Faculty/Staff Accomplishments 9/6/17

In this issue we celebrate accomplishments of faculty and staff in economics, English, institutional advancement, music, and political science. We also share news from Undergraduate Research and the Alumnae Office, and reminder about the NC DOT I-440 proposal public comment deadline.

Vice President of Institutional Advancement Lennie Barton has written a piece, “Four Pitfalls of Gifts Officers ─ and How to Avoid Them” that was published on August 11 on the CASE blog.

Drs. Carmen Christopher, Rebecca Duncan, and Kelly Roberts from the Department of English presented “Converging on the Right Questions: Reflection in the First Year Writing Course” at the Elon University Teaching and Learning Conference in August. The group presented an analysis of a pilot study on writing portfolios.

Dr. Margaret Evans, piano faculty, judged the final rounds of the fifth Macau-Asia Pacific International Youth Piano Competition, held on the stunning new campus of the Universidade de Macau in August. More than 3,000 students had auditioned in the preliminary rounds of this biennial competition, coming from Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and especially from the many cities of mainland China (including far northern regions). For the finals, the numbers had been winnowed to a few hundred competitors in multiple categories, including collegiate, adult, and pre-college pianists.  Evans adjudicated the final rounds each day, joined by one-to-three other judges (depending upon category) over a period of 12 days. Twenty judges from six nations assessed the competitors. Evans was one of two Americans, and one of only three non-Asian judges (the others being British and Italian).  The panel hailed from Beijing Conservatory; Shanghai Conservatory; Geneva, Switzerland; London, England; Como, Italy; Wright State University, USA; Meredith College, USA; Shenzhen Conservatory; Macau Conservatory; and the Academy of Performing Arts, Hong Kong. Each day, the competitors could select a judge (or judges) to give evening master classes and/or lessons. Evans was one of only two adjudicators chosen to do this.  She also gave a presentation, with the help of a translator, to the competition audience one evening. Evans is grateful for this excellent cross-cultural experience, with the chance to find both commonalities and slight differences in musical outlook.  Bonuses included the delicious Macanese/Portuguese cuisine and tours of UNESCO World Heritage Sights, in addition to the international musical camaraderie.

Adjunct Professor of Studio Art Holly Fischer will be exhibiting work in Refresh: New Art, New Viewsat Fine Art at Baxters Gallery in New Bern, N.C.  The show runs from September 8 – October 31, 2017. There are two events associated with the show: an opening reception on Friday, Sept. 8 from 5-8 p.m. and an “Eye of the Storm Party” on Friday, Sept. 29, from 6-9 p.m.

Associate Professor of Art Shannon Johnstone will be exhibiting her new work Stardust and Ashesat The Front in New Orleans from September 9–October 8. This work is a series of celestial looking cyanotypes made with sunlight and the ashes of euthanized animals from a county animal shelter. She will attend the opening reception on September 9, and give an artist’s walk through just before the opening.

Assistant Professor of Political Science Whitney Ross Manzo presented at the American Political Science Association meeting in San Francisco, Calif., on September 1. I. Manzo presented two papers: the first, “Does Higher Education Assessment Contribute to the Leaky Pipeline?”, explores whether and how assessment work contributes to the leaky pipeline of women in higher education, and the second, “State Legislatures and Public Universities: Higher Education Coordination as a Principal-Agent Problem,” examines ways state legislatures can incentivize publicly-funded higher education institutions to produce outcomes of interest.

Professor of Economics Anne York wrote an opinion piece for The Conversation on the Google memo controversy and what it says about implicit bias. The piece was republished in more than 20 outlets, including CNBC.com.

Departmental News

Taste of Research September 13
Undergraduate Research will celebrate student summer research accomplishments in their annual Taste of Research poster presentation.  The presentation will highlight research projects done through Meredith’s own summer research partnerships, students who have performed research at other institutions, as well as summer research performed as part of an off-campus internship.  This year’s event will be held on Wednesday, September 13 from 4:30-6 p.m. on the lower level of Carlyle Campbell Library.

Faculty with students interested in applying for research or travel funding should encourage them to visit the Undergraduate Research MyMeredith web page.  The 2017-18 Travel and Research grants applications are now posted and accepting student submissions.

New Alumnae Relations Staff Member
Taylor Wilson, ʼ13, has recently joined Meredith as assistant director of alumnae relations. Wilson earned a bachelor of science in biology from Meredith College and recently worked as assistant director of Continental Communications, Inc. In her new role in alumnae relations she will be responsible for organizing chapter events, assisting the Young Alumnae Board and the Networking Angels group.

NC DOT Public Comment Period Ends Sept. 8
The North Carolina Department of Transportation’s period for public comment on the proposals to expand I-440 will end on Friday, Sept. 8, 2017.

Faculty and staff are invited to submit comments on the current proposals. Here are three easy ways to comment:

• Submit a comment through the NCDOT’s public input portal https://ncdot.publicinput.com/1851 (Be sure to scroll down to the “Hillsborough Street and Wade Avenue Interchange area”)
• Email the project manager: John L. Williams at jlwilliams@ncdot.gov
• Write to: Diane Wilson, NCDOT – Environmental Analysis Unit, 1598 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1598