February 2025 newsletter

Spring greetings, CAHS!

It is said that springtime is a time of change. If so, this represents one of the “springiest” semesters in recent memory. Change is not just in the air; it’s in everything we do. Despite a constantly shifting landscape, the College of Allied Health Sciences remains as vital and successful as ever.

We continue to advance to our transformative mission by serving the community, preparing accomplished and effective graduates, promoting interprofessional in education and practice, and conducting impactful research that has contributed much to ECU as a burgeoning very high research (R1) university. In case you didn’t know, this new designation rests on having at least $50 million in total research spending and awarding at least 70 research doctorates annually. Is that meaningful? Well, there are only 187 institutions across the US that can make that claim! But none of them share our unique ENC mission.

Speaking for myself, it has been invigorating working with interim Provost Buddo and the ECU Health Foundation. The lines of communication between CAHS and the Health Sciences Campus, ECU, and our healthcare environment have never been stronger. In fact, we are in the final stages of a national search for a full-time major gift officer solely dedicated to CAHS to help us grow advancement. Likewise, we are concluding our search for a Senior Academic Support Specialist to serve as a critical resource for our students, supporting an educational environment of care, belonging, and well-being and helping us prepare not only competent but highly resilient healthcare professionals. Both of these positions represent a first in our college’s long history.

This semester, we are also conducting three department chair searches. One, in CSDI, should be completed soon, whereas searches for PT and PA are just now getting underway. Also, if you have not done so already, please join me in welcoming Mandy Messerli, our new Director of Alumni Affairs. She has certainly hit the track with wheels spinning and is responsible for compiling this very newsletter. Be sure to inform her of all the great things happening across CAHS.

Whether you are faculty, staff, student, or alumni, thank you for being a vital part of the College of Allied Health Sciences community!

Bob Orlikoff

Student Success

Nutrition students are creating a buzz at the Health Sciences Campus. In the Food Production in Dietetics Lab, they are acquiring skills in large-scale food production. The kitchen lab is designed to mimic settings such as hospitals, long-term care institutions, and schools. Students are trained to plan menus and manage the preparation of food in bulk while considering various factors, including the population they serve, the equipment at their disposal, the abilities of their classmates, nutritional content, cost, food safety, sanitation, and ingredient availability.

Join us at the Health Sciences Campus on Tuesdays from 11 AM to 1 PM. Both credit and debit cards are accepted. Stay updated with their menus on Instagram at no.quarter.cafe.

Public Service

Earlier this month, Physical Therapy students had fun learning how to conduct physical assessments of infants and toddlers, a first for many.

Through the generosity of the parents – many of them alumni – our students have a better sense of the developmental progress of some of the tiniest of patients, that they will use after graduation to help impact the lives of many more children and their families, for generations to come.

Regional Transformation

Awaken Coffee has certainly made their mark on the health sciences campus.

Read more about Awaken Coffee’s expansion to ECU

Faculty – Dr. CJ

Title/role: Assistant Professor and Director of Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling Program
Degree(s):

Winthrop University BA Psychology

UNC Greensboro MS Clinical Mental Health Counseling
East Carolina University PhD Rehabilitation Counseling and Administration
Favorite Class to teach: Pre-practicum (ADRE 6310): this course is the first class where counseling students get acquainted with skills and start their journey on what kind of counselor they want to be.

Research areas of interest: My interests include addiction and recovery support services on college campuses (collegiate recovery), BIPOC recovery, AI in counselor education, and Virtual reality environments in counseling.

Dr. CJ’s latest publication – Breaking barriers: Exploring collegiate recovery among black college students

Staff – Loretta McDaniel

Position: Executive Assistant to the Dean of CAHS

How long have you been at ECU? 16 years

Favorite thing to do outside of work? Scrapbooking, making cards, various crafts that I can lose time in to make something that will bring a smile to others and know how much I love them.

First job: Working at a Daycare

Currently reading: Threads of Faith by Della Dixon

Student – Sammy Stafford

Major: Nutrition and Dietetics

Graduation Date: May 2025

Plans after graduation: Attend graduate school in the nutrition program.

Person who has influenced you the most at ECU? Dr. Baybutt (professor in the department of Nutrition Science)

Words of wisdom for others entering the program: Build relationships with professors and peers. I have gotten opportunities that I would have not been able to me if I was afraid to have conversation with professors. Faculty and staff CARE about your success!

Alumni – Dr. Shondell Jones

Degree(s):
2000- ECU Bachelor’s of Biology
2002- ECU Master’s of Physical Therapy
2006- A.T. Still University – Doctor of Physical Therapy

Favorite class at ECU: Gross Anatomy

Favorite ECU faculty: Dr. Walt Jenkins

What are you currently doing? Running Kinetic Physical Therapy and Wellness, Monday Solutions group, and pastoral team member at his church.

Currently reading: The 17 indisputable laws of teamwork by John Maxwell.