Rebecca Bailey, head of the Department of Art, was appointed this fall by the Department of Cultural Resources and the Department of Public Instruction to serve as facilitator for the S66 Task Force, which was charged with creating a comprehensive Arts Education plan for North Carolina public schools, K-12, for consideration by the Legislature. This statewide task force included legislators from the House and Senate, school superintendents, professional association representatives, and business and community members.  The Task Force completed its charge and delivered its report and recommendations to the General Assembly on December 1, 2010.  However, the Assembly has asked the Task Force to continue meeting in January to further develop an implementation schedule.

 

Bailey was invited to make two presentations at the North Carolina Art Education Association Annual Conference, which was held in New Bern, North Carolina, October  22-24, 2010. “Milton's Lost Eve,” was an encore presentation of a talk first developed for Robin Colby's Meredith Reading Club.  In this lecture, Bailey examined visual art contemporary to Milton's day and how that imagery may have influenced his descriptions of Adam and Eve in Paradise Lost.  Her second presentation was “Miss Ida's Legacy,” which traced the pedagodical practices and influence of Miss Ida Poteat, Meredith's first art professor, whose career lasted nearly 40 years, beginning with the founding of the institution.

 

Associate Professor of Foods and Nutrition Susan Fisher was interviewed for a Voice of America feature on food television shows and their impact on the popularity of cooking. Click here to view the story. The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is an international multimedia broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA has an estimated weekly worldwide audience of 125 million people.

 

Associate Professor of History Dan Fountain’s book “Slavery, Civil War, and Salvation: African American Slaves and Christianity” has been reviewed in The (Greensboro) News & Record’s Page Turners blog. Fountain has been a member of Meredith's faculty since 2004. His book was published by LSU Press in the fall of 2010. Click here to read the review.

 

Professor of Political Science Clyde Frazier was interviewed for a January 12 Associated Press article on the role of U.S. presidents as “healer to a distressed nation.” Frazier was asked about President Barack Obama’s plan to speak at a memorial service in Tuscon, Arizona for those killed on January 8. The article has been published in media outlets including The London Evening Standard and newspapers in Canada, India, New Zealand and The Philippines.

 

The Department of Marketing won five awards in the Raleigh Public Relations Society 2010 Sir Walter Raleigh Awards for Excellence in Communication. The admissions viewbook earned a Silver Award in the publications category. The Smart Growth annual report earned an Honorable Mention in the Annual Report category. This is the fourth year in a row that the annual report has earned an RPRS award.

 

Meredith Magazine earned an Honorable Mention in the magazine category. The Women’s Leadership Campaign, which encompassed all of the promotional work for the Women’s Leadership Summit, earned an Honorable Mention in the total campaign category. The Kenyan Connections story written by Melyssa Allen for the Fall 2009 issue of Meredith Magazine won an Honorable Mention in the feature writing category.

 

Kelly Roberts, assistant professor of English and program coordinator for 6-9 and 9-12 English licensure, is the author of "How Do We Evaluate Reflective Practice? First, Define It," an article published this month in the American Association of School Administrators' “New Superintendents E-Journal.” 

 

Professor of Theatre Catherine Rodgers and Associate Professor of Theatre Steven Roten are included on The Independent Weekly’s annual list of the best in regional theatre. Rodgers’ work in Deep Dish Theater’s production of “Body Awareness” by Annie Baker was recognized in the Special Achievements in Ensemble. The production also earned mentions in the Best Production and Best Direction categories. Roten’s performance as Malvolio in Shakespeare's “Twelfth Night” was also included in the Special Achievements in Ensemble category. The show, produced by the Town of Cary at Koka Booth Amphitheatre, was also included in the Best Direction category.

 

Jeannette S. Rogers, departmental assistant for music, theatre and dance, shared that the CD Rasims de luna was released in November 2010 to celebrate the centennial of the birth of Occitan poet Max Rouquette (1908-2005), one of the founders of the Institute for Occitan Studies (France).  “I was honored that my English translations of his poetry were included in the CD booklet,” Rogers said.  For more information, visit www.max-rouquette.org/.

 

Professor of Art Jane Terry’s work was chosen for the 7th Photographic Image Biennial Exhibition to be held January 13-February 19 at the Wellington B. Gray Gallery on the campus of East Carolina University. Juror Keith Carter selected 83 works for the exhibition from 307 entries from 23 states.

 

Terry’s film Breathing Water has been selected to be shown in the 2011 Society for Photographic Education Multicultural Caucus Film and Video Festival. The works will be screened at the 2011 SPE National Conference in Atlanta this March.

 

Terry was recently selected as first alternate for the 2010-2011 North Carolina Arts Council Film and Video Artist Fellowship.

 

Professor of Economics Doug Wakeman has been appointed by the State of North Carolina Utilities Commission to serve on the NC GreenPower Board of Directors. He will serve a three-year term.

 

On November 13-14, Garry Walton’s Shakespeare class (Eng 355) traveled to Staunton, Va., to see two performances by the American Shakespeare Company in the re-created Blackfriars Theatre.  With support from alumnae and other donors to the English department’s gift fund, the students enjoyed performances of the popular “The Taming of the Shrew” and the rarely performed “Henry 4, part two.”  One of the reviews produced by the students following this trip can be found on the Shake-Scenes web site designed to share Meredith student work with the wider academic community: http://www.meredith.edu/english/walton/henryiv2.htm

 

In this Issue:

Faculty Distinguished Lecture
Meredith Receives duPont Fund Grant to Support Research Mentoring
Update on the Presidential Search
Meredith Welcomes New Vice President for Business & Finance
Alumnae Treasure Campus Relationships /Phonathon Room Gets Redesign
Faculty/Staff Accomplishments
Upcoming Events
News Briefs

 

Have you presented research or attended a professional meeting recently? Has your department earned an award? Share news of these accomplishments and more with the Meredith community. Faculty and staff are invited to email items to Melyssa Allen, “Campus Connections” editor, at allenme@meredith.edu.