FISCAL YEAR END
More teachers, better dentistry and coronavirus emergency funds: How donors helped ECU this year
Donor support in the last year helped East Carolina University continue its transformative education and regional impact and respond to the coronavirus pandemic by offering relief funds to students.
In the fiscal year which began July 1, 2019, and ended June 30, alumni, friends, faculty and other supporters committed $43 million to the university. The fundraising total comprises $23 million for main campus, $12.3 million for athletics and $7.6 million for the health sciences campus.
“ECU has long benefited from generous philanthropic supporters,” Interim Chancellor Ron Mitchelson said. “Their investments this year will go a tremendous way in advancing the university’s work in such key areas as faculty scholarship, community engagement and rural health and education initiatives.”
The biggest issue facing ECU in 2020 is the COVID-19 pandemic. The economic challenges were felt immediately, and many are still struggling to overcome them. However, the university was able to quickly respond since March by raising $185,000 for student emergency funds and distributing 2,079 pounds of food from the Purple Pantry.
Fiscal year fundraising was also bolstered by a record-breaking Pirate Nation Gives on June 24. The university raised more than $3.1 million, surpassing last year’s amount of $805,000 and exceeding its initial goal of $1 million. The largest gift of the day was a $1.8 million commitment from an anonymous faculty member. Nearly $1.1 million will support accounting faculty recruitment and retention — among the largest gifts ever for the College of Business. And an initial gift of $25,000 from Dr. Jesse R. Peel will create a diversity and inclusion support program within the College of Education’s Rural Education Institute. Peel grew up in Martin County, is a supporter of numerous scholarships and is the namesake of the Dr. Jesse R. Peel Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer (LGBTQ) Center.
The College of Education received an additional gift of $500,000 from BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina for Partnership Teach. The program aims to increase the number of teachers in the state by offering affordable, online degree completion for students who want to teach in their hometowns.
Another corporate gift to ECU this year came from the Scottish Rite Foundation of North Carolina for the Speech-Language and Hearing Clinic housed within the College of Allied Health Sciences. The mission of the program is to provide financial assistance for speech, language and hearing services for children in rural areas. The foundation has given over $1.1 million to ECU over the years.
The School of Dental Medicine created its first distinguished professorship this year in honor of Dr. Jasper L. Lewis Jr., a Greenville pediatric dentist and visionary supporter of the school. More than $800,000 has been pledged from 45 donors so far. The Lewis professor will lead programming that will teach pediatric dental skills to students and residents as well as practicing dentists in North Carolina.