Awards

Congratulations to Christy and Gregg Hecimovich on the birth of their second daughter Elsbeth (Elsie) Alice Hecimovich born 9:29 pm on Wednesday, May 27 at  9 lbs 6 ounces and 21 inches. Beatrice has a little sister!

Congratulations to Marame, Kebe, and Big Sister Aminata Gueye in welcoming baby boy Lamine (pronounced "lamiin") born on September 8, 2009.

Congratulations to John Hoppenthaler who recently learned that he has been selected to serve as the Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet for the Eastern Region of North Carolina for the years 2010-2011.  He will appear at the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival on September 11-12 in Burnsville to lead a poetry workshop and give a public reading, and he will also read at Malaprop's Books in Asheville, NC on September 13. In addition, he has agreed to serve as an advisory editor for a new online cultural journal Connotation Press: An Online Artifact which goes live on September 1.  He also solicited for and has assembled a portfolio of poetry for the inaugural issue.

Congratulations to Christine Hutchins who married Evan Stoller in New York City on July 18, 2009. 

Ron Mitchelson of the Department of Geography has been named Interim Chair of the Department of English. 

Joyce Irene Middleton was elected for two new national positions for the College Conference on College Composition and Communication.  She will serve a four-year term as the CCCC Representative to the College Forum Committee, a liaison committee with the National Council for Teachers of English.  She will also serve a one-year term as a new member of the College Section Nominating Committee, which will meet in November, 2009 in Philadelphia. Middleton is also the new Chair of the Ethnic Studies Program at East Carolina University.  Su-ching Huang has been named Associate Chair.
 
Janice Tovey has returned this Fall to the ECU Outreach Network as Coordinator. For the next two years, this office and its graduate assistants will be working with the Office of Engagement, Innovation, and Economic Development on a multi-year Community Enhancement Grant from the NC Department of Commerce. Tovey will be conducting sessions in grant training and administration with the help of faculty and the graduate assistants for 2009-10, and, during the second year, will coordinate the technical assistance to be provided to these communities.  The Outreach Network, now in its 10th year, will also continue to provide grant assistance to community and nonprofit organizations throughout Eastern North Carolina.

Congratulations to Stephanie West-Puckett who was awarded a $4,500.00 project development grant by the National Writing Project to help fund LEEAP (Leadership for Equity, Excellence, and Achievement Project), a collaborative effort among ECU and area teachers "to promote teacher inquiry as a valuable component of professional development, recruit new teachers and develop leadership in [TRWP members], and develop and disseminate a region-specific, teacher-initiated body of knowledge of teaching to diversity in NC Schools."