Research Trip to Kenya Lays Groundwork for Future Courses
By Melyssa Allen



Professor of Biology John Mecham spent part of the winter break on a research trip to Kenya.

Mecham says the primary goal of the trip was to support a consortium between Meredith and four other colleges - Bennett College, NC Wesleyan, the University of South Carolina-Sumter and Kenyatta University (in Nairobi, Kenya). The consortium project, which began two years ago, aims to design an introductory biology course called "Life Science in Context: Sub-Saharan Africa" in order to attract more women and minority students to the sciences.

"This course will help reach this goal by providing experiential, inquiry based learning and meaningful opportunities for civic engagement that promote cultural and gender-based sensitivity and understanding," Mecham says.

Mecham has applied for a National Science Foundation grant to support the project, which adapts and implements the Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER) model.

Dr. Philip Owino, a plant pathologist at Kenyatta University, who Mecham met in California at the SENCER Institute in 2002 and 2003, assisted him throughout the trip. Owino directs the HIV/AIDS control unit at Kenyatta University. While at the university, Mecham conducted a workshop on the application of a test for counting human white blood cells that are targeted by the HIV virus.

Mecham estimates that they "drove over 1,000 miles while in Kenya" with Owino and a Kenyatta University student. Mecham, whose specialty is tropical parasitic diseases, said, "I wanted to see up close and personal the tropical parasitic diseases I've studied all my life."

With the help of interpreters, Mecham was able to interview people with active parasitic infections, such as filariasis and schistosomiasis which is a water-bourne parasite that affects 80 percent of the population in some areas of Kenya.

This summer will bring more travel for Mecham. He will teach a new course called "Host Biology: Tropical Islands, AIDS and Africa," which is linked to "Caribbean Islands: Biology, Culture and Literature," which is taught by Debora Maldonado-deOliviera, assistant professor of foreign languages and literatures, to create CORE 202: "Caribbean Islands: Biology and Literature."

For one week of the six-week course, Mecham and Maldonado-deOliviera will accompany students to Hofstra University Marine Laboratory (HUML) at St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica, where they will engage in experiential learning and reflection in both courses.

The class is part of Meredith's new general education curriculum. Students following the new general education program must register for both courses and will receive credit for their CORE 200, their Science in Society, and either their Literature or Cultural Perspectives requirements.

Meredith Assistant Professor to Study Physical Environments within Elementary School Classrooms
By Andrea Weaver, web editor


The arrangement of desks and chairs in an elementary school classroom often reflects a teacher's instructional style, according to Dr. Monica McKinney, assistant professor of education at Meredith College.

"When I go into a classroom and I see the arrangement, I have an idea of what kind of focus I'm going to see," McKinney says. "If the teacher generally prefers a teacher-oriented style with all eyes to the front, then rows work well. If the teacher wants to encourage a more cooperative environment, then groups of desks work better."

In addition to arrangement, choice of furnishings can provide clues about instruction, if the teacher has had any input about the type of furniture in the room. For example, chair-desk combinations are easy to move, which makes them useful for group discussions, but the desktops are often small and slanted, which makes them inadequate workspaces for many types of projects.

McKinney recently began analyzing learning environments as an outgrowth of her work as an evaluator for the A+ Schools Program, a reform implemented in a number of elementary, middle and high schools in North Carolina. The program, now nine years old in some schools, includes an arts-enhanced curriculum and emphasizes thematic, hands-on instruction.

"I'm at the beginning of this research. I have no declarations, no generalizations," she says.

Instead, McKinney has a significant question she hopes to answer.

"How do we take the space that students and teachers move through and transform it into a meaningful place?" she says. "Furthermore, how does this process influence the teaching and learning that occur within classrooms? Many factors come into play."

McKinney plans to explore how classrooms are furnished, how items are arranged, how people move around in a classroom, how they physically perceive it and come to have preferences about it, when and why they make claims of ownership, and how they share space affect students' learning environment.

Once the A+ Schools Program study is complete, McKinney plans to develop a proposal for Wake County schools to continue her exploration of classroom space and place. She hopes that this project will provide a number of undergraduate research opportunities for Meredith students.

McKinney, who joined the Meredith faculty four years ago, specializes in the social foundations of education, a field of research that analyzes the U.S. educational system from anthropologic, historic, philosophic and sociologic viewpoints.

Meredith College Completes Presidential Review Process

At its fall meeting the Meredith College Board of Trustees was given a summary of the 360 "degree" evaluation of President Maureen Hartford's first four years at Meredith.

Hartford found the evaluation to be "a useful guide to learn from the past and focus on the critical issues such as the capital campaign, enrollment, marketing and funding while continuing to build a strong administrative team that will actualize Meredith's goals for the future."

Dr. William A. Weary, president of Fieldstone Consulting, Inc., conducted Hartford's presidential performance review. Weary helps develop strategy for boards and administrations of colleges, universities, schools, associations, governmental bodies, churches and other nonprofit groups around the country and the world.

The formal interview process took place September 3-5, 2003. Weary wrote a formal report and submitted it to the presidential assessment committee, an ad-hoc committee of the board of trustees. The presidential assessment committee consists of the following trustees, Michelle Rich, board chair, Gene Langley, board vice chair and Jeff Hockaday, chair of the presidential assessment committee.

"Under Dr. Hartford's direction Meredith has made great progress in catching up and in moving forward through the efforts made in implementing the strategic plan developed prior to her appointment," said Rich. "The board continues to enthusiastically endorse President Hartford in her leadership of the college."

Sculpture Inspires Arts Collaboration, Performance
By Melyssa Allen

A sculpture on display at the North Carolina Museum of Art has inspired an upcoming inter-disciplinary performance by Meredith's arts programs.

Becky Bailey, dean of the School of the Arts, says Meredith was invited to create an hour-long interdisciplinary performance in conjunction with the museum's "Defying Gravity" exhibition. The creative work, titled "Flight Patterns: The Spirit Can Soar," will be held on Friday, April 30 at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the N.C. Museum of Art's Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Bailey says that Meredith has "a longstanding record of collaboration on projects with the museum, and when they contacted me about the Michael Richards project they said that they would like us to work with them because we have been one of their most dedicated and reliable partners."

The performance was inspired by a sculpture, "Tar Baby vs. St. Sebastian," by artist Michael Richards. N.C. Museum of Art materials describe the sculpture, which was made from a cast of Richards' body, in this way - "(Richards) is dressed as one of the famed Tuskegee airmen. Unlike traditional St. Sebastian imagery, in which the martyred saint is shot with arrows, the body of Richards' sculpture is pierced with airplanes."

This imagery now seems eerie, because Richards had a studio in the World Trade Center and died in the Sept. 11 attacks. The sculpture was also thought lost, but Richards' family had the piece and allowed it to be in the exhibition. For more information, visit www.ncartmuseum.org/.

"Flight Patterns: The Spirit Can Soar," will feature work by each of Meredith's arts departments - music, dance, theatre and visual arts.

Bailey says the work aims to illustrate that "the human spirit is transcendent."

The performance opens with dance, which will incorporate a videotaped performance projected behind a live performance featuring capoeira, a Brazilian martial arts/dance form rooted in African slave culture in colonial Brazil. Meredith Dance Theatre will perform in both the filmed dance sequences and the live performance.

Following the dance will be a Civil Rights section that is also paying tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American Air Force pilots during World War II, whose heroism and bravery were truly recognized only long after the war ended," Bailey says. The Civil Rights portion will include a dramatic reading of "The People Could Fly," an African-American folk tale about escape from bondage.

This portion "leads to a section on war - not limited to the 20th century, but also including the Civil War, and illustrating the struggle for freedom," Bailey says. Professor of Music Ellen Williams will sing songs with themes including war, grief and the restoration of the spirit. John Creagh, associate professor of communication, will be reading texts, both poetry and prose, to go with the songs.

The performance will end with music by the Meredith College Chorale.

Chorale Director Lisa Fredenburgh, associate professor of music, says, "They will be singing two selections, one of which will be a world premiere. Composer Robert DeCormier has agreed to re-voice his famous arrangement of the spiritual "Let Me Fly" for the Meredith Chorale. We are very excited, since the text and uplifting nature of this arrangement suits our project perfectly."

Meredith's visual arts program is also represented. Forty students have created clay pieces that will be put together sculpturally. The artwork might be featured in the performance piece, and Meredith has been invited to install work on the grounds of the N.C. Museum of Art.

"I hope that each person who witnesses this performance is carried to a place in their minds and hearts where humans are reminded that we can rise above struggle, tragedy, and pain," Fredenburgh says. "Experiencing the arts is different for each person. I hope they get something meaningful to them."

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