This summer Meredith College has continued work on construction projects to further enhance the spaces in which students learn and live. Donor support has enabled the College to move forward with these projects.
Sandy Godwin, ʼ79, and Carolyn Hart have traveled all over the world together with the Meredith Travel Program. Those experiences, along with Hart’s own life-changing study abroad experience in Germany as a student at Vanderbilt, have led them to establish a $100,000 endowment for study abroad at Meredith College.
Throughout 2020 and 2021, alumnae and friends of Meredith College remained connected to one another through virtual events offered by the Office of Alumnae Relations and Institutional Advancement.
Since 2011, enrollment in Meredith’s undergraduate communication and exercise and sports science programs has increased by 29% and 52% respectively. That growth has led the College to build a new 13,000 square foot Communication and Exercise & Sports Science building currently under construction near Weatherspoon Gym and the Lowery Fitness Center. It will give students access to innovative spaces that allow for creativity, collaboration, new technologies, new equipment, and hands-on experiences in both majors.
The Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation has supported students in need at Meredith College for 47 years. The first grant received from the Foundation was $10,000 in 1974, and this year the College received $250,000. The growth of the grant shows the confidence that the Foundation has in the education Meredith is providing students. Through the years, the Foundation has given more than $3.6 million dollars to Meredith College.
In the Spring 2021 issue of Meredith Magazine, the College announced that an enhanced digital publication would be available to readers beginning in summer 2021. While the magazine has previously been available online, this revamped version offers a more immersive experience, with interactive multimedia content and more videos in an eminently shareable format.
Alumnae Relations held a Virtual Angel Hike, April 8-22, 2021, in an effort to raise funds for the Student Emergency Fund and to create a way for alumnae to engage with each other and the College.
Meredith College hosted a groundbreaking ceremony on April 30, 2021, for the campus community to celebrate the construction of the new academic building that will house instructional space for the growing communication and exercise and sports science programs, and athletic offices.
On Wednesday, April 14, the Office of Alumnae Relations held two Alumnae Induction Ceremonies for the Class of 2021. The ceremonies, at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the Jones Chapel Courtyard, marked the Class of 2021’s official membership in the Alumnae Association.
The 23rd annual Meredith College Golf Classic will be held Monday, May 17, 2021, at Wildwood Green Golf Course. A 1 p.m. shotgun start is planned.
Faculty, staff, and students are invited to a groundbreaking ceremony for Meredith’s new academic building that will house instructional space for communication and exercise and sports science programs, and athletic offices. The ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. on April 30, 2021, at the building site adjacent to Weatherspoon Gymnasium and Lowery Fitness Center.
The Meredith College Board of Trustees has reaffirmed the decision to begin construction on a new academic building that will house two of Meredith’s growing programs: communication and exercise & sports science. The new building project was paused in 2020 because of the pandemic.
Meredith College’s sixth annual Make It Count for Meredith Giving Day held February 23, 2021, exceeded its $600,000 fundraising goal by more than $150,000.
The sixth annual Make It Count for Meredith Giving Day will be held Tuesday, February 23, 2021. The goal for the 24-hour giving challenge is to raise $600,000.
Randy Dennis joined Meredith College in February as the new assistant athletic director for development. In his role, he cultivates relationships with individuals and businesses that value, encourage, and support the empowerment and development of strong women.
The Office of Alumnae Relations launched a program in Summer 2020 to connect alumnae with the Class of 2024 before they moved to campus. The Adopt-a-Freshman program invited alumnae to connect with someone from the incoming class who is from their region, state, area of interest, or major.
Meredith Mentors launched in 2019 and there are currently nearly 2,000 alumnae, alumni, students, faculty, and staff utilizing the online platform. Once a profile is created, users are able to connect with others in the Meredith community for career and graduate school advice, internships or job shadowing opportunities, short-term and long-term mentorship, life after Meredith, and much more.
In a year when fundraising for the College was going well before the pandemic, the Division of Institutional Advancement staff found that donors’ love for Meredith and gifts to the College did not stop during the last three months of the fiscal year. The result was over $16 million raised, surpassing the goal of $12 million. The total raised for major, annual, and planned gifts was $16,250,347. The endowment also grew to over $112 million.
After Tasia Bromell, ’21, toured Meredith College, she said it felt like a great fit. Now in her senior year, Bromell said that decision has been confirmed as the right one.
At Meredith College, students are the backbone of the Meredith Fund’s Phonathon program. Students call alumnae and past donors to help raise funds for the College, build relationships with alumnae, and gain valuable hands-on skills and experience.
Contact Information
Jennifer Kaisersatt
Administrative Assistant to the Associate VP of Institutional Advancement
(919) 760-8374
jkaisersatt@meredith.edu
