DEPARTMENTAL SPOTLIGHT: THE PARALEGAL PROGRAM

In this issue of In A Nutshell, we introduce a new feature designed to help the campus community learn more about the different departments on campus. For this feature, we ask the department’s director to describe what the department offers, and share news with Nutshell readers. For this issue, Marisa Campbell shares information about Meredith’s Paralegal Program.

Q. What is the full name of the department/program?
A. Paralegal Program, Meredith College

Q. How many people work in the department/program?
A. Director, Marisa Campbell
Program Assistant, May Galli
Adjunct Faculty 2001-02: 15 attorneys and paralegals. The faculty consists of working attorneys and paralegals providing general legal education for paralegals as well as substantive courses in the law and continuing education for paralegals and attorneys.

Q. In general, what does everyone in the department/program do?
A. The director and the program assistant handle almost all aspects of the program, with assistance from other Meredith departments, including: maintaining compliance with the American Bar Association, recruiting, admissions, registration, overseeing curriculum and instruction, hiring and supervising faculty, faculty development, fostering close relationships with the local and state bars and paralegal associations, working with an advisory committee of paralegals and attorneys, preparing budgets and schedules, teaching core curriculum, developing and monitoring student internships, and creating and maintaining the Paralegal Program web site.

Q. What do people think your department/program does?
A. The legal community believes that Meredith College has one of the best paralegal programs in the state and produces great paralegals. Some Raleigh law firms have policies of only hiring paralegals with certificates from Meredith College.

Q. If you were at a dinner party, how would you describe your department/program’s actual responsibilities?
A. The Paralegal Program is a post-baccalaureate certificate program for men and women with a bachelor’s degree in any discipline. The program can be completed in two evening semesters or one intensive semester. Most students in the program work full time.

Q. How has this department/program changed in the last few years?
A. The curriculum has undergone a profound change. Four classes of varying lengths that were taught in the fall have been merged and elongated into three courses: Legal Survey – providing students an overview of the law and legal processes; Legal Research – an intense research and writing course that now includes computerized legal research; and Law Office Management and Professional Responsibility – a course that has been increased from six to 15 weeks. Students have a choice of one of three specialties in the spring: Business Organizations, Civil Litigation or Real Estate. Business Organizations and Civil Litigation now offer students an opportunity to take short courses in substantive areas of the law as well as in their specialty.

Q. Any recent news, accomplishments that the faculty/staff should know?
A. Twenty-eight students graduated from the Paralegal Program in 2001. In 2002, 42 students graduated from the program. The program has traditionally been capped at 45 students. The applicant pool for 2002-03 remains strong.

This year the director of the Paralegal Program has been an officer in the Alliance for Paralegal Professional Standards. The Alliance was formed by paralegals representing paralegal organizations across the state working to create a uniform standard for the designation of paralegal. The basis of this standard will be education and continuing education. Such a standard would raise and maintain the bar of professionalism and the status of paralegals in the legal community.

The director of the program presented on internships at the national conference for paralegal educators in San Antonio, Texas in 2001 and will be presenting on recruitment and marketing at the national conference in Orlando, Fla. this year.

Send suggestions for an upcoming "Departmental Spotlight" to Nutshell editor Kristi Eaves-McLennan at eavesk@meredith.edu.

SUMMER BRINGS SPECIAL PROJECTS FOR FACULTY AND STAFF - by Christy Sadler 03'

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of articles about the special projects Meredith faculty and staff have undertaken this summer.

While the on-campus schedule may change during the summer months, there is no shortage of work to do from May through early August. In a Nutshell brings another look at the research, community involvement, and employee development projects Meredith faculty and staff are participating in this summer.

Several faculty are working with students as part of the Undergraduate Research Program while also traveling or serving in other roles. Associate Professor of Psychology Cynthia Edwards is working with Lisa Hahne,’04, on a research project that examines peer mediation of prosocial behaviors as they affect leadership characteristics. Edwards will also act as an outside evaluator for the Carolina Literacy Project grant renewal application and participate in the teaching circle for the new Context of Culture course.

Biology professor Janice Swab worked with Sandra Strenka, ’04, on a research project evaluating green space on campus before traveling to Panama in July to visit possible field sites for student research. Swab also plans to attend the SENSER national convention in California in early August.

Sherry Shapiro, associate professor of dance, attended a meeting further away from home. In June, she traveled to Haifa University in Israel to a planning meeting for an international peace education conference that will be held in Israel or Turkey early next year.

Meredith staff memebers attending conferences include Cheryl Jenkins, director of student activities and leadership development, who attended the 2002 National Leadership Symposium held at the University of Richmond, July 18-21.


Psychology professor Jack Huber is working with G.A. Forsyth of Millersville University to publish five years of research about humor, while history and politics professor Clyde Frazier will continue to work on his manuscript for a book about masculinity.

Assistant Professor of Family and Consumer Sciences Jody Roubanis will be interviewing FCS teachers from all over North Carolina to learn their suggestions for the best teaching approaches for FCS classes. She will use this information to teach a course this fall for FCS educators on effective teaching methods.

Maureen Banker, associate professor of art, will be spending this summer and fall in Italy, where she will work in the studio on new etchings. Her work will be displayed in two upcoming exhibitions in North Carolina, as well as in her fourth annual solo show at the Osteria di Renolda in Tuscany.

Carl Hatchell, assistant professor of physical education and Meredith basketball coach, will be busy organizing, scheduling and instructing at basketball camps at UNC-Chapel Hill. He also coordinated three coaches’ clinics this month.

Christy Sadler,’03, is an Honors student majoring in English. Her summer projects include internships with Meredith’s Office of Marketing and Communications and with Richard French and Associates, a Raleigh public relations firm.

PLEASE WELCOME THE FOLLOWING NEW EMPLOYEES TO MEREDITH:
(provided by the Office of Human Resources)

Robert Lee Avila, Grounds
Douglas Camp, Office of Institutional Advancement
Laura Beals Davidson, Carlyle Campbell Library
Katie Drescher, Department of Foreign Language and Literature, Department of Religion and Philosophy
Tammy Ezell, Campus Police
Bonnie Furman, Department of Sociology/Social Work
Claire McCullough, Office of Graduate and Professional Studies
Nicholas Pace, Maintenance
George Sawyer, Office of the Registrar
Debbie Schramm, Campus Police
Gary Wilson, Housekeeping

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