Message from the Dean

Dear Prospective Student,

Congratulations on your decision to explore the opportunities associated with getting a graduate degree and thank you for your interest in East Carolina University (ECU)! We currently offer 84 master's degree programs and 61 graduate certificate programs through our 10 colleges and schools. In addition, we offer 21 doctoral programs (PhD, EdD, and DPT) and hold the distinction of being classified among the Doctoral/Research Universities by the Carnegie Foundation. ECU is constantly striving to meet the evolving needs of our students, the people of North Carolina , the United States , and the world by providing educational, research, and outreach programs designed to address the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. I believe that there is a program at ECU to fulfill your academic and professional needs.

Programmatic quality is very important to us. All of our degree and certificate programs are reviewed periodically by outside review teams in order to maintain and improve quality. You should be pleased to know that research, scholarship, and other forms of creativity are thriving at ECU. Today, ECU captures about $60 million per year in contract and grant activity and the rate of growth of this enterprise is accelerating. At our campus, this involvement in important real-world research and outreach issues complements our educational programs and provides numerous collateral benefits to the graduate students.

There is an enormous sense of pride on our campus for the accomplishments of the past and a tremendous optimism about ECU's role in shaping the 21st century. We hope that you will join us and pursue one of our graduate degree and/or certificate educational programs. Please feel free to contact the Graduate School if you have any questions or need more information.

Best wishes on your future endeavors. We look forward to having you join our community of scholars.

Sincerely,

Paul Gemperline, PhD
Dean of Graduate Studies