Eastern Regional Service Center
NC Small Business and Technology Development Center
Willis Building ● 300 East First Street ● Greenville, NC 27858-4353
252-737-1380 office ● 252-737-1381 fax ● http://www.ecu.edu/rds
For immediate release
May 9, 2008
Contact: Dee Dobson Harper
252-737-1351
harperde@ecu.edu
Small Business and Technology Development Center’s
Graduate Student Team Captures 2nd Place Statewide Competition Win
GREENVILLE – A team of ECU students sponsored by the Eastern Regional Service
Center of the NC Small Business and Technology Development Center placed second in the
21st Annual Graduate Business Student Competition. ECU College of Business MBA
students Eron Earley-Thiele, Stephanie Edwards and Gregory Hodges were awarded a
$2,500.00 prize for their project for the ECU Student Transit Authority, or ECUSTA.
“Once again, ECU received a top award for their participation in the SBTDC’s 21st Annual
Graduate Business Student Competition. This year’s team consulted with the ECU Student
Transit Authority in identifying critical issues and developing implementation strategies to
improve the effectiveness and efficiency of ECUSTA. ECUSTA currently has the highest
transit fee in the UNC system,” said Carolyn Wilburn, director of the Eastern Regional
Service Center of the SBTDC.
ECUSTA is a non-profit student transit organization which provides transit services to and
from ECU’s main campus for students, faculty, staff, and visitors. A critical problem arose
from the perception that buses were running inefficiently, partly because of ECUSTA’s daily
use of 60’ articulated buses despite the varying volume demands. Buses often appear empty
when less than full capacity.
Early-Thiele, Edwards and Hodges extensively analyzed departmental and industry ridership
data and conducted benchmark studies to compare the ECUSTA to other collegiate systems.
The team then made key recommendations to ECUSTA for improvement based on the
criteria of cost, speed of implementation, and value to the department. The team spent an
average of 500 hours to complete the project.
“As a result of the team’s benchmarking, analysis, and recommendations, savings to the
ECUSTA for the first year is projected to be $1.5 million. This equates to $61/student,”
Wilburn said. “An important benefit to the competition is that the students are able to transfer
what they have learned in the classroom to a real life business. The ECU College of Business
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MBA students have been participating in this competition since 1991 and have taken top
honors in 12 of the past 17 years. Congratulations to our ECU Team!”
Debbie Hathaway, a business counselor for SBTDC, served as the advisor between the client,
the team and the College of Business along with Len Rhodes and Dave West, who were the
faculty liaisons for the team. Hathaway said, “This team was brought on for a semester-long
project that culminated in their producing a lengthy written report and delivering an oral
presentation to a panel of SBTDC judges. They demonstrated that they were able to work
closely with a client, identify problems and solutions that have significant impact, and
implement many of the solutions during the project timetable.”
Hathaway explained that the competition allows her to take a client with in-depth business
counseling needs as the focus of a graduate student project. This one-on-one counseling helps
the client’s bottom line and often affords them the chance to work with various Office of
Economic Development departments. In the ECUSTA case, the OED’s Center for Survey
Research designed an online survey to collect data for the team.
“Clients often share their experience and satisfaction with associates in their industries,
which gives exposure to our office and the portfolio of services we provide as a resource to
the business community,” said Hathaway. “It’s a win for the client, a win for our College of
Business grad students, and a win for East Carolina University. Placing so distinctively in the
competition is a validation of our team’s efforts.”
The SBTDC Eastern Regional Service Center is located in East Carolina University’s
Office of Economic Development, which includes the Regional Development Institute,
the Center for Survey Research and the Entrepreneurial Initiative. For more
information about the divisions of the ECU Office of Economic Development, call 252737-1380 or visit http://www.ecu.edu/rds .
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