ECU Founder’s Week focuses on health
GREENVILLE, NC (Mar. 10, 2004) — In a continuing countdown to the centennial of East Carolina University in 2007, the Division of Health Sciences assumes center stage for activities related to Founders Week, March 22-27.
The focus of this year’s festivities is human health, as part of a plan established by former ECU Chancellor William Muse. Human health is one of four strategic focal points of the university, along with teacher education (last year’s theme), the arts (next year’s) and economic development (the theme for 2006). The university’s centennial celebration is set for 2007.
The Health Sciences Division will host a number of special activities during a week full of celebrations of the university’s heritage. A highlight will be the groundbreaking for the Learning Village – the new home of the School of Nursing, the School of Allied Health Sciences and the Laupus Health Sciences Library-on the medical campus west of the Warren Life Sciences Building. The event is set for Friday, March 26, at 11:30 a.m.
“The groundbreaking ceremony for the Learning Village is important in many ways,” said Dr. Michael Lewis, vice chancellor for health sciences at ECU. “While the actual turning of the soil provides visible evidence of the construction of a building, it also represents the unity of the components of the Health Sciences Division. Likewise, while the physical co-location of the schools on the same campus with Pitt County Memorial Hospital, our major teaching hospital, offers enhanced opportunities for education and health care services, it also sends a clear message that we are partners in providing crucial services to the citizens of North Carolina.”
Here are some other health sciences-related activities during the week:
–The Chancellor’s Forum on Health Care. Set for 10 a.m. March 22, the forum will feature presentations by a number of panelists followed by an open forum discussion. The theme of the event in Brody Auditorium is “Raising One Healthy Generation.”
Lewis will lead off with a demographic overview of problems and opportunities. Panelists include Dr. Ron Perkin, chairman of the ECU Department of Pediatrics, on the topic of pediatric healthy weight; Dr. Michael Priddy, superintendent of the Pitt County Schools, on challenges facing the public schools; Dr. Marilyn Sheerer, dean of the ECU School of Education, fostering change through education; Dave McRae, chief executive officer of University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina, on initiatives of the health system to improve health; and Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, on the role of government in improving health.
The deans of the Brody School of Medicine, the School of Nursing, the School of Allied Health Sciences and Health and Human Performance will join the panel for the open forum.
–Opening of historic collections facility. At 1:30 p.m. March 22, the Laupus Health Sciences Library will celebrate the opening of its new historic collections facility. The library commissioned custom bookcases to be built to shelve its growing collection of rare books – including some dating to the 16th century. The bookcases have been designed so that they can be moved to the new health sciences library when it opens.
The library will also have artifacts from the Country Doctor Museum in Bailey. The library now manages the museum, which will reopen April 14 following refurbishment.
–Brody Lecture on health care. On March 25, Dr. Judy Ann Bigby will present this invited lecture in Brody Auditorium. Bigby is medical director of Community Health Programs at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and director of Harvard Medical School’s Center of Excellence in Women’s Health, where she is a faculty member.