Summer 2022
CORNERSTONE MESSAGE FROM DEAN ALLISON S. DANELL Greetings from Harriot College! I am excited to bring you another edition of Cornerstone. I know you will enjoy reading more about the many ways folks thrive in Harriot College.
We take several approaches to achieve the type of inclusive excellence you will read about in this newsletter. It starts with our academic programs, which are routinely assessed and reviewed by internal and external constituents. For example, the clinical health concentration of the Health Psychology doctoral program is accredited by the American Psychological Association, and the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs has accredited both the medical physics concentration of the Physics master’s program and the Biomedical Physics doctoral program. Students who complete our BS in Community and Regional Planning degree, like Holly White pictured at right, are most certainly proud to be alumni of our state’s only undergraduate program accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board.
Dean Danell (left) celebrating with Holly White, class of 2003, at the spring 2022 Community and Regional Planning Banquet!
Welcoming folks from other universities in our region is another way to ensure we recruit and retain talented students. Our faculty and staff intentionally focus on bilateral agreements with community colleges and early assurance agreements with other UNC system schools like Fayetteville State University and UNC Pembroke. In fact, faculty in the Department of History spearheaded a new Graduate Diversity scholarship to recruit students from those campuses and other historically minority-serving institutions! Gifts to support our students and their success in Pirate Nation are crucial. Therefore, Ashley Harzog has joined the Harriot College team as Director of Alumni Relations and Outreach and will help you with your gifting options. Email her at clelanda18@ecu.edu. Thanks to your generosity, our students become alumni who make a major difference in Eastern NC and beyond!
Caleb Joseph
Dual Major in Foreign Languages and Literatures (German) and Psychology, Minor in Sociology “This university has always been an enormous part of my life, and I would not want to be anywhere else. All the faculty and staff are so friendly and welcoming, and they personally attend to the needs and desires of their students.”
Continuing the family legacy of attending ECU. Go Pirates™! Developing peer teaching skills as a student assistant in an Introduction to Global Studies course Member of the National Society of Success & Leadership; ECU Foreign Languages and Literatures Council on Student Ambassadors; and Activist for the LGBTQIA+ community Expanding passion for culture and communication through a study abroad experience to Berlin, led by faculty mentor Dr. Susanne Jones Strives to be an educator and role model to future generations of students, encouraging all their endeavors
Dr. Anne Spuches
Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry “During my time in Harriot College, I have had the honor of working with and have been inspired by many amazing faculty and students, many of whom are strong and accomplished women. ECU is a special place, and I am lucky to be here.”
Devoted to service; diversity, retention, and mentorship of new faculty; and to the success of students in her lab Board of Governors Distinguished Professor for Teaching awardee, inaugural Provost Fellowship recipient, and 2022 Harriot College Advancement Council Distinguished Professor in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics Research interests include understanding how metals (both toxic and essential) are regulated within cells, allowing the continuation of specific functions within an organism Member of the American Chemical Society: Women Chemists Committee; Society of Biological Inorganic Chemistry; Phi Beta Kappa (national honor society); Sigma Xi (scientific research honor society); and ECU Chapter of Graduate Women in Science
KEEPING FAMILY’S STORIES ALIVE
Anthropology Graduate Students Apply Skills in Researching Ancestral Family Tomb by Lacey L. Gray, University Communications
Graduate students in Harriot College’s Department of Anthropology are acquiring real-world skills through a project involving an ancestral tomb more than 160 years old. David French and Michael Miller, cousins and descendants of Joseph Lane Rhem Sr. (1825-1901), who was the owner of a turpentine distillery and steam sawmill, approached ECU asking for assistance in excavating the family tomb in New Bern’s Cedar Grove Cemetery to prepare it for renovation.
Dr. Megan Perry discusses a coffin, recovered from the Rhem family ancestral tomb in New Bern’s Cedar Grove cemetery, with family member Michael Miller (right) and anthropology graduate students Bridget Cone and Ceara Nicholson. (Photos by Rhett Butler)
Dr. Megan Perry, anthropology professor, led a team in the process of excavating the Rhem ancestral tomb in summer 2021. Now, Perry is directing research being performed by four graduate students who are working on the remains and coffins in her lab.
Stewart is analyzing the coffin hardware for the Rhem family descendants. “A large part of my thesis is identifying and matching the coffin hardware — handles, Graduate student Jalynn Stewart shows Miller a corsage that was thumbscrews, recovered from the family’s tomb. viewing plates, etc. — to other excavations and 19th-century hardware catalogs. Unique hardware can be matched to manufacturing catalogs and used to date the burial,” Stewart said. “Artifacts in the family tomb have helped us identify individuals that were not originally linked to the family. These items include nameplates, a headstone, a medical ID bracelet and dentures. This is an important step, as we found almost twice as many individuals inside the vault compared to who the Rhem family thought was inside.” While data collection and analysis continue, first-year anthropology graduate students Ceara Nicholson and McClean Pink also are acquiring valuable, real-world research experience.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to gain essential field and laboratory skills and help the community at the same time,” Perry said. In February, Miller, visited Perry’s lab to see how the project was progressing and to learn what she and her students had uncovered. He wanted to report back to French and other family members unable to come to campus. Bridget Cone and Jalynn Stewart, two of Perry’s students, are performing research and applying specific skills within this project toward their master’s theses. Cone is performing skeletal analysis of the remains. She is investigating how childhood environments and socioeconomic status of a family from the urban southeastern United States during the 1850s to 1970s affect growth and development, and the risk of disease and death.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to gain essential field and laboratory skills and help the community at the same time.” - Dr. Megan Perry “I am comparing signs of early life stress and disease from teeth and skeletal remains to those of a rural land-owning family to identify rural and urban differences in juvenile health and its impact on health and disease into adulthood,” Cone said. “One of these skeletal stressors includes evidence of metabolic disease, such as rickets and scurvy, due to Vitamin C and Vitamin D deficiency, respectively.”
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Handles recovered from a coffin.
“As a first-year graduate student, I came into the project after coffins had been relocated from the vault to our labs,” Nicholson said. “McClean and I assisted with artifact cleaning, osteological inventory and several coffin excavations our first semester.”
Nicholson and Pink both agree that the project is proving to be a positive benefit for the family. “I think the process has allowed the family to dig deeper into their history and bring the family together in a shared cause,” Nicholson said. Pink said, “From the time I have spent with the family, it seems they are very excited about learning more about who was buried in the vault and what caused their deaths. I am always supportive of projects that include public involvement in archaeological projects and helping families connect to their ancestry.” All the cousins and descendants of the Rhem family have stated their main goal is to preserve and repair the vault so the remains may be safely returned. French said, “It has been absolutely wonderful working with Dr. Perry and all the students. We are so thankful and appreciative that they were available and willing to take on this project.” To read an extended version of this story, visit https://news.ecu. edu/2022/04/11/ancestral-tomb-research/.
Consider supporting Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences by making a donation online at ec u
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES
ECU Adult Learner Lindsey Richardson Breaks Down Barriers to Finish Degree by Ken Buday, University Communications Lindsey Richardson attended two community colleges as well as ECU early in her academic career.
Make a phone call. You can finish it. You can finish it.”
“Life happens,” Richardson said.
She jokes that her younger classmates dress a little more casually than she remembered, but as an older student, she said no one has treated her differently and she’s received plenty of support from her advisors and faculty.
She took time off from her studies to care for her mother and started a family of her own, first a son and then later a daughter, who is now 3 years old. She said the expense of child day care proved a barrier in her efforts to get back to college sooner. “I don’t have a baby on my hip anymore, so I have time to finish my degree now,” she said. “It’s my time.” Just 17 credits shy of a degree, Richardson came back to ECU after a five-year absence. “There are probably a lot of people out there thinking, ‘Should I do this? I can’t do this,’” she said. “Just send an email.
(Photo by Rhett Butler)
“There hasn’t been a question that I’ve had that I haven’t gotten an answer to by the end of the day,” she said. Richardson credits Dr. Amy Shannon, director of ECU’s university studies program housed in Harriot College, for putting her on a path toward a degree.
“I knew that my credits from the community colleges would work here, and the BSUS (Bachelor of Science in University Studies) degree program would fit my prior credits into a degree that works for me,” she said. “… I’m on track to graduate this summer, and I’m really, really happy about that.”
RESEARCH REWARDED
Harriot College Biologist Receives Prestigious 5-Year Achievement Award by Lacey L. Gray, University Communications
This spring, Dr. Elizabeth Ables, associate professor of biology, received a 5-Year Achievement for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity Award. The award is one of the most prestigious at ECU. It rewards originality and excellence in research and creative activities performed while contributing to academic work. “There are so many of my colleagues worthy of this award, so I’m honored to have been chosen from among that prestigious group,” Ables said. Ables research interests include studying the genetics and cell biology controlling the production of oocytes, also known as eggs. Oocytes are the specialized cells necessary for many species, including humans, to produce new life. (Contributed photo) She said a real conundrum in fertility research is that human females produce a limited number of oocytes, and this oocyte reserve is depleted quickly as women age. In contrast, she said other species have a specialized pool of stem cells that allow the female to continue to make oocytes for most of their adult life. Ables poses the questions, What is different about the way oocytes are created in those species, and how might we harness some of that genetic power to extend fertility or oocyte quality in humans?
“My research uses the fruit fly to investigate the genes that control stem cell maintenance and oocyte production,” Ables said. “My students use a variety of strains of fruit flies and highresolution microscopy to visualize the stem cells inside the fly ovary.” In addition to performing research she loves, Ables enjoys teaching students the skills needed to succeed. “Three of the most valuable skills in the STEM workforce are critical thinking, time management and written communication. The most exciting aspect of our curriculum in Harriot College is that we are addressing all three of those important skills in a multidisciplinary fashion,” Ables said. “Harriot College and ECU are actively building hands-on, high-impact experiences for students to take their classroom knowledge and apply it to real world situations,” she said. “Helping students make those connections will benefit any career path they choose.”
u.edu/give. Stay in touch with Harriot College by phone at 252-328-6249 or email at thcas@ecu.edu.
(Contributed photo)
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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT Angelica Reed, B.S. in Biology with Honors, ‘20 While attending ECU, Reed focused on ecology, learning about the delicate balance between predator and prey in the environment. Now, she is putting that knowledge to work as a research technician on the island of Isle Royale National Park, Michigan. She is part of a multiagency team that includes the State University of New York and the National Park Service, where they will attempt to restore the island’s unique wolf population and re-stabilize the balance between the wolves and moose population.
Reed credits her experiences at ECU for helping to kick start her career in conservation. As a student, she served as an undergraduate research assistant in the laboratory of biology faculty member, Dr. Susan McRae, and she conducted field work and gained experience at the Sylvan Heights Bird Park in Scotland Neck, NC. She also said she was fortunate to receive study abroad and research travel funding. The Matt and Kelly Slate Study Abroad Scholarship and the Harvey Sharp Wooten Study Abroad Scholarship financed her intensive at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in 2018, where she engaged in hikes through rainforests in Gamboa, Panama and Barro Colorado Island to supplement observations from her coursework. She also spoke with scientists about their studies and research, expanding her knowledge and network. ECU’s Undergraduate Research Travel Award and the
American Ornithological Society Travel Award in Support of Diversity and Inclusion allowed Reed to present thesis research in Anchorage, Alaska, at the American Ornithological Society Conference – the professional society advancing scientific knowledge and conservation of birds. Her key results were published in Avian Biology Research, a peer-reviewed ornithological journal. “I’m incredibly thankful to have been given these scholarships, which provided professional development opportunities for me that would have been otherwise difficult to reach,” she said. Reed’s long-term career goal is to design and implement conservation research projects for professionally accredited zoos with a specialization in carnivores and large mammals. “The faculty and staff at ECU, Harriot College and the Department of Biology provided invaluable steppingstones in my career,” Reed said. “Because I had access to faculty labs for research experience, financial assistance for professional networking and learning opportunities, and career opportunities at a world-renowned aviary, I’m confident that I will have a successful career in the competitive field of wildlife conservation.”
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