The ECU College of Nursing

09/09/2026

Have a non-nursing four-year degree and want to become a Pirate Nurse? Join us for information sessions to learn more about the process.

For more information and to register for the 3pm virtual information sessions, email [email protected] by 5 pm the day before the session you wish to attend.

🏴‍☠️ September 15
🏴‍☠️ October 20
🏴‍☠️ November 17

09/09/2026

Building skills.

💜💛🏴‍☠️🩺

09/04/2026

The Hodges and Skipper Show. Has a ring to it. 😉

We’ve been busy here at Eastern AHEC and there is so much to share. Let’s start by shouting out our colleagues at the ECU College of Nursing!

Earlier this year we had the pleasure of hosting Dr’s Alex Hodges, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, CNE and Michelle Skipper, DNP, FNP-BC, NHDP-BC, FAANP, FNAP on our Rural Waves podcast to talk about the importance of Climate Health and Disaster Management, then again at the Rural Health Symposium where Dr. Hodges presented on “Climate Resilience and Patient Readiness.”

According to Dr. Skipper in the August CONnection Newsletter, “These have been excellent opportunities for us to recruit the largest incoming class of Healthcare Emergency and Disaster Management - 10 students - we’ve had since the inception of the program.”

We love partnering with fellow Pirates to educate and recruit current and future rural health professionals 🩺

All episodes of the Rural Waves podcast are available on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. Click the link below to access this specific episode.

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/RuralWavesSpotify

Apple: Rural Waves: https://tinyurl.com/RuralWavesApple

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/RuralWavesYoutube

09/04/2026

For the past 50 years, Dr. Frances Eason has educated 10,000 Pirate Nurses, and by extension an unknowable number of their patients – likely you or someone you know.

Tell us a little about how she has impacted your life in the comments and we’ll pass them on to her.

💜💛🏴‍☠️🩺

09/04/2026

Fifty years ago, Dr. Frances Eason joined the faculty at East Carolina University's College of Nursing. She's taught somewhere close to 10,000 students since.

This past spring alone, she taught 113 undergraduates — nearly as many students as were in the entire nursing school when she first enrolled in 1968.

Her students call her boot camp tough. They also call their NCLEX exam "not nearly as hard as your course." That's exactly the point.

Thank you, Dr. Eason, for 50 years of preparing Pirate Nurses not just for a test, but for a career of caring for others.

💜💛🏴‍☠️🩺

ECU’s Dr. Frances Eason has shaped nearly 10,000 nurses in 50 years — and one promise to her son keeps her coming back.

09/03/2026

A partnership worth celebrating!

In 2025, East Carolina University's College of Nursing launched a new Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (AGACNP) post-graduate certificate program — and this year, our first cohort of five graduated ready to care for the region's most critically ill patients.

Charlsie Woodard, Hunter Venters, Rachel Ferrell, Richa Dhungana and Angela Jones balanced full nursing careers with rigorous coursework and clinical rotations, leaning on each other every step of the way. Program Director Dr. Kristie Hertel helped guide them from bedside nurses and NPs to advanced critical care providers.

"Patients don't come from a textbook world," graduate Angela Jones said. "We have to critically think and look at the literature."

Huge congratulations to our first AGACNP graduates — and to the ECU Health partnership that helped make this program possible!

Read more about the path to the success of the program here: https://www.ecuhealth.org/first-agacnp-graduates-build-critical-care-expertise/

💜💛🏴‍☠️🩺

09/03/2026

Know a Pirate Nurse who's already changing lives?

Nominations are OPEN for the Pirate Nurse Decade Awards — celebrating ECU nursing alumni in their first 10 years who are leading, healing, and making an impact across eastern NC.

🏴‍☠️ Clinical Practice — exceptional bedside/direct care
🏴‍☠️ Nursing Leadership — vision, advocacy, and inspiration
🏴‍☠️ Regional Impact — advancing health across eastern NC

Nominate now through Sept. 15 (self-nominations welcome!). Winners will be honored at the Homecoming Reception on Oct. 9.

Nominate a Pirate Nurse: https://ecu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3JkftSKgKdzjhc2

Questions? Reach Katy Locke at [email protected]

09/02/2026

Marcia James is one of this past year’s inductees into East Carolina University's College of Nursing’s Hall of Fame.

In 2011, James co founded North Carolina’s second birth center, the Natural Beginnings Birth & Wellness Center, expanding access to safe, patient centered maternity care. She played a key role in securing approval for waterbirth at Davis Regional Medical Center, advancing evidence based birthing options for families.

Marcia was named the Preceptor of the Year in 2018 for excellence in mentoring and developing future nurse midwives.

Thank you, Marcia, for your being an exemplar of Pirate Nursing.

If you know a Pirate Nurse who deserves to be part of the next cohort of Hall of Fame inductees, nomination forms can be found here: https://nursing.ecu.edu/alumni/hall-of-fame/

💜💛🏴‍☠️🩺

09/01/2026

This year for Homecoming we plan to celebrate Pirate Nurses Through the Decades.

We’re hosting two events again this year: a reception at the Health Sciences Building Oct. 9 at 5:30 pm and a Homecoming parade watch at Howard House on 5th Street starting at 9 am.

Register here: https://ecu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3gg2MeS3oByONmu.

If you have questions get in touch with Katy Locke, our director of alumni affairs, at [email protected].

We look forward to seeing you all back here at the center of Pirate Nation.

Go Pirates!

08/31/2026

Nominations for the College of Nursing’s 2027 Hall of Fame Class are now open!

The Hall of Fame honors nursing excellence and recognizes the accomplishments of exemplary ECU CON graduates and faculty members. Who can be nominated? A Pirate Nurse who:

🏴‍☠️ Has a history of exceptional accomplishments in nursing practice, education, research, and/or administration.
🏴‍☠️ Has a demonstrated history of community service and involvement beyond job requirements.
🏴‍☠️ College of Nursing alumni and/or be a present or former College of Nursing faculty member.
🏴‍☠️ Has practiced as a registered nurse for a minimum of ten years.

There are so many worthy alumni and we’re excited to see the names of this year’s nominees.

Nomination forms can be found here: https://nursing.ecu.edu/alumni/hall-of-fame/