Community Information

ECU is a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina System and enrolls more than 28,000 students. The University is made up of seven colleges, including the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences, the Brody School of Medicine and the School of Nursing. The University is classified as a Doctoral/Research-Intensive University. The University seeks to promote faculty research, particularly through grants administered by the ECU Faculty Senate. Access to current research is facilitated by the University Library system, which includes the Joyner Library, the Health Sciences Library, and several specialty libraries.

ECU is located in Greenville, NC, in the eastern region of the state in Pitt County. Greenville is a rapidly growing regional center for education, health, and retail services. Greenville has a population of about 92,000, is about 90 miles east of Raleigh, and is a short distance to the Atlantic coast. The East Carolinian provides campus news from the student perspective. Residents also rely on the Daily Reflector for local news and The News and Observer for updates on events across the state.

Among many other activities, residents of Greenville enjoy the annual S. Rudolph Alexander Performing Arts Series, theater events for the general public and for children, numerous competitive athletic events (bolstered by highly successful football, baseball, and basketball teams), a summer concert series on the town commons, kayaking on waterways in the region, and swimming, fishing, and surfing in the Atlantic and hiking and skiing in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Western NC. All of these are made more attractive (and possible) by the city’s reasonable cost of living.

The climate in eastern North Carolina is pleasant, with an annual mean temperature of 60 degrees. The beautiful spring foliage of dogwood and azalea gives way to a warm and humid summer. Falls are usually cool and dry and frequently last well into November. Winters are brief and mild; snowfall is unusual.