East Summer 2021

EAS T These alumni are down to earth

ECU AND AG: A WINNING COMBINATION

The great outdoor science lab

THE ECU MAGAZINE

The Earth STUDYING, BUILDING ON AND SAVING THE PLANET

SUM 2021

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School of Dental Medicine student Omar Taho holds his brother, dental graduate Amir Taho, as their father watches during the May 7 afternoon commencement exercises at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. ECU recognized approximately 4,000 spring graduates during three commencement ceremonies as well as graduates from 2020, who had virtual commencements.

CONTENTS

EAS T IN EVERY ISSUE

View from Spilman . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 ECU Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Discovery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Faculty Focus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Student Snapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Pirate Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Pirate Spirit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 ECU might not be an “ag school,” but that doesn’t mean alumni such as Angela DeCuzzi ’04 aren’t breeding, producing or selling crops, commodities and food. Read more beginning on page 34.

Horizons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 More coverage, including links to videos and more photos, is at east.ecu.edu

main feature

On the cover: Watch our cover art grow at east.ecu.edu.

26 Earth Works

Look around the country and you’ll find ECU alumni working with the land and the species that inhabit it to make the world a better place.

18 Hit the Trail

22 Going West

ECU’s trees might not talk, but with a new tree trail and related app, we can learn their stories.

ECU’s West Research Campus provides exceptional research opportunities for faculty, students.

40 School of Rocks

Professor Eduardo Leorri teaches students the stone cold facts about Hollywood disaster flicks.

East Carolina University is a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina System. 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. ©2021 by East Carolina University

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Back home again in Pirate Nation

View from

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It is so fitting that I started this new adventure at East Carolina in March – when the weather’s warming, the trees are leafing out – you know, a time of new growth, new challenges and great new opportunities.

It’s been an ideal time to be out on campus and in the community, meeting people and hearing what they believe ECU can be and what they can do to achieve that.

We’ve withstood much in the past year, but ECU has persevered. One result of the pandemic is that ECU has learned how to be a smarter, more agile and adaptive institution. We’ve managed resources and learned much about fiscal sustainability.

The Life Sciences Building and Intersect East have stayed on track and promise great returns. And let’s take a moment to thank Interim Chancellor Ron Mitchelson for his leadership that made those accomplishments possible.

As we move into the post-COVID era, we have to stay ahead of the curve. Other universities are not going to wait for us. We need to leverage the skills, talents and great minds at the university to get us there.

I’m ready to get to work, because there’s nowhere else in the vast universe of American higher education where I would rather make an impact than East Carolina University.

Hope you feel the same way!

Philip Rogers, Ed.D. Chancellor

ECU’s new first family On Chancellor Philip Rogers’ first day on the job, he bumped into a group of prospective students touring campus, so he stopped to welcome them and encourage them to enroll.

Rogers grew up in Greenville. He served as a policy analyst and then chief of staff at ECU from 2007-2013. His parents live in Greenville, and he is the great-grandson of an East Carolina Teachers Training School student. His wife, Rebekah, who has a doctorate in leadership studies, is a two-time alumna from a family filled with Pirates. (Read more about her at bit.ly/3slxOtj.) He’s a graduate of Wake Forest University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Pennsylvania. For the past eight years, Rogers has been senior vice president of learning and engagement for the American Council on Education in Washington, D.C.

Meeting, speaking and listening “I have no interest in sitting in Spilman all day and having people come to me,” he said. “I much prefer to be out and about visiting the colleges and schools, being in the classroom, being in a Zoom room, being in the student center or on the mall.”

Rogers wants to build on ECU’s mission of student success, regional transformation and public service.

Strengthening ECU’s finances is also vital, as is advancing ECU’s strategy for providing rural health care in the region.

Finally, ECU must ensure its athletics programs are moving in the right direction academically, financially and competitively, Rogers said.

Since he started March 15, he’s emphasized he doesn’t walk in with all the answers, that he’s here to collaborate on solutions. He’s been holding virtual town hall gatherings with alumni and others as part of a listening and learning tour called Pirate Perspectives. “This will be an incremental process of building the right knowledge base as we develop a collective vision together,” he said.

All purple and gold Rogers, his wife and their sons, Grayson, 5, and Dean, 3, moved back to Greenville in February. The boys sing the ECU fight song and wear purple most days, like their dad.

“I was that child in the end zone of Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium wrestling for extra point footballs before the Boneyard existed,” Rogers said. “It was just a part of who we were growing up in Greenville. It’s just what you do. You’re fully invested.”

Philip and Rebekah Rogers didn’t need any time to settle in before they got to work building a better ECU. Follow them at @ECUChancellor and @RebekahPRogers.

– Crystal Baity

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ECU Report

In This Issue

ECU receives $1.9m grant for pharma center Painting explores global issues amid COVID-19

Klein covers evolution of MTV in new book When MTV launched in 1981 with “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles, it was billed as a 24-hour video jukebox, and the success of that format showed it was possible for a cable network to succeed by identifying and targeting a market niche.

MTV’s was Generation X, loosely defined as Americans born between 1965 and 1982, said Amanda Klein, associate professor of film studies at ECU. But beginning in the mid-1990s and for the next decade-and-a-half, Gen X began to age out. So MTV studied how to stay relevant with a new generation of youth: millennials.

By the early 2000s catching a music video on MTV was difficult, and in 2010 the network dropped the word “music” from its corporate logo and branding, an acknowledgement the youth market was the most important thing, not the music.

Top, some of the original MTV cast meet Zippy the Chimp. Bottom, the cast of the MTV hit Teen Mom.

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Amanda Klein

Klein’s new book, Millennials Killed the Video Star, published in February

by Duke University Press, explores how MTV shifted its programming toward identity-based reality shows and what that shift says about the youth who became its new target audience.

“It’s always good to point out when you talk about generations and these kinds of labels that it’s not a real thing. It’s not like you’re born in this or that year so you’re fundamentally different from someone who was born (at a different time),” she said. “I’m impacted by my gender, my race, my social class, my education, but a factor in how I see the world and my touchstone for experiences is when I was born.

“And so MTV is really interesting when talking about youth culture, because it’s a channel that’s about targeting youth.”

MTV’s experiment with reality television started in the early ’90s with The Real World.

“You start to see these different ways of talking about what identity is,” Klein said. “If you look at early seasons of The Real World, you see cast members who are starting to talk about what it means to be Black or what it means to be gay. But the white characters, especially in the early seasons, seem always a little confused. They don’t know what they are.

“And so you see in these later MTV series these opportunities for white kids to feel like they have an identity. You see that really strongly in shows like Jersey Shore and Buck Wild.”

Drawing on interviews with producers and actors from several of the shows, Klein concludes the programming helped shape how MTV’s mostly white audience viewed and discussed their own identities.

Klein has made several media appearances of her own, including on E! Entertainment’s series For Real: The Story of Reality TV, which premiered March 25.

– Jules Norwood

Greenway marker recognizes Native American inhabitants along Tar River History and recreation will come together along the Greenville Greenway thanks to ECU faculty members and a local nonprofit group.

Randy Daniel, chair of ECU’s Department of Anthropology, has partnered with the local nonprofit organization Friends of Greenville Greenways and its founder, Jill Twark, associate professor of German in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, to produce an educational marker documenting archaeological excavations along the Tar River that revealed Native American settlements.

According to Daniel, Native Americans lived along the Tar from about 11,500 to 3,000 years ago. Summer field schools over several summers located more than 20 Native American settlements along the stretch of the river within Pitt and Edgecombe counties. Some of the oldest were discovered almost 3 feet below the ground surface.

“What we found at these sites consisted largely of stone tools such as spear and arrow points, cutting and scraping tools and their manufacturing debris, along with pottery sherds,” he said.

Twark said the marker will show the public what those digs have discovered. “They are accessible, tiny museums requiring no entrance fee to enjoy and learn from,” she said.

The new marker was funded by the Greenville Noon Rotary Club in collaboration with FROGGS and was installed by the Greenville Recreation and Parks Department near the Toyota Amphitheater at the Town Common in downtown Greenville.

– Lacey Gray

Top, students dig at Native American settlement sites along the Tar River. Bottom, the educational marker documenting the excavations.

Alumnae-owned PR agency ranked among best in US Jamie Sigler O’Grady ’01 and Sarah Evans ’01 own one of the nation’s top PR agencies, according to Forbes magazine’s 2021 rankings of public relations firms.

The award for J Public Relations comes after a challenging year for the agency, which specializes in travel, destination and consumer brands. Its clients include tourism organizations such as Visit North Carolina and Visit Utah as well as hospitality brands Vail Hospitality, Relais & Chateaux and Iconic Luxury Hotels. When the coronavirus pandemic brought vacation travel to a near halt, clients began calling to pause or cancel their business.

“Pre-March, we had our biggest month ever in February. We had just signed Virgin Limited O’Grady and Evans Editions (Richard Branson’s luxury portfolio) and were working with really strong, successful hospitality companies,” Evans said. “Within eight days, we lost about 60% of our business. It was completely unbelievable.”

Evans was named to the university’s inaugural “40 Under 40” list and is a recipient of the Incredible ECU Women Award by the Women’s Roundtable. She and O’Grady have returned to campus to speak with classes, and the agency funds a scholarship for students interested in public relations. Several JPR employees started as interns from ECU. And O’Grady’s son, Aidan, is a rising sophomore at ECU. – Erin Ward

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ECU Report

Black alumnae address diversity in tech comm Four alumnae were featured in a December national roundtable on Black technical communication hosted virtually by Virginia Tech and attended by more than 500 people.

“Being Black in academia can be isolating, depending on who you are, what kind of work you want to do and whether there are people around you who support your endeavors,” said Constance Haywood ’17, who received her master’s in English from ECU and is pursuing her doctorate at Michigan State University.

“When I came into ECU’s English graduate program, I was pleasantly surprised that there were multiple graduate students working alongside me who looked like me and could relate to me both culturally and professionally. The department solidified the importance of Black presence and voice in academia.

Their dedication to diversity through the recruitment of Black students and the invitation of Black thought into classrooms not only shaped my graduate experiences but continues to shape my own work,” Haywood said. “Long story short, in order for the tough conversations to take place, Black people need to be in the room.

At ECU, there were quite a few of us in the room.”

Cecilia Shelton ’19, Temptaous Mckoy ’19 and Kimberly C. Harper ’12 received their doctorates in rhetoric, writing and professional communication from ECU.

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Clockwise from top left, Constance Haywood ‘17, Cecilia Shelton ‘19, Kimberly C. Harper ‘12 and Temptaous Mckoy ‘19.

“My time at ECU provided a space where I could exercise my intellectual muscles and grow into a scholar that is prepared to do work in a number of contexts. My mentors, colleagues and community were valuable collaborators and champions of greater inclusion and justice in technical and professional communication,” said Shelton, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland.

“Diversity and inclusion work requires a great deal of mental and emotional labor, and ECU assisted me in developing solid skills for identifying a work-life balance,” said Mckoy, an assistant professor at Bowie State University.

Harper is an assistant professor at N.C. A&T State University and founded “The Space of Grace,” a podcast on Black maternal health and reproductive justice.

“ECU gave me the tools to see the world through a wide lens,” Harper said.

– Lacey Gray

Golden LEAF gives $1.9 million to create Eastern Region Pharma Center ECU has received a nearly $1.9 million grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation for the creation of a pharmaceutical manufacturing training center.

The Eastern Region Pharma Center is designed to teach students and pharmaceutical employees advanced manufacturing techniques and address a need for pharmaceutical workers with four-year college degrees in an area known as the BioPharma Crescent in eastern North Carolina. Pitt, Johnston, Wilson, Nash and Edgecombe counties are home to a variety of pharmaceutical companies, including Thermo Fisher Scientific, Mayne Pharma, Novo Nordisk, Grifols, Pfizer and CMP Pharma.

Pitt, Johnston, Wilson, Nash and Edgecombe community colleges are also part of the five-year project.

Within ECU, the project will draw on faculty expertise from the departments of engineering, technology systems and chemistry and later from the colleges of business and education.

Harry Ploehn, dean of the College of Engineering and Technology and the project leader, said the center brings ECU and regional assets together to benefit eastern North Carolina.

“With better coordination across the BioPharma Crescent counties, all of the partners — including industry, community colleges and ECU — will be more effective at recruiting students into lucrative, rewarding careers in the pharmaceutical industry, not to mention retaining our talent in the region,” he said.

Ploehn said the pharmaceutical industry already employs thousands in the region, and the demand for employees will continue to grow. He cited a December announcement by Thermo Fisher in Greenville to expand and add 500 jobs as well as a 2020 N.C. Biotechnology Center workforce study projecting aggressive growth of the pharmaceutical industry’s workforce needs, especially for those with graduate and bachelor’s degrees.

The state’s life sciences industry expanded its collective workforce by 11% in 2020, an amount that equals about 3,000 jobs, according to the N.C. Biotechnology Center.

The industry as a whole is responsible for about 224,000 jobs across the state between 775 life sciences companies that operate here and 2,500 that provide supporting functions. The estimated impact is $84 billion in annual economic activity for the state, including $2.3 billion in state and local taxes.

“This opportunity will assist in developing the longerterm pipeline of local talent into these organizations and serves as a phenomenal step in workforce training and talent development,” said Mark Phillips, vice president for statewide operations and executive director of the eastern region for the N.C. Biotechnology Center.

– Ken Buday

Construction is almost complete on the new Life Sciences and Biotechnology Building on ECU’s campus, which will house the Eastern Region Pharma Center.

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ECU Report

Chauncey leaves $5.2 million to university A former ECU faculty member left the university a multimillion-dollar gift in her will that will support School of Music scholarships.

Beatrice “Bea” Chauncey came to ECU in 1949 and spent 41 years as a flute instructor, helping grow the small music department into one of the premier music schools in the Southeast.

Bea Chauncey Her dedication to the program was so steadfast that in 2011 she committed a $500,000 planned gift to the school. At the time, it was the biggest gift ever promised by a faculty member at the university.

When Chauncey died April 2, 2017, at age 94, her gift turned out to be much, much more. The sum was actually an eye-popping $5.2 million. Due to the complexity of her estate, the distribution process began in 2020.

The $5.2 million gift, a portion of which was counted in the total for Pirate Nation Gives, ECU’s annual day of giving, will double the amount of scholarship money the School of Music can award.

“That doubles our ability to attract students. It will allow us to expand our recruiting area,” School of Music Director Chris Ulffers said.

In addition to her love for music, Chauncey’s hobby was making stock market investments. She became a shrewd investor and would show friends the room in her house dedicated to her trading research.

When she set up her will, the gift to ECU was conservative because she didn’t want to overpromise in case of potential market fluctuations or end-of-life costs, said Greg Abeyounis, senior associate vice chancellor for development.

“As Bea grew older, there was a great amount of market growth that significantly compounded the generosity of this donation,” he said.

Chris Buddo, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication, said there were many places Chauncey, a native of Akron, Ohio, could have given her money.

“Because she loved the school and the people that were in the school, that’s where she wanted to see her money go,” he said. “She really helped put the School of Music on the map, and this will keep it on the map — for a long time.”

– Erin Ward

Jackson Tucker ’14, a designer for Sierra Nevada Corp. in Durham, worked on a pair of electric motors used in the robotic arm, turret coring drill and sample caching assembly on the Mars rover Perseverance, which landed Feb. 18. “I was tasked with generating 3D models and 2D drawings for our designs, starting in the prototype phase all the way through the development of the flight products and other hardware needed during the assembly and testing,” he said. He also worked alongside another designer to create and design components for the gearboxes.

Perseverance launched last July 30 and was designed to provide a better understanding of the geology of Mars and to seek signs of ancient life.

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Medical school, other programs receive high marks from U.S. News The Brody School of Medicine is one of the nation’s most diverse medical schools and among the best for primary care in the 2022 U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools, released March 30.

ECU graduate programs in education, English, library science, public administration and public health also were included in updated rankings for 2022.

U.S. News worked with the Robert Graham Center, a division of the American Academy of Family Physicians, to publish four new stand-alone rankings for medical schools. Brody’s rank in those are as follows: • • • •

Most diverse medical schools, 13th (24.9%) Most graduates practicing in primary care, 10th (40.1%) Most graduates practicing in rural areas, 28th Most graduates practicing in health professional shortage areas, 16th (51.33%)

Exterior photograph of the The Brody Medical Sciences Building, one of the key buildings on the ECU Health Sciences Campus.

Brody ranked the highest for medical schools in North Carolina in each of the new categories. Brody also ranked 28th in primary care for best medical schools.

In addition, ECU’s graduate education program ranked 136th out of 277 ranked, placing it in the top 50% of programs nationwide. Other ECU programs in updated 2022 rankings are doctorate in English, 147th; master’s

in library science, 47th; master of public administration, 146th; and master of public health, 123rd.

Programs offered predominantly online are ranked separately in U.S. News Best Online Programs, which is released at a different time of year.

– Crystal Baity

Arjun Patel receives his residency match letter and more at the annual National Residency Match Day event March 19 at the Brody School of Medicine at ECU. Seventy-six graduating medical students participated in the match, with more than 58% going into primary care residencies: 14 in family medicine, 13 in internal medicine, 10 in pediatrics and eight in OB/GYN. Twenty-seven students matched to residency programs in North Carolina this year, including six who matched at Vidant Medical Center and ECU. See students talk about Match Day at bit.ly/2PkqKOX.

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ECU Report

Dental alumna creates garden to fight food insecurity In a garden on a ribbon of old family farmland in the mountains of Ashe County, dreams are harvested alongside vegetables.

The garden is a vision nurtured by Dr. Amanda Stroud ’15, dental director for AppHealthCare in northwestern North Carolina. Even during her dental school days, Stroud imagined a dental office that would provide oral health care and more for its community.

With the help of partnerships, resources, energy and patience, she created the AppHealthCare Community Dental Garden, which last year yielded 360 pounds of produce and gave 70 families access to healthy food.

“None of us works alone; we work as a community to help our neighbors,” Stroud said.

“We’re proud of what the garden has helped us do for our neighbors this year. I’m looking forward to watching the fruits of our labor multiply for the good of our community in the coming years.”

Stroud’s goal this year is 600 pounds of food and 100 families.

The quarter-acre plot sits on land at Gentry Farm 1821 in Nathans Creek, an Ashe County farm owned and run by Amanda Gentry and her partner, Wendy Painter. Gentry is a fifth-generation steward of the family land and is president of the Ashe County Farmers Market. When Stroud contacted Gentry after the project outgrew Stroud’s first garden outside her dental office, the answer was simple.

“Our mutual goals fit perfectly,” Gentry said. “Dr. Stroud knew about Gentry Farm and our commitment to raising quality healthy food and our interest in getting as much healthy food out into the community as possible.”

Stroud had seen patients who were experiencing hunger and food insecurity and wanted to do something about it. She and her team of volunteers and family members planted zucchini, yellow squash, beans, potatoes and other vegetables with sturdy shelf lives.

“We significantly downsized our plan due to COVID,” Stroud said.

“We almost postponed the garden altogether (until 2021), but thanks to Amanda Gentry and her flexibility at Gentry Farm, we were able to move forward on a smaller scale.”

According to studies by Feeding America, one in seven North Carolinians struggles with hunger; one in five children experiences food insecurity.

According to the North Carolina Justice Center, the state has the 10th highest rate of food insecurity in the nation, with nearly 590,000 households without enough to eat.

– Spaine Stephens

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Dr. Amanda Stroud and her son, Anderson, spread hay in the Ashe County garden where Stroud grows vegetables for dental patients with food insecurity.

Painting explores global concerns during the pandemic Cynthia Bickley-Green, who has taught in the ECU School of Art and Design for 27 years, was honored for a painting she created during the pandemic at the City Art Gallery in Greenville.

Her piece, Lamentation 2020, is a 5-by-12-foot acrylic painting that was selected by the North Carolina Museum of Art for reproduction on vinyl to display at the museum’s outdoor park in Raleigh. The painting is composed of three panels that explore global concerns of racial equality, the coronavirus and climate change. The colorful abstract piece looks chaotic, Bickley-Green said, because of the nature and intensity of the subject matter.

Bickley-Green also participated in an exhibit at the N.C. Museum of Art called Front Burner: Highlights in Contemporary North Carolina Painting. The exhibit was on display through Feb. 14 and featured some of Cynthia Bickley-Green the most relevant and engaging paintings made in the state.

Bickley-Green is the coordinator of the art education program in the ECU School of Art and Design. Her research explores the biology of art, the intersection of visual media and pedagogy, and the development of social identities.

– Crystal Baity

Bickley-Green works in her studio.

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Discovery

Latest Investigations

Studying avian TB in a rare wood duck Composites strengthen bridge construction

On the wing Through a long-standing partnership between ECU and Sylvan Heights Bird Park in Scotland Neck, researchers have sequenced the genome of the white-winged wood duck, which could help in the conservation effort for the rare avian species.

There are only 150-250 of the birds in captive populations, and probably less than 800 in the wild, said Dustin Foote ’16, general curator of the 18acre Sylvan Heights Bird Park. Foote has a master’s degree in biology from ECU and is working on a doctorate.

The white-winged wood duck is one of the rarest at the park. Sylvan Heights owns all the white-winged wood ducks in captivity in North America and has birds on loan to 14 other institutions, he said. The species is native to southeast Asia and is notoriously difficult to survey due to its mottled black-and-white coloring and its preferred habitat.

“They really like these flooded forest environments, and they just disappear when people are trying to do surveys, and so they’re kind of hard to get a good gauge on … but that’s a tiny number of them,” he said. “In a bad year, they could just be gone.”

Foote’s research on the birds’ genome is aimed at better understanding health issues that affect them, such as avian tuberculosis.

“It really decreases their lifespan … and that’s affecting the longterm sustainability of the captive population, which is going to be a critical component to the future of this species,” Foote said.

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Dustin Foote, left, and Chris Balakrishnan examine a bird at Sylvan Heights Bird Park in 2017.

Birds from the wild have also been sequenced, and there’s an environmental monitoring component to explore external factors.

Because of the small global population, the species has limited genetic diversity, which could play a role, and the team is looking at how the birds are being raised and housed and how they might be exposed to the disease.

The genomic sequencing is also part of a larger project involving researchers all over the world and recently published in Nature.

“It’s a massive jump in the scale at which we sequence things, and we sequence them to understand where birds came from and what makes birds different from each other, how birds behave, and how to better conserve the bird species that we have,” said Chris Balakrishnan, associate professor in the Department of Biology. His lab has contributed six sequenced genomes, including Foote’s work on the white-winged wood duck, to the more than 250 genomes analyzed in the project.

– Jules Norwood

Carbon-fiber bridge coming to the coast While the entire bridge won’t be built of the black composite material, its use as a reinforcing component should reduce construction and maintenance costs while extending the life of the bridge.

That’s according to Amin Akhnoukh, an associate professor in ECU’s Department of Construction Management. He’s part of two research projects that could shape the way North Carolina builds bridges in the future.

Bridges have traditionally been built with steel rebar and concrete. However, a new replacement bridge that is planned to link Harkers Island to mainland Carteret County will be built using non-corroding, carbon fiberreinforced polymer strands instead of steel.

“There are a lot of corrosion issues for steel and a lot of concrete durability issues in the long term, so we are trying to design the first carbon fiber-reinforced bridge,” Akhnoukh said. “The sections will be smaller because carbon fiber sections are smaller than steel or concrete. It’s lighter, so there won’t be the need for heavy construction equipment. It’s safe in the long term because carbon fiber never corrodes.”

That’s especially important along the coast, where the marine environment can lead to expensive maintenance

costs and decrease the lifespan of bridges. The two bridges that link Harkers Island to the mainland are 45 years old. Sections of one of them, the Earl C. Davis Memorial Bridge, are mottled with rust stains.

The new high-rise bridge will be better structurally and will not need the repairs associated with corrosion in traditional steel-reinforced concrete, thus increasing the lifespan of the structure, Akhnoukh said.

Generally made from polyacrylonitrile, carbon fiber was invented in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1958. It’s strong, stiff and light and has been used to build everything from race cars to wedding bands.

“It’s stronger in the short term and better and more durable in the long term,” he said. “In general, it will be much better for the future. There will be lower maintenance costs.” Work on the grant is expected to start in August, correlating with the expected start of construction of the new $47.9 million bridge.

“This is a significant project for NCDOT because it will be our first complete structure reinforced with FRPs (fiber-reinforced polymer),” said Hon Yeung, project team lead for NCDOT. Akhnoukh is a co-principal investigator on the project, funded for $365,000 by the NCDOT, along with Rudolf Seracino, Mohammad Pour-Ghaz and Giorgio Proestos from N.C. State University.

In a separate grant, Akhnoukh is the principal investigator in a $208,992 grant through NCDOT to look at bridge drainage systems.

– Ken Buday

Amin Akhnoukh of the Department of Construction Management is part of a team looking at the use of carbon fiber in bridge construction. The replacement for the aging Earl C. Davis Memorial Bridge, left, on Harkers Island, will be the state’s first to use carbon fiber reinforcement.

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Focus

Alex Manda

Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences Professor of geological sciences

Alex Manda is seeking the source of saltwater intrusion in eastern North Carolina farmland.

A hydrogeologist and associate professor of geological sciences at East Carolina University, Manda wanted to know how hurricanes may have impacted farmers in the region. They were reporting increased salt in the soil that led to patches where crops wouldn’t grow. So two years ago, with the assistance of a $45,000 National Science Foundation RAPID grant, Manda and his students took field samples to identify the source of the salinity.

After his grant ended, Manda continued evaluating the saltwater intrusion with Stephen Moysey, geological sciences professor and director of the ECU Water Resources Center. To better understand the dynamics of the intrusion, they are mapping the extent of saltwater beneath a field in Hyde County.

“Saltwater intrusion is commonly mapped and monitored using a collection of wells outfitted with groundwater monitoring instrumentation like water level and salinity sensors. While this data is critical for saltwater intrusion studies, well measurements represent point data and can fail to capture the full complexity in subsurface salinity conditions,” Manda said.

To compensate, Manda and his team used electrical and electromagnetic tools to detect and delineate saltwater-intruded regions. These tools are “sensitive to changes in subsurface conductivity, often caused by changes in groundwater salinity,” he said.

Saltwater intrusion has been linked to sea level rise caused by climate change, but scientists aren’t sure how the salt winds up in fields. There are a few hypotheses, including wind pushing salt water from the area’s canals and ditches into farmland or storm surge events dumping salty water on agricultural land.

As a Fulbright scholar, in 2019 Manda spent eight months in his native Zambia studying the potential contamination of groundwater in the suburbs around the capital of Lusaka and was there again earlier this year.

– Lacey Gray

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Stanley R. Riggs, Harriot College Distinguished Professor and emeritus professor of geological sciences, has been awarded the Francis P. Shepard Medal for Marine Geology by the Society for Sedimentary Geology. The medal recognizes excellence in marine geology. Nominees have a sustained record of outstanding research contributions to marine geology or to other significant aspects of the field, such as geophysics, geobiology and geochemistry.

Angela Lamson, professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science, received the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy’s Outstanding Contribution to Marriage and Family Therapy Award for 2020. Lamson is program director for the ECU medical family therapy doctoral program and the marriage and family therapy master’s program.

George Wang, professor and chair of the Department of Construction Management, has been named the first Gregory Poole Equipment Company Distinguished Professor at ECU. This is the first year Poole has bestowed the honor.

Dr. Ogugua Ndili Obi, a pulmonologist, critical care physician and assistant professor of medicine at the Brody School of Medicine, was one of 26 recipients in 2020 to receive the Dogwood Award from N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein. The award recognizes North Carolinians who are dedicated to keeping people safe, healthy and happy in their communities.

Dr. Chelley Alexander,

Ron Mitchelson, who navigated ECU through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, received the Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year Award for 2020.

chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the Brody School of Medicine, has been elected president of the Association of Departments of Family Medicine.

She was elected during the group’s 2021 national meeting in February and previously served as treasurer and program chair for the ADFM board of directors. She will serve on the executive council in 2021 and then as past president for a year. east.ecu.edu

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STORY BY JULES NORWOOD

etween the Wright and Graham buildings, protected by a ring of holly bushes, stands an overlooked landmark older than any building on East Carolina University’s campus.

“Any picture that I’ve seen of the university dating all the way back to the turn of the century, that tree was in it,” says John Gill, grounds director. “We have a hedge around it to protect it, so you really don’t get how big it is until you actually walk in there and stand next to it.”

The loblolly pine, a personal favorite of Gill’s, is a highlight of the ECU Tree Trail, a mile-anda-half circular route through campus featuring 45 species of trees.

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The trees are identified with sequentially numbered plaques, and botanical information is provided in a printed brochure or through an interactive app.

These resources are the culmination of years of effort by a diverse group of faculty, staff, students and alumni, Gill says.

Key figures include biology professors Claudia Jolls and Carol Goodwillie, former ECU arborist Gene Stano, sustainability manager Chad Carwein, and alumnus Mike Bunting, among others. Graduate student Ashley Dow was instrumental in developing the interactive aspect of the trail, Gill says.

Bunting, an alumnus from Greensboro who passed away in August 2020, was known for attending every home football game for more than 50 years. He established a number of scholarships at ECU and wanted to do something on campus that would combine his love of ECU and of plants and landscaping.

With Bunting’s support and a visit to Elon University’s tree trail for inspiration, the team began to inventory trees, record GPS locations, and put together the descriptions, brochure and app.

The trail begins with an American holly in front of the Leo W. Jenkins Fine Arts Center and passes a majestic southern magnolia on its way toward Wright Plaza and the foot of College Hill, then leads back through the mall and the Student Memorial Garden. From flowering landscaping trees such as crape myrtle and cherry to stately shade trees such as oaks and elms, the trees add color and interest to the campus throughout the year with springtime blooms and brilliant fall foliage.

“I really think of the tree trail as just a giant outdoor classroom,” says Carwein. “(The app) will pull the location of your phone and tell you what tree you’re standing next to. And then when you click on it, it tells you about the species, whether it’s evergreen or deciduous, whether it’s native or not, and more.”

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Above left, Chad Carwein, left, and John Gill talk about the second tree on the ECU Tree Trail, a white oak. Above, this loblolly pine stands in Wright Plaza. One of the oldest trees on campus, it appears in some of the earliest photos and drawings of ECU.

ECU

l Tree Traei Guid ide tional gu An educa e campus of on th to trees iversity olina Un East Car

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ECU

Tree Trail Guide Above, an artist’s rendering from the early 1900s appears to have included the loblolly pine. The inset aerial photo of ECU’s campus shows the loblolly pine near Wright Auditorium, already a large tree in 1948.

(ECU archives)

Whether it’s a professor holding class outside, college students exploring their environment or grade schoolers visiting ECU’s campus, the trail offers an opportunity to learn and experience the outdoors while getting a little exercise, he says. Carwein suggests allowing an hour to walk the full trail and take a moment to learn about each tree, but with the app it’s easy to just pick out one or a few trees and learn a little bit more about them.

Initiatives like the tree trail and the arboretum in front of Jenkins, along with a concerted effort to care for existing trees and to replace any trees lost to disease, age or construction, have helped earn ECU the Tree Campus USA designation for five years running.

Carwein says a key part of the designation is student service-learning, and students have played an important role in studying and cataloging the trees on campus.

“We’re also talking about putting a second arboretum around Lake Laupus on the Health Sciences Campus,” he says.

In addition, a group of students in the Honors College has launched a crowdfunding effort called the Edible Landscape Initiative to establish an orchard so that students can have firsthand experiences in growing a sustainable food source for themselves and others.

FOR MORE INFO

To use the ECU Tree Trail web app, visit arcg.is/DaS11.

Established on 43 acres as East Carolina Teachers Training School in 1907, ECU’s campus has since grown to almost 1,600 acres. Through those years the university has fostered a commitment to environmental stewardship by protecting and preserving the valuable natural resources on campus.

Gill says he’s especially committed to reestablishing the tree canopy over Fifth Street.

“I remember coming in for my interview, and it was just so beautiful with the tree canopy over top of it, and it’s something you don’t see a whole lot of,” he says.

Many of the trees that formed the canopy grew between the sidewalk and the street — not the best place for a tree as it grows larger — and some have been lost. The grounds crew has planted a number of trees to replace them, but behind the hedge instead of next to the street.

“Eventually those trees will get big enough and fill in that canopy again,” Gill says.

The loblolly pine near Wright, along with the oak and pecan trees on the mall and many others, are as much a part of ECU as the fountain and the cupola. They’ve stood over campus as it has changed through the years as thousands of Pirates have passed from class to class, and now there’s a way to mark their place in history.

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Ariane Peralta places a soil sample in a bag at the VOA West Research Lot.

STORY BY MATT SMITH

ECU’S WEST RESEARCH CAMPUS PROVIDES EXCEPTIONAL RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES FOR FACULTY, STUDENTS An electrical hum roars through a nearly 600-acre site in western Pitt County, although it now powers microscopes and research labs instead of radio equipment.

Towering antennas dominate a pristine skyline, serving as landmarks for local wildlife instead of redirecting transmissions that formerly reached sites as far away as Cuba, South America and Europe.

The previous home of the Edward R. Morrow Transmitting Station — a control site for the U.S. government’s Voice of America initiative — has fulfilled a new purpose since East Carolina University leased the property in 2001.

The site, which at one point during its history served as a toxic waste dump, now brings research to life, as faculty and students from biology, engineering and geology congregate at ECU’s West Research Campus to answer the biggest environmental problems plaguing eastern North Carolina.

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Growing research “I’ll tell you one thing I think is really cool,” ECU biology professor Carol Goodwillie said while describing the campus. “There are at least three types of carnivorous plant species out there — pitcher plants, sundews and bladderworts. That’s not something I think many people get to encounter on their way to work.”

Instead of being surrounded by the buzzing of Greenville’s lively Uptown District or the cool shade of the campus mall, visitors to the West Research Campus are more likely to be greeted by knee-high grass, pollen and maybe a few unwelcome insects.

That’s just how Goodwillie and her biology students like it.

THIS SITE COULD BE A JEWEL IN ECU’S CROWN AND SOMETHING THAT WE FEATURE. ... THERE’S NO REASON IT CAN’T BE A MORE VALUABLE FACILITY AND PUBLIC RESOURCE IN THE FUTURE. – Carol Goodwillie, ECU biology professor

The architect of the campus’ longest running research project, Goodwillie leads an ecological study of the wetland plant community. For nearly 20 years, her lab has observed 96 permanently marked plots — within an experiment nearly the size of a football field — and identified, counted and catalogued every present plant species.

“When you’re studying ecological processes, you need to study them over a long period of time to see how things are playing out,” Goodwillie said. “We’re looking at the effects of fertilization and mowing on the plant community.”

Goodwillie said that human activities can unintentionally add nutrients from particulates from industrial pollution and fertilizer runoff into the environment.

“What we’ve found is that we’re losing plant diversity when we fertilize the plots through time,” Goodwillie said. “They contain fewer types of plants because certain species are better able to take up those nutrients, becoming ‘bully’ species that outcompete others.

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“It also turns out that a lack of wildfires reduces diversity as well. We need wildfires to keep the playing field level and wipe out strong competitors so that more species can exist.”

So how does this affect eastern North Carolina wetlands?

“We’re losing native wetland species,” Goodwillie said.

“When we inject nutrients into environments that are not built for it, we lose these species because other plants that were not designed to thrive in wetlands can now get a foothold and outcompete them.

“It’s a pattern that’s absolutely striking,” she said. “We’re seeing less and less of some of these quite beautiful and rare species found only in our wetlands.”

Engineering solutions

Helping preserve the region’s natural habitat is just what College of Engineering and Technology assistant professor Natasha Bell was built to do.

An ecological engineer, Bell works in a lab that identifies ways to use natural microbial and plant processes to provide clean water. Since these processes already exist in nature, they should be available to supply clean water with more ecofriendly solutions than traditional remediation methods.

“We need clean water, especially as our population grows,” Bell said. “That fueled my interest in how we can use sustainable, resilient practices to clean our water and not have to rely on methods that involve high energy use or high cost.”

Armed with a rudimentary greenhouse, a rainwater-fed pond, three bioreactor cells and six constructed wetland cells, Bell’s students are taking science out of the classroom and testing it in the field.

Above, Natasha Bell works with students at the West Research Campus. The class was working with wastewater management techniques.

Bell believes the data collected by her lab can help provide insights into the barriers that keep companies and other stakeholders from using ecological-based treatment technologies to clean water.

“The technologies we’re testing are great and there’s a lot of interest, but there are still many unanswered questions about how they function and how to maintain them,” Bell said. “Some stakeholders are hesitant to put in green technologies. My hope is that once we get the data and share it with the community, people will start putting these green infrastructure practices to use.”

Goodwillie sees great things for the future of the site.

“I’ve always had a dream that this site could be a jewel in ECU’s crown and something that we feature,” she said.

“How many campuses have a field site like this just eight miles from campus with all this potential? There’s no reason it can’t be a more valuable facility and public resource in the future.”

Crown jewel

What their projects have in common is the idea of integrating undergraduate students into their work at the West Research Campus.

ECU alumnus Matt Hodges, a Kinston native who graduated in 2020 with his master’s in biology, had a unique experience at the campus — as a student and a teacher.

“When I got to ECU my plan was to go into physical therapy,” Hodges said. “I took a general education course with Dr. Goodwillie. I thought it was something I’d just take for a credit.”

Hodges worked as a teaching assistant for Goodwillie last fall and was responsible for data collection at the research site.

“We had such a diverse group of students,” Hodges said. “Some looked like they hadn’t been outside since recess. However, within two days they’re out learning and identifying plant species and working together as a team toward a common goal.”

That diversity is a key component for the West Research Campus. With interdisciplinary scientists from various departments, the site provides a thriving space for researchers from multiple backgrounds.

“ECU doesn’t allow for researchers to stay in their silos,” Bell said. “There’s a collaborative feeling here. The West Research (Campus) is an example of that. It’s a physical representation of that Pirate spirit.”

Top, students learn about wastewater management techniques while at the West Research Campus. Above, graduate research assistant Joseph Weddington collects gas samples. east.ecu.edu

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Look around the country and you’ll find East Carolina alumni working with the land and the species that inhabit it to make the world a better place.

If a tree falls in the forest, Sammy Dormio ’17 probably hears it.

She is a lead forestry technician and silviculturist for the U.S. Forest Service, working in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest in Winchester, Virginia.

In her role, she’s a land manager of about 600,000 acres in the North Zone of the 1.8 million-acre forest.

She implements and monitors the restoration and reforestation of shortleaf pine trees, assists researchers with regeneration studies, coordinates volunteers and work crews, and collects data for future forest management.

“Silviculture is a sustainable way to grow and cultivate trees in order to manage the establishment, growth composition, health and quality of a forest,” Dormio says. “In other words, silviculture is an art just as much as it is a science.”

Dormio says a key element to the health of the forest is removal of non-native invasive species, such as tree of heaven, autumn olive, empress tree, multiflora rose, Japanese barberry and mile-a-minute. She says all have the potential to compete against native trees such as oak and yellow pine, thus changing the ecosystem of the forest.

The forest service uses herbicides in a safe way to combat the spread of NNIS. “From experience, we know that most NNIS are aggressive and will grow back with a vengeance if they are simply pulled out of the ground and left. Some NNIS even proliferate faster after being damaged,” she says.

“The forest service has been consistently working toward detecting and reducing the impact of NNIS on the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest North Zone ecosystems.”

Dormio came to ECU to obtain a master’s in ecology and evolutionary biology, drawn to Greenville for its program and research as well as its biodiversity.

“Basically, there are a ton of amazing amphibian, reptile, bird and tree species that I’d never seen before, and I was stoked,” says Dormio, who grew up in Leesburg, Virginia.

Sammy Dormio

Dormio says she felt at home at ECU, enjoying meals at the Mellow Mushroom.

She remembers a road trip to New Orleans to participate in a conference.

“The van wasn’t very comfortable at all, but the laughs we had can’t be matched. I made a lot of pretty great friends while pursuing my graduate degree,” she says.

She says teaching labs, working on research, writing grants and collaborating with some of the top minds in the field allowed her to grow.

“All in all, the experiences I had while attending ECU molded me into the person that I am today,” Dormio says. “If it wasn’t for this program, I most likely would not be working for the forest service right now.”

– Ken Buday east.ecu.edu

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Growing up on the family farm in the Rhems-Tuscarora community outside New Bern, Alvin Simmons ’80 loved watching bugs.

“The farm provided an environment that was essentially an encyclopedic view of the world of science, and entomology was one aspect,” he says in a recent email interview. Wasps and bees stung him, but their social behavior and value as pollinators fascinated him. Likewise the many flying and crawling insects that swarmed to the nighttime porch light and bonfires.

“I observed a lot of different types of insects in the different environments, and I recognized that some were pests, some were beneficials, some are economically insignificant, and some were just beautiful,” he says.

Simmons took that love for insects and turned it into a career. After graduating from ECU with a biology degree, he enrolled at the University of Kentucky, earning master’s and doctoral degrees. Since 1992, he has worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a research entomologist in Charleston, South Carolina. He specializes in insects that impact vegetables. He’s also an adjunct faculty member at Clemson University and the College of Charleston.

He’s written or co-written 104 refereed journal articles, plus book chapters, coreleased five breeding lines and provided more than 300 technical reports resulting in over 200 pesticide labels. He has given invited talks at numerous professional conferences and has traveled to 30 countries.

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One insect he focuses on today is the global pest Bemisia tabaci, the sweetpotato whitefly, and its associated natural enemies. It feeds on many crops and transmits many viruses and demonstrates there are more questions about climate change than answers.

“Based on research by other scientists, this whitefly has already demonstrated its ability to develop resistance to several types of insecticides,” he says, indicating it may be more adaptable to stress than other insects, and thus more adaptable to climate change.

But that’s not all.

“Mild winters favor population increases of whiteflies in the spring, while cold winters may limit their ability to survive. Frequent overhead irrigation or frequent rainfall events can have adverse effects on whitefly populations by physically killing some of the insects. There are other factors such as competition among pests for food that may affect either insect population in a climate change environment. Many questions remain about the direct impact that climate change has on food plants and ornamental crops.”

In 2016, Simmons co-chaired the International Congress of Entomology, which was the largest-ever gathering of

Alvin Simmons examines a whitefly in his USDA laboratory in Charleston, South Carolina.

entomologists with nearly 7,000 delegates from 101 countries attending. In 2019, his peers elected him president of the Entomological Society of America.

“I look back with appreciation for the ESA governing board in working with me in leading ESA on improving members’ diversity, inclusion and equality, as 2020 provided an opportunity for this society to focus on being a society of entomology for all.” Simmons says. “Interacting with subject experts from across America and around the world regarding all entomological subjects was priceless.”

– Doug Boyd

The library at ECU was where I first put my hands on an entomology journal.

Interacting with members of the ECU Biology Club was the start of my interaction with others in science, outside of the classroom; I now interact with others in assorted fields of science during each workday.

When it comes to protecting species, Beth Chester ’92 wings it.

Working outside in Arizona in the summer where temperatures regularly exceed 100 degrees is not most people’s idea of a dream job. But Chester, a wildlife biologist, is not most people.

On a typical day in the field, Chester is surrounded by the grassland valleys, mesquite trees and desert scrub of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge near Tucson, which aims to reintroduce the endangered masked bobwhite quail into nature. The small reddish-brown bird is iconic to the area, yet wild populations no longer exist in the U.S. “They would likely still be there if not for the impact humans have had on the landscape,” Chester says. “I think of them as an umbrella species; if you make things good for the quail, you’re also making things good for so many other native species.”

Beth Chester

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If you’re going to be doing something 40 hours a week for the rest of your life, it might as well be something you enjoy. ... I think ECU gave me a really broad biology education. The department was wellrepresented in different subject areas and had really good professors.

Top, Beth Chester works at the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge near Tucson. Above, the male masked bobwhite foster parent sits with his adopted brood of captive-bred masked bobwhite chicks, bonding before release into the wild.

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An outdoorsy career was not always part of Chester’s plan. For a long time, the Greenville native thought she’d go to medical school at the Brody School of Medicine. After graduating from ECU in 1992 with a biology degree, she got a job as a technician in a Brody lab and spent her weekends doing service activities with the local Sierra Club. That’s when she realized an indoor job was not for her.

“If you’re going to be doing something 40 hours a week for the rest of your life, it might as well be something you enjoy,” Chester says. So, she went back to ECU for her master’s in biology, this time with a plant and animal focus. “I think ECU gave me a really broad biology education. The department was well-represented in different subject areas and had really good professors,” she said. For her thesis, she worked with Carol Goodwillie, associate professor of biology, investigating the plant community at ECU’s West Research Campus (see page 22).

From there, Chester’s career took her west to Colorado, Utah and Wyoming to survey rare plant species, then to Texas to protect the Attwater’s prairie chicken for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “They are such comical birds and fun to watch,” Chester says. (And they have an elaborate courtship dance worthy of the Discovery Channel.)

For the last four years, Chester has been stationed at the Buenos Aires refuge in Arizona as part of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Southwest Region Biological Sciences Division. She returns to Greenville at least once a year to see friends and family, and to check in with Goodwillie from time to time. Between visits, you can usually find her outside – with sunscreen, sunglasses and lots of water.

– Erin Ward

D.R. Bryan

D.R. Bryan ’75 builds for today and the future.

It was a seat in Professor Stan Riggs’ geology class at ECU that helped pique Bryan’s interest on the way to his career as a real estate developer.

“I did not have a defined career path or a predetermined major when I began at ECU. So I floundered a bit,” Bryan said. “I took a wide variety of classes. Some, like the geology class with Dr. Riggs, I enjoyed more than others.”

Bryan ’75 owns and operates Bryan Properties in Chapel Hill, a full-service real estate development company he founded in 1984. One of three principals in the firm, Bryan focuses on the management of nonresidential properties. He once credited the geology class with helping him better understand land development.

The company has developed more than a dozen neighborhoods — with more than 5,000 single-family and 600 multifamily homes and about 350,000 square feet of commercial space — primarily in the Triangle and Triad, as well as the Charlotte area. It is one of the largest residential developers in North Carolina. It’s also a major land conservationist.

I did not have a defined career path or a predetermined major when I began at ECU. So I floundered a bit. I took a wide variety of classes. Some, like the geology class with Dr. Riggs, I enjoyed more than others.

Fran Bryan ’90, D.R. Bryan’s wife, has served on the ECU Foundation board for eight years and on the Honors College Advancement Council for the last four years. The Bryans are also generous donors to ECU who support Access and Honors College scholarships.

“We think that it is important to give back and to help today’s students in whatever way that we can,” he said.

He and his wife aren’t the only Pirates in the family.

His daughter and son-in-law received master’s degrees from ECU. At ECU, D.R. Bryan earned a bachelor’s degree in correctional services in the School of Social Work. After graduation, he worked for Pitt County at a residential treatment program for autistic and schizophrenic children.

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He later worked in Rocky Mount for Mickey Dawson, an innovative developer. “From him, I developed an interest in real estate development,” Bryan said.

After six years, Bryan decided to study law and earned his Juris Doctor degree from Wake Forest University.

In fact, Bryan was studying law at the same time he founded his company.

Bryan has seen many changes in residential development over the past 35 years. When he started, there were few if any amenities built with new neighborhoods, he said. Eventually, activity centers and gathering places within walking distance of homes were added. Recent projects feature streetscapes to replicate early 20th century neighborhoods.

Bryan Properties has received numerous awards including Business Conservationist of the Year in 2006 by the North Carolina Wildlife Federation for the Treyburn development north of Durham.

More than 10 years ago, Bryan partnered with the Triangle Land Conservancy to conserve almost 1,300 acres at the headwaters of Falls Lake near Treyburn. The agreement helped protect water quality, extend wildlife habitat corridors, reconnect elements of the Stagville state historic site and preserve part of the historic Indian Trading Path.

Before any soil was turned, developers shared a design charrette for their vision and to learn what community stakeholders envisioned for the Treyburn property, Bryan said.

“One of the ideas from the charrette was to conserve most of Horton Grove (the property adjacent to Stagville),” he said. “And that’s what we did.”

– Crystal Baity

Adam Bachmeier ’14 keeps the turf green and the water clean at Bald Head Island Club.

Running a golf course on a sandy oceanfront carries its own set of challenges. For Bachmeier, just getting to work can be one.

“This morning the fog was so thick on the river, the first boat to the island got about three-quarters of the way here and had to turn around,” he says one midwinter afternoon. But, he added, “there’s definitely worse commutes.”

Bachmeier is the golf course superintendent at the Bald Head Island Club, which Business North Carolina recently ranked No. 44 in the state. He puts his ECU business degree to work managing a $1.65 million operations budget and about 100 acres of land, including the 18-hole golf course and croquet greenswards.

Bachmeier, 36, took a winding path to the southeastern N.C. coast. He was born in North Dakota, moved to Indiana, back to North Dakota, then enrolled in Minnesota State University Moorhead to study landscape architecture.

“My best friend and I decided to relocate to somewhere more conducive to year-round golf,” he says. That somewhere was Winston-Salem, where he worked in the golf shop at Forsyth Country Club. Then he moved to Wilmington and the golf course staff at Eagle Point Golf Club, earned an associate’s degree in

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There were times (remote learning) was difficult. ... I really think it helps with what you’re going to experience in real life. You have to rely on yourself. It helps instill that work ethic. environmental sciences from Cape Fear Community College and worked his way up to senior assistant superintendent. He took the head job at Bald Head Island Club in 2016.

When he was thinking about continuing his education, one of his mentors at Eagle Point told him once he became a superintendent he would deal more with the business end of running a golf course than the agronomic end. East Carolina offered the best opportunity, he says.

Adam Bachmeier ’14 and course dog Django look after the land and the water at the 18-hole Bald Head Island Club on the southeast N.C. coast.

“The access to online classes for a bachelor’s degree,” Bachmeier says of why he chose ECU. “There were times it was difficult,” he says, coming home after a long, hot day then logging on for class. But the remote learning and collaboration worked. “I really think it helps with what you’re going to experience in real life. You have to rely on yourself. It helps instill that work ethic.”

Last year, COVID-19 led to the course being shut down in March and April. It reopened with best practices — such as removing commonly touched items such as bunker rakes and flagsticks and limiting golf carts to a single rider each — and experienced its best year ever, with more than 34,000 rounds played. That was a 40% increase over 2019, Bachmeier says.

Being on the coast brings some agronomic challenges. The reclaimed water he uses for irrigation has a high bicarbonate content, which interferes with plant nutrient uptake. It’s also alkaline, with

a pH of 7.6-7.8. The sandy soil allows water and fertilization to quickly leach through. Thus, he uses low doses of fertilizer and water and educates golfers about the benefits of not having lush, soft turf. He also works closely with the state Division of Water Quality and local utilities to help manage the island’s reclaimed irrigation water program. Due to the course being near the ocean and Cape Fear River, protecting groundwater is a priority.

“Dry, off-color turf doesn’t mean maintenance oversight,” he says. “It’s actually leading to the industry standard of firm, fast conditions. Those conditions really have some benefits for the environment.”

– Doug Boyd

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Mark Scott ’10 farms 1,400 acres with his family in northern Pitt County.

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STORY BY DOUG BOYD

From breeding plants to growing crops to putting food on your table, ECU alumni are in the field It’s mid-morning on a hot April day in the Belvoir community of northern Pitt County, and Mark Scott ’10 has already put in several hours working his family’s 1,400 acres of farmland. He’s just planted corn and tobacco seedlings fill greenhouses at the farm, where he and his father and brothers also grow cotton, soybeans and peanuts.

“It’s a lot of work, a lot of hours,” he says. “It’s a good life, but it’s a challenging life.” So goes the profession of producing food and other products from the earth. That’s where ECU comes in.

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Above, Mark Scott plants corn in a no-till field. Right, he inspects tobacco seedlings in a greenhouse.

Generally speaking, East Carolina University isn’t a school that produces farmers. But in recent years, it has been a school that produces better farmers.

While Scott grew up on the land, he says his construction management curriculum provided valuable tools when it comes to running the family business and managing employees.

Likewise, Stacy Thomas ’00 comes from a family that grows 14,000 acres of sweet potatoes and other vegetables in Greene County. She used her business degree to help lead that operation and then founded spinoff companies to use sweet potatoes that were not large enough or the right color to go into grocery stores.

The companies, Natural Blend Vegetable Dehydration and Glean, produce purees that can be turned into products such as baby food and dehydrated vegetables that can be turned into flour, healthful snacks, pet food and more.

The family also began distilling sweet potatoes into vodka. Covington Spirits is named for the North Carolina-bred variety of sweet potato they grow.

“The funny thing is Greene County was a dry county up until about a year ago,” Thomas says.

“But everyone was very supportive of us making the product there.”

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Boosting family farms

Sitting in the middle of eastern North Carolina farm country, it made sense in 2018 when ECU partnered with N.C. State University to start a program in executive farm management aimed at large family farms. Since then, Clemson University and the University of Georgia have joined the effort.

Sharon Justice, a teaching instructor in the management department of the College of Business, helps lead the program for ECU. She grew up working and playing on her grandfather’s farm in the Black Jack community of Pitt County.

“We don’t have someone standing up, and it’s death by PowerPoint,” she said of the executive farm management program. “We focus on innovation. The agriculture industry has got to innovate to remain vibrant and viable.

That’s what this program kind of birthed out of.”

They work with farmers from as far away as Texas on entrepreneurship, management and human resources, which is Justice’s specialty. That’s a vital area as farmers figure out how to pass on their operations.

“If you want to know how to successfully run an organization…then, undoubtedly, we have the program to help you. ECU is a leader in these programs and resources.”

FOR MORE INFO

Students partner with nonprofit to explore canning business.

Read more at bit.ly/3rops37.

Thomas is on ECU’s advisory board for the program. “As farmers we’ve got to get better at what we’re doing,” she says.

Agriculture is a $92.7 billion part of the North Carolina economy, according to Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler’s annual state of agriculture speech in February. The state has 8.4 million acres planted in soybeans, corn, sweet potatoes, cotton and other crops, as well as millions of hogs, poultry and pork processing and food manufacturing.

North Carolina is still the largest tobacco-producing state in the land, with 234.7 million pounds, or 50% of the U.S. total. North Carolina also leads in poultry and egg receipts and sweet potatoes and is in the top three in hogs and pigs, according to the latest statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Agriculture employs a fifth of the state’s workforce, Troxler said, and is on the cusp of becoming a $100 billion industry in terms of economic impact.

ECU is uniquely positioned to contribute to that economic impact.

“I agree that ECU is a place where graduates can get a good job in agricultural endeavors,” said Randall Etheridge, an assistant professor of engineering who has a degree in biological and agricultural engineering. “For example, students in the environmental engineering concentration are prepared to design drainage and irrigation systems that increase crop yields and promote sustainable use of water. Students in the bioprocess engineering concentration have the capability of turning the raw agricultural products into fuels, pharmaceuticals and food.”

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 60-70% of the sweet potatoes grown in the U.S. are grown in North Carolina. The official state vegetable, sweet potatoes have an estimated annual economic impact of $170 million and are responsible for about 5,000 jobs in the state. And regardless of the brand name or common name, they are sweet potatoes. Yams are a completely different plant grown primarily in Africa.

If you want to know how to successfully run an organization… then, undoubtedly, we have the program to help you. ECU is a leader in these programs and resources.

– Sharon Justice, ECU College of Business

Sharon Justice helps lead the Executive Farm Management program. Learn more about it at bit.ly/3riDrHi. east.ecu.edu

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Clockwise from top, Mark Clough ’96 ’98 holds NC1216 and NC1217 potato tubers in a greenhouse at the Vernon James research farm near Plymouth. Tenita Solanto ’09 sells produce from her Green Panda Farms. Angela DeCuzzi ’04 prepares salads at her Locovore Kitchen.

Potatoes and produce

But it’s not just helping farmers be better managers. ECU graduates are also breeding better crops. Just ask Mark Clough ’96 ’98.

He grew up spending springs and summers planting and harvesting potatoes on his uncle’s farm in Tyrrell County.

“Spring break at ECU always corresponded with potato planting season,” he says. “A lot of spring breaks would be spent on the back of a potato planter. I hated agriculture and decided when I was 17 I wanted nothing to do with agriculture, but God has other plans for us.”

Clough now lives in Tyrrell County and works at the Vernon James Agricultural Research Center in Plymouth, where he’s an expert in breeding potatoes. They’re planted in March and harvested during an eightweek window in June and July.

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There’s so much that goes into any business, not just agriculture. Whatever your degree is doesn’t have to pigeonhole you. People can do whatever they want if they have the drive to learn.

– Angela DeCuzzi ’04, owner of Locovore online farmers market and delivery service

FOR MORE INFO

For more than 20 years, ECU has also been producing safer farms and farmers. Visit the ECU-based N.C. Agromedicine Institute at ncagromedicine.org.

Knowledge is transferable. There are a lot of opportunities in agriculture.

– Stacy Thomas ’00, agribusiness leader

Clough says potatoes with a skin that’s too dark in other parts of the country are good for eastern Carolina, where the pigment diminishes in the heat and humidity. Once while walking through a breeder’s field in Maine, Clough noticed a potato with a deep purple skin and yellow flesh. The breeder wanted to discard it because of its color, but Clough had other ideas.

“I said to my boss we need to save that for East Carolina,” he says.

“I wanted it to be Pirate Gold. The breeder, she was adamant it be called Peter Wilcox (after a former mentor). It does very well in eastern North Carolina. The name is horrible.”

And while alumni such as Thomas and Scott are overseeing large acreages and big businesses, at the other end are microgrowers such as Tenita Solanto ’09 and Angela DeCuzzi ’04. After leaving the Navy, Solanto earned an online degree in business education and began information technology work in the corporate world.

In 2016, she attended an Urban Farming Seminar at the 2016 Minority Landowners Conference sponsored by Fayetteville State University, planning to show farmers how to use digital systems to manage production. She left with a new plan.

“Literally that day when I went home, I started trying to learn more about farming and begin the process of teaching myself about how to farm,” she says in a recent N.C. State podcast about veterans in farming.

Thus started Green Panda Farms in a spare room she turned into a grow room producing microgreens — the stems and first two leaves of vegetables often used in salads.

The next year she received a grant to buy and restore a 1,200-square-foot building in Siler City. Now, Solanto produces more than 20 varieties of microgreens from floor to ceiling, selling directly to customers such as The Root Cellar in Chapel Hill and Pittsboro.

DeCuzzi and her husband, Titas Boucher ’06, started thinking about how to grow produce following one of Professor Arunus Juska’s sociology classes about food in rural areas and the need to grow local.

“It all kind of clicked,” said DeCuzzi, “that this is something we need to do more of. The local food market was really starting to pick up.”

She and Boucher started Locovore in 2010, an online farmers market and delivery service. In 2014, they began producing microgreens, root vegetables, Asian turnips and greens at a small farm near Washington, selling to restaurants in Beaufort and neighboring counties. That evolved into selling value-added products such as salads and opening Locovore Kitchen, where they make and sell prepared meals.

DeCuzzi grew up on her family’s farm that’s off N.C. 903 in southern Pitt County and was home to the area’s first pick-your-own farm, Dewsberry Patch. Their long-term goal is to move back and go into broader vegetable production. “We would like to do more organic farming and be more stewards of the land,” she says.

Though a sociology degree didn’t teach her how to farm, she said it did teach her to look for solutions to problems. “There’s so much that goes into any business, not just agriculture,” she says. “Whatever your degree is doesn’t have to pigeonhole you. People can do whatever they want if they have the drive to learn.”

“Knowledge is transferable,” adds Thomas. “There are a lot of opportunities in agriculture.”

Other ECU alumni who work in agriculture James Bolding ’77 Cary, N.C. Partner/owner, AgChemical.com, which sells fertilizers, pesticides and other products to farmers

Nick Genty ’05 ’07 Raleigh, N.C. Co-founder of AgEYE, an artificial intelligence company that uses technology to diagnose and correct conditions inside indoor vertical farms

Eric Hopkins ’87 Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Vice president, Hundley Farms, a producer of sweet corn, sugar cane and other vegetables and livestock

Cristina Meilicke ’04 ’05 Paraguay Soybean operations lead/marketing with Bayer Crop Science

east.ecu.edu

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STORY BY ERIN WARD

Class takes on Hollywood’s portrayal of epic disasters How do you stop a gigantic asteroid from hitting Earth? If you’re in a Hollywood movie, you fly into space and detonate a nuclear bomb. When Earth’s molten core stops rotating?

Nuke that, too. Doomsday comet? Nuke! (With a crack team of dashing scientists, of course.) Natural disasters lend themselves to big-budget films, but how accurate is the science? Professor Eduardo Leorri asks just that question. His introductory geology class is so cool it might make you wish that you were a student again. Here’s a sneak peek at GEOL 1010.

You’re taking: Geology Goes to Hollywood: Natural Disasters Your professor is: Eduardo Leorri, associate

professor in the East Carolina University Department of Geological Sciences Your classroom time will be spent: Watching

films, video tutorials and documentaries to understand geological concepts and processes, with special emphasis on earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and hurricanes. You’ll watch blockbusters such as Armageddon, Deep Impact, San Andreas and The Core, which will be followed by a discussion of their scientific accuracy. The course will focus on how science is perceived in Hollywood films and the real, rather than fictional, societal impacts of geological processes.

“This is an introductory course, and I wanted to do something more engaging than lectures that also showed students the societal value of the science,” Leorri said. “Using movies shows how natural disasters affect all of us. It’s a visual medium that relies less on textbooks.”

A lot of the time, the science in movies is junk, Leorri said, but not always. Deep Impact, for example, is one of the better depictions of cinematic 40

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catastrophe, he said. “I’m not sure nuking a comet will work, but the other science was pretty accurate based on what we knew at the time,” Leorri said, noting the size and surface of the comet as well as its impact in the ocean are plausible.

You’ll learn about: How geological scientists

approach problems, conduct research and report their findings. You’ll also discuss the impact of the geological sciences on our own and others’ cultures.

You’ll leave the class with: The ability to

think critically when exposed to information. “I hope that after this class, when students see or read something, even if it’s not science-related, they’ll be able to stop and think, ‘Does this make sense?’” Leorri said.

What they say: PROFESSOR LEORRI’S CLASS ALLOWS US TO STUDY GEOLOGY BY SEEING HOW IT IS PORTRAYED BY HOLLYWOOD WHILE ALSO LEARNING THE REALITIES OF THE SCIENCE. IT’S A FUN AND UNIQUE WAY TO INCLUDE POP CULTURE IN OUR EDUCATION. – Anna McMillan, sophomore psychology major

BY ERIN WARD

A

E

B

C

Can you pass this rocks and minerals quiz?

D

F

Rocks and minerals are some of the most fascinating and valuable resources on earth. We tapped Adriana Heimann, associate professor of geological sciences, for help creating this quiz that ranges from rocks common in the earth’s surface to minerals that can be cut and polished into dazzling gems. How many are you familiar with? Pencils ready!

I

1. Amethyst ___ 2. Basalt ___ 3. Beryl ___ 4. Emerald ___ 5. Galena ___ 6. Granite ___ J

7. Halite ___ 8. Magnetite ___ 9. Obsidian ___ 10. Pyrite ___ 11. Quartz ___ 12. Ruby ___ K

H

L

ANSWERS: 1-K, 2-A, 3-F, 4-J, 5-H, 6-B, 7-D, 8-E, 9-L, 10-I, 11-C, 12-G

G

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STUDENT SNAPSHOT

Matt Harrup

Hometown: Brussels, Belgium Major: Coastal resources management doctoral student Career goals: To become an archaeologist

East Carolina University student Matt Harrup wasn’t looking for a tavern. However, when he found one, he dug right in.

In 2018, Harrup was part of a team of ECU archaeology students under Professor Charles Ewen exploring Brunswick Town, an 18th-century town in southeastern North Carolina. Team members used ground penetrating radar in what was believed to be an empty lot, according to a map from 1769, when they discovered the remnants of a tavern no one knew existed.

“Something resembling a large structure showed up on the GPR, and it was much deeper than other structures there,” Harrup said. “We put in a few exploratory units and quickly realized we had something significant.

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“It’s what archaeologists hope for. Almost as exciting as the discovery is that it’s completely intact and the amount of data that has been recovered. It’s a true picture of colonial life.”

He credits the entire team for their work on the project, including fellow students Kimberly Byrnes, Brandon Eckert, Adam Pohlman and Mackenzie Mulkey. “Archaeology is a team sport,” he said.

Harrup said the COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted work at the site, but about half of it has been excavated, resulting in the recovery of about 24,000 artifacts.

Already with a master’s in anthropology from ECU, Harrup is seeking his doctoral degree in coastal resources management and plans to become an archeologist. He expects to graduate this summer.

“I don’t think there is a better educational value than ECU,” he said.

Read more about the Brunswick Town tavern in the fall 2019 issue of East at east.ecu.edu.

– Ken Buday

5 minutes with

ADAM WOLFF ’13

By Ken Buday

Occupation: Assistant project manager for Archer Western Construction Degree: Bachelor of science, construction management Hometown: Winston-Salem

What are your job responsibilities?

I manage all of the day-to-day activities on the I-77 rehab project. I work closely with superintendents to schedule our daily activities on site and supervise the engineer staff in the office.

Describe what it’s like to work with the earth to build a major roadway.

There’s nothing quite like working on a massive earthwork project. Every day that goes by you can look back and see what has been accomplished as the scenery changes.

When working on a major highway or other large earthwork project, you are truly turning nothing into something in a short span of time.

Was there a class, professor or experience you had at ECU that helped lead you to where you are today?

Every professor I studied underneath not only took the curriculum that they were teaching seriously, but they truly cared about their students in terms of assisting

with networking and procuring employment after graduation. I truly believe that their personal approach to assisting every student has led to the university producing some of the most qualified new grads in the construction industry in terms of interpersonal communication and management skills.

We want to hear stories from alumni about how their experiences at ECU shaped them today and how they pass those lessons to others.

Send us an email at easteditor@ecu.edu.

Anything else to add?

Your time spent at East Carolina is something to be cherished, but it is just the beginning.

I’ve worked on some of the biggest construction projects in the world and lived up and down the East Coast pursuing my career aspirations. ECU gives you all the tools to succeed and become whoever you want to be no matter how big or small your dreams are. When you graduate, it’s impossible to know the destinations that life will take you along the way. Just make sure that at every stop in your journey you tell people that you’re a Pirate from East Carolina, because that means something.

east.ecu.edu

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PIRATE NATION

Anna Partna ’07 and Erin Younge ’15 introduce salt into a wood kiln as part of the salt-glazing process.

‘LISTEN TO THE FLAME’ A return to Estonia this year gave potter Anne Pärtna ’07 time to explore and try new materials she hopes will soon lead to an art show.

Pärtna had a monthlong international residency — her first — at ARS Ceramics Center in the northeastern European country that juts into the Baltic Sea, where she grew up on a small family farm.

Because of the timeframe and COVID-19 restrictions, she wasn’t able to teach, but she worked with other artists at the center. She also gave an online lecture to students at her alma mater, the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA), and to Estonian Ceramists Union members about life in Seagrove, where she and her husband own and operate Blue Hen Pottery.

“It’s good for an artist to occasionally work in a completely different setting,” Pärtna said. “It can take you in new directions, open you up to new possibilities.”

Pärtna first came to ECU for a semester in 1998 through an exchange program as an undergraduate ceramics student at EKA. At the time, ECU art professors took groups of students to the Baltic States, Finland and St. Petersburg, Russia, for an immersive cultural exchange and art experience. Pärtna met an ECU professor, who encouraged her to come to ECU. “It was not easy to do all the paperwork, get the proper documents in order and raise the money, but somehow I managed,” she said.

In 2004, Pärtna was accepted to ECU’s ceramics graduate program, where she also met her husband, Adam Landman. After graduation, both were offered internships at the newly opened STARworks arts organization and gallery in the town of Star, where Landman is project manager.

Pärtna and Landman settled nearby in Seagrove, known for generations of pot makers. Their studio is named for the road where their family

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and career began. They’ve also kept chickens for more than 10 years.

“ECU feels like home to me. I can say that I grew up there in a way. And my children spent their early years attending wood firings and iron pours at ECU, so we all have fond memories and feel like our teachers and peers were our extended family,” Pärtna said.

Beyond the wheel, her favorite part of making pottery is the firing of the stoneware, although it requires a lot of work — cutting, splitting and stacking the wood, preparing and loading the kiln, and the continuous stoking of wood that can take several days, she said.

“I have to slow down and pay full attention, be in tune with the kiln and the environment, listen to the flame,” Pärtna said. “Pottery in general keeps you humbled, and the wood-firing process especially so. Sometimes you have mediocre or even bad results, sometimes a shelf breaks and you lose a lot of work. But when it’s good, it can be amazing — the path of flame recorded on the surfaces, each piece unique, never to be repeated again exactly the same way.”

— Crystal Baity

GROWIN’ GREEN Houston Hinson ’02, owner of Carybased Carolina Turf Organic Lawn Care, will tell you three key influences shaped his company and career: his son Houston III, a book and his College of Business education.

Together, those led Houston to redesign his lawn care business into an organic model that now has more than 1,000 customers and plans to add Charlotte to his Research Triangle, Triad and Cape Fear markets.

Like his son, Hinson loved being outdoors. He grew to love it more after his family moved from New Jersey to North Carolina. Gone were the days of being snowbound and inside due to the weather. “I loved being outside during Thanksgiving and playing basketball in shorts,” says Hinson. As a kid, he also loved to mow lawns and play baseball, which he eventually played at Methodist University before enrolling at ECU to continue his education.

From 1998 to 2002, he learned about the basics of accounting, entrepreneurship, finance, planning and other key areas that would prove helpful when he was let go from his sales job in 2008.

To help pay off his student loans, he took a job working at a restaurant at night and then leaned on a book he was reading at the time, 48 Days to the Work You Love, by Dan Miller.

“In the book, he talked about doing things that you love for extra money,” says Hinson. “So, I thought to myself, ‘Hey. I always loved to cut grass.’”

With a borrowed lawnmower, string-trimmer and leaf blower, Hinson proceeded to build a lawn care business to 66 customers in just a few months.

“I’ve always had the entrepreneurial itch,” he says.

Houston Hinson ’02 treats a lawn with an organic spray. See more at carolinaturfinc.com.

Student loans started disappearing, but as he began to get, as he calls it, “wore down,” things got messy.

“I was having problems with accounts receivable, and I wouldn’t say no to jobs,” says Hinson. “It was just all over the place.”

Fast forward to 2014 when, one day, Hinson was watching his son run and crawl around the family yard.

“There were different yard products I applied to our yard weeks prior, and I knew there were safety questions about some of those products,” says Hinson. “I wanted to look at different alternatives.”

He also decided to reset his business into one specializing in organic lawn care.

“I eliminated all of my customers except for five,” says Hinson. It was at this point he leaned on his COB days.

“I learned in the College of Business that if you’re running a company, it’s better to grow slower than it is quick,” he says.

While his crews stay busy, he continues to test new organic products and have the confidence of knowing his customers can feel safe having their children and pets play in their yards.

– Michael Rudd

STAY IN TOUCH WITH

From wedding, engagement and birth announcements to job promotions, creative projects, travel and fun, learn what’s happening in the professional and personal lives of East Carolina University® alumni.

share your story at

piratealumni.com

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PIRATE SPIRIT

Untapped Potential QUIETLY CONFIDENT GORE PACKS BLAZING SPEED When Nyah Gore was recruited

by East Carolina University sprints coach Udon Cheek, he learned she had been involved in many activities in high school, including ROTC and martial arts.

That’s a good thing, but it meant her performance on the track — where she was already competing at a high level — was mostly natural;

Nyah Gore

Year: Freshman Major: Anthropology Hometown: Evans, Georgia

I LOVE BEING ABLE TO RUN WITH AND COMPETE AGAINST NEW AND INCREDIBLY TALENTED PEOPLE EVERY TIME I COMPETE.

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she hadn’t received the specialized training typical of the sport.

“I could tell that she had a ton of speed that she had yet to display,” Cheek says. “You could particularly see this in relay races where you’d see her chase front runners down from considerable distances. I honestly don’t believe she has any idea how good she could actually be.”

Already an AllAmerican who competed in the 4x400meter relay in the AAU Junior Olympics, placing sixth, Gore is now getting that training with the track and field team at ECU, and the sky’s the limit.

Cheek says she has a quiet confidence and is a well-rounded student with an appreciation for art and exploring ideas through drawing.

Gore says she’s drawn to the diversity of opportunity in the field of anthropology. As a freshman, she hasn’t quite pinned down her career but is interested in biological and forensic anthropology. At ECU, she says she has learned to ask for help.

“As hard as it may be, there is always someone around who is willing to do whatever it takes to help you if you need it,” she says.

That openness to help and coaching could make her one of the best sprinters ECU has ever had, according

Each of Gore’s tattoos means something, such as the starting gun on her right bicep.

to Cheek. “Stay tuned,” he says. “She’s going to be special.”

She’s also excited for the chance to compete against new and talented athletes every time she hits the track.

Whether she’s running or learning, Gore says her parents are her biggest inspiration.

“I take joy in seeing their happiness and excitement while seeing me run and knowing that they are proud and will support me through my entire journey,” she says.

– Ken Buday

Home field advantage ECU’s athletics grounds crew key to team success

By Erin Ward “I love the challenge of working through obstacles such as weather and field traffic to deliver the best field possible.

I enjoy having the ability to bring value to what our coaches, team and fans see because it is a direct result of my team’s hard work, creativity and dedication.

There are a lot of long hours put in by our team and having pride in our work is fulfilling.”

Joey Perry (right) Director of Athletics Grounds

FOR MORE INFO

Read more from Joey Perry online at east.ecu.edu.

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East magazine

“Honestly I wanted to be on the East Carolina grounds crew because I thought it would be a good opportunity to be more involved in the athletics department. It’s nice having a backstage pass into how athletics operates and getting to experience everything from a perspective not many people have the opportunity to see. Of course, not everything is perfect, and there are some parts of the job I don’t enjoy – like picking up leaves almost every day.”

Matthew Morgan (above) Senior, grounds crew intern

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Horizons CHANGING LIVES, CHANGING COMMUNITIES

By Erin Ward

Blake Butcher Hometown: Pantego Major: Geology with a concentration in environmental geology Career goals: Work in the mining or groundwater industry Scholarships: Bob VanGundy Field Course Scholarship, C.Q. Brown Scholarship for the Best Rising Senior

What do you like most about your major?

I think what interests me most about my major is how much there is to learn. I’ve never been to a geology class and not learned something new that day. And the professors in the geology department are so supportive.

I did my geology field course virtually this year due to COVID-19, and it was difficult for me personally. The virtual learning has been quite a transition. I’m ready to get back into the classroom and out into the field again with some of the friends I’ve made at the geology department.

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What does receiving these scholarships mean to you?

These scholarships mean a lot to me in two different ways. Financially, they’ve allowed me to continue my education and buy extra geology books for my classes. Secondly, I didn’t “apply” for these scholarships; I was chosen by the professors in the geology department, and I was shocked when they told me. Their decision has given me confidence in my ability as a student and is one of the many reasons why I’ve applied to graduate school.

Donor spotlight: Bob VanGundy Bob VanGundy ’76 was a science education major at ECU but always felt most at home in the geology department. A scholarship was the reason VanGundy was able to attend ECU, and he established an endowment to provide a scholarship for future students. The Bob VanGundy Scholarship supports geology students taking summer field courses.

ecu.edu/give

PIRATE NATION GIVES INSPIRES 1,200 DONORS, RAISES $6.5 MILLION East Carolina University’s fifth annual Pirate Nation Gives fundraising day March 17 set records for the number of donors and amount raised.

The one-day, social media-driven campaign raised more than $6.5 million for the university, surpassing its goal of $3.2 million. It also met the goal of 1,200 unique donors. Last year’s event had 432 unique donors, making this year’s participation a 179% increase.

“It’s truly inspiring to see so many Pirates come together to be part of this day of giving,” said ECU Chancellor Philip Rogers.

“This success shows how small actions made by many people can have a huge impact. Thank you, Pirates.”

A number of universitywide and college-specific challenges encouraged giving with a competitive spirit. Bonus money was earned for challenges including the farthest away gift (New Zealand), most gifts (College of Business) and Pirate pet photo (awarded to a dog named Banks). A friendly competition between the Army and Air Force ROTCs led to the most student gifts. One donor increased his existing planned gift by $500,000, according to University Advancement.

Priorities for this year’s Pirate Nation Gives included student scholarships, pandemic response and research, and diversity and inclusion.

Alumnus Steven Wright ’78 created a giving challenge in honor of his mother, Ledonia Wright, a former ECU professor and namesake of the Ledonia Wright Cultural Center in the Main Campus Student Center. She dedicated her career to increasing opportunities for minority and underserved students at ECU. Steven Wright matched all gifts to the cultural center on Pirate Nation Gives up to $3,000.

Other gifts made during Pirate Nation Gives include the following: A $30,000 gift to the ECU Annual Fund from Oak Foundation to help the university respond to immediate and pressing financial needs.

A $5,000 gift to Beacon Scholarships from Matt ’96 and Kelly Slate.

A $21,000 gift for the College of Nursing from Jim ’63 and Selba ’64 Harris.

A faculty fellowship in the College of Business. Diana Haykto, chair of the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management, gave $25,000 for an unlocking challenge that was met thanks to donor support. The fellowship is in memory of her mother, Elizabeth Haytko.

A $10,000 gift to EC Scholars and a $10,000 gift to Access Scholarships were unlocked thanks to donors support and the generosity of Ken ’68 ’71 and Kay ’76 Chalk.

A $100,000 gift for medical scholarships from Tim Robinson ‘83 in honor of his parents, in addition to a $30,000 challenge gift for the Division of Health Sciences.

More information about ECU’s day of giving and a full list of champion donors is at ecu.edu/piratenationgives.

– Erin Ward

Steven Wright east.ecu.edu

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In Memoriam A LU M N I 1940s Doris Byerly ’46 of Pinehurst, N.C., on Dec. 25, 2020.

Ella C. Davis ’43 of Virginia Beach, Va., on Oct. 29, 2020.

Dixie S. Hart ’46 of Snow Hill, N.C., on Jan. 3, 2021.

Sally Holton ’49 of Pantego, N.C., on Nov. 20, 2020.

Frances Hubbard ’46 of Cary, N.C., on Jan. 15, 2021.

Eugenia Piggott ’43 of Foxboro, Mass., on Jan. 20, 2021.

1950s Leslie D. Batts ’57 ’59 of Fort Morgan, Colo., on Dec. 6, 2020.

Charlie Bedford ’55 ’57 of Atlanta, Ga., on Jan. 23, 2021.

Ann B. Byrd ’54 ’59 of Farmville, N.C., on Dec. 13, 2020.

Lloyd R. Chason ’57 of Wilmington, N.C., on Sept. 23, 2020.

Elizabeth Cilley ’51 of Essex Junction, Vt., on Dec. 25, 2020.

Sara “Bitsy” B. Dudley ’57 of Beaufort, N.C., on Feb. 17, 2021.

Jill Edwards ’59 of Greensboro, N.C., on Nov. 1, 2020.

Naomi Fulcher ’52 of Washington Park, N.C., on Dec. 4, 2020.

Mary Jane Hamilton ’56 of Edgewater, Md., on Feb. 20, 2021.

Kay P. Hargrove ’57 ’62 of Rocky Mount, N.C., on Nov. 6, 2020.

Eleanor P. Hertrich ’53 of Homosassa, Fla., on Jan. 16, 2021.

Alton Howard ’57 of Raleigh, N.C., on Dec. 7, 2020.

Frank Landing ’52 ’56 of Mt. Pleasant, S.C., on Nov 26, 2020.

Ruth Lloyd ’54 of Charlotte, N.C., on Nov. 27, 2020.

Sylvia MacMillan ’58 of Greensboro, N.C., on Feb. 2, 2021.

Barbara Madigan ’54 ’60 of Henderson, N.C., on Dec. 25, 2020.

Robert T. Maynard ’58 of Raleigh, N.C., on Oct. 5, 2020.

Myrl McCotter ’57 of Morehead City, N.C., on Nov. 15, 2020.

Frances McMillan ’56 of Raleigh, N.C., on Feb. 2, 2021.

Peggy Q. Miller ’58 of College Station, Texas, on Nov. 15, 2020.

Willard Moody ’57 ’59 of Lexington, N.C., on Feb. 6, 2021.

Peggy Owens ’57 of Shallotte, N.C, on Nov. 27, 2020.

Janice Raby ’58 of Wilmington, N.C., on Nov. 28, 2020.

Christine Redecker ’53 of Raleigh, N.C., on Nov. 15, 2020.

Carolyn M. Ross ’59 of Shelby, N.C., on March 1, 2021.

Claiborne “C.C.” Rowe Jr. ’63 ’67 of Greenville, N.C., on Oct. 20, 2020.

Dixie Rose Sawyer ’55 ’57 of Hollywood, Fla., on Feb. 2, 2021.

Henry “Hank” Selby ’50 of Franklin, ten., on Jan. 13, 2021.

William “Bill” Sexton ’56 ’61 of Virginia Beach, Va., on Nov. 23, 2020.

Anne B. Shepard ’54 ’55 of Greenville, N.C., on Dec. 19, 2020.

Benjamin S. Shepard ’56 of Greenville, N.C., on Oct. 10, 2020.

William L. Stiteler Jr. ’52 of Waynesboro, Va., on Dec. 26, 2020.

Helen K. Taylor ’51 of Charlotte, N.C., on Dec. 17, 2020.

Barbara D. Tyson ’57 of Greenville, N.C., on Oct. 26, 2020.

James E. Warren ’50 of Virginia Beach, Va., on Nov. 27, 2020.

William F. Waters ’50 of Charleston, S.C., on Dec. 27, 2020.

Robert Charles White ’56 of Uniontown, Ohio, on Nov. 30, 2020.

Sue White ’59 of Virginia Beach, Va., on Nov. 18, 2020.

J. McNeill Williams ’53 ’57 of Rougemont, N.C., on Dec. 16, 2020.

Mary Wilmers ’59 of Fayetteville, N.C., on Oct. 15, 2020.

1960s Iris Aldridge ’62 ’76 of Kinston, N.C., on Jan. 9, 2021.

Jo Alexander ’63 of Charlotte, N.C., on Nov. 5, 2020.

Judy Bateman ’62 of Rocky Mount, Va., on Nov. 9, 2020.

Jim Carter ’69 of Durham, N.C., on Jan. 10, 2021.

Judy R. Chesnutt ’63 of Greenville, N.C., on Feb. 24, 2021.

Vaden L. Cobb ’67 of Amherst, Va., on Dec. 25, 2020.

Vista K. Cotton ’69 of Chesapeake, Va., on Feb. 14, 2021.

Robert “Dan” Cowley ’67 of Hollywood, S.C., on Jan. 29, 2021.

Frederick M. Cutler ’61 of Washington, N.C., on Jan. 1, 2021.

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summer 2021

George R. Davidson ’62 of Pennsville, N.J., on Oct. 20, 2020.

Russell Dew ’65 ’66 of Hughes Springs, Texas, on Aug. 1, 2020.

David “Buck” Edwards ’68 of Statesville, N.C., on Feb. 11, 2021.

Joan D. Foster ’69 of Holly Ridge, N.C., on Nov. 28, 2020.

Cynthia C. Haar ’62 of Bath, N.C., on Feb. 27, 2021.

Marilyn T. Hammes ’68 of Roanoke, Va., on Dec. 7, 2020.

Ann Harrington ’68 of Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., on Oct. 27, 2020.

Catherine Jeffries ’64 of Wilson, N.C., on Dec. 1, 2020.

Elizabeth “Liza” Jones ’68 of Henrico, Va., on Dec. 27, 2020.

Joyce Jones ’69 of Woodbridge, Va., on Jan. 18, 2021.

Ella Gray Jorgensen ’61 of Centerville, Utah, on Jan. 22, 2021.

Jane Long Joyner ’69 of Greenville, N.C., on Feb. 2, 2021.

William Ketner ’61 of Burlington, N.C., on Oct. 7, 2020.

Jack M. Kluttz ’65 of Albemarle, N.C., on Oct. 9, 2020.

Troy Lane ’64 of Washington, N.C., on Oct. 12, 2020.

James E. Martin ’61 of Collinsville, Va., on Dec. 17, 2020.

Ida Campen Miller ’66 of Smithfield, N.C., on Nov. 16, 2020.

James A. Miller ’69 of Lititz, Pa., on Dec. 16, 2020.

Billy Nobles ’68 of Fayetteville, N.C., on Oct. 31, 2020.

James O’Brien ’67 of Hilton Head, S.C., on Sept. 4, 2020.

Beverly Paul ’63 of Stuart, Fla., on Oct. 17, 2020.

James “John” Parks ’68 of Jamestown, N.C., on Jan. 4, 2021.

Thomas Riddick ’61 of Winchester, Va., on Feb. 23, 2021.

Martha Sharpe ’63 of Greensboro, N.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.

Nora Short ’65 of Hanover, Va., on Feb. 25, 2021.

Frank Steinbeck Jr. ’64 of Greenville, N.C., on Jan. 19, 2021.

Martha Q. Stone ’61 of Greensboro, N.C., on Jan. 7, 2021.

Huldah Stuart ’66 of Cumming, Ga., on Jan. 24, 2021.

Donald Thompson ’64 ’67 of Morehead City, N.C., on Feb. 7, 2021.

Jerry M. Wallace ’67 of Hubert, N.C., on Feb. 10, 2021.

Harry L. Wicker ’61 of Carthage, N.C., on Oct. 19, 2020.

Hilda Worthington ’60 of Greenville, N.C., on Oct. 2, 2020.

1970s Howard Brammer ’75 of Wilmington, N.C., on Jan. 24, 2021.

Alvis R. Clapp of Julian, N.C., on Oct. 7, 2020.

Iris P. Cross ’77 of White Lake, N.C., on Dec. 29, 2020.

John R. Crotsley ’72 of Raleigh, N.C., on Oct. 10, 2020.

Ramon L. Davis ’79 of Raleigh, N.C., on Dec. 21, 2020.

Karen “Kelly” Dean ’73 of Sandy, Utah., on Dec. 16, 2020.

Marsha Eakes ’72 of Camarillo, Calif., on Jan. 25, 2021.

Mark Gerhardt ’71 of Chesapeake, Va., on Nov. 17, 2020.

Steven Holland ’77 of Archer Lodge, N.C., on Nov. 11, 2020.

Michael S. Howe ’70 of Hamlet, N.C., on Dec. 19, 2020.

Robert Lytton ’71 of Little River, S.C., on Jan. 13, 2021.

Jerry McGalliard ’73 of Greensboro, N.C., on Oct. 30, 2020.

Rita H. Minshew ’73 ’93 of Deep Run, N.C., on Oct. 25, 2020.

Dorcas Oakley ’76 of Washington, N.C., on Jan. 17, 2021.

Anthony Oliver ’72 of Glen Allen, Va., on Jan. 2, 2021.

Susan C. Nixon ’74 ’76 of Edenton, N.C., on Dec. 14, 2020.

Wade Otey ’79 of Alexandria, Va., on Dec. 2, 2020.

Betty J. Perkinson ’70 of Suffolk, Va., on Dec. 24, 2020.

Johnny R. Rose ’78 of Greenville, N.C., on Jan. 24, 2021.

Bruce Savage ’74 of Lewes, Del., on Jan. 9, 2021.

Richard Wilcher Scroggs ’76 of Swansboro, N.C., on Feb. 14, 2021 C. “Nat” Siewers ’73 of Hillsborough, N.C., on Jan. 30, 2021.

Barbara S. Smith ’73 of Suffolk, Va., on Feb. 21, 2021.

Kathleen Baker ’77 of Fayetteville, N.C, on Jan. 17, 2021.

Elaine Wiseman ’71 of Portsmouth, Va., on Dec. 18, 2020.

Bob Yow ’77 of Greenville, N.C., on Feb. 10, 2021.

1980s Robert Merle Best ’82 of Goldsboro, N.C., on Nov. 8, 2020.

Ginger Booth ’89 of Jacksonville, N.C., on Nov. 11, 2020.

Vera Boseman ’82 of Bath, N.C., on Feb. 11, 2021.

Adrienne Jackson ’86 ’88 of Wilmington, N.C., on Dec. 1, 2020.

Joyce Lockamy ’87 ’91 of Kinston, N.C., on Dec. 28, 2020.

Betty Prevatte ’88 of Fairmont, N.C., on Sept. 28, 2020.

Joan Senese ’80 of Shrewsberry, N.J., on Feb. 17, 2021.

George Shingleton ’86 of Durham. N.C., on Jan. 23, 2021.

Timothy Swider ’82 of Winston-Salem, N.C., on Jan. 3, 2021.

Micheal Traveny ’88 of Blanchard, Pa., on Dec. 31, 2021.

1990s David Baskette ’93 of Snow Camp, N.C., on Nov. 14, 2020.

Johnathan Byrd ’96 of Benson, N.C., on Jan. 28, 2021.

Lisa Glazier ’97 of Wilmington, N.C., on Feb. 21, 2021.

Charlie Grant ’94 ’95 of Rocky Mount, N.C., on Oct. 24, 2020.

Oakley “Tripp” Hogg ’91 of Mechanicsville, Va., on Jan. 24, 2021.

Frances P. Keeter ’90 of Wilmington, N.C., on Oct. 7, 2020.

Sally Lawrence ’90 of Eugene, Ore., on Jan. 20, 2021.

Leah Michelow ’93 of Matthews, N.C., on Nov. 24, 2020.

James L. Painter ’96 of Easton, Md., on Oct. 10, 2020.

Tiffany Shackelford ’96 of Alexandria, Va., on Dec. 27, 2020.

Jennifer L. Snell ’91 of Raleigh, N.C., on Sept. 11, 2020.

Diana Wood ’93 of New Bern, N.C., on Oct. 11, 2020.

2000s Tony Case ’06 of Flat Rock, N.C., on Nov. 19, 2020.

Richard Faulkner ’03 of Greenville, N.C., on March 5, 2021.

Elizabeth B. Gaffney ’00 of Greensboro, N.C., on Dec. 7, 2020.

James “Buddy” Hyatt III ’06 of Franklin, Va., on Jan. 11, 2021.

Christopher Cole Osborne ’08 of Greensboro, N.C., on Feb. 20, 2021.

2010s Teresa Muse ’10 of Tarboro, N.C., on Nov. 19, 2020.

Barbara Ann Sheppard ’10 ’15 of Goldsboro, N.C., on Nov. 14, 2020.

FA C U LT Y / S TA F F Bob McClay Jr. (advancement) of Indiana, Pa., on Jan. 24, 2021.

Rand Evans (psychology) of Livermore Falls, Maine, on Jan. 8, 2021.

Thomas Flowers (art) of Greenville, S.C., on Dec. 13, 2020.

Dr. William Fore (medicine) of Black Mountain, N.C., on Jan. 23, 2021.

Marge George (medicine) of McCaysville, Ga., on Nov. 3, 2020.

Phyllis Goforth (medicine) of Greenville, N.C., on Oct. 27, 2020.

Dr. Barry Hainer (medicine) of Charleston, S.C., on Oct. 7, 2020.

Lew Hill (athletics) of Edinburg, Texas, on Feb. 21, 2021.

Donna Hollar (construction management) of Hickory, N.C., on Jan. 17, 2021.

Dr. John Larsen Jr. (medicine) of Greenville, N.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.

Joan Mack (music) of Webster, N.Y., on Jan. 21, 2021.

James O. Miller (physical education) of Sparks, Nev., in December 2020.

Arturo “Art” Rodriguez (chemistry) of Edmond, Okla., on Jan. 22, 2021.

Sylvene Spickerman (nursing) of Greenville, N.C., on Jan. 14, 2021.

McKay Sundwall (English) of Greenville, N.C., on Jan. 20, 2021.

Dr. Stephen Vore (medicine) of Chocowinity, N.C., on Feb. 11, 2021.

Dr. Robert Youngblood (medicine) of Florence, S.C., on Jan. 16, 2021.

CONNECT SUMMER 2021 VOLUME 19, NUMBER 2 East is produced by East Carolina University

Managing Editor Doug Boyd ’99

Art Director Mike Litwin ’01

Designer Micah Tweeten

Photographers Rhett Butler, Cliff Hollis

Contributing Writers Crystal Baity, Ken Buday, Lacey Gray, Jules Norwood, Michael Rudd, Matt Smith, Spaine Stephens, Erin Ward

Contributing Photographers ECU Archives, Jonathan Fredin, Great Bear Media, Morgan Heim, Omotola Olaniyi

Copy Editor Jimmy Rostar ’94

Chief Communications Officer Jeannine Manning Hutson Contact Us • 252-737-1973 • easteditor@ecu.edu • www.ecu.edu/east Customer Service To start or stop a subscription or to let us know about a change of address, please contact Advancement Services at advancementservices@ecu.edu or 252-328-GIVE (4483).

Send letters to the editor to: easteditor@ecu.edu or Howard House Mail Stop 107 East Carolina University Greenville, N.C. 27858-4353 ECU photographers followed the COVID-19 health and safety guidelines in place at the time the photos were taken.

32,779 copies of this public document were printed at a cost of $22,674, or $.65 per copy.

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DueEast 4.10.21 Purple! Gold! ECU won the 2021 National Cheerleaders Association Collegiate Championship in April for intermediate large co-ed squads. In addition, the ECU dance team finished third in the Pom Division 1A.