Spring 2017 Greeting from Dean Eakins

As we begin a new semester at ECU, I’m excited about a number of initiatives taking place in the College of Business.

1. The most visible change will be the opening of the new Student Technology Center. In constructing this area, we combined the old computer lab space, two computer teaching classrooms, a traditional classroom, and a hallway to create a new entrance to the college. In the process, we moved walls, created windows onto the mall, lowered the floor and raised the ceiling. There are group meeting and work areas, individual study spaces and private computer access, all constructed in a modern and welcoming design. This is a place students will want to be and to call home. It will be fascinating to watch exactly how students take advantage of this new facility.
2. The Miller School of Entrepreneurship is gaining momentum, and I expect great strides to be made this term. Mike Harris has been appointed the interim director, space has been provided on the ground floor of the Bate building, project pitch contests have been sponsored, and instructional programing enhanced. There is now an assistant director, an executive assistant, and full-time faculty assigned to the school. We are continuing to search for additional faculty who will drive this program forward. The director and I will be visiting multiple universities this spring to gather more details about how some of the greatest programs are structured. Continuing to build out the Miller School and creating cross-campus collaborations will be our top priority.
3. Finally, I am thrilled that we are in a place to meaningfully enhance how we communicate and keep in touch with our students, alumni and friends. Between Jim Westmoreland, our associate dean for external affairs, Paige Sammons, our director of outreach, Michael Rudd, our public communications specialist, and Kim Watkins, our media and content coordinator, we have the horsepower to fundamentally change our approach to communicating with our stakeholders. This term we will be rolling out new methods for spreading our message and engaging our friends. A college as large and complex as ours cannot survive without external help, and you cannot help if you don’t know what we are doing.

It seems that each semester is shorter than the last, but that may be because we are trying to accomplish so much in just a few months. This spring term is no different.

I look forward to working with you this semester. Please feel free to contact me with your comments or ideas.

Go Pirates!

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