THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 15, 1995 TAG: 9503150440
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
It's been nearly two years since a maverick Republican lawyer on the mostly Democratic Board of Trustees at Elizabeth City State University made a suggestion that initially fell flat.
``ECSU needs a master's program in science and math for teachers in northeastern public schools who want to expand their education and help our children,'' John Morrison of Elizabeth City told the trustees then.
On Tuesday, Morrison reminded his colleagues that even in the present national rush to technology, there are still no teachers with master's degrees in science or math in the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank school system.
``And no place except ECSU where they could conveniently go to get such a higher degree,'' he added.As a surprising show of support, the chairman of the ECSU trustees said the board now wants the master's program despite opposition in Chapel Hill from President Clemmie R. Spangler Jr., president of the University of North Carolina.
ECSU is one of the institutions in the 16-campus UNC system.
``Not only do we want this program, but the people in our entire area want it and eventually we're going to have it,'' said E.V. Wilkins, chairman of the ECSU trustees and a powerful Albemarle Democratic leader.
Morrison said the mood of the trustees switched in favor of the master's program after a three-day weekend retreat held recently by the board members in a Manteo waterfront inn.
``All of a sudden there was a lot of momentum for the idea,'' Morrison said. ``This may have occurred when the trustees realized we were aiming at teachers in our own northeastern public schools who wanted to improve their teaching ability with science or math degrees.''
Morrison said Dr. Joseph Peel, superintendent of Elizabeth City-Pasquotank public schools, has reported that he has been recruiting ``as far away as Arizona'' in an effort to find teachers with collateral degrees in science and math.
At Tuesday's trustee session at ECSU, Morrison praised ECSU Vice Chancellor Helen Caldwell for ``excellent research and a fine survey'' of area public school teachers with master's degrees - or the lack of them - in science and math.
``It is our feeling that the present faculty at ECSU has a number of doctors in science and math who could teach the courses we're interested in,'' said Morrison.
Chancellor Jimmy R. Jenkins got a tepid response from Spangler when Jenkins first relayed the suggestion for the master's program for the Elizabeth City campus. ECSU and UNC-Asheville are the only two of the 16 universities in the UNC system that have no math or science master's program for teachers.
Jenkins said he ``approved'' the idea of the plan for northeastern teachers but pointed out that funding for such new programs would probably be hard to come by in the present financial austerity within Spangler's UNC system. Only the UNC Board of Governors can approve such a plan for ECSU.
``After talking with President Spangler, I didn't push the idea,'' Jenkins said.
Meanwhile, Wilkins and Morrison are due to step down with three other trustees in June when their terms expire. A nominating committee was named to recommend candidates to fill the vacancies after a June 13 meeting at the end of the ECSU fiscal year. by CNB