Biography
Maureen
A. Hartford
Seventh President of Meredith College
Maureen A. Hartford, Ed.D, was named President of Meredith
College on February 26, 1999, and officially assumed the
duties of that position the following July 1. She is the
first woman to head the century-old institution, which is
also the largest private college for women in the Southeast.
She came to the presidency from the University of Michigan,
where she had served as vice president for student affairs
since 1992. And she had held similar positions at Washington
State University, Case Western Reserve, the University of
Arkansas, and the University of Maine.
Although President Hartford discovered career opportunities
in far-away places, she is no stranger to North Carolina,
having been reared in Charlotte and having earned a bachelor's
degree in French and history as well as a master's degree
in college teaching at the University of North Carolina
in Chapel Hill. Her doctorate in higher education administration
is from the University of Arkansas.
In Michigan, President Hartford helped establish a center
of learning through community service, the focus being community
outreach and "in expectation that students and faculty
would work together to create programs for the betterment
of the community." She is also involved in and helped
accomplish a national program called LeaderShape, "which
focuses on ethical leadership development in young people."
She says, "These are two programs I see as having the
same underlying weave of paying back to the community the
debts that we all owe."
She credits her family for her early intellectual development;
her father, in particular, encouraged her and her brother
to talk about issues and take positions. And her childhood
included training in debating and in public speaking. Her
maternal grandmother passed on a love of history to her
granddaughter. Dr. Hartford says, "I think my grandmother
can still name all the kings of England in order, and she's
92."
The President and her husband, Jay Hartford, who recently
retired as senior director of corporate and foundation relations
at the University of Michigan, live in the Massey House,
the on-campus president's residence. Their daughter, son-in-law,
and first grandchild—Katherine Avery McCannon, who
was born July 1, 1999, the day President Hartford began
her administration at Meredith—live in Seattle, Washington,
and their son is in Portland, Oregon.
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