East Fall 2012

Fall 2012

East The Magazine of East Carolina University

Side by Side How Title IX shifted the balance at ECU

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Jarmarcus Patterson works on a mural that he and other local teenagers painted on the side of the Building Hope Community Life Center in Greenville. The project was a collaboration between the center and ECU’s Student Engagement and Outreach Scholars Academy.

Story, page 8 Photograph by Cliff Hollis

Fall 2012

East The Magazine of East Carolina University

F E AT U R E S

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SIDE B Y SIDE

By Kathryn Kennedy It’s taken years of incremental steps since passage of the groundbreaking Title IX law in 1972, but women’s sports at East Carolina finally have achieved something close to parity with the men’s program. But Title IX also changed the entire student experience. On the cover: Student athletes Sarah Christian and Justin Jones

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p r o g r a mm e d f o r s ucc e s s

By Steve Tuttle ’09 IBM executive Angela Williams Allen ’82 planned her life as carefully as she wrote code in computer science class, heeding her grandmother’s advice to always strive for perfection.

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H U N T ING ‘ E X T RE M EOPHILES ’

By Spaine Stephens Biology professor Matt Schrenk explores strange ecosystems that teem beneath the seabed and under continents to find answers to the familiar problems of today’s world.

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w i n n i n g t h e p i r a t e w ay

By Jessica Creson Nottingham ’06 ’08 Former players who overcame long odds to become champions return to pass on their knowledge of winning—on the field and in life.

Special Homecoming Section on page 38

D E PA R T M E N T S

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FROM OUR READERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 THE ECU REPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 FALL ARTS CALENDAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 FROM THE CLASSROOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 PIRATE NATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 CLASS NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 UPON THE PAST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Women and men, side by side

One of the many things I learned while researching material for the cover story in this issue is that the word “sports” appears nowhere in the language of Title IX, the groundbreaking federal law that forever altered college athletics. Another word conspicuously absent in Title IX is “equal.” Although the law contains neither of those words, the legislation is universally credited with elevating women’s sports programs from the sidelines to the big time, supported by resources that are roughly equivalent to what the men’s teams receive.

But Title IX, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, had an impact at ECU far beyond the stadium and arena, as Kathryn Kennedy explains in our cover story, which begins on page 16. Before Title IX, the conduct of East Carolina women students was rigidly controlled.

“Women students may not talk from windows” is one such admonition in the 1966 student handbook. Then, women students had to produce a parent’s signed permission slip in order to ride in a car, go swimming or go horseback riding. Public displays of affection were banned in this cover-all-the-bases stipulation: “Penalties will be given to students for undue familiarity and lack of dignity.”

We can laugh at such codes of conduct today but the underlying double standards and their impacts were not funny. One of the first rules that fell to Title IX at East Carolina was a policy that a woman student born and raised in North Carolina abruptly became out-of-state for tuition purposes if she married someone from another state. Underpinning that rule was the stunning assumption that a woman could not have a legal residence independent of her husband’s.

While it covers a lot of ground, Title IX comes straight to the point in less than 40 plain-English words. It reads: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

As a result of Title IX, women now stand side by side with men in sports. But the enduring legacy of the legislation, as Kennedy points out in her story, is that women now stand side by side with men in about every aspect of the college experience. And that’s the way it should be.

fall 2012

from the editor

East Volume 11, Number 1 East is published four times a year by East Carolina University.

h EDITOR Steve Tuttle ’09 252-328-2068 / tuttles@ecu.edu

ART DIRECTOR/DESIGNER Brent Burch PHOTOGRAPHERS Jay Clark, Cliff Hollis COPY EDITORS Jimmy Rostar ’94, Spaine Stephens CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Crystal Baity, Justin Boulmay, Doug Boyd, Lacey Gray, Jeanine Manning Hutson, Melanie Jock, Kathryn Kennedy, Jessica Creson Nottingham ’06 ’08, Spaine Stephens CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER Forrest Croce CLASS NOTES EDITOR Joanne Kollar ecuclassnotes@ecu.edu

ADMINISTRATION Judy Currin ’82

h executive director of communication, public affairs and marketing Mary Schulken ’75

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. © 2012

by East Carolina University

Printed by RR Donnelley U.P. 12-294 66,500 copies of this public document were printed at a cost of $26,896 or $.40 per copy.

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University Archives

from our readers Witnessing the Wright Brothers

Liked the Top 10 story

(In the story on the Top 10 treasures in ECU’s attic) I noted an error in this sentence about the Wright Brothers: “Among those who witnessed the achievement, Associated Press correspondent and weatherman Alpheus Drinkwater….”

Mr. Drinkwater did not witness the first flight. He did indeed send the telegraph acknowledging the flight but was not present. The only witnesses were from the U.S. Lifesaving Station, who had been summoned to assist Wilbur and Orville in putting “The Flyer” on the track. My grandfather, Adam D. Etheridge, was one of those who assisted. While there were numerous flight attempts, witnessed by various local residents, Mr. Drinkwater was not present for the estimated “12 second, 120 feet…first successful flight… on December 17, 1903.” This is not a significant error, just thought you may want to know. I attended East Carolina College in 1954, a physical education major and cheerleader, and have thoroughly enjoyed following classmates in East. I especially enjoyed the article on Amanda Etheridge (a cousin) as I, too, was from Manteo, and enjoyed her athletic feats during her high school years. Keep up the good work, and thanks for keeping us informed.

—Marie Etherige Dremann, St. Petersburg, Fla.

I wanted to say how much I enjoy receiving the East magazine. I read every issue front to back. I especially enjoyed the article in the last edition titled “Top 10 Treasures in ECU’s Attic” by Arthur Carlson.

It’s clear that a lot of research and effort goes into this magazine and I wanted to let you know that it’s appreciated. Keep up the good work!

—Joan Bunders ’83, Midlothian, Va.

Editor’s note: The article did not say but could be read to imply that Drinkwater saw the historic first flight on Dec. 17, 1903. It did report that Drinkwater was present in 1911 when Orville Wright set a gliding record of 9 minutes 45 seconds. His photo of that event (above) was used to illustrate the article. The story on Amanda Etheridge was the Upon the Past feature in the Spring 2011 issue.

Fond memories of Howard House

From the sound of your latest “From the Editor” piece in East, your new office (in Howard House, home of News Services) must be in what was Uncle Charlie’s old bedroom. Who’s in my Dad’s room across the hall these days? Maybe it’s time for some of us to come have a look-see at the old place again. It’s been some years.

—John L. Howard Jr. ’88 ’90, Greenville Editor’s Note: The writer, a teaching instructor in the College of Business, is a grandson of the late Charles W. Howard, president of the Greenville Tobacco Co., who acquired what’s now known as Howard House in 1927. The family raised two sons there, Charles W. and John L. Sr., who took over their father’s business upon his death in 1953. Their mother, the late Hannah P. Howard, continued to live in the home until her death in 1980. John L. Howard Sr. served six terms on the Greenville City Council, chaired the Pitt-Greenville Airport Authority and was president of the Greenville Museum of Art. We invited the writer and his family to come visit Howard House, which they did in July. They said they were pleased to find their former home in good condition.

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 $100. 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 Howard House Mail Stop 107 East Carolina University Greenville, N.C. 27858-4353 Send class notes to ecuclassnotes@ecu.edu or use the form on page 52

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the ecU Report First dental center opens, another announced East Carolina University officials cut the ribbon on the new $3 million, 8,000-squarefoot dental community service learning center in Ahoskie in late June. The center is the first of up to 10 the School of Dental Medicine plans to build across the state.

Earlier in the month, officials announced ECU will build another center on the campus of Davidson County Community College in Thomasville.

Speaking at the Ahoskie event, Chancellor Steve Ballard said the center fulfills the commitment the university and dental school made to provide care in underserved areas.

“Not every university puts service first,” Ballard said to a crowd of more than 100 gathered for the event on a warm, windy day. “I think for 105 years, ECU has put service first.”

At the centers, ECU dental faculty members, dental residents and students will provide care for area citizens. Meanwhile, students and residents will learn what practicing in a community setting is like. Patients may receive a variety of services, including general, preventive and emergency dental care as well as crowns, root canals and bridges.

ECU hopes the dental centers will help improve the status of dental health in their areas while adding an innovative educational aspect to dental school.

The Ahoskie center is built next door to the new Roanoke Chowan Community Health Center.

“We are not only providing much-needed care, but we are also educating our future dentists in areas similar to where we hope they will practice,” said Gregory Chadwick, interim dean of the School of Dental Medicine. “This marks the first time we’ve co-located a dental school facility and a federally qualified health care center together. We are very excited about our partnership with Roanoke Chowan Community Health Center and look forward to providing quality dental care to residents of Hertford, Bertie, Northampton, Gates and surrounding counties.”

Ahoskie, in northeastern North Carolina, is approximately 60 miles from ECU’s Elizabeth City • Ahoskie•

• Spruce Pine • Sylva

• Thomasville • Lillington

ECU ★

Greenville campus. In addition to there and Davidson County, other sites identified so far are Elizabeth City, Lillington, Sylva and Spruce Pine.

Overall, North Carolina ranks 47th out of the 50 states in the number of dentists per capita, according to the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Many people without good dental care live in rural areas, where North Carolina averages three dentists for every 10,000 people. That compares to urban areas of the state, where the ratio is nearly five dentists for every 10,000 people. Three counties, all in the northeast, have no dentists: Tyrrell, Hyde and Camden. Gates County is often without a dentist.

Nationally, the ratio is six dentists for every 10,000 people. Officials also hope the centers will help attract new dentists to rural and underserved communities.

ECU admitted its first class of 52 dental students in 2011. Goals of the school are to improve access to dental care, to educate

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ECU dental student Diana Luckhardt of Summerfield in Guilford County said working in the centers will help broaden students’ dental education.

“If you don’t get out and experience it, you don’t see the need,” she said. Luckhardt added that working in the centers will help teach students how to operate a dental practice.

—Doug Boyd New policy on freshman residency begins ECU will require freshmen to live on campus their first two semesters under a new retention policy that begins with the fall semester. The policy is aimed at keeping students on the right track to return the following year.

“A lot of the research…states that students who live on campus, particularly their freshman year, do better academically,” said Dr. Virginia Hardy, vice chancellor for Student Affairs.

Hardy said Chancellor Steve Ballard’s Executive Council made the policy decision, with the Board of Trustees highly favoring the change.

Bill McCartney, associate vice chancellor for Campus Living and Dining, said the requirement will provide a universal first-year experience for incoming freshmen. It will allow students to be closer to the services the university provides and to bond with the university in a different way than they would if living off campus.

Hardy said the greatest benefit of this change is increased programming geared specifically

the residence halls and to making life-long friends. “I think it’s a good idea for the first year just to get adjusted to college life on campus,” said McDonald.

toward freshmen to help with the transition from high school to college.

“Those (programs) will cover developmental topics from how do you make friends, how do you deal with roommate issues, to time management, study skills and test taking skills,” she said.

Incoming freshman Anna McDonald of Durham said although she would have preferred having the option to live off campus, she is looking forward to living in Forrest Croce

Jay Clark

minority students and to produce dentists who have a desire to practice in underserved areas. The second class of 52 will start in August. All are North Carolina residents, and the school focuses on recruiting students from rural areas who want to return to those areas to practice.

Dovetailing with the new policy are the First Year Experience halls and Living Learning Communities offered by the residence halls.

The First Year Experience is a social and academic integration program that eases the adjustment to college, said McCartney.

Living Learning Communities join students with similar academic interests in a close residential environment, providing extended support, activities and networking with faculty and peers.

Since about 85 percent of freshmen usually plan to live on campus, Campus Living does not expect a drastic increase in the number of residents. McCartney said there will be enough space to accommodate the extra percentage of freshmen, as well as any returning students who choose to live in the residence halls.

A few exceptions to the policy will be honored. Freshmen who live with their parents and commute less than 35 miles to campus may choose to live at home. Veterans, married students and students who are 21 years old by the first day of classes may choose to live off campus. McCartney said he expects the exceptions to affect only about 125 to 150 students.

“Students make friends for life during their freshman year at college,” said McCartney.

“The people students live around and go through that rite of passage with as freshmen form a special bond…those students who live on campus have a much easier access to creating that bond and that common experience than off-campus students.

“Students who have that common experience will feel that much more connected to the institution,” McCartney said.

—Melanie Jock 5

ECU alumna shares lessons learned after paralyzing injury Rachelle Friedman Chapman’s wheelchair is a reminder not to take any day for granted, and it’s a message that the internationally recognized motivational speaker sought to impress on ECU students and staff members during a visit to campus this spring.

In 2010, Chapman ’08, suffered a paralyzing injury during her bachelorette party after she was playfully pushed into a pool and hit her head on the bottom. The ECU alumna shared her story—and the lessons that she’s taken from it—during a presentation titled “The Glass is Half Full.”

It’s the same story that she has shared on the Today Show and Inside Edition—a story that has Chapman considering a book and possibly a movie deal.

Chapman looks back on the day of her accident and feels grateful that she was doing activities she enjoyed. “I’m very, very lucky that I had all these happy things about my day that I can look back on,” she said.

The accident happened on the night of her bachelorette party. Chapman had spent the day visiting family, trying on her wedding dress (for the last time before her wedding) and looking for a new pair of shoes for that night’s party. Later that evening, she and her friends decided to go for a swim in the pool.

One of them playfully pushed her into the pool, and her head hit the bottom where the pool shifts from the shallow to deep end.

“I seriously think if I had been one foot the other way, it might have gone differently,” she said.

She spent two and a half months in the hospital and went through rehabilitation.

She’s been through various difficulties since then, such as struggling with not being able to do things independently and getting around in public. It takes much longer to get dressed, and Chapman had to teach her mom how to style her hair for her.

“Not one thing in my life was ever going 6

to be the same, and it’s something that you kind of have to realize very, very quickly,” Chapman said.

bachelorette party. And yes, they’re still friends, and she was a part of Chapman’s wedding in July 2011.

Various equipment and donations by generous groups have helped make that change easier, such as a donated van that otherwise would have cost $80,000.

Chapman uses a hand cycle so she can join her husband, Chris ’05 ’08, when he wants to ride his bike. She also got an adaptive surf board and plays wheelchair rugby.

Chapman shared lessons that she’s learned, such as taking the time to slow down; not complaining about small things that won’t matter in a couple of days; setting personal goals; being grateful; and not waiting to make important changes.

Chapman took questions from the audience, inquiries that included whether or not she can still have children—she is able and is hoping to do so in the near future—and whether she’s forgiven the friend who had pushed her into the pool during that fateful

“Something tragic shouldn’t happen to make you realize that you need to make a change or that you need to start going toward goals faster, that you need to start appreciating life, or that you need to do start doing whatever,” she said. “Something bad shouldn’t have to happen for you to learn a lesson.”

—Justin Boulmay

Both furnished

the ecu report

Jay Clark

Rare peeks at King Rails

on Mackay Island,” she said.

An ECU biology professor is leading a team of researchers hoping to get a rare peek at an elusive bird hiding in the marshes of Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge in Currituck County.

A new aspect to the study is the use of radio telemetry. Radio transmitters are attached to a small sample of breeders, allowing the researchers to monitor what parts of the refuge the King Rails use and whether they stay at Mackay Island year round, or if they

Dr. Susan McRae, a faculty member at ECU and the North Carolina Center for Biodiversity, is working with graduate student Carol Brackett and field assistants Chelsey Faller, Elizabeth Lesley and Alexandra Mankofsky. The team is tagging and tracking the rare King Rail to learn more about the birds’ migratory habits. The researchers have captured 10 birds so far and located 49 nests.

migrate elsewhere for the winter. Small samples of blood also are collected to assist in genetic testing.

Funding for the research is provided by a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service until 2013.

—Lacey Gray

For two years, McRae and her team have been wading through muck and marsh in search of King Rail nests. In most places, a sighting is rare. The King Rail population is so sparse that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers it a priority.

McRae said bird-watchers are more likely to find the King Rails on the Knotts Island refuge than elsewhere in North Carolina.

Visitors to the Mackay Island Refuge have a good chance of seeing the long-legged bird darting across the road. “They do come out in the open in Mackay Island and that’s a pretty rare thing to see,” McRae said.

“King Rails are secretive creatures and remain a hidden minority in the marshes.

Yet there is a good chance of spotting one 7

ECU Chancellor Steve Ballard (left) and Board of Trustees chairman Bob Lucas share a light moment at the ECU Board of Trustees meeting July 19.

Lucas was re-elected as board chair during the meeting.

Brinkley is a partner with the McGuireWoods law firm in Charlotte. A summa cum laude graduate with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, Brinkley earned his law degree from Wake Forest University.

Butler is chief external affairs officer and president of foundations at Vidant Health.

He received a master’s degree in public administration from ECU and is a former chair of the university’s Board of Visitors.

Trustees elect officers East Carolina University’s Board of Trustees welcomed a new member and elected officers to one-year terms on the 13-member governing body. M. Justin Davis, the new Student Government Association president, was sworn in as an ex-officio member at the board’s July 19 meeting. Robert V. Lucas ’74, a Selma attorney, was re-elected chairman.

The nominating committee presented two nominees for vice chair: current vice chair Carol Mabe ’71 of Oriental and Robert Brinkley ’78 of Charlotte. Brinkley was elected on an 8-5 vote. Joel Butler ’98 of Greenville was re-elected secretary.

Before the slate of officers was presented, nominating committee chair Ken Chalk ’68 ’71 of Winston-Salem said the board has, “90-plus percent of the time,” elected officers to serve consecutive one-year terms, while the vice chair normally moves up to the chair position in subsequent years.

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Following the election, Lucas said he was “appreciative and humbled in the confidence the board has in me. I will continue to try and reach out and engage the board members as much as possible, and to communicate with them,” Lucas said. “We’ve got a very talented group and try hard to use the talents of all 13.”

Davis, of Rocky Mount, is a senior at ECU majoring in political science. Davis, 22, has been a member of the ECU Marching Pirates, Phi Mu Alpha Music Fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity, the ECU Symphonic Wind Ensemble, ECU New Student Orientation and the Volunteer and Service Learning Center. He previously was elected to two consecutive terms as SGA treasurer.

Building hope through art

Lucas said the board’s vote on the vice chair position was unusual but the bylaws allow for it. He congratulated Brinkley, and commended Mabe’s service as vice chair. “She has done an outstanding job and she will be in consideration for chairman in another year as will Mr. Brinkley,” Lucas said.

Paintbrushes in hand, almost every child at Building Hope Community Life Center in Greenville created his or her own bubble for a mural on an outside brick wall. The bubbles float down from a soda can, a “thank you” to Pepsi for a $10,000 Refresh grant awarded to the center last fall.

Lucas is founding and senior partner of the law firm Lucas, Denning & Ellerbe.

He served on the board as SGA president in 1974 and graduated with a degree in political science. Lucas received his law degree from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala.

The center is a faith-based nonprofit organization on Ninth Street designed to help at-risk students from local schools stay on track academically, while giving them social and spiritual support and infrastructure for success.

Cliff Hollis

the ecu report

The mural’s lead designer, Jarmarcus Patterson, 18, graduated in June from J.H. Rose High School and hopes to incorporate his artistic talents with a career one day.

Patterson and other children from the center worked alongside ECU art student Cory St. Clair and art professor Robert Quinn on the mural.

Lead elementary school teacher Jayme Wall said the art project supplemented the traditional reading and math work that students do at the center after school. “I think them getting their own bubble, their own space, that’s lasting,” said Wall, an ECU alumna. “I think they understand that they’re going to have a lasting impact on Building Hope.”

ECU became involved through the university’s Student Engagement and Outreach Scholars Academy. In collaboration with Rob Lee, Building Hope’s executive director, Quinn developed 10 weeks of afterschool art lessons with the ultimate goal of involving K-12 students in a large-scale mural painting project on the wall of an adjacent building.

Atlas Kelly, an ECU alumnus and social worker at Building Hope, said the middleand high-school aged boys he mentors really enjoyed the project. “Their idea of what art is has changed in doing this,” he said. “The mural gives them a sense of ownership and pride.”

Larger bubbles highlight words of “hope,” “renew,” “respect” and “refresh.” The center offers several programs including life skills for parents, a summer Student Success Academy for rising sixth-graders, and ReCycle, an innovative on-site repair shop for used bikes and computers.

ECU’s engagement and outreach program is believed to be the first of its kind and a national model. Graduate students, undergraduate East Carolina Scholars and faculty mentors across disciplines at ECU team up to work with community partners on a semester-long research project, said Beth Velde, academy coordinator and director of public service and community relations at ECU.

Ross Hall, the home of the new ECU School of Dental Medicine, will open for students and patients this fall. Located on the university’s Health Sciences Campus, the 188,000-square-foot, four-floor building cost $60 million to build and $10 million to equip and furnish.

It will have 133 operatories (treatment rooms), a clinical research center, two auditorium-style learning halls, and a simulation laboratory. Specialty suites, located on the first and second floors, will include pediatric dentistry, orthodontics, oral surgery, special needs and urgent care.

The third floor will house faculty and administrative offices, while the fourth floor will remain open for future expansion.

Advanced technology will allow video conferencing between Ross Hall and all of the school’s 10 Community Service Learning Centers located across the state.

The building is named for retired Greenville orthodontist Ledyard Ross, who pledged $4 million to help build the school.

—Doug Boyd

Cliff Hollis

Lee wanted to find out if having students involved in the weekly art activities influenced their resilient traits, or traits that help overcome change or hardships, and overall well-being. ECU undergraduate student Hannah Potter of Marshville and graduate student Samantha Fuerderer of Greenville developed surveys and interviewed students. Results are still being analyzed, Quinn said.

“I like working with my hands,” Patterson said. “It keeps me busy. The more busy I am, the less trouble I get in to.”

—Crystal Baity

Ross Hall nears completion

Through the spring semester, the center’s after-school students learned how to sketch, sculpt and design in the weekly art lessons.

For the mural, each child was asked to create a bubble or circle on the wall. “The bubbles could be whatever they wanted,” Quinn said.

“Some people put their name on it. Some put a football number on it. Some put Bible verses or encouraging sayings. Each applied their own style to it.”

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Women engineers build chapter After three years of operating unofficially, ECU’s chapter of the Society of Women Engineers has been recognized by the national organization. The society was created to support women in engineering and recruit women into ECU’s program, which opened to students in 2004.

Forrest Croce

the ecu report

“It’s such a male-dominated field that it’s hard to get the women to come (to engineering),” said Karen De Urquidi, coordinator for advising and retention in the Department of Engineering and creator of the ECU society chapter. “It’s a great field for women, but they have to be shown ‘you can do this,’ it’s not just for men, and we have a support system to help them out.” De Urquidi said women are important in the field because of the different point of view they provide.

The Department of Engineering at ECU continues to grow, with the first class graduating in 2008. Student enrollment increased from 37 in 2004 to 308 today. Female enrollment, however, hovers between 10 and 15 percent. Six women were in the first class, and today 33 engineering students are women, with 18 entering as freshmen this fall.

—Melanie Jock

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Audit finds no athletic clustering An internal audit at East Carolina University looking for clusters of athletes across courses or majors in the past 12 months found no instances of academic fraud, administrators said. The ECU Board of Trustees got an overview July 19 of the review, which was prompted by the continuing scrutiny of the

YEARS

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Busbee befriends ECTTS The newly formed Poe and Lanier literary societies raise $500 in the fall of 1912 by staging The Mikado and use the money to commission Jacques Busbee, the Raleigh naturalist and painter, to create oil portraits of founder Thomas Jarvis and faculty member William Ragsdale. While here for the sittings, Busbee addresses the student body on the native flora and fauna of eastern North Carolina.

He agrees to revise the original landscaping plan for campus, drawn up by a New York firm, by substituting trees and shrubs more suitable to a warmer climate. It becomes an annual custom for students to plant a tree specified in Busbee’s plan. Busbee becomes a patron of Seagrove pottery, which his wife, Julia, sells in their Greenwich Village studio. He discovers legendary potter J.H. Owen, the grandfather of master potter Ben Owen ’93.

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Department of African and Afro-American Studies at UNC Chapel Hill.

“Has ECU cobbled together classes to benefit the student-athletes, or have we set up specific classes…with low standards?” said Stacie Tronto, director of the Department of Internal Audit. “We can provide you with a reasonable assurance

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Ruth White arrives Ruth White ’25 ’38 ’51 of Colerain becomes assistant dean of women in the fall of 1937, is promoted to the top position in 1950 and remains largely in charge of women students for 32 years.

Dean White presides over the Cotten Hall parlor where women students are allowed to entertain pre-approved dates on Sunday afternoons. When one student complains about the parlor restrictions, Dean White snaps that the rules were worse back in her day, saying. “I recall that my brother came to see me on a Sunday afternoon, and when I went in and asked (Lady Principal Kate) Beckwith if I might go to ride with my brother, she answered, ‘No! How do I know that he is your brother?’”

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that this is not going on here at ECU.” Tronto said her department examined each course in which student-athletes were enrolled from summer 2011 through spring 2012.

Course sections with a higher percentage of student-athletes resulted primarily from practical factors such as course times and career opportunities, she said.

For example, Tronto said there were high numbers of student-athletes in course sections offered at times that did not conflict with practice. And, courses in sports management had heavy enrollment because that concentration enabled a student to continue working in their sport after graduation, she said. “Anything that stood out to us, we did a detailed review of it.”

At the same time, administrators also examined how class syllabi are reviewed and approved, and the criteria for students participating in independent study courses, said Senior Associate Provost Dr. Austin Bunch. He concluded that ECU has minimized the opportunities for such abuse as has emerged on other campuses.

ECU has a process in place to prevent academic fraud, said Provost Marilyn Sheerer. A critical step, she said, was the decision in 2010 to have the academic

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affairs division oversee academic support for student-athletes instead of athletics. “I think it all comes back to what kind of operating policies and procedures do we have in a department, and does the chair or the staff monitor what’s out there,” she said.

“I think the key is really monitoring and spot-checking the process,” said Board member Danny Scott, who asked multiple questions during the presentation. “If we don’t do that, human nature is that we tend to get lax…and you have issues like those that occurred at Carolina. No one around this table or university wants to see that happen to the Pirate Nation.”

—Kathryn Kennedy Losses prompt clinic closing A number of factors contributed to the recent decision to close the Bethel Family Practice Center operated by the Brody School of Medicine.

The clinic will close and its faculty, staff and clinical services will move to the new Family Medicine Center on the Health Sciences Campus in September.

Declining patient visits, continuing financial losses and the opportunity to serve patients in the new Family Medicine Center, which

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“One of the factors is the opportunity to take the very high quality of care traditionally provided by Dr. Richard Rawl in Bethel and move his care to a beautiful modern facility with appropriate ancillary services to support the patient-centered medical home in a more cost-efficient manner,” said Steinweg.

“Another factor is the very unfortunate reality that the Bethel facility has been seriously outdated and operating with an increasing deficit for several years.”

In the last fiscal year at the clinic, revenues trailed expenses by approximately $100,000.

The number of patient visits has declined from 6,710 in the 2006-07 fiscal year to 5,221 in fiscal year 2010-11.

Steinweg said Bethel patients will have access to on-site laboratory and X-ray services in the new location, services not available onsite in Bethel.

ECU has operated the Bethel clinic for more than 30 years. The facility is 62 years old and has outlived its life expectancy, Steinweg said. The cost of renovations and repairs is not feasible, he said.

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AGO

McGuire flirts with ECC Rumors fly at the start of fall quarter 1962 that Frank McGuire, the legendary coach whose Carolina team won the 1957 national championship, will become the new basketball coach here. McGuire left Chapel Hill after the 1961 season to coach the Philadelphia Warriors but resigned after one year when that team moved to the West Coast. The Greensboro Daily News reports that McGuire has visited the campus several times for talks with President Leo Jenkins and has even bought a home in Greenville. In October, Jenkins and McGuire issue a joint statement saying their meetings have been productive but no specific job offer was discussed.

Jenkins continues wooing McGuire but is finally rebuffed when McGuire accepts the coaching job at South Carolina in 1964.

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offers an enhanced environment, led to the difficult decision to close the clinic, according to Dr. Ken Steinweg, professor and chairman of the Department of Family Medicine.

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YEARS

AGO

Enrollment growth plan Newly installed Chancellor Richard Eakin (at left in photo of Joyner Library groundbreaking) observes in September 1987 that “the first and most critical challenge is the need to plan” for continuing enrollment growth, particularly in health sciences. He institutes a process of strategic planning, secures the services of a full-time architect and planner, and works with the Faculty Senate to develop a nine-point plan to promote student achievement.

The plan’s first mandate: Demonstrate excellence in undergraduate education.

Photos courtesy University Archives

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N I V E R S I T Y

Ron Mitchelson, a professor in the Department of Geography and a senior research fellow, has been named interim vice chancellor for research and graduate studies at ECU. A faculty member since 1999, Mitchelson has chaired the geography department and served as interim chair of the English department. In 2011 he was appointed to chair the Program Prioritization Committee, which evaluated programs campuswide and examined the university’s academic structure. As for his new role, he said, “One of my personal interests is to expand the engagement of undergraduate as well as graduate students within our university’s research enterprise.”

LaKesha Alston ’01 ’03 was named associate provost for equity and diversity after serving in the position on an interim basis for the past six months. She replaces Taffye Clayton ’09, who left for a similar position at UNC Chapel Hill. Alston previously held positions within the unit for the past six years.

Sunil Sharma, an assistant professor at the Brody School of Medicine and director of the ECU Sleep Disorders Center, and Ronald Perkin, chair of the Department of Pediatrics, were named two of the top physicians in the country for treating sleep disorders. They were named in Sleep Review magazine’s annual listing of the nation’s top sleep doctors and facilities. The U.S. has about 2,000 accredited sleep centers, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

ECU senior Danielle Martin of Greenville was selected to serve on the 2012-14 Council of Students for the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. Martin is majoring in multidisciplinary studies with 12

a concentration in neuroscience. She was initiated into Phi Kappa Phi in 2011 and serves as student vice president for the university’s Phi Kappa Phi chapter. As a member of the 2012-14 council, Martin will represent the interests of students in the society’s Southeast region.

Jan Lewis was named interim dean of Academic Library Services upon the retirement of Larry Boyer. She has been associate dean of library services for the past five years and has two decades of experience in academic libraries.

S. Raza Shaikh, a biochemist at the Brody School of Medicine, was recognized for his research involving omega-3 fatty acids and the body’s immune system. Shaikh, an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, received the Early Career Award this spring at the biennial congress of the International Society for Fatty Acids and Lipids, held in Vancouver, British Colombia.

Nutrition science professor Beth Wall-Bassett received a $15,000 grant from the Vidant Medical Center Foundation to support the Greenville Community Garden Network, a project directed by ECU. The garden network funds one hub garden and two satellite gardens in west Greenville. Produce from the gardens is pipelined into Greenville’s community shelter, soup kitchen, church programs and neighborhood school/after-school programs.

Area residents may receive produce as well.

“The ultimate hope is to strengthen the

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community one fruit or vegetable at a time—a feel good, win-win situation for everyone all the while growing more community gardens in Greenville,” Wall-Bassett said.

Graduate student Melissa Ricker was elected to the 2012-13 board of directors of the Student Academy of the American Academy of Physician Assistants. Ricker, of Goldsboro, is the first student from ECU and North Carolina to represent the Southeast region and its 38 schools. Ten students are elected annually as the governing body for physician assistant students enrolled at more than 160 colleges and universities nationwide. ECU offers the only state-supported physician assistant studies program in North Carolina.

Department of Geography researchers Jeff Popke and Scott Curtis received three-year funding of $275,000 for their project, “Vulnerability and Resilience Among Small Farmers in Jamaica: An Assessment of Climate Change, Economic Stress, and the Role of Water Management.” In collaborative research with a colleague at UNC Wilmington, Curtis and Popke will study southwestern Jamaica to identify the vulnerability and resilience of small- scale Caribbean farming in the face of climate change and economic transformation.

Laura Prividera and Jeffery Ward were appointed interim associate deans of the College of Fine Arts and Communication.

Prividera is associate director of the School of Communication and will continue in that role on a half-time basis as well as half-time as the interim associate dean for graduate studies and summer school. Ward is an associate professor of music education. He will continue half-time in that position.

Fall Arts Calendar

By Jeannine Manning Hutson

AP Photo/Mark Humphrey

Literary Homecoming focuses on adapting literature into film Seven North Carolina writers and two filmmakers will discuss the translation of the written word into film during the Ninth Annual Eastern North Carolina Literary Homecoming in September.

Joining him for panel discussions will be Daniel Wallace, author of Big Fish; Lois Duncan, I Know What You Did Last Summer; Timothy Tyson, Blood Done Sign My Name; James Dodson ’75, Faithful Travelers; Randall Kenan, Foundations of the Earth; Eleanora E. Tate, Just an Overnight Guest; and Jeffrey Franklin, For The Lost Boys.

The writers will share their experiences in seeing their written works made into movies.

Filmmakers Elizabeth Benfey and Dante James will screen short films they created from fiction and will discuss the craft of screenwriting and translating the story into visual media.

“Litflix: Adapting North Carolina Literature into Film” will be held Sept. 21-22 at Joyner Library with literary powerhouse Charles Frazier, author of Cold Mountain.

The writers also will offer five workshops focusing on writing poetry, fiction and screenwriting. Prior to the Literary Homecoming, the works of the writers and the art of filmmaking will be featured in New Bern, Morehead City, Rocky Mount, Wilson and Greenville. These programs will include film showcases on North Carolina short stories, author presentations on the films made from their books, and discussions of several of the authors and their works.

To find details for these events and to register for the Eastern North Carolina Literary Homecoming, visit www.ecu.edu/ lithomecoming.

Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences

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The second lecture in the series will be by Dr. Louise Leakey, paleontologist, conservationist and explorer-in-residence for the National Geographic Society.

She will present “Secrets in the Sands: Revelations Into How We Became Human” at 7 p.m. Oct. 2 in Wright Auditorium. She is the daughter of noted paleoanthropologist Dr. Richard Leakey.

loftyambitions.wordpress.com

Mae C. Jemison, the first African-American woman in space, will present the first lecture in the annual “Voyages of Discovery” Series, sponsored by the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences. Jemison will speak at 7 p.m. Sept.

5 in Wright Auditorium. Her topic will be “Exploring the Frontiers of Science and Human Potential.”

Turkana Basin Institute

Voyages of Discovery Lecture Series

The series’ 2012 Space Lecture will be presented by Col. Eileen Collins Nov. 13 at 7 p.m., who will speak on “Leadership Lessons from Apollo to Discovery.” Collins is the first woman to pilot and command an American spacecraft.

For ticket information or more about the lecture series, visit www.ecu.edu/voyages.

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

PERFORMING ARTS

David Lacks, the grandson of Henrietta Lacks, will be on campus this fall to speak about the book that details her contribution to modern medical research.

It was cells taken without her knowledge in 1951—the HeLa cells—that became the basis for decades of research, including the polio vaccine and gene mapping.

ECU Opera Theater The opera theater in the School of Music will open the season with Jack Beeson’s 1965 opera Lizzie Borden Nov. 1, 2 and 4 at A.J. Fletcher Recital Hall. The opera, with English libretto by Kenward Elmslie, tells the story of the double axe murders of the title character’s father and stepmother in Fall River, Mass., in 1892.

The highly acclaimed The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot was selected for the Pirate Summer Read this year. The work tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, the forgotten woman behind one of the most important tools in modern medicine, and of her descendants, many of whom feel betrayed by the scientific establishment.

David Lacks will speak at 7 p.m. Nov. 12 in Wright Auditorium. First-year students are asked to complete the Pirate Read before arriving on campus in August.

Poet laureate coming to campus U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey will be on campus Oct. 2425 as part of the Contemporary Writers Series. A native of Gulfport, Miss., Trethewey was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 2006. She is professor of English at Emory University; she was named the 19th U.S. Poet Laureate in June.

Trethewey is the first Southerner to hold the post since Robert Penn Warren, the first poet laureate, and the first AfricanAmerican since Rita Dove in 1993.

The Contemporary Writers Series aims to expose students and other readers to award-winning fiction and nonfiction writers, translators and poets.

ECU Loessin Playhouse Sally Bowles, British singer in the infamous Kit Kat Club in Berlin in the early 1930s, is at the center of the popular Broadway musical Cabaret, which will be presented Nov. 15-20 in McGinnis Theatre. Based on a book by Joe Masteroff with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, the dramatic love story set against the rise of the Nazis in post-Depression Germany earned Tony Awards for best musical and best original musical score in 1967. The production was nominated for nine other Tony Awards and won six.

The 2012-13 Playhouse season opens with Crimes of the Heart, the 1981 Pulitzer Prize winning drama by Beth Henley about Meg, Babe and Lenny Magrath, three young Mississippi sisters from a dysfunctional family and betrayed by their passions. The production will run Sept. 27-Oct. 2.

Guest Performers The ECU School of Music will sponsor a program by the Presti Trio, a professional guitar trio consisting of three women, Olga Amelkina-Vera, Valerie Hartzell and Lynn McGrath, Oct. 11 at 7:30 p.m., in Room B110 of Fletcher Music Building.

ECU Student Ensembles The ECU Choral Music program will tackle an ambitious fall program, beginning Sept. 20 with a performance by the ECU Chamber Singers at Peace Presbyterian Church, Winterville.

This performance will preview the group’s appearance at the North Carolina-American Choral Directors Association convention in Greensboro. Dr. Andrew Crane will conduct.

The ECU Symphony Orchestra will perform under the direction of Jorge Richter on Sept. 22 in Wright Auditorium. The program will feature Chris Ulffers on bassoon for Nino

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Rota’s Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra. Other works will include Claude Debussy’s Prelude a L’Apres—midi d’un Faune and Sergey Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 131.

The University Chorale, the Chamber Singers and faculty soloists will join the ECU Symphony Orchestra Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. in Wright Auditorium for F.J. Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass.

Students in the jazz studies program will return to the Greenville Hilton Hotel for jazz evenings with TomtheJazzman Sept. 14 and Oct. 19 at 8 p.m., and a combined jazz ensemble concert is scheduled Nov. 29 at 7:30 p.m. in Wright Auditorium.

Also, the combined bands will perform Sept. 27 and Nov. 6 at Wright Auditorium; the wind chamber ensemble will perform Oct. 16 in Fletcher Recital Hall; and the percussion players will perform Oct. 23 and Nov. 20 in Fletcher Recital Hall. All programs begin at 7:30 p.m. and are open to the public at no charge.

ECU Faculty Music Programs A trio composed of cellist Emmanuel Gruber, pianist Keiko Sekino and violinist Hye-Jin Kim will perform Oct. 14 at 3 p.m. at Fletcher Recital Hall, and a chamber ensemble of wind players including faculty flutist Christine Gustafson, oboist Bo Newsome, clarinetist Douglas Monroe, Mary Burroughs on horn, and bassoonist Chris Ulffers will perform Oct. 15, at 7:30 p.m., also at Fletcher Recital Hall with guest artists. Gruber and Sekino also will perform together Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m. at Fletcher Recital Hall.

The annual Octubafest directed

by Tom McCaslin, tuba professor, is scheduled for Oct. 10, 11 and 14 in the A.J. Fletcher Recital Hall.

Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival The popular classical series will begin its 13th season of chamber music performances by world-renowned guest artists Sept. 13-14 and Nov. 29-30.

A Next Generation concert on Nov. 8 featuring ECU faculty members, string students, a guest performer and a string program alumnus will be part of the festival.

S. Rudolph Alexander Performing Arts Series

Comedian, actor, author, educator and JELL-O spokes­ man Bill Cosby opens the 51st season of the S. Rudolph Alexander Performing Arts Series on Sept. 20. His lifelong contributions to American culture were recognized with a Kennedy Center Honor in 1998 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in July 2002, America’s highest civilian honor. He also was awarded the Mark Twain Prize in 2009. He has touched countless lives through the Emmy Award-winning animated series Little Bill, his best-selling book Fatherhood, and his gamechanging family sitcom The Cosby Show.

The Panorama Jazz Band (below), a group that the guys in New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Band say they enjoy

seeing when they don’t have a gig, performs a mix of Big Easy and world party music on Oct. 24. The seven-piece acoustic group uses the instruments that have been making crowds dance for centuries—clarinet, alto saxophone, trombone, accordion, tenor banjo, drums and tuba. Expect repertoire from around the world—the Caribbean rhythms of Martinique, the exotic Klezmer and Balkan melodies of Eastern Europe, and the nonstop syncopation of New Orleans second line.

The S. Rudolph Alexander Performing Arts Series’ first musical co-commission is entitled Connecting Crossroads in North Carolina. It’s a musical journey featuring Haitian-born New Yorkbased violinist/composer Daniel Bernard Roumain and singer/ songwriter Laurelyn Dossett.

Roumain and Dossett toured across North Carolina in January, spending time in Greenville and at partner institutions (NCSU, UNCW, Appalachian State University and others) to create a flavor of the new work, which is being recorded this summer at Davidson College.

On Nov. 9, expect a showcase of local musicians on the first portion of the program, Roumain and Dossett on the second, and a giant feel-good finale.

Family Fare The Family Fare program will open its 2012-13 season with The Hobbit Oct. 19 at 7 p.m., presented by the ECU Storybook Theatre by special arrangement with the Dramatic Publishing Co. of Woodstock, Ill. This will be a staged production of J.R.R. Tolkien’s adventure story of Bilbo Baggins and his journey through Middle Earth and discovery of a ring of great power. Children are invited to dress as their favorite fantasy character, and they can have their picture taken with the creatures from Middle Earth.

The second production will be Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, starring Peter Gros, Nov. 2. Gros, co-host of the original Wild Kingdom television series, will share stories about his exciting animal world and travel experiences. He will show a mix of video clips and bloopers while introducing friendly exotic animals to audience members and telling inspirational stories dealing with issues of conserva­ tion, travel and wildlife filming.

Dossett performed her commission of Six Songs for Winter with the North Carolina Symphony in 2011. DBR’s collaborations span the worlds of Philip Glass, Cassandra Wilson, Savion Glover and Lady Gaga.

ON EXHIBIT Wellington B. Gray Gallery and School of Art and Design The School of Art and Design will be the site of a tri-state sculpture exhibition Sept. 4-Oct. 5, and the keynote speaker Oct. 5 will be James Surls, a noted sculptor of wood, steel and bronze. His works have been exhibited in the Dallas Museum of Art, the Meadows Museum of Art at Southern Methodist University and Blaffer Gallery at the University of Houston, among other sites. He helped establish the Lawndale Alternative Space artists’ colony in Splendora, Texas.

Among other events: School of Art and Design faculty exhibition, Oct. 19-Nov. 17, and annual holiday exhibition, Nov. 29-Dec. 1.

CINEMA Southern Circuit Film Festival This annual series brings independently made films and their directors to audiences, so that audience members can ask the filmmakers about the stories and the process. ECU Cinematic Arts and Media Production guild members, under the guidance of professor Michael Dermody, prescreened and ranked eight indie films in Greenville, then traveled to Atlanta in early summer to view the top 50 films as ranked by all of the participants in the three film circuits.

Opening ECU’s festival will be Small, Beautifully Moving Parts by Annie Howell and Lisa Robinson, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. at the Greenville Museum of Art. The film is a comic coming-ofage story involving a young woman uncertain about her pending motherhood.

Two weeks later, Martha Speaks! will be presented Nov. 16. A funny musical about an ordinary dog who ate some alphabet soup and began to talk. She learns to use the telephone, play tricks on the pizza delivery man and answer trivia questions on a radio call-in program.

All Family Fare programs are at 7 p.m. in Wright Auditorium.

For ticket information, call 1-800-ECU-ARTS.

Otis Under Sky by Anlo Sepulveda, Oct. 25, an unscripted story about a web artist attracted to a heartsick kleptomaniac. The location will be announced.

Smokin’ Fish by Luke GriswoldTergis, Nov. 15, a documentary about a Tlingit businessman in Alaska who is hustling to keep his business solvent and decides to spend a summer smoking fish at his family’s traditional fish camp. The screening will be at the Greenville Museum of Art.

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H o w T i t l e I X s h i f t e d t h e b a l a n c e at E C U Title IX put more softballs and basketballs—and, for the first time, athletic scholarships—into the hands of female students at East Carolina University.

It erased language in the student handbook that set a double standard for behavior by men and women students. It nudged open doors for growing numbers of women to study science, math and medicine, competitive fields where men traditionally held significant advantages.

Women accounted for just three of the 28 students in Brody School of Medicine’s first fouryear class in 1981. Today, slightly more than half of the 305 BSOM students are women, which is above the national average for medical schools.

B y K a t hr y n K e n n e d y

ph o t o g r a ph y b y cl i ff h o ll i s

Tiffany Harris

Tiffany Harris donned track spikes and sprinted her way to college.

ECU coaches offered her a spot on the track and field team in 2009 and a full athletic scholarship. The Portsmouth, Va., native, now a senior, chose ECU over offers from colleges in Michigan and Iowa. “(The scholarship) was important at the time, but it wasn’t all about the money,” Harris said. “I was going to get an education.”

She is the youngest in a family of four girls. Her older sisters were athletes, too, but they attended college with the help of academic scholarships. The Harris sisters are among the countless women benefitting from a groundbreaking government mandate that turned 40 years old this year.

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Forty years later Title IX’s impact continues, shaping wide-ranging debates on this campus and others about topics such as faculty diversity, safety and the institution’s responsibilities. Those shifts, which seem commonplace today, played out over four decades. Yet they were inaugurated at ECU, and elsewhere, amid controversy.

“They were exciting times,” agreed David Stevens, who served as ECU’s attorney from 1971-88. “Everything was changing.”

1976 Buccaneer

Three of ECU’s first seven women scholarship athletes were members of the 1976 basketball team (above), including Debbie Freeman (front row, far left), Frances Swenholt (front row, sixth from left) and April Ross (second row, sixth from left). Basketball was the first intercollegiate women’s sport at East Carolina when it moved up from a club sport in 1969. Under Coach Catherine Bolton from 1969 to 1978, the team posted winning records for nine of the 10 years. In 1972-73, the team posted a 19-2 record, won the state championship and the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Regional II championship. At the time, the NCAA was for men’s sports only.

‘We’ve got to do this’ sports for women students and stipulated Stevens and then-Associate Athletics Director Bill Cain were among the four men that funds be sufficient for the operation of all sports—including that the number of representing ECU in a 1972 meeting about athletic scholarships in men’s and women’s applying Title IX across the University of sports be proportionate.

North Carolina system. They carpooled to Chapel Hill to receive marching orders from “It all dealt with money, as everything does,” the general administration. “It was not, ‘Would you mind doing this?’”

Bill Cain (right) with ECU Chancellor Leo Jenkins Cain recalled. “It was, ‘We’ve got to do this.’ These youngsters needed an outlet. I never protested or felt bad.”

At the time, there were acknowledged discrepancies between male and female athletes in facilities, equipment and privileges at the university. Stevens said the responsibility to develop a plan to implement Title IX fell first to athletics personnel. He just had to ensure the plans they developed complied with the legislation.

Title IX did not require that the university establish a female football team, or require women be allowed on men’s athletic teams. Instead, the law demanded that there be comparable

Cain said. “It was like if you have a budget for your home and someone says, ‘Now here’s 15 more people to feed.’ We had to take money from one pot and put it in another.”

To create robust women’s teams meant hiring coaches, funding travel and ensuring facilities were equipped to house the expansion. Secondary schools were facing the same mandate so a feeder system had to develop before women’s athletics could thrive at colleges and universities, Cain said.

Cain recalls basketball, softball and swimming as the first women’s programs to take root at ECU. Today, female students also compete in cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, track and field, and volleyball.

Universitiy Archives

ECU Media Relations

Title IX, part of the federal Education Amendments of 1972, states the following: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance….” (Title 20 U.S.C. Sections 1681-1688) Those 37 words permanently altered academics, athletics and student life at universities such as ECU.

Stevens said the majority saw value in giving females the chance to compete equitably. “I think, for the most part, people were in favor of developing more comprehensive women’s athletics programs,” he said. continued on page 22 19

The ‘skinny little girl from Fayetteville’ who forced ECU to embrace sports equity Debra Newby ’79 knew an sports, and finally he asked me, important principle was at ‘Why are you hanging around stake when she and four campus in the summer when you other students filed a Title IX could be at the beach with all discrimination complaint against the other girls?’”

ECU in 1978. A two-sport athlete, Finally she found a sympathetic Newby had read ear when she newspaper articles was referred to a about the new law, young Greenville which required lawyer the SGA equitable treatment had retained to for men’s and help students women’s sports with legal issues. teams, and she Charles L. “Sonny” knew that a six-year McLawhorn Jr. transition period for ’71 was less than colleges to comply a year out of law with the federal law school when he Debra Newby had passed. She first met with decided it was time Newby and four to take a stand. other like-minded Newby, of Fayetteville, also was motivated by a personal pique, which she can now admit from the distance of 34 years and a career as an attorney.

She had run track and played on the JV basketball team and “we didn’t have very good uniforms. The warm-up suits the boys had were better than our game uniforms. The girls on the softball team, it looked like a pick-up game when they played because they didn’t have enough uniforms and equipment. And that made me mad. It was that way in all the girls’ sports teams.”

She had taken her complaints to the ECU Grievance Committee— a panel ECU had created the previous fall to demonstrate it was trying to comply with Title IX. The committee listened but said it needed more information.

So Newby began doggedly digging for facts to strengthen her case. She even gave up summer vacation to continue her search. “I remember meeting with an associate chancellor or somebody with a title like that, and I ran through the list of disparities that I knew of from my experience with women’s

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students.

McLawhorn told his clients they would need even more facts to back up a discrimination claim. The five—Newby, Donna Pendley Scales ’80 ’82, Jill Vaughn Lunney ’80, Mike Healy ’80 and April Ross ’80—fanned out around campus to do the research. They examined building diagrams to determine the

number and size of locker rooms; the men had six, the women had one. They pored over financial documents and learned that out of roughly $934,900 budgeted for sports in 1975-76, only $51,375 was earmarked for women’s teams. They uncovered glaring disparities: The men’s basketball team traveled on chartered buses to away games and enjoyed free pregame meals. The women’s team, which often played a different schedule, crammed into a couple of state vans for away games, shared the driving and paid for their own food. In all, the men’s teams offered about 200 scholarships, and the women’s teams had seven.

“I remember sitting for hours counting all the press releases ECU had put out about the baseball team, and there was a stack,” Newby said. “When I looked for the press releases they had put out about the softball team, there weren’t any.”

Using the information the students gathered, McLawhorn drafted a 30-page brief and appeared with them in early

Highlights of the students’ grievance Scheduling. Examples were cited of times when a previously scheduled women’s sporting event was bumped when a men’s team later decided it needed the facility.

Publicity. Disparities were shown in sports information support. In its first year of intercollegiate competition in 1978, for example, not one press release or media guide was published for the women’s softball team.

A recruitment brochure promised to women’s coaches in 1977 was

Students involved in the Title IX complaint gather outside Debra Newby’s Tyler Hall dorm room in 1978. She doesn’t remember all their names. If you recognize someone in the photo not identified in the box above, please let us know.

June 1978 to file a formal complaint with the ECU Grievance Committee. A few

delivered a year late.

Facilities. Women had one locker room and the men had six. Softball didn’t have a regulation-size field. Some women’s teams didn’t have complete uniforms.

Coaching salaries. Besides his teaching salary, the men’s wrestling coach was paid $5,424 in 1977-78; women who coached the volleyball and softball teams each were paid $2,118. Salaries for all male coaches in 1978 totaled $206,352 while salaries for all women coaches totaled $21,978.

Travel. The men’s teams

received $83,956 for travel costs in 1978. Women’s teams received $10,900.

Baseball, with 24 players, got $25,000 for travel expenses while softball, with 20 players, got $1,100.

Supplies and equipment.

Men’s teams were budgeted $39,940 for supplies and equipment while women’s teams got $8,512. On a perathlete basis, it worked out to $141.63 for supplies and equipment per male athlete and $76.68 for women.

Scholarships. The total for men was $287,003; for women, $11,718.

Furnished

By Steve Tuttle ’09

Where they are now?

Debra Newby (middle row center) is an attorney in private practice in Santa Rosa, Calif.

Donna Pendley Scales (middle row left) lives in Baton Rouge, La. Now semi-retired, she taught exercise and sports science courses at ECU, N.C. State and Winston Salem State.

Mike Healy is an insurance agent who lives in Raleigh.

April Ross is athletic director at Carrboro High School.

Jill Vaugh Lunney (back row left) lived in Fayetteville and died from breast cancer in 2004.

days later, the committee issued a letter concluding the allegations contained merit.

The panel quickly referred the matter to university attorney David Stevens. All public proceedings of the committee were abruptly suspended while Stevens began working behind the scenes seeking a solution.

“The university realized they were one step from the courthouse in a case they couldn’t defend,” McLawhorn says. “I don’t remember who called who first, but David and I got together and we reached a deal. I credit a lot of that to David. He understood where we were coming from; he translated our message to the university in a way that they understood there had to be compliance (with Title IX). Even though the case came from five undergraduate students, it was not taken lightly and that was unusual for those times.”

On Sept. 6, 1978, Stevens announced that an agreement, entitled a “Plan to Strengthen Women’s Athletics and Comply with Title IX Guidelines,” had been reached. It set timetables, established budget objectives and created policies ECU would be required to implement.

Chancellor Thomas Brewer agreed with the plan and ordered Director of Athletics Bill Cain to set it in motion.

On Sept. 16, 1978, Cain gave the chancellor a budget and operational plan, still based largely on the students’ original grievances, that became a road map ECU followed as it moved to rectify the inequalities in men’s and women’s sports programs.

Today, McLawhorn is still practicing law in Greenville. When he drives by ECU’s new Olympic Sports Complex—with its impressive new fields for softball, women’s soccer and track and field—McLawhorn thinks back to that day when the students first approached him.

“East Carolina now has the finest sports facilities for men and women, second to none,” he says. “But it wasn’t that way back then. When they showed me diagrams they had made of the locker rooms the men’s teams had compared to what the women’s teams had to use, documents showing how much the men’s coaches were paid compared to women’s coaches, that the ratio of expenditures for men’s and women’s sports was 10 to one or worse, I had trouble believing it. I mean, this was six years after Congress had passed the Title IX law, which required equity in sports, and there was nothing equitable about what those students were experiencing.”

What really made him mad, McLawhorn said, was that as an ECU graduate he knew the school’s history. “The ECU I knew was founded to train schoolteachers, who mainly were women. Throughout our history we’ve had a record of advancing the cause of women. And it was true then and remains true today that the majority of East Carolina students are women, and it was their activity fees that were going to support a sports program that was entirely malecentered. It was just so wrong.”

“That experience changed my life,” says Newby, who is an attorney in private practice in Santa Rosa, Calif. “I was this skinny little girl from Fayetteville, raised by a single mother, and there I was going up against the whole university. I was a premed major, but when all this started, I switched to English and began to focus on the law. And when I graduated from ECU, Sonny helped me get into law school.” She received her law degree from Oklahoma City University, which McLawhorn had attended. “He’s been a mentor to me over the years,” she says.

E C U ’ s T i t l e I X T i me l i ne May 29, 1974—In its first bow to Title IX, ECU drops a rule that, for tuition purposes, an in-state female student who marries an out-of-state student automatically becomes out-ofstate herself. The old policy was that a married woman student could not have a residence independent of her husband.

Dec. 12, 1975—David Stevens, chair of the ECU Title IX Coordinating Committee Task Force, and Dick Farris, assistant director of personnel, hold meetings with staff supervisors to brief them on Title IX compliance issues. Thirteen campus committees are created to evaluate individual areas of concern, including a Grievance Committee.

Aug. 31, 1977—The Title IX Coordinating Committee issues its final report.

April 21, 1978—Five students (Donna Pendley, Debra Newby, Jill Vaughn, Mike Healy, April Ross) file informal discrimination complaints with the ECU Title IX Athletic Grievance Committee.

May 2, 1978—Discouraged by their first appearance before the Grievance Committee, the five students meet with attorney Charles “Sonny” McLawhorn and file a formal, detailed complaint with the committee.

June 12, 1978—The Grievance Committee issues a report which concludes ECU “has failed to modify its athletic programs to provide equal opportunity.” The committee also concludes that three progress reports made by ECU to the UNC system contain “misrepresentations as well as a creative interpretation of facts.”

July and August, 1978— McLawhorn and Stevens hold several behind-the-scenes meetings to seek a solution that will preclude a lawsuit against the university.

Sept. 6, 1978—Stevens announces agreement on a “Plan to Strengthen Women’s Athletics and Comply with Title IX Guidelines.” He submits the plan to Dean of Students James Tucker, who accepts it.

Sonny McLawhorn

Sept. 14, 1978—Chancellor Thomas Brewer orders Director of Athletics Bill Cain to implement the plan.

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Student Services. She served terms on the Committee on the Status of Women and the committee that drafted ECU’s gender equity plan in 2001. The new softball stadium has a seating capacity of 1,000 with 200 purple chairback seats located directly behind home plate and 800 bleacher seats that stretch along each baseline.

Today, all women’s sports at ECU are fully funded, meaning they can offer the maximum number of scholarships allotted to it by the NCAA. And Cain points to the basketball practice facility proposed to adjoin Minges Coliseum. It features men’s and women’s spaces that are the mirror image of one another.

Inez Fridley

Double standards topple Title IX also changed the rules governing life on campus. Restrictions on female students became a thing of the past.

continued from page 19 But women working on campus at the time said men often didn’t realize there was anything wrong with other elements of the status quo. “I remember a look on men’s faces (that said), ‘What do you mean there’s a problem,’” recalled Inez Fridley, who was hired at ECU in 1966 as a residential advisor and later served on the board that would become the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Women. “When there’s been inequity forever, it’s going to take a while to correct itself.”

‘Some students had scholarships’ Rosie Thompson ’80 observed improvements in resources and facilities firsthand over her four years playing basketball at ECU. When she came to Greenville from Chocowinity in 1975, female players supplied their own practice gear and shoes. They changed in the physical education locker rooms and traveled by vans instead of buses, which transported the men’s team.

22

“Back then it seemed OK,” she said. “We were ecstatic the next year when we got a free pair of shoes to wear. My third or fourth year we actually got practice wear.”

To this day, Thompson remains unsure whether those changes corresponded with Title IX requirements or not. “We never really thought about it,” she said. “We were just pretty much concentrating on playing ballgames and were happy that some students had scholarships.”

Those discrepancies between men’s and women’s sports are in stark contrast to conditions today. Facilities are often the most visible example of equality—or lingering inequity—in men’s and women’s athletics. The completion of the ECU Softball Stadium in 2011 as part of the Olympic Sports Complex was celebrated, but many say it was long overdue. “(The difference between) baseball and softball was just so glaring,” said Nancy Mize, interim associate vice chancellor of

Page 62 of the 1966 student handbook spells out regulations specific to women students. Rules forbid women to “go to town at night” unless they are “in groups of two or more…provided they sign out on special permission cards.” Women leaving the dorm accompanied by a man or with the intention of meeting a man must sign out after 7 p.m., according to regulations.

“Women students may not talk from windows,” states the handbook on page 65.

As a “house mother”—a role now filled by resident advisors—Fridley was responsible for checking in the young women arriving home at night before the dormitory closed.

It wasn’t the same for men, she said, who had hall proctors not tasked with enforcing rules.

“The girls got locked up at 8 o’clock and the men could roam all night,” Stevens, the university attorney, recalled.

Janice Faulkner ’53 ’56, remembers those times clearly. “If you went downtown, you had to wear a hat and gloves,” she said.

Women who went for a swim had to cross campus with a raincoat over their gym clothes. Cheerleaders had chaperones

1966

1978

Student life, before and after Title IX Before Title IX, female ECU students had to produce a parent’s signed permission slip before going horseback riding, swimming, riding in a car or attending a dance.

They were shut up in their dorm rooms at 10:30 p.m. on weeknights and beds were checked. Those and many similar restrictions were spelled out in the student handbook. Fewer such rules of conduct applied to male students.

After Title IX, the different standards of conduct for men and women students disappeared, replaced by one set of rules for everybody. Gone was the gendered mentality that saw male and female; instead, the university adopted a neutral tone in addressing only “students.” The section of the student handbook that once listed demerits for a myriad of offenses— “women students may not talk from windows” was one rule in the 1966 handbook—disappeared.

In its place appeared a thoughtful discussion of the legal rights and constitutional protections enjoyed by students.

Title IX produced fundamental changes on most every college campus. Before, schools went by the “in loco parentis” doctrine under which they assumed the power to act—as the Latin translates—“in the place of the parent.” That made it OK to discriminate— albeit in a fatherly manner—between male and female, between underclassmen and upperclassmen, between students living in the dorms and those living off-campus. When Title IX toppled that first domino—that colleges and universities could not have different standards for men’s and women’s sports programs—similar discriminatory policies soon fell, too.

accompanying them to away games— something Faulkner imagines wouldn’t go over well with students today.

Ten years later, after ECU reviewed student policies for discrepancies in response to Title IX, the 1976 student handbook lays out sharply different expectations: “East Carolina University recognizes the rights of all students, a responsible members of society and citizens of the United States of America, to respect and consideration and to the Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of speech, assembly and association.

“The university further recognizes the rights of all students within the institution to freedom of inquiry, and to the reasonable use of the services and facilities of the University which are intended for their education.”

Fridley worked in the first coeducational dormitory on campus, opened in 1974. That was one of many events heralding change.

More subtle ones included the development of child care sites for working mothers, and funding for workshops providing female faculty with tips on workplace development and tenure.

“Title IX jump-started it,” Fridley said. “But what happened after that was because people were committed and everyone from the top to the bottom got involved.”

‘Excelling in the same areas as men’ Along with the cultural shift came expanded academic opportunities for women. Areas of study traditionally dominated by males were seen in a new light. Opening those doors may be Title IX’s most far-reaching impact, said students and faculty.

“In my era, growing up, people would say, ‘Well, do you want to be a nurse or a teacher?’” said ECU Provost Marilyn Sheerer.

Few areas of the university reflect that change more clearly than enrollments in the Brody School of Medicine. In 1972, ECU’s first class of 20 medical students enrolled in what was then a one-year program.

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Men’s Sports Scholarships

Women’s Sports Scholarships

Total awarded at ECU/NCAA maximum

Total awarded at ECU/NCAA maximum

2002-03

137.5

2003-04

141.9

151.1

2002-03

151.1

2003-04

75

97

72.1

97

2004-05

136.6

151.1

2004-05

2005-06

136.8

151.1

2005-06

85.1

2006-07*

135.5

141.2

2006-07

85.9

141.2

2007-08

136.1

141.2

2008-09

2009-10

139.8

141.2

2009-10

97

99

2010-11

140.1

141.2

2010-11

96.1

99

2011-12

140.1

141.2

2011-12

2007-08

139.1

2008-09

0

50 100 Number of scholarships

150

*ECU discontinued in men’s soccer program in 2006-07, which decreased the number of scholarships ECU could offer

79.9

97 97 99

88.8

99

94.2

91.9 0

20

40 60 80 Number of scholarships

99

99 100

Source for charts: ECU Department of Athletics

Women’s sports today: fully funded, well equipped Today, the strength of the women’s sports programs at ECU can be seen in the impressive new facilities in the Olympic Sports Complex and in the number of scholarships offered. Coaches of the 10 women’s teams have the ability to offer the maximum number of scholarships allowed by the NCAA, said Tom McClellan, ECU’s assistant athletic director for media relations.

In college sports parlance, that’s called being “fully funded,” he added.

In 2012, the NCAA maximum for women’s sports was 99 scholarships, and ECU offered 91.9.

Not every ECU team awards the maximum number of scholarships every semester, McClellan explained.

He added that partial scholarships are offered in

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Jay Clark

To provide a level playing field among Division I schools, the NCAA sets upper limits on the number of scholarships schools can offer in each sport, for men and women’s teams. The maximum number depends on the number of sports teams each school fields.

some sports, which accounts for fractions in the totals. That compares with just 75 scholarships awarded to women in 2002, when the maximum was 97.

The ECU Educational Foundation, better known as the Pirate Club, raises funds that currently cover the cost of about 75 percent of all athletic scholarships. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, the cost of all athletic scholarships amounted to $5.8 million, of which $4.3 million came from the Pirate Club.

Until a rule change two years ago concerning out-of-state athletes, the Pirate Club funded ECU’s entire athletic scholarship budget.

The ECU athletics budget for last fiscal year was $29.9 million. Of that, 39 percent

supports men’s sports teams and 18 percent goes to the women’s teams. More than half the athletics budget, 57 percent, goes to salaries and administrative overhead that supports both programs, according to McClellan.

McClellan said that to compare apples to apples, football should not be included in a comparison of men’s and women’s sports programs because there is no female counterpart to that sport, as there is in every other sport that ECU supports. The lone exception is soccer, in which there is no men’s team.

If the cost of the football program is removed from the calculation, then the cost of men’s sports would be 15 percent of the athletics budget, 18 percent for women’s teams.

Football also accounts for 85 of the 140.1 scholarships available to male athletes; take those out of the mix and men’s teams then would have fewer scholarships than then women, 91.9 to 56.2.

—Steve Tuttle Women’s tennis team

Nineteen were men, and one was a woman, Marjorie Barnwell Carr ’73, who now works as a pediatrician in Raleigh. By 1981, when ECU’s first four-year medical class graduated, seven of 28 were women.

Today, slightly more than half of the 305 medical students at the Brody School of Medicine are women—better than the national average. “We do want to produce a workforce that looks like your population you’re serving,” said Dr. Libby Baxley, senior associate dean for academic affairs at the Brody School of Medicine.

In 1972 the East Carolina faculty was 69 percent male and 31 percent female, according to research provided by the Joyner Library Archives staff. Many of those women faculty members were concentrated in a few areas, such as library science, home economics and nursing. In several other departments, the faculty ratio was three-to-one male, including ROTC, biology, chemistry, geology and business, Archives said.

Other programs share that same concern.

Female enrollment in engineering at ECU continues to hover between 10 and 15 percent of each class, but as the program grows, so does the number of women.

Eighteen are entering the department as freshmen this fall.

Heba Abdel-Rahman ’08 was one of three women to graduate in the first class of ECU engineers, entering a profession where men continue to be the majority. Almost all of her professors were male, she said, as are her coworkers at SPX Transformer Solutions in Goldsboro. It doesn’t bother her, she said.

“There are not a lot of females in engineering,” Abdel-Rahman said. “It’s obvious. As more go into the field…female engineers can shadow (each other). And we (professionals) can reach out to high schools and colleges.”

In 2011-12, ECU had 2,004 full- and part-time faculty, of which 46.9 percent were women and 53.1 percent were men, according to data from the ECU Office of Institutional Planning, Assessment and Research (IPAR).

However, 78.7 percent of male faculty members hold the title of professor while only 21.3 percent of female faculty members do. Conversely, 68.5 percent of female faculty members are classified as instructors, the lowestpaying teaching jobs, while only 35 percent of male faculty members are, the IPAR data show.

as men,” said Megan Mazzarella, an ECU dental student.

“I feel that because of Title IX and the rise in scholarships for females, the interest level in traditionally male-dominated careers has increased as well because they feel they can get a fair and equal education.”

Title IX today

Megan Mazzarella

“I think that it is important for women to be encouraged to pursue male-dominated careers because it gives women the opportunity to demonstrate that they are just as capable at excelling in the same areas

Much has changed in higher education over 40 years, but the law continues to affect universities in new ways.

“Title IX has recently reemerged,” said LaKesha Alston ’01 ’03, associate provost for equity and diversity and the Title IX compliance officer at ECU. “It was dormant

for a while, and so you really didn’t hear a lot about it except in athletics. It really has been reinvigorated.”

She sees evidence of that in the frequency of letters mailed out by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, reminding colleges and universities to check for Title IX compliance. ECU also conducts internal Title IX assessments.

“It’s now about having a focus on things like recruitment and outreach to females for STEM programs or anything in the sciences, technology, engineering and math and medicine, even,” Alston said. “We have Title IX calling for programs…that will reach out to females whether that be in elementary up to high school.”

Officials agree much has changed in 40 years at ECU and across the country.

The fact that women sports today are considered a normal part of college life points to the success of the law, said Terry Holland, ECU athletics director.

“That does not mean that Title IX is no longer necessary or relevant but simply that Title IX has been embraced as the right way to do business, and everyone seems to be giving their best effort to treat all studentathletes as equally as possible,” Holland said.

Title IX continues to shape athletics at ECU, too. Mize said the men’s club ice hockey and lacrosse teams would “love to go varsity.” It’ll never happen, she said. The university can’t pick up any more men’s sports and remain adherent to Title IX standards of equity.

They could add women’s teams, she said.

Thompson, now associate athletics director and senior women’s administrator at ECU, believes it is important that people continue to be aware of the equality promised for women by Title IX. If cuts come in times of economic struggle and decreased giving, they’ll have to be fair, she said.

“We need people to still be talking about it,” Thompson said.

Doug Boyd and Mary Schulken contributed to this story.

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Programmed for Success

IBM executive Angela Allen planned her life as carefully as she wrote code in computer science class, heeding her grandmother’s advice to always strive for perfection.

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By Steve Tuttle ’09

ph o t o g r a ph y b y j ay cl a rk

When Angela Williams Allen ’82 interviewed for her first job out of college, the IBM hiring manager sketched out a new computing concept the company was exploring.

Allen, a computer science major, recognized what he was describing as spooling—placing data in a temporary work area for later processing by another program.

Today, we routinely send multiple documents to the printer at once—an example of spooling—but that was cutting-edge stuff in the early 1980s. “Many of the things he described were identifiable to me from an operating systems class I had at ECU,” she recalls now. “I could see the surprise on the manager’s face.”

Allen got the job and now has been with IBM for 30 years, rising to become vice president of the Global Sales Technical Enablement organization. She is based in Washington, D.C. Her office is in a high-tech business park near Dulles Airport; she and her husband, Steve, live in nearby Tyson’s Corner, Va. The organization Allen leads trains thousands of IBM client technical advisers and industry solution architects. She’s a leader and teacher, in a geeky kind of way, designing solution methods and training programs that teach IBM’s technical sellers to identify and solve customers’ IT problems.

She credits her success to her grandmother, the late Annie Williams, who raised her on a rural Greene County farm where education came first. Every time Allen came home with a report card, her grandmother would review it and say, “That’s good but you can do better.”

“Most of the time my report cards were A’s or B’s as others around me struggled to get through school,” Allen recalls.

“Back then I could not figure out why it was just good and not great. But that line became a script that motivated me to keep going during times when I wanted to give up or to keep working on something when others may stop.”

She pauses to reflect. “She did it with such love and care that it was her way of pushing me to do more.”

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Choosing a college and a career Even before she graduated with honors from Greene Central High School in 1977, Allen had spent time in the library researching careers. “I focused on a career that would be exciting, different, allow travel and had growing jobs,” she says now. ”At that time in 1977, computer science and technology were emerging (and) I thought this was something that I really wanted to try.”

It was not a decision lightly made. “Technology in those days was mysterious, geeky and hard, and not a lot of people wanted to tackle this stuff,” she admits. “It was still a phase where you had to get things done on the computer by using bits and bytes in combinations of ones and zeros.”

By her sophomore year she was hooked on computer science, even though she stood out in class as one of only a few minorities. She made friends with several classmates with whom she has kept in contact over the years.

One such friend is Mary Stanley Heartley ’79 of Raleigh, who is a literacy coach with the Wake County Public Schools. Heartley praised Allen as “my most humble, honest, and endearing friend. We have shared so many of life’s ups and downs and through it all we have persevered. Every milestone of her life’s journey, Angela has faced them with confidence, heart and soul.”

After her sophomore year Allen took a semester-long co-op assignment with the Department of the Navy in Washington. While there, she created computer programs to help the government compare aircraft specifications from various vendors seeking Navy contracts. “I had a great time,” she says now. The Navy internship showed Allen something important. “I could do real work with this degree and it gave experience to go with my education.”

Her IBM career started in 1982 at the company’s facility in Research Triangle Park. She managed computer systems that controlled the process of manufacturing

cathode ray tubes—the CRTs we now simply call computer screens. From RTP she transferred to Lexington, Ky., in 1986; and to Boulder, Colo., in 1988.

She transferred to Atlanta in 1992.

In Atlanta she also bumped into an old classmate from Greene Central—Steve Allen—and they soon married.

He works in medical malpractice insurance sales.

From Atlanta, Allen was transferred to Charlotte in 1995. Gaining an executive-level title there, she ran the company’s Insurance Technology Resource Center.

While in Charlotte she enrolled in and completed Harvard Business School’s Program for Management Development, an intensive MBA-style program that crams two years’ worth of work into four months. After six years in Charlotte she was transferred to Washington, D.C., in 2001 and has been there since then.

In 2002 she was named a vice president at IBM and put in charge of IBM’s Department of Defense contracts.

In 2006 she was named vice president of IBM’s North America Delivery Excellence division. She assumed her current duties in 2011.

She searches for plain-English words to describe her job.

“My team creates and deploys solution design methods, processes, quality practices and tools to help the technical sellers accelerate their ideas and proposals with clients. The scope spans all geographies across the world.

We touch thousands of IBM technical leaders who are in positions to help clients and influence innovation to solve some of the world’s most complex problems.”

Big believer in internships Allen knows she benefitted from an internship and wants today’s students to have the same advantage. She started a program sponsored by IBM called the University Delivery Services program in which the company partners with universities to hire students to work part time on projects until they graduate.

Education is her major priority. During her years in Charlotte, she sat on some education-oriented boards at Winston-Salem State and N.C. State. At ECU she sits on the Women’s Roundtable and ECU Foundation boards.

She is an engaged alumna, regularly returning to campus to speak to students and serve on panels. In 2009 she gave a talk in Hendrix Theatre about how success and leadership have impacted her career. She also shared some of her points of wisdom for others to follow.

She helps raise money for cancer research by the Komen Foundation and serves on a church committee that delivers meals to the homeless in Washington.

Her hobbies are photography, golf and reading. Her favorite places to do any or all of those three things are the Hawaiian island of Maui (where she honeymooned) and Paris, whose museums she prowled during vacations.

After this interview, she spent a few weeks working for IBM in the south of France. The couple has no children.

“You get out of it what you put into education,” she says, looking back over her time in college and the development of her career. “My grandmother influenced me in so many ways. When I was growing up she loved to read and she would devour every book or newspaper that came her way. I gained that sense of patience to be still and read for hours when I was young. This has served me well throughout life.”

Coming from humble beginnings in eastern North Carolina “gave me a sense of gratitude that has motivated me throughout my life and career. I give back in hopes that someone else will have opportunities in life as I did from the generosity of others.”

She’s grateful she chose computer science as a career.

“I could not have imagined then where computers or technology would take our lives. Technology is a passion and love. I love to tinker and I love gadgets. We all can see how technology has changed our lives and our world.”

East

29

from the classroom

Hunting ‘Extremeophiles’ Matt Schrenk explores strange ecosystems that teem beneath the seabed and under continents to find answers to the familiar problems of today’s world.

30

31

31

B y Sp a i n e S t e ph e n s

Hidden in ecosystems beneath continents and oceans are secrets to the earliest days of life on Earth. ECU Professor Matt Schrenk is trying to unlock those secrets to find solutions to problems we face today. His groundbreaking research into those unseen ecosystems is propelling him into an international arena.

Schrenk’s studies of minerals and microbes found under the seafloor have attracted funding for research that could bring light to some of the world’s largest and largely unexplored habitats.

Earlier this year, he was awarded a $50,000 fellowship by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to support his work.

Schrenk already was known to the Sloan Foundation, which earlier recruited him to head up a $1.5 million project to study subsurface environments. It’s a cutting-edge field where not much data currently exists.

Schrenk’s work is part of unprecedented research efforts to find solutions to a range of problems from alternative energy to global warming.

“Microbiology is at a frontier,” Schrenk says. “What’s really cool is this project is going to generate data that we will see in textbooks. This is the largest habitat on Earth, and we know almost nothing about it. That’s why we’re doing this.”

The Sloan Foundation tapped Schrenk to head up the development of the Deep Carbon Observatory’s Deep Life Directorate. Schrenk’s grant proposal targeted the study of deep fractures in continental rocks, groundwater wells in ancient ocean crust and hydrothermal systems in the Mid Cayman Rise in the Caribbean. He began research in

32

ph o t o g r a ph y b y f o rr e s t cr o c e

January alongside 17 other scientists from seven countries.

Questions they will address during the two-year project include how microbes live, eat and grow in subsurface environments. Life in these “extreme” environments is characterized by very high temperatures, an absence of light, a lack of oxygen and the presence of toxic chemicals. The environments likely mimic conditions that existed when life first evolved on Earth and that may exist on planets in our solar system and beyond.

“This is truly transformational research,” says Dr. Lisa Clough, ECU interim associate vice chancellor for research and graduate studies.

“Understanding what’s going on with the deep biosphere is going to rewrite the textbooks on how chemical elements cycle on planet Earth.”

Dr. Ed Stellwag, director of the ECU biotechnology program and genomics core facility, says the fact that Schrenk established a research program of international stature is notable partly because he is relatively early in his career. Schrenk received his bachelor’s degree in 1998 from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and completed his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Washington in 2001 and 2005 respectively.

“Programs like this are usually established by groups of scientists that are much more senior,” Stellwag says.

“For someone to do it singlehandedly at such an early career stage is truly remarkable. His research and the research of his collaborators on the

Sloan Foundation grant could prove to be some of the most profound biological science that has ever been conducted.”

The more recent award from the Sloan Foundation carries prestige for both Schrenk and East Carolina. The Sloan Research Fellowship is awarded to earlycareer scientists in the United States and Canada who show promise as “rising stars” in their fields.

Schrenk earned the honor in the ocean science category. “In contrast to other grants where we write about our own work, this is something you’re awarded,” Schrenk said. “I’m very honored to have been selected. I’m always looking for new directions and ways to explore new directions, and this gives me the chance to explore those.”

Studying ‘extremeophiles’ Equipped with these honors and opportunities, he will delve deeper into habitats that are home to “extremeophiles,” organisms that thrive in extreme conditions that are detrimental to most “average” organisms.

“By understanding the basic biological mechanisms used by extremeophiles here on Earth, we will have better insight concerning how life first evolved here and how it may be evolving extraterrestrially,” says Stellwag. “Dr. Schrenk’s research could change our basic understanding of what it means to be alive.”

Stellwag points out that scientists are continually discovering chemicals produced by unusual plants and animals

that can potentially be used to treat diseases and other human and animal health conditions. “Extremeophiles are another source for such compounds,” he says, “and they have been almost completely untapped.”

Schrenk, who came to ECU in 2008 following a postdoctoral appointment in astrobiology at the Carnegie Institution for Science, has conducted research all over the world on rock formations and habitats that either used to be beneath oceans or are part of the current oceanic crust.

The minerals, microbes, elements and gases found through the research have the potential to create alternative energy, as well as address issues related to global warming. They also could help scientists form a framework to study the evolution of genes and genomes.

“There’s also potential to find new biotechnologies,” Schrenk says. As an undergraduate in Wisconsin, he grabbed hold of every chance to experiment in different areas within the geology department to find his niche. Under the guidance of a mentor, he flourished in the field and, as he says, “the rest is history.” Now, he is on the brink of leading some of the top scientists studying subsurface biospheres to new discoveries with universe-sized implications.

“I see him continuing to lead teams of scientists from the top institutions in interdisciplinary and groundbreaking studies that help us map biodiversity far more thoroughly than we have to date,” says Dr. Jeffrey McKinnon, chair of the Department of Biology. “There is

a level of discovery in his work that is rare and special.”

Growing ECU’s reputation To his colleagues, Schrenk is an example of the top-quality researcher-professor who brings the university’s reputation to the forefront. “Research reputations are grown from the bottom up,” Clough says, “and having people like (Schrenk) here at ECU is critical to continue growing ECU’s research enterprise.”

Schrenk applauds East Carolina’s emphasis on hands-on research experience for students. “Investment in research is really beginning to pay off,” he says. “The university does a really good job of engaging students in research. That’s one of my favorite parts of being here.”

As many as six students work in Schrenk’s lab at a time, generating data and applying topics learned through course work into real-world practice.

There’s high interest among students in the “Schrenk lab,” where students are challenged through research and opportunities to present findings at national conferences and even working with NASA on research drillings.

Biochemistry major Sarah Chowdhury has worked in Schrenk’s lab since January 2011. To his students, she says, he emphasizes teamwork, problem solving, communication and confidence.

“He actually cares about the success of his students and wants them to realize that they are scientists and should think that way,” says Chowdhury. “He interacts with his students and believes that they have

much more potential than they think.”

The emphasis on teaching is just as critical. McKinnon says the biology department balances excellence between research and teaching. “{Schrenk’s) latest successes are in his research, but he has previously obtained impressive external support for his teaching as well,” says McKinnon. “It is tremendous for our students to interact with a scientist and educator of his caliber.”

While many of his students have their sights set on medical-related careers, Schrenk molds his lessons to relate the research of unknown subsurface habitats to their professional interests.

“Extreme environments and the human gut have some of the same principles and many of the same conditions,” he explains as an example. Through that comparison, students can better understand how habitats deep within the earth relate to everyday life.

Katrina Twing, a student in the interdisciplinary doctoral program in biological science, says that like his research, the courses and labs he oversees are based on sharing ideas and discussing new ways to solve scientific questions. “From him, I have not only learned about serpentine ecosystems and geomicrobiology, but also how to be a confident, analytical and collaborative researcher.”

That is possibly the most important knowledge Schrenk sends with his students into the research field and professional world. “One of the best things we can do for students,” he says, “is to show them that they can do this as a career.”

East

33

Winning Pirate Former players who overcame long odds to become champions return to challenge today’s team to uphold school traditions.

Cary Godette ’77, Jim Post ’73, Ruffin McNeill ’80, Jimmy Creech ’73 ’74, Kirk Doll ’73

34

the Way

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By Jessica Creson Nottingham ’06 ’08

Coach Ruffin McNeill ’80 says he believes it’s important for current football players to know the history of Pirate sports and to appreciate the values that underpin the program: pride, tradition, passion and teamwork. To that end, the coach invites former players who have gone on to become successful in life to speak to players about school traditions.

He asks them to relate some memorable moments when East Carolina overcame long odds to win big games.

“It is my responsibility to take a parent’s most prized possession and make sure I do the best job possible to help raise them from a young man to a man when they leave us,” says McNeill. He believes the same applies to every student. “The struggles and adversity are not just experienced by our football players or student-athletes, but I’m sure our students on campus go through them, too.”

Among several who have spoken to current players are Jimmy Creech ’73 ’74 of Greenville and Jim Post ’73 of Emerald Isle. They were captains of the Pirate teams that won back-to-back Southern Conference championships in 1972 and 1973, going a perfect 13-0 in conference play and 18-4 overall. Creech was captain of the offense and Post was the defensive captain.

Creech, current president of the Pirate Club, has been a business owner for more than 20 years. He attributes his success to the hard work and discipline he learned as a studentathlete. When he talks to players, Creech encourages them to seize the day by making the most of their time wearing purple and gold. Post, also a business owner and a Pirate Club board member, speaks on the importance of being a reliable teammate and leaving college with lifelong relationships.

Battling through trying times Creech tells players how Pirate football was in transition during his playing days, with four head coaches in five years, from 1969 to 1974. Creech and Post played under Sonny Randle most of that time. When 36

ph o t o g r a ph y b y j ay cl a rk

Clarence Stasavich was elevated to athletic director in 1969, Mike McGee was hired but returned to Duke, his alma mater, within the year. Randle, McGee’s assistant coach, was promoted. To the surprise of many, Randle’s teams won Southern Conference championships in 1972 and ’73. Pat Dye followed Randle from 1974-1979 and won the conference title in 1976 with a 9-2 record.

During a passionate pep talk in 1972, Randle dubbed the defensive line the “Wild Dogs,” and the name stuck. “The student body started to get excited about the Wild Dogs,” says Kirk Doll ’73 of Greenville. Doll was beginning his first year as ECU’s special teams coordinator and running backs coach.

“The offense did a good job of controlling the football, so it was a team deal. We had a group of guys that really cared about each other and went through a lot of trials and tribulations. But, we overcame,” Doll says.

The summer of ’72 was particularly hot, and NCAA regulations restricting offseason practices did not exist then. During that sweltering summer, the football team dwindled from roughly 110 to 56. Only six seniors were healthy enough to play by the time two-a-day practices began, according to Post. A lot of responsibility rested on the shoulders of those seniors.

There were several milestones that year. It was the first time freshmen were allowed to play at the varsity level and the first live TV broadcast of an ECU game.

“Those were some trying times,” Creech says.

“Every coach brings their own players, who were recruited with the understanding that they’d be with a coach for four years. We had to be flexible, learn and change; you have to go out and prove yourself. What you did previously doesn’t count.”

Creech was on the field in the 1970 home game against Marshall University. After that game, the airplane carrying the Marshall players and coaches crashed before reaching home. “When you add that to the four years, it was a lot. It’s so important that (today’s) players connect with someone who they can share their concerns with as they go through life.”

After the change in coaches in 1972, Creech says the six uninjured seniors on that squad had to assume leadership roles and guide the younger players. Les Strayhorn ’74, of Chapel Hill, led the running backs, Tim Dameron ’75, now of Battleboro, mentored the receivers; Terry Stoughton ’73, now of Charlotte, led defensive backs. Together, Creech says, they got the job done. The 1972 team’s defense was highly ranked in

F ootb a l l S chedu l e Sept. 1 Appalachian State Noon FSN Sept. 8 At South Carolina 12:21 p.m. SEC/ESPN3 Sept. 15 At Southern Miss 3:30 p.m.

CBSSN Sept. 22 At North Carolina TBA Sept. 29 UTEP 7 p.m.

Oct. 4 At UCF 8 p.m.

CBSSN Oct. 13 Memphis (Homecoming) 4:30 p.m.

CSS Oct. 20 At UAB 7 p.m. Fox College Sports Oct. 27 Navy TBA FSN Nov. 3 Houston TBA FSN Nov. 17 At Tulane 3:30 p.m.

Cox Sports Nov. 23 Marshall 2 p.m.

CBSSN Dec. 1 C-USA Championship Game

large part due to the skills of the offense.

“We were well-rested,” Post says. “To have the kind of defense we had, you had to have a good offense. They were methodical.”

“Leadership came from our six seniors,” says Post, who wears a commemorative ring daily as a reminder of what it takes to be a winner. “And we had a chip on our shoulder.

We were told we’d be lucky to win a game.

It was just the beginning of what made us unique. We had just 56 troopers to carry on the mission—a mission that we were supposed to fail. We took each game one at a time. When you win and surround yourself with winners, you can go back and pull that resource out again.”

Lessons that go beyond the field During the long days and tough practices of the 1972 and ’73 seasons, the former players say strong bonds developed among the players based on shared passions for hard work and devotion to being the best athlete possible. Those bonds have lasted 40 years for many on those teams. “Regardless of what era you played, where we are, or what we’re doing, we are a team,” Post says. “We have teammates out of state, at the games, and supporting the Pirate Club. When Ruff came on board, the first thing I did was welcome home my teammate.”

In their meetings with players, Creech and Post stress the importance and strength of

the bond among their teammates. “You go through the good times and the bad times together. You reach out, help each other and you carry each other,” Creech says he tells them. “What you go through as a player, the sacrifice you make, the blood, sweat and tears, nobody can relate unless they were there going through it with you. Someone always has your back.”

Cary Godette ’77, director of football administration at ECU, came from Havelock to Greenville as a freshman in 1972 and hit the ground running. “For me, it was a huge transition,” he says. “It was the first year freshmen could play and I was thrown in.”

Godette graduated with an interesting perspective. Despite a knee injury, he won honors throughout his athletic career and played with strong role models on all three championship-winning teams in the ’70s.

Then, as a senior, he served as a role model to McNeill when he was a freshman.

“We’d like to think that the (current) team responds to our passion—they should,” Godette says. “We’re not asking them to go out and do anything we haven’t done. Alumni and former players are strongly behind them and everybody wants to see them succeed.”

McNeill remembers how he was influenced

by Coach Randle’s successful years. “As a player and student-athlete, I understood exactly what that group and that era brought

to the table,” he says. “They had a burning desire to be successful on the field and they use the same relentless approach now in their successful businesses.”

“I challenged the team to give back to the program so someone else can come and get an education,” says Creech. “It’s really a special honor to come here and wear purple and gold.”

Looking back to get ahead “We all lived and died on that practice field,” says Post. Speaking to the current players “was déjù vu for me. I am extremely impressed with Coach Ruff and what he’s done with his staff—it reminds me of where we were 40 years ago.”

The mentality from the Wild Dog era continues to impact Pirate football. “We’ve laid the foundation for the success that we’re enjoying today,” says Creech. “We’re not interested in going backwards.”

McNeill is 11-14 in his years with East Carolina. Plagued by injuries on offense and a weak defense, last season’s team was the first in six years that did not make it to a bowl game.

“It’s always a piece-by-piece, brick-by-brick development,” says McNeill about his football program. “When I came, I did not want to quick-fix the program. We want to build a program here that lasts for seasons, not for just a year.”

East

In - st a te r i va l r y k i cks off se a son

P i r a tes i n the P ros *

Pirate football fans are in store for an exciting nonconference season opener. On Sept. 1, the Pirates and the Appalachian State Mountaineers will compete in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium for the first time in two years. In 2009, the first time the teams had met in 30 years, ECU eked out a 29-24 victory over ASU in front of a sold-out crowd of 43,279.

Baseball team round overall pick Zach Wright, catcher Los Angeles Angels 12 387 Kevin Brandt, pitcher Tampa Bay Rays 18 572 Jharel Cotton, pitcher Los Angeles Dodgers 20 626 Corey Thompson, third base Chicago White Sox 31 951 Tyler Joyner, pitcher Kansas City Royals 35 1,063 John Wooten, first base Oakland Athletics 37 1,129

A sack by ECU’s Scotty Robinson in the final 32 seconds took down ASU’s quarterback as the Mountaineers were making a strong comeback. The Pirates had taken an early 17-0 lead thanks to key plays by Brandon Jackson, Dominique Lindsay, Ben Hartman, Reyn Willis and Patrick Pinkney.

ASU won consecutive Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) national championships in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Football team Steven Baker ’12, offensive line Indianapolis Colts Dominique Davis, quarterback Atlanta Falcons Emanuel Davis ’11, cornerback Cleveland Browns Lance Lewis, wide receiver Washington Redskins *Players from last year’s teams who were drafted and/or signed pro contracts

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The Alumni Association is proud to offer opportunities for alumni, friends and community members who return to campus this fall.

Reservations for all activities can be made by calling 800-ECU-GRAD or by visiting PirateAlumni.com.

Welcome home!

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A tradition among Pirate golfers, the ECU Alumni Scholarship Classic golf tournament is Friday, Sept. 28, at Ironwood Golf and Country Club and presented by the Hilton Greenville and affiliated with the Liberty Mutual Insurance Alumni Cup. This fourperson, super-ball tournament offers two tee times, breakfast, lunch and the 19th Hole Reception with prizes and trophies. Players receive a complimentary ticket to the Pirate’s Bounty Scholarship Auction.

Player and sponsorship opportunities are available. Please call the Alumni Center at 800-ECU-GRAD or 252-ECU-GRAD for details. Thank you to our generous sponsors: The 5th Street Inn, ARAMARK, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, Coca-Cola, ECU Dowdy Student Stores, Ironwood Golf & Country Club, Occasions Party & Tent Rentals, Pirate Radio 1250 & 930 AM, RA Jeffreys Distributing Company and WITN.

2012 East Carolina Alumni Association Scholarship recipients

Fifth Annual Pirate’s Bounty Scholarship Auction Your bids could win you a bounty of treasures at the Pirate’s Bounty Scholarship Auction at the Hilton Greenville, presented by Duplin Winery on Thursday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. Guests will enjoy live music, hors d’oeuvres, Pirate beverages and live and silent auction items. All proceeds benefit the Alumni Association scholarship program. Tickets are $20 per person.

Alumni Tailgate 2012

Home Alumni Tailgates

Away Game Tailgate

Make Alumni Tailgate part of your gameday tradition. Leave the grill at home and join fellow Pirates fans at the East Carolina Alumni Association’s Alumni Tailgate presented by ECU Dowdy Student Stores for great food provided by local restaurants, Pirate beverages, live music, activities for children and great door prizes. Home Alumni Tailgate tickets are $10 per person for Alumni Association members and $25 per person for nonmembers. Away Alumni Tailgate tickets are $25 per person. Children 12 and younger are free to all tailgates.

Sept. 1—vs. Appalachian State, 9:30-11:30 a.m., food provided by Dickey’s Barbecue Pit and ARAMARK

Sept. 8—vs. South Carolina, 9:30-11:30 a.m., sponsored by the Alumni Association and Pirate Club

Sept. 29—vs. UTEP, 4:30-6:30 p.m., food provided by Rep Express and ARAMARK Oct. 13—vs. Memphis, 2-4 p.m., food provided

by Parker’s Barbecue and ARAMARK Oct. 27—vs. Navy, time TBA, food provided by Tripps and ARAMARK Nov. 3—vs. Houston, time TBA, food provided

by CPW’s and ARAMARK

Thank you to this year’s Alumni Tailgate sponsors: ARAMARK, Coca-Cola, Confection Connection, CPW’s, Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, Liberty Mutual, Mutual Distributing, Occasions Party & Tent Rentals, Parker’s Barbecue, R.A. Jeffreys Distributing Company, Tripps, Rep Express and WITN.

Nov. 23—vs. Marshall, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., food provided by ARAMARK

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Friday, October 12 Explore ECU Walking Tours of Campus Open tours between 11 a.m.-5 p.m., departing from Wright Plaza Bring your walking shoes and enjoy an informative stroll around Main Campus. ECU Student Ambassadors will lead you on a walk down memory lane while showing off ECU’s newest buildings and campus landmarks.

Lunch on Campus Noon-2 p.m., The Croatan and Wright Place, Dutch treat Experience new dining options available on campus to kick off Homecoming weekend.

Welcome Back to Campus Alumni Reception 2-5 p.m., Wright Plaza, Free All alumni and friends are welcome to stop by and enjoy a reception with family fun activities hosted by this year’s Alumni Association Homecoming Committee.

Freeboot Friday Alumni Association Table 5-8 p.m.

Stop by the Alumni Association’s table to mingle with Homecoming Committee

Other Activities Homecoming Concert Oct. 11, 8 p.m.

Minges Coliseum $15 for students, $30 for non-students. Tickets can be purchased from the Central Ticket Office at 252-328-4788.

Questions: Justin Janak at 252328-4738 or janakj@ecu.edu Homecoming Pep Rally Oct. 12, 5–8 p.m.

Corner of Evans and Fifth streets (Freeboot Friday) Complimentary. Questions: Emily McLamb at 252-737-2003 or mclambe@ecu.edu

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volunteers. Also, register for a chance to win exciting ECU raffle prizes and to grab a few spirit souvenirs!

Alumni Awards Dinner and Ceremony 6 p.m. Cocktail Reception 7 p.m. Dinner and Ceremony Greenville Convention Center $40 Alumni Association member/ $50 nonmember, registration required Join the Alumni Association Board of Directors and members of the Pirate Nation as we recognize nine special alumni and friends who have demonstrated outstanding merit and achievement.

Saturday, October 13 Alumni Homecoming Breakfast 9 a.m., Taylor-Slaughter Alumni Center Lawn (on the corner of Fifth and Biltmore Streets) Enjoy a complimentary breakfast sponsored

by ARAMARK and visit with fellow alumni.

Stay for the Homecoming Parade and a front-row seat.

Homecoming Parade 10 a.m.

Join us on campus to enjoy the many sights and sounds of this year’s parade and to

Campus Recreation & Wellness Alumni Workout Get a great workout for free during Homecoming weekend. Just say you are an ECU alumnus when you stop by the Customer Service desk and you and a guest will be admitted for free. Alumni may bring an additional two guests for $5 each. For more information please contact Dena Olo at olod@ecu.edu or 252-328-6387.

Dowdy Student Stores Alumni Open House and Treasure Seeker’s Sale Oct. 12-13 Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

remember why ECU really is “The Greatest Place on Earth!” Show your purple and gold pride as local high school marching bands march in sync alongside elaborately decorated ECU student organization floats.

ECU Marching Pirates will perform the “ECU Fight Song,” and Pee Dee and the ECU cheerleaders will spread spirit while members of the Homecoming Court and the Alumni Association Award recipients wave to the crowd.

Homecoming Alumni Tailgate 2 p.m., New location: ECU Soccer Stadium, behind Clark-LeClair Stadium and next to the Olympic Sports Complex off of Charles Blvd., $10 Alumni Association member/ $25 nonmember; free for children 12 and younger, registration required Gather with fellow fans for a buffet lunch sponsored by Parker’s Barbecue and ARAMARK, Pirate beverages, live music, games for children and a chance to win great door prizes.

Information about parking, hotel rooms, alumni football tickets and Homecoming shuttles is available at PirateAlumni.com/ homecoming or by calling 800-ECU-GRAD.

Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

1-877-499-TEXT; 252-328-6731; studentstores@ecu.edu Homecoming specials include 20 percent off Purple & Gold apparel and gift items; Alumni imprinted apparel and gift items; and tailgate chairs, stadium seats and stadium cushions.

Free game day button with purchase and, if you’re an alumnus who graduated more than 20 years ago, you get an extra discount. Show us your class ring and we’ll take off an additional 1 percent for each year since you graduated, up to 30 percent. That means the Class of 1982 and before get 30 percent

off regular prices. In-store only, no other discounts apply, certain merchandise excluded. Stop by and try your luck at opening our treasure chest for a chance to win Pirate Prizes. No purchase necessary; just pick a key and try to unlock some loot!

Light Campus Ministry Homecoming Costume Party Oct. 12, 9 p.m.–midnight G&K Café 3197 E. 10th Street $10 per person (includes admission and food), RSVP by Sept. 15 to worrellt@ecu.edu, Questions: Tara Worrell at 252412-2422 or worrellt@ecu.edu

College, School and Departmental Activities Department of Biology Homecoming Tailgate Oct. 13, 1 p.m., Belk Building parking lot (for details visit ecu.edu/biology) Complimentary. RSVP by Oct. 11 to Jone Letsinger at 252-328-6204 or letsingerj@ecu. edu. Please include the number attending and use “BIOL Tailgate” in the subject line.

Department of Criminal Justice Alumni Reception Oct. 12, 4–6 p.m., Rivers 208 Complimentary. RSVP by Oct. 2 to Vicki Taylor Rowe at taylorv@ecu.edu. Questions: Vicki Taylor Rowe at 252-328-4192 or taylorv@ecu.edu Department of Geography Tailgate Oct. 13, location and time TBD Complimentary. RSVP by email or phone by Oct. 8. Questions: Burrell Montz at 252-3286086 or montzb@ecu.edu College of Allied Health Sciences 45th Reunion Homecoming Celebration Oct. 12, 6–10 p.m., Rock Springs Center Cost TBA. Please check www.ecu.edu/csdhs/ah/alum_homecoming.cfm for further details.

College of Business Homecoming Social Oct. 13, 9:30–11 a.m., on the lawn between Chancellor’s Way and Fifth Street (at the intersection of Fifth and Student streets) Complimentary for College of Business alumni, students, faculty, staff, friends and family. Questions: Anne Fisher at 252-3284396 or fishera@ecu.edu College of Education Oct. 13, beginning at 9 a.m., on the front porch of the Speight Building.

Complimentary. Questions: Gayle McLawhorn at mclawhorng@ecu.edu Join us for coffee and donuts before the homecoming parade. Alumni, students,

faculty, friends and family are welcome to attend this complimentary event.

The 2012 Alumni Award Recipients

College of Fine Arts and Communication Oct. 13, 9-10:30 a.m., Jenkins Fine Arts Center Terrace (next to Gray Gallery) Complimentary. RSVP to Mary Jane Gaddis at 252-328-1268 or gaddism@ecu.edu Breakfast on the terrace and parade watching for alumni of the schools of Art and Design, Communication, Music and Theatre and Dance

Outstanding Alumni Award Dr. Sharon Allison-Ottey ’95—Dr. Sharon Allison-Ottey is a physician, author and motivational speaker. She has dedicated her career to minority health and health disparities.

School of Music Reception Oct. 12, 5:30 p.m., A.J. Fletcher Music Center Complimentary. RSVP to Mary Jane Gaddis at 252-328-1268 or gaddism@ecu.edu School of Music Recital Oct. 12, 7 p.m., A.J. Fletcher Recital Hall Complimentary. RSVP to Mary Jane Gaddis at 252-328-1268 or gaddism@ecu.edu School of Communication CommCrew Tailgate Oct. 13, two-and-a-half hours prior to kickoff, Alumni Association Tailgate Tent, Soccer Stadium behind Clark-LeClair Stadium $10 for Alumni Association members and $25 for nonmembers, free for children 12 and younger. Please specify you are with CommCrew when purchasing tickets through the Alumni Association at 1-800-ECU-GRAD or www.PirateAlumni.com/tailgate College of Human Ecology Oct. 13, 9–11 a.m., Rivers Building north entrance near Fifth Street Complimentary College of Nursing Homecoming Social Oct. 12, 5:30–8 p.m., College of Nursing Lobby in the Health Sciences Building Complimentary. RSVP to Jane Boardman at 252-744-6504 or boardmanj@ecu.edu Honors College Open House Oct. 13, 9–10 a.m., Mamie Jenkins Building Complimentary. Questions: Kevin Baxter at 252-328-6373 or baxterk@ecu.edu

Reunions Collegians Reunion Oct. 12–14 “The Best Band in Tarheel Land” will hold their annual Homecoming reunion. Band members and their guests will enjoy a weekend full of activities, including golf, fellowship and jam sessions and playing for fellow alumni at the Homecoming Celebration Dinner and Dance on Saturday night at Cypress Glen Retirement Community.

ECTC Reunion Oct. 12–13 Reconnect with former classmates and your alma mater. Enjoy all of the Homecoming activities available and end the weekend with the Homecoming Celebration Dinner and Dance featuring The Collegians at Cypress Glen Retirement Community on Saturday evening.

Orientation Assistant Reunion Oct. 12–13 Did you spend your summers introducing freshmen to campus? Join other alumni who served as orientation assistants and for a reunion to share your memories! Enjoy a social on Friday evening to get reacquainted with old friends and then celebrate your Pirate pride with your fellow OAs at all of the Homecoming activities available over the weekend.

Robert Paul Benzon ’71—Bob Benzon is a retired airplane crash investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board in the Office of Aviation Safety.

Robert George Rankin IV ’70—Bob Rankin is an artist, owner of Rankin Studios and retired high school art teacher.

Distinguished Service Award Sabrina DeFonce Bengel—Sabrina Bengel is an entrepreneur and City Alderman of the First Ward in New Bern. She is a member of ECU’s Board of Visitors and Joyner Library Advancement Council, is past chair of the East Carolina Alumni Association and is a former member of ECU’s Foundation Board of Directors and the Friends of Joyner Library Board.

Kay Haskell Chalk ’76—Kay Chalk is a fixture in The Women’s Roundtable at ECU, having helped develop the philanthropic organization and chairing the board from 2008–2010.

She was also chair of the programs committee and coordinated “A Legacy of Leadership: One Hundred Incredible ECU Women” in 2007.

Robert S. Rippy ’75 ’96—Robert Rippy is owner of Jungle Rapids Family Fun Park in Wilmington, N.C. He is a member of ECU’s Health and Human Performance Advancement Council and former member of the College of Education Advancement Council, the ECU Real Estate Foundation and Alumni Association Board of Directors.

Honorary Alumni Dr. Charles R. Coble—Dr. Charles Coble was dean of ECU’s College of Education from 1983–1996. He remains active with the college as a member of its Professional Advisory Board. Coble has lobbied for the Teaching Fellows program to remain intact and was instrumental in obtaining the Taft Distinguished Professorship in the Mathematics, Science, and Instructional Technologies Education department.

Mr. Edgar R. Loessin (posthumously) —Edgar Loessin established the theatre department at ECU in 1962, as well as a semi-professional summer theatre featuring fully produced musicals and plays. He produced and directed both until his retirement in 1990. Loessin received numerous awards in North Carolina for his work in theatre.

For more details or to register for reunions, visit PirateAlumni.com/reunions or call 800-ECU-GRAD.

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PIRATE NATION The man behind the U.S. Open Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and the rest of the world’s top golfers compete inside the ropes lining the fairways at U.S. Open tournaments, but pretty much everything that happens outside the ropes is the responsibility of Hank Thompson ’95 and other staff members of the U.S. Golf Association who organize and direct the four-day events. Thompson was the USGA point man for the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., and will again take the lead role in planning the 2013 event.

Long lead times are required to plan and organize the tournaments, so Thompson works in two-year cycles, alternating between serving as championship director and then as a team member.

More than 200,000 people usually attend the Open tournaments and it’s Thompson’s job to ensure they have enough parking, plenty of food options, enough restrooms and easy access to spacious merchandise tents. He also caters to corporate customers, offering hospitality tents that go for $225,000 or more. Some corporate packages sell for twice that amount.

As he begins planning for the 2013 tournament, which will be contested at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., Thompson will work with local groups to recruit more than 5,000 volunteers who will be trained to perform many important jobs, such as transporting spectators to and from the event, serving as marshals and standard bearers, and performing many hospitality functions.

A Greenville native who grew up playing on the golf course in Ayden, Thompson studied business administration at ECU. He worked several summers in Pinehurst helping at golf schools. Soon after graduation he was hired as an assistant at the Pinehurst No. 8 course. In 1999 he moved up to a higher position at Pinehurst Championship 42

Management, an arm of the resort responsible for staging tournaments.

“I ran the tournament office for the North and South amateurs and a number of men’s, women’s, junior’s, senior’s, corporate and member events,” he said. He was able to closely observe how the USGA runs the Open tournaments when Pinehurst hosted the event in 2005. A year later, he joined the USGA staff.

He was assistant manager of both the 2007 Open at Oakmont Country Club in Pittsburgh and the 2009 event at Bethpage State Park in New York.

In addition to his specific assignments, he jumps in wherever help is needed, even moving courtesy cars or directing traffic in the parking lots.

Even though he’s worked every Open tournament for 10 years now, Thompson rarely gets to see any of the action occurring inside the ropes. By the time most tournaments are under way, he has jetted off to the site of next year’s event to begin planning for it. “We moved to Philadelphia (the site of the 2013 tournament) from Maryland (site of the 2011 event) on Sept. 1 and we will be here until Aug. 31 of 2013. Construction for the facilities starts in April and everything needs to be ready for mid-June.”

Down the road, he expects to move close to Pinehurst to begin planning for the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. That will be an especially challenging assignment because that year, for the first time, the men’s and women’s Open tournaments, which are both

staged by the USGA, will be played on backto-back weeks on the same course.

Pinehurst is “one of the bigger sites we go to not only in (acreage) but also in the way the course is laid out. Unlike Merion where the holes are on top of each other, at Pinehurst the holes are stretched out, which allows spectators to move about.” He expects huge crowds to attend. “Most of the current records we have in terms of attendance and so forth were set in Pinehurst (at the 2005 event),” he said, adding that hosting both championships “will be a great asset for the state of North Carolina.”

He’s a pretty good golfer himself, with a 3.5 handicap index. “In 2011, I played the least golf I have done in a long time,” he said ruefully.

—Steve Tuttle

Cruise the Greek islands Join us for a spectacular journey to the exceptional archaeological sites and landscapes found throughout the Greek islands and Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.

Our exploration of the ancient world begins with two nights in Athens. We’ll then embark on a 12-night cruise to some of the most enchanting Mediterranean sites.

This cruise is a journey for those who are ever curious and excited to learn about classical civilizations, all the while enjoying breathtaking scenery and the delicious food and wine of the Mediterranean. This cruise sets sail on Oct. 15 and returns to port on Oct. 30.

Pirate Voyages provide opportunities for alumni to cultivate their passion for learning through travel. We partnered with AHI Travel and Go Next to offer you these special opportunities to travel the world with fellow Pirates at affordable rates. Visit PirateAlumni.com/piratevoyages for specific trip information or call 800-842-9023 Parthenon

and ask about the East Carolina Alumni Association Islands of Antiquity trip.

Family-friendly alumni events The Alumni Association offers two familyfriendly events to all alumni and friends to celebrate the fall season.

ECU Haunted Campus Tour

Thursday, Oct. 25 8:00 p.m.

Meet at Wright Fountain, if you dare!

Come out for a spooky campus tour with lanterns and glow sticks to hear campus ghost stories that will send shivers down your spine! Appropriate for Pirates ages 6 and older.

Alumni Fall Fest and Pumpkin Carving Contest

Friday, Oct. 26 3:00–6:00 p.m.

The Croatan Enjoy some fall fun on ECU’s campus.

Come and learn how to make simple and festive treats for parties or dinners or put

your creative talents to work by entering our pumpkin-carving contest. Enjoy coloring and craft projects for children. Alumni Association members who preregister will receive one complimentary pumpkin (additional pumpkins may be purchased for $10 each). The pumpkin voted as “fan favorite” will receive a special ECU prize.

Refreshments will be available. Preregistration is encouraged—please register by Friday, Oct. 19.

Nominate someone for an alumni award Recognizing alumni achievement is important to the Alumni Association.

Each year during Homecoming, University alumni and friends are recognized for their success, accomplishments and dedication to ECU. Nominations for 2012 awards are currently being accepted and the Alumni Association needs your help to identify those worthy of the accolade. Visit PirateAlumni.com/awardsprocess to learn how you can nominate someone today!

Let’s be social “Like” the Alumni Association on Facebook.

PirateAlumni.com/Facebook

Follow the Alumni Association on Twitter.

PirateAlumni.com/Twitter

Get career advice and network with other ECU professionals in our LinkedIn group.

PirateAlumni.com/LinkedIn

Photos from all Alumni Association events are posted on our Flickr site.

PirateAlumni.com/Flickr

Watch Alumni Association videos on our YouTube channel.

PirateAlumni.com/YouTube

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CLASS NOTES 2011

A lumni S potlight

BLAIR ELIZABETH ALBRITTON wed Thomas Fleming Taft Jr. on April 14 at Figure Eight Island Yacht Club, Wilmington. Bridesmaids included Jenna Albritton ’08, Maria Mastoras ’10 and Danielle Sheppard ’09. THOMAS BALL joined Parsons and Robinson Insurance, Greenville, as an account executive. JAMIE BOWERS is principal of D.F. Walker Elementary School, Edenton. She was assistant principal at the school. MARTHA ANNE GODWIN wed Nash Julian Johnson on Dec. 31, 2011, at First Baptist Church, Wallace. Caroline Marie Cottle ’11 was a bridesmaid. MARGARET MARY ROGERS wed JULIUS PERKINS CHERRY III ’07 on May 12 at St. Egbert Catholic Church, Morehead City.

Bridesmaids included Courtney Brown Cherry ’09 and Catherine McKenna Fodor ’08. Groomsmen included Geoffrey Creighton Marett ’04, Geoffrey Michael Rogers ’02 and William Henry Rogers III ’01. She is an associate at International Farming Corp. in Kinston, and he is a manager at Cherry Energy, Kinston. JOHN “JACK” SCHULTZ is a licensed financial advisor for VALIC in the Western Carolina district and works in the Charlotte area.

2010 Dr. CRYSTAL BOWE was appointed by Gov. Bev Perdue to serve on the N.C. Council on Developmental Disabilities. She is a physician in residency at the Brody School of Medicine. MARY MORGAN CHASTAIN is an intern at Cone Health System and a student in the health information technology graduate certificate program at the Bryan School of Business, UNC-Greensboro. DONMINIQUE GRAMBY was featured as Jet Magazine Beauty of the Week in the April 16 issue. AMBER PARKER had two children’s books published by Reimann Books in North Carolina—Lenny the Lizard and Gilby the Grasshopper’s Amazing Ride. She is a human resources director in local government. BRETT PARKER joined Nease Insurance Agency, Greenville, where he represents Nationwide Insurance as an associate agent. Dr. WILLIAM OLIVER REESIDE III wed Anna Elizabeth Shumpert on May 5 at Zion Lutheran Church, Lexington, S.C. He is a physical therapist at HealthQuest Physical Therapy, Lexington. CARLA BROCK WILBER RN was promoted to director of emergency and nursing administration services at Wake Forest Baptist Health—Lexington Medical Center. She was director of ambulatory nursing and operational nursing at the center.

2009 TAFFYE BENSON CLAYTON is vice provost for diversity and multicultural affairs at UNC Chapel Hill.

She was ECU’s associate provost for equity, diversity and community relations and chief diversity officer.

A portrait of School of Medicine Dean Paul Cunningham recently was hung in the lobby of the Brody Building. The portrait by Irene Bailey ’93 ’95 (self-portrait above) of Emerald Isle becomes the 18th of her portraits to hang at ECU, along with other works of art by her, including paintings of Cunningham’s three predecessors and two large murals in Minges Coliseum. Bailey, chosen in 2007 as one of 100 ECU Incredible Women, has been featured in Rebel magazine.

She was a finalist in a Portrait Society of America’s 2011 competition, where she won Best in Show for painting.

Caroline Cox ’12 of Southern Pines won top honors for string instruments and a $3,000 prize in March at the Music Teachers National Association Young Artist Competition. She followed that by being named Outstanding Senior by the School of Music. Cox, who double majored in violin and piano, studied violin under Ara Gregorian and piano under Keiko Sekino. Cox served as concertmaster of the ECU Symphony the past three years. In 2011, she was selected to perform with both the Raleigh and Durham symphonies. Younger sister Mary Catherine Cox also is a music major at ECU.

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class notes

Jay Clark

A lumni S potlight

MARK FLANAGAN was named vice president of operations at Jack A. Farrior, a general contracting company in Farmville. BECKY SCHULTES started Sweet Teeth in Sarasota, Fla., which sells and delivers cake pops (lollipops made of cake), cake bites and cake truffles.

2008

ECU staff member Greg Hedgepeth ’08 is on a mission to help African-American males excel in class here and in life. After reading about and studying how they suffer both academically and socially at institutions of higher education, Hedgepeth, 27, founded a nonprofit, African–American Male Mentoring Program (AAMMP), with colleagues Roderick Bradley and Charles Clency.

“We all agreed that this was a problem that we needed to address,” says Hedgepeth, who serves as the senior Web developer for University Marketing and Publications.

Thirty-two African-American men, mostly freshmen and a few sophomores, were inducted into AAMMP for fall 2011. The mentoring program includes guest speakers, special events, different cultural experiences and an intramural basketball team. The AAMMP group also attended a seminar about African-American ancestory given

by Harvard’s Henry Louis Gates Jr., a leading authority in human genealogy.

African-American faculty members are also involved in the program and take on three students each as their respective mentees.

The program founders wanted African-American mentors because they felt the students would respond better to people to whom they can relate. Hedgepeth hopes current students will someday serve as mentors for future classes, as well as build a network that will exist beyond ECU. “Our main goal is to build a network that is both professional and personal,” Hedgepeth says.

ECU sophomore David Evans is a member of the first group of AAMMP and participated in its intramural basketball team. “The whole team became closer and became great friends,” says Evans. “Mr. Hedgepeth is a great coach and mentor and has taught us a lot in a small amount of time.”

Hedgepeth is not just doing this to teach, but to learn as well, he says. “I’m 27 years old, so there is not a huge age gap between me and these young men,” he says. “I find myself learning from them in the process of teaching.”

He is also glad to be able to give back to students. “Who knows where I would be if there had been a program like this when I was a student,” he says. “Basically, I want to give as much knowledge as I can. I try to inspire.”

East occasionally publishes original work by ECU students. This story was written by Dorwin Howard for a news writing class and edited by Justin Boulmay.

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JONATHAN WESLEY CAINES wed Linsey M. Boone on Dec. 17 at Chadbourn Baptist Church, Chadbourn. He is a sales representative with Docusystems of Myrtle Beach, S.C. PAIGE ROMANOW is catering sales executive for Tysons Corner Marriott in Fairfax County, Va. She is a Marriott-certified wedding planner and has earned Green Meetings certification. ANNE MARGARET WALL wed MATTHEW EARL GAULT ’07 on Oct. 1 at All Saints Chapel, Raleigh. JENNA LEIGH WHITEHURST wed Heber Carl Aldridge II on Feb. 4 at The Martinsborough, Greenville.

Bridesmaids were Angela Coggins ’09 and Katie Nock ’08. She is a registered nurse with East Carolina Neurology, Greenville.

2007 Dr. MARY CATHERINE BRAKE is a clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at the Brody School of Medicine and a member of ECU Physicians. DAVID ASHLEY COOPER is director of accountability and virtual learning for Person County Schools.

He was assistant principal of Helena Elementary School, Timberlake. LAUREN FAYE CURTIS wed Woodrow Jackson Farrington II on April 28 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Greenville. She is an associate attorney with the law firm of Estes, Sanders & Williams in Birmingham, Ala. Her bridesmaids included Brittany Sherman ’08, Megan Miller ’09, Brittany Adams ’09 and Jessica Davis ’09.

Dr. RANDI DIKEMAN is dean of the Division of Corporate and Community Development at Edgecombe Community College, Tarboro. He was director of customized training and director of workforce development at ECC. MARY AMANDA GARNER wed JUSTIN KIEL MEDLIN ’05 on Aug. 6, 2011, at College Place United Methodist Church, Greensboro. In Charleston, W. Va., she is a pediatric occupational therapist at Professional Therapy Services and he is an orthopedic surgical physician assistant at OrthoClinic. HEATHER MICHELLE PHILLIPS wed Adrian Mark Boyd on Oct. 15, 2011, at Rose Hill Free Will Baptist Church, Winterville. Jamie West Pernell ’07 was matron of honor. Bridesmaids included Natalie Kinal ’07, Kim Russell ’07 ’08 and Hannah Manning ’06. JORDAN VAINRIGHT PROCTOR, president and lead designer for Signature Jordan, passed the National Council for Interior Design Qualification exam.

Her design studio is in Greenville. GAVIN JARED STARK wed Barbara Ashley Allen on May 12 at Belin United Methodist Church, Murrells Inlet, S.C.

2006 KRISTOPHER LEE BASS wed Margaret Huntley Smith on April 14 at Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church, High Point. He works for Wells Fargo Bank in Winston-Salem. ROB FORE ’06 ’08 joined BB&T as a business services officer in Salisbury, Md. KATHERINE JANE HEDRICK wed Kyle Pence Bever on Nov. 5, 2011, at Fearrington Village, Pittsboro. She is a speech-language pathologist with Pediatric Therapy Associates. GEORGE KOONCE was selected as spokesperson for the Family Finding Fatherhood Engagement program, a part of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. He also received his doctorate in sports administration from Marquette University, where he is director of development for the Urban Scholars Program. CLAYTON ANTHONY MCCULLOUGH wed Jill Marie Niemi on Jan. 14 at the Hotel Orrington, Evanston, Ill. He is a manager in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. JILL SALOTTOLO WILLIAMS joined East Carolina Pain Consultants, Greenville, as an adult nurse practitioner. She was a medical intermediate unit charge nurse at Vidant Medical Center.

2005 GREG FADER works for KS Mortgage Services, Greenville. He has five years of experience as a mortgage lender and personal banker. MOLLY ELIZABETH MCMURTREY wed BARRETT WHITEHURST SPEARMAN ’03 ’04 on Nov. 11, 2011, at Dixon Chapel, Garner. MARTHA PARKER PARRISH and DAVID “SCOTT” PARRISH ’06 had a daughter, Grace Anne, in 2011. She is a school counselor, and he is an English teacher and football coach, both with Johnston County Schools.

2004 CHRISTIAN BENEFIEL exhibited his sculpture at artNOW: Baltimore. A recent winner of an Individual Artist Grant from the Maryland State Arts Council and a Roth Endowment Award, he has exhibited throughout the U.S. and in Europe. Dr. VIKRAM N. DAYALU, associate professor of speech-language pathology at Seton Hall University, is chair of the Department of Speech-Language Pathology. MARC DURSTEWITZ was appointed enterprise manager with Hopco Food Service Marketing, Charlotte.

He and wife, Marisa, had their second child, Noah.

JENNIFER LYNNE HOAGLAND wed Daniel

N urs i ng H a l l of F a me Significant contributors to nursing education, administration, research and practice were honored on March 16 as eight nurses were inducted into the College of Nursing Hall of Fame.

Inductees were Dr. Linda Burhans ’89 ’98 of Wilson, Martha Dartt ’82 of Greenville, Nettie Evans ’79 ’83 of Ayden, Susan Gerard ’75 of Blounts Creek, Sue Lassiter ’80 of Ahoskie, Joanne Stevens ’94 of Raleigh, Carmen Vincent ’81 ’93 of Greenville and Anna Weaver ’93 ’02 of Greenville. Also honored was Helen M. Brinson ’72 ’79 of Greenville, who received the 2012 Distinguished Alumni Award.

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47

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2003 JENNIFER PHELPS KINSMAN, a sixth-grade social sciences teacher, was the 2011 Teacher of the Year at Graham Middle School in the AlamanceBurlington School System.

A lumni S potlight Henderson Daily Dispatch

Aaron Druck on Dec. 3, 2011, at Tucker House, Raleigh. PAM JURANAS is a customer relations specialist with the Athletics Department at the University of California-Berkeley. BRYAN TUTEN is director of Dowdy Student Stores at ECU. He was interim director since 2010.

2002 BROOKE BANSON is the 2011 Ambassador of the Year for the Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce. She worked at East Carolina Bank, The Daily Reflector and semplesolutions. BETTINA M. COX is a resource specialist at the Small Business Center at Southeastern Community College, Whiteville. She was the promotions director for Tabor City. BRIDGET COX is director of project management for J.R. Clancy, Syracuse, N.Y., which designs, manufactures and installs theatrical equipment.

Dr. GLENN HARVIN, a gastroenterologist, joined the Brody School of Medicine and its group medical practice, ECU Physicians. He was with Atlantic Gastroenterology, Greenville. MELISSA CATHERINE MITCHELL-STUEBER passed the certification exam and is a National Certified Guardian. She works for Commonwealth Catholic Charities, Richmond, Va., as a public guardian and conservator. Dr. NIKKI WADDELL opened her medical practice at Kingstowne Internal Medicine, Kingstowne, Va. Previously she practiced as a hospitalist and was a provider at Primary Care Associates of Potomac for four years.

2001 SARAH PEARSON BROWN and VINCENT JAMES BROWN had twin girls, Abigail Rose and Pearson Marion. At ECU she was a Chi Omega and he was a Theta Chi. CORI CAGLE had a solo art exhibit, “We Built Another World,” at Colorshow Gallery, Asheboro. She teaches art at Hopewell Elementary, Trinity. NFL quarterback DAVID GARRARD signed a one-year contract with the Miami Dolphins. He was with the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2002 to 2010.

KAREN HYLER, the public information officer for Rockingham County Schools, was recognized for excellence in communications by the N.C. School Public Relations Association for a convocation video she produced. VICTORIA LEIGH KIDD was named the first-place winner of the My Startup Story Contest for Entrepreneurs presented by Hiscox Small Business Insurance in Winchester, Va. BRAD MAKEPEACE was promoted to project manager at WIMCO Corp. in the corporate office in Washington, N.C. Dr. DIEGO C. NOCETTI was granted tenure and promoted to associate professor of economics and finance in the School of Business at Clarkson University, Potsdam, N.Y.

When the bell rang in June for the final day of school at Kerr-Vance Academy in Henderson, it marked the end of a 50-year career as a first-grade teacher for Sylvia Parham ’61. She began her career in Vance County while still doing her student teaching, and has remained there ever since. “When I was in first grade, my teacher was so good that I decided I was going to be a first-grade teacher,” she told the Henderson Daily Dispatch. A milestone came this year when she taught the grandchild of a former student. She is approaching retirement reluctantly. “I can’t just walk away. I told them (at her school) that I’d sub, whatever.”

Sequence Inc., a rapidly growing quality control and compliance consulting company based in Raleigh, celebrated its 10th anniversary in May. Soon afterward, the company received the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce’s Steady Growth and Profitability Award. Founded by Mike Putnam II ’98 ’01 (right), Sequence has led projects for Bayer Biologicals (now Talecris Biotherapeutics) in Clayton, DSM Pharmaceuticals in Greenville and more than a dozen other companies. Sequence now has more than 20 full-time consultants and more than 15 pharmaceutical and biotech manufacturing clients. Putnam said about half his employees are ECU graduates, including senior executives Samir Patel ’01, Jeff Price ’99 and Ben Daniel Santarsieto ’98. The four had several classes together as undergraduates. Putnam’s aunt, Cindy Putnam Evans, is an ECU biology professor. Active in the Pirate Club as the Wake County rep, Putnam is married to Rebecca Setzer Putnam ’96.

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Courtesy N.C. State University

class notes 2000 STEPHANIE ALSTON ’00 ’07 is principal of Stocks Elementary School, Tarboro. She was assistant principal at Sam D. Bundy School in Pitt County. COREY FADER manages KS Mortgage Services, Greenville. He has 11 years of experience in commercial, retail and construction mortgage lending.

AMBER RENEE STALLINGS ’00 ’03 wed PETER MARTIN BALENT ’99 on Sept. 17 at the Biltmore Village Inn, Asheville. She is a substance abuse coordinator at Vidant Medical Center, Greenville, and he is the manager of rehabilitation therapy services at Lenoir Memorial Hospital, Kinston.

1999

Matters of Record, a chapbook by Megan Roberts ’08, tells the haunting stories behind the crimes of 16 women executed in the United States. Roberts said the collection of poems is rooted in a conversation she had in 2006 with ECU English professor Luke Whisnant, who had taught English to prison inmates. He told Roberts about Velma Barfield, who was executed in 1984 for the murder of a boyfriend. She later confessed to three other murders, including her mother’s.

“I think that a lot of these women had some resentment about their place in the world and their place in society,” Roberts said. “And murder was a way of controlling that.”

New York Times bestselling author Jill McCorkle called Matters of Record “a powerful and moving collection that gives voice to women executed for their crimes. As a whole, it stands as a chorus of life and death.”

A native of Greenville, Roberts teaches English at Methodist University in Fayetteville. After ECU she earned a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from N.C. State University. Roberts is currently working on her first novel, Everything’s Only a Mile Away.

From the book, a poem about the last meal and execution of Karla Faye Tucker in Texas in 1998: Later, as the hollow needle was pulled from her arm, a cockroach entered Karla’s old cell.

Engorged itself within that leftover peach head stuck inside, legs running on air, body struggling to go deeper.

Matters of Record Finishing Line Press $12

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books by alumni

Murderous poetry

Dr. AMY SINGLETON was appointed to the N.C. board of directors for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. She has an appointment in psychiatry and behavioral medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

LINDSEY YOUMANS ’99 ’10 was the first-place winner in the 2012 N.C. Community Colleges Art Exhibition for her original painting, “Mom in Studio” (below), a portrait of her mother who taught art courses at Pitt Community College. She teaches drawing, figure drawing and painting at Pitt Community College.

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class notes 1998

Jim O’Brien ’67 of Hilton Head, S.C., was active with his son in Boy Scouts over the years and participated in many highadventure hikes as a way to keep in shape.

So when the opportunity to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania arose recently, “I jumped on it,” he said. “Being older now, I think sometimes you need goals. I felt great afterwards, and am looking forward to another trek. Perhaps Mont Blanc in the Pyrenees.” The highest peak in Africa, Kilimanjaro rises to 19,341 feet.

HARRY HUMPHREY ALBRITTON JR. was named to the 2011 Rising Stars list as among the up-and-coming attorneys in North Carolina in the medical malpractice area by Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business publication. He is co-owner of Dawson & Albritton P.A. CHAD ALDRIDGE is a loan officer with KS Mortgage Services, Greenville.

In 2004 he started at Innovative Mortgage Solutions and has worked at both Countrywide Home Loans and Bank of America. DAWN ALLEN is brand director for Callawassie Island, S.C. She previously worked for the Daily Press in Newport News, Va. MARVIN BURKE, former ECU linebacker, is head football coach at Southeast Raleigh High. KRISTY KORNEGAY CONWAY ’98 ’02 is co-partner of ENC Property Management, a property management firm handling residential rentals and homeowner association management, in Greenville. SCOTT CORL is executive director of proprietary schools for the N.C. Community Colleges System.

Make a Note

1997 MARIE ANNE HASSEL was recognized in Stanford Who’s Who for her work in the real estate industry. She is vice president of Sterling Development Co., a real estate investment trust company. KIRK KENNEDY, a teacher at East Duplin High School, was selected for the Kenan Fellows Program for Curriculum and Leadership Development at N.C. State. ALISON MOSSEY is band director for the middle and upper school at The Oakwood School, Greenville. She is also the principal flutist for the Barton-Wilson Symphony Orchestra and piccoloist for the Fayetteville Symphony, the Tar River Symphony and the Tar River Wind Ensemble. FRANK J. RYGIEL is ranked in the 2012 Engineering News Record Southeast’s Top 20 Construction Professionals Under 40. He was also named to a similar national list by Building Design & Construction magazine. He is a senior project manager with Batson-Cook Co., Tampa, Fla., where his projects included a 12-story affordable-housing project in St. Petersburg and the Tampa Museum of Art (page 53).

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Jay Clark

© Richard Barnes

A lumni S potlight

1995 JENNY TEAGUE is community administrator for Silverado Senior Living for the Arvada location in Colorado. MICHAEL PAGE TEER JR. wed Lillian Duer Smith on April 14 at the First Presbyterian Church, Wilmington. He is a vice president and senior loan officer with TD Bank, Wilmington. RONALD L. VILLINES JR. is principal at Graham Middle School, Graham.

He was an assistant principal at Graham High School.

1994 BILLY CASHION is federal projects manager at SfL+a Architects, Raleigh. CHRIS COUDRIET was promoted to county manager in New Hanover County where he was the assistant county manager.

TIM DECRESIE ’94 ’07, district coordinator of Pitt County AIG Programs, received the Outstanding Administrator of the Gifted Award from the N.C. Association for the Gifted and Talented. TARA ROHLAND joined the sales force of National Office Systems, Gaithersburg, Md. She was with Baltimorebased David Burrows as a manufacturer’s representative for contract furniture and textile companies.

1992 D. PAUL POWERS JR. ’92 ’94, senior vice president and manager of the commercial business unit for Pitt County, was selected as top commercial banker in the Central Region at Southern Bank’s annual Best Bankers Event. DAVID PUREZA formed a law partnership with Everett Thompson in Elizabeth City. He was with the Twiford Law Firm. ELIZABETH “BETH” ULFFERS ’92 ’94, who introduces music to K-2 students at Wintergreen Primary, Pitt County, is the district’s 2012-13 Teacher of the Year.

1991 TONY A. HARRIS joined SEPI Engineering & Construction, Raleigh, as a computer-aided drafting and design technician.

1990 KRISTIN GIBSON exhibited new paintings and scarves at Spectrum Art & Jewelry, Wilmington, in spring 2012. She was also part of a three-person show, “Signs of Spring,” at City Art Gallery in Greenville.

BEVERLY OVERTON-KNIGHT is lead preschool speech language pathologist in the Wake County

Kymia Nawabi ’03, a winner of the Bravo TV network’s Next Great Artist competition, visited campus this spring to give a lecture and to critique art students’ work. We sat down with her to catch up on her life and career. After completing her BFA here, she went to the University of Florida, where she received her MFA in 2006. Along with the $100,000 prize for winning the Bravo competition, Nawabi was given a solo show at the Brooklyn Museum.

When you won, what was the first thought to go through your mind?

Once I had a minute to kick back the tears a little bit, I felt like a door had opened for me. I knew that things could be different, perhaps for even just a little while. The fact that I was given the chance, had gotten this far, and made it, I thought, “Oh man, I need to take advantage of this now.” It was a really wonderful feeling.

How did your time at ECU prepare you for your future?

In the beginning, it was really difficult for me because it was my first time away from home, and I also had a very a severe social anxiety disorder. I immediately made connections with (art instructors) Beth Blake, Paul Hartley, Scott Eagle and Ray Elmore. Not only did they give me the technical skills…but they also knew my life story. They became…my family away from family.

What’s it feel like to come back to ECU, work with students and give a lecture?

Talking to the students is incredible. It’s really great because you are at the pinnacle of fine contemporary art. These are artists that are going to be in the real art world very soon. I love being able to open their eyes to new artists…that could be a great reference to look at for their own work.

Tell us about the ideas you have for future art.

I am not done yet with some of the themes I started working with in the (Bravo TV) show. I think I am basically continuing on that same path, but I hope to have the works become a little bit denser with imagery and a little more pared down with color.

To see samples of Nawabi’s work, visit her website: kymianawabi.com.

—Meagan Williford

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class notes A lumni S potlight Lt. Col. Darryl “Egg” Smith ’86 retired from the U.S. Air Force in February after a 25year military career that saw him achieve Top Gun status. He served as a pilot of fighter, test, reconnaissance, trainer and airlift aircraft. He served in several levels, lastly as a deputy group commander. After graduating from ECU, Smith received a master’s degree in international relations at Troy State University in 1991. He also graduated from Squadron Officer School in 1992 and the Air Command and Staff College in 2003.

In his last posting, he flew more than 300 combat hours over Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.

Wayne Brock ’87 is the new chief scout executive of the Boy Scouts of America, the top post in the Irving, Texas-based organization, succeeding the retiring Bob Mazzuca. Brock had served as deputy chief of BSA since October 2009. A graduate of South Lenoir High School, Brock was a scout in Kinston, where he received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award and the Order of the Arrow Distinguished Service Award. Brock began his career in 1972 as a district BSA executive in New Bern. He then served on the staffs in Knoxville, Tenn.; as scout executive in Athens, Ga.; as scout executive in Orlando, Fla.; and as regional director of the BSA Southern Region. “I am honored to be entrusted with the responsibility of leading this great organization at a pivotal time in our history,” he said. He and his wife, Ernestine, have a married son and one granddaughter.

Robert D. Teer Jr. ’67 of Durham was elected chair of the UNC-TV Board of Trustees in June. Sabrina D. Bengel of New Bern, a former president of the ECU Alumni Association, was elected vice chair. Both will serve two-year terms. Teer, president and principal owner of Teer Associates, a commercial real estate development firm in Research Triangle Park, was vice chair of the board. Bengel is president of New Bern Tours & Convention Services, which runs New Bern’s Trolley Car Tours, and she serves as an alderman with the city. Bengel is to be honored at homecoming this fall with ECU’s Distinguished Service Award. The UNC-TV board is a 22-member advisory board reporting to the UNC Board of Governors.

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Public School system. She was in a similar position for school-age Wake County students for the previous 10 years. EDWARD WILKERSON was promoted to superintendent of Cliffs of the Neuse State Park, Wayne County.

1988 DONNA AUSTIN ’88 ’08, who teaches third grade at Chocowinity Primary, was awarded Reading Master Classroom Certification by Renaissance Learning, a Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.-based company. SHARON BAXLEY ’88 ’94 joined Southeastern Health Center Clarkton in Bladen County as a certified family nurse practitioner. She previously worked for Bladen County Hospital for 30 years in rural health clinics, emergency services, urgent care, prenatal and pediatric care.

JOSEPH GLEN BUCK is personnel director for Pitt County Schools. He was director of personnel and technology at Martin County Schools.

1987 NAOMI RILEY was honored with 11 other women by the Fuquay-Varina Woman’s Club for significant contributions to the community. She leads FuquayVarina’s Main Street program and is director of the town’s Downtown Revitalization program.

1986 Dr. FRANK FORREST HUMBLES received a patent for his surgical arm-positioning pad that safely secures a surgical patient’s arm for laparoscopic procedures, while allowing access to the extremity. He and wife, Kim, live in Conway, S.C., where he has been in private practice for 21 years with Conway Anesthesia Associates. He and his wife also own a women’s apparel store in Myrtle Beach, S.C. His book sKiller, Mayhem on the Mountain was published in 2008 by IUniverse publishers. Dr. GAIL ALLEN joined Cape Fear Valley Children’s Emergency Department. She is board-certified in pediatrics and pediatric emergency medicine. GERALDINE WHITE WILLIAMS was honored by the Northeast Community Development as one of eight Intriguing African American Women who have excelled in their careers and community service throughout Onslow, Duplin, Jones and Craven counties.

For 31 years she taught special-needs students at Dixon, Clyde Erwin and Northwoods Elementary Schools.

She was Teacher of the Year twice while at Clyde Erwin and a semifinalist and finalist for the Onslow County Teacher of the Year award. She owns and manages the family business, Rory’s Mobile Home Park and Rentals, in Jacksonville and Richlands.

1985 TERRI DECRESIE, AIG teacher at C.M. Eppes Middle School, Greenville, received the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award from the N.C. Association for the Gifted and Talented. KAREN HARRIS is the executive director of God’s Storehouse in Danville, Va. KAREN SHELTON WATERS is assistant administrator for the Office of Acquisition in the

Transportation Security Administration. She joined TSA in 2009 as the deputy assistant administrator/ chief administrative officer with the Office of Finance and Administration.

1984 JERRIE C. BECKMAN JR., professional engineer and land surveyor, joined SEPI Engineering & Construction as a land development regional manager in the Raleigh, Charlotte and Wilmington offices. DEBBIE HATHAWAY was promoted to assistant director of the Small Business and Technology Development Center at ECU. CELIA WITT BEAUCHAMP, a registered dietitian at Coastal Carolina Hospital, Hardeeville, S.C., was named to the Tenet Heroes Hall of Fame by the hospital for her work in diabetes education in the area.

1983 HOWARD W. BROWN LC passed and achieved board certification of his lighting certification by the National Council on Qualifications for the Lighting Professions.

He also became certified in LED training by Philips Lighting University. For the past 23 years, he has been a senior account manager with Philips Lighting, part of Philips Electronics. Dr. JAYESH PATEL ’83 ’88 is a

cardiologist at Physicians East, Greenville.

1980 1982

AMY HOLBEIN exhibited her collection of oil paintings and cold wax encaustics at the Artists’ Guild Gallery at the Chapman Cultural Center, Spartanburg, S.C. She is working on her MFA in painting at Winthrop University.

1981 ROSEMARY DORSEY was promoted to assistant county manager in Nash County. She was the planning director for the county. BOBBY R. MOON, VP of sales at Pepsi Bottling Ventures, Raleigh, is part of a team awarded the Donald M. Kendall Bottler of the Year by Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages. He has worked with Pepsi-Cola for 31 years. PAULA TAYLOR MORRIS, a faculty member in Salisbury University’s Franklin P. Perdue School of Business, founded the nonprofit organization Kids of Honor in 2001 for which she was named by the Maryland Daily Record among “Maryland’s Top 100 Women.” She was first included in the list in 2008. Kids of Honor works with at-risk children as early as the fourth grade to help teach and reinforce the basic skills needed for success in school.

RICH BELTHOFF was promoted to senior company counsel at Wells Fargo Law Department. CHARLIE M. WELLS, senior vice president and regional commercial manager for Southern Bank in Rocky Mount, was named the bank’s West Region’s top commercial banker.

1979 RICHARD “CLARK” HARRELL ’79 ’85 is the football coach at Smithfield High School and teaches health and P.E. He played outside linebacker at ECU. JOYCE MITCHELL, director of community outreach for U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, was re-elected second vice chair of the Girl Scouts-N.C. Coastal Pines board of directors for a two-year term.

1978 RUSSELL JOHNSON ’78 ’81 ’01 retired as principal of Stocks Elementary School, Tarboro, where he has been since 1997, first as a teacher and then as principal since 2006.

1977 HOMER SPRING JR., athletic director, teacher and coach since 1978 at Dixon High School in Jacksonville,

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class notes retired. He taught AP calculus, pre-calculus and Algebra 1.

1976 ROBERT GARY RABON was appointed to the board of directors of Four Oaks Fincorp, parent company of Four Oaks Bank & Trust Co.

coasts. He played football (1964-1968) under Clarence Stasavich. He has been a member of the Thomas Harriot School of Arts and Sciences Advancement Council since its inception in the late 1990s.

1970

1975 MIKE DAVIS was named Alumni Business Associate of the Year by the Mount Olive College Alumni Association. He is general manager of Tri County Electric Membership Corp.

1974 SHANNA MOORE CHASTAIN ’74 ’76 retired after 35 years in education, 13 years at N.C. State and 22 years at Guilford Technical Community College.

VERONICA WARD ROBERSON serves on the Winterville Town Council. She retired in 2006 after 32 years as a teacher.

1973 GAYLE HARRIS is a commercial banking manager for CommunityONE Bank in the bank’s western region where he leads a team of commercial bankers in Alexander and Catawba counties. Dr. MARY HELEN HUTCHINSON ’73 ’97, a partner in Eastern Dermatology and Pathology, Greenville, joined Southern Bank’s local board of directors.

1971 Dr. CHURCHILL B. GRIMES retired from the National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service after a long career in fishery research and administration on the East and West

Dr. DAWN V. OBRECHT published From the Edge of the Cliff: Understanding the Two Phases of Recovery and Becoming the Person You’re Meant to Be, which provides those recovering from drug and/or alcohol abuse with practical lessons on how to understand and successfully navigate the two phases of recovery from drug and/or alcohol addiction.

1969 DANNY T. FERGUSON, a retired public defender and criminal trial lawyer from Winston-Salem, published his second novel, The Titanic Atonement, which includes a wild championship football game between ECU and UNC at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium with the winner going to the Orange Bowl.

ANN CHERRY is one of 35 national campaign co-chairs of President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign. She retired in 2008 after 30 years of teaching band and general music in the public schools in eastern North Carolina.

1960 State Rep. EDITH DOUGHTIE WARREN ’60 ’73 received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine for her years of service as a teacher, the first woman to serve as a principal in Pitt County, the first woman elected as a Pitt County commissioner and her seven terms as the state House District 8 representative, serving Pitt and Martin counties. She is retiring at the end of the year from the State Legislature. A Democrat from Farmville, she served since 1998.

1955

1968 KATHERINE BURNEY retired from ECU after a 32-year career with Dowdy Student Stores. She was textbook manager. SHIRLEY MARIE DANIEL JONES published a book of poetry, Journey Home, in 2011 through AuthorHouse. The collection reflects farm life in the 1950s and 1960s before technology replaced many practices and includes a number of vintage photos. FENTRESS “RED” MUNDEN received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine. This year he retired from the Division of Marine Fisheries after 43 ½ years of state service.

1966

HENRY TREVATHAN ’55 ’56 ’81 was inducted into the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame for 2012. After coaching at several high schools, he coached football at ECU for 11 years, and 11 of his players are still in the record book. For the past 17 years, he has coached part time at Bridgewater College in Virginia.

1950 SOPHIA MARIE KELLY FLOYD was honored in 2011 for 50 years of membership and service in Delta Kappa Gamma, Theta Chapter. In 1988 she retired after 36 years of teaching in Robeson, Brunswick and Pender counties. She was active in the Society of Key Women Educators serving as treasurer and on the finance committee. Her husband, Eugene Ross Floyd Sr., attended ECU, and her grandson, Doyle C. Rutherford Jr., is an ECU junior.

A lumni S potlight

Jazz vocalist Lenora Helm ’10 (left in photo) of Durham performed at the 2012 Fiji Jazz and Blues Festival in May. She was invited there by U.S. Ambassador Frankie A. Reed (right) as part of a cultural exchange mission. Her group headlined the festival, which hosted 100 musicians and more than 30 international bands. She was accompanied on the tour by her trio—pianist Ryan Hanseler, a jazz piano instructor in the ECU School of Music; bassist Lance E. Scott, Jr. and drummer Larry Q. Draughn, Jr. The trio, graduates of NCCU’s music program, appears on Helm’s 2011 CD release, I Love Myself When I’m Laughing. Currently, Helm is working with the University of South Africa, Pretoria, to create a vocal jazz syllabus, the first ever in the country. The syllabus will launch at the university this fall. Helm will

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travel to South Africa in September to take part in a weeklong residency with other international jazz educators from South Africa, Europe and the U.S. In 1982, Helm was the first African-American woman to graduate from Boston’s Berklee College of Music in the Film Music Scoring/Voice program, a degree she earned in just three years. A native of Chicago, she worked as a teaching artist for two decades in New York City for Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Philharmonic and Young Audiences of New York, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture’s Junior Scholars. She joined the NCCU faculty in 2005 and also enrolled in ECU’s master program in jazz performance.

While here, she was inducted into the music honor society, Pi Kappa Lambda.

in MemoriAm 1920s Miriam Riggs Brothers ’29 of South Mills died Feb. 5 at age 101. She taught elementary school in Pasquotank and Camden counties. She was a life-long member of Ebenezer Baptist Church where she served as a trustee. She played the piano and organ and directed the choir for many years. She is survived by three daughters, including Carolyn Brothers Umphlett ’55.

1930s NETA LEE TOWNSEND RILEY ’39 ’78 of Raleigh died April 2 at 95. Before marriage she worked at the N.C. School for the Blind. NANCY SPERLING TADLOCK ’38 of Monroe died April 18 at 95. She taught in the Roanoke Rapids and Cleveland County school systems. She was also a founding owner of Mary’s Dress Shop in historic downtown Monroe.

EVELYN WILSON TAYLOR ’39 of Roseboro died Feb. 12 at 93. She taught first grade for 40 years in Nash, Sampson and Cumberland counties.

CORABOB SMITH TURNAGE ’38 of Ayden died Feb. 25 at 94. She is remembered as a wonderful helpmate to her husband who was pastor for Holy Trinity United Methodist Church, Greenville, and Salem United Methodist Church, Goldsboro. She was a church musician, playing the organ and piano, for more than 70 years.

1940s LILLIAN JOYNER “JOY” BENNETT ’46 of Pfafftown died March 25. She was a stewardess for Pan American Airlines, where she worked on the “clippers” flying between New York, London, France, Prague and South Africa until she married. Dr. JAMES LYERLY MENIUS ’48 of New Bern died Feb. 11. A WW II Navy veteran, he was an optometrist. MARY LUCILLE HARRIS RAPER MIXON ’42 of Newport News, Va., died April 23 at 90. She taught in Newport News from 1943-1985. WILLIAM CLAYTON MORRISETTE ’49 ’50 of Elizabeth City died April 20. A U.S. Coast Guard veteran of WW II, he retired as associate dean of continuing education at College of the Albemarle and was a principal at Weeksville High School and dean of Chowan College.

JAMES PEARCE SENTER ’47 of Raleigh died Feb. 25. A WW II veteran who served in the Pacific as a Navy lieutenant, he worked in the N.C. Department of

Revenue for many years. MARGIE LEWIS STILLEY ’49 of Rocky Mount died Feb. 7. She taught school in the Rocky Mount City Schools for 37 years. MARY ELIZABETH MIDYETTE THOMPSON ’46 of Greenville died May 9. She taught business at D.H. Conley High School, Greenville, where she organized the Future Business Leaders of America. MAE ELLEN WARWICK ’40 of Newton Grove died May 10. She taught for more than 30 years in the public schools of North Carolina, Florida and Oklahoma, with most of her time spent at Hobbton High School, Newton Grove, where she taught English and French. She also taught French part time at Mount Olive College.

1950s G. RAZ AUTRY JR. ’50 ’53 of Raeford died April 18. A WW II Navy and Marine veteran, he was a retired teacher, coach, principal and school superintendent of Hoke County Schools who grew peaches, wrote books and served his community in retirement. At ECTC he was student body president and co-captain of the football team in his senior year.

PHILLIP ALVA “AL” AVERETTE ’56 of Greenville died May 1. A U.S. Army veteran, he retired from Coastal Leasing Corp. in 2000 and worked for Hardware Suppliers of America until 2011. EVELYN FRANCES KORNEGAY COCHRAN ’51 ’67 of Robersonville died Feb. 6. She taught in Martin County Schools for 25 years. ETHEL TREW DRAPER ’55 of Mount Olive died March 26 at 93.

In 1979 she retired as director of the Cumberland County Title I programs. Earlier, she taught at Chapel Elementary School, Johnston County, at Spring Lake Elementary School, Spring Lake, and was an elementary supervisor in Cumberland County Schools.

WILLIAM GRANT “BILL” DUNNING ’57 of New Castle, Del., died April 3. He taught at Seaford Senior High School in Delaware until his retirement, then taught in the GED program at Delaware Tech for 14 years. BETTIE SUE TYSON FORREST ’59 of Greenville died April 17. She taught elementary school in Grimesland and at Elmhurst Elementary, where she was principal. Later she was principal of South Greenville Elementary before retiring in 1980. She then served as principal at Carolina Country Day School, retiring in 1984. She later served as assistant manager with the Pitt County Fair for 13 years.

HARRY BRYAN GEROCK ’57 of Greensboro died March 11. A U.S. Army veteran, he retired from Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Co. after more than 30 years of service. JACOB “JAKE” WINBERRY GODWIN ’59 of Newport died March 2. He was an administrator, teacher and driver’s education instructor at Morehead City High School and West Carteret

from 1958 to 1991. BOOTEN FILANDER “B.F.” GOODALL ’59 ’62 of Roanoke Rapids died Feb. 20.

He retired as a teacher in the Halifax County School System. CLAUDIA VIRGINIA “BOBBIE” HALLIBURTON ’53 of Charlotte died April 17. She taught in Goldsboro; Hollywood, Fla.; and Raleigh for 32 years before retiring in 1985. After retirement she was a substitute teacher for 16 years. EDNA ROWLAND HARPER ’50 of Washington died March 29. She taught public school for more than 45 years. ANNE MORTON HESTER JENKINS ’52 of Creedmoor died Feb. 8. At ECU, she was the bat girl for the men’s baseball team. GRAHAM W. MALLARD ’58 ’74 of Kinston died March 28. He spent more than 40 years in the Lenoir County Public School System. WILLIAM NEAL MASON ’52 of Raleigh died Feb. 5. He served in the Navy and Air Force, then worked in the aerospace and healthcare industries. Retired USAF Maj. EDWARD PENNIWITTE MONROE JR. ’59 of Sumter, S.C., died March 16. He retired from the military with more than 22 years of service, including duty in Vietnam as a combat and rescue helicopter pilot. At ECU he was a charter member of the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity.

Retired Air Force Lt. Col. HARRY UPTON OLIVER ’52 of Fayetteville died Feb. 9. A combat pilot and Russian linguist, he served in the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency.

A highly decorated veteran of WW II (one of six brothers serving during that war) and the Vietnam War, he was an avid dancer who was inducted into the Beach Music Shaggers Hall of Fame, The San Flea Living Legend Association and the Fayetteville Area Shaggers Hall of Fame. ALBERT BASCOM REEVES III ’53 of Rocky Point died March 22. A WW II Navy veteran, he taught biology and chemistry at Long Creek School, Burgaw High School and Pender High School, retiring after 41 years of teaching. JAMES RODNEY “JIM” ROBERTS ’50 of Boone died April 25. He taught at the University of Indiana, where he was the chair of the Department of Music and the high school band director. He joined the Appalachian State University faculty in 1967 in the College of Education. A Navy veteran, he was a trombone player in the Watauga County Community Band. LINDSAY “STUART” SAVAGE ’59 of Greenville died March 30. For 50 years he worked in many capacities at The Daily Reflector in Greenville. His photography won him numerous awards; he was also nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Retired Air Force Col. CHARLES BRANTLEY WEST SR. ’55 of Fayetteville died Jan. 21. He had a 30-year career in the Air Force as a command pilot with service in Vietnam.

HAROLD SHIPP WHITEHURST ’50 of Virginia Beach, Va., died April 13. A WW II Coast Guard veteran, he retired in 1991 as director of Virginia Beach parks and recreation. He was also an instructor 57

in memoriam in recreation for Tidewater Community College and the University of Virginia. At ECTC he played varsity baseball.

1960s HILDA JEAN BARKER ’60 of New Hill died Feb. 18. She taught ninth-grade math and business courses and retired as director of the Franklin County Library.

ELIZABETH AYCOCK BLACKMAN ’66 of Fremont died April 18. She taught more than 20 years at Fremont High School and then at Charles B. Aycock High School. JOHN THURSTON GRAY ’69 of Winston-Salem died Feb. 24. He owned and operated PM Ventures in Randleman. DAVID LEONARD GROCE ’66 ’68 of Jonesville died Dec. 16, 2011.

He taught at Greene Central High School in Snow Hill for two years and at Starmount High School, Yadkin County, for 32 years. He and his wife, Carole Bass Groce ’66, were married for 44 years. LEWIS SHELTON GORE ’63 of Greenville died April 10.

He taught geography and world history at Halifax County High School and Halifax County Junior High.

GERALD DOUGLAS HARRIS ’61 of Hockessin, Del., died Feb. 20. He spent more than 30 years as a Delaware teacher, most of which was at Seaford Senior High School. GEORGE LIVINGSTON HAZELTON ’63 of Murfreesboro died March 13.

For nearly 44 years he was a professor of physics at Chowan College, now Chowan University. PATRICIA HARVEY HOUCHENS ’61 of Wildwood, Fla., died April 26. She was a retired high school English teacher followed by 27 years as a social worker for Head Start in Madison County, Ky. Dr. DARRELL W. HURST ’62 ’67 of Waynesboro died March 1.

He was professor of English and humanities at Blue Ridge Community College, where he was a founding faculty member in 1967. He served in the U.S. Armed Forces and Virginia Army National Guard from 1967 to 1998. FREDERICK EUGENE LEADBETTER SR. ’60 of Chestertown, Md., died Feb. 20. He taught at Centreville Elementary School, Md., for seven years and principal for 15 years and at Church Hill for 13 years. JUDITH LEAKE MARTIN ’67 of Stoneville died April 9. She taught at Stoneville High School, McMichael High School and Rockingham Community College. DEMPSEY BROWN MIZELLE ’60 of Easton, Md., died Jan. 31. He was a clerk for the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, then was a member of the U.S. Foreign Service in Europe and Canada.

THOMAS N. NANCE ’60 of Richmond, Va., died Feb. 3. He was appointed to the Manchester Division of Richmond General District Court in 1977 and retired in 2002 from the Richmond Circuit Court.

LILLIE TRUMAN JOHNSON PETERSON ’63 of Cary died Feb. 2. She taught elementary school in Wilmington for 23 years. JERRY WARD POWELL ’61 of Greenville died March 23. An Army veteran, he spent 36 years in banking in Greenville, first with NCNB and his last 10 years at Southern Bank. He was a past president of the East Carolina Alumni 58

Association. He swam on ECU’s first competitive swimming team. EDWIN MARSHALL “EDDIE” RICKS JR. ’60 of Pantego died April 20. He taught in Conway, S.C., at Bath High School in Beaufort County, Ocracoke High School in Hyde County and Pungo Christian Academy in Belhaven. At ECU, he was a charter member of Epsilon Mu Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. BOBBY RAY SETZER ’60 of Mooresville died Feb. 23. He was a pharmacist with BiLo Pharmacy. CHARLES RUSSELL SMITH ’61 of Greenville died March 24. In 1988 he retired from Union Carbide after more than 27 years. JEAN MCLAWHON SMITH ’64 of Vanceboro died March 7. She taught for 32 years in the Craven County School System. JEAN JOYNER STEPHENS ’68 ’70 of Athens, Ohio, died Feb 28. She owned the Athens Book Center after spending many years as executive director of the Ohio Literacy Center in Kent, Ohio, and the Tennessee Center for Literacy Studies in Knoxville, Tenn. GERALD F. “JERRY” WILLIAMSON ’68 of Laredo, Texas, died April 4.

He and his brother owned a ranch in south Texas.

1970s CAROLYN HUNIKE BARDILL ’74 of Chapel Hill died Dec. 3, 2011. She was an RN and taught Lamaze classes for more than 30 years. KEVIN SCOTT BRANDT ’78 of Morehead City died April 7. He retired as creative director at Lewis Advertising in Rocky Mount. RAYMOND STEWART COUCH ’73 of Buxton died Feb. 21. Owner of Hatteras Realty,

Outer Banks, he grew the company from 12 homes in 1987 to 568 homes worth $300 million. SARAH D. DOWD ’73 of Mountain Home, Ark., died April 7.

She was in ECU’s first graduating class of occupational therapists and had a long career specializing in hand rehabilitation. She retired from Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami Beach, Fla. WILLIAM ROBERT “WILL” ENECKS ’75 of Greenville died April 22. A Reserve Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Army, he was a retired field investigator with the N.C. State Board of Heating, Plumbing and Fire Sprinkler Contractors.

RAYMOND “RAY” B. HODGES ’77 of Louisburg died April 20. He was an independent insurance agent at Hodges Insurance Agency in Louisburg and Hartsfield and Nash Agency in Wake Forest.

CHARLES “CHARLIE” EDWARD LEONARD ’78 of Greensboro died April 20. He was a teacher in North Carolina and Virginia for more than 20 years.

PERRY WAYNE LINEBERRY ’70 ’72 of Greenville died Feb. 21. He had a career in insurance and financial investments. A member of the Pirate Club for 30 years, he was on the wrestling team and was a three-year starter on the football team and was inducted into the ECU Football Hall of Fame. After graduation, he was drafted by the Buffalo Bills and played in their organization for two years. JOHN “CHRIS” CHRISTOPHER MCADAMS ’73 of Clayton died March 4. He worked for the N.C. Department of Transportation for 29 years. Rev. Deacon DAVID PALMER NARD ’70 of Asheville died April 26. He was staff chaplain for Mission Hospitals for 26 years. He served at Grace Episcopal Church, St. John’s Episcopal Church and most recently at The Cathedral of All Souls, Asheville.

He was an archdeacon of the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina. JOAN RUSSELL PILCHER ’75 of Richmond, Va., died March 24.

For 40 years she worked for the Goldsboro City Schools, first as a bookkeeper and then as a reading teacher. At ECU she was a member of Kappa Delta Pi, Phi Upsilon Omicron and Phi Kappa Phi academic honor societies. IVEY GRAY ROGERS ’70 of Danville, Va., died April 2. He owned Frix Framing and Art. Previously, he was personnel director at the Baptist Hospital of East Tennessee.

At ECU he was president at Delta Sigma Phi fraternity. JOSEPH “JOE” F. SEARCY ’78 ’81 of Halifax died May 7. He retired in 1998 as principal of Chaloner Middle School. JAMES EDWARD SHAW JR. ’70 of Pinehurst died Feb. 6. After serving in the U.S. Army, he had a career in textile manufacturing management. SUSAN VOLIVA SPIVEY ’74 of Columbia died March 9. She taught in the Tyrrell County Public School System. After retirement, she worked as the economic development coordinator with the Town of Columbia and was executive director of the Greater Tyrrell County Chamber of Commerce. JAMES R. “BUDDY” VAUGHN JR. ’70 of Eustis, Fla., died Feb. 26.

He coached and taught at Eustis High School for 40 years. GEORGE ROBERT ZITTEL ’75 of New York City died March 5. He was a teacher of acting at his studio/theatre, The Independent, in Greenwich Village, and also a writer of plays, novels and screenplays.

1980s

2010s

STEPHEN DWIGHT CRAWFORD ’86 of Winterville died Feb. 4. He was a buyer for Robert Bosch Corp. THOMAS ARTHUR JONES ’88 of Marston died March 12. A Vietnam veteran, he received a Purple Heart and a Silver Star for valor and retired from the U.S. Army as a chief warrant officer after 21 years of service. Later, he earned a master’s degree from ECU in clinical counseling and retired from CareSouth in South Carolina. BETH SUSAN PIERCE ’82 of Raleigh died March 19. She was a broker with Merrill Lynch. GARY WAYNE RIVENBARK ’86 ’93 of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., died March 20. He taught chorus from 1986 to 2012 in North Carolina, Georgia and Ft. Lauderdale.

TAMMY YVONNE SLATER ’89 of WinstonSalem died April 19. She was director of Stokes Stop Child Abuse Now for 12 years and an outcome specialist at Goodwill Industries. LINDA MUNDELL WOMACK ’83 ’86 of Snow Hill died Feb. 17. She served in the Pitt County Schools for 24 years. Her husband, Rev. PAUL LEON WOMACK ’83, died Feb. 29. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, he was pastor of Glen Raven Baptist Church in Kinston for 19 years.

CAMERON ADRIAN GRIFFIN of Kernersville, a junior applied physics major, died Feb. 5. Spencer Hampton ’11 of Greenville, a former standout at D.H. Conley High School who earned a roster spot on the ECU football team as a walk on, died June 25 from melanoma at age 25. He married Lindsay Sutton Styons on April 21 at Bethel United Methodist Church, Bethel. He was employed as a realtor with Aldridge and Southerland. A defensive back on the football team, it was his interception of a pass as time expired that sealed ECU’s win over the University of Texas El Paso in 2008.

1990s VICTORIA ANNE BOWLER ’92 of Charlotte died April 4. She was a paralegal at Stiles, Byrum & Horne Law Firm. SANDRA LEE BROWN ’92 of Cove City died March 2. She was an elementary teacher in the Craven County School System. STEPHANIE “STEVIE” LOUISE DAWSON ’92 of Durham and Baton Rouge, La., died March 15. She was a professor, technical director and production manager in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Tulane University. JOYCE GRIMSLEY ’91 of Supply died Feb. 17. She was a clinical social worker. TARA SPILLANE WEIKEL ’90 of Statesville died April 7.

2000s KELLI BAILEY ’01 of Conway, S.C., died Feb. 7.

DANA MICHAEL BLAKE ’04 of Shelby died Feb. 9. He worked with his dad as superintendent of Blake Construction. JENNIFER BLALOCK BROWN ’00 of Charlotte died March 1. She was a senior analyst at Duke Energy. MICHAEL CARDEN ’00 of New York City died April 9. He was project director at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., and had a joint position at The Center for the Study of Hepatitis C at Weill Cornell Medical College.

DAVID NICHOLLS JENNINGS ’01 of Camden died Feb. 7. He was an analyst for Wells Fargo.

MICHELLE LEIGH O’NEAL MYERS ’04 of Bath died Feb. 29. She was a registered nurse at Vidant Medical Center and Vidant Pungo Hospital. AMY LYNN BURRESS RENFROW ’01 of Middlesex died Dec. 12. She was a math and science teacher in the Wilson and Johnston County school systems and an assistant principal at Glendale-Kenly School. She was principal of Corinth-Holders Elementary School.

FA C U LT Y Dr. CHARLES FRANKLIN GILBERT of Greenville died March 17. He was an associate clinical professor of pathology at the Brody School of Medicine from 1975 to 1986 and co-director, Department of Laboratory Medicine, at Pitt County Memorial Hospital from 1966 to 1980.

MARK EDWARD LENZI, ECU diving coach from 2009-2011, died April 9. As an accomplished diver, he participated in the Summer Olympic Games of 1992 and 1996, where he was awarded the gold and bronze medals respectively and became the first driver to score 100 points on a single dive. He was the last American male to medal in the 3-meter springboard.

BETTY EILEEN PETTEWAY died March 17.

She came to ECU in 1962 retiring after more than 30 years as professor emeritus of art. She was also an accomplished photographer, writer and poet.

Dr. LEO E. WAIVERS of Greenville died March 15.

He practiced at the Brody School of Medicine from 1987 until 1990 when he formed his private practice, Greenville Internal Medicine, where he practiced until 2008. He most recently practiced at the ECU Student Health Center. He performed in productions at the ECU School of Theatre and Dance and was the “go to” physician in cases of urgent medical need for the performers.

Dr. DONALD ALTON BALL of Portland, Ore., died March 8. He taught marketing and international business at ECU from 1970 to 1971.

Rev. PRESTON D. PARSONS of Randleman died March 31 at 91. U.S. Navy chaplain, WW II and Korean War veteran, ordained minister, counselor and professor, he taught psychology at ECU from 1960 to 1962.

JOE BRINKER PAULK of Lexington, Ky., died April 14 at 94. He taught food service management in the home economics department at ECC from 1967-1970.

S TA F F JUDY EVANS BEACHAM of Ayden died April 24.

She retired from ECU-Psychiatric Medicine in 1998.

Bill Carson, who guided the East Carolina track and field program for 40 years, died July 3 at his home in Winterville at the age of 75.

Under Carson’s direction, ECU athletes advanced to the NCAA national champion­ ships in 18 of his last 19 seasons. He was named the NCAA District III Coach-ofthe-Year in 1988 and Southeast Region Coach-of-the-Year in 2002. He was president of the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America in 1999, and head coach of the South team at the 1993 United States Olympic Festival.

An Ohio native and University of West Virginia graduate, Carson helped produce several Olympic-level athletes, including Lee McNeill, a five-time All-America selection at ECU before competing at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. He also mentored current 400-meter Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt. Carson began his coaching career in 1965 as head track and field coach at Furman University. A year later he moved to the University of Florida, where he completed work on his master’s degree in physical education and served as assistant coach from 1965-66.

After a short stint as a high school track coach, Carson was hired at East Carolina in September 1967.

DEBORAH CASE JOHNSTON of Farmville died March 1. For 20 years she worked with the ECU Brody School of Medicine.

JOHNNIE E. UMPHLET JR. ’89 of Greenville died March 7. He formerly worked in the ECU Police Department.

OTHERS DARTH D. AKINS of Winterville died March 4. He was married to Dr. Virginia Dare Hardy ’93, ECU vice chancellor for student affairs.

Dr. LEROY T. WALKER of Durham died April 23 at 93. The first African-American to lead the U.S. Olympic Committee and the first black man to coach an American Olympic team, his name is on ECU’s LeRoy T. Walker International Human Performance Center, which he helped bring to ECU as a private, nonprofit corporation in 1997. The center was established to use technology to gauge international Olympic athletes’ performances, potentially leveling the playing field for small, poor countries whose athletes do not have access to those costly resources. He served on the College of Health and Human Performance advisory board.

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upon THE PAST “We are not here to destroy the old and accept only the new, but to build upon the past…”

—Robert H. Wright, Nov. 12, 1909

Courtesy of N.C. Federation of Women’s Clubs

From his inaugural address and installation as East Carolina’s first president

The suffragette behind Cotten Hall Cotten (front row, second from left) with other N.C. Federation of Women’s Club leaders in 1925. The picture is unusual because the ladies are not wearing hats, as custom dictated.

One name stood out from the rest when East Carolina Teachers College trustees, during a time of rapid campus expansion in the 1920s, chose to honor six individuals by naming campus buildings for them. There was founder and former governor Thomas Jarvis, key political supporters such as state senator James Lawson Fleming, and original faculty members such as William Henry Ragsdale and Claude Wilson. And then there was Sally Southall Cotten.

Wright chose Cotten for the honor because she embodied characteristics the school strove to instill in students. As Wright once said, ECTTS alumnae should “go back to our people as teachers, take hold of existing conditions, and lead our people forward to something better.”

The wife of a genteel Pitt County farmer, Cotten had only indirect connections to the school. Moreover, she already had a dorm named for her on the campus of what is now UNC Greensboro, her alma mater.

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One of the best known and respected women of her era, Cotten was an author, community organizer and advocate for women’s rights. She passionately believed that communities would prosper if women were allowed to get an education and participate in civic life.

Twenty years before women could vote, she had the idea of organizing women into local clubs where they could discuss books, debate ways to improve the schools, and organize civic improvement projects. She organized the first such club in Greenville in 1899, the End of the Century Book Club. Similar clubs soon sprung up across the state, and thus was born the N.C. Federation of Women’s Clubs.

She knew how to organize people to support causes, a skill acquired while serving as one of four managers appointed by Gov. Elias Carr to create North Carolina’s exposition at the 1896 Chicago World’s Fair. For three years she toured the state, gave countless speeches

to raise money to fund the exhibition.

One of the End of the Century club’s first causes was opening a public library in Greenville. The result, what is now Sheppard Memorial Library, became a center of community activity in 1906 to lure the new teacher training school to town.

In 1901 Cotten published The White Doe: The Fate of Virginia Dare, a long narrative poem about the Lost Colony and the fate of the first white child born in America. According to Ms. Cotten’s variation of the legend, Virginia Dare grew up in the tribe of the friendly Indian Manteo.

She became known as Winona-Ska and was transformed into a white doe by a sorcerer jealous of her beauty.

Cotten was regarded as a moderate among suffragettes. While others lobbied for the right to vote in state and national elections, she persuaded a state legislator from Greenville to introduce a bill allowing women to vote in local school board elections.

Her remarks at the 1929 dedication of the Cotten Hall here have been lost. After UNC-Greensboro opened its Cotten Hall in 1924, she wrote: “It is an inspiring and responsible experience to enter a hall and have 600 young women rise and greet you with smiling faces and clapping hands….”

Cotten gave the dorm residents a Victrola and money to buy some dance records.

Sally Southall Cotten was 82 when she died on May 4, 1929. Soon afterward, women’s clubs across the state created college scholarship funds in her honor, and have awarded thousands of Cotten Scholarships in the decades since. East Carolina sponsors an annual lecture series in her name.

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Thousands of families came to campus this summer for new student orientation sessions, including Joel Lail, left, and Charlie Lail.

Photograph by Cliff Hollis