Alumni awards recognize outstanding service to ECU
Six outstanding East Carolina University alumni and friends will be recognized by the ECU Alumni Association over homecoming weekend.
The ECU alumni awards celebrate individuals who demonstrate outstanding service to the university and accomplishments in their careers.
Six outstanding East Carolina University alumni and friends will be recognized by the ECU Alumni Association over homecoming weekend, including, from left, Jose Garcia, Jessica Holton, Joshua Sonett, Michael McShane, Chris S. Holder, and Gray Williams. (Contributed photos)
This year’s class will be honored at A Purple and Gold Evening: ECU Alumni Awards & Dinner on Friday.
Outstanding Alumni Awards
Dr. Jose Garcia ’01 is the Greene County Schools science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education director. He leads three STEM Schools of Distinction, facilitates a regional STEM Teacher Leadership Academy, supervises summer STEM camps, and has received numerous awards as a teacher, leader and member of professional organizations including Greene County Teacher of the Year in 2009-10.
Jessica Holton ’03 is a licensed clinical social worker who has served in state, local and national leadership roles in the National Association of Social Workers. Holton has worked extensively with individuals who have experienced chronic stressors, adversities and traumas. She also has donated hundreds of pro bono hours for psychotherapy sessions for uninsured or underinsured clients. Holton received an ECU 40 Under 40 Leadership Award in 2018.
Dr. Joshua Sonett ’88 is professor and chief of thoracic surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and the director of the Price Family Center for Comprehensive Chest Care and Esophageal Center. Sonett is known for his work as the operative surgeon for former President Bill Clinton following a quadruple bypass. A leader in minimally invasive treatment of lung and esophageal diseases, Sonett developed an extended donor lung transplant criteria protocol that saves people’s lives worldwide.
Virgil Clark ’50 Distinguished Service Award
Michael McShane ’66 is a lecturer at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. During his 40-year career in Washington, he has been involved in 11 presidential campaigns, served as a legislative and security advisor, and as lead advance on numerous state department and White House visits and events. At former ECU Chancellor Richard Eakin’s request, McShane implemented and managed the transfer of the Voice of America Site C to ECU. Part of the university’s West Research Campus, the site is used by ECU’s biology department, ROTC, the Agromedicine Institute and Queen Anne’s Revenge Conservation Laboratory. McShane has also served on several ECU boards and councils.
Honorary Alumni Award
Chris S. Holder has been a longtime advocate for ECU’s Department of Engineering, serving as chair of the Engineering Advisory Board and a past member of the College of Engineering and Technology Advancement Council. Holder is fleet support team site lead/director of Fleet Readiness Center East, a U.S. Navy aviation and maintenance facility at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, which has provided internship and job opportunities for many ECU graduates.
Young Alumni Award
Gray Williams ’13 was the first executive director of the Greenville-Pitt County Sports Commission (Play Greenville, NC Sports), which was founded in 2019 under her leadership. The organization has contributed more than $45 million in economic impact in the last three years. Williams is a certified sports tourism specialist and has received numerous honors including an ECU 40 Under 40 Leadership Award in 2016. She is director of sales for PlayFly.
ECU is in the public phase of the Pursue Gold campaign to raise half a billion dollars. This ambitious effort will create new paths to success for Pirates on campus, across the country and around the world. Donor gifts during the campaign will keep us constantly leading and ready to advance what’s possible. Learn more at pursuegold.ecu.edu.