The DNA of ECU | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: This article was originally published in ECU News Services by Kathryn Kennedy.

Art students help beautify the Brody School of Medicine

    A hall in the Brody Medical Sciences Building will go from boring to beautiful with help from five East Carolina University graphic design students.
From left to right, ECU School of Art and Design students Katie Murray, Evan Weinstein, Darius Brown, Lisa Cornell and Evan Fernandes presented their plans for revamping the Brody School of Medicine’s “Hall of Chairs” on March 18. The students' senior project included designing a custom wall covering depicting the past and present of the Brody School of Medicine. (Photos by Cliff Hollis)
    Darius Brown, Lisa Cornell, Evan Fernandes, Katie Murray and Evan Weinstein, who are seniors in the School of Art and Design, unveiled plans for a new "Hall of Chairs" on March 18. The hall features photos of the Brody School of Medicine department chairs.
    Dr. Paul Cunningham, Brody dean, challenged the Brody Beautification Committee about two years ago to think of new and creative ways to make the school more warm and inviting.

    The committee picked the "Hall of Chairs" as one of its first projects because of the hall's visibility, teaming with the School of Art and Design students who did the work for their senior project.

    "Frequently the hall is the first thing that visitors see" on their way to the auditorium for the annual White Coat or Match Day ceremonies or other special events, said Kim Scarborough, committee chair and administrator of the dean's office.

    On one side of the hall, a portrait gallery with 82 new displays will be hung, including the current and past chairs of Brody's basic sciences and clinical departments.

    An 80-foot custom wall covering will be installed on the opposite side featuring a collage of photographs from the past to the present in three separate panels highlighting the school's tripartite mission: education, patient care and research. The photos include key people in the formation of the school: Leo Jenkins, William Laupus and Ed Monroe.

    "It really does capture the history, the evolution and the impact of this medical school," said Dr. Nicholas Benson, vice dean of the Brody School of Medicine. "It will inspire our learners and staff for years to come."

    With a mix of black-and-white and color photos lightly tinted purple, the students said they wanted to avoid the look of a timeline from a history book. The school's mission is written on top of the collage, following the familiar twists of a DNA strand.

    "The School of Medicine is the DNA of ECU," Brown said. The students did an incredible amount of work researching images for the project "so if anybody walked through the School of Medicine they would know what the school is all about."

    A fourth panel will go Hollywood style, the students said, with logos of East Carolina University, the Brody School of Medicine and ECU Physicians, the group medical practice of the school, creating a space for photo opportunities or media interviews with a built-in backdrop.

    The total budget was $25,700 and the project will be finished by June 30. "It would have been considerably more if the students hadn't helped us," Scarborough said. "Our students made the project feasible."

    The students have met every other Friday with the committee on the project since Jan. 18.

    Working with real clients out of the classroom setting was a great learning experience, said Fernandes, who is from Winston-Salem.

    "We learned to pull the strengths of everyone," said Weinstein of Greensboro.

    The students also enjoyed learning more about Brody and its mission, said Murray of Foxboro, Mass., since the graphic design students are based on main campus.

    Along with Scarborough, members of the Brody Beautification Committee are Griffin Avin, Elaine Cabinum-Foeller, Karen Cobb, David Collier, Debi Crotts, Carolyn Erwin, Annette Greer, Randolph Tucker Griffith, Korsica Shante Lassiter, William Joel Meggs, Olivia Grace Money, Carly Michelle Morrison-Jones, Walter J. Pories, Cindy Reaves and Todd Savitt.

    Megan Weber, an ECU graduate and associate designer with Taff Office in Greenville, was a consultant for the project. Designtex, with an office in Charlotte, will create the custom wall covering. ECU photographer Jay Clark took the portraits of the department chairs.