Cornerstone Summer 2025

CORNERSTONE

MESSAGE FROM DEAN ALLISON S. DANELL

Here we grow again! Our portfolio of degree programs in Arts and Sciences has been further enhanced with the addition of new majors to meet student, societal and workforce demand, like environmental studies. Our undergraduate and graduate degree programs span the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and mathematics, as shown to the right. And, with our award-winning faculty leading the lectures, labs, field experiences, research, study abroad and other curricular activities that make up a highquality and life-changing East Carolina education, we are excited to keep moving forward in our strategic plan – Future Focused, Innovation Driven.

As we reflect on year two of the plan, I am immensely proud of the progress we are making in meeting ECU’s mission and vision priorities. Of note is the strengthening and expanding of high-impact practices we are creating that enhance career readiness. Take, for example, the many students engaging in faculty-mentored research experiences that encourage our students to think critically, solve problems and communicate clearly. Just this decade, more than 700 research papers have been published by Harriot College faculty that were co-authored with ECU students — and we are only halfway through the 2020s! Many thanks to our University Writing Center (which celebrated 40 years in operation just last year) for supporting these researchers and writers, offering them important knowledge about AI tools and guiding them through the writing and revision process. Another goal has been to increase the number of online undergraduate degree offerings, like psychology, applied sociology and security studies. Making more educational opportunities available on campus and online can only mean one thing — more friends and neighbors can become Pirates™ like you!

Troy Quesinberry

Mathematics and Music Education

dual major

“What I enjoy most about ECU is the amount of quality resources provided to all diverse programs of study. All programs are equipped with the resources needed to provide a high-quality, engaging and in-depth curriculum.”

R Provides leadership and service to the ECU student body as a Resident Advisor, helping to build relationships and community in ECU’s residence halls

R Earned multiple merit scholarships at ECU, including the Ji & Li Family Foundation Scholarship for students majoring in mathematics

R Traveled abroad to Marktoberdorf, Germany, as part of ECU’s Chamber Singers, experiencing world-class music and cuisine, and enjoying getting to learn new customs and seeing beautiful rural European scenery

R Dreams of giving back to the next generation of students through a career in teaching

R Has his sights set on earning his MA degree in mathematics at ECU after graduating from college

Dr. Lester A. Zeager

Professor Department of Economics

“Harriot College and my department colleagues have supported and enhanced my teaching, research and service for nearly 40 years. I also appreciate how the Voyages of Discovery series allows our students to experience stimulating speakers.”

R Expert in the fields of poverty and inequality, growth and development and refugee negotiations, and passionate about international affairs

R Conducting collaborative research to examine economic, education, health and crime metrics for all 100 counties in North Carolina that may indicate disadvantaged and deprived areas, track vulnerabilities to see where intervention is most needed, and capture how regional transformation improves overall well-being

R Oversees the bachelor’s degrees in economics, including recruiting and welcoming students and ensuring programs support the university mission and vision

R Serves as vice-chair of the ECU Honors College Faculty Advisory Committee

TEAMING UP WITH DARE COUNTY TASK FORCE

Essential workers need more affordable homes

In 2024, a lack of understanding about workforce housing caused Dare County to give back $35 million in state funding for affordable housing projects. Now, East Carolina University® faculty and students in the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Health and Human Performance are working with the community to provide research data and statistics to help alleviate residents’ concerns and perhaps lead to affordable housing solutions in the future.

ECU’s Dr. Misun Hur, associate professor in the Department of Earth, Environment and Planning, and Dr. Emily Yeager, assistant professor in the Department of Recreation Sciences and director of the Crisp Small Business Resource Center, received an ECU Sponsored Activities and Research Catalyst award to investigate the shortage of affordable housing in Dare County.

“The county is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the state and the nation,” said Hur. “In 2023, the tourism industry directly supported 12,030 jobs in Dare County. However, the county has long struggled to provide affordable housing for lowto-moderate-income families.”

For the past year, Hur and Yeager have been working with the Dare County Housing Task Force to discover the unknowns and uncover the real picture of Dare County’s housing situation. To get these answers, the team conducted more than 1,300 surveys of residents and gathered data on population, median income, housing costs and values, essential workforce salaries, where workers live, where they commute from and their commute distances and times.

As part of the ECU team, Caramia Landis, an Honors College Brinkley-Lane Scholar pursuing a Bachelor of Science in community and regional planning and a Master of Science in planning and development, performed data analysis and created posters to inform the community about the need for workforce housing options.

“I think this research is very important. We’re shedding light on the workforce and the struggles that they face,” Landis said. “They are working so hard to help the people of Dare County, and we are trying to help them get better conditions for how they live each day.”

This spring, Landis led six public forums with community members in Nags Head, Kitty Hawk, Manteo, Buxton and Hatteras to engage residents and gather feedback.

“We had useful and constructive conversations,” she said. “Most people were open-minded and willing to talk, because when confronted with the data, it is easy to see the need for this.”

The biggest question Landis encountered was, “Who is the workforce?” The essential workforce includes firefighters, police officers, teachers, health care workers, utility personnel, service industry employees and seasonal workers in the tourism industry.

Data shows that the monthly salary of most workers is significantly less than the cost of a single mortgage payment. The average home in Dare County costs $533,000, with a monthly mortgage payment of $4,000. Fair market rent in Dare County is $1,400 a month, which requires an annual salary of $56,400, which is still above the annual salaries of many workers.

“We’re shedding light on the workforce and the struggles that they face.”

– Caramia Landis, ECU student researcher

This summer, the team will shared their findings with the task force, and Landis will continue her research, aiming to provide further important information and insights to help make the community a more enjoyable place for residents and tourists alike.

CHAMPIONING STUDENT SUCCESS

Thomas E. and Ella J. Evans establish the Criminal Justice Honors Scholarship

This spring, the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology was thrilled to select three high-achieving students as the inaugural recipients of the newly endowed Thomas E. and Ella J. Evans Criminal Justice Honors Scholarship: Julia Rizzuti, Alana “Lani” Sherman-Diestel and Jeffrey Johnson. The exciting opportunity was made possible by alumni Thomas (’84, ’04) and Ella Evans (’90), who pledged $140,000 to establish the scholarship.

With this gift, the Evans family continues their legacy of service and investing in the law enforcement community. The scholarship provides financial support for eligible criminal justice students in good academic standing, with demonstrated financial need, and with a thoughtful preference for supporting students with relatives in law enforcement. Mr. Evans himself served in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“I am always impressed when alumni reach back out to help the next generation of criminal justice leaders,” said Dr. Heidi Bonner, chair of the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology. “The Evans Honors Scholarship means we can significantly increase the impact we have on students.”

For many students, a scholarship impacts more than student loan burden and financial stability.

“To anyone considering funding a scholarship like this, I extend my heartfelt gratitude. You are not merely providing financial assistance; you are affirming that someone’s goals matter, that their dreams are valid and that there is someone who believes in their potential,” said Sherman-Diestel, one of the three inaugural scholarship recipients.

Sherman-Diestel plans to attend the annual Harriot College Scholarship celebration this fall and thank the family in person for their investment in the success of many students who major in criminal justice in the future.

To explore how you can make an impact on student success and invest in the next generation of leaders, contact our Director of Alumni Relations and Outreach, Ashley Harzog, at clelanda18@ecu.edu.

EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR LEARNERS OF ALL KINDS

Harriot College makes education accessible for all

Each year, ECU’s campus is flooded with the energy of thousands of new freshmen, most simultaneously taking their first steps into college classrooms and into adulthood. But college is not just for brand new high school graduates who recently celebrated their eighteenth birthdays…to fulfill our university’s mission of student success, public service and regional transformation, Harriot College is constantly creating new ways for learners at all stages of life to access the transformational power of education.

Bilateral agreements with North Carolina community colleges offer a clear path for transferring students. Complementing other transfer success programs like Pirate™ Promise, bilateral agreements outline the connectivity between specific associate degrees and bachelor’s degrees. Importantly, educators at both partner institutions carefully review courses and schedules to generate plans that students can easily follow. Many of ECU’s current agreements with institutions like Pitt, Beaufort, Edgecombe and Halifax Community Colleges leverage the popularity and appeal of Harriot College majors. These include geography, biology and criminal justice. Currently, the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology has the most bilateral agreements in Harriot College, with a total of 14 agreements at other institutions.

“The department is proud to play a role in the college’s strategy to increase access to learning opportunities,” said Dr. Heidi Bonner, chair of the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology. “Pursuing agreements with our community college partners ensures that students have flexible access to a four-year degree at ECU. We can help transform the eastern

NC region with these opportunities, especially for adult learners and those in rural communities.”

Project Kitty Hawk is another important partner in welcoming more students to ECU – virtually! This nonprofit has provided ECU with the insights and knowledge critical to serving working adults with some college credit. These mature learners enjoy the high-quality teaching and supportive environment for which ECU is already well-known. There are currently three majors, called Flight Path programs, available in Harriot College: criminal justice, psychology and security studies. In fact, more than 500 students have enrolled, and several people have already earned their ECU degrees thanks to the Flight Path programs and, of course, their hard work!

“Through these programs, Harriot College is playing an enormous part in student success and making access to a broad arts and sciences education a top priority for our region,” said Dr. Allison Danell, dean of Harriot College. Find out more at https://onlineprograms.ecu.edu/.

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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

Jessica Leif, MS in Physics, concentration in Medical Physics ’97

Battling cancer requires a multitalented and caring health care team of physicians, nurses, therapists and…physicists? Yes, just ask Jessica Leif, a medical physicist who has spent nearly 30 years of her career making a difference in the health of cancer patients across the globe.

Leif is the Senior Medical Physicist at the MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Department of Radiation Physics, and she also serves as Associate Director of the Imaging and Radiation Oncology Core, both in Houston, TX. Her job entails performing quality assurance of National Cancer Institute clinical trials involving radiation therapy.

“I enjoy interacting with physicians and physicists throughout the country and world,” she said. What she said is most gratifying is knowing she directly contributed to someone overcoming their cancer. “Having played a role in establishing the standard of care for cancer patients across the United States is profoundly rewarding.”

Leif was completely focused on preparing for this impactful career when she

arrived at ECU for graduate school. After graduating from college in New York, Leif chose ECU because of its strong reputation in the specialized field of medical physics, a concentration in the MS degree in physics. ECU’s excellence is evident in part because of the long track record of accreditation that ECU’s Department of Physics, with support from the Department of Radiation Oncology, has maintained through the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs.

While pursuing her graduate degree, Leif performed research with a radiation oncologist at the Leo W. Jenkins Cancer Center and completed additional volunteer hours with medical physicists. Combined with the teaching experience she gained as a graduate student, she felt fully prepared to become a professional medical physicist.

“The Department of Physics and the staff at the Leo Jenkins Cancer Center are what molded me for my career. Without the skills that I learned there, I would not have been able to do what I do currently,” she said. “I enjoyed my two years at ECU.

It opened my eyes to an entirely different way of applying physics. I also really enjoy the friends — who are now my colleagues — that I made while at ECU.”

Now, Lief is continuing to give back to the students who will enter the field in the future. She said she is taking her knowledge and getting more involved in teaching and mentorship of a younger generation, promoting the study of both physics and mathematics to prepare new bright scientists to join the fight against cancer. With her excellent leadership, there is no doubt the future of health care is in good hands.