By Karen Dunton

On November 30, Meredith College welcomed award-winning documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy to campus. Kennedy's visit was the inaugural event of Meredith's Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Presidential Lecture Series.

During her lecture Kennedy discussed the impact documentary films can have on social concerns including poverty, domestic abuse and AIDS.

"To motivate people to act, you must give a voice to those in need," said Kennedy. "Telling these stories makes the statistics real…they are real people facing real tragedies."

Throughout the lecture, Kennedy presented clips of her work including American Hollow, A Boy's Life, and Pandemic: Facing AIDS.

"Rory Kennedy seeks to open the minds and hearts of her viewers," said Meredith President Maureen Hartford.

Following the lecture, audience members interacted with Kennedy during a question and answer session.

"My hope is that I have grown from all these experiences. This is something I love doing and I think it makes a contribution," said Kennedy.

Kennedy's lecture and others in this year's Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Presidential Lecture Series are designed around "Our World, Our Responsibility: Contributing to Positive Change Around the Globe," the campus's theme for 2005-06.

Upcoming speakers in the Series include:

• Nicolas de Torrenté, U.S. executive director of the international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 16; and
• William McDonough, founding partner of an internationally recognized design firm practicing ecologically, socially and economically intelligent architecture, at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 12.

Each lecture will be held in Jones Auditorium. Events in the series are free and open to the public.