GREENVILLE (May 17, 2023) – Two couples who turned educations at East Carolina University into successful careers have together committed $30 million to ECU’s premier merit scholarships, marking the largest combined commitment in the university’s history.

The scholarship program formerly known as EC Scholars will now be known as Brinkley-Lane Scholars, said ECU Chancellor Philip Rogers.

“Robert and Amy Brinkley and Pat and Lynn Lane have sustained ECU with unwavering devotion, and today they have joined together in a commitment, which will be the cornerstone of the university’s continued success and standard of excellence,” Rogers said.

With the gift, Rogers said ECU has now reached 95% of the $500 million goal for its Pursue Gold campaign.

For the students, the gift will immediately increase the scholarship award from $64,000 to $75,000 and cover the full cost of attendance, plus a $5,000 stipend to spend a semester studying abroad.

The scholarship is offered to the top students in each entering class. The first class of Brinkley-Lane Scholars includes 20 scholars.

Toby Bryson of Greenville, a rising senior in ECU’s nursing program, was among the current scholars on hand for the announcement. Bryson told The Daily Reflector of Greenville that the ability to graduate debt-free lifts a weight from his and his family’s shoulders.

“I come from a working-class family, my father works in construction and my mother is a teacher,” he said.

“I’ve had no limitations to what I can do here at ECU,” he said. “It’s opened up a lot of doors for me to pursue stuff that I would not done without the financial support of my donors and this program.”

Bryson traveled to Guatemala on a nursing initiative and to Poland to work with Ukrainian refugees.¹

Robert Brinkley received a bachelor’s degree from ECU’s College of Business and was a four-year letter winner on the school’s baseball team. He went on to earn a law degree and is a partner in the Charlotte office of Womble Bond Dickinson. He has served on ECU’s Board of Trustees, including two years as chair, and on the ECU Foundation Board.

Amy Brinkley had a three-decade career at Bank of America, where she served as marketing executive, president of consumer products and chief risk officer. She was named to Fortune magazine’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business for nine consecutive years.

Pat Lane earned an accounting degree from the College of Business and an MBA from UNC Greensboro and retired as a CPA. Lynn Lane has served as chair of the ECU Foundation Board of Directors and chair of the Honors College Advancement Council.²

“Higher education is our way of giving back to society,” Lynn Lane told the newspaper.

“North Carolina is known for its top-notch, public higher education system,” said Amy Brinkley. “I think we felt very passionately that the eastern part of the state needed to be a cornerstone of that and have a merit-based program that is top drawer. We are very thrilled to be doing this.”³

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¹ https://www.reflector.com/news/local/ecu-30m-brinkley-lane-pledge-will-transform-top-scholarship-program/article_86556897-b044-5cdb-a912-b8afe0bb6add.html. 
² https://news.ecu.edu/2023/05/17/historic-commitment/.
³ https://www.reflector.com/news/local/ecu-30m-brinkley-lane-pledge-will-transform-top-scholarship-program/article_86556897-b044-5cdb-a912-b8afe0bb6add.html.