Richard Rizzuti

Board Chair

Richard Rizzuti was born in Brooklyn, NY, growing up in the Northeast. He attended Boston College for his undergraduate degree in Chemistry and eventually relocated to North Carolina. He obtained his medical degree from East Carolina University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in general surgery at Pitt County Memorial Hospital (now ECU Health) and his plastic surgery residency at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Rizzuti has practiced plastic surgery in Greenville, NC since 1991 after opening his own private practice.

He is active in his local church and has a passion for local and international outreach ministry. He enjoys cycling as well as hunting and fishing with his wife and children. You can expect to find him working on a project, building things in his workshop, or deep in thought after reading a good book.

Meridith Rizzuti

Executive Director

Meridith Rizzuti is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the East Carolina Study Center. An ECU Pirate for life (BS ’00), Meridith has a deep love for Greenville and ECU. As years go by, children grow up, and things change, she prayed about a Christian Study Center for the students at East Carolina University. In 2022 that prayer became a reality, and with the support of faculty, students, and the community, the East Carolina Study Center began.

Originally from Morehead City, Meridith studied Exercise Physiology at ECU and focused on being a health and fitness specialist. She has since travelled the world as a short term missionary and enjoyed teaching both couples and women's Bible studies. After years of homeschooling many of the Rizzuti crew, it is finally time to hang up her school teacher hat.

Meridith and her husband, Dr. Richard Rizzuti, live in Farmville, NC and have 7, now adult, children. She enjoys gardening, exercise, hot tea, dog walks, reading, and time with people. Meridith is an active member in the community volunteering and serving with numerous faith-based nonprofits that focus on transformation though the gospel of Jesus.

Nathan Hudson

Board Member

Nathan Hudson has been involved in the EC Study Center since its inception and is excited about the opportunities for students to explore questions about the Christian faith in a welcoming environment. 

Nathan grew up in Northeast Ohio and attended Kent State University, where he studied physics with a minor in biology. He was actively involved with campus ministries during his time as an undergraduate and is excited that many campus ministries at ECU & PCC will be able to utilize the Study Center. He attended UNC-Chapel Hill where he received a PhD in physics, with a concentration in molecular and cellular biophysics. While attending UNC, he met his amazing wife, Robin, and they now celebrate having four kids together. 

After finishing his PhD, Nathan spent five years as a postdoctoral researcher in Boston, before moving to Greenville. 

In Chapel Hill, Boston, and at his church in Winterville, Nathan has led study groups where “students” of all ages and backgrounds can come and investigate difficult questions about faith, morality, and science. 

In his free time, Nathan enjoys spending time with his wife and kids, playing strategy board games, watching sports, and coaching a Lego robotics team.

Joy Karriker

Board Member

Joy Karriker is a native of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley but has called Greenville home since joining the ECU College of Business faculty in 2005. She is a Professor of Management and the Chair of the Department of Management where she teaches graduate Strategic Management and helps coordinate the COB’s Study Abroad program. Joy has been married to Todd Karriker for over 33 years, and they have two adult children. She enjoys spending time with her family - which definitely includes her dogs - and friends, traveling, snow skiing, singing (Greenville Choral Society), day-hiking, and watching movies and sports. She is both grateful and excited for the impact of the EC Study Center on the university community!

Frank Deena

Board Member

Dr. Seodial Frank H. Deena is Professor of Intercultural and Postcolonial/Transnational Literature, Culture, and Criticism at East Carolina University where he has co-coordinated the Graduate Multicultural and Transnational Literatures Program for fifteen years (1994-2009), and where he teaches transnational, world, postcolonial, African American, and Caribbean literatures, as well as the Bible as Literature. He received his PhD in Literature and Criticism from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, his MA from Chicago State University, and his BA from the University of Guyana. He is currently working on Multicultural, Postcolonial, and Postmodern Cross-sections and Intersections with the Bible, Literature, and Culture. 

Dr. Deena has traveled to more than 50 countries, and he brings an international, intercultural, and interdisciplinary approach to his research, teaching, and service. 

He loves spending time with his wife, Debbie, and four children and doing global and local humanitarian work. 

Dr. Deena became a Christian in March 1970 and served in the leadership of the Full Gospel Fellowship in Guyana for 18 years until he migrated to the USA. He was the President of IVCF (Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship) at the University of Guyana and Chairman of IS/IVCF (Inter School/ Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship) national Board. He also served as the Secretary of the Gideons in Guyana. 

For the past 25 years, at Reimage Church, he he has been serving as an elder and on the Missions Board. He has spoken in many churches and conferences in several nations of the world.