DEGREES CONFERRED

ECU Board of Trustees recognizes graduates

During its meeting on April 20, the East Carolina University Board of Trustees approved the conferral of 5,282 degrees for spring commencement, which will take place at 7 p.m. May 4 at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

The board also recognized La’Quon Rogers, outgoing Student Government Association president, for his service and welcomed Jordan Koontz, who will serve as president for the coming academic year.

La’Quon Rogers, SGA president, was recognized for his service as an ex oficio member of the ECU Board of Trustees by board chair Kieran Shanahan, left, and Chancellor Cecil Staton.

A motion honoring the life and legacy of university donor and supporter Walter Williams was introduced by Chancellor Cecil Staton and approved by the board. “Walter Williams supported the mission, values and goals of East Carolina University for over 50 years, and he gave generously of his financial resources, his talents and his time,” the resolution stated.

Williams supported a number of programs and scholarships, and several buildings on campus bear his name, including Williams Arena, the Williams-Harvey Teams Building and the Smith-Williams Center and Hall of Fame.

Staton also provided an update on the university’s $500 million comprehensive campaign, for which $180.7 million has now been raised, pledged or committed. A recent $7.1 million anonymous bequest will support the Brody School of Medicine. The second annual Pirate Nation Gives event, held in March, raised more than $500,000 for the university, nearly doubling the first year’s total.

In other business:

• The board discussed parking and drop-off/pick-up issues on campus.
• The board heard a report on capital projects, including repairs to the Dail House and a discussion of the process of deciding how it will be used in the future.
• ECU is working toward compliance, by May 25, of the new data protection law for processing data (GDPR) of individuals located within the 28 countries that comprise the European Union.
• ECU has improved security by requiring more than one method of identification to verify a user’s identity during login. Included in those improvements is a 2-factor email authentication for when the user is not on campus. Phase one includes students and goes into effect this month. Phase two will include faculty and staff and will go into effect this this fall.
• Members discussed compliance with NCAA rules regarding student-athlete recruitment and the types of interactions with board members that are permissible or impermissible.
• The University Affairs Committee received an update on the Heritage Hall website by Dr. Gerald J. Prokopowicz of the Department of History and Amanda McLellan of Joyner Library. The website is under construction and will present the history of ECU including a timeline, people, campus and athletics. Prokopowicz and McLellan have worked closely with University Historian Dr. John Tucker on the website’s content.
• The University Affairs Committee received an update on student mental health, well-being and resilience statistics and efforts from Dr. Valerie Kisler-van Reede and Jeremy Tuchmayer in the ECU Center of Counseling and Student Development. The mental health needs of students have been a growing concern during the past decade across campuses nationwide. Since fall 2014, ECU has seen an increase in the number of complex psycho-social needs of students. More students are seeking psychological care and more students come to school with pre-existing mental health issues and diagnosis.

Anxiety is the predominant concern among college students nationally and at ECU followed by depression, relationship concerns, suicidal ideation, self-injury and alcohol abuse. Typical stressors include the transition to college, academic pressures, finances, technology/social media, relationships and lifestyle.

Shainah Andrews of Windsor, a junior majoring in English with a minor in linguistics, shared her experience of seeking help and treatment for depression and high-functioning anxiety. An overachiever, she said “people like me distract themselves from what they’re really going through.” She said she has learned how to use breathing techniques and mindfulness to help prevent anxiety attacks.

The counseling center operates a crisis service that is available to students daily and after hours. Screeners identify and provide emergency assessment services. Last fall, the center had 4,585 appointments with an average wait time of 18 days for non-emergencies. The Division of Student Affairs is working to build resiliency when students face adversity and stress through specialized programming. Counseling center staff also provide mental health workshops for faculty and meet regularly with a university-wide mental health working group.

“We are trying to examine ways to build up resiliency in our students and collaborate on their well-being,” Kisler-van Reede said.

The following faculty members were approved by the Board of Trustees for tenure:

• Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences: Heidi Bonner, Criminal Justice; Nicole Caswell, English; Jungmin Choi, Mathematics; Abdullah Cihan, Criminal Justice; Matthew Cox, English; Erin Frost, English; Guglielmo Fucci, Mathematics; Keith Keene, Biology; Jonathan M. Lee, Economics; Laura Levi-Altstaedter, Foreign Languages and Literatures; Michael McCoy, Biology; Marylaura Papalas, Foreign Languages and Literatures; Imre Patyi, Mathematics; Amber Thomas, English; and Matthew Whited, Psychology.
• College of Business: Bradley Karl, Finance; Jon Kirchoff, Marketing and Supply Chain Management; and JungHoon (Jay) Lee, Hospitality Leadership.
• College of Education: Christopher Rivera, Special Education, Foundations and Research; and Stacy Weiss, Special Education, Foundations and Research.
• College of Engineering and Technology: Ricky Castles, Engineering; Stephanie George, Engineering; Donna Hollar, Construction Management; and Sungham Kim, Engineering.
• College of Fine Arts and Communications: Kenneth Bova, Art and Design; Douglas Monroe, Music; and Lisa Beth Robinson, Art and Design.
• College of Health and Human Performance: Andrew Brimhall, Human Development and Family Science; and Essie Torres, Health Education and Promotion.
• College of Allied Health Sciences: Ning Zhou, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.
• College of Nursing: Pamela Reis, Department of Nursing Science.
• School of Dental Medicine: Linda May, Department of Foundational Science and Research; and Robert Watkins, Department of General Dentistry.
• Brody School of Medicine: Irma Corral, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine; Glenn Harvin, Department of Internal Medicine; Gregory Kearney, Department of Public Health; Brandon Kyle, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine; Matthew Ledoux, Department of Pediatrics; Joseph McClung, Department of Physiology; Ari Mwachofi, Department of Public Health; Salma Syed, Department of Pediatrics; and Nancy Winterbauer, Department of Public Health.

The next scheduled meeting of the ECU Board of Trustees will be held July 12-13 at the East Carolina Heart Institute on the ECU Health Sciences campus.

Steve Long, member of the UNC Board of Governors, presented a report on the BOG’s activities.