Title: Shirley Carraway Oral History Interview, June 29, 2020.

Identifier: UA95.18.09   (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/62326)

Description: Video recording of Shirley Carraway's interview for the "The Rise of Alpha Dog" oral history project conducted by Don Leggett. The project explores perceptions of East Carolina as an "underdog" or "alpha dog." Carraway and Leggett discuss her education, career, and current volunteer work, and her thoughts about ECU as an institution. Leggett asks if Carraway has ever felt that ECU is historically or currently perceived as inferior to other institutions, how the "underdog" attitude has manifested and when she became aware of it, whether the university has any advantage from its perception as "underdog," particularly in athletics, and if ECU should actively work to reduce the perception of its inferiority. Leggett and Carraway discuss whether it is time for ECU to move away from the "underdog" attitude, how ECU will find motivation to improve as an "alpha dog," if there is any conflict between the efforts to increase ECU's academic status and its role in the economic development of the eastern N.C. region, and whether ECU will ever reach a level where further improvement is unnecessary.