After decades of violent political conflict, Belfast is now a city transformed. This course allows students to explore peacebuilding and reconciliation within the city of Belfast and various locations throughout Northern Ireland. Students will spend time in local communities, hearing first-hand accounts of the history, faith and culture of this beautiful but wounded land. There are opportunities for intercultural learning throughout and students will hear personal accounts from leading peacebuilders, including local historians, politicians, church, police and community leaders, journalists, artists and musicians. Students will explore concepts of truth, mercy and forgiveness in relation to reconciliation, whilst discovering the challenges that remain as Northern Ireland continues to grapple with its troubled past. 6 credit hours will be earned during this experience.

The pioneering reconciliation work of the Inter Church Youth Link: NI will form the basis of an in-depth case study and there will also be an opportunity to visit the world renowned Corrymeela Community on the beautiful North Coast. Students will not only be required to engage in the local community through service learning (ECU CLCE, Amizade, and YouthWorks) and to develop understanding of the local government, politics, culture, language, history, and artistic characteristics of Northern Ireland, but will also be required to reflect on the areas of divisiveness in their own communities and contexts and seek opportunities for peacebuilding and points for reconciliation.

See: https://interculturalaffairs.ecu.edu/global-community/

Dr. Baekwan Park has created a research lab with a colleague in the Physics Department, Dr. Jae Won Jung. The lab is called “Practical and Applied Artificial Intelligence Research Lab” (PAAIR Lab), and is a research group that pursues the use of machine learning, computer vision, and NLP in medical and social science research. While the project is still in its infancy, Park expects its eventual expansion.

Several changes have taken place in the department over the summer and as the new school year started.

*This summer, Mrs. Dri-Zonda Brown-Smith joined the department as Administrative Support Assistant.

*Dr. Samantha Mosier was granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor.

*Our dept. chair, Dr. Alethia Cook, was promoted to Full Professor.

A hearty welcome to Mrs. Brown-Smith, and congratulations to Drs. Mosier and Cook!

The CSR completed a new poll on legalized sports betting in North Carolina. The report received press coverage from a number of news organizations, including WITN TV , WNCT TV, Public Radio East, Spectrum News (Charlotte), and The Game 94.3: The Patrick Johnson Show.

For the poll report, see: https://surveyresearch-ecu.reportablenews.com/pr/ecu-poll-majority-of-north-carolinians-support-legalized-gambling.

A Symposium on Rural Health and Health Policy organized by Dr. H. Daniel Xu has just been published by Journal of Health and Human Services Administration. The symposium features four papers that address the challenges in rural health and health services and examine programs and policies for these challenges, including state policy for opioid epidemic, infectious disease prevention and management (HIV & Hepatitis C), rural hospitals, and long-term care.

The contributors of the symposium include researchers and practitioners from University of Southern Maine, Texas State University, Texas Tech University, Central Michigan University, New Mexico State University, University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, East Carolina University, and US Government Accountability Office.

In the article contributed by Dr. Xu and his co-author TK Wang, the study utilizes the data from the recent County Health Rankings and Definitive Healthcare to identify the health and health care disparities in rural counties and evaluate the operating and financial condition of rural hospitals in the context of the health care needs in rural communities and in comparison with urban hospitals. Their data analysis finds that while there are major health challenges and increased needs for hospital service in rural areas, the operating and financial performance of rural hospitals has been worsening in several key aspects. They argue that continued policy support as well as health system innovations will be critically important to address the health care needs of rural America. The symposium papers are available at https://jhhsa.spaef.org.

From the department of “fake news wasn’t invented in the 21st Century department”:

“On August 25, 1835, the first in a series of six articles announcing the supposed discovery of life on the moon appears in the New York Sun newspaper.

“Known collectively as “The Great Moon Hoax,” the articles were supposedly reprinted from the Edinburgh Journal of Science. The byline was Dr. Andrew Grant, described as a colleague of Sir John Herschel, a famous astronomer of the day. Herschel had in fact traveled to Capetown, South Africa, in January 1834 to set up an observatory with a powerful new telescope. As Grant described it, Herschel had found evidence of life forms on the moon, including such fantastic animals as unicorns, two-legged beavers and furry, winged humanoids resembling bats. The articles also offered vivid description of the moon’s geography, complete with massive craters, enormous amethyst crystals, rushing rivers and lush vegetation.

“…The only problem was that none of it was true. The Edinburgh Journal of Science had stopped publication years earlier, and Grant was a fictional character. The articles were most likely written by Richard Adams Locke, a Sun reporter educated at Cambridge University. Intended as satire, they were designed to poke fun at earlier, serious speculations about extraterrestrial life, particularly those of Reverend Thomas Dick, a popular science writer who claimed in his bestselling books that the moon alone had 4.2 billion inhabitants.

“Readers were completely taken in by the story, however, and failed to recognize it as satire. The craze over Herschel’s supposed discoveries even fooled a committee of Yale University scientists, who traveled to New York in search of the Edinburgh Journal articles. After Sun employees sent them back and forth between the printing and editorial offices, hoping to discourage them, the scientists returned to New Haven without realizing they had been tricked.”

From https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

““Gutfeld!” finally beat every other late-night show — including Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” on CBS — Tuesday in total viewership and the advertiser-coveted age demographic of 25 to 54. When the right-leaning program debuted in April, host Greg Gutfeld and his promotional team made no secret of their ambition to overtake late-night rivals, but Colbert blocked him from the top spot.

“[Last] Tuesday night, “Gutfeld!” took in a total average of 2.120 million viewers, with 434,000 in the key demo, on average. The “Late Show,” which has an 11:35 p.m. ET start time on CBS, grabbed an average of 1.896 million total viewers of whom 423,000 were in the demo. Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show” — an NBC program which also airs at 11:35 — came next with 1.216 million total viewers, on average, and 354,000 in the demo. (It’s worth noting that “Gutfeld!” airs at 8 p.m. PT on the West Coast, and does not repeat at 11 p.m. when the broadcast networks’ late-night shows are on.)”

From https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/gutfeld-is-1-in-late-night-passes-stephen-colbert/

PLEASE SEE ECU’S WEBSITE FOR ALL PERTINENT INFORMATION ABOUT THE RETURN TO CAMPUS THIS FALL: https://returnofpiratenation.ecu.edu

As of this writing, the University Convocation is scheduled to be in person, at Wright Auditorium, from 9:00-10:00 a.m., Friday August 20. All are welcome to attend.

Immediately following this will be the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences Convocation, from 10:30-11:30 a.m., also in Wright Auditorium.

Notification will be sent if either or both transition to virtual or online.

Hopefully you are as excited as we are to start the new semester – especially because it looks like we may actually be able to do things face to face this year! First day of classes is this coming Monday, Aug. 23.

Looking forward to seeing you all!