Jarvis Medal, service awards granted at Founders Day Convocation

ECU celebrated Founders Day March 26 with a dedication of the new Trustees Fountain, a Centennial Convocation and other events. Right, Janice Hardison Faulkner receives the Thomas Jordan Jarvis Medal.

GREENVILLE, N.C. —   East Carolina University honored the first female recipient of the Thomas Jordan Jarvis Medal, the university’s highest service award, at its March 26 Founders Day celebration. 

Janice Hardison, Faulkner, a distinguished public servant and former university faculty member and administrator, received the medal during the Centennial Convocation. A native of Martin County, Faulkner earned her bachelor’s degree in 1953 and a master’s in English in 1956 at ECU. After post-graduate work at the famous Breadloaf School of English in Vermont, she joined the East Carolina faculty. 

After a notable tenure at ECU, Faulkner became a well-known and highly respected participant in state politics and government. She served as former North Carolina secretary of revenue, secretary of state and commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles. Her hands-on leadership turned these agencies into a model for quality management in state government. 

Faulkner was the first chair of the university’s Board of Visitors, a member of the Board of the ECU Foundation, a recipient of the Distinguished Alumna award and received an honorary doctorate from ECU in 1997. She currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Pitt County Memorial Hospital.
 
In accepting her award, Faulkner said her service to ECU fulfilled the vision set out by East Carolina’s founders. “Our founding fathers 100 years ago captured a vision of doing something great and wonderful and good for the people of Eastern North Carolina. I think I stand here today as a representative of the fact that the vision they captured has indeed become a dream realized for hundreds of us here, and I am proud to have made that journey,” she said. 

The Jarvis medal, which is awarded occasionally by the university’s Board of Trustees, recognizes extraordinary service to the university or society. Previous recipients are Governor Thomas Jordan Jarvis, who is considered the father of ECU; Robert Wright, the university’s first president, former Chancellor Leo Jenkins; former U.S. Sen. Robert Morgan; and Dr. Andrew Best, a Greenville pediatrician who also served on the university’s faculty.

ECU also recognized winners of the 2009 Centennial Awards for Excellence and inductees to the Servire Society, which honors faculty, staff and students who contributed 100 or more hours of volunteer service to the community in the previous year.

Excellence awards were presented to individuals in the following categories:

• Service: Dr. Lee West (Brody School of Medicine); Jane Manning (Business Services Office); Ruth Clifton (Dowdy Student Stores).
• Leadership: Mark Weitzel (College of Business); Carolyn Erwin (ECU Physicians);  Maurice York (Joyner Library) 
• Ambition: Dr. Jayne Geissler (Academic Advising and Support Center); Members of the Emergency Communications Assessment Team: Lucia Brannon, Charles Peele and Brad Ritchie (Student Affairs); Erica Plouffe Lazure, Christine Neff and Jeannine Manning Hutson (News Services); Rita Bilbro, Rob Hudson, Billy Long and Petra Rouse (Information Technology & Computing Services and Health Sciences Campus Communications); Maj. Frank Knight (ECU Police); Mary Schiller (Administration and Finance); Paul Carson (Campus Operations).
• Spirit: Willie Warren (Administration and Finance); Jonathan Wallace (Administration and Finance). 

Sixty-three faculty and staff members and 45 students were inducted into the Servire Society.

Faculty and staff first-year inductees are as follows: Harry Adams, Robin Armstrong, Margaret Arnd-Caddigan, William Bogey, Christine Bouck, Elizabeth Carroll, William Clark, Kathleen Cox, Tarrick Cox, Leslie Craigle, Jessica Davenport, Tommy Ellis, Charles Gee, Sandra Hickey, Mary Jackson, Angela Lamson, Mandee Lancaster, Marylee Lannan, Charles Lesko Jr., Susan McCammon, Barbara Memory, Scott Methe, Shawn Moore, Nick Pantelidis, Roman Pawlak, Mary Pollock, Roytesa Savage, N. Yaprak Savut, Kirk St. Amant, Ashley Suggs, Rebecca Sweet, Linda Teel, Robert Thompson, Lathan Turner, Lynn Tuthill, Katherine Warsco, Beverly Wright and Robert Zinko. 

Faculty and staff members who earned Servire Society induction for a second year are as follows: Mark Angolia, David Batie, Paul Bolin, Susan Copeland, F. Leonard Darby, Penny Doughtie, William Edwards, Margie Gallagher, Kathryn Griffin, Nancy Harris, Amanda Hodges, Aaron Lucier, James McAtee, Danny L. Morton, Vivian Mott, Amanda Pantelidis, Karen Parker, Annette Peery, Nancy Ray, Ronald Sessoms St., Chris Stallings, Bryan Wheeler, Tina Williams and Wanda Wynne. 

Students who were inducted to the Service Society are as follows: Ashley Alexander, Joi Alexander, Joseph Annunziata, Vladim Bobrovnikov, Ashley Boswell, Anna Bowling, Bryan Bunn, Joshua Corsa, Nathaniel Creech, Angela Cross, Chelsea Demarest, Brandy Edwards, Courtney Elliott, Theresa Esslinger, Hayley Fischer, Claire Fletcher, Jayme Hostetter, Stacey Johnson, Anthony Jones, Aseem Kaul, Lindsay Kovacic, Paul  Loftin, Candice Martin, Vivek Miyani, Courtney Olmsted, Devang Patel, Wesley Peace, Sharda Persaud, Sunil Persaud, Amanda Pugh, Amanda Robb, Chaunte Rucker, Nancy Shinouda, Sarah Strickland, Carla Supples, Sarah Thalhamer, Anita Unnithan, Sadaf Usman, Craig Wagner, Leslie Wheeler, William Whited, Laura Wolfe, Roxanne Wynne, Brandon Yarns and Ying Zhang.