NEW SEASON

Faculty members mark return with convocation ceremony

East Carolina University’s faculty marked the start of the 2019-20 academic year with a convocation ceremony in Wright Auditorium Friday morning.

Dr. Jeff Popke, chair of the faculty senate and professor of geography, welcomed the university’s educators and compared the cycle of campus life to the seasonal changes he noted while studying riverbank erosion in Bangladesh over the summer.

“And so it is with the life of our university, as we convene with a new season for us,” he said. “As the summer Down East peeks ahead toward fall, we too prepare the grounds, welcome in a new crop of students, and ease back into the familiar rhythms of campus activity.”

Interim Chancellor Dan Gerlach said priorities for this year include returning to the fundamentals found in the ECU Creed — educational excellence, responsible stewardship and intellectual freedom.

Interim Chancellor Dan Gerlach highlighted his priorities for the coming year and outlined the university’s progress on the pursuits identified in the ECU Creed — educational excellence, responsible stewardship and intellectual freedom. He pointed to ECU’s inclusion in the Princeton Review’s list of the nation’s best colleges and to the steady improvement of its graduation rates as positive markers.

Gerlach encouraged the faculty to focus on extracurricular opportunities for students.

“How do we engage more students in research, even undergraduate students?” he said. “How do we find more internships for these students to put themselves to work and gain the real-world experience that is going to give them the advantage when they come out and compete in the marketplace or in graduate school?”

He expressed his support of the university’s model of shared governance and his gratitude for the faculty’s commitment and dedication to its students. The faculty’s presence in the community and its service around the world, from Zambia and Bangladesh to the Arctic Circle, do not go unnoticed, Gerlach said.

Dr. Sy Saeed, professor of psychiatry and behavioral medicine in the Brody School of Medicine, was recognized as the recipient of the 2019 O. Max Gardner Award, which is presented annually by the UNC System Board of Governors to the faculty member who has made the greatest contribution to the welfare of the human race.

Saeed received the award for his leadership of the North Carolina Telepsychiatry Program, an innovative and highly impactful effort to provide access to psychiatric services to patients who would not otherwise have access to treatment, Popke said.

Dr. Sy Saeed, professor of psychiatry, was recognized as the recipient of the 2019 O. Max Gardner Award, the UNC System’s highest faculty honor.

Also recognized during the ceremony were Dr. David Wilson-Okamura, professor of English and winner of the 2019 Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching, and Dr. Baohong Zhang, professor of biology and recipient of the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award for Research and Creativity.

Wilson-Okamura emphasized the importance of general education, pointing to the conclusions of David Epstein in his book “Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World.”

“According to Epstein, specialists do pull ahead in highly structured environments with well-defined rules,” Wilson-Okamura said. “But in more complex environments, like say, the real world, it’s the generalist who is able to adapt, borrow strategies from other disciplines, and innovate.”

He encouraged the faculty to rededicate themselves to general education along with more specialized, higher-level courses, noting that two-thirds of students will end up in jobs that are not directly related to their majors.

“Let’s give Gen. Ed. the best of ourselves, not the leftovers,” he said.

The ceremony included a performance by Jessica Teague, assistant professor of dance, who presented “Allegretto” from the opera “Faust.”

Popke closed convocation by encouraging the faculty to continue to help tell ECU’s story.

“We at ECU continue to have a compelling story to tell … about student success, public service and regional transformation,” he said. “Our challenge is to tell that story in effective ways and to build upon our existing skills and talents and ongoing commitments to our students and to our region that we already have in place.”

He also asked their help in ensuring that the university remains an inclusive campus.

“It takes a concerted and collective effort to cultivate a welcoming environment, one in which all of our faculty and indeed all of our staff and students as well, can find a sense of belonging and purpose, and maximize their potential,” he said.

Jessica Teague, assistant professor of dance, performed “Allegretto” from the opera “Faust” during Friday’s faculty convocation.