2009 Accolades and Awards
- The Oaks, Meredith’s student apartments, earned LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED is the nation’s preeminent program for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. The Oaks opened in August 2009.
- Meredith’s School of Business earned accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB), becoming one of only two women’s colleges in the world with this distinction. The accomplishment was featured in Business Week magazine.
- Betty Davidson, a member of the biological sciences faculty, served on the UNC-Chapel Hill educational leadership research group that helped prepare the grant proposal that resulted in a five-year, $1.25 million grant recently received by Durham Public Schools (DPS) and the Durham Association of Educators (DAE).
- Biogen Idec Foundation through the Triangle Community Foundation has awarded $2,500 grant to the Meredith College Center for Women in Science and Mathematics. The grant is for scholarships for middle school aged girls attending Meredith’s 2010 summer science and math camps. These scholarships are to be awarded to girls who have a financial need and would not be able to attend without this assistance.
- Assistant Professor of Music Jim Waddelow was selected to present one of only eight featured presentations at the College Orchestra Directors Associations National Convention.
- Associate Professor of Education Marge Terhaar-Yonkers is the 2010 president-elect of the North Carolina Council for Exceptional Children (NC-CEC).
- Encore!, the Meredith College choral ensemble, was asked to sing at a Pentagon event as part of the US Army G-8 Women's Recognition Symposium.
- Assistant Professor of Art Dean Johns was appointed to a four-year term on the National Art Education Foundation (NAEF) Board of Trustees.
- A team of Meredith College MBA students placed second in the Raleigh-Durham ACG Cup First Annual MBA Case Competition, which is designed to give students from leading MBA programs across the country real world experience and invaluable insights into mergers and acquisitions, investment banking, financial advisory and private equity.
- Junior Katelyn Moore was appointed by North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue to serve as a youth member of the Governor’s Crime Commission.
- Senior Amanda Eubanks was selected to present at the Beijing + 15 conference on the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), held in New York City in March 2010.
- Associate Professor of Foreign Languages and Literatures Astrid Billat published a textbook, “Three Centuries of Spanish Short Stories.”
- Professor of English Rebecca Duncan’s review of “Year of the Elephant: A Moroccan Woman’s Journey Toward Independence,” by Leila Abouzeid has been published in The Washington Times.
- Alumna Gretchen Holt Witt, '89, was selected by Women's Day magazine for the publication's list of "Women Who Are Changing the World." Witt was recognized for her work as the co-founder of Cookies for Kids Cancer, a non-profit that uses bake sales to raise money for pediatric cancer research.
- Students gave Meredith College high marks in the 2009 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). The NSSE surveys first-year students and seniors. Meredith's mean benchmark scores of both first-year and senior students surpassed the average scores of students at the participating colleges and universities in the national sample.
- Stephanie Crocker, ’04, a student in Meredith’s Master of Education program, has been named the Wake County Autism Teacher of the Year, 2008-09 by the North Carolina Autism Society.
- Alumna Carol Swink Wooten, ’98, is the recipient of a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, the highest recognition that a K-12 mathematics or science teacher may receive for outstanding teaching in the United States.
- Senior Regina Heubel received a 2009 Green/Sustainable Design Scholarship from the International Furnishings and Design Association (IFDA) Educational Foundation. Heubel was selected for the award based on a written essay and presentation of a Sustainable Restaurant Design, which she completed in Interior Design IV in Fall 2008.
- Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Erin Lindquist’s research, “Land Crabs as Key Drivers in Tropical Coastal Forest Recruitment,” was published in Cambridge University Philosophical Society’s “Biological Reviews.”
- Meredith College is one of the best colleges and universities in the Southeast according to The Princeton Review. The education services company selected Meredith as one of the institutions it recommends in its “2010 Best Colleges: Region by Region.”
- “Community Supported Agriculture in the Research Triangle Region of North Carolina: Demographics and Effects of Membership on Household Food Supply and Diet,” an article by Associate Professor of Human Environmental Sciences Bill Landis, and graduates of Meredith’s Master of Science in Nutrition program was published in the “Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition.”
- Meredith College has received a grant from the Jessie Ball DuPont foundation to support energy conservation and planning. The $148,000 grant will fund a comprehensive energy audit to identify energy conservation measures campus-wide; partially fund an energy manager position to oversee the College’s energy conservation initiatives, and support the installation of a sub-metering system to record electric consumption and demand for campus buildings.
- Meredith College Director of Academic & Career Planning Marie Sumerel is the recipient of the 2009 Roy N. Anderson Award, the highest statewide award given by the N.C. Career Development Association (NCCDA).
- Associate Professor of Art Shannon Johnstone’s “Breeding Ignorance” was selected as one of the Top 50 in Photolucida's highly competitive 2009 Critical Mass photography review/competition. Johnstone was recognized for “Breeding Ignorance,” a project from her Fall 2009 sabbatical that explores the overpopulation of dogs and cats in North Carolina. Another photograph created during Johnstone’s sabbatical received an Honorable Mention in The Camera Club of New York’s 2009 National Juried Exhibition.
- Meredith student Katie Holden earned first place with her mother and grandmother in the Rachel Carson Sense of Wonder 2009 poetry contest. Their entry, “Place of Peace,” won the intergenerational competition. Entries were required to be from a team of two or more persons, including a young person and an older person. The creative work expressed the "Sense of Wonder" that each team feels for nature. The contest is in honor of environmental activist Rachel Carson, author of “Silent Spring.”
- Donna LaHaye, departmental assistant in residence life, received the R. Randy Rice Service Award at the annual North Carolina Housing Officers conference held in October. R. Randy Rice Service Awards are given to those deserving staff at individual institutions who have gone beyond the call of duty and/or service to support the mission, goals, and/or activities of the residence life and/or housing program.
- Angela Shores, assistant director, academic advising, was elected to serve on the American College Counseling Association (ACCA) Executive Council as Member at Large for a three year term, 2008-2011.
- Dana Sumner, associate director, employer relations, is president-elect of the NC Association of Colleges and Employers. She also chaired the Research Grant Committee for the Southern Association of Colleges and Employers.
- Marisa Campbell, director of Meredith’s Paralegal Program, has been appointed to the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Paralegals Approval Commission. She will serve a one-year term
- Meredith College interior design Students Donna May and Danielle Alfano, under the internship program at Professional Home Staging and Design in Raleigh, won a second place award for best booth design at the Southern Ideal Home Show held September 23-25. The students designed a booth for the green pavilion using all sustainable materials, including green paint, green ink in the signage, a cork floor and furnishings with green fabrics.
- Meredith student Megan Yohpe has been named a NASA-MUST Scholar. The scholarship is part of NASA’s Motivating Undergraduates in Science and Technology (MUST) Program. Yohpe, a junior in Meredith’s engineering dual degree program, is one of approximately 100 students selected to receive the scholarship, out of over 600 applicants.
- Meredith College is one of the best colleges and universities in the Southeast according to The Princeton Review. The education services company selected Meredith as one of the institutions it recommends in its "Best in the Southeast" section of its web site feature “2010 Best Colleges: Region by Region.”
- “The Colton Review”, Meredith’s journal of art, literature and opinion, earned Award of Excellence in the student-published work category from the University and College Designers Association (UCDA). The journal also earned an Award of Excellence in the 2008 Print Excellence And Knowledge (PEAK) Awards competition.
- Meredith Professor of Biology John Mecham has been elected a 2008-09 SENCER Leadership Fellow by the National Fellowship Board of the National Center for Science and Civic Engagement (NCSCE). Fellowships honor educators for their exemplary leadership and commitment to the improvement of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.
- Meredith President Maureen A. Hartford received the inaugural Humanitarian Award as part of Women in Business Awards presented by “The Triangle Business Journal.” The award was announced during a celebration on August 6, 2008.
- Meredith College has been cited as one the Best in the Southeast from The Princeton Review for 2008, one of 146 schools to receive designation from the publication. The Princeton Review makes its selection by surveying college students about their schools. Student opinion data from a total of 654 schools is featured on the Best Colleges: Region by Region section of PrincetonReview.com.
- Sherry Shapiro, Meredith professor of dance and director of women’s studies, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to research and lecture at the University of Cape Town in South Africa from January through July 2009.
- Meredith Associate Professor of Biology Francie Cuffney has been elected vice president of the North Carolina Academy of Science for 2008-09.
- Meredith’s Office of Marketing & Communications won three awards in the 2008 Sir Walter Raleigh Awards, which recognize excellence in communication. Meredith received Gold awards for the 2008 President’s Report and for an admissions publication titled “The Value of Meredith.” A Silver award was presented for Meredith’s online virtual tour.
- Denise Rotondo, dean of Meredith’s School of Business, is one of 24 Impact Education Leaders recognized in the May 2008 issue of “Business Leader” magazine.
- Ten of the 25 designers who participated in the Women’s Club of Raleigh 2008 American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) Designer showhouse were alumnae of or students currently enrolled in Meredith’s interior design program.
- Meredith’s student presenters earned awards for presentations at the 2008 Beta Beta Beta Southeastern Region Annual Meeting. Senior Brittany Ross received a third place award, and senior Molly Aiken and junior Emily Kale both earned honorable mentions.
- The Meredith College Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) chapter placed second in the 2008 Southeast Regional HR Games.
- Meredith junior Jessica L. Loehman received the North Carolina Psychological Foundation President's Award for Undergraduate Research at the spring 2008 conference of the North Carolina Psychological Association.
- Meredith College senior Preethi Sriram received the 2008 John Bowley Derieux Research Award, which is given to undergraduate students who present work at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Academy of Science.
- Meredith College junior Emily King received the Chair’s Commendation Award for her work at the 2008 Southeast University Model Arab League. The award is given to the delegate who best portrayed his or her country.
- A dance choreographed by Carol Finley, director of Meredith Dance Theatre (MDT), was chosen for performance at the gala concert of the American College Dance Festival Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference.
- A Meredith student team won the poster contest at the Student Chapter of the North Carolina Association of Educators (SNCAE) 2008 conference. Team members were Brittany Krohn, ’09, Catherine Pannill, ’11, and Kala Stanton, ’09.
- Meredith MBAs recently scored higher than 90 percent of other MBA students from colleges and universities across the nation who took the ETS Field Test of Business, MBA. The nationally-normed test is used to assess mastery of business concepts, critical thinking, and reasoning ability for MBA students. Meredith gives the ETS Field Test of Business, MBA to its graduating MBA students, and the results from 2007 were outstanding. As a whole, Meredith MBAs scored at the 90th percentile, meaning they performed better than 90 percent of all other test-takers from other institutions.
- Meredith College Interior Design students, Mary Rose and Allison van der Berg, placed first and third respectively in a student design competition, “Unity in Style”, sponsored by the High Point Design Center Association. The competition was open to ID students in undergraduate programs in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.
- Meredith College earned a place in the Top 40 in the “Open Doors 2007” report on international educational exchange. Meredith is ranked 24th for study abroad participation among master’s institutions. The report ranks institutions by percentage of students participating in study abroad for academic credit. report is published by the Institute of International Education (IIE), the leading not-for-profit educational and cultural exchange organization in the United States.
- Meredith College senior Hayley McPhail received the second annual North Carolina Campus Compact Community Impact Student Award. This award is presented each year to students who have made significant, innovative contributions to campus-based efforts to address community needs. McPhail is the founder of Meredith’s Habitat for Humanity chapter.
- Meredith College President Maureen A. Hartford was chosen by “Business Leader” magazine as one of the publication’s “Women Extraordinaire” of 2007.
- Marisa S. Campbell, director of the Paralegal Program at Meredith College, was elected President of the American Association for Paralegal Education (AAfPE). The AAfPE is an organization of nearly 400 educational institutions, and more than 5,000 educators.
- Meredith College President Maureen Hartford has been named chair of the Marine Corps University Board of Visitors. Hartford was named a member of the Marine Corps University's Board of Visitors in 2004, and reappointed in 2007.
- Meredith Career Center Director Marie B. Sumerel was appointed by Governor Mike Easley to serve on the North Carolina Internship Council for a two-year term.
- Meredith’s Honors Program web site tied for second place nationally in the “National Collegiate Honors Council Small College Website” competition. The competition was judged and awarded by students at other college honors programs.
- Meredith Professor of Biology John Mecham was selected to present research during the 2008 National Center for Civic Engagement and SENCER’s Washington Symposium, held April 13-15, in Washington, D.C. SENCER – Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities – is the signature program of the National Center for Science and Civic Engagement. Mecham’s presentations focused on the Life Science in Context: Sub-Saharan Africa course, which was developed and taught at three consortium institutions: Meredith, NC Wesleyan and the University of South Carolina-Sumter. This effort also included collaboration with faculty and students at two universities in Kenya.
2008 Awards and Accolades
