- The document provides updates from Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences including the passing of former dean Keats Sparrow, grants received by faculty in various departments, and the election of current dean Alan White to the board of directors of the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences. It also discusses fundraising efforts for an endowed professorship in urban and regional planning.

2. Magnetic EastThomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences
SPRING2010
noteworthy news
In Memoriam: Keats Sparrow
English Professor and Area Teachers
Promote Equity, Excellence,
Achievement
Physics Department Receives
$868,000 NSF Grant for New Particle
Accelerator
Children’s Miracle Network Awards
Psychology Professor $12,000 Grant
Urban and Regional Planning
Program Seeks to Raise $417,000 for
Endowed Distinguished Professorship
ECU Dean White Elected to National
Board of Directors, Council of
Colleges of Arts and Sciences
faculty/staff
accomplishments 14
new positions and promotions 19
emerging leader 20
celebrating student successes 22
treasured pirate awards 24
events 25
2
8
10
6
4
1

3. W. Keats Sparrow, dean of East Carolina University’s
Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences (June 1990
to August 2005), died on Nov. 11, 2009.
Sparrow’s career at ECU included his service as professor
of English, and later, chair of the Department of English.
But his most enduring legacy is his deanship, characterized
by his impassioned articulation of the mission, scope and
composition of the university’s academic cornerstone, and
his unfaltering efforts in strengthening the college’s timeless,
but always timely, liberal arts mission.
His significant and wide-reaching achievements are so
numerous that only a few highlights can be mentioned in
this brief space. Sparrow conceived and implemented the
Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professorship Program; he
created the College’s Development Office, which has resulted
in millions of dollars in private funds now augmenting state
appropriations; he founded the College’s Center for the
Liberal Arts as a primary advocacy agency for the liberal
arts; and he established Annual Leadership Development
Retreats for department chairs.
American poet, physician and essayist OliverWendell
Holmes writes in his poem, “The Chambered Nautilus,”
words that aptly reflect Keats Sparrow’s dedication to
building a liberal arts college that would grow and expand
with every new opportunity:
Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!
“A Briefe andTrue Report: A History of Thomas Harriot
College of Arts and Sciences, 1909 to 2004” speaks
eloquently of Sparrow’s tenure by quoting the inscription
honoring Sir ChristopherWren in London’s St. Paul’s
Cathedral: Si monumentum requires, circumspice: “If you would
see the man’s monument, look around you.”
Keats Sparrow’s monument is more enduring than bricks
and mortar, more enduring than wood and stone. Keats
Sparrow’s monument is the limitless freedom of ideas
characteristic of an eternal academy in which he is, surely
now, also dean.
Photo: Keats Sparrow tries on 16th century “styles” at the
Festival Park, Manteo, NC, March 2006.
3

4. StephanieWest-Puckett, an East Carolina University teaching instructor in the Department of English, is helping area
educators through a program that promotes equity, excellence and achievement in 21st century classrooms. Over the past
two years,West-Puckett has received $6,000 in project development grants from the North Carolina EnglishTeachers
Association, and most recently this fall, she received $4,500 from the NationalWriting Project.
The grants fund the “Leadership for Equity, Excellence, and Achievement Project” (LEEAP), a collaborative effort between
ECU and area teachers. ECU’s Departments of English, and Curriculum and Instruction, provide support for the program
through teaching reassignment, time and materials.
LEEAP, co-directed by Beaufort County 8th grade
language arts teacher Danielle Lewis Ange, promotes
teacher inquiry as a valuable component of professional
development, recruits new teachers and develops
leadership in members of theTar RiverWriting Project
(TRWP), and develops and disseminates a region-specific,
teacher-initiated body of knowledge of teaching to
diversity in North Carolina schools.
For the 2009-2010 academic year, the LEEAPTeam
has partnered with Northeast Elementary (NES), a
K-8 Beaufort County School in Pinetown, NC, to
provide high-quality professional development to assist
instructional staff in meeting the standards of the newly
adopted North CarolinaTeacher-Evaluation Process.
This yearlong program provides 30 to 45 hours of direct
contact and ongoing virtual support for its teacher-
research participants at NES, and provides 12 hours
of continuing education units and an incentive package
that includes books, research materials and personal
technologies. Participants explore and engage in equity-
focused action research projects and share their work at
local conferences, while working toward publication of
their findings.
DawnWilson, a music teacher at NES and LEEAP
Institute participant writes, “As educators, I think we all
have questions in the back – and front and sides – of our
minds, as we reflect on our teaching.This research project
gives me a reason to go ahead and test a theory and have
the data to prove, or disprove it.”
NES K-5 instructional technologist and institute
participant, Frank Rice, enjoys the collaborative aspect of
the LEEAP in-service programming.
“As an action research model, this
engagement with my practice and
students will most likely lead to several
positive outcomes,” said Rice. “Likewise,
with a team model we are certain to be successful and gain
deeper meanings. I am exploring the ideas of 21st century
teaching and learning. It is exciting.”
“I am particularly fond of this NationalWriting Project-
inspired model because it is a grassroots approach to
professional development, one that recognizes teacher
expertise and authority and places teachers at the center of
knowledge-creation as they develop, document and apply
best practices for authentic student learning,” said LEEAP
co-directorWest-Puckett. “The group of teachers we
are currently working with at Northeast Elementary are
some of our most valuable educational resources here in
Eastern North Carolina. My own teaching here at ECU is
enriched through our collaboration.”
West-Puckett received her master of arts degree in
English from ECU in 2001. She completed theTRWP
Summer Institute in 2007, to become a NationalWriting
ProjectTeacher Consultant.While at ECU,West-Puckett
has taught composition and writing for business and
industry. Her research interests include action research,
service learning as composition pedagogy, on-line social
networking and educational technologies, and best
practices in the teaching of writing and English education.
She is also North Carolina EnglishTeacher’s Association
Region I Co-director, married to a graphic arts instructor
at J.H. Rose High School and is a mother of three (soon
to be four) beautiful and inspiring young students.
English Professor and Area
Teachers Promote
Equity, Excellence, Achievement
5

5. This past fall, Dr. Jeff Shinpaugh and Dr. LarryToburen,
East Carolina University physics professors, received a
National Science Foundation grant in the amount of
$867,982.The NSF grant will be used to replace a 1970s
model particle accelerator and supporting instrumentation
located in the ECU Accelerator Laboratory in the
Department of Physics.
“Jeff Shinpaugh deserves enormous credit for his initiative
in deciding to apply for this grant and for all the hard
work required to prepare the proposal to the National
Science Foundation,” said John Sutherland, chair of the
Department of Physics. “The new accelerator
will benefit ECU by providing more
research opportunities for our students
and faculty in the area of biomedical
physics.”
For nearly four decades, the ECU Accelerator Laboratory
has provided the facilities for productive experimental
atomic physics and radiation physics research. In addition
to basic and applied physics research, the laboratory
will continue to support interdisciplinary research with
the Departments of Anthropology, Biology, Geological
Sciences, and the Brody School of Medicine.
Shinpaugh, director of the ECU Accelerator Laboratory,
said, “The new system will provide stable, energetic light
and heavy ion beams in an energy range of 300 keV to 8
MeV, perfectly suited for continuing and expanding our
studies in radiation physics, atomic interactions in gases
and solids, and trace element analysis.”
The new equipment will consist of a 2-million-volt
tandem ion accelerator and supporting components that
include a focusing magnet, analyzing magnet, and beam
transport and diagnostic instrumentation necessary for
delivering ion beams to existing and new experiments.
Research based on the new accelerator includes studies
of radiation effects in biological systems, fundamental
processes in ion-atom and ion-molecule collisions, and
atomic interactions in solids. Interdisciplinary research
is supported through elemental analysis studies for
applications in biology, geology, anthropology and
medicine.
The new accelerator, which costs roughly $700,000,
will be approximately 32-feet-long and weigh more than
12,000 pounds, or six tons. Currently, the old accelerator
is housed in the east wing of the Howell Science Complex.
Alternate locations for the new accelerator are under
discussion, which could provide faculty and students
greater flexibility to conduct their laboratory experiments.
Over the past decade, the ECU Department of Physics’
Radiation Physics group has received funding of more
than $3 million from sources that include NASA, the
National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of
Energy and the National Science Foundation.
Physics Department Receives $868,000 NSF Grant for New Particle Accelerator
7

6. One of Harriot College’s newest psychology professors
is the recipient of a $12,381 grant from the Pitt County
Memorial Hospital/ Children’s Miracle Network. Dr.
TamaraWarner, assistant professor of psychology, is the
beneficiary of the award that will assist in maximizing
treatment outcomes for children with sickle cell disease.
The purpose of Project SCORE, which is an acronym
for “Sickle Cell – Optimizing Readiness for Education,”
is to increase school readiness for children with sickle
cell disease by providing developmental screening and
evaluations for children ages 3 to 8 who are seen in the
Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Outpatient Clinic.
“We are so delighted to have been awarded a Children’s
Miracle Network grant through PCMH to provide early
developmental screenings for children with sickle cell
disease who have one of the highest rates of pediatric
stroke and are at high risk for academic difficulties,” said
Warner. “Through early identification and intervention,
we hope to make a significant difference in the lives of
these children and families, rather than waiting for them
to fall behind and fail in the early years of elementary
school.”
Warner is a licensed psychologist and certified heath service
provider in North Carolina. She came to ECU in 2007
from the University of Florida and is an active member
of the clinical health psychology doctoral program in the
Department of Psychology.
She holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of
Pediatrics Division of Hematology/Oncology, where she
established a pediatric neuropsychology clinic.The clinic
provides evaluations for children with sickle cell disease, as
well as pediatric and cancer survivors, who have difficulties
with learning and/or behavior. It also serves as a training
site for doctoral students in the clinical health and school
psychology programs.
Within her research interests,Warner focuses on health
and educational disparities in pediatric chronic illnesses,
development of executive functioning in childhood and
adolescence, and the effects of adolescent substance abuse
and prenatal drug exposure on brain development and
behavior.
In addition to the grant from the Children’s Miracle
Network,Warner is a principal investigator on a two-year,
approximately $400,000 grant from the National Institutes
of Health titled, “Brain Development, Behavior, and
Cognition in Pre- and Postnatal Cocaine Exposure.”
“I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to receive my first NIH
grant as a principal investigator. It is a privilege that
only a small number of researchers in the country get to
experience,” saidWarner. “It has taken more than three
years of hard work, and I am grateful to my research team,
including my co-PI at UCLA and my mentors at the
University of Florida.”
As a result of her research,Warner will participate as an
invited speaker at a workshop entitled “Cognitive Control
Training Interventions:What are the Neurobiological
Mechanisms Underlying the Beneficial Effects?” sponsored
by the NIH.The goal of the meeting, which will be held
in Bethesda, Md., May 3 and 4, 2010, will be to determine
the current state of basic and clinical research on cognitive
control and to discuss training interventions that can
be executed in combination with genetic approaches,
neuroimaging and electrophysiological techniques, so that
the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie training effects
can be better understood.
“Being invited to present at the NIH
workshop in May is a major step in my
research career. It is both exciting and
somewhat intimidating when I look at the
other scientists who have been invited to
speak,” concludes Warner.
Warner received her doctoral degree and her master of
science degree in clinical and health psychology from the
University of Florida in 2003 and 1999, respectively. She
completed a master of arts degree in American culture
from the University of Michigan in 1996 and earned her
bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in 1992.
Children’s Miracle Network Awards
Psychology Professor $12,000 Grant
9
Photo: Tamara Warner

7. The Urban and Regional Planning Program in the
Department of Geography is the only accredited
undergraduate planning degree program in North
Carolina and one of 14 accredited programs in the nation.
Each year, the program prepares professional planners with
a strong foundation in the knowledge, skills, and values
needed to take leadership roles in sustainable development
and quality of life improvement in their communities.
Planning is a systematic, creative way to influence and
respond to a wide variety of changes occurring in a
neighborhood, city, region or around the world. Careers
within the planning practice include Land Use Planning,
Environmental Planning, Coastal Planning, Emergency
Management Planning, Economic Development Planning,
Transportation Planning, and Housing, Social and
Community Development Planning.
With the steady demand for planners in the public and
private sector, the program enjoys a high job placement
percentage for all its graduates. Nearly 65 percent of
planning alumni remain in North Carolina, demonstrating
the influence and impact on current and future
development across the state.
To maintain this excellent standard, an endowment
committee composed of a small group of dedicated
alumni was established in the fall of 2009.Their goal is to
create a $1 million endowment for the Planning Alumni
Distinguished Professorship in Urban and Regional
Planning.
Distinguished Professorships serve as a benchmark for
many universities, and endowments provide important
financial support through academic programs that benefit
students today and well into the future.
Raising $417,000 prior to the end of 2012 will allow
this goal to be achieved through matching funds from
the UNC General Administration and the C.D. Spangler
Foundation. As a lead gift in the fundraising effort,
the committee members collectively pledged more than
$40,000, and with subsequent donations, the goal is well
on its way to being achieved.
The Planning Alumni Distinguished Professorship in
Urban and Regional Planning will allow the program to
recruit and retain an exceptional faculty scholar who will
serve as a model of excellence for the faculty and students
in the Urban and Regional Planning Program at ECU,
preserving the superior standards for which the program is
known throughout North Carolina and the United States.
Anyone interested in providing a gift to the
Urban and Regional Planning Program should
contact Ms. Scott Wells, Major Gifts Officer, at
252-328-9560, or Ms. Jennifer Tripp, Director
of Development, at 252-328-4901.
Program Seeks to Raise $417,000 for Endowed
Distinguished Professorship
11

8. This past November, in continuation of his
advocacy and support of the liberal arts and
sciences, Dr. Alan R.White, dean of theThomas
Harriot College of Arts and Sciences, was elected
to the Board of Directors of the Council of
Colleges of Arts and Sciences.The announcement
was made at the annual meeting of the CCAS,
which was held in Baltimore, Md., Nov. 11 through
14.
“I’m very happy to have the opportunity
to serve a national organization such as
CCAS,” said White. “I’ve been attending
CCAS annual meetings since I first
became a dean in 2000, and I am pleased
to be able to give back to an organization
that has helped me learn more every
year.”
The Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences is composed
of accredited, baccalaureate granting colleges, schools and
divisions of Arts and Sciences from across the United
States.The non-profit organization provides its member
institutions a forum for discussing common problems
of higher education related to Arts and Sciences; and
encourages, initiates and supports programs and activities to
improve the intellectual stature and public understanding of
the disciplines within the Arts and Sciences.
“This is the main organization for colleges of arts and
sciences specifically, and it serves deans, associate deans and
department chairs in all the arts and sciences disciplines,”
saidWhite. “The CCAS has been a particularly active
advocate for the liberal arts. I especially like their motto and
activities supporting ‘Networking Arts and Sciences Deans’
and ‘Deans Helping Deans.’”
The Board of Directors of the CCAS consists of 12
members from different institutions across the U.S.This
year,White was among 13 candidates vying for seven open
positions on the board. He will serve a three-year term as a
member of the board.
An active member of CCAS since 2000,White has
participated in several CCAS Annual Meeting sessions as a
presenter and session facilitator. In July 2009,White was the
director of the CCAS New Dean’s Seminar in Denver, Colo.
At the November 2009 annual meeting,White served as a
session facilitator for a workshop for new deans.
While serving on the board,White will participate in major
projects, including reaching out to other national higher
education organizations and working on a new National
Science Foundation grant that the Council recently received
for an ADVANCE project. ADVANCE projects serve
to increase the number and profile of women in higher
education, not just in sciences, but also across campus.
ECU Dean White Elected to
National Board of Directors, Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences
13
White is a plant cell biologist, and earned his bachelor of
science degree in biology and his doctorate degree in botany
from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After
earning his PhD,White joined the North Carolina Research
Triangle Institute’s Chemistry and Life Sciences Group as
a Postdoctoral Research Associate. He was also a National
Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow at the University
of Colorado, Boulder.
White has been dean of theThomas Harriot College of
Arts and Sciences since August 2005. His leadership as dean
at ECU has resulted in enhanced support for the STEM
disciplines, increased collaboration with the Department
of Engineering and a greater contribution of the arts and
sciences in teacher preparation. Previously, he served as
dean of the College of Science and Mathematics at North
Dakota State University in Fargo, N.D. (2000-2005),
and was chair of the Department of Botany at the same
institution (1997-2000).
White has held faculty positions at ECU, Marshall
University and North Dakota State University and has
extensive published research. In addition to his research on
plant cell wall structure and synthesis,White has been a key
contributor in the development and testing of theVirtual Cell,
a virtual environment for learning cell biology.

9. Anthropology
Holly F. Mathews, professor of anthropology, was elected
to a three-year term on the Board of Directors for the
national Society for Medical Anthropology. Founded
in 1957, the society has several hundred members in
the social sciences dedicated to promoting the study of
anthropological aspects of health, illness, health care and
related topics.
Chemistry
Dr. Keith Holmes, analytical
chemistry teaching instructor,
recently consulted with a number
of external industries to acquire
additional funding and equipment
for the Department of Chemistry.
The Golden Leaf Foundation,
whose mission is to promote the
social welfare of North Carolina’s citizens and to receive
and distribute funds for economic impact assistance, has
agreed to provide funding of $99,100 to the department
for laboratory equipment. Also, long-time supporter of
the chemistry program, Merck, will be donating $15,000
to the undergraduate laboratory program.
Dr. Anne Spuches, assistant professor or inorganic
chemistry, received a Leadership Development Award
from theYounger Chemists Committee of the American
Chemical Society this past fall, allowing her at attend a
YCC Leadership DevelopmentWorkshop in FortWorth,
TX, this January.
English
This past July,TheTar RiverWriting Project, housed in
the Department of English, concluded its third Summer
Institute, which brought together 16 K-College teachers
to research various writing pedagogies and to develop as
writers themselves. English professor Will Banks and
English education professor Todd Finley, co-directors
of TRWP, facilitated the institute along with the help
of Associate Directors Jennifer Sharpe-Salter, Jonathan
Bartels andTerriVan Sickle, three area teachers whose
English and English Education degrees were earned at
ECU.To date, theTRWP has brought over $150,000
in federal and state grants to ECU, monies which have
been used to fund the Summer Institute and to conduct a
number of teacher-development projects in Eastern North
Carolina.
Foreign Languages & Literatures
Last summer, under the supervision of Paul Fallon,
associate professor of Spanish, a new study-abroad
program was held in Guadalajara, Mexico.The program
was a great success and will be continued this summer
2010, again under Fallon’s direction.
Katherine Ford, assistant professor of Spanish, has
authored a new book “Politics andViolence in Cuban
and ArgentineTheater,” which was published by Palgrave
Macmillan in January.
This year, two Spanish professors, associate professor
Michael Schinasi and professor Peter Standish, are
sharing the department’s coordinating duties for the UNC
Consortium Study-Abroad Program, which will be held in
Santander, Spain.
Geography
This past fall, during the Copenhagen Climate Change
negotiations, geography professor
Jennifer Arrigo participated
in two climate panels for an
American Geophysical Union
(AGU) project.The purpose of
the project was to enable high-
quality climate science reporting.
On February 26, the Department of Geography hosted
a panel of discussions on “Wind Energy: Alternative or
Distraction,” featuring a group of experts who addressed
the issues about growing energy costs, the uncertainties
associated with a reliance on foreign energy providers,
and concerns about the environmental impacts of wind
turbines and the economic impacts to property values and
local tourism. Speakers included Michael Slattery, lead
scientist for theWind Research Initiative and director of
the Institute for Environmental Change atTexas Christian
University; Craig Landry, ECU economics professor and
interim director of the ECU Center for Natural Hazards
Research; Tom Allen, ECU geography professor and
director of RENCI ECU; and Pat Long, director of
ECU’s Center for SustainableTourism.
This spring, two geography faculty members, Dr. Scott
Curtis and Dr. Rosana Ferreira, are teaching a course
titled “Global Climate Change,” as part of ECU’s Global
Understandings program. Using videoconferencing
technology, students from four universities located in
the United States, Brazil, India and China are working
together to come up with original solutions for various
climate change issues. Speakers arranged by the State
Department address different aspects of climate change
in a web-based format, with a question and answer
session.The first speaker of the semester was Dr. John
Holdren, science advisor to President Obama, whose
videoconference attracted students from many countries,
including South Africa, Nigeria, Philippines,Tajikistan,
Poland, Argentina, Germany andTaiwan.
Geological Sciences
Dr. Alex K. Manda, assistant professor of geological
sciences and a water resources
scientist in the Institute for
Coastal Science and Policy, was
selected this fall to participate
in “Water Here andThere
International Fellows” (WH&T
IF), an exchange program of
emerging young leaders between
China and the United States.The goal of the program
is to bring together young professionals from China and
United States to address global environmental issues
involving water resources.
Manda is one of 24 emerging leaders to be selected from
a diverse group of young professionals. Participants
with backgrounds in recycling, conservation, planning,
international development and policy, and higher
education were selected to participate in the program.The
program includes a virtual exercise and visits to China and
the US by the American and Chinese delegations.The
virtual exercise held in January, involved working in virtual
teams to address policy issues involving water resources.
In June, the American delegation will travel to China for
three weeks to learn from their Chinese counterparts, as
well as develop networks for future collaboration.
The Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs of the
United States Department of State funds the program,
which is administered by the Association for International
PracticalTraining and the International Fund for China’s
Accomplishments
Faculty and Staff
15

10. Environment.
Dr. Michael O’Driscoll, ECU Geological Sciences
professor, along with Penn State University professor
David DeWalle, recently received notice that a paper
they co-authored “Seeps Regulate Stream Nitrate
Concentration in A Forested Appalachian Catchment,”
which was published in the January-February 2010 issue
of the Journal of Environmental Quality, also has been
selected for inclusion in the Research Highlight program
from the American Society of Agronomy - Crop Science
Society of America - Soil Science Society of America
(ASA-CSSA-SSSA).Their paper may be used in the new
CSSA News magazine, News Flash, and in additional
news releases.
History
Dr. Mike Palmer, professor of history, provided his
expertise in the areas of U.S. and
Middle East relations during an
interview held inWashington,
D.C., on Jan. 15. Palmer
participated in an on camera
interview for the series “Their
Archives and Our History,” a
historical, documentary series
being produced by Hot Spot Films, a Dubai Media City
production house.The series will air on the Al Jazeera
television news network later this spring.The current
installment of the documentary, which Palmer was asked
to contribute, focuses on both American and European
influences that affected the Middle East and Gulf areas.
Dr. Larry Tise,Wilbur and OrvilleWright Distinguished
Professor, will discuss his most recent book on theWright
brothers, “Conquering the Sky,” inWashington, D.C.,
at noon, April 7, at the Library of Congress’ Center for
the Book.The center sponsors lectures by scholars who
have written important new books that have made use of
materials from the Library of Congress.
Physics
Dr. Yong-Qing Li recently received two grants from
the Department of Defense for
studies of microorganisms using
the Raman-tweezers method that
he pioneered. Along with co-
investigator Dr. Peter Setlow of
the University Connecticut Health
Center, Li received a grant from
the U.S. Army Research Office
for their project titled, “Inactivation of Spores of Bacillus
Species byWet Heat: Studies on Single Spores Using
LaserTweezers Raman Spectroscopy.”The $375,000
grant was awarded for the period from 2008 – 2012.
The second grant is a Department of Defense MURI
grant in the amount of $1,375,000 awarded to Li and
ECU for the period from 2009 – 2014 for Li’s project
titled, “Mechanism of Bacterial Spore Germination and
Heterogeneity.”
Political Science
Dr. Bonnie Mani, professor of political science, recently
authored a new book “Women,
Men, and Human Capital
Development in the Public Sector:
Return on Investments.”
Dr. Jalil Roshandel, associate professor of political
science and director of the college’s Security Studies
program, has been accepted as a member of the
International Advisory Board by the French quarterly
journal “Outre-Terre, Revue Française de Géopolitique,”
published in the French language by the European
Academy of Geopolitics.
This past August, Dr. Jalil Roshandel and Dr. Alethia
Cook, assistant professor of
political science, published a
book titled “The United States
and Iran, Policy Challenges and
Opportunities,” published by
Palgrave Macmillan.
Psychology
Dr. Erik Everhart has been invited to be the opening
speaker for the National Multiple
Sclerosis society’s local chapter
conference on February 20. The
focus of the talk will be cognitive
issues in multiple sclerosis.
Following the devastating shooting at Fort Hood, Dr.
Heather Littleton, assistant
professor of psychology, was
featured in an article on the Miller
McCuneWeb site.The site is
dedicated to reporting current
academic research that addresses
pressing social concerns. Some
of Littleton’s research examines
the psychological affects on women following theVirginia
Tech shootings. Her research has been featured in many
articles.To read the Miller McCune article visit the site
at www.miller-mccune.com/news/virginia-tech-study-
contains-lessons-for-fort-hood-1603.
Dr. Lesley Lutes is the recipient of an award from the
Wyoming INBRE program
(NIH). Her research project
“Internet-Delivered Obesity
and Cardiometabolic Disease
Prevention: Clinical Discovery” is
being funded at $100,000 for the
2009-2010 academic year. Also,
Dr. Lutes has received an award
from Heath Services Research and Development in the
VA.The project is titled “ASPIRE-FA ($1,425,000 for
2009-2012): CoachingVeterans to HealthyWeights and
Wellness.”
Dr. Samuel Sears, professor in the Departments of
Psychology and Cardiovascular
Sciences, provided the keynote
lecture to the First Nordic
Symposium on Psychological
Aspects of ICDTreatment in
Lund, Sweden, on December 4,
2009. He addressed the state-of-
the-art approaches and research
on the psychological and behavioral aspects of living
with cardiac arrhythmias and implantable cardioverter
defibrillators. Sears has published over 90 peer-reviewed
articles on ICD patient care and quality of life, with
recent articles in the major journals of cardiovascular
medicine, including Circulation, Journal of the American
College of Cardiology and the Journal of Clinical
Electrophysiology.
17

11. Religious Studies
Dr. Isaac Kalimi, Religious StudiesWhichardVisiting
Distinguished Professor, has just
published a new scholarly book on
the Chronicles. A scholar of the
Chronicles, this 412-page book is
“The Retelling of Chronicles in
JewishTradition and Literature:
A Historical Journey” (Winona
Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2009).
The book is receiving scholarly
attention, as indicated by the
decision to hold a special panel
session on the book at the Society
of Biblical Literature Annual
Meeting in Atlanta in November.
Reviews from the panel discussion
will be published in the Review of
Biblical Literature. Kalimi is also
the author of the prize-winning
book, “The Reshaping of Israelite History in Chronicles,”
along with many other books and scholarly articles.
In this book, Kalimi reveals the history of the book
of Chronicles from Hellenistic times to the beginning
of critical biblical scholarship at the dawn of the 17th
century.This comprehensive examination focuses, first
and foremost, on the use of Chronicles in Jewish societies
through the generations and highlights the attitudes and
biases of writers, translators, historians, artists, exegetes,
theologians and philosophers toward the book.The reader
is made aware of what the biblical text has meant and
what it has “accomplished” in the many contexts in which
it has been presented.
Throughout the volume, Kalimi strives to describe
the journey of Chronicles not only along the route of
Dr. Beth Thompson, (1/1/2010) joined the faculty of the Department of Biology this
spring.
Mr. Serban Ranca, (1/1/2010) joined the faculty of the Department of Economics this
spring.
Ms. Irina V. Swain and Sarah H. Tyson, (1/1/2010) joined the faculty of the
Department of Foreign Languages & Literatures this spring.
Dr. Tracy Van Holt, (1/1/2010) joined the faculty of the Department of Geography this
spring.
Dr. Eric Horsman, (1/1/2010) joined the faculty of the Department of Geological
Sciences this spring.
Ms. Jing Yu, (1/1/2010) joined the faculty of the Department of Physics this spring.
Promotions
Dr. Tom McConnell, Interim Chair of the Department of Mathematics and professor of
biology, has been appointed as the associate dean of the Graduate School, effective
May 15, 2010.
New Positionsand Promotions
Jewish history and interpretation but also in relation to
the book’s non-Jewish heritage (namely, Christianity),
demonstrating the differences and distinctiveness of the
former. In contrast, the majority of commentaries on
Chronicles written from the mid-19th century to the
present day have contained little or nothing about the
application, interpretation, and reception history of
Chronicles by Jews and Christians for hundreds of years.
19

12. An ECU professor, exhibiting the university’s mission
of leadership, was recognized this fall for her leadership
in teaching. Dr. Anne Spuches, assistant professor of
inorganic chemistry, received a Leadership Development
Award from theYounger Chemists Committee of the
American Chemical Society.
TheYCC program recognizes emerging leaders in
the profession and helps them prepare for leadership
opportunities in their professional careers and through
volunteer organizations such as the ACS.
ECU Chemist Recognized as Emerging Leader
As one of 15 recipients of a leadership award, Spuches attended theYCC Leadership DevelopmentWorkshop in Fort
Worth,Texas, Jan. 22 through 24.
“I was very honored to receive the award, and I believe it falls in line with the university’s mission of leadership
and service,” said Spuches. “I have enjoyed teaching here at ECU. I especially love the fact that I can be a mentor to
undergraduate and graduate students not only in the classroom but in my research laboratory.”
Spuches began teaching at ECU in 2007, after completing four years of postdoctoral research at Dartmouth College. She
received her doctoral degree in chemistry fromYale University in 2003 and her bachelor of science degree in chemistry,
with honors, from Syracuse University in 1996.
The Mental Health Association in Pitt County awarded
the DavidW. Hardee Scholarship to two ECU students
on September 30, 2009. Receiving the $500 scholarships
were Ajlana Music, a doctoral student in the Pediatric
Health Psychology program, and Emily Sinning, a master’s
student in the School of SocialWork.
Dr. Susan McCammon and Ms. Cassandra Campbell, co-
chairs of the Scholarship Committee, presented the awards
at a luncheon for the recipients. McCammon is a professor
in the ECU Department of Psychology and Campbell is
the Director of SocialWork in Pitt County Schools.
McCammon pointed out the growing mental health needs
in the community. “It is with pleasure,” she said, “that the
Mental Health Association of Pitt County can help two
bright and highly capable students continue their studies
toward becoming mental health professionals in their
respective fields.”
Ms. Music, a native of Bosnia who moved to
Robersonville with her family when she was fourteen,
has a master’s degree in psychology. She has participated
in numerous internships, including the Brody Pediatric
Outpatient Clinic, theTraumatic Brain Injury and Spinal
Cord Injury Units at PCMH, and Greene County, Pitt
County and Edgecombe County Schools.
Ms. Sinning has a bachelor of arts degree in psychology,
having graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2007. She served
as a volunteer crisis counselor at REAL Crisis Center, is
president of the ECU Graduate Association of Social
Workers, spent a year in community development in New
Zealand and was inducted in the National Scholars Honor
Society in Spring 2008.
The DavidW. Hardee Scholarship was established by
MHA-Pitt in 1963, in memory of Hardee, a Pitt County
native who was a tireless advocate for people experiencing
mental illnesses and the first North Carolinian to serve
on the board of directors of the National Association for
Mental Health (now Mental Health America).
ECU Students Awarded DavidW. Hardee Scholarship
21

13. Richard Barnhill and Emily
Wright, graduate students
in the Department of
Geography, presented
their research at the
American Meteorological
Society’s 22nd Conference
on Climate Variability,
January 18 through 22,
in Atlanta, Ga. Barnhill’s
presentation was titled
“Regional Variation of
Convective Structure
at Monsoon Onset
Across South America
Inferred from TRMM Observations.” Wright’s
presentation was titled “Effects of Cold Fronts
on the Onset of the South American Monsoon.”
Both Barnhill and Wright hope to complete the
M.A. program in geography this spring.
Whitney N. Bronson,
a senior anthropology
major, presented a
research poster at the
annual meetings of the
American Anthropological
Association in Philadelphia
this past December. Her
poster, “Fears of Failure: The Perceptions of
Chinese High School and University Students
about Fairness of University Admissions
Processes in Mainland China,” was based on
research conducted in Shijiazhuang, China, with
support from the National Science Foundation
grant awarded to her mentor, Dr. Christine
Avenarius.
Lara Frame, a master’s student in
anthropology, is presenting a poster, “Drilling
Away the Spirits: A Worldwide Study of
Trepanation,” at the 79th annual meeting
of the American Association of Physical
Anthropologists in Albuquerque, NM, on April
15. Drs. Holly Mathews and Linda Wolfe are
supervising Frame’s thesis.
Sean Gough, undergraduate student in the
Department of Biology, received external
funding from the Carolina Bird Club for his
project “Nesting Habitat Disturbance Patterns
and Possible Effects on Bald Eagle Nesting
Success in Eastern North Carolina.” While
working as a volunteer with a contracted state
biologist, Gough has been assessing fledging
success of bald eagles in the eastern part of
the state. He conceived of his project, relating
nesting success to some environmental
variables, with encouragement from ECU
biology professor Susan McRae. Gough will
complete his research this spring, due in part,
from the funding provided by the Carolina Bird
Blub.
CelebratingStudent Successes
Jessica Lowenstein Lief, a former graduate
of the medical physics master’s program,
was promoted to the rank of Senior Medical
Physicist at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
in Houston, TX.
Joe Luchette, a former graduate student
of the Department of Geography, and ECU
professor of geography Dr. Tom Crawford,
learned this past fall that their 2008 article
“A Public Participation GIS Application for
Citizen-Based Watershed Monitoring in the
Pamlico-Tar River Basin” was selected to
receive the Southeastern Geographer’s Best
Article of the Year Award. “This is a major
region-wide recognition and a great testament
to Dr. Crawford’s work with students and
the geography department’s emphasis on
research,” stated Burrell Montz, chair of the
department.
Derek Swart, a senior majoring in German,
stands before The Heidelberg Castle. Swart is
one of only 60 students nationwide to receive
a 2009 DAAD Undergraduate Scholarship to
study for a year in Germany. Currently, he is
studying German literature and linguistics at
the University of Konstanz.
23

14. Fall 2009 ECU Treasured Pirate Awards
ECU’sTreasured Pirate Award is designed to reward the special or unique
contributions of ECU employees to their college/unit or to the university.The
program recognizes any permanent SPA, CSS, or EPA employee within their college
or unit. Award recipients receive an award certificate and a gift of their choice from
theTreasure Pirate Reward Gift Catalog.
TheTreasured Pirate Award program is coordinated by the Staff Development Unit
of the Department of Human Resources and is supported through the generous
sponsorship of TIAA-CREF.
Congratulations to the Harriot College recipients of the Fall 2009 ECU Treasured Pirate Awards!
Shavon Carey, Department of English
Michelle Eble, Department of English
Charles Ewen, Department of Anthropology
Denise Mayer, Department of Biology
Cindy Mills, Department of Economics
Tina Moore, Harriot College of Arts and Sciences Office of the Dean
Percevial Murphy, Harriot College of Arts and Sciences Office of the Dean
Lorraine Robinson, Department of English
(Treasured Pirate awardees for Spring 2010 will appear in a future issue of Magnetic East.)
Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences Events
March 18
Dr.Theda Perdue will give theThomas Harriot lecture in the 2009-10Voyages of Discovery Lecture Series. Perdue will
discuss “Lost and Found Indians in Eastern North Carolina,” at 7 p.m. inWright Auditorium. For additional information,
visit www.ecu.edu/voyages.
March 19
Deadline to submit Harriot College Research Award proposals to be awarded for spring 2011. For questions, contact Cindy
Putnam-Evans at 252-328-4395 or evansc@ecu.edu.
March 26, 27, 28
The Classics Program will be presenting a student performance of Aristophanes’ “Lysistrata,” a ribald play,
in the fresh new translation by Peter Green, formerWhichard Professor in Foreign Languages & Literatures,
and directed by associate professor John Given.The performances will be March 26, 27 and 28 at 8 p.m.
in the Great Rooms of Mendenhall Student Center (co-sponsored by Mendenhall/University Unions).
25

15. English
Dr. Ron Mitchelson,
Interim Chair
Foreign Languages
and Literatures
Dr. Frank Romer, Chair
Geography
Dr. Burrell Montz,
Chair
Geological Sciences
Dr. Steve Culver, Chair
Anthropology
Dr. Linda Wolfe, Chair
Biology
Dr. Jeff McKinnon,
Chair
Chemistry
Dr. Rickey Hicks, Chair
Economics
Dr. Richard Ericson,
Chair
History
Dr. Gerry Prokopowicz,
Interim Chair
Mathematics
Dr. Tom McConnell,
Interim Chair
Philosophy
Dr. George Bailey, Chair
Physics
Dr. John Sutherland,
Chair
Political Science
Dr. Brad Lockerbie,
Chair
Psychology
Dr. Kathleen Row,
Chair
Sociology
Dr. Leon Wilson, Chair
African and African American Studies
Asian Studies
Classical Studies
Coastal Studies
Ethnic Studies
Great Books
Indigenous People of the Americas
International Studies
Leadership Studies
Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Multidisciplinary Studies
Neuroscience
North Carolina Studies
Religious Studies
Russian Studies
Security Studies
Women’s Studies
INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAMS
DEPARTMENTS