Summer 2020
CORNERSTONE MESSAGE FROM INTERIM DEAN ALLISON S. DANELL Greetings from Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences at East Carolina University! I am so pleased to connect with you through this newsletter. As we stay safer at home, Harriot College faculty and staff are continuing to work hard and work together to share the tenets of the liberal arts and sciences with our students. We also continue to celebrate our alumni who are making a difference through their impactful careers. Several such highlights are shared with you here, in our newest issue of Cornerstone. Also in this issue of Cornerstone, you will learn more about talented colleagues in the Department of English and the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures who are transforming the region by mentoring our students, prioritizing cultural competence and embracing diversity. You will also read about Criminal Justice professor Dr. Mark
William Guiler
Double major in Psychology and Multidisciplinary Studies (Concentration in Neuroscience)
“I feel tremendously grateful for winning the Goldwater Scholarship. It is recognition that I am capable of pursuing research as a career.”
2020 Goldwater Scholar, first in ECU’s history Intern at Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp in genetics and pharmacogenomics Undergraduate researcher in Psychology professor Dr. Christyn Dolbier’s Stress and Health lab studying college students’ stress and coping skills Career goal is to earn a Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience and become a professor to teach, mentor, and conduct research using neuroimaging and other methods to enhance understanding of memory and intelligence
Jones, who facilitates a robust and long-running internship program to help students successfully transition from college to meaningful employment.
These and other highlights about our faculty, students, alumni, and donors will undoubtedly remind you of our college’s commitment to bring light and knowledge to everyone whose hearts and minds are open.
Dr. Allison S. Danell
Thank you for your generous support of Harriot College. We hope you enjoy this issue of Cornerstone, and that you continue to be proud of your long-running relationship with Harriot College, the heart and home of the liberal arts and sciences at ECU.
Dr. Yoo Min Park
Assistant Professor of Geography, Planning, and Environment “I truly appreciate ECU’s research environment that supports collaborative efforts across different disciplines. In addition, I am so grateful to have such supportive colleagues and administrators and wonderful students!”
Joined Pirate Nation in 2019 after receiving Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Illinois • Earned the Jacques May Prize from the American Association of Geographers for best dissertation in the nation addressing health and medical geography • Specializes in GIS technologies to assess air pollution and health risks • Recognized with ECU’s 2020 Diversity and Inclusion Research and Scholarship Award and selected for ECU’s 2020-21 Engagement and Outreach Scholars Academy
COMMUNICATION IN HEALTHCARE Harriot College faculty mentor student mentees by Lacey L. Gray, University Communications Harriot College faculty and students make a difference in the lives of others every day — within their own mentoring interactions and through community research. A humanities alumna, two graduate students and two faculty members are working on projects that will help others now and in the future. Specifically, they are demonstrating just how important communication is in healthcare, how it affects risk, diagnosis and disclosure, and the stigma of seeking treatment. Abigail Morris
Abigail Morris is a current graduate student mentee of Dr. Erin Frost, associate professor of English. Frost is directing Morris’s dissertation and has worked with her as her primary advisor since she received her M.A. degree approximately six years ago.
“My dissertation functions as a call to action, demonstrating how and why fellow scholars and practitioners in the fields of rhetoric and technical and professional communication should actively aid in current and future public health and safety campaigns,” Morris said. “I am hoping to include some connections between my work with zika communication and current communication barriers with COVID-19.” According to Morris, Frost is patient with and helpful to all her students, and Morris said she could not have asked for a better mentor in her field.
research project in Eastern North Carolina,” said Almitra Medina, assistant professor of Spanish and León’s faculty mentor and advisor. While working for the organization AMEXCAN, León helped put together a seminar regarding mental health in the Latino community. This inspired her to begin working with the Marriage and Family Therapy Program and Greene County Health Care to deliver health coaching services, in Spanish, to the community.
“Dr. Frost has been a fantastic mentor. [She] gave me the space and encouragement to work within my own arguably odd and seemingly random interests,” Morris said. “I am grateful for all of her guidance.” Dr. Gina Kruschek
Dr. Gina Kruschek came to ECU in fall 2014 and completed her Ph.D. in summer 2019, also under the direction of Frost. “Gina consistently applies her intellectual curiosity to situations that affect people’s everyday lives,” Frost said. “She learned about how difficult it can be for people to disclose stigmatized medical conditions, and that it is also difficult for medical professionals to disclose stigmatized conditions to patients.” Abigail Morris is working to communicate to the public risks associated with disease like zika and possibly coronavirus.
“I have had the pleasure of watching Abby’s intellectual interests develop over the course of her master’s and doctoral studies,” Frost said. “As a Ph.D. student, she has focused primarily on risk and the ways it attaches to different kinds of bodies. Her study design is smart and detailed, and she is already thinking of ways to operationalize what she has learned from this data.” Morris traveled to Texas to conduct a study about how people understand risks related to vector-borne pathogens, specifically the zika virus. She plans to use her findings to modify existing preventive communication campaigns in an effort to lower community members’ risks for contracting zika in at-risk areas.
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This realization led Kruschek to study the moment of diagnosis and to theorize better communicative models for both patients and medical professionals. Now a Brittain Fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Kruschek continues to examine how medical professionals interact with patients. She is working on developing an app to support patient empowerment and communication education for medical professionals. Becky León
Becky León is a Spanish-English bilingual Master of Arts candidate in the Hispanic Studies program. “The MAHS is the only Spanish program in the nation with an engaged-learning component. Thus, it is fitting that Becky decided to do a community-based
Becky León wants to bring awareness of health resources to the Latino community. (Contributed Photos)
“The impact that I have witnessed has been overwhelming,” León said. For this reason, León’s next project seeks to reduce perceived barriers surrounding mental health access among the Latino community, and bring awareness of resources available to them, such as bilingual therapists. “Having Dr. Medina as a mentor has greatly impacted my understanding of the research proposal process. Throughout this past semester, Dr. Medina provided countless insights on designing a research idea, methodology, and much more. I am so grateful for her step-by-step guidance and constant availability as a mentor,” León said. Once the research project is approved, León will conduct a pilot study and present results to mental health providers in Greene County Health and the Hispanic community.
MAKING AN IMPACT
ECU criminal justice faculty honored for service to students by Lacey L. Gray, University Communications
Dr. Mark Jones is a professor of criminal justice who came to ECU in 1993. For more than two decades he has been serving students and enhancing their educational experiences by teaching a criminal justice history course that focuses on high-profile assassinations, and through his coordination and management of student internships. It is this service that earned Jones the ECU Career Services 2019 Faculty Impact Award, which recognizes his outstanding work in developing one of the largest and most effective internship programs at ECU. “Needless to say, it was very nice to receive that sort of recognition,” Jones said. “I think the best part of it was being recognized by my department chair. Too often, we are guilty of not rewarding simple but earnest effort in our profession, and this presented an example of someone who not
only takes pride in his job but recognizes the efforts of others.” In addition to helping students gain first-hand knowledge of the criminal justice field, Jones has led numerous study-abroad courses to London, Paris, Barcelona, and Amsterdam. “It literally is a life-changing Jones dressed in official uniform of the Scotland experience for them, and it Yard at the London Metropolitan Police Museum. has been for me too,” Jones said. “Some students are seasoned travelers, and some have never been on an airplane before. Travel and see the world while you can, because once you get older, that gets more difficult.” Jones received his Ph.D. degree in criminal justice from Sam Houston State. In his free time, he enjoys lifting weights, yoga and cycling. He travels extensively, hence his interest in leading study abroad programs at ECU, and he is proud of the fact that he has visited all 50 United States.
Jones (middle) poses with two student mentees on a summer study abroad trip to Amsterdam in 2017. (Contributed photos)
He gives this advice to his students. “Be a sponge. Absorb all the knowledge you can. There is no such thing as useless knowledge. You never know when it may come in handy or in what area of life it might be useful.”
DONOR GIFT WILL INCREASE STUDENT STUDY-ABROAD POSSIBILITIES by Erin Ward, University Development
Inspired by their love of travel and global experiences, Harriot College donors Charlie and Nancy Bedford created a study abroad program to help students enrich their education. The Charlie and Nancy Bedford Study Abroad Scholars Program will support student experiences overseas and has the flexibility to adapt to the future needs of the college for an exchange program, internship or research-oriented travel. It could also be used to establish an ECU site in another country, similar to the Italy Intensives program.
Charlie and Nancy Bedford. (Contributed photo)
“This is a transformative gift,” Interim Dean Allison Danell said. “Since 2014, the Bedfords have supported scholarships in Harriot College, created their own scholarship endowment in 2018, and now, they have broadened and strengthened their study abroad support.”
Charlie Bedford grew up on a tobacco farm in Wayne County and didn’t leave the country until after graduating from ECU in 1955. “It is our hope that students who study and travel abroad will learn about other cultures, experience friendships with internationals, and bring back a desire to help others know more about our global world,” he said. Nancy Bedford grew up in Washington, D.C., and attended the College of William and Mary. A grant allowed her to spend a year studying abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France, as a French Government Fellow. It was her first time out of the country. “It is our greatest joy to be able to establish this study abroad program,” Nancy Bedford said. “We look forward to increasing the number of ECU students who will profit from being immersed in another culture.”
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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
Cassie Meyer, ECU 2018, B.S. Applied Sociology, magna cum laude with departmental honors Cassie Meyer is passionate about helping over-looked societal groups and using scientific knowledge and clinical practice to bring about change in healthcare, education and policy. As an undergraduate student, she was involved in ECU Ambassadors, was a Learning Assistant for chemistry, a PEER Leader through the Office of Student Transitions and completed an internship through the Office of Community Engagement and Research, where she gained insight into local government operations by creating a guide for the City of Greenville featuring local businesses owned by women and racial or ethnic minorities. “I think the single most impactful thing I did throughout my undergraduate career was my honors thesis, which I completed with the expert guidance of Dr. Colin Campbell in the sociology department,” Meyer said, who examined associations between paternal incarceration during childhood
and adolescent outcomes. “This experience challenged me to value precision and attention to detail. I learned invaluable lessons about the real-world scientific process.” Professor Campbell said, “Cassie was an excellent student—thoughtful, passionate about her project and eager to learn more. It was a really excellent study, and Cassie won best undergraduate paper awards from the North Carolina Sociological Association and the Southern Sociological Society.” Today, Meyer continues important work as a Research Health Science Specialist within the Durham VA Health Care System. Primarily, she works on clinical program implementation trials. “I feel that the work I do is important and that I am (now, virtually) surrounded by colleagues who have a similar zest for good methodology and an ultimate goal of improving the lives of others.”
Consider supporting Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences by making a donation online at www.ecu.edu/give. Stay in touch with Harriot College by phone at 252-328-6249 or email at thcas@ecu.edu.
Visit our website at https://thcas.ecu.edu
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