T he university has achieved doctoral status and added new programs at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels. The university's main library has passed the million-volume threshold. Dr. Eakin also oversaw the creation of the Board of Visitors to enhance support and advocacy for the university. T he campus has been transformed with hundreds of millions of dollars of new construction projects and major renovations. Among the highlights are an expanded and renovated library, the Student Recreation Center, Todd Dining Hall, Minges Coliseum, the upper deck at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, and the Warren Life Sciences Building at the School of Medicine.
H e is active in civic and higher education organizations.
He is a past president of the North Carolina Association of Colleges and Universities and is a frequent leader of accreditation teams for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. C hancellor Eakin came to East Carolina from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, where he began his academic career in 1964 as a member of the mathematics faculty and became a vice president in 1983. A native of New Castle, Pennsylvania, he earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics, summa cum laude, from Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, in 1960. At Geneva, he was class valedictorian and president of the Student Senate. He received a master's degree in mathematics from Washington State University in 1962 and a doctorate in mathematics with a minor in economics from Washington State in 1964.