Meredith Faculty

Rebecca Bailey

Rebecca Bailey received her PhD from Michigan State University in Interdisciplinary Studies that included the areas of Art, Theatre, and Textiles and Clothing. Before joining the Meredith faculty in 1984, she taught in the public schools in Texas, at Michigan State University and at Peace College in Raleigh. She was appointed Dean of the School of the Arts, fall semester, 2003, after serving as Head of the Department of Art for 10 years. Following the merging of the Schools of Arts and Humanities in 2010, she again became Art Department Head.

Dr. Bailey served as the Southeastern Region National Vice-President for the National Art Education Association for two consecutive terms, is a Past Vice-President and Past President of the North Carolina Art Education Association and was honored as Outstanding Art Educator of the Year in North Carolina. Bailey has served as a consultant to the Education Department of the North Carolina Museum of Art for nearly 30 years.  She was a writer on two North Carolina Standard Courses of Study in Visual Arts and a reviewer for the Essential Standards that are effective next year.  During Fall semester, 2011, she had time reassigned to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction so that she could facilitate the work of the S66 Task Force, a group assembled at the request of the Legislature to create a comprehensive Arts Education plan for the state.

Dr. Bailey enjoys documenting her travels and her family with photography and hopes to return to painting in the near future.

Valeria Nardi

Valeria Nardi joined the Meredith College abroad program in the Fall of 2010, as Italian language instructor. She resides in Sansepolcro from 2007, when she and her family decided to came back to the Valtiberina Valley (her native country) after years of living in the States and in several different Italian cities.

 Nardi attended University mainly in Florence but then graduated from the Universita` degli Studi of Perugia in Classical Literatures with a major in Etruscan archaeology. Her dissertation focused on Etruscan language and since then languages have always attracted her. She specialized on the Teaching of Italian in Torino, and later obtained an Archival Science and Paleography diploma from the post-master Scuola Speciale Vaticana per Archivisti e Bibliotecari in Vatican City, Rome.

Her husband's job in the Italian Air Force led to them moving a lot between the United States, Europe and Italy, while she tried to shape her career accordingly, working in the teaching field. She taught at middle school, high school and college level.  Stopping for a while their family wandering in Houston, Texas, in 1999, Nardi worked for five years at the University of Houston as Italian and Latin Lecturer teaching elementary, intermediate and advanced courses. She also worked for the University library, Special Collection department, cataloging the Manuscripts and Incunabula Collection. Back to Italy she collaborated with local schools as teacher of Italian as a second language before and after moving in Sansepolcro, until she came in contact with the reality of Meredith College abroad, which she thought could be summarizing her previous experiences, love of her own language and American culture. The interaction between the students and Italian world is always an exciting and challenging exchange of discoveries, and she is proud to be in some way one of the ambassador of her own country to the young minds of Meredith College.  

Emilija Dimitrijevic 

Emilija Dimitrijevic was born in Serbia, where she graduated in English language and literature from the University of Nis. In 1994, she moved to Italy, where she continued her studies and obtained a degree in foreign languages and literatures and a PhD in “Comparatistics: literature, theatre, cinema”  from the University of Siena. Since then, Dr. Dimitrijevic has taught courses on English language and literature at numerous high schools and at the University of Perugia. Currently, she is collaborating with a study abroad program in Arezzo, where she is teaching a course on the philosophy of art.  

Research has been an important part of Dr. Dimitrijevic’s curriculum. She has published articles in literary journals in Italy and abroad as well as a book-length study on the contemporary novel. Since 2005, she has been a member of the Italian Association of Anglistics and of the European Society for the Study of English.

Dr. Dimitrijevic lives in Sansepolcro with her husband and their two sons. Her life in Serbia and Italy and her love of foreign languages and literature have taught her the importance of having more than one point of reference. She believes that the semester program in Sansepolcro provides exactly that opportunity for both Meredith students and people of Sansepolcro

 

Dr. Betty Webb

Dr. Betty Webb, Director of International Programs, will serve as the Faculty Director for Meredith's inaugural year in Sansepolcro.  A Professor of English, she will also be teaching the course Justice and Liberty, a course that focuses on Italian Jewish writers whose lives and works were molded by the rise of fascism.  For over 34 years, Dr. Webb has taken Meredith students abroad.  She has led programs in Italy, in Switzerland, in England and Scotland and in Sri Lanka.

Dr. Webb has traveled to over 50 countries and if asked to select a single favorite, she would be unable to do so.  If favorites were allowed, England, Italy, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe would head the list—though for sheer scenic grandeur Nepal and Switzerland are hard to beat. 

Dr. Webb is married to an Englishman, and they live part of the year in Bath, where they hope to spend more time in the future.  Both are current events wonks who love keeping up with world news, wherever they are.  And both like to read the fiction of the countries they visit, ideally as they travel.

When asked about what she most enjoys about her job, Dr. Webb says that though watching the rise in the number and variety of our study abroad programs and in the number of Meredith students who participate in them is very exciting, directing study abroad programs is what she really likes. And she likes every stage—from solving the logistical puzzles presented by program and curriculum planning to living and working with students on a daily basis abroad. 

Students, she says, often describe their time abroad in glowing terms: as “the best experience" of their lives "thus far,” “one of life's magnificent blessings and adventures,” “a dream come true.”  “Who wouldn’t want to be with students at such a time?” she asks.  “Directing study abroad programs is often challenging but always rewarding--and most often it is just plain fun” she concludes.

She has held both the Mary Lynch Johnson and the Norma Rose Chairs in the Department of English, and she is the recipient of the Pauline Davis Perry Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Laura Harrill Presidential Award.

 

Sara Andreini

A native of Sansepolcro, Sara Andreini has been involved with the Meredith Abroad program in Italy for over a decade.  Sara will be serving as the Associate Director of Meredith in Italy.  Sara also teaches the Italy Today course. 

Local Faculty

In additon to Meredith College faculty members teaching in Sansepolcro, the program will be joined by local faculty who will teach Italian Language courses and the Art History course.  As more information becomes available, we will post it here.