Faculty: Dr. Hal Holloman

Hal Holloman was raised to live East Carolina University’s motto of service while growing up in the small North Carolina town of Aulander.

“My mom was the town librarian and my dad served as the mayor, so they really modeled for us the importance of serving others,” he said.

A former walk-on basketball player at Wake Forest, Dr. Hal Holloman has regular pickup basketball games with fellow faculty and staff at the Eakin Student Recreation Center. (Photo by Rhett Butler)

Holloman served children from elementary to high school as a teacher, assistant principal and principal. Now in ECU’s College of Education, he inspires the next generation of teachers and school leaders as a professor of educational leadership and program director of the Pirate Leadership Academy. The program provides resources and instructs teachers to become assistant principals, principals and district administrators in 36 eastern North Carolina school districts. Over the years, Holloman has secured $18.9 million in grant funding to support the program.

“Districts in urban areas might have 10, 20, 30 or 40 people preparing to be principals. They have the resources to promote their principal pipeline,” Holloman said. “In eastern North Carolina, in these smaller districts that don’t have the resources, ECU is able to serve as their principal pipeline.”

He said the program helps school districts identify their future leaders, supporting them as they take courses toward their master’s degree in school administration.

“What we’ve done is create a model that is attractive to those teachers,” he said. “This allows them to get their degree while they remain on the job. It’s a win for the districts because they get experienced, proven teacher leaders, and they stay. They finish our program and stay in their districts.”

The program graduated 34 students in May, with about 88% securing jobs as assistant principals. He credits faculty and staff as well as the support of Dr. André Green, dean of the College of Education.

“It takes a team to make this dream work,” Holloman said. “The ECU Principal Fellows leadership team members I get to work with daily are dedicated, selfless, caring and so much fun, and I feel grateful to get to serve eastern North Carolina with them.”

His passion for educating teachers comes from his own desire to learn when he graduated Bertie High School and attended Wake Forest University.

“I wasn’t a good writer, and I had not read a lot. I wanted a degree that was going to force me to read and write a lot, so an English degree did that,” he said. “I love education. I just love school and everything about school.”

Dr. Hal Holloman, third from right, stands with the ECU Principal Fellows leadership team. (Contributed photo)

With a minor in education, he began teaching high school and coaching basketball in Bertie County and then in nearby Martin County. He later became an assistant principal and principal in Pamlico County, earning his master’s in education from ECU and later a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of South Carolina along the way.

He learned of an opening in ECU’s College of Education in 2003 and decided to apply. Not only did he have a degree from ECU, but two older sisters attended ECU in the 1980s. “I remember moving them in,” Holloman said.

He’s been teaching at ECU for 22 years. And though he met his wife of 31 years, Blair, at Wake Forest, three of the couple’s children — Luke, Zeke and Jessie — graduated from ECU, and their fourth, Maggie, is “possibly the biggest ECU fan of us all,” Holloman said.

“We didn’t tell them they had to come to ECU. The world’s out there. But ECU has been really, really good to us. We’re incredibly thankful,” he said.

In his quest to support teachers, Holloman teamed with Dr. Peggy Yates, now a retired ECU professor, to research successful teachers and the language they use to engage and motivate students.

“It was a gold mine. These great teachers who had been teaching 20 or 30 years, they were so affluent in this great teacher language,” Holloman said.

The result was a 2010 book called “What Do You Say When … ? Best Practice Language for Improving Student Behavior.”

The research work didn’t stop, and they’ve just released “What Do Great Teachers Say?” with separate editions for elementary school teachers and another for middle and high school teachers.

“When we did the research with these great teachers, transcribed their language and coded it, we found these 11 word categories typical of great teachers,” he said. “The books are full of great teacher examples and scenarios. We even have language that teachers can use with parents for parent conferences. They’re research-based, practical tools.”

When not working, Holloman enjoys family time as well as fishing. Most Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at noon, you can find him at the Eakin Student Recreation Center playing pickup basketball with other ECU faculty and staff.

“It’s just a really good group of people,” he said. “Over the years, I’ve built some great friendships. We’re able to disconnect, just play and have fun. It’s great camaraderie.”

While at Wake Forest, Holloman was a walk-on member of the Demon Deacons basketball team. He never got into a game, missing an opportunity to play when a team manager had forgotten to bring Holloman’s correct game jersey. Also a drum major for the Wake Forest marching band, Holloman had his own cheering section at basketball games.

“All my band friends in the pep band, they would always chant, ‘We want Hal.’ I would always tell them, ‘No, no, no.’ It just put unnecessary pressure on the coaches,” he said with a laugh. “The team I was on, we opened Lawrence-Joel Coliseum, and I have this panoramic picture of opening night, and I’m the last person on the bench. I was more of a practice player type of guy.”

Growing up about an hour north of ECU’s campus, Holloman has eastern North Carolina and ECU in his heart.

“I love this area,” he said. “I feel blessed to have gotten to know many amazing people across campus over the last 22 years. I’m thankful for my time at ECU and the positive impact the university has had on me and my family.”