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Updated: January 29, 2023 @ 1:34 am
A new grant from the North Carolina Office of Digital Equity and Literacy will focus on bridging the digital equity divide experienced by rural and underserved communities.
A graphic highlights a 29-county subregion in eastern North Carolina to benefit from a $1.4 million grant to ECU from the N.C. Office of Digital Equity and Literacy.
East Carolina University’s online master’s degree programs in nursing have been ranked in the top 10% in the U.S. for 2023.
A new grant from the North Carolina Office of Digital Equity and Literacy will focus on bridging the digital equity divide experienced by rural and underserved communities.
A graphic highlights a 29-county subregion in eastern North Carolina to benefit from a $1.4 million grant to ECU from the N.C. Office of Digital Equity and Literacy.
East Carolina University’s online master’s degree programs in nursing have been ranked in the top 10% in the U.S. for 2023.
East Carolina University is receiving $1.39 million for a collaborative project that aims to improve access to digital technology and literacy, resources and skills training for residents in 29 eastern North Carolina counties.
The project is funded by the North Carolina Office of Digital Equity and Literacy and led by Leslie Cofie, principal investigator and assistant professor of health education and promotion in the College of Health and Human Performance, and Alice Richman, co-principal investigator and professor of health education and promotion, along with ECU Health and Laupus Health Sciences Library.
A primary goal is to enhance the capacity of ECU as a center for bridging the digital equity divide experienced by rural and underserved communities in the region. Public libraries and trained community health workers will help facilitate technological needs and educational access to identified populations, which will include low-income households, individuals who primarily reside in a rural area, individuals with a language barrier and community members who identify as Black, Indigenous and people of color.
Cofie and Richman estimate the eventual free deployment of 290 computing devices, 1,160 hotspots and 29 rugged internet hubs that libraries and communities will be able to keep after the completion of the two-year project.
“The issue at hand is we know access to digital technology and digital literacy is so important because it affects every aspect of our lives,” Cofie said. “We are trying to target communities that can benefit from these types of resources.”
Key support will come from Jamie Bloss and Amanda Haberstroh, representing Laupus Health Sciences Library, and Abby Schwartz from the ECU School of Social Work.
ECU Health, the Care Share Health Alliance and Roanoke Chowan Community Health Center also are partners in engagement and supporting community health workers. Funds will help train community health workers, with plans for at least half of them to be bilingual in Spanish and English.
“One of the things I love about this project is the breadth and diversity of collaborators we brought together,” Richman said. “That’s not only at ECU, but with local community organizations. … We’re all coming together to provide education and resources around digital equity to a 29-county subregion. We’re delivering these services directly to the community, and we put together a really good group to be able to do that. That makes it exciting.”
This will build on previous collaborative research involving the College of Health and Human Performance and Laupus Library focused on farmworker health-related and digital access improvements.
The project is divided into three pillars — conduct formative evaluation of internet connectivity, technology and resource needs of communities; adapt and tailor existing digital literacy training and resources to meet the needs of eastern North Carolina while preparing community health workers to disseminate training materials and methods; and deliver digital technology and digital literacy training and resources to community members.
ECU’s award is part of $9.9 million in funding announced for the state’s first digital equity grant.
ECU’s online master’s degree programs in business, criminal justice, education and nursing are among the best in the nation in a new ranking by U.S. News & World Report.
ECU’s College of Nursing is ranked in the top 10% nationally and is the highest ranked public university in North Carolina. The college jumped to 18th place from 29th last year for online master’s nursing programs. Nursing ranked fifth for veterans, up from sixth last year.
Additionally, the nursing education program was ranked seventh and the nursing leadership program was ranked 17th in the nation.
“For the first time in five years, we have the top-ranked master’s level online program in the state, and our UNC System sister institutions have very strong programs so that is a high honor,” said Bimbola Akintade, dean of the College of Nursing.
ECU’s online master’s criminal justice program ranked 19th out of 95 schools. ECU, which ranks in the top 20% in the country, is the highest ranked university in North Carolina. ECU also ranked 14th for veterans. Sixty-one students are enrolled in the graduate program this semester.
“We are proud that our graduate degree remains the No. 1 program in North Carolina, as it has for several years, and that we continue to receive recognition as a national exemplar for the online education of criminal justice leaders,” said Heidi Stone Bonner, chair of the Department of Criminal Justice. “We are also thrilled to be recognized for the first time as one of the top schools for veterans and look forward to continuing to meet the needs of all adult learners in the field.”
ECU’s online master’s education program tied with 10 schools at 58th out of 329 college programs, placing it in the top 20% in the U.S.
“The ECU College of Education continues to provide high quality programs to ensure we are preparing graduates to meet the needs of an everchanging landscape,” said Art Rouse, interim dean of the College of Education. “Our graduates are equipped with the skill, knowledge, expertise and disposition to solve problems that positively impact the communities they serve.”
ECU’s online MBA tied with nine schools at 132nd out of 344 schools ranked. ECU’s online MBA also ranked 97th for veterans (tied with two other schools). Of 631 MBA students enrolled this spring, 89% are distance education students.
“Our online MBA program, the first of its kind in North Carolina, is designed specifically to meet the needs of any learner’s career goals,” said Len Rhodes, acting director of the Thomas D. Arthur Graduate School of Business. “The program’s flexibility and value are major reasons why our school continues to produce the leaders of tomorrow.”
ECU also was recognized for the first time in U.S. News best online master’s in computer information technology programs.
Although the weights given to each category varied among the types of programs, all graduate programs were evaluated in the following categories: engagement, faculty credentials and training, services and technologies, peer assessment, and student excellence.
Online programs at more than 1,800 colleges and universities were assessed as part of U.S. News 2023 rankings.
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