It has been said time and again over the past few weeks, “We have never confronted anything like this before.” While this is certainly true and recent events have expedited some conversations about our work and the way we do it in higher education, we have been challenged for quite some time to look to new and innovative ways to identify and engage new markets of students in an increasingly competitive environment. Well, before COVID-19 we were tasked with rethinking our approach to appeal to a new kind of student in a new kind of higher education world. In fact, with recent global and national developments, ECU, in embracing alternate modes of instructional delivery and providing access to a wide range of students in a wide range of contexts, is well-positioned to take a healthy market share of those students looking for a quality education in a distance learning environment. But we must also realize that we must be bold and fearless in our pursuits of learning options, for our enrollment challenges predated COVID-19. We must ready ourselves to offer quality educational experiences, in a variety of delivery modes, in a world with or without COVID-19. I wanted to take a moment to share with you what we were working on regarding enrollment before our academic year was interrupted, and what continues with new energy now that we have our current challenges.

In 2017, in response to emerging enrollment challenges, an Enrollment Management Taskforce (EMTF) was formed and “charged with producing enrollment forecasts and targets for the next five (2024) and ten years (2029).” Adhering to its initial charge, the EMTF completed its work in two parts. Part 1, completed between December 2017 and September 2018, was focused on “baseline awareness” and exploring ECU’s “enrollment context.” Part 2, completed in academic year 2018-2019, engaged the EMTF in an externally guided analysis of “ECU’s enrollment outlook and capacity,” including working with an outside Strategic Enrollment Planning (SEP) consulting firm, Ruffalo Noel Levitz. Dr. Lew Sanborne (Vice President, Consulting and Research Services, Ruffalo Noel Levitz) was assigned to ECU and helped ECU’s EMTF identify key performance indicators, define SEP focus areas, establish strategies and priorities in each of these focus areas, and analyze projections (including enrollment outlooks based on market and population trends). Through this part 2 work, Dr. Sanborne worked with the EMTF to complete 3 of 4 phases of the SEP initiative; Preparation and data collection, strategy development, and setting enrollment goals.

Beginning in fall 2019, the fourth and final phase of SEP began in earnest - Implementation. Seven implementation teams are continuing and operationalizing the work initiated by the EMTF and developed by SEP phases 1-3 for the foreseeable future. Under the advisement of the Undergraduate Student Success Council and under the leadership of the SEP Steering Committee, the SEP Implementation teams have been working diligently to identify priority goals and actions from within the planned goals established by EMTF and Ruffalo Noel Levitz, employ strategies and identify subtasks to move on those goals and actions, and find points of collaboration across implementation teams to maximize the effect of various SEP strategies. This work, as stated before, has never been more important than now and it will take not only the work of these SEP teams, but also the creativity, innovation, and open-mindedness of the entire campus community to make gains in key performance indicators like enrollment headcounts, student credit hours, cohort retention rates, and cohort graduation rates during these challenging times.

The SEP Implementation Teams are:

• Alternate Block Scheduling
• Academic Program Planning and Development
• Distance Education
• Graduate Marketing and Recruitment
• Major declaration and Meta-majors
• Military Expansion and Support
• Undergraduate Targeted Market Development

As these teams work within SEP and across campus to create new and innovative ways to recruit, enroll, teach, and support our students, I encourage you to actively engage with them and to be open to generating some really powerful ideas for preparing a new generation of Pirates.

B. Grant Hayes, PhD, Distinguished Professor

Acting Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

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Summer 2020 Courses are Offered Online

In alignment with UNC System guidance ECU will continue online/alternative course delivery during the Summer 2020 sessions. Current courses have been updated to reflect the online instructional method. Due to the change in instructional method, some courses may not be available during the Summer 2020 terms. We encourage everyone to check the availability of courses for summer through Banner Self Service and UNC Online. Not all summer courses will be available via UNC Online. Students can visit UNC Online to view classes that are available at other institutions that may not be available at ECU.

Special Grading Accommodations for Spring 2020

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the change in instructional method for Spring 2020 courses, students will have the ability to request their Spring 2020 courses be graded as pass/fail. Students will be able to submit their request via a form in Pirate Port beginning May 13. They will have the option to select one course, more than one course, or all courses to be graded as pass/fail. The deadline to submit these requests will be June 30. Courses where a student makes a grade of D- or above will be eligible to be converted to a passing grade (P) and grades of F may be converted to a fail (FZ). The pass/fail grades will not be included in the overall GPA. The process will allow for advisors to review the request and convert the grade to a passing grade or deny the request. Instructions are provided here on how advisors will approve the request. The Registrars office also has a FAQ page available for more detailed information.

PIRATE ACADEMIC SUCCESS CENTER

Pirate Academic Success Center Extends Services to Support Summer Success

Students in summer session courses have help this summer at the Pirate Academic Success Center. Services include tutoring, study groups, and academic skills coaching offered digitally both summer sessions.

• Free Tutoring on TEAMS by appointment and virtual walk ins Monday-Thursday by calling 252-737-3009 for an appointment.
• Study Groups with a Tutor for STEM courses Biology 1100, 2130, 2140 & 2150, CHEM 1120, 1130, 1150, 1160, 2750, 2760, and Physics 1250 & 1260. Study groups will meet on TEAMS two times per week.
• CANVAS support videos produced by PASC tutors for students enrolled in Biology 2130, 2140 & 2150, CHEM 1120, 1130, 1150, 1160, 2750, 2760, and Physics 1250 & 1260.
• Night and Weekend tutoring with Tutor Matching Service for ECU summer students using tutormatchingservice.com/ecu. Use PASC badged tutors and ECU email to receive $100 in free tutoring sessions.
• Academic Success Coaching offered by PASC professional staff. Email tutoring@ecu.edu for an appointment. All services offered online or by phone.

OFFICE OF GLOBAL AFFAIRS

The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions to summer study abroad programs at ECU and around the country. However, the Office of Global Affairs is looking to the future and student interest remains high. For faculty who are interested in leading a study abroad program for NEXT summer, the deadline for proposals is August 31, 2020. If you have any questions or would like to discuss the development of a program, please contact Whitney Morris or visit our study abroad planning website.

Our weekly Study Abroad Information Sessions are now online. Every Tuesday and Wednesday at 4 p.m., students can join us to learn about their options for studying abroad, financial aid, course transfer and more. Email studyabroad@ecu.edu for more information.

Given the uncertain conditions in the world right now, international experiences may seem out of reach. But, students at ECU are fortunate that they can still have a meaningful international experience right here at home through our world-class Global Understanding courses and other virtual exchange offerings. In these courses, students use videoconference and chat to connect with peers at three partner institutions in their collaborative classes. Most of these courses receive Social Science general education credit and fulfil global diversity requirements. For more information and a listing of the courses offered this Fall, vist the Global Understanding website.

ECU hosted the 5th Global Issues Virtual Research Conference in collaboration with Krosno State College in Poland from March 30 – April 1, 2020. In this conference faculty and students from GPE partner institutions presented their original research in areas such as: Education; Business & Economics; Politics; Global Challenges; and Health. Presenters and attendees represented a variety of countries including the US, Poland, Pakistan, Peru, Algeria, Colombia, The Gambia, Nigeria, China, Brazil, France, Taiwan, Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Australia. Special congratulations to the ECU student participants. For more information about the conference or to view the sessions, visit the conference website.

ACADEMIC OUTREACH, CONTINUING & DISTANCE EDUCATION

Continuing and Professional Education supports ECU’s Professional Education and Lifelong Learning programs. In response to the current COVID-19 crisis, our planning team is researching best practices for delivering engaging, easy-to-access and content-rich online experiences for adult learners. Our goal is to serve ECU departments as well as external clients who wish to move traditional educational courses, events, and conferences to a virtual format. Our office is ready to assist you. Contact Jolie Busby, Associate Director for Continuing and Professional Education at busbyj17@ecu.edu.

Continuing and Professional Education is currently building a proposal for pivoting a 2,000+ attendee conference scheduled for this July from face-to-face to virtual – no small task but we are up for the challenge! We are motivated by the need for educational conferences to carry on in some form. Professionals need continuing education for many reasons; for some it’s necessary to maintain a license or other credential.

More information about our services can be found here. For questions related to developing professional education programs, please contact Danielle Rivenbark, coordinator for professional education.

We are excited to share that ECU’s Lifelong Learning Program is a state leader in offering online courses to participants! For the past nine years, ECU’s Lifelong Learning Program has offered hundreds of face-to-face courses to adults in and around Pitt County. However, given the current COVID-10 guidelines for social distancing, that course delivery method is unavailable.

In order to continue serving program participants, our staff has worked diligently to create a virtual learning option. Starting next week, some of our popular courses like Memoir Writing, Facebook, MIND Your Memory, and Better Business Bureau 101 and Scams, will be offered online. Now, from the comfort of their home, Lifelong Learning participants can continue learning and interacting with instructors and other participants.

You can view or register for upcoming courses or contact Andrew Ross, coordinator for the Lifelong Learning Program for additional information.

OFFICE OF RESEARCH, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & ENGAGEMENT

REDE Compiling COVID-19 Related Projects

REDE’s Office of Licensing and Commercialization is compiling projects across campus related to COVID-19. Pirates across a variety of disciplines at ECU are using their expertise to address the spread, care and education surrounding the global pandemic. The COVID-19 Project Index was developed to increase campus and community awareness, and foster collaboration, among Pirates studying the coronavirus. The projects included in the index are in various stages of development. Projects will be added to the index as they are shared with REDE. Opportunities to collaborate and other needed resources are also noted in the index, so there are opportunities to join existing projects or to submit new projects. Faculty and staff can submit their projects to REDE by emailing Marti Van Scott.

SBTDC Continues to Connect with Regional Businesses

The Small Business and Technology Development Center at ECU has been extensively engaging with small businesses in eastern North Carolina to assist them during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the region’s small business owners have faced disasters previously, the scale of the pandemic has been unprecedented. Since the state’s COVID-19 disaster declaration, the SBTDC at ECU has engaged with more than 240 businesses and spent nearly 600 hours counseling owners and staff on the various programs currently available to small businesses facing financial difficulties. Many of these businesses are either closed or are having to make decision regarding the continuation of their businesses past this time. The SBTDC at ECU is continuing its support of small businesses in collaboration with REDE with its weekly “Small Businesses Coping with COVID-19” virtual town hall series. The weekly series focuses on different aspects of the pandemic for eastern North Carolina businesses and answers questions they may have regarding programs and assistance. The series will run until May 13.

STEM@StarLight Goes Virtual

STEM@StarLight, a research development event hosted by REDE, is going virtual in May due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The May 18 event will begin at 5:30 p.m. This month’s topic is “Biotechnology, Entrepreneurship and Spinoff Companies.” The speaker lineup includes representatives from ECU and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, including N.C. Biotech’s Rob Lindberg, Brody School of Medicine’s John Cavanagh, and the Office of Innovation and New Venture’s Carlyle Rogers. All are welcome to join by accessing the event’s online meeting room. The link will not be active until a few minutes before the event. If you would like a calendar invitation with link, please send a note to Heather Mahany at mahanyh20@ecu.edu.

COLLEGE UPDATES

COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES

Ananya Koripella (double major in Public Health Studies and Hispanic Studies) recently was named as winner of the 2019-20 “Eldean Pierce Graduate Fellowship” by the ECU Chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi national honor society.

Ashley Hunter (triple major in Anthropology, History, and Multidisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Classical Civilization) was named co-winner of the “Outstanding Senior” award with nursing student Diana Carbajal.

Dustin Humphries (double major, Economics and Foreign Languages & Literatures, with a concentration in Hispanic Studies) was named “Outstanding First Year Student.”

Christopher Moore (alumnus, Anthropology and Coastal Resources Management) is lead author with ECU's David Mallinson and Siddhartha Mitra (Geological Sciences) on a paper named as one of the Top 100 downloaded papers from Scientific Reports in 2019. Read the paper "Sediment Cores from White Pond, South Carolina, contain a Platinum Anomaly, Pyrogenic Carbon Peak, and Coprophilous Spore Decline at 12.8."

Megan Perry (Anthropology) has received a $3,500 grant from the North Carolina Humanities Council for programming associated with the Hostile Terrain 94 Exhibit that will be on campus in Fall 2020. This will support lectures by the chief medical examiner of Pima County, Arizona, and exhibits by local artists related to migration and the borderlands.

The Environmental Research Lab recently was formally established as a research service center. The ERL is located in the Howell Science building and is maintained in Harriot College's Department of Biology. The ERL provides access to instrumentation and technical support to facilitate university research involving, water, soil and biological sample analysis. Enrique Reyes (Biology) is the director of the lab and Suelen Tullio (Biology) is the lab manager. For additional information visit the ERL website.

Michael A. Twarog (alumnus, Geological Sciences) was selected as the 2020 winner of the ECU Mathematics, Physical Sciences, & Engineering Master's Thesis Award. Melissa Decker (alumna, Health Psychology) was selected as the 2020 winner of the ECU Doctoral Dissertation in Social Sciences, Business, & Education category. Both were recognized virtually at ECU's Research & Creative Activity Week award ceremony on April 6.

Ana LePage (Health Psychology graduate student) will graduate this spring as one of the first cohort of the NC Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Scholars Program. As a member of the program, LePage dedicated two years to additional training to become an AHEC Community Health Scholar.

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

East Carolina University’s College of Business has maintained its business accreditation by AACSB International — the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Paul Schwager, dean of the College of Business, received confirmation of the accreditation extension April 13, 2020. “I want to thank (former) Dean Stan Eakins and our accreditation team for leading the charge in helping the College of Business maintain its accreditation,” said Schwager. “Our continued focus on leadership, investment in the entrepreneurship curriculum, and commitment to assurance of learning are, what I believe, some of the main reasons we’re celebrating this accomplishment.”

Rising COB Senior Brady Hillhouse, along with 12 other national Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization chapter leaders, recently organized the virtual Interconnect Conference. The goal of the conference was to educate, motivate, and equip young entrepreneurs with the knowledge to move forward in the business world during unprecedented times or times of crisis. The conference theme was "Pioneering through a Pandemic." Organized in just two weeks, 400 individuals attended. Money raised went to support small businesses, as well as conference support and management.

Five undergraduate students from the College’s Risk Management and Insurance program recently presented their human trafficking research to Verisk/ISO, a leading source of information about property/casualty insurance risk. Allison Pigora (project lead), Ramez Botros, Amelia Reiher, Amirah Pitt-Bey and Travis Miles would have collaborated face-to-face to prepare their research. Instead, they depended on text, emails and web conferencing to finalize their project. The presentation marked the third time RMI students have provided research to the company. Prior student research projects looked at issues surrounding active shootings and cannabis legalization.

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

ECU’s Eta Chi chapter of Kappa Delta Pi were able to hold their spring 2020 initiation ceremony virtually and welcomed 21 new members into the educational international honor society. Learn more about the new members.

A Discoveries in Earth Science (DES) participant placed first in the Earth/environment category at the year’s regional North Carolina Science & Engineering Fair. The DES program aims to make learning earth science accessible to visually impaired and blind students. Learn more about the program here.

The College of Education is becoming an international leader in the education field, thanks in part to partnerships like Dr. Tosha Owens’ work with special education in the Czech Republic. Learn more about her work and how the college is going global.

One College of Education alum and current principal showcased how he stays connected to his students virtually through social media. Read more about Donald Wyatt and how his school is navigating the coronavirus pandemic.

The College of Education attended the NC Digital Learning Research Symposium in February and showcased how the COE is preparing future teachers for digital learning, which has become more important than ever before. Read more about the symposium.

Chanale Propst, a counselor education graduate student, was selected as a 2020 National Board for Certified Counselors Minority Fellowship Program Master’s Mental Health Fellow. The NBCC-MFP only selects 30 students for this fellowship every year. Read more about Chanale’s fellowship here.

College of Education faculty are continuing to provide environments where future teachers can practice their skills through using Mursion. Dr. Carrie Lee is using Mursion to simulate a lifelike classroom in her students’ homes. Learn more about how Dr. Carrie Lee adapted to changes in teaching and learning.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

Dr. Harry Ploehn, dean of the College of Engineering and Technology, was part of a team from across the university and Vidant Health that developed and implemented processes for decontaminating and reusing personal protective equipment (PPE), especially N95 masks. The methods — one using heat and the other using hydrogen peroxide gaseous plasma — will conserve and prolong the usefulness of PPE throughout all Vidant Health locations, ECU Physicians clinics and the Brody School of Medicine in the event that the supply is disrupted.

Dr. Marwin Jurjus came to East Carolina University as part of a faculty exchange program with HAN University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. At ECU for less than a year, the professor in the Department of Construction Management returned to the Netherlands in March to be with family as his mother-in-law battled and eventually succumbed to the coronavirus. While helping his family in the Netherlands, Jurjus has continued teaching his ECU students as the university transitioned to alternative course delivery. Jurjus believes that this different way of teaching — and learning — will be helpful to both faculty and students in the end. “My expectation is that the old-fashioned fixed educational system will get a big boost by all the experiences we gain together within the framework of the online possibilities,” he said.

ITC capstones

Forty-four information and technology seniors in nine teams overcame the pandemic as well as severe weather to present their final capstone project reports remotely. Severe thunderstorms knocked out power or impacted connectivity for some, but all found ways to attend the online presentations. With the coronavirus cutting deadlines short, students were either able to complete the projects, amend projects so they could be completed on time or provide sponsors with information to complete projects at a later date. “It was just a tremendous effort all around by this senior class. I was very proud of them,” said Dr. Charles Lesko, director of graduate studies and associate professor in the Department of Technology Systems.

COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS & COMMUNICATION

Art Foundations professor Lisa Beth Robinson, John McCord (Coastal Studies Institute) and colleagues have co-authored “Examining the Potential of Art-Science Collaborations in the Anthropocene: A Case Study of Catching a Wave,” which appears in the April edition of Frontiers in Marine Science.

Ken Wyatt (Film and Video Production) won a Broadcast Education Association Festival of Media Arts Best of Festival award in the Faculty Sport Competition for his short form sports video entitled “Blood, Sweat, and Tears: Jake Gaither, Florida A&M, and the History of Black College Football.” Wyatt was one of 18 awardees from a pool of more than 1,750 entries. His work will be screened and he’ll receive a cash award from the Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation.

The School of Music co-hosted a Popular Music Pedagogy Workshop in March. More than 50 public school teachers from North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, plus 100 ECU music education and music therapy students, gathered at the School of Music for the first Popular Music Pedagogy Workshop on March 6-7. Co-sponsored by the nonprofit organization Little Kids Rock, the Popular Music Pedagogy Workshop is an educational catalyst to broaden the idea of what music education can look like in school settings.

Teachers who attended the ECU workshop were eligible to receive a free classroom set of instruments through Little Kids Rock. The workshop was conducted by Dr. Bryan Powell, who leads higher education initiatives for Little Kids Rock. Powell is a former New York City public school music teacher, working in an East Harlem public school for 11 years. He teaches music education classes at various colleges and universities in the New York metropolitan area. Little Kids Rock sponsors the modern band movement across the United States, and promotes instruction in guitar, ukulele, piano, drum set, bass guitar, electric guitar, and integrating songwriting, rap and other hip-hop elements in music curricula. Dr. Raychl Smith was the ECU organizer and host.

School of Communication alumnus Jim Matheny (BS ’99) won an Emmy for Journalistic Enterprise in the Mid-South region for his work “Hunt for History: The Lost Films of Granville Hunt.” Journalistic Enterprise is normally dominated by major investigations, not historical projects. “I’m overjoyed judges from other places across the country recognize what a historic and miraculous find this footage was for East Tennessee culture — the Smokies, Vols, TVA, blazing the Appalachian Trail, and all other things sacred to our region.” This award marks Matheny’s seventh Mid-South region Emmy.

School of Art and Design double major Aliyah Bonnette, a junior, was accepted to be a Program Assistant at Sotheby’s Pre-College Summer Institute in New York City this summer.

School of Music conducting/flutist graduate student Juliano Dutra Aniceto has been accepted to the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, for study in the Doctor of Musical Arts program in conducting. He has been awarded a triple assistantship and scholarship that will cover tuition and most expenses. He will study with Marin Alsop, the Musical Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

School of Theatre and Dance undergraduate Katie Jackson has been accepted into the MFA in Performance Pedagogy program at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Jill Carlson (movement, stage combat) was recognized as a 2019-2020 ECU Scholar-Teacher Award recipient.

Raychl Smith (Music Education) received the Board of Governors Distinguished Professor for Teaching Award.

Yesenia Ayala (BFA ’10) was nominated for a Drama Desk Award, “Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical” for her work in West Side Story.

The School of Theatre and Dance has hosted a Broadway on Friday Speakers series featuring virtual Q&A sessions with Broadway actors, directors and choreographers, including Tony Award-winning choreographer and director Jerry Mitchell, Tony Award-winning actor Beth Leavel, dancer and choreographer Dana Moore, Susan Stroman, actor Stephen Carassco, director/choreographer Greg Zane, vocal coach and educator Sheri Sanders, Stephen Flaherty, and dancers Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Nicolo Fonte and Virginia Hendricksen.

Rebecca Dumlao (Communication) sewed 16 masks and shipped them to Megan Burrows Gibson, an alumna of the graduate program in Health Communication. Gibson is a nurse on the front lines in Charleston, South Carolina.

COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN PERFORMANCE

The College of Health and Human Performance recently launched its Well-Being Wednesday series on social media. Each Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., a faculty member will lead a brief Facebook Live session on a wellness-related topic. Special thanks to inaugural speaker Sandy Lookabaugh and her co-host Coco, who talked about the benefits of fostering pets during the pandemic. Upcoming topics include family relations while working and learning from home, supporting elderly relatives and friends, and home workouts.

Health Education and Promotion faculty Sinan Sousan, Avian White and Jo Anne Balanay are conducting research related to COVID-19. Their first project is titled Filter Efficiency of H600 Dual Layer Sterilization Wrap. The purpose of this work was to compare the efficiency of the H600 for collecting aerosol particles compared to the standard P100 and N95 respirators approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The results found that the H600 is NOT recommended as a replacement to the P100 or N95. This has spurred another study that they are about to undertake in collaboration with the ECU College of Engineering and Technology and N.C. State.

HONORS COLLEGE

Honors College junior William Guiler has been named a 2020 Goldwater Scholar, one of the most prestigious and oldest national scholarships in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering in the United States. Read more about William and the Goldwater Scholarship.

Students in the Honors College are using the college’s Innovation Design Lab to develop masks and shields using 3D printing technology. They have partnered with faculty and administrators from various departments. Learn more about how they’re making safety equipment.

The Honors College got creative when the coronavirus pandemic canceled Pirates Aboard! Admitted Students Day, a crucial day for Director of Admissions and Recruitment Margaret Turner to connect with students and yield the class of 200. She turned to online software, such as Zoom, to connect with high school seniors and try to show them a little bit of what life is like at ECU by including student panelists who joined the video calls. Learn more about the Honors College virtual recruitment efforts.

INTEGRATED COASTAL PROGRAMS

The Coastal Studies Institute and Department of Coastal Studies welcomed the return of the Miss Caroline research vessel after complete engine and transmission rebuilds and several additional upgrades. Corey Adams (ECU CSI) lead the effort to get her ship shape. Dr. Mike Muglia (Dept. of Coastal Studies) is excited to have her back in action to get our network of Wave Rider Buoys repaired and back online. Muglia’s group maintains the Oregon Inlet and Nags Head buoys that provide researchers and the public with near-real time directional wave measurements. Muglia’s group is receiving funding and an additional buoy from the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) to be deployed this year off Buxton, N.C. The buoys quantify the available wave energy resource off of N.C. for funded research projects Muglia’s group is working on with several UNC system researchers in the NC Renewable Ocean Energy Program.

Drs. Michael O’Driscoll (Department of Coastal Studies), Charlie Humphrey, Guy Iverson (Environmental Health Sciences), Jane Harrison (N.C. Sea Grant), and Jared Bowden (N.C. State University) presented their research on the influence of sea level rise and coastal storms on onsite wastewater treatment in coastal communities at the North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute’s first virtual conference session on Wastewater Treatment Along North Carolina’s Changing Coastlines (April 23). The online session had over 180 participants.

Dr. Kateri Salk (Nicholas School of the Environment- Duke University) and Dr. Michael O’Driscoll (Department of Coastal Studies) and their student research group (Caroline Watson, Jake Greif, Tristen Townsend, Lindsay Roth and Kristine Swann) presented to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality- Division of Water Resources on their research report that synthesized North Carolina’s lake water quality data (with a focus on harmful algal blooms) entitled: Redefining Algal Bloom Management Pathways in North Carolina (April 30).

Dr. Jake Hochard (Economics, CSI) was recently interviewed by WCTI-12 regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the economy.

ACADEMIC LIBRARY SERVICES

Congratulations to the following faculty, who have been selected to participate in Joyner Library’s Alternative Textbook Program for the 2020-2021 academic year. As part of the program, faculty will be adopting course materials that are free for students, which may include open educational resources and library materials. Faculty will receive a $1,000 award and will be paired with a personal librarian to assist them with the transition to their new course materials. The program is aimed at reducing textbooks costs for students, facilitating additional customization of course materials, and providing access to materials for students on day one of class.

• Jessama Allender, Department of Sociology, SOCI 2110
• Tiffany Blanchflower, Department of Interior Design and Merchandising, MRCH 2239
• Helen Dixon, Department of History, HIST 1030
• Sarah Lazure, School of Art, ART 1910
• Angela Novak, Department of Elementary Education and Middle Grades Education, GIFT 4300
• Michelle Oyen, Department of Engineering, BIME 6400
• Raychl Smith, School of Music, MUSC 2345
• Anne Ticknor, Department of Literacy Studies, English Education, & History Education, READ 6104 & READ 4500
• Liza Wieland, Department of English, HNRS 2011

Larry Houston and Joyner Library were featured in an American Libraries magazine article about library conservation teams providing hospitals, clinics and other critical workers with PPE.

Please let your students know about the W. Keats Sparrow Writing Award and encourage them to apply. The award is given each year to three winning papers from ENGL 1100 and ENGL 2201 that make some use of ECU Libraries resources. Supported by the Friends of Joyner Library, the award honors the many contributions W. Keats Sparrow. Click here for the submissions form.