Faculty/Staff Accomplishments and Departmental News 3/14/17

In this issue we celebrate the accomplishments of faculty and staff in departments of art, biological sciences, child development, exercise and sport science, international programs, and and political science. We also share news about a global fellowships information session and opportunities to support Meredith’s symposium on World War I.

President Jo Allen was a featured speaker at an International Women’s Day event co-sponsored by CITRIX and the Raleigh chapter of Women in Networking (WIN) on March 8, 2017.

Assistant Professor of Child Development Fain Barker presenting “The Effects of a Parent-Implemented Infant Signing Intervention” at the N.C. Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (NCAFCS) annual conference on March 3.

Instructor of Art Holly Fischer has a solo exhibition, Come Closer, in the Upfront Gallery at Artspace in downtown Raleigh through March 25, 2017. A gallery talk will be held on Thursday, March 23 from 6:30-8 p.m.

Associate Professor of Art Shannon Johnstone will attend the third biennial “Living With Animals” conference at Eastern Kentucky University, March 22–25, 2017. While there Johnstone will be presenting a lecture on her Landfill Dogs project, exhibiting a series from Landfill Dogs at conference juried art exhibition called “Co-Existence,” presenting a poster session about Meredith College’s ART 332: Photography and Social Change course, and serving as portfolio reviewer for conference artists.

Assistant Professor of Political Science Whitney Manzo attended the annual meeting of the N.C. Political Science Association, held March 3-4, 2017. Manzo presented research from The Meredith College Poll on polarization and the media, and she was a speaker for a roundtable discussion of gender and the 2016 election. Senior Cristy Villalobos attended with Manzo to present her senior thesis, “Public Opinion of Voter Identifications in North Carolina.”

Visiting Professor of Political Science David McLennan spoke to the League of Women Voters of Wake County on how to improve civic engagement in the aftermath of the 2016 elections. He spoke at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute on “Now that the election is over, what’s next?” McLennan spoke at the Cardinal at North Hills on the expectation of political culture in the coming years. He also spoke to the League of Women Voters of Orange and Durham counties on the status of women in N.C. politics. In addition, McLennan moderated a town hall meeting for Congressman David Price.

Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Carolina Perez-Heydrich co-authored an article that was just published in the journal Ecological Modeling. The article is titled “Dynamics of leprosy in nine-banded armadillos: Net reproductive number and effects on host population dynamics.”

Instructor of Exercise and Sport Science Erica Roelofs and four Exercise and Sport Science majors attended the Southeast American College of Sports Medicine Regional Conference in Greenville, S.C., from February 16-18, 2017. At the conference, Roelofs presented results from her latest study, “Effects of Branched-chain Amino Acids on Resting Metabolism, Body Composition, and Satiety in Females.” Students Cooper Rodriguez, Allison Scott, Anna Huff, and Sarah Dubose participated in the undergraduate student bowl competing against other colleges and universities in the Southeast region.

Director of International Programs Brooke Shurer has been nominated to serve on the Advisory Board for Academic Programs International to help shape study abroad program policy and organization initiatives. API is a longstanding Meredith Affiliate study abroad provider.

Departmental News

Global fellowships Information Session
Please encourage interested students to attend a Global fellowships info session, scheduled for Tuesday, March 21 from 3:30 – 4:20 p.m. in Ledford 111 for nutshell presentations of the following fellowship opportunities: Fulbright, Schwarzman, Rotary, Goldwater, Marshall, Rhodes, and Davies-Jackson. For further information, visit the Global fellowships webpage or contact Brent Pitts at pittsb@meredith.edu.

Faculty Needed to Support Symposium on World War I
The Department of History, Political Science, and International Studies is hosting a symposium on World War I from April 6-8, 2017. You can view the full list of presenters and their paper titles on our symposium web page. The scholarship reaches into various disciplines and spans regional to global history. Learn more about the symposium

Faculty: Will you please consider chairing and/or providing comments on a panel?  As a chair, you would introduce the scholars and keep time. If you are willing to provide comments, we will make the papers available to you in advance and ask that you provide a 10-15 minute scholarly critique/discussion and engage the audience in questions and answers.

We appreciate very much any help you may be able to offer. Your involvement will help ensure the success of this event and will showcase Meredith’s strengths of community and scholarship. If you would like to help or have any questions, please contact Angela Marritt, amarritt@meredith.edu, or Greg Vitarbo, vitarbog@meredith.edu.