ECU News Services

More than half of the medical students graduating from East Carolina University this spring will go into primary care residencies.

Those are the results of the annual Match Day, celebrated Thursday amid whoops and hugs at the Brody Medical Sciences building.

Of the 65 students participating in the match, 13 — the same number as last year — are entering family medicine residencies. Eleven are entering some type of internal medicine residency. Nine students are entering pediatric residency programs, and five are entering obstetrics and gynecology. Those numbers equal 58 percent of the students participating in the match.

“I’m so thrilled,” said Crystal Bowe, who will be staying in Greenville to pursue a family medicine residency at ECU and Pitt County Memorial Hospital.

“I could not wait for today. I dreamed about getting this envelope, and I got my first choice.”

Bowe, an Ahoskie resident and the mother of a 9-year-old son, said family medicine was the only choice for her.

“I like treating the whole family,” she said. “I couldn’t just treat children. I wanted to treat the parents, too.”

Before they provide direct patient care, U.S. medical school graduates normally complete a three- to seven-year residency program accredited in a recognized medical specialty.

The class of 2010 was accepted into institutions in 18 states in 17 specialties. The Brody School of Medicine and PCMH will be home to 15 class members. Thirty-one graduates will stay in North Carolina.

Susan Morgan will be studying obstetrics and gynecology at Ohio State University.

“I’ve loved it here and I’m going to miss it here a lot, but I’m very excited to be going somewhere completely different,” she said.

Before the first student’s name was called to get an envelope with the match letter, Dr. Paul R.G. Cunningham, dean of the Brody School of Medicine, said, “You are cut from the Brody cloth. Remember to lead,” he said.

The National Residency Match Program, a private, not-for-profit organization, provides a method for matching applicants for residency positions in the United States with residency programs at various teaching hospitals. Applicants and hospitals rank each other in order of preference, and a computer matches them based upon those rankings.

According to the NRMP, the number of available residency positions this year was the highest in match history. This year, 30,543 applicants — also a record — vied for 22,809 first-year residency positions available. The number of students nationwide matching into family medicine residences rose 9 percent over 2009.

Annual Youth Arts Fest set for Saturday

The sixth annual Youth Arts Festival at ECU will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday on the mall area in the center of campus. In case of rain, the festival will be held in the Jenkins Fine Arts Building.

The festival will bring to campus more than 100 visual and performing artists who will share their creative talents with children of all ages. Varied and talented musical, dance and theatrical groups also will be featured at the festival. The event is free and open the public.

During the festival, children will have the opportunity to visit with artists demonstrating activities such as wheel thrown ceramics, traditional watercolor painting, weaving, felting, paper-making, printmaking, portraiture and a myriad of other visual art media. Visual artists from the region, state, neighboring states, and the School of Art and Design at ECU are expected to participate.

Children will have the opportunity to create artwork with the help of art education and other students from ECU, as well as professional artists. There will be interactive activities for children of all ages. This event coincides with the Youth Arts Month sponsored by the North Carolina Art Education Association.

The ECU School of Fine Arts and Communication and the College of Fine Arts and Communication are coordinating the festival. This event is being supported with grants from Target, Pepsi, the N.C. Arts Council and the Friends of the School of Art and Design. Sponsors at ECU include the Visual Arts Committee, the Department of Recreation and Wellness, the College of Fine Arts and Communication, the School of Music, the School of Theater and Dance, the Office of Intercultural Student Affairs, Ledonia Wright Center, and the Division of Student Life.

Artists interested in showcasing their talents, demonstrating the media they work in, or working with the children doing hands-on projects should contact festival coordinator Dindy Reich at reichd@ecu.edu or 328-5749.

ECU on community service honor roll

For the fourth year in a row, ECU has been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.

“This is national recognition for the entire ECU community,” said Mike Loeffelman, volunteer coordinator for the university’s Volunteer and Service-Learning Center [VSLC]. “Students, faculty and staff were all involved in a variety of innovative service projects to support a range of diverse communities.”

The VSLC strives to engage students in activities that strengthen communities, promote an enduring commitment to civic responsibility and enhance the academic experience. More than 11,000 students are registered at the VSLC, and students performed more than 161,700 hours of service last year.

“Congratulations to East Carolina University and its students for their dedication to service and commitment to improving their local communities,” said Patrick Corvington, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees the Honor Roll. “Our nation’s students are a critical part of the equation and vital to our efforts to tackle the most persistent challenges we face. They have achieved impactful results and demonstrated the value of putting knowledge into practice to help renew America through service.”

The 2009 Honor Roll includes six colleges and universities that are recognized as Presidential Awardees, with an additional 115 named to the Distinction List and 621 schools named as Honor Roll members. Honorees are chosen based on a series of factors, including the scope and innovation of service projects, percentage of student participation in service activities, incentives for service, and the extent to which the school offers academic service-learning courses.

ECU has been named to the Honor Roll each year since the recognition program began in 2006.

Awards were presented at the American Council on Education annual meeting in Phoenix in March and also will be given at the National Conference of Volunteering and Service Conference in New York in June.

ECU Hospitality students recognized

Two ECU hospitality management students were chosen unanimously by department faculty to participate in the “Salute to Excellence 2010” in Chicago.

On May 22, Emily K. Smith, a senior from Raleigh, and Timothy S. Smith, a senior from Mount Airy, Md., will attend the gala marking the opening of the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant and Hotel-Motel Show and Exposition in Chicago.

The event honors the accomplishments of industry leaders as well as two students from each of the 100 top hospitality colleges and universities in the United States. This is the 12th year that ECU has been invited to participate.

Upcoming events:

Wednesday: Culture-fest, 6-9 p.m., Mendenhall Student Center Brickyard, with entertainment and food representing cultures around the world. Free.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, March 28: Aristophanes’ “Lysistrata,” an ancient Greek comedy, 8 p.m., Great Rooms, Mendenhall Student Center. A cast of 17 students will perform the play in a new translation by Peter Green, 2009 Harriot College Whichard chairman. Free and open to the public.

Saturday: East Carolina Native American Organization 18th annual powwow, noon to 6 p.m., Minges Coliseum. Free and open to the public.

See www.ecu.edu/cs-ecu/calendar.cfmfor times, places and more information on ECU activities.