mary Schulken ’79, Karen Shugart, Meagan Williford CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Jay Clark, Doug Smith CLASS NOTES EDITOR Joanne Kollar ecuclassnotes@ecu.edu ADMINISTRATION Michelle Sloan h Assistant Vice Chancelor for University Marketing Clint Bailey East Carolina University is a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina. It is a public doctoral/ research intensive university offering baccalaureate, master’s, specialist and doctoral degrees in the liberal arts, sciences and professional fields, including medicine. Dedicated to the achievement of excellence, responsible stewardship of the public trust and academic freedom, ECU values the contributions of a diverse community, supports shared governance and guarantees equality of opportunity. ©2011 by East Carolina University Printed by Progress Printing U.P. 11-046 63,500 copies of this public document were printed at a cost of $36,455 or $.58 per copy. East The Magazine of East Carolina University winter 2011 My mother was a Beckwith girl Thanks for the article on Kate Beckwith [the elegant lady principal who taught the social graces during East Carolina’s earliest days]. My mother, Sarah Gilliam Daniels, was there in 1923–25 and I’m sure she brought the values she learned from Mrs. Beckwith back with her and carried them forward in her teaching career in Halifax and Franklin counties. She came to ECTC on a state grant that required her to teach in a poor county. She taught in Halifax County a few years before coming home in Franklin County to teach there. I followed a lot of women in my family who graduated from East Carolina and taught school. I have a Bible that belonged to an aunt signed by Dr. Wright in 1927. I have bricks under the cupola for my mother, my daughter and myself. My youngest daughter, Michelle Susan Moser ’88 ’96, taught there for two years. I have a question about something my mother alluded to over the years: In those days, did schools require women to stop teaching if they got married? —Bob Daniels ’59, Wake Forest Editor’s note: We put that question to Jo Ann Norris of the Public School Forum of N.C. in Raleigh. Her answer is yes, many school districts would not employ a married woman. “I have had somewhere a copy of the duties of teachers and the prohibition of marriage was in the list,” Ms. Norris says, adding that the ban likely gave rise to the phrase, “old maid school teacher.” My mother-in-law was, too I am the daughter-in-law of Essie Woolard Clark ’14 who was quoted in the [story about Mrs. Beckwith]. Mrs. Clark was true to the words in your article. She grew up in a large family in Cross Roads Township in Martin County. She went on to be a schoolteacher in eastern North Carolina in elementary education. She was the mother of seven children, all of whom graduated from North Carolina’s public universities. All three of her daughters graduated from East Carolina. She was grandmother to 21 grandchildren, all of whom are college graduates. Several of her grandchildren graduated from ECU, including one who was one of the first graduates of the medical school. All of her great-grandchildren who are of age have graduated from four-year institutions as well. Mrs. Clark created a legacy of education that began at East Carolina and continues to this day. Mrs. Clark passed away in 1990 and was always proud of her affiliation with East Carolina. —Betty D. Clark ’56, Williamston Another Miss North Carolina It has been brought to my attention that my name was left off the list of ECU alumni who are former Miss North Carolinas. I was Miss North Carolina-USA for 1989 and placed in the top 15 at the 1990 Miss USA pageant. In addition, I was awarded the “Betty Lane Evans” swimsuit award at the Miss North Carolina finals in 1985. Thanks for your attention to this and I look forward to visiting ECU for some football! —Jacqueline Padgette ’90, Raleigh Editor’s note: This discussion started two years ago with a Timeline item noting the 50th anniversary of the crowning of Betty Lane Evans ’58 as Miss North Carolina. The story said five other alumnae were later chosen either Miss North Carolina or Miss North Carolina USA, a rival pageant. Since then we have had letters from three alumnae pointing out omissions to the list. With the addition of Ms. Padgette, the list now stands at 10: Joan Melton ’58 in 1956; Evans in 1958, Anita Johnson in 1969, Patsy Gail Wood in 1971, Mary Rudroff, also in 1971 (a year when ECU students simultaneously held the competing crowns), Lynn Williford ’79 in 1981, Ms. Padgette ’90 in 1989, Monica Polumbo in 2001 (chosen Miss Congeniality at the Miss USA pageant), Dana Reason in 2003, and Kristen Dalton ’09 in 2008 (chosen Miss USA in 2009). from our readers Read East online at www.ecu.edu/east How do I subscribe? Send a check to the ECU Foundation. How much is up to you, but we suggest a minimum of $25. Your generosity is appreciated. n 252-328-9550 n www.ecu.edu/devt n give2ecu@ecu.edu Join the Alumni Association and receive a subscription as well as other benefits and services. Minimum dues are $35. n 1-800-ECU-GRAD n www.piratealumni.com n alumni@PirateAlumni.com Join the Pirate Club and get the magazine as well as other benefits appreciated by sports fans. Minimum dues are $75. n 252-328-4540 n www.ecupirateclub.com n contact@ecupirateclub.com Contact us n 252-328-2068 n easteditor@ecu.edu n www.ecu.edu/east Customer Service To start or stop a subscription, or to let us know about a change of address, please contact Lisa Gurkin, gurkinl@ecu.edu or 252-328-9561 Send letters to the editor to easteditor@ecu.edu or 1206 Charles Blvd. Building 198 Mail Stop 108 East Carolina University Greenville, N.C. 27858 Send class notes to ecuclassnotes@ecu.edu or use the form on page 46 3 Sarah Gilliam Essie Woolard 4 What does college really cost? The UNC system is beginning to look at how much college costs the same way a parent does: the bottom line. And in that light, tuition becomes just one expense item among many, and not even the largest. Besides tuition, there’s a dorm room and a meal plan, books and supplies, travel and insurance as well as personal expenses for cell phones and laptops. In a report issued this summer, the UNC Board of Governors says that, all things considered, it cost $16,405 for an undergraduate in-state student living on campus to attend East Carolina in 2009–10. That’s third highest among the 16 campuses, behind UNC Chapel Hill ($17,424) and N.C. State University ($16,028). The least expensive campus was Fayetteville State University ($12,363); the average of all 16 was $15,216. Where do families get the money to pay for college? Nearly two out of every three East Carolina students receive some type of financial aid, according to the report. Those loans pile up quickly; the 1,683 in-state students who graduated in the 2009–10 school year had accumulated an average $19,987 in student loan debt. There are many grants and scholarships available to qualifying students that generally don’t have to be repaid. Taking that into account, the net cost of a year at ECU for families earning less than $30,000 a year fell to $5,299 in 2008–09, the report says. The net cost for families earning less than $48,000 was $7,232 per year. Across the UNC system, tuition on average rose 5.1 percent in 2007, 1.2 percent in 2008, 2.8 percent in 2009 and 23.1 percent this year. Still, the cost of attending ECU and every other UNC school is among the lowest among their peer institutions. The report was informational only but it notes that one area of future concern for the Board of Governors is the wide disparity in what UNC campuses charge for things beside tuition. East Carolina had the highest “non tuition fee” total among UNC schools, at $11,998 per year. By contrast, a similar group of charges at Fayetteville State was $8,552. Differences in student athletic fees, activity fees and the charge for the student recreation center account for much of the differences among campuses, officials say. Generally speaking, these nontuition fees are highest at the larger campuses with NCAA Division I sports programs, lower at schools with smaller sports programs. the ecU Report Adapting to the way students learn these days—which is in small groups rather than individually—the first floor of Joyner Library was remodeled to create a comfortable, inviting space where they can work together on class assignments. The Collaborative Learning Center has seating for 525, with high-tech computer stations, lounge chairs and booths. Among other new offerings, Ask-a-Librarian Services allow students to ask for help in person, through e-mail, instant messaging, text or phone. State-of-the-art technology allows students to make a digital video recording of a class presentation or group project, play it back and save it on a computer. The Pirate Tutoring Center and University Writing Center also moved to the first floor of the library to increase face-to-face contact with students. ECU best in three benchmarks East Carolina ranks high in new studies conducted by the UNC Board of Governors measuring how well the 16 campuses are doing at achieving three important public policy goals. The campuses were measured on graduating more and better-trained schoolteachers, on producing greater numbers of nurses, and on expanding access to college through online education. Here’s a summary of the reports: Nurses: By a wide margin, East Carolina continues to produce more nurses than any other UNC campus, and its graduates have one of the highest passing rates on the state licensure exam. East Carolina conferred 1,131 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral nursing degrees in 2009. UNC Chapel Hill, with 666 nursing graduates of all types, was second among the 11 UNC campuses with nursing programs. UNC Greensboro, with 651 nursing graduates, was third. Of the 257 ECU nursing graduates who took the state RN exam for the first time in 2009, 248 passed, a 96 percent passing rate that’s second only to Carolina’s 97 percent rate. East Carolina has about doubled its nursing graduates in the past decade, rising from 529 in 1997 to 1,131 in 2009. Online education: The number of degree-seeking students taking online courses through one of the 16 UNC system campuses soared from under 7,000 to more than 56,000 in the past 10 years. The 16,603 who were taking courses at ECU account for about 29 percent of the total. For the fall 2011 semester, 27,813 online students were enrolled at ECU, which was among the first to push online education. Its successful model later was expanded into a systemwide approach exemplified by the UNC Online portal. As a sign of how pervasive distance education has become, an online student now can choose from among 3,368 courses to complete one of 234 degrees, certificates or licensure programs offered completely or mostly online. Teachers: East Carolina not only produces more schoolteachers of all types than any other UNC campus, it’s also doing a good job graduating teachers with specialized skills that are in greatest demand such as math and science. ECU graduated 796 teachers of all types in 2008–09, the last year for which complete data is available. Appalachian State University was second with 580 graduates. Looking at key needs, ECU was No. 1 in producing middle grades math teachers, No. 1 in middle grades science teachers, No. 1 in secondary grades science teachers, No. 1 in middle grades education teachers and No. 2 (to UNC Greensboro) in special education teachers. He makes chemistry fun Students actually like science since Ythol Arul ’09 began teaching last year at Richlands High School in Jacksonville. “The enrollment for chemistry courses has increased by more than 50 percent since he started teaching there,” says C.J. Korenek, human resources director for Onslow County Schools. Arul, who teaches chemistry honors, earth science and earth science honors, was recognized as Onslow County School’s 2010 Beginning Teacher of the Year. “He’s very hands on and is such a positive force, and it’s his excitement—you see it every day in his classroom,” said beginning teacher coordinator Darlene Burgess. “Students sense his excitement and they pick up on that.” Born in Cambodia among the Montagnard people, Arul emigrated when he was 6. Before coming to Raleigh in 1992 he had no formal education and could not speak a word of English. Sponsored by a Lutheran church in Raleigh, Arul and his family moved to Cary in 1999. He graduated from Cary High School, came to ECU and completed a BS in science education with a chemistry concentration. He received the Latham Award of Excellence in Teaching in 2009 and was the 2009 Student Teacher of the Year. “I am by no means a great science teacher, but my hope is that others may think of me as a great communicator and a very relational person,” says Arul, who also is an assistant coach for the school’s volleyball and track and field teams. “I believe that it is my passion for chemistry and my ability to relate and connect well with my students that has helped me to have a successful first year. However, I know that I have much to learn about this profession. But that is the beauty of being a teacher; every day is a learning experience. Both for students as well as for teachers.” — the Jacksonville Daily News contributed to this report Ythol Arul 5 Provided 6 the ecu report Gift creates McGee Professorship Wingate University President Jerry McGee ’65 has pledged $333,000 to East Carolina to establish the Jerry McGee Distinguished Professorship in the College of Health and Human Performance. The gift qualifies for state matching funds from the Distinguished Professors Endowment Trust created by the General Assembly. Dean Glen Gilbert said the gift “will create a legacy that celebrates his inspiring history with the college and is especially promising in the current economic climate where competition to recruit exceptional faculty continues to increase.” In the 18 years McGee has been president, Wingate achieved university status while about doubling in size to 2,400 students. The school, located near Charlotte, is recognized as one of the best small liberal arts colleges in the South. It offers 32 undergraduate majors, six master’s degrees and doctorates in education and pharmacy. McGee previously served at Gardner-Webb University, Meredith College and Furman University. Throughout his 37-year career in higher education, McGee also worked weekends as an official at college football games, mostly in the ACC. A field judge, he worked more than 400 regular-season games and dozens of bowl games. After officiating at his third national championship, McGee retired his yellow flag after the 2009 game. “As I watched the clock wind down,” he said then, “I thought about many people who had helped me along the way, including East Carolina coach Jack Boone who hired me as an intramural football official when I was a college sophomore.” “Like so many of ECU students, he embodies the American dream that determination and an education can make a bright future possible,” Gilbert said. “He grew up with little or no financial resources and sometimes had to literally fight his way to and from school.” A native of Roberdel, a mill village near Rockingham, McGee was a member of the Phi Epsilon Kappa fraternity and the 1963 varsity baseball team. His mentors were professor Clint Strong and coach Boone, who hired McGee as the student director of intramural programs, the income from which allowed him to stay in school. Although he enjoyed sports, he also remembers spending many nights studying with classmates who remained lifelong friends,” he said, mentioning Jimmie Grimsley ’66 ’67 of Winterville, UNC Pembroke Chancellor Charles Jenkins ’66 ’67 ’68 and Jack Bobbitt ’66 ’70 of Blounts Creek. McGee has two sons—Ryan, a graduate of the University of Tennessee, who is a senior writer for ESPN the Magazine; and Sam, a graduate of Wake Forest University and Yale Law School, who is a practicing attorney. He was married to Hannah Covington McGee for 33 years before her death in 1999 and recently married Marcella McInnis of High Point. McGee said he made the commitment to establish the professorship because the education he received at East Carolina changed the course of his life. Many pictures were dusted off and published to mark the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s campaign appearance in Greenville on Sept. 17, 1960, and now two home movies have been discovered showing Kennedy’s motorcade and his speech at College Stadium. One of the films, donated by University Book Exchange owner Don Edwards of Greenville, has been digitized and is available for viewing at Joyner Library. It is posted on East’s web site, www.ecu.edu/east. The film includes footage of Kennedy’s motorcade nearing the stadium and his remarks from the podium. A second film of Kennedy’s appearance has been donated by Amy Leggett Brake ’78 of Rocky Mount and her sister, Susan Leggett Hancock ’76 of Beaufort. Their film, which was shot by their mother, captures the motorcade as it arrives on campus before the stadium event. University historian John Tucker said it’s hoped that eventually both films will be digitized and made available for public viewing on the University Archives web site. 7 Balancing badge and book Television is loaded with cop shows in which quirky lab workers find the evidence to solve the crime. TV forensic scientists usually are hip and cool, like NCIS’s eccentric medical examiner “Ducky” Mallard and Goth-dressing forensic specialist Abby. For the real Duckys and Abbys of the world, however, analyzing crime scene evidence is much less glamorous. The work often is frustrating and painstaking but it’s mostly routine, as students minoring in forensic science at ECU know all too well. Offered by the Department of Criminal Justice, the program focuses on criminal investigation and crime scene investigation—the crucial nuts and bolts of police work. The program has 354 students in the bachelor of science program and 43 in the master’s program. One important thing the cop shows do get right, according to instructor Dennis Honeycutt, is showing the division of labor in crime scene investigation between agents at the scene carefully gathering and packaging evidence for examination later in the morgue and lab. “Courses in the minor give students the chance to spend time at mock crime scenes finding and processing evidence such as blood and other body fluids, weapons, and fi bers,” says Honeycutt, a nationally recognized crime scene expert who has worked on many high-profile cases over a 30-year career. “The students then follow that evidence into our forensic laboratory where they learn to use the equipment and techniques necessary to identify, classify and prepare the evidence for further analysis.” Cops are cops but forensic scientists are a different breed, says department chair Bill Bloss, because they usually are “educated in the natural sciences such as biology or chemistry.” Still, there’s a strong partnership between police work and the academic community, even in disciplines as diverse as accounting—the source of forensic accountants who investigates white-collar business crimes, Bloss says. “There’s even a forensic subfield in entomology concerned with studying insect infestation in human remains,” he adds. As police work becomes more complex, there’s a greater demand for college-educated investigators equipped with specialized skills. “In today’s job market, law enforcement agencies are hiring in many different disciplines,” says Honeycutt. “At present jobs are fairly plentiful in the latent evidence (fingerprint) field, DNA analysis, drug chemistry and in computer forensics. But whether on the collection side or the analysis side, the most valuable forensic workers are those who truly care about the service they’re providing, no matter what the discipline. Success comes from the tenacity to go the extra mile and make sure evidence is processed correctly and thoroughly.” —Peggy Novotny News briefs Walk-in docs: Faculty and staff and their families can now receive fast medical care at Student Health Services on Main Campus. The new practice site for ECU Physicians’ Rapid Access service, led by Dr. Susan Keen ’94 ’97 ’03, a clinical assistant professor of family medicine at the Brody School of Medicine. ECU employees can make same-day appointments or just walk in. The practice has two exam rooms, complete with purple and gold tiles. Pharmacy, laboratory and radiology services are also available. ECU adds degrees: East Carolina has received authority from the UNC Board of Governors to begin offering three new degrees—a bachelor of science in geographic information science and technology and master’s degrees in biomedical sciences and in security studies. The master’s in security studies “will provide students an interdisciplinary approach to understanding and addressing the diverse domestic and international threats to U.S. security,” the school says. ECU also has begun planning to offer a Ph.D. in economics. Project HEART honored: An AmeriCorps program based in the College of Education that places tutors in schools and afterschool programs to help high-risk kids in the region was featured in a national publication of the American Services Commission, which operates the AmeriCorps program. Project HEART, for High Expectations for At-Risk Teens, was one of 39 AmeriCorps programs nationally chosen for publication. The program is a regional partnership between ECU, AmeriCorps, the North Daily Reflector Image Collection Provided 8 Carolina Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service, community colleges, local schools and Boys & Girls Clubs. Started in 2000, Project HEART helps teens stay in school, graduate, go to college and return to their community to help others. In a press release, Gov. Beverly Perdue said “Project HEART is a great AmeriCorps program that is shining a light on North Carolina at its best.” Helping farmers: ECU’s Center for Survey Research is helping North Carolina farmers combat the notion that run-off from farming operations is a major cause of pollution. With backing from the Environmental Education Fund and the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center, the center is conducting focus groups around the state on the topic of rural development and environmental sustainability. “Many people think that agricultural runoff is one of the key sources of environmental pollution when in actuality, municipalities are the main source,” said center director Mandee Foushee Lancaster. So far, the center has interviewed farmers in Rutherford, Warren, Polk, Sampson, Moore and Randolph counties and plans are being made to collect data in Robeson, Pitt, Bertie, Pamlico and Lincoln counties. Sex offenses increase: The number of forcible sexual offenses reported on Main Campus in 2009 increased to nine from three the previous year, about the only statistic in an annual report by the ECU Police Department that rose from the prior year. Included in the statistic are all incidents of a sexual nature reported anonymously to any campus official. Most other on-campus crimes declined from 2008 to 2009, with arrests for weapons law violations dropping from 11 to eight, arrests for drug law violations falling from 59 to 49, arrests for liquor law violations falling from 303 to 133, and robberies dropping from one to zero. For at least the third year in a row, no crimes were reported on the Health Sciences Campus. Also for at least the third year, no hate crimes were reported on either campus. Another record enrollment ECU set another record for enrollment fall semester with 27,813 students, up 143 from this time last year. Most of this year’s enrollment growth is in the Graduate School, which rose to 6,014 students from 5,892 last year. This year’s freshman class grew from 3,956 to 4,193. Officials said dealing with the continued enrollment growth was eased by the fact that Scott Residence Hall on College Hill reopened after an extensive renovation and addition that raised its capacity to 613. With all residence halls full, the number of students living on Main Campus fall semester exceeded 5,000. “These are very positive numbers for the university, especially considering the uncertain state of the economy and the higher costs this year,” said ECU spokesman John Durham. “We look forward to a productive, exciting year with another record-setting student body.” ECU showed improvement in the percentage of freshmen returning for their sophomore year, which indicates fewer are dropping out. This widely watched retention rate is the ecu report Hoping to encourage more students to spend a semester studying abroad, East Carolina staged an International Fair this fall that brought representatives of 21 foreign universities to campus. Students asked questions about what it would be like study in China, Netherlands, Australia or one of the other 18 countries represented. Only 41 ECU students were studying abroad this fall, a number the university is working to increase. The shorter and less expensive summer study abroad programs are more popular. This past summer, 277 students traveled abroad as part of 23 different programs. the highest it has been in 10 years, at 81.33 percent, up from 78.8 percent the previous year. “We have invested a lot of time and energy in improving our retention figures across the campus, and we are pleased and encouraged by these numbers,” Durham said. “We will continue our efforts and look forward to even better retention rates as we move ahead.” The numbers for fall 2010 aren’t official until released by the UNC General Administration along with similar data from other universities in the state system. —Anna Logemann ECU rolls out e-Proctoring ECU has solved a problem that is preventing the UNC system’s online education program from growing into academic disciplines that require students to sit for monitored exams, something that’s hard to arrange when students in a class may live anywhere in the country. The solution is to identify local educators or people like librarians who could be trained once to become a proctor, as exam monitors are known. Their names would go into a database that any campus in the UNC system could tap as a resource. At exam time, the professor can give students lists of approved proctors in their area. This so-called “write once, deploy everywhere” approach is much more efficient that the current fragmented system. The e-Proctoring system, which will be based at ECU, went live fall semester and was demonstrated for the Board of Governors at its Oct. 7 meeting. A ECU staff member will provide oversight for the system, which will serve students enrolled through any of the 16 UNC system campuses. For the time being ECU will be the only campus using all the e-Proctoring features; several other campuses, including UNC Chapel Hill, are on a slower roll-out. ECU and N.C. State were pioneers in online education in North Carolina and continue to operate the largest programs in the state. ECU now smart phone-friendly East Carolina rolled out a new generation of technology that allows students to use their smart phones to access the same level of interactive online services as has been delivered to their laptops. By redesigning the university’s main web portal to display on the tiny screens of iPhones, Droids and other smart phones, it’s now possible for students to log on to Blackboard to see their grades and homework, or go to OneStop to check financial records, while walking between classes. ECU’s mobile site was developed by staff in four and a half months, with the majority of that time spent on researching the capabilities and limitations of smart phones, and then testing designs on real and simulated mobile devices. The mobile site has had approximately 70,000 users in the first weeks since it launched at the start of fall semester. Of those, 34 percent are Android powered devices, 25 percent are iPhones, 16 percent are Blackberries, 13 percent are iPads and 11 percent are iPod Touches. A “you are here” geolocation service displays a map on smart phones that shows your location on campus and give directions, a feature that is useful to lost freshmen as well as returning alumni. “The mobile market is continuing to grow and change by leaps and bounds,” said Joe Norris, ECU’s chief information officer. “Our students, faculty, staff and alumni are part of this market—many of them stay on the go and rely on their smart phones and other mobile devices to get information quickly and from any location.” “Our extensive research led us to the decision to base the mobile interface in a web environment rather than an application, so that the site would be viewable on many different devices and operating systems,” explained Jo Lynne Daughtry, senior IT specialist. “Whether you’re using a Droid with the Android operating system, an Apple iPhone, or even a desktop computer, you can easily navigate the mobile site.” —Meagan Williford 9 10 the ecu report Closing the diploma gap East Carolina has attracted notice for graduating African-American students at rates similar to their white counterparts, defying a national achievement gap. A report from Education Trust, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that works to close achievement gaps, recognized ECU and two other universities in the UNC System, UNC Charlotte and UNC Greensboro, as leaders in graduating African-American students. Among African-American ECU students, 56.2 percent graduate, while 55.4 percent of white students do. Nationally, African- American students earn bachelor’s degrees from four-year institutions at rates nearly 20 points below those of their white peers, according to the report. Education Trust analyzed federal data for 293 public and 163 private colleges. Rates cited are three-year averages, based on statistics for 2006 through 2008. For-profit and historically black institutions were not examined. This is the second time Education Trust has cited ECU’s success in graduating African-American students. In 2004, the organization noted that ECU’s graduation rate among black students was almost double the rate of similar universities. —Greenville The Daily Reflector Degrees on the chopping block Looking for ways to cut the budget, the Board of Trustees is considering dropping some degree programs that attract few majors or merging similar majors that overlap. Although the board has performed these reviews since 1993, they seem more urgent this year as shrinking budgets grow ever tighter. Briefing trustees at their Sept. 16 meeting, Provost Marilyn Sheerer said three programs were cut after the last such review, in 2008. At that time 22 others were flagged for low productivity, 15 agreed to increase enrollment, six were retained with future low enrollment likely, and one was combined with another program on campus. The low productivity list, Sheerer told trustees, doesn’t address matters of a program’s quality or student achievement. It simply means that the program didn’t meet a certain threshold in enrollment or graduation numbers. For bachelor’s degrees, that means programs are to be reviewed if they have awarded fewer than 20 degrees in the last two years, unless upper-division enrollment in the most recent year exceeds 25 or degrees awarded in the most recent year exceeds 10. The thresholds for master’s, professional and doctoral programs are lower. Newer programs are given time to grow enrollment and thus aren’t flagged for review. The General Assembly in 1993 directed the UNC Board of Governors to biennially identify programs that are, in the words of the legislation, of “low productivity or low priority or are unnecessarily redundant.” College of Business Dean Rick Niswander pointed out that some programs traditionally on the low-productivity list, such as physics and philosophy, don’t usually have many majors, but hundreds if not thousands of students pursuring different majors are required to take those core courses. Such programs, Niswander said, have “significant service to the rest of the university, Jay Clark 11 Jeanne Robertson regardless of how many majors they have.” Eliminating health sciences programs that have been on the low-productivity list would jeopardize the Brody School of Medicine’s accreditation, said Phyllis Horns, vice chancellor for health sciences. Enrollment and graduation figures are among several factors that will determine a program’s future, Sheerer said. “When we talk to the deans, we’re not just talking about numbers,” Sheerer said. “We’re talking about market. We’re talking about the success of the graduates. We’re talking about why they’re continuing to support this program.” Clarice Cato Goodyear, liaison to ECU from the UNC Board of Governors, said the BOG wishes to sustain unique programs that further institutional missions, such as the ones offered by the medical school and the aviation program at Elizabeth City State University. “We’re trying to identify signature programs and encourage those programs to be supported, which means, realistically, something has to give,” she said. It’s expected that the trustees will announce their decision at their spring meeting. Department chairs, in consultation with deans, will determine how to respond if their program lands on the list. If, as is usually the case, they don’t believe the program should be eliminated, they can suggest ways to increase enrollment, offer to combine it with another on-campus program or investigate ways to collaborate with another UNC system institution. In the last three budget years, ECU has lost more than $106 million in recurring and nonrecurring funds, and budgets are expected to remain tight in coming years. The elimination of many programs, however, would raise a thorny question: What to do with displaced tenured faculty? Sheerer said many UNC campuses are awaiting guidance on that question from the UNC General Administration. —Karen Shugart, ECU News Services Intern joins staff Anna Logemann, a native of Winston-Salem and a graduate student at East Carolina University, is serving an internship with East magazine diring fall semester. She is writing news and feature stories for the magazine and helping out in other areas of University Publications, including helping produce short videos shown on the ECU web site. Logemann is enrolled in the master’s of communication program at ECU. Her area of focus is health care communication. She also is a teaching assistant this semester in the School of Communication. She completed her undergraduate work with honors in May 2009, earning a bachelor’s in broadcast journalism. Grant to build dental centers A grant of $1.76 million will help the School of Dental Medicine build its first two community service learning centers in northeastern North Carolina. The three-year grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration is targeted for the planned centers in Ahoskie and Elizabeth City. The funds will help establish a dental residency program, recruit faculty staff and residents, develop and promote dental practices to underserved patients and provide office and dental equipment for both facilities. Each center will be a fully functioning general dentistry office with 14 operatories, X-ray equipment, educational spaces and more. Officials are working on the property deeds for the centers and plan to open them by 2012. “It is especially gratifying to see our success getting the grant since no one at our school has much experience preparing such grant proposals,” said dental school Dean James Hupp. “Plus, the team did this work while preparing for our national accreditation evaluation. Such efforts will help us leverage state funds to replace some that we lost due to the state’s budget difficulties.” A full-time dental school faculty member will staff each center, along with dental hygienists and other staff members. Fourth-year dental students and residents will train at the centers. Dr. Gregory Chadwick, associate dean for planning and extramural affairs, has described the centers as similar to “moving the fourth floor of the dental school—the clinical training—off campus to rural areas of our state where dental services are needed.” A third center is planned for Sylva in western North Carolina’s Jackson County. A total of 10 centers will be built in underserved areas across the state at sites to be determined. The School of Dental Medicine has begun its accreditation process and is interviewing its first group of applicants. The school plans to admit its first students next fall, with plans to admit 50 students each year. The N.C. General Assembly has provided about $90 million in funding for construction of the school. —ECU News Services New fraternity on campus The first new fraternity on campus in many years has received its national charter as the Pi Nu chapter of Phi Gamma Delta. A year after starting as a colony, the new fraternity has 42 members—including two top SGA officers—and 16 pledges. Meanwhile, Sigma Tau Gamma, which originally joined the Inter-Fraternity Council in the 1970s, is undergoing a re-founding and is operating as a colony; it expects to receive its national charter this spring. Both fraternities focus on academics. Phi Gamma has four other chapters in North Carolina, at N.C. State, UNC Wilmington, Davidson College and UNC Chapel Hill. A third group is in the process of founding a chapter of Alpha Tau Omega on campus. ECU now has 16 fraternities and 15 sororities. the ecu report Eas t C a r o l i n a t i m e l i n e Connecting town and gown As ECTTS starts its second year, walking over from town to view the handsome new buildings becomes a popular Sunday afternoon outing for Greenville residents. It’s quite a hike because town ends where Fifth Street stops at about Cotanche Street. From there the strollers follow a sandy path across “Buzzard’s Roost” ravine—site of the town slaughterhouse— and up the hill through dense underbrush to the school. The town begins extending Fifth Street and in 1910 the school plants a hedge and lays a wooden sidewalk on its side of the new street. Four years later the school builds a home for President Robert Wright across Fifth Street (photo), now the Career Services Building. With Fifth Street now connecting town and campus, the growth of Greenville—which had been spreading west from Five Points—reverses course toward the college. Amelia Earhart visits She gets a big laugh during a Jan. 15, 1936, assembly in Wright Auditorium when she says her biggest fear is trying to balance a salad on her lap while flying. In an oral history recorded later, Lucy Stuart Parrish Murphy ’37, one of the students who greeted her, says Earhart was wearing a dress she designed and made herself. “She was vivacious, charming, poised and beautiful. She wore her evening gown with grace and assurance. I was awestruck that she not only knew how to make a plane fly but she could also make a sewing machine fly, and very successfully!” Earhart disappears over the Pacific 18 months later. “When she became lost,” Murphy adds, “it was unconceivable that she could really have any problem—just a matter of misreading a map, perhaps a dense fog. Even today, I often think she will just walk in with a smile and ‘What’s up?’” 100 YEARS AGO 75 YEARS AGO Campaign nears $200 million goal The generosity of thousands of alumni, supporters and friends has pushed the Second Century Campaign over the $181 million mark toward its goal of $200 million, reaching a campaign milestone more than a year ahead of schedule. The university expected to meet or surpass the $200 million goal in 2011, which would be an especially successful effort given the economy. “We have the momentum and commitment to raise $200 million and more to support every aspect of the university, including student scholarships, professorships, lectureships, research and outreach, facilities, and athletics,” said Vice Chancellor for University Advancement Mickey Dowdy. “We are grateful for every contribution, especially during a time in which budgets are strained all over. With increasing demands for funding across the university, it is imperative that 2011 is the year that ECU meets and exceeds its $200 million goal.” The Second Century Campaign was launched publicly in March 2008, with the goal of providing financial support for the bold vision set out by ECU Tomorrow: A Vision for Leadership and Service, the university’s strategic plan adopted by the Board of Trustees in Chancellor Steve Ballard accepts the 2010 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Award during a Sept. 23 gala in Washington, D.C. Presenting what’s known as the Freedom Award are Under Secretary of Defense Robert Hale (left) and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs Dennis McCarthy (right). East Carolina was recognized by the Defense Department for its support of employees and staff members serving in the National Guard and Reserves. Before the event Ballard met with Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Sculls and crossbones Left high and dry after a June 1970 warehouse fire that destroys most of the equipment, the crewteam regroups and presses ahead. Training on improvised facilities on the Tar River and the Pamlico Sound, crew then races to a surprisingly successful 1971 spring season by defeating some Northern schools with long-established programs. The sport becomes a rage on campus when Pirate oarsmen take sixth place in the Dad Vials Regatta in Philadelphia and second place in the Grimaldi Cup races in New York. They even beat Carolina. But student interest in a sport so unusual in the South soon fades. Crew isn’t mentioned in the yearbook after 1976. Images courtesy University Archives Riding shotgun with Leo As enrollment zooms past 5,000 in the fall of 1960, newly installed President Leo Jenkins knows he must delegate authority to have time to pursue university status. He elevates Robert Holt from registrar to dean with broad discretion to run the campus. To keep up to date, Jenkins asks Holt to ride with him on his frequent speaking engagements around the state. They debate politics and educational policy as they barrel down the back roads of eastern North Carolina, with both occasionally talking into tape recorders to note decisions made. Jenkins’ rhetoric sways public opinion but it’s glowing praise in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ 1963 reaccreditation—an effort led by Holt—that provides irrefutable proof that East Carolina is ready for university status, which finally comes in 1967. After a 34-year career with the school, Holt retires in 1984. 40 YEARS AGO 50 YEARS AGO 2007. While fully funding that ambitious vision would take more than $1 billion over the next decade, the Second Century Campaign is a first step toward accomplishing great things at ECU. Since that launch, alumni and friends have contributed gifts large and small, voicing their continued commitment to the university. That commitment is embodied in donors like Marguerite Perry, who taught foreign languages at ECU for 47 years. A long-time supporter and volunteer for ECU, Perry has established several scholarships, funds and charitable gift annuities to benefit ECU and its students. She remains involved with the university through programs such as the Women’s Roundtable, Retired Faculty Association, and the advancement councils of the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences and Foreign Languages and Literatures. “I am proud to say that dedicated alumni and friends like Marguerite Perry are the norm at ECU, rather than the exception,” said Dowdy. “Her contributions and planned gifts have had, and will continue to have, an incredible impact on ECU’s students, faculty and staff for many years to come. Her loyalty to ECU and the diversity of her contribution sets a wonderful example for the whole Pirate Nation.” Gifts may be designated for the program, college or school, or area of the donor’s choice. For more information about the Second Century Campaign and how you can contribute, call Dowdy at 252-328-9550 or visit www.ecu.edu/devt. —Kara Loftin Marguerite Perry 14 Stadium video upgraded Fans raving at the quality of the videos shown on the new scoreboard in Dowdy- Ficklen Stadium can’t see the reason for the improvement. It’s hidden in a control room tucked under the giant scoreboard. There, live feeds stream into a new state-of- the-art video production facility from five new Panasonic HD cameras positioned around the stadium. The cameras capture game action, crowd shots, halftime activities and presentations on the field during game breaks. Before this year ECU Athletics rented a production truck and hired local television station personnel to produce the stadium’s video show. Now, that work is done by a staff led by Mike Myles, who serves as technical director for home football game coverage. When the football season ends, the control room will be used to produce coverage of baseball and softball home games, as well as soccer, volleyball, and basketball in the 2011–2012 season. Men’s Basketball Schedule Nov. 15 vs. Campbell Nov. 18 vs. N.C. State Nov. 19 Charlotte or George Mason Nov. 21 Charleston Classic Nov. 24 vs. Lenoir-Rhyne Nov. 27 vs. UNC Greensboro Dec. 1 vs. UNC Charlotte Dec. 04 vs. Fayetteville State Dec. 07 vs. Old Dominion Dec. 19 at Coastal Carolina Dec. 22 at George Washington Dec. 29 at Clemson Jan. 03 at N.C. Central Conference games Jan. 8 at Memphis Jan. 12 vs. Alabama Birmingham Jan. 15 vs. Tulane Jan. 19 at Central Florida Jan. 22 at Marshall Jan. 26 vs. Southern Miss Jan. 29 vs. Houston Feb. 2 at Southern Methodist Feb. 5 vs. Central Florida Feb. 12 vs. Marshall Feb. 16 at Tulsa Feb. 19 at Southern Miss Feb. 23 vs. Texas El Paso Feb. 26 at Rice March 2 vs. Memphis March 5 at Alabama Birmingham Conference Tournament Women’s Basketball Schedule Nov. 12 vs. American Nov. 14 at Western Carolina Nov. 19 vs. UNC Wilmington Nov. 22 vs. Virginia Union Nov. 26 vs. Maryland Nov. 28 vs. Massachusetts Dec. 2 at VCU Dec. 5 at Charlotte Dec. 8 vs. Hampton Dec. 20 vs. UCLA (in Hawai’i) Dec. 21 at Hawai’i Dec. 29 vs. Prairie View A&M (in Iowa) Dec. 30 vs. Florida A&M (in Iowa) Conference games Jan. 6 at UTEP Jan. 9 vs. Memphis Jan. 13 at Tulane Jan. 16 vs. Rice Jan. 23 at Southern Miss Jan. 27 vs. UAB Jan. 30 vs. UCF Feb. 3 at Marshall Feb. 6 at Memphis Feb. 10 vs. Southern Miss Feb. 13 at Houston Feb. 17 vs. SMU Feb. 20 at UCF Feb. 24 vs. Tulsa Feb. 27 vs. Marshall March 3 at UAB Conference Tournament the ecu report Art professor Robert “Bob” Ebendorf received the state’s highest honor, the North Carolina Award, along with five other leading cultural figures. Gov. Beverly Perdue and Cultural Resources Secretary Linda Carlisle presented the awards at the N.C. Museum of History. The award “celebrates creativity and innovation, two values which sustain our economy, our culture and our people,” said Perdue. Ebendorf has been a leader in the studio jewelry movement since the early 1960s and is world renowned as an artist and teacher. In addition to gold, silver and bronze, unusual materials such as fossils, animal claws or even soda pop pull tops find their way into his creations. Previous honorees in Fine Arts included painter Francis Speight, musician James Taylor, jazz great Billy Taylor, actor Andy Griffith, painter Bob Timberlake, and folk and bluegrass music legend “Doc” Watson. His work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Smithsonian Institution, the Mint Museum in Charlotte and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He came to ECU in 1997 and was named the Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor of Art in 1999. Distinguished professors in biology Mark Brinson and Robert Christian are retiring after long careers at East Carolina. Brinson, who came in 1973, received the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor Award and the Board of Trustees Lifetime Achievement Award. Christian, who came in 1981, has directed 17 master’s theses and two doctoral dissertations. Sociology professor Jeffrey C. Johnson is the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor for 2010. The award recognizes a professor whose career exemplifies a commitment to and a love for knowledge and academic life, as demonstrated by outstanding teaching and advising, research and creative productivity. During 30 years here, he has mentored more than 16 master’s students and 19 doctoral students. Maria C. Clay was appointed chair of the Department of Bioethics and Interdisciplinary Studies (formerly the Department of Medical Humanities) at the Brody School of Medicine. She had served on interim basis since 2008. Phillip H. Pekala was named chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Brody, which he joined as a faculty member in 1981. Pekala had served as the interim chair since 2006. New senior level staff members in the Office of Student Affairs include Bobby Woodard ’98, the new executive director of Student Involvement and Leadership in Mendenhall Student Center. He was associate dean of students and director of the Tate Student Center at the University of Georgia. Kathleen Hill is the inaugural director of Assessment, Research and Retention, a new position. She was a program manager for the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at Ohio State University. Bill McCartney is the associate vice chancellor for Housing and Dining. He was director of International House at the University of Chicago. Syed Ahmed is the new chair of the Department of Construction Management in the College of Technology and Computer Science. He comes from Florida International University in Miami, where he was an associate professor and graduate program director. Stephanie George and Chad Bosseti have joined the faculty of the Department of Engineering and will specialize in biomedical engineering. Ricky Castles also joined the faculty there to teach computer engineering. U N I V E R S I T Y L I F E Brinson Christian 15 Gregorian joins noted quartet When the Daedalus Quartet performs on campus this winter as part of the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, one of the players will look quite familiar. One of the two violinists is Ara Gregorian, artistic director of the festival and a member of the ECU string faculty since 1998. Being asked to join a group praised by the Philadelphia Inquirer as playing so sweetly that “seams between instrumental timbres seemed to disappear” is a large feather in Gregorian’s already well-decorated hat. “I’ve always wanted to be in a string quartet. The Daedalus Quartet already is 10 years into a great career, and I can step into place to help build where they are going,” he says. Based in New York City (Columbia University) and Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania) for concerts and master classes, the quartet also performs between 50 and 80 concerts here and abroad. It has built a repertoire that “spans the earliest quartets to pieces being commissioned now,” Gregorian says. Despite this new demand on his time, Gregorian remains committed to East Carolina, to teaching and to supervising the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, which began its 11th season in September. “It will still get my full attention,” he says. Because his teaching involves mainly one-on-one instruction with ECU string students, that arrangement should be flexible enough to accommodate periods to travel with the quartet. In a newspaper interview last March, violist Jessica Thompson said quartet members already were familiar with Gregorian. “We’ve played with him many times. We also read with a lot of different violinists and rehearsed with several different people. We just really felt a musical connection.” The quartet, with Gregorian in one of the violinist’s chairs, also will play in the regularly scheduled January concert of the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival (Jan. 13–14). Gregorian says he would like to bring the other three players to Greenville more frequently. For all of Gregorian’s varied interests since leaving the Juilliard School, this is the first time he has been a member of a full-time string quartet. “I always tried to wait for the right opportunity. This is thrilling, this is great, and I am having a wonderful time.” The Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival begins its winter series in A.J. Fletcher Music Hall with concerts in December and January and a special event for donors in February. Receptions follow all the events. • On Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 3 at 8, the festival features “The Road Less Traveled,” with Shostakovich and von Dohnanyi and Ravel’s La Valse for two pianos. • On Jan. 13 at 7 p.m. and Jan. 14 at 8, “Festive Beginnings,” with the Daedalus Quartet, will perform string quartets by Mozart and Schumann and a Dvorak piano quintet. • On Feb. 6 at 3 p.m. the festival honors donors with “Dynamic Duos,” featuring Gregorian on violin and Robert McDonald on piano for sonatas by Schumann, Beethoven and Franck. The festival will offer two free events this winter in its “Next Generation” series of concerts. • On Nov. 14 at 3 p.m., the Daedalus Quarter will perform Schubert’s String Quartet in D Minor, D. 810 “Death and the Maiden.” • On Feb. 13 at 3 p.m., violinist Elina Vahala will perform Bach’s Double Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor. Raman Ramakrishnan, cello; Min-Young Kim, violin; Ara Gregorian; Jessica Thompson, viola 16 17 Who’s in town? S. Rudolph Alexander Performing Arts Series brings pianist Emile Pandolfi to Wright Auditorium on Dec. 1. He’s known for lush arrangements of show tunes and classical music. Opole, the National Philharmonic of Poland, will come to ECU Feb. 10 for a concert consisting of Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute, Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, the “Eroica.” The Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, rooted in the African-American experience, will perform Feb. 23. Student and faculty ensembles: The Wind Ensemble, Concert Band and Symphonic Band will present a concert Nov. 16 at Wright Auditorium. The School of Music’s percussion players and ensembles will play Nov. 17 at Fletcher Recital Hall, and the Guitar Ensemble will perform at Fletcher Dec. 1. The School of Music’s combined holiday concert leads off a series of seasonal concerts Dec. 4 at 3 p.m. in Wright Auditorium. The choral music program, under the interim leadership of Alfred E. Sturgis, will present a pair of seasonal music concerts before the winter break. The Chamber Singers, with Sturgis directing, will perform Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m., and the University Chorale and St. Cecilia Singers, under the direction of Dr. Jeffrey Ward, will perform Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m. Both performances will take place at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. The ECU Symphony Orchestra will present a concert Dec. 4 in Wright Auditorium featuring guest violinist Wolfgang David playing Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D-major. Also on the program is Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 in E-flat. On Feb. 12, the orchestra will perform the suite from Stravinsky’s The Firebird, and faculty member Christine Gustafson will be guest soloist in Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 2 in D. Both concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m. The Music School’s jazz program will be represented in a combined jazz band concert Dec. 3 at Wright Auditorium. The popular Jazz at Christinne’s series, featuring students and faculty members, is continuing its third season. After September and October programs, the performances, with TomtheJazzman as host, return on Jan. 21 and Feb. 18. Performances begin at 8 p.m. in the restaurant at the Hilton Greenville Hotel. The Fisk on Fourth concert series, sponsored by the Musical Arts Education Foundation, will bring Dr. Ann Labounsky, chairman of the sacred music and organ program at Duquesne University, back to Greenville Feb. 5 to present a recital with Andrew Scanlon, organist-choirmaster at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and organ professor at ECU. Their joint recital at St. Paul’s will begin at 7:30 p.m. Theatre programs: The School of Theatre and Dance’s annual dance extravaganza, part of the ECU/Loessin Playhouse season, is scheduled Jan. 27– Feb. 1. Dance 2011 will feature original choreography by faculty members and guest artists and will include ballet, tap, jazz and modern dance styles. Exhibitions: The School of Art and Design winds down its annual faculty exhibition Nov. 22 at the Wellington B. Gray Gallery and then sponsors its annual show of student and faculty work Dec. 2–4. From Jan. 13 to Feb. 19, the gallery will present the Seventh Photographic Image Biennial Exhibition. Juror Keith Carter will give a talk to open the exhibition Jan. 13 at 5 p.m. 2W0in11ter Arts Calendar by steve ro w 18 19 It’s been a long climb for East Carolina, the scrappy little teachers college that always looked up and reached high. In the 1960s, it fought the state’s higher education establishment to become a university, instigating wrenching changes that yielded the current UNC system. In the 1970s ECU fought a bitter political battle for funding from the General Assembly to open a medical school. But in recent years the climb has seemed easier. When East Carolina proposed expensive capital projects—new classroom buildings, the East Carolina Heart Institute, the Family Medicine Center—the General Assembly was surprisingly generous and old critics were muted. When ECU proposed opening a dental school, newspapers that once editorially questioned the school’s academic capabilities published supportive opinions. The General Assembly funded the school and has stuck with it through a deep recession. Why was it so hard back then and so relatively easy lately for East Carolina to gain public recognition and generous state funding? Observers say it’s because ECU proved it could deliver what it promised. Give us the money to build a medical school, ECU said, and we will train family doctors who stay and improve health care in the East. Today the Brody School of Medicine is nationally recognized as a leader for accomplishing that mission. Give us more classrooms and labs, ECU said, and we’ll confront the state’s critical need for teachers, nurses and health care workers. ECU has doubled the number of its graduates entering those crucial professions. So when East Carolina pointed to a glaring need for more dentists in counties east of I-95 and proposed building the second school of dentistry in North Carolina to address it, its record, its reputation and a sense of momentum weighed in its favor. “ECU already has a fine track record of looking out for the health care interests of rural residents,” said an editorial in the Raleigh News & Observer. After a trip of a century, perhaps it’s time for East Carolina—and its alumni—to ask: Are we there yet? And if so, how do we know? Are We There Yet? Key steps on a long march 1907 Born: East Carolina Teachers Training School is founded as a two-year teacher’s school that by law cannot offer instruction equal to that offered at Carolina. The school opens in 1909 with 123 students, 104 women and 19 men; the first class graduates in 1911. 1910 Charter amended: The legislature allows ECTTS to offer a four-year, college-level program. The first students to complete the four-year program graduate in 1913. 1921 Going to college: ECTTS is renamed East Carolina Teachers College. Enrollment is about 500. A year later, ECTC awards its first bachelor degrees to Gertrude Chamberlain and Virginia Pigford. 1929 Mastering the subject: ECTC is authorized to begin a master’s degree program. 1932 More firsts: There are enough men enrolled to start basketball and baseball teams, which are called the Teachers. Henry Oglesby becomes the first man to graduate from ECTC. Enrollment passes 1,000. 1933 Advancing by degrees: ECTC awards its first master’s degree to Annie Boone Haskett. 1948 Choose a major: Growth in academic programs allows ECTC to award both bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degrees. 1951 Losing a letter: Allowed to offer degrees in disciplines other than teaching, ECTC becomes East Carolina College. Charles Jenkins ’66 ’67 ’68 heard the talk about East Carolina College from some teachers in his rural eastern North Carolina high school. “Based on a few comments teachers made, ECU was in a developing stage, a stage of developing its academic reputation,” says Jenkins, a retired university administrator. But it was the graduates he knew personally, not the talk he heard, who shaped his view of the institution. “My positive image of ECU was based on a number of teachers and coaches in the public schools who had gone to ECU and the positive image they had,” he says. Jenkins had bumped up against a defining factor in East Carolina’s life: the school’s origins. As a teachers college sprung from a rural region, it lacked the standing and history other institutions enjoyed. “It suffered from the fact it was ECTC (East Carolina Teachers College),” says Jack Claiborne, retired associate editor for the Charlotte Observer and longtime observer of the state’s higher education. “The promise of the teacher colleges by the end of World War II was beginning to sound hollow.” Fast forward to 1996, and the picture looks different. When Michael Aho ’02 was shopping for colleges, the strength and national reputation of East Carolina’s special education program drew the attention of the honor student from Virginia Beach. He wanted strong academics and a robust campus life, including football and marching band. By M ary S chulken ’ 7 9 20 Charles Jenkins ©2007 Raul Rubiera 21 “Before I got there and when I was there, my sense was it was a place on the rise, a place doing what it needed to do to get where it was going,” Aho says. Now an analyst for the federal government covering United Nations peacekeeping efforts worldwide, he credits the depth in teaching and practical learning experiences he gained at ECU for landing him in a field where he is thriving. Aho, too, had bumped up against a new defining factor in East Carolina’s story: Its academic maturity and competence. His and Jenkins’ experiences, some 40 years apart, bookend the journey the university has made and its change in standing. “It works hard at teaching and research and public service and when you do those things well, you develop a reputation that’s gold,” says Bill Friday, who presided over the UNC system for 30 years. How do you measure success? On the football field, East Carolina prides itself on playing hard teams and winning games with an underdog attitude. A competitive football program has provided a visible rallying point for the institution’s growth. Yet sustainable academic maturity— growth in scholarship, funding and outreach —along with a record of public service, are what boosted its standing and changed perceptions. The numbers tell the tale. In 1982 ECU had 14,510 students; it offered 93 degree programs and conferred 2,646 diplomas. By 2009 everything had doubled. Enrollment was 27,654; the university offered 202 degree programs and conferred 5,589 diplomas. It’s been the fastest-growing UNC campus for several years, still third overall in enrollment to N.C. State and, just barely, to UNC Chapel Hill. “It’s one of the really great stories of growth, but not just growth for growth’s sake; there’s quality in programs and initiatives and service,” says Friday, who remains the unofficial dean of higher education in North Carolina. Alisa Chapman ’96 ’06 ’09 considers Friday a mentor. As associate vice president for academic affairs for the UNC system, she directs policy for K–16 education. She has turned to him with questions and to talk through ideas. In more than a decade working in North Carolina’s system of higher education, she has learned to recognize practical milestones that signal a campus’s growth. They include expanding enrollment, an array and diversity of programs, high standards and applied research. “In that sense I believe ECU has arrived,” Chapman says. “There are a number of areas it has confidence and a culture of confidence in its expertise.” Examples are growing Michael Aho Alisa Chapman Provided, ©2009 Provided 22 school leaders, distance and online education and rural health care. Jenkins spent 39 years at UNC Pembroke, 16 as provost and chief academic officer and a year as interim chancellor. He helped guide that institution’s growth into a leading provider of teachers and school administrators in southeastern North Carolina. So he knows from experience what it takes to build a university’s standing. “The largest contributor to one’s reputation and integrity is years of service and length of tenure,” Jenkins says. “It takes some time.” Yet it also requires specific credentials. For six years Jenkins visited institutions in other regions as a commissioner for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. SACS looks at certain criteria to judge the academic health of a university, he says. Among them: The quality of the faculty based on their scholarly preparation and participation in research. Documentation the institution and students are doing quality work. Financial and physical resources that support academic excellence. He sees large strides in those areas at ECU in the five decades since he was a student. Look at ECU’s numbers, he says. Since 1982 bachelor’s degree programs more than doubled, from 51 to 110. Master’s degree programs show a similar spurt, from 36 to 76. Doctoral degree programs in research and scholarship more than tripled, from five to 16. Then-and-now snapshots of the faculty show it’s not only much bigger but also more diverse. Since 1995, the faculty grew by 639 members, the numbers of women increased 8 percent and the number of minorities rose 10 percent. Similarly, snapshots of the student body and freshmen classes in 1995 and 2009 show campus diversity and test scores rising. Minorities in the student body increased from 12.3 percent to 20 percent. In 2009, more students were coming from urban counties such as Wake, Mecklenburg and Cumberland. Students were coming from 33 states. The average SAT of entering freshmen rose from 913 to 1046. Diversity is particularly important because it’s a key component of academic maturity. It signals a university has broad appeal and offers students a rich learning experience, says ECU Provost Marilyn Sheerer. “Our students will be working in a very diverse world. We need to be able to prepare them in an institutional setting for what they will face,” she says. 1960 Leo takes charge: Long-time dean Leo Jenkins becomes president; enrollment passes 5,000. School of Business and School of Nursing open. First dorms rise on College Hill. 1962 More schools: The School of Art and the School of Music open, joined a year later by the School of Education. 1965 Integrating: Transfer student Hubert Walker becomes first the African- American to receive a master’s degree; a year later Laura Elliot becomes first African-American to become an undergraduate. A two-year construction program begins that adds 10 buildings to Main Campus. The legislature gives ECC $1.5 million to study the creation of a two-year medical program, provided the school raise $4 million on its own. 1967 Good as the rest of them: After a bruising fight that gives birth to the current UNC system, East Carolina College is designated a comprehensive four-year university, as are the state’s two other teachers colleges, Appalachian and Western, and the largest historically black school, N.C. Central. 1971 A drop of medicine: The legislature allows ECU to start a one-year medical training program. 1972 All in the family: ECU officially joins the new UNC system. 1974 Pivotal political victory: Urban legislators finally are persuaded to allow ECU to establish North Carolina’s second four-year state medical school. SNAPSHOT: The student body today is more diverse, has higher test scores and comes from a broader region of the nation. 1995: 17,923 students • 12.3% minorities • Average freshman SAT: 913 • Top 5 N.C. counties represented in student body (in order): Pitt, Wake, Craven, Wayne, Cumberland. • 24 states represented in freshman class 2009: 27,654 students • 20% minorities • Average freshman SAT: 1046 • Top 5 N.C. counties represented in student body (in order): Pitt, Wake, Mecklenburg, Cumberland, Wayne. • 33 states represented in freshman class Source: ECU fact books 23 Mary Chatman ’90 ’96 ’10, senior vice president and chief nursing officer at Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah, Ga., graduated salutatorian of her small high Hyde County high school, then earned her first-ever D in a chemistry course at ECU. She needed a college experience, she says, that was varied and rigorous. She found it. “What I realized was that I had become at expert in high school at reading, memorizing and ‘regurging’,” she says. “I learned instead at ECU to take the knowledge and apply it. It’s a university that takes academics seriously.” SNAPSHOT: The growth in undergraduate enrollment is impressive and tends to overshadow huge strides made in graduate and professional programs. 1982: 12,239 undergraduates • 2,058 master’s students • 12 doctoral research students • 201 doctor’s degree/professional students 2009: 21,458 undergraduates • 5,439 master’s students • 363 doctoral research students • 394 doctor’s degree/professional students Source: UNC general administration SNAPSHOT: In the span of a generation, ECU doubled the number of degrees it offers. 1982: 93 degree programs • 51 bachelor’s programs • 36 master’s programs • 5 doctor’s degree/research programs • 1 doctor’s degree/professional program 2009: 202 degree programs • 110 bachelor’s programs • 73 master’s programs • 16 doctor’s degree/research programs • 3 doctor’s degree/professional programs Source: UNC general administration SNAPSHOT: Like the change in the student body, the faculty is bigger and more diverse. Faculty today tend to be younger than before. 1982: 1,143 faculty members • 36.2 percent women, 63.8 percent men • 8.3 percent ethnic minorities • 61.2 percent had 10 years or less of service with university • 50 percent tenured 26.7 percent on tenure track 2009: 1,782 faculty members • 44 percent women, 56 percent men • 18 percent ethnic minorities • 68 percent of faculty had 10 years or less of service with university • 42.1 percent tenured 20.9 percent on tenure track Source: ECU fact books Mary Chatman Provided 1975 It’s official: The ECU School of Medicine is established by an act of the legislature. First medical students enroll two years later. 1983 Dr. Pirate: ECU confers its first Ph.D., in anatomy, to Thomas Curry Jr. 1987 Saving lives: First heart transplant performed at ECU. 1989 Growing like topsy: The student body passes 15,000 with big growth in students seeking advanced degrees. Leo Jenkins dies. 1996 Rising expectations: Average SAT score of entering freshmen breaks into four digits, increasing from 900 to 1015 in four years. Joyner Library collection passes one million books. 1998 Growing by degrees: The number of degree program hits 200, up from 94 in 1982. The university adds 64 new degree programs in 1998 alone—35 bachelor’s degrees and 25 are master’s. The number of doctoral programs in research nearly doubles, from eight to 14. 1998 Enriching students: EC Scholars Program begins, providing top freshman recruits with four-year scholarships and enrichment learning focused on nurturing intellectual curiosity and leadership. It’s official: The Carnegie Foundation bumps ECU up a notch, rating it a Doctoral Research Intensive University. 1999 Poignant pigskin upset: With eastern North Carolina flooded by Hurricane Floyd, the nation watches the Pirates come from behind to defeat the ninth-ranked Miami Hurricanes, 27-23, in an upset played in borrowed Carter- Finley Stadium in Raleigh. 24 Show me the money Rob Nelson was in charge of the numbers for the UNC system as its vice president for finance until retiring in 2010. He did not graduate from ECU, but observed it as a child growing up in Pitt County. “The physical transformation I saw and experienced … is ECU has certainly grown up facility-wise, and is, in my view, competitive with UNC Greensboro, UNC Charlotte and N.C. State, excluding the Centennial Campus, and to some degree, UNC Chapel Hill,” Nelson says. State appropriations, Nelson says, shows ECU has financial momentum. Its ability to get capital funding from the state legislature is a critical indicator of clout, he says. ECU’s momentum perhaps began when it ranked third among the 16 UNC campuses, behind larger N.C. State and UNC Chapel Hill, in construction dollars per full-time equivalent student it got from the $2.5 billion university bond referendum passed by voters in 2000. ECU’s momentum built in 2004, Nelson says, when the legislature approved $380 million in spending for health-related university facilities. UNC Chapel Hill’s new cancer center and the cardiovascular center at ECU accounted for two-thirds of that money. In other areas of funding, Nelson sees ECU lagging. Although it’s the third-largest campus, it consistently ranks fifth or sixth among the 16 UNC schools in state appropriation per full-time equivalent student, he says. By that same measure, it ranks consistently sixth or seventh among its national peers. ECU ranks fourth, behind Chapel Hill, N.C. State and N.C. A&T, in sponsored research dollars, he says. Throughout its growth, East Carolina has been the underdog, Nelson says. But it turned that position into a winning strategy. “Rather than feeling inferior and sorry for itself, ECU has fought hard and pushed folks to recognize the school’s potential and demanded the resources to grow and succeed,” he says. There’s no doubt East Carolina once had to fight hard for every dollar. In an oral history for Mary Jo Bratton’s book on the school’s history, ECU President Leo Jenkins described how money followed reputation in a pyramid of education power and money in North Carolina. Legislators believed “Woman’s College (now UNC Greensboro) and (UNC) Chapel Hill should, and State should be the apex. They should be at the top. They should have the most money. They should have the best instruction and the most difficult courses. In the middle would be East Carolina, Appalachian and maybe West(ern) Carolina. At the bottom of the apex should be the black colleges and the Indian college, Pembroke.” The underdog wins Pine forests and the occasional tobacco field line U.S. 264 until you hit Greenville’s city limits, and the landscape suddenly changes into the sleek architecture of a modern medical center. Several new medical buildings partially shield an older one farther off the highway. That’s the nearly 40-year-old, five-story concrete building housing the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. It’s never been pretty, but it is loved. Ask almost anybody what factor changed ECU’s image the most, and they will tell you it was securing a medical school against powerful opposition, then building it into a pipeline for primary care doctors. “ECU has done what it says it would do by bringing improved health care to eastern North Carolina,” says Charles Mercer, a Raleigh attorney who sits on the UNC Board of Governors. Mercer, who grew up in eastern North Carolina, was a student at UNC Chapel Hill during much of the medical school debate. “I think the success of the medical school and the other increased academic offerings has had a transforming effect on that university not just in North Carolina but throughout the U.S. and beyond,” he says. Medical campus ca. ’91– ’92 Provided AP The numbers, again, offer proof. Both Appalachian State University and ECU started as teaching colleges. Nelson compared the full-time equivalent enrollments of those campuses in 1972 and 2010 as well as their appropriations. Here’s what he found: ASU is 2.3 times bigger now than in 1972. Its budget is 18 times larger. ECU is 2.5 times bigger now, but its budget is 27 times larger. “That’s indicative of the growth which could be attributed to the med school and related allied health programs,” Nelson says. The political fight for the med school cast the former teacher’s college in its signature, unifying underdog role. On the opposite side were some of North Carolina’s most powerful figures and forces: Bill Friday, politicians from the urban Piedmont crescent and editors of the state’s largest newspapers. Playing the role of the small school striving for a deprived region proved a perfect tool to manipulate debate and direct the emotions of supporters. How it happened In a 2007 interview in East, former U.S. Senator Robert Morgan ’47 recalled the critical votes in the General Assembly that elevated East Carolina to university status. During that summer of 1967, Morgan was both chair of the East Carolina Board of Trustees and an influential state senator. “Originally, I introduced a bill in the Senate just to cover East Carolina, and it passed the Senate. But when it got over to the House, they killed it. To say it in the nicest way possible, a lot of them thought we just weren’t qualified to be a university. “One night later I got a call from [former governor] Terry Sanford, and he said the problem was that East Carolina’s base of support wasn’t broad enough. He said I ought to include Appalachian and maybe Western in the legislation because it would give some recognition to all the old teacher training schools, and because doing that would get more votes. So we did. That bill was introduced in the Senate and it passed. But when we sent that bill over to the House it ran into trouble again. “The opponents put an amendment on the bill to make N.C. A&T a university, too, because they believe it would kill the bill if it included one of the historically black schools. They thought eastern North Carolina just wouldn’t take that. But when the bill came back to the Senate, we said it would be a fine thing for A&T to be a university. And after the Senate concurred in the House amendment, I gave the only speech I ever gave from the podium of the Senate. I said East Carolina knew what it was like to suffer from some bias, and so we welcomed A&T because they had suffered, too.” 25 Charlotte Observer, April 25, 1967 Provided 1999 Room to learn, grow: Final phase of 10-year, $30 million expansion and renovation of Joyner Library doubles the size of the heart of campus academic life. 2003 I’ll take ECU, thanks: Randolph Chitwood, the nationally renowned heart surgeon who pioneered clinical use of da Vinci robotic surgery at ECU, turns down an offer from Harvard University to run its heart institute. 2005 A higher threshold: 36.7 percent of entering freshmen rank in the top one-fifth of their high school class, compared with 29 percent in 1991, reflecting the impact of rising admission standards. 2007 Opening doors: Access Scholars program kicks off, providing freshmen who demonstrate academic merit and financial need with $5,000 annual stipend; fundraising doubles number of scholarships in the second year. 2007 All smiles: N.C. General Assembly establishes a dental school at ECU, the state’s second. 2009 Distance learning: Online enrollment leads the UNC system, hitting 6,079, nearly doubling in four years since 2005, when 3,696 students took classes online. Today, online students compose 22 percent of ECU’s total enrollment. 2010 Academic stars: Honors College is established and welcomes its inaugural class of 105 high-performing students invited to enroll based on academics and character. Sources: UNC General Administration, ECU Fact Book, ECU Archives Then-President Leo Jenkins seized upon it both to whip up the faithful and shame opponents into getting on board. That often-antagonistic posture put Jenkins, in charge of one of North Carolina’s individual campuses, squarely opposite Friday, head of the newly unified UNC system. It was the same adversarial relationship they had during the university status battle. “Universities have different ways of making points as they progress. His was challenging things in the public arena,” Friday says. “I saw that beneath that…was a solid wall of caring about eastern North Carolina.” Friday now says outright that ECU has grown into one of North Carolina’s brightest gems. “It is an aggressive, full partner in the state’s higher education. It has carried its share of that burden and I think done so with great strength.” ECU’s impact in eastern North Carolina has moved it into an elite group of institutions, he says. “You have in universities the teaching and research. But the best institutions add a third element, the element of public service,” Friday says. “I don’t know any place that does it with a more devoted and creative spirit than East Carolina.” Ditch the chip, keep the passion Given what East Carolina has accomplished, can it still play the underdog with a straight face? Has the time for angst and antagonism on behalf of a striving institution passed? Observers like Nelson see a new day. “I think the mere establishment of the new (dental) school speaks volumes of the respect ECU has earned over the last 40 years, in higher education and in the legislature.” The state’s large newspapers supported the school on the basis that East Carolina’s successful record with primary care doctors put it, not Chapel Hill, in the best position to train rural dentists. “ECU’s medical school has used the same method to recruit and train rural family doctors,” said the Charlotte Observer in an editorial published Nov. 6, 2006. “And what better way to increase the number of rural dentists than to train them in a rural area?” Even with a sea change in reputation, the strong emotions unleashed by the battles for university status and the medical school have lingered. They lend a harder edge to the feelings of many with direct ties to that chapter of the school’s history—an edge that 26 has begun to feel out of place against the backdrop of today’s university. “It’s who you ask, and my generation has experienced it,” says Carl Davis ’73 of Raleigh, assistant general manager for WUNC-TV. “Nobody wants to hear it,” says Aho. “They’ve never wanted to hear it, particularly in the state. Getting on board as a university and the fallout from the medical school and the legislative component are things that happened so long ago they are no longer relevant.” Aho sees a chip-on-the-shoulder attitude as an anachronism. “Most of it is self-initiated group-think: Let’s share this view with each other so we can share this view with each other,” he says. “All of it, at least, for my contemporaries, is unnecessary. The chip on the shoulder is misplaced.” Having a determined underdog spirit is healthy, says Charles Jenkins. But having a chip on your shoulder is not. “We are way beyond having a chip on our shoulder when you have accomplished what ECU has accomplished,” he says. “If that’s still there, and it’s not clear to me it is, we need to recognize that’s just baggage.” Chatman is among less than 1 percent of chief nursing officers for medical centers nationwide who are African-American women. Having a chip on your shoulder doesn’t matter so much as how you respond to that chip, she says. “If you let your ‘chip’ become you, then it’s a liability,” she says. “If you use it to push and constantly become better, that’s an asset.” Observers say it’s time for East Carolina to ditch the chip—but keep the passion. The energy that once focused on earning respect can now be focused on urgent work at hand—improving health care in the rural East, strengthening schools and supporting a more diverse economy—and on furthering the record of public service that has won the admiration of former opponents such as Friday. “I don’t know anybody who’s self-conscious about the state of East Carolina University,” says Friday. “Self-conscious is not a phrase to use if you are from ECU. That university is moving. It can demonstrate it’s impacted the region.” “I think there is a clear view that whatever you think of the university, the people who come out of there are capable of doing the things they do,” says Aho. So are we there yet? “We certainly are not there,” says Charles Jenkins. “We won’t ever get there. There’s always changing needs. We need to continue on this same projected path, continue to be strong in service to the region we are bound to and in academic progress.” “Continue the passion for the university and its mission to serve eastern North Carolina and the state of North Carolina,” says Mercer. “Continue to grow your academic reputation…continue to attract talented faculty…continue to emphasize retention of students…and increase graduation rates…continue to be devoted to that mission…Servire.” East About the author: Mary Schulken ’79 has compiled a stellar career in journalism as a reporter and editor at the Greenville Daily Reflector, as an op-ed page editor of the Charlotte Observer and now as a blogger for Education Week. She remains connected with ECU as president of the Comm Crew, the alumni group for the School of Communication, and as a member of the Board of Visitors. 27 28 29 Stocking the Pantry Just two years out of college, Sam Wornom co-founded The Pantry chain of convenience stores and grew it into nearly 500 locations. In the second act of a stellar business career, he’s again proving he can spot business opportunities that satisfy consumer appetite. 30 Sam Wornom III ’65 keeps a heavy winter coat handy in his office at Imperial Freezer Services, a sprawling building that sits off U.S. 1 in Sanford, about 30 miles south of Raleigh. He throws it on to give visitors a tour of the 125,000-square-foot facility, which essentially is a giant icebox. “We store food items for several companies until they need it,” he explains. Food products move in and out of the plant through 16 truck bays and two railroad bays. “About 60 percent of what goes through here is bound for overseas, mostly poultry products,” he adds. That product is stored in a section of the warehouse that remains in perpetual deep freeze, kept at a constant 10 below zero. “You don’t want to go back there,” he deadpans. Wornom co-founded Imperial in 1995. It’s one of several enterprises he’s started since 1987 when he sold The Pantry chain of convenience stores at the tender age of 45. “I’m really not active in the management here,” Wornom says about Imperial. “I’ve done this business like most companies I get involved with now. I can spot a business opportunity and negotiate a deal but then I turn over the actual running of the business to people who are good at that, people who are smarter than me.” Wornom, a Lambda Chi brother, was just two years out of East Carolina then he opened the first Pantry store, but he knew the mercantile trade. As part of a business class project, he helped open a new concept for Garner-Wynne-Manning, a Greenville wholesale supplier of notions, over-the-counter drugs and sundries. Garner-Wynne opened a Big Value Discount Store in downtown Greenville, and Wornom started working there part-time. After graduation he took a full-time job managing a Big Value store in Tarboro and then moved to Sanford when Garner-Wynne opened a store there. But Wornom wanted to go into business for himself, and he needed a partner. At a Sanford Jaycees meeting he met the perfect one in Truby Proctor, whose family owned Lee-Moore Oil Co. in Sanford. Wornom knew how to stock and operate a store that stayed open late and sold a few common household products; Proctor knew the oil and gasoline delivery business and their partnership began. “In most small towns back then, you couldn’t buy a quart of milk or get gas after five o’clock. We thought we could make money serving that need.” Then he pauses in reflection. “Actually, I don’t believe I have ever had an original idea. I didn’t even have the idea of starting the Pantry. Truby and I together came up with the concept.” Gas and groceries Those two elements—gas and a grab bag of groceries—create what we know today as the convenience store. It was a formula Wornom and Proctor repeated again and again in other stores they opened in central North Carolina, always on the main drag of small towns that had at least 750 homes within a couple of miles. With each new store they refined the concept until they had the process down cold, using profits from existing stores to pay for opening new ones. Wornom and Proctor were able to add additional stores through the help of two dairies who were losing shelf space in the big chain supermarkets. The handful of Pantry stores swelled to dozens, then hundreds, across the Carolinas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. Wornom branched out into other businesses. He became associated with another Sanford-based business, Trion Inc., a manufacturer of commercial, industrial and residential indoor air products. He bought into the Mack Stores chain, which also was headquartered in Sanford, when its owners retired. Now occupied with other interests, Wornom needed someone to take over management of the young but growing Pantry chain. He turned to an ECU alumnus, Gene Horne Jr. ’64, who had taught school in Maryland after college and tried his hand at running a store. Horne joined the Pantry in 1973 and led it through a period of explosive growth. He remained a top executive of the company after the company was sold to Montrose Capital, an investment firm renowned for its famous shareholders, including Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s, and Wayne Rogers, the former Trapper John on the TV series M*A*S*H. The company later went public and rebranded many of the stores under the Kangaroo name. The Pantry remains one of only two Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the Raleigh area. Throughout their careers, both Wornom and Horne kept close ties with East Carolina. Wornom joined the Board of Visitors and was a founding member of the Chancellors’ Society. A member of the Order of the Cupola, he was honored with an Outstanding Alumni award in 1980. He was appointed to the Board of Trustees in 1983 and served there for eight years, serving as chairman from 1990–91. Horne, a Kappa Alpha brother, received the Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award in 1988 and chaired the College of Business Golden Anniversary Campaign. New horizons, old friends Roddy Jones ’58 of Raleigh was skeptical at first when Wornom called in 1997 to propose investing in a new bank. Even though he didn’t know much about banking, Jones listened because he valued Wornom’s advice. “I have known Sam for so long I’m embarrassed to say because it makes us look old,” Jones laughs. “He is the type of guy who is analytical about every decision he makes in business, which I think has done well for him over the years. So when he called me about becoming a founding director of Capital Bank I knew it would be a smart move. I’ve been in construction and real estate development my whole life. I By Steve Tutle 31 knew very little about banking. But I knew Sam and if he said that was a good deal, that’s all I needed to know.” Charles Atkins ’75, president of a real estate development company in Sanford, had the same reaction when Wornom called him about investing in the bank. Capital Bank began in Raleigh and quickly grew into 33 branch offices across North Carolina with $1.6 billion in assets. He invests in other ventures through Nouveau Investments, the financial vehicle he created to manage his business interests. While his business interests have ranged far and wide, he’s remained close to home in other areas of his life. He’s active in Lee County community, where for decades he’s been the force behind the local Boys & Girls Club as well as a National Trustee for the organization. He’s a deacon at Jonesboro Heights Baptist Church. and he helps the local United Way drive and several other civic organizations. One reason he’s fond of his alma mater is because that’s where he and his wife, Sandy, met as students. She left college early to get married. After raising two daughters she came back to ECU and became a student again, staying in Greenville during the week with a daughter, son-in-law and their first grandchild, going home on weekends. Sandy completed her degree in 1999 in business education. Nowadays, Sam and Sandy are in town so much that they have a condo here. He’s currently serving on the ECU Foundation and is involved in many other aspects of university life. They rarely miss a football game because those are prime opportunities to spend time with family. In Wornom’s case, family includes children and grandchildren, his old Lambda Chi brothers, Sandy’s old Chi Omega sisters and several other alumni whose business careers and his have intersected over the years. James Maynard ’65 of Raleigh, founder of the Golden Corral restaurant chain, is one of those old friends. “Sam Wornom is one of the most dedicated Pirates I have known,” he says. “The university has been very fortunate to have Sam’s wisdom and advice for more than 25 years. We need more like Sam.” Wornom, Jones, Maynard and two other alumni, the late Pat Draughon ’60 and Alvin Hutzler ’65, teamed up in 1983 to establish the Pirate Club’s Endowment Fund to provide scholarships for student-athletes. Now 68, Wornom remains fit and trim through a strict diet and regular exercise. He looks back and wonders how it all happened so fast. He was just a kid out of Hampton, Va., who came to East Carolina with a group of students from his hometown and ended up enrolling here because a friend did. He picked business as a major because he had to write down something. “I was 17 so I picked business for no real reason other than I felt like it would be interesting,” Wornom says in retrospect. “It seemed to be a good choice. I am very thankful for the blessings and opportunities the Lord has given me.” East from the classroom Cecelia Valrie (right) is mentoring doctoral student Jessica Tomasula. 33 Her classroom has no walls, but Cecelia Valrie ’99 teaches every day. Whether working with doctors at the medical school on programs for chronically ill children or helping her students grasp the complexities of kids’ pain, she’s doing all she can to educate others about making life better for sick children and their families. By profession she’s a developmental health psychologist, but her expansive knowledge and restless curiosity have taken her far beyond her field’s traditional boundaries. Her goal is enabling children with lifelong, painful illnesses like sickle cell anemia to have more normal lives. She’s researching the special psychology that affects them, and sharing that information with their doctors, families and teachers. As the recipient of a $600,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health, she’s creating a novel research program using cutting-edge technology like smart phones, iPods and even wristwatch computers. Using these gee-whiz tools, she’ll collect information from kids about what makes them feel better. She’ll combine that with what she knows about developmental psychology—the science of how we mature emotionally and intellectually—to craft approaches that allow children to grow and thrive despite long-term pain or medical conditions. “Sick children experience acute pain, and have to undergo intensive medical procedures,” Valrie, 32, says. “They miss school, and have physical and psychological complications because of their illnesses. If they’re going to lead good lives, they need people who understand these stressors and who can assist them in the process.” After graduating from ECU summa cum laude with a dual degree in psychology and math, she received master’s (’04) and doctorate (’06) degrees from UNC Chapel Hill in developmental psychology. She joined ECU’s psychology department in 2006. In addition to her research and work with kids and professionals, Valrie teaches psychology at all levels and supervises doctoral students as part of the university’s new Ph.D. in health psychology. This program, one of very few in the nation, examines the emerging field of how we think about health—and how that affects our physical condition. It also explores the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness, as well as factors that affect both mental and physical well-being. The doctorate has tracks in clinical health psychology and pediatric school psychology. It enrolled its first students in 2007 and today has about 30 enrolled. Kathleen Row, chair of the department of psychology, applauds her colleague’s work in this emerging field. “She was here as an undergraduate, and we’re thrilled to have her back as a faculty member,” Row says. “She’s an excellent teacher and outstanding researcher—just an all-around academic citizen, who’s willing to pitch in with what needs to be done.” Easing the ‘ouch’ Cecelia Valrie is identifying new ways to help sick children feel less pain and lead more normal lives. By M arion B la c kburn 34 Sickle cell research Sickle cell disease is Valrie’s research focus and although not a physician, she has learned a great deal about the disease and its effects on children. It’s an unplumbed area of study; previously, people with sickle cell disease didn’t always reach adulthood, especially with serious forms of the disease. These days, medical advances mean people with sickle cell disease often have a life expectancy to the 60s and beyond. So it’s important for them to have healthy development along the way, even as they deal with the hardships of their disease. Sickle cell disease in this country mostly affects African-Americans. The trait creates sickle-shaped red blood cells that cannot pass through vessels properly and become clogged, leading to pain and tissue death. Pain can begin as early as 6 months old, with childhood strokes a possible complication. While it’s hard on children, it’s also tough for parents. “Parents are under quite a bit of stress when they have a chronically ill child,” Valrie says. By showing parents how to work with their children on specific goals despite the discomforts of illness, they can usher their kids forward developmentally. Strong families, she says, raise strong, happy children. “We want to make sure families don’t feel they’re all alone,” she says. ���We want to give them, and their children, a sense of hope, that that they can plan for adulthood while they also understand the struggles of their disease.” She’s interested in evaluating all types of pain management methods and sleep disorders in children, since pain disrupts a child’s nighttime rest, compounding the effects of the illness. These facets of health are critical for psychologists, parents, teachers and doctors: sooner or later, health problems take a toll on a child’s ability to learn and grow. Equipped with a better understanding, adults can stand by children as they grapple with their health problems. Her interest in childhood development takes her into other research areas, including blood diseases (hematology), obesity and chronic pain. Charles W. Daeschner II, division chief for pediatric hematology-oncology at the Brody School of Medicine, is a mentor on her NIH grant. “I’ve known Dr. Valrie since she was a student at Chapel Hill,” he says. “I was very pleased when we could recruit her as faculty. She has a strong interest in children with chronic illnesses, and has brought a new depth to our comprehensive sickle cell clinic. We’re hoping to find some things that will show us how to better work with our kids. Because living with a chronic disease is very emotionally stressful.” Teacher and mentor In addition to working with doctors, nurses and other psychologists, Valrie also teaches life-span development—how people develop over the course of their lifetime—to psychology majors, nurses and teachers, along with the history of psychology. She works closely with doctoral students in research and scholarship. Kristen Alston, 23, a clinical health psychology doctorate student, shares Valrie’s interest in sickle cell disease. Growing up with a close family member who had a chronic disease gave her a personal interest in these illnesses. “Sickle cell disease is the most commonly inherited blood disorder, but people with it have the least access to comprehensive care,” Alston says. “I think that’s unacceptable.” She wants to change that. “It used to be that no one looked at how this disease would affect a person mentally and psychologically,” she says. “Now we’re looking at that a lot more.” While it’s a new field, she believes her mentor is having a vital role in research. In addition, Valrie is her biggest cheerleader. “I can truly call her a mentor,” she says. “As a first-year student, you can get in over your head. But I can count on her to help me realize what’s feasible, and how to take things step by step—and stay on track.” Valrie parcels her time among many roles—conducting research and supervising graduate students, delivering lectures and educational presentations, collaborating with providers at the medical school to develop programs, and working with the kids she enjoys so much. What’s really exciting these days is the technology available for research and the promise it holds to allow professionals to better understand what works for kids—and what doesn’t. She’s making good-use gadgets like smart phones to record children’s pain levels. “This technology will completely change the way we do research.” When she’s not at work, she enjoys movies, especially the independent kind. “I like to escape into a good story,” she says, noting that comedies are always a good choice. “I love to laugh.” Sickle cells Normal red blood cells NASA Andrew Mason Would you still go to church if you knew you could live to be 500 while still enjoying good health? With some futurists saying that medical advances will permit such Methuselah-like life spans in the next 20 to 30 years, that question is more than just idle speculation. Genetic engineering, tissue and organ replacement, the merging of computer technology with human biology, advanced scanning technologies, robotics and nanotechnology all play a role in this unfolding drama. While achieving what the authors call “practical immortality” sounds like wonderful news at first, two East Carolina professors argue that society hasn’t thought about what it really means. In Religion and the Implications of Radical Life Extension, co-edited by religious studies professor Calvin Mercer ’97 and philosophy professor Derek Maher, the case is made that we should begin that conversation now. “One need only reflect briefly on the economic, political and social implications of people living for such long periods to realize the significance of ‘practical immortality,’” Mercer said. “I think this and related human enhancement issues, in time, could trump terrorism, the economy, and global climate change as the leading political and social issue of our world.” The media carry stories about relevant medical breakthroughs and occasionally suggests their more radical implications. “However, the significance of these developments has not yet dawned in the public’s mind,” Mercer said. “Radical life extension and related research constitute one of the most urgent public debates that needs to occur in our society.” Mercer thinks that funding for radical life extension research will be less problematic than many other domains of medical research. “Once the wealthy class sniffs the possibilities of living forever, the money pipelines will open widely,” he said. Religion and the Implications of Radical Life Extension Palgrave Macmillan 208 pages, $79.95 Neighbors talking across the backyard fence is the paradigm America ought to pursue to combat its illegal immigration problem, not the implied threat of a 2,000-mile-long barrier, or so sociology professor Lee Maril argues in his aptly named new book. Using interviews as well as local, state and federal government documents from 1999 to the present, Maril suggests a concrete and steel barrier isn’t the best solution to a human relations problem. The author suggests that policies requiring a focus on the human issues involved, political negotiation and compromise are a better path. The book is based on interviews with border residents, educational leaders, Border Patrol agents, county officials and others whose views are seldom heard. He also talks at length with major defense contractors, military leaders, national politicians, environmental activists and even the Minutemen. The Fence Texas Tech University Press 354 pages, not yet priced You know the Internet has changed the way we live. But just think about how it’s changed the way we do business. That’s what marketing professor Tracy L. Tuten ’88 ’90 ’00 does in Enterprise 2.0: How Technology, eCommerce, and Web 2.0 Are Transforming Business Virtually. The two-volume book set grew out of her previous book on social media marketing. Enterprise 2.0 is the industry term for the business tools and processes that are made possible by Web 2.0 technology, the second generation of the World Wide Web that involves social networking as well as more dynamic and shareable content. Research predicts that enterprise spending on Web 2.0 technology will reach more than $4.5 billion by 2013. Tuten said despite this rapid growth and strong interest, little is available to inform business leaders about the resources and potential applications of new Internet technologies. Her book rectifies that. Enterprise 2.0: How Technology, eCommerce, and Web 2.0 Are Transforming Business Virtually Praeger Publishers 522 pages, $124.95 BOOKS BY FACULTY Tracy L. Tuten 35 The Umpire of Eligibility Tim Metcalf, who’s responsible for keeping ECU out of trouble with the NCAA, relies on a 484-page book of rules. And the rules change every year. 38 Tim Metcalf remembers the call well. He was working at Georgia Southern University at the time, and an assistant coach there had just dropped off a women’s soccer recruit at the airport, officially ending the school’s 48-hour time limit to woo the prospective athlete. But a snowstorm had closed the 16-year-old’s destination airport, and there were no more flights out of Savannah that day. The coach phoned to ask Metcalf: Should I turn around and pick her up and violate NCAA rules or leave her there and hope for the best? “I told him to pick her up and take her to a hotel,” says Metcalf, who now is East Carolina’s director of compliance. “There’s the legal thing to do, and there’s the moral thing to do. I’m not going to leave a 16-year-old girl at an airport a thousand miles from home.” By J . E ric E ckard For doing what he knew was the right thing, Metcalf and the coach received letters of admonishment from the NCAA, and the recruit wasn’t allowed to enroll at Georgia Southern. It was clear what to do then. These days, hardly any of Metcalf ’s decisions are so easy because the rules governing college recruiting have become so complex. This year’s NCAA book of rules covering everything from eligibility to financial aid is 484 pages long and more than three inches thick. And it changes every year. “One of the toughest things about the job is you get questioned on things, and you get 99 out of 100 correct. The one you get wrong is the one they remember,” Metcalf says, adding a bit wistfully, “Nobody pulls for the umpire.” It’s a stomach-churning kind of job. “We have to be right every time. There’s no kinda-sorta. And if we’re not, and we overlook something, that student-athlete might not be eligible. That’s a lot of pressure.” UNC Chapel Hill was expecting to be sanctioned for NCAA violations involving contact between players and sports agents. It could happen here. With recent success throughout Conference USA in football and talk of an automatic BCS bid for the conference champion, pressure on compliance offers at all member schools is compounded. More sports agents are scouting the C-USA ranks hoping to find the next Chris Johnson, the former ECU running back now setting NFL rushing records with the Tennessee Titans. “With 80 former C-USA student-athletes on opening day NFL rosters last year, our institutions take agent and extra benefit issues very seriously, and I would expect that to continue in the future,” says Rob Phillippi, C-USA associate commissioner for compliance and academics. Metcalf says most of his dealings with sports agents have been issue-free, especially because the state of North Carolina requires agents to register with schools. Although it’s not required, he takes the extra step of asking all agents looking at ECU players to go through him. “It’s a byproduct of success, and it can be a good thing or a bad thing,” he says. “You do what you can to police it, but we don’t always know who our student-athletes talk to every day.” Why? Blame YouTube, instant messaging, smart phones and social media sites that have made contact between college coaches and recruits as easy as clicking a mouse. “Times have changed a lot because of technology,” says Metcalf, who worked in the compliance department for eight years at Georgia Southern before coming to ECU in 2006. “There are more rules and more interpretations to keep up with that technology. And not only are there different rules and interpretations for different sports, but sometimes for the same sport. Very few times will a coach ask me a question where I can say yes or no. It’s always evolving.” No college sports program is perfect, and ECU—like most Division 1 schools—has self-reported inadvertent violations to the NCAA. But the NCAA hasn’t imposed any penalties on ECU stiffer than those 39 the school knew it would get for reporting minor violations. A few years ago the ECU’s men’s basketball team was in danger of losing future scholarships for not meeting the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate, a formula that measures graduation rates, academic performance and other factors. Although the team scored below the NCAA standard in its most recent multiyear evaluation, it has made enough progress to avoid penalties. It helps, except when it hurts Technology is both a boon and a bane for athletes and college compliance officials. In some ways it can make Metcalf ’s job easier. He’s currently evaluating a software program that would allow him to monitor coaches’ phone calls to recruits. Now, coaches turn in paper phone logs of those calls once a month. Technology also makes it much easier these days for high school athletes who aren’t among the top recruits to get coaches’ attention—and scholarship offers. You take the digital home movies Mom shot of your high school games, sit down at a laptop and edit those into a highlight reel and then upload it to YouTube. It was different back in the olden days of, say, five years ago. Back then, according to Josh Smith, a senior tackle on ECU’s football team, many prospects looking for scholarship offers were still mailing VCR tapes to coaches. “Technology wasn’t where it is today,” says Smith, a 2005 graduate from Garner High School. “I had to make my own videos and send out the tapes. It was so hard in high school to get your name out. It was a hectic experience.” Smith committed to ECU after his junior year in high school when he was named to the all-conference team and crowned the state’s defensive player of the year. By the time he graduated, the coach who recruited him had departed and Skip Holtz had arrived. Holtz wanted to red-shirt Smith his freshman year. Smith didn’t want to spend a year warming the bench so he decided to enroll in a prep school in Rhode Island. After a year there he transferred to Western Carolina University. After a year there he transferred to ECU and sat out the 2007 season, as required by the NCAA. He finally got to play in 2008 as a red-shirt sophomore. Smith traces his long and winding road from Garner to Greenville to his original aversion to the recruiting process. “I committed here so quick that I never got any other offers. Most [of my high school teammates] waited, but I hated [the recruiting process]. Should I have waited? Yes. Do I regret it? Not at all. But a year would have made a big difference.” During Smith’s odyssey high-profile scandals erupted at the University of Miami and the University of Colorado, which led to new limits on perks recruiters can offer. The NCAA even banned text messages from coaches to prospective players. “There’s lots of information out there for recruits—instantaneous information,” Metcalf says. “People communicate through texts, e-mail, instant messages and social networks. Trying to stay on top of that is a never-ending process.” ‘Something new every day’ On a given work day Metcalf might check the eligibility of an incoming student-athlete, send out eligibility waivers for transferring students, process eligibility lists for various sports, call NCAA or conference officials for information or field calls from coaches, students, staff or parents asking for interpretation of the rules. And he does that for all 17 sports teams at ECU, not just football. He attends seminars regularly to bone up on new rules and updates on existing regulations. He’s supported by an administrative assistant, a graduate assistant plus help on financial aid and academic issues from Rosie Thompson-Smaw, the senior women’s associate athletic director. Organizationally, the compliance office sits outside the athletics department to avoid conflicts of interest. “There’s something new every day—no two days are alike.” Philippi, the C-USA official, says recruiting rules change every year. “For example, 50 suggested changes relating to recruiting were submitted in 2009,” he points out. In the past six years, rule changes have included banning the use of private planes and limos on recruiting trips; schools no longer can plaster a recruit’s name on the backs of jerseys or the scoreboards at games; seventh- and eighth-graders now are considered basketball prospects covered by recruiting restriction. Recruiting was much simpler a few decades ago when NCAA rules mostly dealt with policing booster club slush funds. Roy Bush ’73 of Harrisburg, who played a year of football at ECU under a full scholarship in 1965 before heading off to the Vietnam War, says contacts and visits weren’t an issue in his day. “Everything went through my [high school] coach,” says Bush. “He wanted to funnel it to make sure nothing went wrong. With all the [technology] now, things don’t have to be funneled through high school coaches.” With the rise of sports opportunities outside high school such as Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and other traveling teams, today’s high school coaches aren’t always privy to the recruiting process. Britney Roper, a redshirt junior volleyball player at ECU, says when she was being recruited from Pender High School most of what she learned about the process came from college coaches. “They told me that they can’t do this or they can’t do that. They said, ‘I can’t call you all the time, but if you have any questions, call me.’ For some athletes, it can be somewhat of a hassle because you want to find out as much information as you can. “But I understand why they do it,” Roper adds. “The rules are in place for high school kids to still be kids. Recruiting almost requires you to mature faster.” Metcalf is very much aware of that and does what he can to help. “I don’t have any biological kids, but I have 500 children, and I feel responsible for them. Figuratively, I’ll give them a hug when they need it and a kick in the butt when they need it. But it can be a challenge.” East 40 pirate nation Beth Grant and Alison Brown Yes, Pirates can play roundball With all the recent talk about East Carolina’s losing records in basketball, it’s easy to forget that the school once dominated in the sport and had players drafted into the pros. But there were, players like Bobby Hodges ’54 ’61, who was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL and by the Philadelphia Warriors of the NBA. A product of Grainger High School in Kinston, Hodges came to Greenville in the fall of 1950 and made the football team as a freshman on a team that went 7-3 under Coach Bill Dole. He played both tackle and end. As a senior and team captain, he caught 10 touchdown passes in an 8-2 season and made the NAIA All- American team. The team compiled a 25-14-2 record during his four years. When the football season ended each year, Hodges immediately joined the basketball team, playing center on teams coached by Howard Porter. After mediocre 13- 11 and 14-11 records during his first two years, things picked up. Hodges led the Pirates to an 18-5 record as a junior and capped it off with a magnificent senior year that saw the team win 23 games while losing only two. He averaged 26.7 points per game in 1954 and scored a total of 2,018 points during his career, an ECU record that still stands. Again, he was named a basketball All- American along with All-North State Conference. He had a long career mainly in education but worked at jobs as varied as head basketball and football coach at Lenoir-Rhyne University and as commissioner of the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles. Now 79 and a Wilmington resident, Hodges remains an avid ECU fan and attends as many games as he can. “A bad back keeps me from getting around as much as I would like,” he explains. The back problem also keeps him off the golf course where he used to shoot in the high 70s. “But I do a lot of reading, travel whenever I can, and go the YMCA as often as possible for some light workouts.” “By the time I got to ECU in 1956, Bobby was already a legend” said long-time friend Charlie Adams ’59 ’62 of Cary, former director of the N.C. High School Athletic Association. “He was fiercely competitive, but off the field |
OCLC number | 51556012 |