East Carolina University professor Dr. Jamie Kruse was inducted as the 2012 Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor during the college’s annual faculty convocation Aug. 20.

The professorship is conferred upon a professor whose career exemplifies commitment to and love for knowledge and academic life, as demonstrated by outstanding teaching and advising, research and creative productivity and professional service.

Dr. Jamie Kruse

Kruse is professor of economics and founding director of the Center for Natural Hazards Research. She served as the founding director of the RENCI Center for Coastal Systems Informatics and Modeling from 2006 to 2008. Kruse joined ECU in 2004.

She is a member of the American Economic Association, Economic Science Association, Southern Economic Association; Society for Risk Analysis, Society of Behavioral Economics and the American Association for Wind Engineering.

She serves on the board of editors for two journals: the International Journal of Information and Operations Management Education, and the Journal of Business Valuation and Economic Loss Analysis.

Kruse has published more than 50 refereed journal articles, has authored more than two dozen reports, and has been a presenter at more than 80 symposiums, conferences and meetings within her field of research, which includes experimental economics, applied microeconomics, industrial organization, risk and mitigation, health economics and wind hazard economics. She has been a primary investigator or Co-PI on research grants totaling almost $20 million: $2.5 million while at ECU.

Kruse was most recently awarded ECU’s 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award for Research and in 2011 was selected as an ECU Women of Distinction Honoree.

She holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Arizona, a master’s in agricultural economics from Colorado State University and a bachelor’s in ag honors from the University of Nebraska.

For additional information, contact Kruse at 252-328-5784 or krusej@ecu.edu.

Mulatu Wubneh, a professor in ECU’s planning program in the Department of Geography, has been awarded a Fulbright grant for study and lecture in Ethiopia.

East Carolina University professor Mulatu Wubneh in the Department of Geography will spend fall 2012 at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia through a 2012-13 Fulbright Scholar award for lecturing and research.

Wubneh will research urban revitalization in the city of Addis Ababa.

He is one of the 1,200 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program in 2012-2013.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. It is one of the most widely recognized and prestigious international exchange programs in the U.S.

A Laupus Library exhibition beginning Sept. 11 will feature the wood work of professor and Occupational Therapy Department Chair Dr. Leonard G. Trujillo. (Contributed image)

By Crystal Baity
ECU News Services

The second in a series of art exhibits by East Carolina University health sciences faculty, staff and students will be on display Sept. 11-Nov. 6.

Dr. Leonard G. Trujillo, associate professor and chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy in the College of Allied Health Sciences, will showcase his collection of relief carvings, tools and chisels in “Artistry in Wood: Reflections of Past and Present, Preserved Forever” in the Laupus Library fourth floor gallery.

Trujillo

Trujillo has been carving wood since early childhood. He begins with a solid plank and creates lifelike images of people, barns and nature scenes. Many of his carvings reflect his love of travel and nature. He works out of his home and garage with hopes of one day owning a studio.  

The fall semester exhibit is part of the Art as Avocation series, which Laupus Library began earlier this year as a way to highlight the artistic talents and self-expression of faculty, staff and students from the Division of Health Sciences who often pursue demanding health care and higher education careers.

Visitors are welcome during normal operating hours posted at www.ecu.edu/laupuslibrary or call 252-744-2219.

Visit www.ecu.edu/laupuslibrary/events/artasavocation/ to learn more about the artist or series. For more information, call Kelly Rogers Dilda at 252-744-2232 or e-mail rogerske@ecu.edu.

Individuals with disabilities requesting accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act should contact the Department for Disability Support Services at (252) 328-6799 (V) or (252) 328-0899 (TTY).

ECU staffer Travis Taylor locates books to be placed on the sales floor in the Dowdy Student Store stockroom. Employees like Taylor can benefit from a new scholarship providing tuition assistance for university staff. (Photo by Cliff Hollis)

By Melanie Jock
ECU News Services

The East Carolina University Staff Senate is supporting full-time employees with a scholarship to cover costs for undergraduate or graduate level courses at the university.

The funds are intended for staff members who have exhausted eligibility for tuition assistance by taking more than the two courses allowed under the employee tuition waiver program. The scholarship will cover expenses for one or more courses, including tuition, fees and books.

“The intent was to provide monetary assistance to that group that might not otherwise be eligible for a scholarship,” said Johnnie Eastwood, an administration and finance representative for the Staff Senate.

“It’s to help reward and assist those individuals who are actively seeking to improve their education and improve themselves, therefore improving the quality of work at East Carolina University,” Eastwood said.

Gail Jordan

The scholarship was established in memory of Gail Jordan, a long-serving university staff member and a 36-year state employee. Jordan died in 2008 at 57, following a battle with cancer.

Jordan joined ECU in 1973 as a secretary in the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Business Affairs, eventually rising to the job of assistant to the chancellor in 2004. Upon retiring in 2005, she received the Founders Day award for service to the university.

“Investing in talent is a core element of ECU’s mission and purpose,” said John Toller, associate vice chancellor for human resources. “The scholarship is one important way that the entire university community can do something tangible to build future talent and capacity.”

“If employees are viewed as the ‘heart’ of the University, this scholarship honors the ‘soul’ of who we are and what we do,” Toller said.

Toller said that Jordan’s talent, attitude and supportive spirit came to mind as the gold standard of performance.

“ECU’s work environment is focused on exceptional service provided by competent, confident and committed staff,” Toller said.  “At its core, the work environment is built around service to and for others. It literally took only a few minutes to link Gail Jordan’s service impact on ECU as the standard around which to build this new scholarship opportunity.”

“Gail was one of the rare individuals that anybody could talk to,” said Eastwood.  “She was the embodiment of everything that is good and noble in a person. It was hard to talk to her and not leave feeling good or better at the end of that conversation.”

“I knew Gail well enough to know that she would be embarrassed and offended if this scholarship was focused solely around her,” said Toller.  “I believe the irony of having the scholarship bear her name is appropriate, and I hope Gail is forgiving.”

Two awards sponsored by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources to ECU’s Department of Human Resources helped fund the scholarship. ECU’s career banding implementation team won the 2009 SunGard Higher Education Innovation Award for technology innovation, which included a $3,000 cash award. A $10,000 award for community service in 2011 took the scholarship fund beyond the endowment level of $25,000, enabling disbursement of funds in fiscal year 2014.

ECU’s Staff Senate continues to develop and oversee the fund, both financially and contractually.

ECU employees wishing to donate to the fund may give with payroll deduction or one-time donation at www.ecu.edu/fscampaign. External donations may be made at http://giving.ecu.edu. In both cases, indicate Gail Jordan Scholarship Fund as the recipient.

By Crystal Baity
ECU News Services

Melissa Ricker, an East Carolina University graduate student, has been elected to the 2012-2013 board of directors of the Student Academy of the American Academy of Physician Assistants.

Ricker, of Goldsboro, is the first student from ECU and North Carolina to represent the Southeast region and its 38 schools.

Melissa Ricker (Photo by Cliff Hollis)

Ten students are elected annually as the governing body for physician assistant students enrolled at more than 160 colleges and universities nationwide. Those students, along with three appointed members and two graduate advisors, help make administrative decisions, suggests ways for schools to improve their physician assistant student societies, and encourages participation in local and national events.

“I want to use my creativity and passion for getting students involved,” Ricker said.

“Professional development for us as students is really important to complement the education we get in the classroom and brings about greater appreciation for the profession.”

Ricker will focus on increasing student membership in the organization and awareness about events and issues. She will participate by email, quarterly conference calls, and at a regional meeting in Washington, D.C., this fall.

“It’s a huge honor and I feel very privileged to have gotten elected this year,” she said. “It’s exciting to bring some recognition to ECU.”

ECU offers the only state-supported physician assistant studies program in North Carolina. The program began in 1996. Ricker’s class has 32 students, and enrollment varies from 30-35 students each year, making it one of the smallest member schools in the AAPA.

A current issue for the academy is a possible profession title change, from physician assistant to physician associate. “It’s pretty 50/50; most students are for it,” Ricker said. “But there is concern about what the legislation could address besides a name change.”

Ricker said she doesn’t believe a name change should be considered at this time. “A lot of people don’t know what PAs are. I think our energy and effort should be put toward expanding the profession as a whole,” she said.

Physician assistants work in all areas from emergency medicine to pediatrics to geriatrics. They often are the first point of contact for many patients, particularly in rural areas. They are academically and clinically prepared to diagnose and treat disease, assist in surgery, and prescribe medications with the direction of a supervising physician.

Ricker was elected at the group’s national conference in Toronto on Memorial Day weekend. She represented the department and College of Allied Health Sciences with fellow ECU students Allison Tiffany and Ashley Murr.

Ricker is the external affairs chair for her class, and helped plan a successful physician assistant awareness week last fall and a cornhole fundraising tournament this spring. Students also will be volunteering at Survivor’s Day at the Leo Jenkins Cancer Center later this month, and will help with new student orientation in August.

“From her first day on campus, Melissa has shown her willingness and commitment to the PA profession,” said Jane Trapp, ECU clinical associate professor of physician assistant studies. “Her drive and determination has not stopped since then, as she has embraced her profession with the goal for continual improvement and to lend a helping hand wherever it is needed. Melissa has demonstrated true qualities of what it is to be a professional, and her passion for caring and advancing the profession will undoubtedly continue beyond her tenure at ECU.”

Ricker, who received a bachelor’s degree in biology from N.C. State University, will begin her clinical education in Wilmington in January. She expects to graduate in December 2013, and hopes to work in family medicine.

By Doug Boyd
ECU News Services

Research by an East Carolina University scientist could lead to a better understanding of how testicular cancer develops as well as give insight into how stem cells could be used in medicine.

Dr. Christopher Geyer

Dr. Christopher Geyer, an assistant professor of anatomy and cell biology at the Brody School of Medicine at ECU and a specialist in the male reproductive system, is the principal investigator on a study looking at germ cell differentiation in mice. His research is funded by a three-year, $432,837 grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Germ cells originate in an embryo and, following cellular differentiation, develop into gametes capable of fertilization – either eggs or sperm. Geyer focuses on the transition of male germ cells into sperm.

Cellular differentiation – when cells develop into specialized tissue builders – is the key part of the process. It is largely controlled by changes in gene expression, a process regulated by production and usage of messenger RNA. The process Geyer is studying is how the cell chooses which RNAs are translated into protein in hopes of finding clues about how the cell makes it decision.

Specifically, Geyer is studying the gene Rhox13, which he discovered during his postdoctoral research at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

“This gene is expressed during a very interesting time during germ cell development when the germline stem cells are making a decision to differentiate to eventually become sperm,” Geyer said.

Testicular cancer is thought to arise during the fetal and neonatal period, likely from germ cells that don’t differentiate correctly, Geyer said.

“Healthy offspring come from normally developed germ cells,” Geyer said. “Understanding how germ cells differentiate is going to teach us a lot about how all cells differentiate.”

Understanding the differentiation process also would be an important step in learning the possibilities that embryonic stem cells hold for treating disease and injury, Geyer said.

“There are a lot of things we don’t know and need to understand” before stem cell therapy makes significant advances, Geyer said.

Geyer is collaborating on the research with Dr. Brett Keiper, an associate professor of biochemistry at the Brody School of Medicine who studies protein synthesis in differentiating cells.

Geyer’s most recent research was published in December in the journal Biology of Reproduction.

By Doug Boyd
ECU News Services      

Angela Merritt is still getting used to the title “nurse of the year.”

The nurse specialist in the Department of Psychiatric Medicine at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University received the honor at a May banquet celebrating National Nurses Week. She has been a nurse for 14 years and has worked at ECU since 2007.

Angela Merritt

“I absolutely love everything about nursing,” Merritt said in an email.

“It is one of, if not the, most diverse careers anyone could choose. There is so much you can do as a nurse and so many directions that you can take; the educational and career opportunities are limitless. But, I honestly feel that to be truly happy that you need to have a love and passion for helping others, especially when they are at their worst and at your mercy. Nursing is often not an easy job, but I cannot think of any job more rewarding.”

Many people, when they think of nursing, might not think of or know much about psychiatric nursing. But Merritt says it’s her niche.

“I often get asked, ‘Why would you want to work in psychiatry?’” she said. “My reply is always the same. People often view mental illness based on what they hear or have learned from society. Stereotyping and labeling is common and could not be further from the truth. I love my patients and I have formed some wonderful relationships with them.

“When the patient knows that you are there for them when they need you, regardless of whether they are in crisis or if they just need a (medication) refill, it gives them the peace of mind that you will help them without judgment,” she said.

As a psychiatric nurse, Merritt coordinates care and medication for patients, many of whom live throughout eastern North Carolina. She helps patients who cannot afford their prescriptions find financial help. She manages lab reports and works closely with physicians, pharmacists, psychologists and medical residents.

“Many, many patients and their families call her by name and share stories of their life with her,” Dr. Sy Saeed, chair of the Department of Psychiatric Medicine, said about Merritt in his nominating letter. “She tries to meet any unmet patient need that she can … or at least help patients with community support. She is never short on ideas on projects that would help to improve or better our services to our patients.”

Merritt said she’s honored to have been named nurse of the year and credited the teamwork within her department for making it possible.

“We all work closely together and have the same goal, which is to provide the best patient care possible to the psychiatric population,” Merritt said. “I love being a nurse and being a part of ECU Physicians and the Department of Psychiatry.”

Merritt is a graduate of Pitt Community College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She lives in Hookerton with her husband, Johnny, and two sons, Cole and Alec.

Merritt is the daughter of Larry H. and Bonnie V. Capps of Selma and is a 1986 graduate of North Johnston High School in Kenly.

Six other nurses, Leanne Potter, Jandra Thomas, Donna Spain, Rita Bowden, Joyce Bryant and Shelby Gardner, were also finalists for the award, which recognizes nurses who work in the medical school’s group practice, ECU Physicians.

Conference USA athletic teams, including East Carolina University, will compete against five newly added universities in 2013. C-USA officials announced the expansion to 13 members on Friday, May 4. (Photo by Jay Clark)

By Mary Schulken
Executive Director of Communication, Public Affairs & Marketing

ECU Chancellor Steve Ballard said an expansion of Conference USA announced May 4 offers the potential for growth and competitive excellence and reflects a continued emphasis by the conference on academic success for student-athletes.

“Conference USA is aggressively improving its membership, and East Carolina University is especially appreciative of the strong TV markets that are being added and the commitment of the conference to academic success of the student athlete,” said Ballard.

“ECU expects to compete for championships in the new Conference USA,” said Ballard.

Commissioner Britton Banowsky, Conference USA commissioner, announced today that five universities representing a mixture of established and emerging sports programs have finalized comprehensive membership agreements with Conference USA.

The new members include the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Florida International University, Louisiana Tech University, University of North Texas and the University of Texas at San Antonio.

The conference will be at 13 members with these five new schools and will continue to consider expansion in the short term.  Each new member will join the league in all sports for 2013. Charlotte will begin conference play in football in 2015.

Divisions will be set up in the near future and the conference intends to continue hosting its Football Championship game.

“Conference USA’s leadership team is to be congratulated for a bold expansion plan that puts the interests of our student-athletes and the fans who support our programs ahead of all other concerns and agendas,” said Terry Holland, ECU’s athletic director. “Conference USA will continue to reap dividends from these decisions well into the next few decades.”

Conference USA and Mountain West also will continue to talk about a future affiliation that could begin as early as 2013, Banowsky said in a Conference USA press release. Both conferences agreed that adding membership at this time was important and have carefully coordinated new membership plans.

Conference USA said the new institutions were selected based on a variety of factors, including athletic competitiveness, market, academic fit and geography.

The new members have a combined enrollment of more than 150,000 and an estimated 650,000 living alumni. The metro area population of these schools is nearly 18 million.

The expansions adds more than 2 million TV households to Conference USA’s demographic profile, maintaining exposure in the Dallas-Fort Worth market while adding top 40 markets such as Charlotte, Miami and San Antonio.

The expansion is expected to reduce travel for most institutions, according to Conference USA.

“We remain committed to divisional scheduling models that are student-athlete and fan friendly,” said Banowsky.

Existing Conference USA members include ECU, Marshall University, Rice University, University of Southern Mississippi, Tulane University, The University of Tulsa, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the University of Texas El Paso (UTEP).

Participants linked their hands to form a symbolic chain of life during an ECU celebration of National Donate Life Month on Lake Laupus, health sciences campus. The event was held to raise awareness about the critical need for organ donation, as part of a national effort to register 20 million new donors in 2012. (Photo by Cliff Hollis)

By Doug Boyd
ECU News Services

Angie Mitchell has heard from two of the people who received organs from her deceased son. There’s another one she’d like to meet in person: the one who received his heart.

“I want to put my ear up to that man’s chest to hear my son’s heart beat one more time,” Mitchell said.

She was speaking at “Linking Hands for Life,” an organ donation awareness event on the campus of the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. April is National Donate Life Month.

With halting words and tearful eyes, Mitchell recalled the day a little over two years ago when her son, Jordan, called and told her his older brother, Corey, had shot himself. He was flown from Edgecombe County to the hospital in Greenville. Doctors told her there was nothing they could do to save the 19-year-old, but his organs could be used by others.

A lively person, Corey loved to hunt, fish and play sports. Mitchell described the day Corey got his drivers license. Asked if he wanted to be an organ donor, Corey told his mom when he died he was going to heaven to be with Jesus, so he wanted someone else to have his organs. That made her proud.

Now, she said his lungs are in a school principal. “That’s ironic,” she said, a photo of her sons clipped to her shirt. “Corey didn’t care much for school, so I cannot imagine him being a principal.”

Mitchell works as a patient access representative in the Vidant Medical Center organ transplant program.

In the United States, more than 113,000 people are awaiting organ transplants, said Dana Hall, director of communications for Carolina Donor Services, which coordinates organ harvesting and transplants. More than 3,500 of those are in North Carolina. Not enough organs are available for all.

“Approximately 18 people will die today due to that shortage,” she said.

Doctors at ECU and Vidant performed 74 kidney transplants in fiscal year 2011. A December transplant involved three donors and three recipients (http://www.ecu.edu/news/kidneytransplants.cfm).

The Rev. Sidney Locks, pastor of Cornerstone Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, received a kidney from his son a few years ago.

“I’m convinced that God is more concerned about life than we realize,” Locks said. “In creation itself, He put the possibility and created the wisdom … to extend life.”

Carolina Donor Services will hold a legislative day May 22 in Raleigh to increase awareness of donation among elected officials, Hall said. More information about organ donation is online at http://www.donatelifenc.org.

For more information about kidney transplants at ECU, call 252-744-2620.

###

A tartan plaid pattern in purple and gold was developed by Dr. Runying Chen in ECU's Department of Interior Design and Merchandising. (Photo by Forrest Croce)

ECU News Services and
Dee Harper, ECU Office of Engagement, Innovation and Economic Development

At East Carolina University, Pirate pride is written in purple and gold.

ECU fans proclaim their love of all things Pirate with purple and gold bumper stickers, T-shirts, jewelry and baseball caps.

Now thanks to an ECU professor, fans have yet another option for displaying their Pirate pride. Runying Chen in the Department of Interior Design and Merchandising has created an original, officially licensed, tartan plaid pattern in ECU purple and gold.

Her work began in September, when she was contacted by Greensboro-based Collegiate Tartan Apparel. The company works with universities to manufacture custom tartan products.

Initially, the company submitted several ECU tartan designs for consideration, but Chen said she thought the design should originate from ECU. She began drafting her own patterns in October, incorporating ECU’s signature purple and gold, along with black and ivory accents to make it unique as a registered tartan pattern.

Chen created nine patterns, then solicited opinions of students and colleagues regarding the designs. She consulted as well with John Coffman and Todd Howell of Greenville-based retailer Coffman’s Mens Wear. The feedback she received was critical, Chen said.

“Although I had a lot of training in textiles, I’m not a design person,” she said. 

Chen credited University Marketing Director Clint Bailey and Associate Athletics Director Lee Workman, who directs ECU’s licensing program, for their input in pattern approval and preparing registration documents. Bailey and Workman approved the final design in what Chen describes as a collective selection process.

Dr. Runying Chen (Contributed photo)

Once a design was selected, samples were created. The tartan product must be woven from dyed yarn, Chen said, if it is to be considered a true tartan. Chen said achieving the ideal woven sample proved difficult because the ECU purple and gold were not easy to reproduce.

“Different textiles pick up the color dyes differently,” she said. “They have to be the precise mix for the dye samples to achieve an accurate color match.”

“The first round sample came back looking right,” Chen said, “but when the factory wove the fabric, the dye color was a little ‘off.’ They are trying again with a different mill and hope to have a correct sample soon.”

Collegiate Tartan Apparel is working on a woven tartan fabric production through a mill in Scotland. There will be two types of tartan fabric, one suitable for scarves and blankets and the other for ties, kilts, skirts and other apparel accessories. These products will be available for the coming fall season. 

A tartan plain pattern necktie is available as a printed pattern on polyester.

In addition to a licensing fee, Collegiate Tartan Apparel will donate a percentage of sales from the tartan plaid products to ECU for scholarships and program development.

The inaugural tie and future tartan plaid products such as scarves, blankets, kilts and other apparel will serve as a revenue source for the department. ECU merchandising students have recommended a number of tartan products including golf apparel and accessories, tote bags and office products, rain gear and tailgating items. A dog leash and collar in the new tartan pattern are also under consideration.

Marti Van Scott, director of the Office of Technology Transfer, believes the tartan products will appeal to target customers. Her office supported the project by helping to register the design with the International Tartan Registry. The office filed for and paid for copyright registration with the U.S. Copyright Office. Van Scott also worked with legal counsel in the review of an agreement with Collegiate Tartan Apparel for producing and selling the product.

“Dr. Chen and I have also discussed other potential products that could result from her designs. Nothing has come of this yet, but the creative juices are flowing, so hopefully we’ll see more new products from the College of Human Ecology,” said Van Scott.

The ECU tartan pattern necktie is on sale now at the ECU Dowdy Student Store and online at www.collegiatetartan.com.

###

Chen received the 2012 ECU Innovators Award for her design. She was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors in a ceremony April 25 at Willis Auditorium.