Four seniors picked for ECU’s University Award

The University Award, East Carolina University’s top honor for a senior, will go to four members of this year’s graduating class and will be presented at the commencement ceremony on May 10.
The 1996 – 97 University Awards Recipients are Leslie Anne Williamson of Long Beach, N.C., Rachele DeFilippis Burruss of Ocracoke, N.C., Rebecca Perry Williams of Mooresville, N.C. and Lisa Ann Frederick of Toledo, Ohio.

Presented by the ECU Alumni Association, the award recognizes academic achievement, service to the university and community, and the ability for leadership. Each of the winners will receive an engraved recognition plaque at the 9:30 a.m. graduation program in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

Information about each of the University Award recipients follows:

Leslie Williamson of Long Beach

Leslie Williamson, a communication sciences and disorders major, is a resident advisor for students living on campus and is a member of the Student Ambassadors. She has maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average and is described by her advisor as a “gifted and natural scholar.”

A transfer student from Lenoir-Rhyne College, Williamson is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honors Fraternity, Omicron Delta Kappa and the National Student Speech Language and Hearing Association. She received scholarships from the Our Savior Lutheran Church and the Patterson Memorial Fund.

Over the past two summers she has worked at a restaurant on Bald Head Island and at the Pinehurst Area Convention and Visitors Bureau in Pinehurst and at The Prescription Shoppe in Southern Pines.

She plans to attend graduate school at ECU in the fall.

Rachele Burruss of Ocracoke

Rachele Burruss, a veteran of the U.S. Army, is one of 50 students majoring in anthropology. Her primary interest is the study of archaeology — the study of early people and their culture. She plans to attend graduate school at the University of South Carolina.

While at ECU, she has worked in the excavation of Fort Neoheroka in Greene County, the site of the final battle of the Tuscarora War in the early 18th century. She also conducted an independent project that involves cataloging and analyzing a collection of artifacts from Costa Rica that are kept at ECU’s Archaeology Laboratory.

She holds memberships in Lambda Alpha and has served as the organization’s president. She is also in Golden Key and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies.

She is regular volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and the Greenville Homeless Shelter.

Holly Matthews, a member of the anthropology faculty, said Burruss “has an infectious enthusiasm for anthropology… and is one of the most outstanding students I have ever taught.”

Rebecca Williams of Mooresville

Rebecca Williams has completed studies in two major areas — music therapy and pre-medicine and was recently admitted into the ECU School of Medicine. It is no surprise that one of her music professors, Nathan Williams, described her as one of the most outstanding students he has ever taught. He said that he has never known another student “capable of juggling so many activities and excelling at all of them.”

Williams is a recipient of a Chancellor’s Scholarship. She belongs to many of the national honor societies on campus including Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Kappa Lambda (Music) and Golden Key. She participates in the International Student Association, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and the National Association for Music Therapy-Students.