Meredith Parents Newsletter
Fall 2009

• Nobel Laureate Brings Message of Change to Meredith
  
  
• Cornhuskin’
  
  
• H1N1/Seasonal Flu Updates
  
  
• Sustainability Spotlight: Women’s Leadership Summit Goes Greenn
  
  
• Welcome Class of 2014!
  
  
• Center for Women in the Arts Events
  
  
• Fashion Students Working with Goodwill Industries
  
  
• Around Town

Nobel Laureate Brings Message of Change to Meredith
By Melyssa Allen

Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai delivered the 2009 Lillian Parker Wallace Lecture on October 1, bringing Meredith’s current campus theme, “Catalyst for Change,” to life.

Maathai has fought political corruption, struggled for women’s rights, spent time in jail, and won a seat in her country’s Parliament. The Green Belt Movement Maathai established has helped to restore Kenya’s indigenous forests and involved women in sustainable agriculture. She is internationally recognized for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation. She and the Green Belt Movement have received numerous awards, most notably the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.

The Green Belt Movement “plants trees as an entry point into communities … we’re addressing development in a holistic way, to help communities be more sustainable.” Starting this conversation is as important as planting trees, according to Maathai.

“You can plant trees, but unless you plant ideas and teach people how to take charge of their lives, you cannot change things,” Maathai said.

The Wallace Lecture honors Lillian Parker Wallace, who served as professor of history at Meredith from 1921 to 1962, and as chair of the history department from 1947 until her retirement. Exposing generations of students to prominent leaders was the fund’s intent from the very beginning.

Maathai is just one of many global leaders who regularly visit Meredith’s campus to present public lectures. She is the fourth Nobel Peace Prize recipient to deliver the Wallace Lecture, following Jimmy Carter, Elie Wiesel and Shirin Ebadi.

Upcoming speakers include Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ellen Goodman, on February 23, 2010, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure Founder Nancy Goodman Brinker, on April 21, 2010. Both lectures, which are free and open to the public, will be held at 7 p.m. in Jones Auditorium.

Visit www.meredith.edu/about/campus-lectures for more on Meredith’s long history of inviting distinguished guest lecturers to campus.