Awards recognize outstanding ECU alumni and friends
Six outstanding ECU alumni and friends were honored by the ECU Alumni Association on Oct. 19 during homecoming weekend.
Mary Earp ’58 received an Outstanding Alumni Award. She is a community advocate and agribusiness leader in Brunswick County. She was a driving force in lobbying for one of the ECU School of Dental Medicine Community Service-Learning Centers to be built in her county.
Scott Avett ’99 ’00 received an Outstanding Alumni Award. He is a founding member of the three-time Grammy-nominated band The Avett Brothers and an accomplished visual artist. His paintings and prints have been showcased in galleries around the country. He has also released two art books, Invisible and Purpose at Random.
Matt Slate ’96 was honored with the Virgil Clark ’50 Distinguished Service Award for his dedication to ECU. Slate serves as a chair of the ECU Foundation board and as a member of the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences advancement council. He and his wife, Kelly, have endowed scholarships and planned gifts in the Harriot College and ECU athletics and support numerous campus priorities through annual giving.
Terry Holland was honored posthumously with an Honorary Alumni Award. Holland served as ECU athletic director from 2004 to 2013. At ECU, Holland led efforts that resulted in an expansion of Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium and the creation of facilities for softball, track and other Olympic sports.
Felix Morton IV ’13 received this year’s Young Alumni Award. Morton serves as a well-being coach and assistant director for community well-being in the undergraduate business program at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. Morton advocates for access to higher education and culturally affirming clinical support for students, with special attention to the experiences of Black youth and men.
Vivien Sansour ’02 ’06 was slated to receive an Outstanding Alumni Award. She is an artist, researcher, writer and a conservationist of international stature. Sansour was unable to attend. ECU AA hopes to honor her at a later date.
Four ECU alumni were honored for their service to the country during the Distinguished Military Service Society ceremony in November.
Retired Army Col. Elbert T. Buck Jr. ’67 ’76 served 34 years in the Army National Guard. His military assignments included corps support group commander, military police, maintenance battalion and headquarters of the N.C. Army National Guard. Buck served as executive officer of the 690th Maintenance Battalion while serving in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He is an Army War College graduate, and his service has been recognized with numerous honors, including the Legion of Merit, N.C. Distinguished Service Medal and two presentations of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine. During his work in rehabilitation and as a parole officer, Buck hosted interns from ECU who received training with rehabilitation clients and in the criminal justice system.
Retired Air Force Col. Derrick J. Floyd ’97 served at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina where he was the director of manpower, personnel and services for the 9th Air Force (Air Forces Central). He led the team responsible for planning and executing support for Air Force personnel in the U.S. Central Command. He served during operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and Noble Eagle. As the military personnel flight commander at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina, Floyd created a shadow program at that allowed AFROTC cadets to receive briefings and tours related to their potential career fields.
Air Force Lt. Col. Brent McCraney ’04 serves as F-16 lead programmer for the Department of the Air Force, A8 Strategic Plans and Programs at the Pentagon, where he manages the operational sustainment of the Air Force’s largest fleet of fighter aircraft. He deployed as a munitions flight commander and munitions accountable systems officer in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He has been awarded the Silver Cross of Honor of the German Bundesweher, a Meritorious Service Medal and National Defense Service Medal, among other honors. McCraney and other ECU graduates established an ECU alumni group at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. He was the recipient of ECU’s 40 Under Forty Leadership Award in 2021.
Navy Capt. Jim Newman ’68 ’74 was the first ECU graduate commissioned as an ensign in the Navy at ECU commencement. He served 34 years in active and reserve service, including deployments in Vietnam, the Jordanian Civil War, and operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He was awarded the National Defense Service Medal and a Defense Meritorious Service Medal-Distinguished Service with Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Command. Newman served as a member of the ECU Alumni Association board of directors, including as treasurer and board chair. He received an Outstanding Alumni Award in 2017.