From the Chancellor

Hallmarks of a great university

If you think you’ve been seeing more about East Carolina University in your local newspapers, you’re right.

In July of last year, we began a statewide advertising campaign that consisted of a series of full-page ads that appeared more than 100 times in nine of the state’s largest newspapers – from Asheville to Wilmington. The ads supported student recruitment, alumni relations and opinion leader engagement. Estimates are these ads received more than 21 million impressions.

During the 11 months the ads appeared, I heard from many who told me they didn’t know our university, our faculty and our students were doing so much great work. Here are some examples the ads highlighted:

• Our Brody School of Medicine, which is among the nation’s best at educating family medicine physicians and leads the state in the percentage of graduates who practice primary care in North Carolina
• The community service-learning centers of our School of Dental Medicine, where patients from nearly all the state’s counties have received vital care they otherwise might not have gotten
• Our College of Business, which serves more business students than any other state institution while offering a special track to produce entrepreneurs
• Our national recognition as a top university for military and veteran
  students and their families

If results matter, then our university’s accomplishments in these areas and so many others show ECU is a place of not only state but also national excellence. But newspaper ads go only so far. The greatest ambassadors for ECU’s message are you – our alumni, friends and supporters. So don’t wait for someone to ask about that university east of 95. Take the initiative of a Pirate and show what ECU is all about.

Go Pirates!

Cecil P. Staton, D. Phil.
Chancellor