Meredith
Writer-in-Residence Receives Honors
Betty
Adcock, Meredith College writer-in-residence, was a Guggenheim
Fellow in Poetry for the academic year 2002-03. Her fifth book
of poems, Intervale: New and Selected Poems (LSU Press)
was named co-winner of the Poets’ Prize for 2003, a cash
award given by a committee of 20 poets across the country.
Adcock gave a reading at the acceptance celebration, held at
New York City’s Nicholas Roerich Museum. She was recently
awarded her second Pushcart Prize for Poetry. Her book, Intervale,
was also one for four finalists for the $25,000 Lenore Marshall
Prize from the Academy of American Poets. In April, Adcock was
inducted as an elected member of the Texas Institute of Letters.
This year, in addition to teaching Creative Writing at Meredith,
she will be distinguished visiting North Carolina writer at
NC State University, where she will teach in the graduate writing
program.
Adcock’s poems, reviews and essays have appeared over the
last six months in Southern Review, Tar River Poetry,
Atlanta Review and Texas Review. Her poems have
appeared during the same period in anthologies Hammer and
Blaze: A Gathering of Contemporary Poetry (University of
Georgia Press) and Strongly Spent: Fifty Years of Poetry
from Shenandoah.
Recent Meredith
College Graduate Teaches, Learns in China
By
Andrea Weaver, web editor
Rebecca
Rawl, ’02, has spent five months working in Chinese classrooms,
where she has learned as much as she has taught.
She has taught English to schoolchildren in a small town.
She has helped women in rural villages learn to use solar-powered
cookers to reduce their families’ dependency on scarce
firewood. Rawl, who graduated from Meredith College in December
2002 with a bachelor’s degree in biology, now teaches
English and science to gifted high school and college students.
Rawl lives in Xining, a city in China’s western interior,
but she spent about three months in Guanting, a small town
six hours away. In Guanting, she learned that showers are
a luxury in parts of China – Rawl washed her hair in
the same tub she used to wash her clothes. She lived in a
small, cinderblock room with just one electrical outlet and
slept on a half-inch piece of foam placed on a slab of plywood.
Solar Cooker Project
In Guanting, Rawl worked for the Sanchuan Development Association
(SDA). In addition to teaching, she helped the organization
research and write proposals for funding to improve medical
care for the people who live in and around Guanting, one of
China’s poorest regions. She also worked with the solar
cooker project, which first attracted her to Guanting.
Rawl first visited China in 2000 during a study abroad trip,
led by Carolyn Happer. She enjoyed the experience a lot and
began making plans to return for an extended stay. She learned
about the SDA from Dr. Janice Swab, professor of biology professor,
environmental researcher, and frequent global traveler.
“She told me in particular about the solar cooker project
that provided poor families with a reliable, clean and free
source of energy and also made women’s lives easier and
healthier,” Rawl said. “Many women and young girls
usually spend the majority of their time looking for organic
materials (such as wood) to burn. Providing a solar cooker
to a poor family increases the chance that girls will be able
to attend school. I was impressed by the change in women’s
lives that these simple and inexpensive devices could make,
and I wanted to be a part of that work.”
Swab referred Rawl to Dr. Kevin Stuart, an American professor
at Qinghai Normal University in Xining. Stuart works closely
with the SDA and helped Rawl get a job with the organization.
“These (SDA) projects have a two-fold purpose,”
Stuart said via email. “First, they immediately improve
the basic conditions of impoverished people of this area through
sustainable development. Secondly, they empower people to
change their economic and living conditions by helping them
realize that they can do something to improve their situation.”
“My study abroad with Dr. Carolyn Happer really prepared
me for the people of China—their hospitality, their genuine
interest in other people’s, especially visitors’,
well-being. This is definitely something that Americans can
learn from the Chinese. We don’t truly understand hospitality
the way that the Chinese do.”
Campus
Calendar Now Online
For
the most up-to-date information about Meredith events, visit
the online campus calendar, http://www.meredith.edu/calendar.
A link to the calendar is located on many of the main pages
of Meredith’s web site. The calendar lists important
events, and includes links that readers can click on for additional
information.
For more information, contact Andrea Weaver, web editor, at
weavera@meredith.edu.
NUTSHELL
NOTES
•
Sorng
Buntoum,
in Technology Services plans to ride in the MS 150 Bike Tour,
Sept. 13-14, in New Bern. The tour raises funds to fight the
effects of multiple sclerosis, a disease that affects the
central nervous system. Please contact Sorng at ext. 8023
for more information about making a pledge or donation. You
may also read about the bike tour at http://www.encms.org/events/bike2003/index.htm.
• Alysia
Braswell, Nikki Curliss and Marilyn Jones
have been selected to serve a two-year term on the Staff Affairs
Committee. They join returning committee members Cathy
Allen, Ginny Kemp and Dianne Parker, and
replace outgoing members Dee Perry, Mary Ann Beam
and Joyce Hinson.
• President Maureen Hartford delivered the keynote
speech at the Naturalization Ceremony for new citizens, held
in Raleigh on August 1.
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NUTSHELL NOTES
- con't
•
Charles Davis, professor of mathematics, will be serving
as department head of mathematics and computer science during
2003-2004. Carol Brown, associate professor of physical
education, will serve as interim department head of Health,
Exercise and Sports Science during the fall semester, while
Melinda Campbell is on sabbatical.
•
Carolyn Koning, co-director for first year experience,
presented “Multiple Intelligences and Employable Skills”
at a faculty development seminar sponsored by LifeBound and
Prentice Hall, in Denver, Colorado, July 24-25. Faculty members
from across the nation who teach the FYE seminar course attended.
•
The exhibition “Teachers As Artists: Art Educators of Wake
County” will be on display through September 5 in Weems
Gallery, Gaddy-Hamrick Art Center. This exhibit includes paintings,
drawings, sculpture, photography, prints, and ceramics by some
of Wake County Public Schools’ finest art educators. The
gallery is open Monday-Friday from 9 - 5 p.m., and on Saturdays
and Sundays from 2 - 5 p.m.
•
Meredith College received the second place “Metro
Bravo” award for best private college from the Raleigh-based
Metro Magazine. Meredith also was recognized in the "scenic
campus" category.
•
As part of Meredith’s academic reorganization, Alyson
Colwell-Waber's title has been changed from Associate Dean
of Academic Affairs to Dean for Special Academic Programs. Colwell-Waber
has many responsibilities in support of the Office of the Vice
President for Academic Affairs including the General Education
Program, the Honors Program, the Faculty Development Program
and several special projects such as the faculty-staff planning
conference, grant-writing, and early registration of freshman.
•
Faculty and Staff can show their Meredith pride with a Meredith
College license plate, at a cost of only $25 above the regular
license plate fees. The State of North Carolina requires a minimum
order of 300 plates. To get your special license application,
contact Jane Mitchell, assistant director of the Meredith
Fund, at ext. 8060, or mitchelj@meredith.edu.
•
This
fall, Assistant Professor of Business Rose Lippard was
interviewed in Washington, D. C., regarding the proposed bail-out
of the airline industry. Parts of this interview were aired
on NBC Nightly News.
Newsletter
Staff
Editors - Kristi Eaves-McLennan,
Melyssa Allen
Contributing Writers - Andrea Weaver,
Erin Hege, '04, Crystal McLeod, '04
Web Designer - David Timberlake
Photographer - David Timberlake
Production Assistant - Kaye Rains
Interns - Erin
Hege, '04, Crystal McLeod, '04
In A Nutshell, the official newsletter for all Meredith College
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US YOUR NEWS…In
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