U.S. News Ranks Meredith 16th Best Among Southern Master's Universities

Meredith College ranks 16th on the U. S. News & World Report 2005 America's Best Colleges list of the Best Master's Universities in the southern region.

In recent years, Meredith has consistently ranked in the top 20 on the U.S. News list. Meredith also was ranked 14th among schools in its region on a listing of "Great Schools at Great Prices."

Meredith, the highest ranked women's college in its region, is also noted for having the sixth highest graduation rate among master's universities in the south. U.S. News & World Report cites graduation rates as one of the key criteria in judging schools.

U.S. News & World Report places colleges and universities in one of four categories: National Universities—Doctoral, Liberal Arts Colleges—Bachelor's, Universities—Master's, and Comprehensive Colleges — Bachelor's. The 572 master's universities are divided into four geographical regions—North, South, Midwest and West. Rankings are based on attributes such as academic reputation, average freshman retention rate, average graduation rate, average class size, student selectivity, student-to-faculty ratio and alumni giving rate.

Meredith Faculty Member Named Interim State Superintendent of Education
By Melyssa Allen

North Carolina Governor Mike Easley has named Tricia Willoughby the interim state superintendent of education. Willoughby, a member of the State Board of Education, is an assistant professor of education and director of elementary education programs at Meredith College.

Willoughby will serve as interim superintendent until January 2005 when the newly elected state superintendent will be sworn into office. She is completing the term of Superintendent Mike Ward.

In a joint statement, Ward and State Board of Education Chairman Howard Lee said, "Ms. Willoughby is an ideal candidate to provide leadership to the Department of Public Instruction and to public schools over the next few months. Ms. Willoughby has a wealth of knowledge about the issues and needs of public education. Her steady involvement with teacher preparation and staff development, as well as her keen interest in improving struggling schools and helping students at risk, will serve her well in this new role."

Willoughby was appointed to the State Board of Education by Gov. Easley in May 2001 to serve an eight-year term. She has a Bachelor of Arts in early childhood education from UNC-Chapel Hill and a master's degree in education from Meredith College. Willoughby is a former classroom teacher who has been involved with the Triangle Alliance, the state Motheread program, and the International Reading Association.

In addition, Willoughby has been an active member of the parent/teacher/student associations at schools attended by her two daughters. As a board member, Willoughby has served on the National Association for State Boards of Education Study Group for High School Reform and represents the board with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded New Schools Project.

Panel Discussion Gives Meredith Students "A Look At Iraq"
By Melyssa Allen

Meredith students who spent the summer reading "Naked in Baghdad," NPR correspondent Anne Garrels' account of the days leading up to war in Iraq and during the war itself, were able to get an insiders' view of the country during a panel discussion called "A Look at Iraq."

"We were trying to give students a very vivid impression of Iraq and the United States' involvement there in various capacities (military, commercial, governmental, medical)," said Associate Professor of English Rebecca Duncan, one of the event's organizers. "We asked each speaker to choose three vivid ideas or images and speak to those. We thought that these additional perspectives would enrich the book discussions."

Panelists Dr. Randall W. Williams, J. Scott Merrell of the Research Triangle Institute, U.S. Air Force Captain Jennifer Bault and reporter Jay Price of The News & Observer each detailed their first hand knowledge of the war.

Williams, a Raleigh based obstetrician/gynecologist, was part of a group of volunteer doctors who went to Iraq to help rebuild the country's health care system. The group met with 500 Iraqi doctors.

"There had been no new medical knowledge in Iraq since 1979 – what they hunger for is knowledge," Williams said. "In all fields – engineering, law, medicine, they are 25 years behind."

Jennifer Bault, a captain in the U.S. Air Force, described the personal sacrifices she made when she served in the Middle East nation of Qatar for three months in 2003. As an Air Force intelligence officer, Bault briefed C-130 pilots before and after their missions in Iraq.

At the time, Bault's son was just seven months old and her husband, who is in the Army, had only been home for two months after his own deployment to Afghanistan.

"My husband emailed pictures of the baby every day," Bault said. "I missed the first Easter, my first official Mother's Day and my anniversary."

Jay Price, a senior reporter with The News & Observer, spent three months in Iraq as an embedded reporter with the Army's 82nd Airborne. While slides taken by N&O photographer Chuck Liddy showed in the background, Price discussed the challenge of being "embedded" with the military, saying that this arrangement "gives you a narrow view, only what you see in front of you."

"You have to trust your editors back home to put the rest of the picture together," Price said.

Panelist Scott Merrell, counsel and corporate secretary of Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International, discussed his organization's work with the U.S. Agency for International Development to help rebuild Iraq. Among RTI's projects were efforts to restore basic services such as access to water and electricity to Iraq, and to help establish local governments.

"Before the war, everything was controlled by Saddam...once the central government was no longer in power, the people didn't know what to do," Merrill said. One goal of the local governance project was to "convince people that it was okay to participate in government." To achieve this RTI employees trained new officials to do their jobs, established a citizen complaint desk, and taught officials how to deal with complaints.

Price called these efforts by RTI and others "an untold story" of the war in Iraq.

"Probably no one has ever started a democracy from scratch in such a short time,"Price said.

NPR Correspondent Anne Garrels to Speak at Meredith College
By Kelly Jones, '05

Anne Garrels, author of Naked in Baghdad, will speak at Meredith on Monday, Sept. 27 at 6:30 p.m. Garrels' lecture will be held in McIver Amphitheater and is free and open to the public.

This summer, incoming Meredith freshmen read Naked in Baghdad as the College's summer reading program selection.

As a correspondent for National Public Radio's foreign desk, Garrels was one of 16 U.S. journalists to report in Baghdad during the invasion of Iraq. Her personal experiences in Baghdad are narrated in her book.

Garrels has reported on many international issues from around the world, but it was her work in Iraq for which she was awarded the 2003 Courage in Journalism Award, an award presented by the International Media Foundation.

In previous years, summer reading selections have included Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel's Night, Icebound by Dr. Jerri Nielsen, and Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years, by Sarah and Elizabeth Delany.

For more information on Garrels' lecture or Meredith's Summer Reading Program, contact the Dean of Students Office at ext. 8521.

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