When she joins the team at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center in Baltimore, East Carolina University graduate and nurse Rachael Wilsynski will have a lifetime of high-level experience with teamwork and overcoming adversity to help guide her as she takes on the duties of an emergency department nurse.
Wilsynski was identified early as a standout on the pitch. She was recruited into soccer academies, first for the Baltimore Armour and then the National Women’s Soccer League’s Washington Spirit, which meant she didn’t have a traditional high school athlete’s experience. But she did suffer an increasingly common setback for young women soccer players — ACL tears.
“I’ve torn my ACL three times,” Wilsynski said. “At 12 and 14, then I had another little meniscus surgery at 16, and I tore it again at 17.”
Her time in and out of physical therapy, and the nurses who helped her recover from a series of surgeries, sealed the deal on applying to nursing school.
When it came time, Wilsynski knew that ECU was the right place for her. It was close enough to home to be near family, but far enough away for the independence most college students crave.
“Everybody in athletics is so close, we’re friends with all the other athletes. And in nursing school everybody was so helpful with me — even my classmates understood it was a lot to deal with and they were always there for me,” Wilsynski said.
Wilsynski said she needed the support. The pace of class work and sometimes two tests a week — on top of twice-a-day practices and travel for games — piled on stress. Clinical rotations consumed whole days.
At one point, Wilsynski stumbled. She missed passing a particularly tough class by a point and felt less sure of her path forward. Her instructor for that course, Kelli Jones, a College of Nursing clinical assistant professor, helped set her back on track.
“When I didn’t pass that class, I was distraught. I felt like my world was ending and I went and saw her and she just reminded me that this is where I’m supposed to be, that everything would work out how it should,” Wilsynski said. “She helped me with my confidence and helped me believe in myself again.”
After graduating in May, Wilsynski still had work to do. All registered nurses must take a national licensure exam, the NCLEX, before being able to start work. She studied for weeks with Dr. Frances Eason, a fixture in the College of Nursing, known for ushering graduating students through cram sessions for the NCLEX.
Wilsynski said the test was challenging, but what might have been the most stressful part was waiting for the results.
“Those 24, 48 hours were very nerve-racking because it feels like it’s all or nothing in that moment,” Wilsynski said. “I logged on that Friday and saw that I passed, with my mom.”
Soccer brought Wilsynski to ECU, but the experiences that have shaped her into a Pirate nurse — the friendships made on the pitch and during clinical rotations — have broadened her horizons.
“It was the best experience — I loved being an athlete here, I loved being a nursing student here — I wouldn’t have changed anything for the world,” Wilsynski said.
Harriot College names Luczkovich to distinguished professorship
ECU’s Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences has named Dr. Joseph Luczkovich, professor in the Department of Biology, to the prestigious rank of distinguished professor. Luczkovich is the college’s 25th distinguished professor.
“I am honored to have been selected for the Harriot College distinguished professor award by Dean Danell and the selection committee,” Luczkovich said.
The appointment to distinguished professor is the highest honor within Harriot College and is conferred upon a professor whose career exemplifies a commitment to and a love for knowledge and academic life as demonstrated by outstanding teaching and advising, research and creative productivity, and professional service.
Dr. Allison S. Danell, dean of Harriot College, said she and committee members were inspired and impressed by Luczkovich’s long and storied career as a valued faculty member.
“Joe’s nomination package offered a compelling view of the positive influence he has had on the educational experiences of many students — in classes and high-impact field experiences — the excellent mentorship he has offered student researchers and his high-quality, interdisciplinary research that has brought in significant extramural support and media attention,” she said. “Finally, Joe is a model colleague who energetically serves the unit’s needs, and beyond, to meet ECU’s teaching, research and service missions.”
“This was the first time I have been nominated, and I am gratified to be among the previous awardees,” Luczkovich said. “I know there are many deserving faculty in the college, and I am glad to have them as colleagues.”
Luczkovich joined ECU’s faculty in 1990 as a visiting professor, and over the past 30 years, he has displayed the qualities and characteristics required of a distinguished professor, Danell said.
“Initially, I thought I would only stay a year or two as a research scientist with a coastal focus, but ECU made me feel welcome. I have found a home here,” Luczkovich said. “I have had many great colleagues and students in the 34 years since arriving, with whom I have published scholarly works and conducted interdisciplinary research. Teaching our diverse student population at ECU is highly rewarding, and I love sharing what I have learned over my career with them.”
Luczkovich has taught numerous undergraduate courses, including environmental biology, interdisciplinary coastal and marine studies, and marine biology. He has taught graduate courses in marine community ecology, estuarine ecology and a survey of coastal and marine resources. He led a study abroad course in marine ecology in Panama and pioneered a course in data analysis for coastal resource management for students enrolled in the coastal doctoral program.
Beyond teaching, Luczkovich is an effective mentor. He has led 12 students to complete a master’s degree and four to complete a doctoral degree.
He is a marine ecologist specializing in the ecology of coastal fishes and fisheries, network models of food webs of estuaries — specifically the flow of energy and nutrients through ecological food webs — and sound production by fishes.
Along with Dr. Mark Sprague, associate professor in the Department of Physics, Luczkovich developed early remote acoustic sensing techniques (fish acoustic buoys) for North Carolina sounds, and more recently used an unmanned ocean robot (a wave glider known as Blackbeard) on the continental shelf to determine positions and relevant environmental conditions of tagged southern flounder. Another use of Blackbeard is to map the acoustic signatures of ocean habitats, a relatively new aspect of ocean research.
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