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US Senator
John McCain to Offer Support for Judicial Campaign Reform
During Meredith College Visit
By
Jesse Rutledge, associate director of the NC Center for Voter
Education
On
Monday, Oct. 20, U.S. Senator John McCain will visit North
Carolina to promote the state’s innovative judicial campaign
reform plan at a benefit lunch for the Public Campaign Financing
Fund.
 The
fundraising lunch will take place on the Meredith College
campus from noon until 1:30 p.m. Tickets for the lunch
cost $45 and are available at www.ncjudges.org/mccain
or by calling the Center for Voter Education at 877-253-7819.
Proceeds from the lunch with Senator McCain will benefit the
newly created North Carolina Public Campaign Financing Fund.
This fund pays for a nonpartisan voter guide and helps fund
appellate judicial candidates who accept strict fundraising
and spending limits.
Senator McCain, (R-Ariz.), is the nation’s leading legislative
advocate for campaign finance reform. He is one of the chief
architects of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), the
sweeping campaign finance reform law recently passed by Congress
that outlaws soft money and shines more light on political
advertising.
According to the event’s organizers, Senator McCain will
be encouraging North Carolinians to support this fund through
voluntary donations and by saying “yes” to the Public
Campaign Financing Fund on their 2003 state income tax forms.
By saying “yes” to the fund, citizens will help
make more and better information about candidates available
through a state voter guide.
Senator McCain’s visit to North Carolina is being coordinated
by the NC Center for Voter Education and the Alexandria, Va.-based
Reform Institute, an organization of which Senator McCain
serves as chair of the advisory committee.
Options to enjoy the Senator’s address:
1. Purchase a ticket to the luncheon in Belk Dining Hall for
$45. Visit the NC Center for Voter Education web site for
more information: www.ncvotered.com
2. Reserve in advance a seat at the complimentary Lunch ‘n
Learn event in the Wainwright Suite, Dogwood A&B, where
the Senator’s address will be broadcast on our Meredith
cable and faculty from our Political Studies program will
facilitate the discussion. Please make your reservation through
Amy Kinney: kinneya@meredith.edu
or 760-8115. Note: Spaces at the Lunch ‘n Learn event
are limited. Attendees are expected to attend the entire 12:15-1:30p.m.
time and participate in the discussion.
3. Watch the broadcast on Channel 10 from any on-campus television,
including those on the west side of Belk dining hall.
* photo courtesy of www.ncjudges.org/mccain
2003 Graduate to Teach in France for a Year as Part of a Program
Offered Annually by Meredith College
By
Andrea Weaver
 Malissa
de La Fosse, a 2003 Meredith College graduate, is putting
her passion for the French language to work this fall as an
English teacher at the L‘Université Catholique
d’ouest in Angers, France.
She is teaching language labs and small conversation classes
at the University through June 2004.
“It’s going to be really exciting and challenging,”
de La Fosse said recenlty. “I will be trying to help
my students perfect their oral proficiency.”
Meredith College and the Catholic University in Angers have
operated a study abroad program for 17 years, said Brent Pitts,
professor of foreign languages at Meredith. As part of that
program, the College and the University offer a recent graduate
from each institution the opportunity to teach and learn at
the other institution for a year.
“A French student comes here and one of our French majors
or minors goes there,” Pitts said. This year, de La Fosse,
who majored in French and minored in interior design, was
selected to represent Meredith at the Catholic University
in Angers.
“She is able to hold her own in any situation,”
Pitts said.
De La Fosse appreciates the support she received from Pitts,
Veronique Machelidon, assistant professor of foreign languages,
her Meredith friends, and her family in Greensboro, N.C.
“Dr. Pitts and Dr. Machelidon have been so great. Dr.
Pitts gave me the opportunity to apply and really encouraged
me… Dr. Machelidon is a strong advocate for French. She
helped me with my fluency,” de La Fosse said. “I
was very supported and very encouraged by the faculty…
It was really telling about what kind of college I chose.”
A family friend kindled de La Fosse’s interest in French
when she was 7 years old by greeting her in the language.
“I was fascinated,” she said. “I hadn’t
heard of another language.”
She began studying French in high school and continued at
Meredith. As a junior, de La Fosse spent a year in Montpellier,
France as part of a study abroad program offered through the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She attended
crash courses in French to improve her conversation skills,
enrolled in college courses where she was the only American
student, and made a conscious effort to immerse herself in
French culture.
De La Fosse learned the back roads in Montpellier. She and
her roommate, a UNC student, dined at local restaurants rather
than the eateries favored by tourists. They sampled the cuisine
at more than 50 restaurants, de La Fosse said.
She delved into her family’s history and discovered that
an ancestor, Charles de La Fosse (also spelled Delafosse),
was a respected artist during the late 1600s and early 1700s.
His work includes a mural at Les Invalides, where Napoleon’s
tomb is located, and a gallery ceiling in the chapel at Versailles.
One of his paintings, “The Finding of Moses,” hangs
in the Louvre.
“I had no idea we had famous heritage in our family,”
de La Fosse said. “Everywhere I went I just kept running
into my name!”
Her study abroad experience was especially memorable because
de La Fosse had been in France less than three weeks when
terrorists attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. She
heard about the attacks from other Americans who were in an
intensive French language class with her. They hurried to
a café to watch television news coverage. She immediately
began trying to telephone her father, an airline pilot, to
confirm that he was safe.
After several attempts, she talked to her father and learned
that he was OK. After the terrorists’ attacks, de La
Fosse and the 10 other Americans in her program purposely
kept a low profile.
“I didn’t advertise that I was an American studying
abroad because I needed to be safe,” she said. “I
tried to integrate into the culture. I had French friends.
I never spoke English in public. I really felt like I was
French for a year.”
The experience opened her eyes to differences between the
United States and France. She said: “Your viewpoint just
changes so much. I feel very blessed to be an American. We
have so many opportunities.”
She admits, though, that she missed the French way of life
after she returned to the U.S. for her senior year at Meredith.
Whereas Americans often emphasize professional success, the
French value family time and quality of life, she said.
“They are living in a country that just enjoys life and
eats it up,” de La Fosse recently said. “I’m
excited to go back because I know there’s so much more
to learn.”
After completing her teaching assignment at the Catholic University
in Angers, Malissa de La Fosse plans to return to the United
States for graduate school. Her sister Lindsey is now a sophomore
at Meredith.
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Meredith
To Host Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival
One of many art-related conferences on campus this month
By Melyssa Allen, Media Relations
Meredith College will be the host site for the North Carolina
American College Theater Festival, sponsored by the Kennedy
Center, Oct. 29-30, in Jones Auditorium.
The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival is a
national theater program involving 18,000 students from colleges
and universities nationwide. Since its founding in 1969, the
festival has grown into a network of more than 600 academic
institutions throughout the country, where theater departments
and student artists showcase their work and receive outside
assessment.
 Participants
in the festival are Meredith, Catawba College and Wingate
University. All performances are free and open to the public.
Reservations are not required. For more information, call
the Meredith College box office at 919-760-2840.
The schedule of performances to be held at Meredith is:
• October 29 at 7:30 p.m. Meredith College: “And
Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank”
• October 30 at 10 a.m. Wingate University: “Country
Songs”
• October 30 at 5:30 p.m. Catawba College: “Island”
October is a busy month for arts conferences on campus. The
Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival coincides
with the NC Theatre Conference (NCTC) Annual Gathering, which
Meredith College is also hosting. The NCTC Annual Gathering
will be held Oct. 30–Nov. 2. The mission of the NCTC,
founded in 1970, is to improve and enhance the environment
for quality theater in North Carolina. More information on
NCTC can be found at www.nctc.org.
In addition, the NC Dance Alliance met on campus Sept. 29-Oct.
4, the NC Music Teachers Conference is being held Oct. 17-19,
and the 2003 joint meeting of the Southeastern College Art
Conference (SECAC) and Tri-State Sculptors will be held Oct.
29-Nov. 2.
Two Meredith College Students Appointed GlaxoSmithKline Women
in Science Scholars for 2003-2004
by Kristen Scott, ´05
Meredith College students Charity Duran and Kate Jarman have
been appointed as Meredith’s two GlaxoSmithKline Women
in Science Scholars for 2003-2004.
In 1996, Glaxo, now GlaxoSmithKline, endowed a scholarship
for full-time Meredith College students. The scholarship recognizes
outstanding academic achievement and provides an incentive
for women to become professional scientists. Each year, two
undergraduate students are chosen for this prestigious award.
In addition to receiving a scholarship, they have the chance
to participate in the mentor program at GlaxoSmithKline in
Research Triangle Park. As a part of the mentoring program,
the student will work with a woman professional who gives
her time and expertise in the field as well as advice in making
career and academic decisions.
Charity Duran, of Cary, is a junior at Meredith. She has two
majors — biology with a concentration in molecular biology
and violin performance. Upon graduation, she plans to attend
graduate school for genetics.
Kate
Jarman, ’04, of Raleigh,
appreciates the encouragement GlaxoSmithKline provides to
women who want to pursue careers in science.
She says, “I am very grateful to have the mentorship
opportunity. I think it will help give me some direction as
far as my science career goes; I think it will put me on the
right path towards achieving my career goals.”
Jarman is majoring in chemistry and pursuing a minor in biology.
Upon graduation, she plans to attend graduate school. She
was also a 2002-03 Woman in Science Scholar. Jarman is continuing
the research she started last year on molecular modeling for
her honors thesis in chemistry.
Dr. Elizabeth Wolfinger, Meredith College’s faculty advisor
for GlaxoSmithKline Women in Science Scholars, is very pleased
with the success of this program. She says, “This has
proven to be a tremendous opportunity for the Meredith students
selected to receive this honor. In addition to the financial
award, many scholars have worked as summer interns at Glaxo
experiencing some aspect of the pharmaceutical industry, and
all have benefited enormously from the mentoring relationship.
The GSK female mentors have given generously of their time
and talents to provide guidance as these students seek to
make decisions about graduate schools and careers. Meredith
College is fortunate to have corporate partnerships such as
this that enable us to provide the best possible experiences
for our students.”
Nutshell
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