Vail-Smith presented with Order of the Long Leaf Pine
Karen Vail-Smith wanted a casual retirement celebration with no speeches. The event was progressing exactly as Vail-Smith had hoped, with one exception.
Dr. Michele Wallen, chair of the East Carolina University Department of Health Education and Promotion, emerged to provide some remarks about Vail-Smith’s career, which began at ECU in 1983, and Wallen was holding a frame. The framed document represented Vail-Smith’s recognition with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest award for state service granted by the Office of the Governor.
“I can’t remember the last time I was that surprised,” said Vail-Smith, teaching professor of health education and promotion. “I was flabbergasted, and just so proud and appreciative for them for doing that.”
She was nominated for the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by fellow health education and promotion faculty members.
Karen Vail-Smith, right, stands and smiles with Dr. Michele Wallen after Vail-Smith was notified of her Order of the Long Leaf Pine award.
“Karen has become an iconic figure on ECU’s campus over the last 40 years,” colleague Paige Irons said.
Her first role was at the Brody School of Medicine as coordinator of community health services. She began teaching a few years later and has since earned some of the university’s most prestigious honors, including the UNC Board of Governors Distinguished Professor for Teaching Award, the University Alumni Award for Outstanding Teaching, the Ray Martinez Award for Teaching Excellence and the Max Ray Joyner Award for Outstanding Teaching in Distance Education.
She has served on more than 50 university, college or departmental committees, including multiple terms on ECU Faculty Senate and as vice president of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. Colleagues describe her as creative and innovative, exemplified by her leadership within the Health 1000 program and her role when it became the first general education class in the UNC System offered fully online.
“The core of teaching is for student learning and to make it interesting and make students want to come to class and participate and learn. All of that stays the same,” said Vail-Smith, who holds two master’s degrees from ECU. “But when I first started, we used overhead projectors and I remember teaching a class with a reel-to-reel film projector, like at a movie theater. There were no computers or emails. So there’s been huge changes with the advent of technology, which I have liked that a lot. I got in there and dug in there, right at the beginning, and did a lot with distance education. Now it’s no big deal, but back then, it was a huge deal.”
Vail-Smith also has mentored plenty of others through the ECU Office of Faculty Excellence.
“She has left a lasting impression on our students, faculty and community members,” Wallen said. “She is a motivator, a respected expert, someone who will go the extra mile for all students, and a devoted professional within the field of public health. Her dedication to mentoring and her long-standing commitment to the university has been truly remarkable. Our lives in the Department of Health Education and Promotion and the lives of thousands of our Pirates have been positively impacted by Karen Vail-Smith.”
Vail-Smith was born in Wilmington and grew up in Kinston, giving her roots in eastern North Carolina that she is glad also led her to Pirate Nation.
“It’s in my soul and in my blood,” she said. “ECU is the guiding light here in this part of the state. I am very proud, being from here, to have been part of that for so long.”
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