East Carolina University is one of four national universities recognized for extraordinary community engagement initiatives as a regional winner of the 2024 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award given by the Engagement Scholarship Consortium.
As a regional winner, ECU will now compete as a finalist for the C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award given by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). The other finalists are the University of Minnesota, Oregon State University and West Virginia University.
Since 2007, the consortium has partnered with the APLU — with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation — to honor the engagement scholarship and partnerships of four-year public universities.
ECU was chosen for its efforts to address high suicide rates and significant unmet mental health needs stemming from economic stressors, geographical isolation, family dynamics and other health challenges facing rural North Carolina residents.
In 2006, ECU launched a partnership with Contentnea Health, based in Snow Hill, to increase access to critical primary health care and behavioral health services for underserved populations.
“The ECU-Contentnea Health partnership shows how university-community engagement acts as a bridge to connect knowledge and innovation, transform lives, foster collaboration and cultivate brighter futures for all,” said Dr. Sharon Paynter, chief innovation and engagement officer and interim chief research officer at ECU.
The partnership has supported more than 126,000 integrated behavioral health care encounters with patients through primary care clinics, dental clinics, on farms and in school settings since its inception more than 18 years ago. The effort provides behavioral health services on average to 7,000 people each year.
“ECU’s commitment to rural health for our communities is central to our DNA. It’s who we are as an institution, and we lift up that commitment through our mission,” said ECU Chancellor Philip Rogers.
ECU and its external partners have worked to deliver integrated behavioral health services within primary care visits for rural, underrepresented, and underinsured or uninsured patients and families in eastern North Carolina. The university partnership provides 154 doctoral and master’s students with foundational clinical and research training with lasting impressions on standards of care that frame their careers.
The Magrath Award and the Kellogg Community Engagement Awards recognize universities that have redesigned their learning, discovery and engagement missions to develop deep and enduring mutually beneficial partnerships with their communities. The national award is named for C. Peter Magrath, APLU president from 1992 to 2005.
“Community engagement is a critical part of public universities’ mission, and we’re pleased to highlight the work of institutions that are instrumental to solving the most pressing challenges facing their communities through partnerships with other stakeholders,” said APLU President Mark Becker.
The community engagement awards also have recognized the University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Purdue University for exemplary projects in community engagement scholarship. The exemplary projects and Magrath Award finalists will be showcased at the Engagement Scholarship Consortium’s annual conference later this year.
The Magrath Award will be announced in November at the APLU annual meeting, North America’s largest convening of public university presidents, provosts, vice presidents and senior administrators. The award includes a sculpture and a $20,000 prize. The three other regional winners will each receive a $5,000 prize to further their work.
Support grows for ECU’s mission, strategic priorities in Fiscal Year ’24
In a wave of new gifts and increased participation, donors contributed nearly $56.7 million in philanthropic support for ECU in 2023-24.
The fundraising total includes $24.4 million for main campus priorities, $19.9 million for ECU athletics and $11.8 million for health sciences priorities. Fiscal year donations demonstrated the good will of benefactors toward ECU and followed the momentum built during the university’s historic Pursue Gold campaign. ECU saw year-over-year increases in alumni programs and in alumni involvement in advocacy, connection and outreach within the university’s colleges and programs.
“We are fortunate to have a growing base of alumni and friends who support this university and care deeply for ECU. The generosity of our philanthropic donors fuels our strategic priorities,” Chancellor Philip Rogers said. “Every gift helps this institution thrive and helps us achieve our mission each and every day.”
Notable fiscal year giving included:
$4.5 million from Richard Twilley, ’89, to establish ECU as a leader in sales education with a commitment to the College of Business (COB). His investment has established the Richard G. Twilley Academy of Sales Leadership in the COB and was a capstone of the university’s Pursue Gold campaign.$1.5 million from Lance Clark and Heath Clark of Bill Clark Homes to support the Pirates Unite Campaign for Comprehensive Excellence. The investment will advance the proposed multipurpose indoor facility and baseball building expansion. Bill Clark Homes and the Clark family have invested more than $3.5 million toward the campaign in the past two years.$1 million from the Service League of Greenville to create a scholarship program in the College of Nursing. The Service League of Greenville Undergraduate Nursing Scholarship Endowment was one of the first major gifts made through the ECU Health Foundation, the philanthropic arm supporting ECU Health and ECU’s Health Sciences Campus.A real estate distribution from Dennis Ross created an endowment in support of the Williams-Ross Purple Pantry. Through the gift, Ross supported an important campus cause and honored his friend and humanitarian, Dr. Billy Williams.Gifts totaling more than $100,000 from Michael Granet that provided equipment for the School of Dental Medicine’s community service learning center (CSLC) in Brunswick County. Granet invested in and helped the school obtain state-of-the-art equipment for the CSLC that allows the care team to provide scans for dental imaging instead of having to take impressions.A gift from the Monet Richardson Community Foundation establishing the Krissy Richardson Memorial Scholarship in the College of Health and Human Performance. The scholarship will be presented annually to a student seeking a degree in social work in memory of Kristian “Krissy” Monet Richardson, ’20.
“Incredible work is happening across our university, and these gifts demonstrate the willingness of others to invest in our institution and in our future,” Rogers said. “These gifts embolden our efforts to offer transformative experiences for all students and to be an engine of access and advancement for our region.”
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