CHANGING COMMUNITIES

Chancellor Ballard accepts award for ECU’s community engagement

Universities play a leading role in changing communities, and East Carolina University has been recognized as a leader among North Carolina institutions.

Chancellor Steve Ballard today received the Leo M. Lambert Engaged Leader Award from the North Carolina Campus Compact at its 16th annual conference held at High Point University.

Nido Qubein, High Point University president, presents the Leo M. Lambert Engaged Leader Award to ECU Chancellor Steve Ballard.

The award recognizes North Carolina chancellors or presidents who are committed to meaningful engagement in their communities, highlighting the role leaders play in setting priorities at their institutions.

“This is really a recognition of ECU and the commitment of hundreds of people to make a difference in the community,” Ballard said after the ceremony. “Engagement with the community means everything to what kind of university we are. I’m humbled and thankful to be part of everything ECU is doing for our community.”

Ballard arrived at ECU in 2004, “and East Carolina has never been the same since,” said Nido Qubein, president of High Point University and chair of the NC Campus Compact Executive Board. ECU has become an economic engine in the region and has been nationally recognized for its community engagement efforts, Qubein said as he introduced Ballard.

The University of North Carolina system’s longest-serving chancellor, Ballard was recognized for his efforts to make ECU known as a leadership university, focusing on student success, service to the state and regional transformation in eastern North Carolina.

During his tenure, community engagement accomplishments on campus include:

• Support of the Lucille Gorham Intergenerational Community Center, a campus-community partnership started in 2007 to support children and families in west Greenville, and nationally recognized in 2012 with the C. Peter Magrath University/Community Engagement Award;
• Development of a new School of Dental Medicine and its eight Community Service Learning Centers bringing care to rural, underserved communities across the state;
• And a university partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project to assist soldiers returning to civilian life.

The chancellor has also created programs to prepare engaged faculty, staff and students. He established leadership academies to provide intensive leadership training for faculty, staff and students, and he started the Engaged Outreach Scholars Academy to support faculty and students who work with community partners on mutually beneficial research projects. To date, hundreds of faculty, staff, and students have participated in these programs.

On average, 45 percent of North Carolina students are active in civic and community engagement, well above the national average of 39 percent, according to Leslie Garvin, executive director of the compact.

“This is a movement,” Garvin said. “We are committed to transforming North Carolina one institution at a time. We couldn’t be more excited about the future of service learning, and we couldn’t do all this without leadership.”

The compact’s conference, Pathways to Achieving Civic Engagement, offers college and university faculty, administrators and community partners a place to share research, model programs and best practices related to service-learning, civic engagement and community partnerships.

North Carolina Campus Compact is a collaborative network of colleges and universities with a shared commitment to educating engaged citizens and strengthening communities. Presidents and chancellors from more than 48 public, private and community colleges and universities have joined since the Compact was founded in 2002 at Elon University. ECU joined as a charter member the same year.

After the awards ceremony, Ballard joined other higher education leaders at a special Presidents Forum. The forum convened about 50 higher education leaders, including 30 college presidents and chancellors, to discuss issues related to higher education’s role in strengthening civic learning, economic development and service. Ballard joined Wake Technical Community College President Stephen Scott and Warren Wilson College President Steven Solnick as a featured presenter during the session.

Watch video coverage of the Leo M. Lambert Engaged Leader Award presentation and Chancellor Ballard’s reflections on the importance of community engagement below.