Awards & Appointments

Congratulations to Susan Thananopavarn who has been accepted to the Ph.D. program in English and Comparative Literature at UNC-Chapel Hill and will be attending this fall.

Congratulations to Greg Hecimovich who was awarded the Max Ray Joyner Award for Faculty Service through Continuing Education for his work teaching online classes and study abroad at the University Teaching Awards ceremony on April 29.  The purpose of the Max Ray Joyner Award is to honor an outstanding faculty member who has shown commitment and enthusiasm in teaching and mentoring off-campus students and who has demonstrated excellence in the delivery of courses offered through Continuing Studies, face-to-face and/or distance education.  The award includes a cash prize and a trophy, a smaller replica of a sculpture located in Joyner Library.  This sculpture, suggesting a flame, symbolizes the spirit of education as interpreted by its designers.  Three students from the School of Art designed the trophy -- Julie Spivey, Anne Partna, and Tripp Jarvis.

Congratulations to Drew Foster who won the 2008 Paul Farr Memorial Essay Contest with his essay "The Shakespearean Nature in Comedy" nominated by Tom Herron for ENGL 4080.

Margaret Bauer was one of the nominees for ECU's Centennial Awards for Excellence and received a Faculty Senate summer research grant to complete her book Understanding Tim Gautreaux for the Understanding Contemporary American Writers series of the University of South Carolina Press.

Congratulations to Lisa DeVries, the Outstanding Graduate Student of 2008, and Tyler Rivenbark, the Outstanding Undergraduate Student of 2008.  Both DeVries and Rivenbark gave their remarks to the graduating class at the May 9th English Department graduation ceremony held in Mendenhall's Hendrix Theater.  20 MA degrees and 34 BA degrees were awarded.

Congratulations to those who participated in the Fall 2007 ECU HumorFest and Conference.  The ECU HumorFest was selected as the 2008 ACUI Collaborative Program of the Year.  The ACUI Collaborative Program of the Year Award is established to recognize outstanding achievement of programs that bring together two or more campus entities to achieve a common goal.  The event was a partnership of the English Department and the Office of Co-Curricular Programs and Cultural Outreach with support by the College of Arts and Sciences, University Writing Program, Joyner Library, Rives Chair of Southern Literature, North Carolina Literary Review, School of Theatre and Dance, Department of Biology, and WITN-TV.