Celebrating Student Achievement Day

Celebrating Student Achievement Day is a day to extol the results of a year well spent in intellectual and creative growth. Throughout the day, students present the results of the last year's endeavors. These presentations represent the best of Meredith College student achievement.

Business majors Sara Roberson and Caitlin Dillon gave excellent presentations during Celebrating Student Achievement Day.

Sara Roberson, a double major in Economics and Biology, discussed "Trends of Gender Distribution in Veterinary Medicine." Her research revealed how over the twentieth and now twenty-first centuries, the status of women in the labor market has risen to be closer to that of men, particularly in the healthcare field. Women entering the healthcare field tend to congregate in certain medical professions. This trend is especially apparent in veterinary medicine, which has become a predominately female profession. Using economic theory, she explained the increase of women and the decrease of men in veterinary medicine. Her research reveals how the number of female applicants in the field of veterinary medicine has risen since the 1960's when less than 10% of vet school applicants were female. More recent data indicates nearly 80% of all vet students are women. Roberson's research explored reasons for this increase, including a decrease in male applicants, politics of the 60s and 70s to benefit women, growth of the small animal industry, and more effective tools and sedatives in the veterinary field. Roberson's research also examined the prevalence of women owning veterinary practices as compared to men.

Caitlin Dillon, a Business Administration/Management concentration with a double major in Spanish -- worked with Dr. Tony Bledsoe on an undergraduate research project that resulted in a published article in a scholarly journal. "Raleigh-Cary: Best Metro for Women Entrepreneurs?" has been accepted by the Journal of Business and Economics Research. The paper is a gender-specific investigation into what makes a certain city the best place for women entrepreneurs. Dillon's research noted that several national studies have highlighted the Raleigh-Cary area as the "best place" to do business, but not as many have specifically said it is best for women. This study was based on one of the few that did. Data was gathered from a broad range of 22 women entrepreneurs through a survey and interviews. The survey was based on national data of the best business location factors. Results of the study in Raleigh-Cary were consistent with the top national factors determined from the non-gender specific studies. However, women entrepreneurs articulated newly identified factors which may indicate some business location factors are gender specific.