Decade of Furthering East's Progress

This article describes the first ten years of Dr. Leo Jenkins' term as Chancellor. This and other articles may be found in the records of the Chancellor's Office, Record Group CH1050, Series 1, Scrapbook File, 1914-1978 in the University Archives.

Citation for this article is:Savage, Stuart. "Decade of Furthering East's Progress," Greenville Daily Reflector, January 25, 1970.

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Leo Jenkins Was Looking Ahead Ten Years Ago

Leo Jenkins was installed as president of the state’s fastest growing college, East Carolina, in 1960. He had been named to the post five months earlier by the ECC Board of Trustees.

Since that colorful May ceremony, the New Jersey native - a man not afraid to tackle the seemingly impossible - has led East Carolina to university status and the East into the forefront of progress in the state.

Jenkins came to North Carolina in 1947 as dean of East Carolina Teachers College, a small state-supported institution of higher learning with a reputation for producing outstanding teachers.

He had earlier served as assistant commissioner for Higher Education for the State of New Jersey, and was on hand in 1951 when ECTC became East Carolina College.

Jenkins was a man not heard from much during his tenure as college dean. He has well made up for that as head of the university.

Probably more than any other one individual, Jenkins has called state-wide attention to the East.

In keeping with his training as a Marine Corps officer during World War II, (he attained the rank of major, and served on such South Pacific islands as Guadacanal, Guam and Iwo Jima and was awarded the Bronze Star); Jenkins has led the way to accomplish difficult tasks almost immediately while tasks which earlier seemed impossible have merely taken a little longer time to complete.

In an interview in the early days of his administration, Jenkins outlined the need for a School of Nursing and the cultural benefits of a series of summer theatrical productions.

The School of Nursing was established at East Carolina in 1960.And in 1964, the Summer Theater opened its doors for the first time.

Jenkins, who thinks and talks in terms of the eastern region, told newsmen in a 1964 interview, “We must project eastern North Carolina as an area.”

Perhaps that was not an original idea with the educator, but the vigorous president then spieled off an almost incessant string of ideas he considered valid basis for steps toward a brighter future for all Eastern Tar Heels.

He pointed first, to “a real need for a neutral facility . . . who has an interest in all of the communities . . . a centrally located regional planning institute to promote industrial development of Eastern North Carolina . . . as a whole.”

And among other statements, Jenkins said the school he headed “must be kept in a position to satisfy any new demand for programs and changes in enrollment, desired and needed by the people of the State," then pointed to the “shortage in certain professions.”

As the East grows, he said, “We might well consider the desirability of offering at least the first two years of medicine for people who are interested in general practice in rural North Carolina.”

A two-year medical program at EC would create “much greater interest in the study of medicine than exists at the present time,” he noted.

A few years later, the Institute for Regional Research and Development (now the Regional Development Institute) was established to act as a catalyst in the solving of socio-economic problems in the Coastal Plain.

The following year, the 1965 Legislature gave a qualified nod of approval to a two-year medical program at ECU which led legislators in 1967 to approve the establishment of the School of Allied Health Professions at the university.

Then the legislature, in 1969, finally gave the go-ahead for the much worked-for two-year medical program and planning toward that goal is underway.

And 1965 was the year, too, that Jenkins first voiced the idea of East Carolina University publicly. Following a mid-November speech, Jenkins was told by the school’s Board of Trustees to “explore and expound the necessity of a regional university at East Carolina.”

He explored and he expounded and he caused many people to take their first close look at the East and at the school.

On June 29, 1967, the General Assembly approved legislation making East Carolina a University.

And in light of his successes his name has been mentioned many times recently when politicians talk of the next gubernatorial election.

There have been other steps forward:

-Ficklen Memorial Stadium’s first section was constructed in 1962 then added to four years later.

-Minges Coliseum, a $2.57 million field house worthy of note in a number of national publications and recipient of a national architecture award, was completed in 1968.

-A two-story School of Nursing home, a $1,130,000 Home Economics Building and a new $3.85 million Science building have been built and construction begun on a $3.3 million home for the geography, history, political science and sociology departments in the past few years, in addition to other classroom facilities completed during the past decade.

-And skyscrapers, in the form of one seven-story woman’s residence hall, three 10-story girl’s dorms [Clement, Greene & White] and a nine-floor men’s abode have been added to the campus to supplement other dorms built since Jenkins took the lead as president.

His influence has not been restricted to the University.He has made himself heard in other ways.

Among them: his participation over the years on such boards and in such positions as a member of the Atomic Energy Advisory Committee, a delegate to the White House Conference on Education, and chairman of the Council of Presidents of State-Supported Institutions of Higher Learning; and for his stand on campus disorders (he has said ECU will maintain a “no-nonsense policy toward student misbehavior” and “will not become a rest haven for indolents, those who would disrupt students who are dedicated to learning.”)

True, Jenkins has not been alone in his activities and many of the accomplishments would have come in time anyway. But he has projected the East as an area not-to-be-forgotten and has acted to spur others to action toward this goal.