Maness earns more accolades for research, impact

Following the recent ECU Award for Achievement in International Service and Engagement, Dr. Sarah Maness has continued her banner semester by adding more accolades.

Dr. Sarah Maness delivers a presentation in Guayaquil, Ecuador, during her Fulbright Specialist Program in January 2025.

Maness, an assistant professor in the Department of Health Education and Promotion who received the Fulbright Specialist Award and traveled to Ecuador early in 2025, was notified of her inclusion in the 40 Under 40 2025 class by the Emory University Alumni Association. Maness also was approved as a full member with the Center for Human Health and the Environment, which includes faculty from N.C. State University, ECU and N.C. Central University, in which she plans to collaborate with others to assess the intersection between the environment and violent crime. And Maness was selected by ECU research leaders for the 2026-27 inaugural cohort of the Catalyst Program, recognizing her leadership in community engaged research and to build on the Pitt County Firearm Safety Coalition to develop a community-engaged project focused on gun violence prevention in Greenville and eastern North Carolina.

Maness also was accepted for a research exchange, with interest in developing multi-national research projects focusing on overlapping interests of migration and violence in global health, with the BW/NC Faculty Mobility Program in Germany.

Maness, who joined ECU in 2023, completed her Master of public health, behavioral sciences and health education from Emory in 2011.

“Each individual in this year’s class demonstrates how an Emory education empowers our alumni to lead, innovate, serve and inspire,” said John Jordan, president of the Emory Alumni Board, in the news release. “We are proud to celebrate their achievements and the positive change they bring to their communities and professions.”

The ECU Catalyst Program includes members leading and completing a multi-partner research proposal to an external sponsor with community partners, supervising a graduate or undergraduate assistant, working with students from the ECU Brinkley-Lane Scholars program and providing a final presentation during spring 2027. The congratulatory letter noted this cohort will contribute significantly to the community engaged scholarship efforts at ECU.