Purple & Bold

Friends,

 

The fall semester has been busy and exciting in the Honors College! From welcoming new students and celebrating achievements to exploring opportunities on campus and beyond, our community has thrived. These past months have been full of meaningful connections, new experiences, and impressive accomplishments from our students, staff, and alumni.

 

We were thrilled to welcome our newest class of Brinkley-Lane Scholars and Honors College Fellows this fall. This exceptional group has already made an impact through their leadership, service and engagement across campus. We were also excited to welcome Kasey Perkins as our new Engagement and Outreach Coordinator and Michelle Bone as our Student Success Coordinator. Both have brought energy, creativity and dedication, making an immediate difference in the student experience and our community outreach efforts.

 

This fall also marked the 15th anniversary of the Honors College, giving us the chance to reflect on our journey while looking ahead to the future. It’s the perfect time to highlight the people and programs that continue to shape our community. In this edition, you’ll read about the leadership and impact of our students, the accomplishments of our alumni, and the experiences that make the Honors College such a vital part of ECU.

 

We’re proud to highlight several outstanding members of our community: current student Whitley McCoy, co-founder of the new Honors College Mentors program, whose leadership is strengthening connections among students, and alumna Dr. Ashley Stacy-Boddapati, whose achievements reflect the lasting impact of an Honors education. We’re also excited to share the impressive work of Daniel Walker and Katie Council, ECU’s SGA President and Vice President, who are demonstrating exceptional leadership in their roles. Finally, we honor Kay Chalk, a true friend and champion of the Honors College. Her dedication, guidance and support have profoundly shaped the College and its students, leaving a legacy for which we are deeply grateful.

 

Our inaugural Honors College Student Leadership Impact Trip to Atlanta gave student leaders the chance to serve with community organizations, meet ECU alumni and explore innovation and sustainability in one of the South’s most dynamic cities. Experiences like this continue to define the Honors College and expand students’ understanding of the power and size of Pirate Nation.

 

I am grateful for the support of our faculty, staff, alumni, and families, whose involvement ensures our students have these types of opportunities.

 

As the semester wraps up and we head into spring, many of our staff will be traveling across the state to recruit new students and connect with Honors friends and alumni. We hope you’ll stay in touch and share your own updates; we love hearing from you.

 

At the bottom of this newsletter, you’ll find links to the Honors College Store and news stories, ways for alumni and families to stay connected, and our new Parent & Family Portal. I encourage you to stay involved and help us continue building the strong, supportive network that defines the Honors College.

 

Follow us on social media, and share questions, comments, updates, and other news we can include in upcoming editions. Thank you for your continued support. #ItsAnHonor

 

Have a wonderful holiday season. Go Pirates.

Todd

 

Todd Fraley, PhD

Dean

Bill & Emily Furr Honors College Distinguished Professor

Honors College

Princeton, North Carolina native, Whitley McCoy, thrives in her leadership roles within both the College of Business and Honors College at East Carolina University. Throughout her childhood, McCoy often admired her father, a self-made businessman for twenty-five years, and envisioned herself following in similar footsteps. With this goal in mind, McCoy explored ECU’s business and honors programs and found that both embody a strong sense of community support, even on a campus of thousands of students.

“That has been one of the best decisions I’ve made,” she said.

Ashley Stacy-Boddapati, a 2014 graduate of East Carolina University, recalls her time as a Pirate with nostalgia, noting that the Honors College experience and nursing coursework equipped her for the ups and downs of serving as a public health nurse. She said that while ECU’s strong academic programs drew her in, the support of the Honors College scholarship and community solidified her choice to attend ECU, ultimately joining her father as an alum.

Seventeen student leaders from the Honors College headed to Atlanta over fall break to connect with alumni, serve the community and reignite their passion for leadership — an experience that just might spark a new tradition.

Student Government Association president Daniel Walker and vice president Katie Council spent the summer preparing for their term heading up ECU's SGA. One of their new initiatives is Sips and Solutions, where students can enjoy coffee and conversations with SGA members and an ECU administrator each semester.

Earlier this semester, the Honors College held a dinner recognizing the support of our donors and friends of the college who had made the past 15 years possible. During the dinner, we had the opportunity to celebrate Mrs. Kay Chalk — the first ECU Honors College Advancement Council Chair, leader of the Brinkley-Lane Scholars committee and a mentor to countless Honors College students. 

 

The seminar room in the Mamie Jenkins building now proudly bears her name, a tribute to the years of care, leadership and dedication that she has given to ECU and the Honors College.

This year, the Honors College hosted our first Pinning Ceremony where first-year students were officially made members of the Honors College by receiving their Honors College pin from an upperclassmen student. This ceremony capped off several days of activities for the incoming students including officially meeting their Honors mentor and moving into their residence hall. 

 

This year marked the first year of the college's growth from admitting 200 students a year to 250 Honors College Fellows.

This year, the Young Alumni Council launched the Young Alumni Speaker Series. We want to wish a special thank you to alumni Dillon Godley and Ali Lewis who each spent a Wednesday evening in the Mamie Jenkins Building with our Honors students talking about their life paths and offering advice.

 

If you are an alumni and want to get involved, please reach email Kasey Perkins at perkinsk25@ecu.edu.

Michelle Bone, left, and Kasey Perkins

New Members of the Honors Staff

The college is proud to announce that we had two new staff members join our team during summer/fall 2025 — Kasey Perkins and Michelle Bone.

Kasey Perkins — Outreach & Engagement Coordinator

Kasey began her role as Outreach & Engagement Coordinator in June. In this role, the Outreach and Engagement Coordinator supports Honors College admissions, recruitment, and outreach by coordinating visits and events and serving as a main point of contact for prospective students, families, and alumni. This role helps create opportunities for current and future Honors students while strengthening the College’s connections with its wider community. 

 

Kasey graduated from ECU and the Honors College in 2024 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Services Management. Prior to starting this role, Kasey transitioned from an undergraduate student intern to a full-time team member at ECU Health as a Community Engagement Coordinator. In this position, Kasey connected with various community organizations to help bring healthcare access and education to rural communities throughout eastern North Carolina. 

 

As an undergraduate student, Kasey was very involved with both the Honors College and Undergraduate Admissions. She was elected all four of her years to the Honors College Student Council (HCSC) which led to her serving as President of HCSC her senior year. In Undergraduate Admissions, Kasey was a Lead Pirate Navigator and provided thoughtful campus tours to prospective students and their families. This was one of Kasey‘s favorite roles on campus as she got to meet prospective students during campus tours and large admission events and then reconnect with them once they were on campus as an official Pirate. 

 

Michelle Bone — Student Success Coordinator

Michelle has nearly two decades of dedicated service to East Carolina University. Prior to joining the Honors College, she was the User Assessment & Engagement Coordinator at Laupus Health Sciences Library, where she led data-driven initiatives to improve student experiences and strengthen campus partnerships.  

 

In her role as the Student Success Coordinator, she will support Honors students through their time at ECU. Some highlights of her position include academic advising, guidance on opportunities and success plans, managing the Signature Honors Project process and nomination process for awards, and serving as the first stop for questions about academics, involvement and ways to make the most of the Honors experience.

  

She holds an M.A. in Higher Education: Community College and University Leadership and a Graduate Certificate in College and University Teaching from Appalachian State University, along with a B.S. in Business Administration (Marketing) from ECU. 

  

Michelle is certified in Mental Health First Aid and QPR Suicide Prevention, and she is a graduate of ECU’s Leadership Development Academy Class of 2020. She has served as Chair of ECU Staff Senate, represented ECU as a delegate to the UNC System Staff Assembly, and contributed to numerous university committees centered on policy, strategic planning, and student well-being. In recognition of her leadership, she was honored with the East Carolina 40 Under Forty Leadership Award in 2021. 

 

Are you an Honors College or Brinkley-Lane Scholar alumni? Join our Young Alumni Council to stay connected with the college and current students. 

The Honors College is happy to announce that we have a community on the university's Parent & Family Portal! This will be a great place to connect with Honors and stay up-to-date on events and news throughout the year.

In honor of Homecoming and celebrating Pirate pride, we wanted to keep our Honors College store open for a few more days. We have a variety of items to purchase including our new decals, sweatpants & Alumni YETI tumbler as well as hoodies, t-shirts and crewnecks. 

 

This will be the last order of the year guaranteed to ship before the holiday season! 

Contact us:

honorscollege@ecu.edu