Faculty Features | Winter 2026
Check out the latest news from our faculty from the last quarter, approximately October 2025 to January 2026.
Dr. Virginia Driscoll (SOM) is the president-elect for the Southeastern Region of the American Music Therapy Association. She will serve for 18 months, then serve two years as president and two years as past-president.
Scott Eagle (SOAD) has been recognized by Creative Quarterly: The Journal of Art and Design (CQ) with two illustrations selected as Runner-Up in the Professional Illustration category for CQ82, with the work featured in CQ’s online gallery and slated for inclusion in the Creative Quarterly Annual 2025.
The selected illustrations were part of a series of four chapter illustrations, end papers and a book cover created for the signed, limited edition of “Absolution” by acclaimed author Jeff VanderMeer, published by Subterranean Press, and include interior illustration work for the volume.
Scott Eagle
Scott Eagle
Dr. Cindy Elmore (SOC) presented at the National Student Vote Summit at the University of Maryland, College Park, as part of the bipartisan candidate information project she and Brian Massey (SOC) started.
Dr. Festus Eribo (SOC) received the Faculty Author Book Award for, “Media Ethics and Global Peace: Readings on Artificial Intelligence, Critical Thinking, and Cyberspace.”
Erick Green (SOAD) and Dr. Adrienne Steiner-Brett (SOM) received 2025 Sponsored Activities and Research Catalyst Program (SPARC) grants. These support scholarly activities that strengthen proposals for competitive external funding, and aim to expand ECU’s scope of research and creative activity.
Emanuel Gruber (SOM) released his new album “Beethoven: Music for Cello and Piano” with pianist Arnon Erez. The album features Beethoven’s five sonatas for cello and piano, composted between 1796 and 1815.
Two SOM faculty members received distinguished professorships in 2025:
- Emanuel Gruber is the Ira M. & Mary Ruth Hardy Distinguished Professor in Suzuki String Pedagogy through June 2030.
- Dr. William Staub is the Roddy Jones Distinguished Professor in Music through June 2028.
Mi-Sook Hur (SOAD) is holding a solo exhibition, “Heritage Reimagined,” at the Faulkner Gallery in Joyner Library. It features the colors and patterns of Korean Buddhist temple lattice doors Hur studied as part of her Fulbright research in 2024 and 2025. The exhibition is on display through March 22, and she will give an artist talk in the gallery at 4 p.m. March 17.
A book co-edited by Dr. Jin-Ae Kang (SOC), was released in January. The book is “Mental Health Communication for Underserved Populations,” also co-edited by Dr. Do Kyun David Kim from the University of Louisiana. Dr. Adrienne Muldrow (SOC) also contributed to the book.
Dr. Sachi Shearman (SOC) was named a COIL Champion by ECU’s Office of Global Affairs. COIL Champions will assist Global Academic Initiatives in promoting and supporting Collaborative Online Intercultural Learning (COIL) within their college and the university more broadly.
Dr. Raychl Smith (SOM) presented research at the Society for Music Teacher Education Conference at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. Along with Jackie Secoy (Associate Professor, Longwood University) she examined the demographic characteristics of ukulele teachers in North Carolina and Virginia and explored the perceived benefits and challenges of implementing ukulele in the general music classroom. The mixed-methods study also identified the curricular resources teachers employed in ukulele instruction.
Dr. Rachel Son (SOC) visited Jagiellonian University in Poland as part of the Erasmus+ Program, to teach a series of lectures. She also had the opportunity to participate in various tours, events, and sightseeing excursions. Dr. Son taught classes including Visual Storytelling with Data and Understanding the Psychology of Media Audiences and The Effects of Emerging Technologies in Media.
Raychl Smith
Dr. Deborah Thomson, Dr. Drew Ashby-King, Dr. Jessica Fabbricatore, Dr. Rachel Son, and Brittany Thompson (SOC) presented at the National Communication Association 111th Annual Convention in November. Several presentations focused on student success and innovative teaching techniques.
Dr. Andrea VanDeusen (SOM) presented her research, “It’s Sometimes Scary to be a Teacher Right Now: Impacts of Divisive Concept Laws on Music Teachers,” at the Cultural Diversity in Music Education Conference in Limerick, Ireland. The biennial Cultural Diversity in Music Education conference has provided a platform for the exchange of practices and research related to cultural diversity in music education since 1992.