Faculty
| Dr. Fountain | Dr. Happer | Dr. Varley | Dr. Frazier |
| Dr. Martinson | Dr. Smith | Dr. Vitarbo |
Mrs. Diana Davis is Departmental Assistant to the Departments of History, Political Science and English. After many years in the public schools as an English teacher, an Assistant Principal and a Librarian, she chose to come work with helpless adults instead of helpless children. Without her expertise and good will, all of our academic programs would collapse into chaos and pandemonium. Her deeper attachments are to her daughter Jessica, to her husband, and to a strange family collection of cats.
email: davisdia@meredith.edu
office: Joyner 120
Dr. Dan Fountain is a native of Jacksonville, Florida, home of the NFL Jaguars and terminus of the mighty St. Johns River. He holds a bachelor's degree in history from Stetson University of Deland, Florida, a master's degree in American/Public history from UNC-Greensboro, and a doctorate degree in early American history from the University of Mississippi. Dr. Fountain's research interests focus on the nineteenth century US and the US South with a specific interest in the history of slavery and race. He has published several articles on the history of slavery and is pursuing publication of his dissertation which examines the conversion of African-American slaves to Christianity during the 19th century. Dr. Fountain and his lovely wife Michele are the proud parents of Tait, an active little boy with an equally active imagination. Dr. Fountain is an avid sports fan with unshakeable allegiances to the Stetson Hatters, Ole Miss Rebels, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Chicago Cubs.
Courses: U.S. to 1876; U.S. since 1876; Colonial America; Civil War and Reconstruction; History of the South; Methods of Historical Research; Public History; Global Slavery (CORE 400)
email: fountain@meredith.edu
phone: (919) 760-2825
office: Joyner 226
Dr. Clyde Frazier was born in Concord, NC and grew up in New Orleans, LA. He did his undergraduate work at Rice University in Houston, TX and received his Ph.D. from UNC-Chapel-Hill. Clyde taught at Elon College, NCSU and UNC-CH before coming to Meredith in 1982. When he came to Meredith he was the only faculty member in Politics. For the past couple of years, Clyde has been writing book reviews and op-ed pieces on gender issues for the News and Observer and other newspapers in North and South Carolina. He is currently writing a book with the tentative title, "Is Masculinity Obsolete?" In addition to his teaching and writing, Clyde has built a house, served on the planning board in Chatham County and been active in local politics. Clyde has two children, a daughter and a son.
Courses: American Political System; Political Ideas Seminar; Law and Society; Constitution and Rights; Gender Issues in Law and Policy; Public Leadership Practicum (Meredith Votes);
e-mail: frazierc@meredith.edu
phone: (919) 760-8540
office: Joyner 224
Dr. Carolyn Happer is someone who is increasingly rare in the Triangle--a native! Born in Winston-Salem, raised in Durham, and a resident of Raleigh since 1964, she is truly a Tar Heel born and bred--except that she went to Duke! Her field for the Ph.D. was Southern history with a focus on North Carolina; her field for the Master's degree was French history. These dual interests have made it possible for Dr. Happer to teach both American and European history; she is also responsible for teaching Social Studies methods and for preparing our teacher certification students. Recently she has developed an interest in China, an interest that resulted from her participation in Meredith's exchange program with Dongbei University in Dalian. In the past decade, she has spent three summers teaching in China; on the last two trips, she has taken Meredith students with her as part of the Study Abroad program. In addition to teaching, Dr. Happer is an avid tennis player and the mother of Bo Dupp, an former professional wrestler.
Courses: Emergence of Western Civilization; Modern Western Civilization; Methods of Teaching Social Studies; Women in the West and the World (CORE 200); Holocaust Experiences; U.S. to 1876; U.S. since 1876;
e-mail: happerc@meredith.edu
phone: (919) 760-2287
office: Joyner 212
Here's the link to Dr. Happer's wonderful web site on No Ordinary Time:
Dr. Jeffrey Martinson was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. After a sojourn to Pitzer College for undergraduate work in sunny Southern California (where he majored in Political Studies and German Studies) he returned to his gray hometown to work for Enron and then the World Trade Center Portland. In 1999 he began graduate studies at Ohio State, leading to a Ph.D. in political science in 2005. His research foci are international relations, foreign policy analysis, political psychology, international organization and Mideast politics, and he combined them all into his dissertation on German Post-Cold War Foreign Military Intervention Decision Making. Jeff has taught in these areas at Ohio State, University of Cincinnati and with his dissertation advisor Don Sylvan on "Political Psychology and Intelligence Work" at the National Air and Space Intelligence Command at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Outside of work enjoys hiking, sailing, and generally discovering North Carolina with his wife Alice and daughter Eloise.
Courses: American Political System; World in the 20th century; International Politics; Modern Political Systems; International Political Economy; Model United Nations; Methods and Research Design in Political Science; Modern
Middle East
email: martinso@meredith.edu
phone: (919) 760-2349
office: Joyner 220
Dr. Michael Novak, Department Head, was conceived in the afterglow of the Indians' last World Series
Championship and born among the Czechs, Slovenians and Hungarians of east Cleveland. The third child of second generation immigrants, he was the last member of his family to learn accordion and the first to complete high school. Transcripts indicate that he attended Denison University from 1968-1972, receiving an A.B. in History. He then spent seven years studying and teaching at Harvard University, finally exiting in 1979 with a PhD in European Intellectual History and an abiding attachment to Boston sports teams.. He then joined his wife Martha Gagliano in North Carolina, and taught for seven years at NCSU while she completed her medical training in Pediatrics at Duke University. In 1986 he had the good fortune to begin teaching at Meredith College, from which institution he expects to be carried out feet first. His special teaching interests are Medieval, Renaissance and Reformation Europe, Western Civilization, Eastern Europe and the 20th Century World. For recreation he attempts tennis and squash, plays Irish string band music and exchanges practical jokes with his son, Matthew born in 1993.
Courses: Emergence of Western Civilization; Modern Western Civilization; Europe in the Middle Ages; Europe in Renaissance and Reformation; Senior Seminar.
e-mail: novakm@meredith.edu
phone: (919) 760-8398
office: Joyner 228
Dr. Hilary Smith, after a happy childhood of hiking and skiing in Colorado, wanted to see more of the world. Her formal education took her to New Jersey (Princeton, bachelor’s degree in religion and East Asian studies), England (Cambridge University, master’s in history and philosophy of science) and Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania, Ph.D. in history and sociology of science). In between, she had the good fortune to work, study, and travel in China, Taiwan, and southeast Asia. Dr. Smith’s main research interest is the history of science and medicine in East Asia. She reads Chinese, Japanese, and French, and loves to talk with anyone who shares her enthusiasm for Asian languages and cultures. She and her husband Babi recently embarked on two new adventures together: moving to North Carolina, and parenthood. They’re eager to see how both turn out.
Courses: Asian History; World in the 20th Century; Chinese History; History of Science & Medicine in East Asia
email: smithhil@meredith.edu
phone: (919) 760-8386
office: Joyner 222
Dr. Molly Varley
Dr. Molly Varley was born in Montana, but raised in South Carolina and Kenya. After an getting her undergraduate degree from 
Warren Wilson College in Asheville, she went to Canterbury, England for a MA in Propaganda, Persuasion and History at the University of Kent. There she married and the couple quickly trekked to China for a year of teaching ESL. Upon return to the US, Dr. Varley went to get old birth-place, Montana, to attend the University of Montana. Seven years later, she emerged from the University of Montana with a PhD and two children. Dr. Varley's areas of study are the Progressive Era, and the social and cultural history of nationalism and national identity located in intentionally created cultural landscapes (parks, monuments, etc). Her doctoral dissertation examined the resurgence of interest in Indian captivity narratives in the Progressive Era and how small town boosters used stories of Indian captivity to place themselves in the center of US cultural life. She teaches courses in US, women's, and Native American history, as well as film history and Latin America. Outside of Meredith, Dr. Varley enjoys discovering North Carolina and the world with her husband Craig and daughters Penelope and Madeleine.
Courses: Modern Western Civilization, US to 1876, US since 1876, Contemporary American History, Introduction of Latin American History, Women and Gender in US History, Film in US History, Introduction to Native American History and Cultures.
email: varleymo@meredith.edu
phone: (919) 760-8825
office: Joyner 218
Dr. Gregory Vitarbo - a native of the New York City area- attended Drew University in Madison, N.J., where he majored in history and received his B.A. in 1990. He did his graduate work at the University of Michigan and received his Ph.D. in Russian/Soviet history in 1999. After one-year teaching positions at Franklin & Marshall College and the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Dr. Vitarbo joined the Meredith faculty in the fall semester 2001. At Meredith he teaches in the fields of Russian/Soviet history, Western Civilization, and Modern European history. He has developed new and revised courses in the history of Modern Russia, Modern Britain, Twentieth Century Europe, and the World in the Twentieth Century, has taught on the Meredith in Italy program and also hopes to create new courses in the fields of Modern German history and the historical relationship of gender, culture, and warfare. Dr. Vitarbo is working on a manuscript that examines the military, social, and cultural impact of the new technology of the airplane on the Russian Imperial army in the decade before the first world war. He has contributed an essay to recently published volume on the Russian army and society, and other articles concerning issues of aviation, nationality policy, and modernization within the Russian Imperial officer corps.
Courses: Modern Western Civilization; World in the 20th Century (CORE 200); Modern Britain; Russia in 20th Century; 20th Century Europe; War and Culture in the West (summer school); Technology and Social Change (CORE 400)
email: vitarbog@meredith.edu
phone: (919) 760-8089
office: Joyner 214
