Horns named permanent vice chancellor of health sciences at ECU

Dr. Phyllis N. Horns has been named vice chancellor for health sciences at East Carolina University on a permanent basis after serving more than two years in an interim role.

The ECU board of trustees approved Chancellor Steve Ballard’s appointment of Horns as vice chancellor at its April 17 meeting.

Dr. Phyllis N. Horns

Horns has been at ECU as a faculty member since 1990, when she returned to her alma mater to become dean of nursing. She also served as interim dean of the Brody School of Medicine at ECU from 2006-2008 and as interim vice chancellor for health sciences from 2001-2002.

Horns, who had served in her second stint as interim vice chancellor since November 2006, will continue to oversee the Division of Health Sciences, which comprises the Brody School of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Allied Health Sciences, the new School of Dentistry and Laupus Library.

Horns graduated from ECU in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in nursing. She also has a master’s of public health degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a nurse practitioner certificate from the University of Rochester in New York, and a doctorate in nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The ECU board of trustees recommended in February that Horns be named to the position permanently. Ballard said that he had sought comments on her performance from a number of groups and that the reviews had been “extraordinarily positive.” She leads, Ballard said, “by example and integrity.”