Faculty/Staff Accomplishments and Departmental News 11/19/18

In this issue we celebrate accomplishments of faculty and staff in career planning, English, fashion merchandising & design, and international programs. We also share departmental news from the Department of History, Political Science, and International Studies.

The 2019 issue of the North Carolina Literary Review will feature a pair of essays on Zoe Kincaid Brockman, a Gastonia-based journalist and founder of the North Carolina Poetry Society, by Rebecca Duncan and Lyn Triplett, a former student of English and professional writing at Meredith.  Triplett began archival research on Brockman, a surrogate grandmother figure, as an independent study.  During her recent sabbatical, Duncan proposed the collaboration; she wrote a critical essay on Brockman’s newspaper columns and award-winning poetry, and Triplett contributed a memoir of her recollections of Brockman.  They are grateful to Laura Davidson for locating microfilm of the Gastonia Gazette.  Rebecca Duncan is professor of English at Meredith; Lyn Triplett has a background in music education and has worked with disaster recovery services since 2011.  She is currently awaiting a FEMA placement assisting North Carolina hurricane survivors.

Assistant Professor of Fashion Merchandising & Design Ali Howell presented a co-authored research poster at the International Textiles and Apparel Association annual conference in Cleveland, Ohio, on November 7 – 9. The research, Same Time, Next Year: Evolution of the Pussyhat’s Symbolism was co-authored with V. Ann Paulins, Ohio University, Nancy Malcom and Addie Martingale, Georgia Southern University, and Julie Hillery, The Ohio State University. This work is a continuation of a larger study completed last year on the inaugural Women’s March on Washington. This year data was collected from participants of the second annual Women’s March. The focus of the study was to better understand the exclusivity of the pink pussyhat, a symbol of the march, through gender and racial identity.

Traci Johnson and Brooke Shurer from the Office of International Programs attended the NAFSA regional conference from November 11-14 in Memphis, Tennessee. While at the conference, Johnson participated in a workshop on advising and supporting international students. Shurer presented a session on study abroad fundraising titled “International Education meets Institutional Advancement” with colleagues from NC State and served as a mentor for the case study competition.

Kelly Morris Roberts, associate professor of English, was interviewed for BYU radio’s Lisa Valentine Clark Show on Friday, October 26 at 10:25 a.m. ET in conjunction with a recent article Roberts wrote on female protagonists in young adult literature.   The show aired nationwide on SiriusXM channel 143 with a national subscriber base of over 32 million listeners as well as DISH Network channel 980, iTunes Radio, and a live stream at byuradio.org.

Dana F. Sumner, director of career planning, received her Gallup-Certified Strengths Coaching certificate in May 2018 after successful completion of a 40-hour course, exam, and coaching sessions. Sumner and the team in the Office of Career Planning collaborate with StrongPoints to deliver strengths-based education to Meredith students. They help students understand their strengths in order to leverage them in academic, experiential, financial, and career plans.

Departmental News

Meredith Well Represented in Moot Court
Fifteen Meredith students competed at the Regent University School of Law Moot Court tournament on Friday, November 9. The students practiced their oral communication and critical thinking skills as they argued a fictional Supreme Court case in front of Regent law students and law professors.

Meredith Historians Participate in Museum Panel
On Saturday November 10, several Meredith history faculty participated in a N.C. Museum of History panel discussion on the impact of World War I. Assistant Professor of History Angela Robbins moderated the panel while Professor of History Gregory Vitarbo and Professor Emerita Carolyn Happer were among the panelists. The panel was a continuation of the department’s commemoration of the centennial of the Great War, which included last year’s WWI Symposium.