Grace In Service | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of ECU News Services. The author of this post is Jules Norwood.


Dr. Virginia Hardy, vice chancellor for student affairs, will retire this month after 29 years at East Carolina University. (Photo by Cliff Hollis)
    Dr. Virginia Hardy, vice chancellor for student affairs, will retire this month after 29 years serving the students of East Carolina University.

    Hardy, an eastern North Carolina native, was a middle school teacher and assistant principal before joining what was then the ECU School of Medicine as a counselor so that she could be near and take care of her parents.

    "While I was teaching at Wellcome Middle, I realized that I was doing a lot of counseling and helping students ... and so I came back to ECU while I was working and got my master's degree in counseling," she said.

    Holding an undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina, an ECU master's degree, and a doctoral degree from N.C. State makes for some interesting conversations, especially around athletic events, she said.

    As a counselor and in student affairs, Hardy has constantly put students first. She always wanted to be in education, she said.

    "These are my babies. I want them to have a voice and I want them to have a space," she said. "I tell them not to take this for granted because not every institution allows for the students to have as much of a voice as our students do."

    Hardy has played an important role in giving students a voice, both by representing them at the leadership table and by giving them direct access to the chancellor and other administrators. The Chancellor's Roundtable, now called the Pirate Roundtable, and Cupola Conversations are programs she helped institute to give voice to student concerns. The Pirate Roundtable is a group of student leaders from across both campuses.

    "We meet monthly to talk about whatever the issues are," Hardy said. "Whatever they want to bring to the table, whatever we as administration want to bring to the table. And we talk through those issues. ... so they have an opportunity to voice their concerns, and then to get feedback and to have input on what it is we need to be doing."

    Finding her voice

    Her time at the medical school, she said, taught her to find her own voice and how to use it in a positive way. She strives to lead good decision making without telling people what to do.

    "If we listen to our students, they will get it right," she said. "If we empower our students, and then grown folks get out of the way, they will come with some powerful stuff - powerful solutions, powerful ideas, powerful ways and new ways of being, doing and leading. We need to listen to them and allow them that space to do that. And in the good and the bad, particularly during the challenging moments, they will rise to the occasion."

    With both students and colleagues, she's learned the importance of offering unconditional regard and of listening. "I use a borrowed term, to listen seriously," she said. "You listen with a notion of hearing, understanding and really being able to grasp what the person is talking about, and not thinking about what it is you're going to say and do."

    Chancellor Philip Rogers said Hardy's influence is felt across campus.

    "In one of the first conversations I had with Dr. Hardy upon my return to ECU, she said, 'I've got your back, no matter what,'" he said. "And I can't tell you how meaningful that was to a new chancellor. She meant it, too, and she means it with her students and everyone she works with."

    From individual mentoring to instituting programs and structures to better support our students, Rogers said, Hardy's legacy is one of service.

    "She leads with truth and integrity," he said. "Around every table and in every decision, she ensures the needs of the students are our first priority."

    Hardy has led and participated in the approval and construction of residence halls and student centers, established benchmarks for faculty involvement, and grown the living learning communities program. She has also built new relationships with alumni through the Legacy Program and 40 Under 40 Recognition and Corporate Leadership program, and has worked with community partners to ensure student safety and foster economic development.

    Legacy of advocacy

    Through it all, she has built a legacy of student advocacy and mentorship, according to former students and colleagues.

    "She was attentive, responsive and empathetic to my thoughts, opinions and concerns. Instead of assuming how students were faring, she went directly to the source," said DaJuan Lucas '15, early talent lead manager for Vanguard's Emerging Talent and Diversity Recruiting Strategy team. "She also did not allow our connection to end at graduation, constantly sending check-in notes and congratulatory messages since I left in 2015. Dr. Hardy illustrates what it means when we say, 'Once a Pirate, always a Pirate' by her actions, thoughts and passion for the student body."

    Hardy remains friends with a lot of former students, she said, and the outpouring of support when her retirement was announced earlier this year brought tears to her eyes. "When you do right by folks, it makes an impact," she said. "And they in turn, pay it forward."

    In retirement, Hardy said she's looking forward to rest, travel and reading, as well as spending time with family, especially her three sisters. "There's some danger in that," she joked. "Who knows what the Hardy women will do?"

    Hardy said she's confident in the university's future and in Rogers' leadership.

    "It's because he's here that I feel comfortable in leaving, because he's got this, and he's stabilizing this institution," she said. "And under his leadership, this institution is going to flourish. And I feel comfortable with that."

    What makes ECU special, she said, is the sense of mission. Starting at the medical school, she said, "you could walk the hallways, and everybody from the housekeeping staff to the dean could tell you in their own words, their own way, what the mission of that medical school was and is, and that was beautiful to me.

    "This place makes a difference. It simply makes a difference in the lives of our students, in the lives of our employees, and in the lives of eastern North Carolina."

    At an institution focused on service, Hardy leaves a legacy that sets an example of how to serve with grace.