ECU to host UNC-TV’s live broadcast of North Carolina Rising town hall meeting Nov. 18

Published Nov 10, 2009 by
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GREENVILLE, N.C.  —   Amid unprecedented changes in our state’s economic landscape, UNC-TV’s “North Carolina Rising” project examines the challenges and opportunities facing rural regions in our state and how their successes affect all North Carolinians. 

As the culmination of the North Carolina Rising project, UNC-TV invites the public to participate in the final North Carolina Rising town hall meeting, Nov. 18, from the East Carolina Heart Institute Outpatient Facility on the campus of East Carolina University.  Participants are asked to arrive by 7:15 p.m. and be seated by 7:30 p.m. This town hall event will be broadcast live, at 8 p.m., on UNC-TV. 

Register today to join the town hall audience at www.unctv.org/ncrising/townhalls.html or to submit a question online for our regional panelists.

Moderated by UNC-TV’s Director of Production, Shannon Vickery, this topical, televised event will feature an interactive dialogue among expert panelists, representing local leadership in education, policy and industry, and viewers like you. 

Experts scheduled to participate, include: 

  • Patrick N. Woodie, Vice President, Rural Development Programs, North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center, Inc.;
  • Dr. Paul R. G. Cunningham, MD, FACS is the Dean and the Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs at the Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University;
  • Sidney “Chip” W.  Zullinger, Superintendent, Bertie County Schools; 
  • Darlene Waddell, Executive Director, Global Transpark, Kinston, NC; and
  • Dale Carroll, Deputy Commerce Secretary, North Carolina Department of Commerce.

    Topics for discussion will include opportunities from the health care industry, the future of the area’s Global TransPark, how nonprofits fit into the regional economic development equation, and the role of  entrepreneurs  in eastern North Carolina.

    The North Carolina Rising Town Hall from East Carolina University represents the fourth, and final, of a four-part town hall series that also included events from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, Western Carolina University, and Catawba County.

    “UNC-TV is excited about conducting these regional town hall meetings.  For more than a year, UNC-TV has focused on the challenges and opportunities rural communities are experiencing as the state’s economy continues to change,” says Vickery. “In this final part of the North Carolina Rising project, we are looking forward to hearing from state and community leaders and North Carolina residents about the economic trends they are seeing first hand in communities across the state. I invite all North Carolinians to get involved in this very important conversation.”

    UNC-TV also encourages you to join the statewide conversation online. Visit the North Carolina Rising website (www.unctv.org/ncrising) to share your comments, questions and details about your own economic development projects. Or join our community on Facebook, (www.facebook.unctv) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/unctv) to post your thoughts, inquiries and opinions on the state of North Carolina Rising.

    UNC-TV’s North Carolina Rising project is funded by the Golden LEAF Foundation, a nonprofit corporation created in 1999 to receive one-half of the funds coming to North Carolina from a master settlement agreement with cigarette manufacturers. In turn, the Foundation is helping North Carolinians make the transition from a tobacco-dependent economy through grants and investments that will positively affect the long-term economic advancement of the state. Golden LEAF gives priority in its grantmaking to tobacco-dependent and economically distressed counties.

    For more information about these shows and other programming on UNC-TV’s family of stations, visit www.unctv.org. A unique partnership of public investment and private support makes UNC-TV’s programming possible. As North Carolina’s only statewide television network, UNC-TV remains committed to producing and broadcasting programs for and about North Carolina, making it the state’s most important source of information about North Carolina.