•  North Carolina Arts in Action has hired Willie Hinton as its new Artistic Director. Hinton comes to NCAIA as a master teacher in the National Dance Institute methodology. Hinton was most recently a teacher at the School of the Richmond Ballet, The Richmond Ballet’s NDI outreach program “Minds in Motion,” and Pine Camp Cultural Arts Center.

Hinton, a graduate of Enloe Gifted & Talented High School in Raleigh, and the University of the North Carolina School of the Arts, was also a scholarship student at The American Dance Festival, ADF in Durham. Hinton has toured nationally as well as internationally with a number of dance companies.

•  Cheryl Giscombé, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing, is one of 12 nursing educators to win a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholars program this year. Giscombé will receive a three-year, $350,000 award to promote her academic career and support her research. The Nurse Faculty Scholar award is given to junior faculty who show outstanding promise as future leaders in academic nursing.

For her research project, Giscombé will conduct a mixed-method study specifically focused on how the social and cultural context of African American women’s lives influences stress-related obesity and diabetes risk. With previous support from the National Institutes of Health, she developed a conceptual framework called Superwoman Schema (SWS), which posits that experiences and perceptions of stress and stress-related coping responses may influence health disparities in African American women. The specific perceptions of stress and coping related to SWS include obligations to present an image of strength, to suppress emotions, and to prioritize care giving over self-care.

To receive the award, scholars must be registered nurses who have completed a research doctorate in nursing or a related discipline and who have held a tenure-eligible faculty position at an accredited nursing school for at least two and no more than five years.

To learn more about the program, visit www.nursefacultyscholars.org.

•  Dr. Charles Coble and Edgar Loessin will be presented with the Honorary Alumni Award at a ceremony and dinner in Greenville on October 12. The Honorary Alumni Award recognizes those who did not graduate from ECU but showed substantial service and loyalty to the university.

Dr. Coble of Chapel Hill is a national education expert and author who served as dean of education at ECU from 1983 to 1996. He then became the vice president for University-School Programs for the UNC system through 2005 and after retirement went on to serve on the Education Commission of the Unites States.

Loessin, who died last year, founded the theatre program at East Carolina College in 1962 after earning his master’s at the Yale University School of Drama and working at the famed Actors Studio in New York City. He also established the ECU/Loessin Playhouse semi-professional summer theatre.

•  Christine Reinhardt of Chapel Hill and a senior majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Rochester, has been named to the Dean’s List for academic achievement for the spring 2012 semester.

Reinhardt, is the daughter of Bill and Sue Reinhardt, and a graduate of Chapel Hill High School.

•  John Canzanella of Chapel Hill has published his second book, “God’s Prayers, Poems, Prayers and Photos.” His first book, “Innocence and Anarchy” is an historical fiction of the events and people that shaped the history of Russia, France and Finland in the late nineteenth century.

•  Jesus Sabiel Garcia was chosen as the best-written entry by a ninth-grader in Olive Garden’s 16th-annual Pasta Tales essay writing contest.

Olive Garden asked students in first through 12th-grade in the U.S. and Canada to submit an essay answering the question, “If you were given $5,000 to support education in your local community, how would you use it and why?” More than 29,000 entries were submitted and one winner from each grade was selected.

Garcia will receive a $500 savings bond and a dinner with his family at his local Olive Garden.

In his essay, Garcia, who attends East Chapel Hill High School, explains why he believes a robotics program would be beneficial for his community.