ECU music students see big benefits from long-time faculty member’s gift – East Carolina University
A gift that doubled the East Carolina University School of Music’s ability to give student scholarships has begun benefiting those music students — especially at the graduate level.
The School of Music (SOM) was able to begin giving scholarships from the Beatrice A. Chauncey Endowed Scholars Program during the 2024-25 academic year. That helped the school give 125 scholarships totalling $480,000 last fall, compared to 85 awards totalling $290,000 two years ago.
“Bea” Chauncey served the SOM’s students as a teacher and mentor for decades and in 2011 committed a $500,000 gift to the school. She died in 2017 and officials discovered her gift actually totaled $5.2 million for SOM scholarships, making a huge difference to the school and all of its students, director Chris Ulffers said.
“Any music major can apply for and receive this award,” he said. “Bea didn’t want to specify the student’s major or where they’re from, like some awards. That’s pretty significant because Bea was a flute teacher.”
Also significant is that Chauncey scholarships are available to both undergraduate and graduate students; fewer awards typically benefit graduate students, requiring them to rely on assistanceships and other jobs while continuing their education.
Cadence Shevy, a sophomore violin performance major from Rock Hill, S.C., takes advantage of opportunities to teach and play on and off campus. (Photo by Steven Mantilla)
Both the numbers and anecdotes from the last two years show that Chauncey’s generosity already is boosting Master of Music student enrollment, and helping those candidates complete their degrees.
SOM graduate enrollment for the last two years has increased from 33 in fall 2023, to 39 in fall 2024, to 46 in fall 2025. Also new, the Chauncey award can be used by students seeking the SOM’s Certificate of Advanced Performance Students, a highly focused, one-year program that offers concentrated training and performance experience for students who have received their bachelor’s degree and have demonstrated a superior performance ability.
Unique to ECU is that master’s students can choose multiple concentrations and still earn their degree in two years, a popular option.
“This makes our graduate students extremely marketable for jobs post graduation and also has resulted in success in matriculating into top-tier doctoral music programs,” said Jay Juchniewicz, coordinator for graduate studies and a professor in the SOM.
In addition, K-12 teachers have the opportunity to earn their music education master’s degree completely online in two years, while continuing to work. SOM leaders believe it was the first online music education graduate degree available in North Carolina, starting in 2004.
The Chauncey scholarship is helping more graduate students access those degree opportunities. Juchniewicz said that, because the school was able to offer financial packages including the Chauncey scholarship to prospective graduate students, a recent group of six all chose ECU over another large, comprehensive music school in the Southeast.
“All six elected to do their graduate studies at ECU because we provided financial security that they did not receive from other institutions,” Juchniewicz said. “Additionally, students have expressed how receiving financial packages that completely cover tuition and fees, and also put some additional money in their pockets to cover food, housing and other living expenses, has been the only way they were able to pursue a graduate degree in music.”
Alejandro Oliveros is in his second year working on a master’s in choral conducting and received a Chauncey award for his first year. He earned his bachelor’s in music studies (education) in 2018 from the University of Texas at San Antonio, his hometown. Oliveros said he chose ECU for multiple reasons: the consistent high quality of its choirs, a program that can open up additional opportunities for students, proximity to family, and affordability.
“The Chauncey scholarship has allowed me to be able to focus more on school and less on maintaining part-time employment around town,” he said. “It means I can practice more, study more, and generally be more attentive to the craft.”
Oliveros said graduate funding has been easier to obtain than undergraduate, largely because of the availability of aid.
“It’s really allowed us to enjoy this beautiful part of the state and the great community of Greenville,” he said.
A four-year Chauncey award and the rest of her financial package meant “everything” to sophomore violin performance major and Honors College student Cadence Shevy. Her initial offer was still over her family’s budget, and then her violin instructor called with one more award, which allowed her to attend ECU.
Choral conducting master’s student Alejandro Oliveros holds his ECU-themed baton. He hopes to work in sacred music for a church after graduation in May. (Photo by Steven Mantilla)
“I was crying because I wanted to come here so badly,” Shevy said. “I’m so grateful to get to be where I want to be.”
Shevy came to ECU from Rock Hill, South Carolina, and was initially torn between studying medicine and music. Music won the day, with both her parents having musical backgrounds, and Shevy’s desire to improve on the violin, which she’s played for nearly a decade.
“I love the opportunity music gives of getting to be with people at the best and worst points of their lives,” she said. “You get to play at funerals, you get to play at weddings, you get to use music to inspire, to bring joy, to celebrate, but also to comfort and give hope.
“I love it, and I love playing, and I wanted so desperately to get better.”
Shevy also chose ECU because of her interactions with the violin faculty — and SOM faculty overall — during visits. She said she wasn’t expecting that level of personal interest at a school as large as ECU.
“The violin professors were so intentional about reaching out to me, giving me violin lessons and inviting me to all the things,” she said. “They made it very clear that they wanted to work with me, and I wanted to be at a school where the professors were invested in my future as a student.”
Shevy recommends to other students what she has done: accept as many opportunities as possible. After already operating her own music studio in high school with 25 students, last summer Shevy traveled with the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America and, last month, she performed with the New Carolina Sinfonia as part of The Alexander Series. Today she keeps a full class schedule and participates in the ECU chapter of Musical Empowerment, sharing music with underserved children; as an ECU Music Ambassador mentoring prospective and new students; with a local church college ministry; and performing around Greenville with string colleagues in the Stratus String Quartet.
Next, Shevy is considering graduate school, and doesn’t know for sure which direction her career will go.
“I’m interested in orchestra, I love chamber music, I love getting to rehearse and do gigs all over Greenville with my quartet,” she said. “I love so many of the components of music and I’m excited to see what opens up.”
Oliveros hopes to find full-time work in a church, participating in sacred music. Like Shevy, he said one of his passions is studying how music allows people to experience what is “otherwise intangible.”
“For me, it’s all about facilitating those kinds of experiences for those coming after me,” he said. “I’ve been given such a precious gift, so now I have the responsibility and joy of sharing it with others.”
