Faculty/Staff Accomplishments and Departmental News 4/22/20

In this issue we share news from Art, the Counseling Center, English, the President’s Office, and World Languages and Cultures. We also share news about faculty participating in a social distance race, and from the Marketing Department about a new experts section of the website.

President Jo Allen wrote a leadership article, Beyond Checkboxes and Skill Sets: The Making of a Leader in Higher Education, for a special Women’s Leadership in Higher Education edition of The Journal Of Higher Education Management for the American Association of University Administrators. The full issue is available online: Journal of Higher Education Management – Vol 35(1) by AAUA–American Association of University Administrators

Professor of English Laura Fine’s article “Atticus Revised: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Go Set a Watchman and To Kill a Mockingbird,” has been published in a new book of critical essays, Mockingbird Grows Up: Re-Reading Harper Lee since Watchman, edited by Michele Reutter and Jonathan S. Cullick. University of Tennessee Press, 2020.

Counseling Center Director Beth Meier was interviewed by Open Campus for an article about how colleges are providing telehealth counseling services to students during the coronavirus. Open Campus is a nonprofit news site focused on higher education reporting. The site is a project of two former Chronicle  of Higher Education editors. Read the newsletter, including “Counseling, at a Distance,” the article featuring Meier, on the Open Campus site.

Professor of Art Jane Terry was a presenting filmmaker at the Dallas Video Fest Alternative Fiction festival held April 2–5. Terry’s short film, Intensity and Black Eternity, was an official selection of the festival. This year, the festival was live screened via the Dallas Video Fest website and Falcon Events. The platform provided a Q and A after the film and enabled the audience to ask questions.

Professor of World Languages and Cultures Jonathan Wade is the author of a new book, Being Portuguese in Spanish: Reimagining Early Modern Iberian Literature, 1580-1640, published on April 15, 2020, by Purdue University Press. From the book description: “Among the many consequences of Spain’s annexation of Portugal from 1580 to 1640 was an increase in the number of Portuguese authors writing in Spanish … Being Portuguese in Spanish explores the cultural cross-pollination that defined the era and reappraises a body of works that uniquely addresses the intersection of language, literature, politics, and identity.”

Faculty Participate in “Social Distance” Race
Professor of Art Shannon Johnstone shared that she and two other Meredith faculty members, Associate Professor of Sociology Amie Hess and Professor of Religious & Ethical Studies Steven Benko participated in a “Social Distance” running race on April 18. Benko ran this race as his 46th marathon. Hess and her family, including her 14-year old daughter, participated in the half marathon. Johnstone ran the majority of the marathon on the treadmill.

The race was called “Persistance Social Distance 6-Hour Marathon (or half)” and it was a free event sponsored by Carolina Godiva,” Johnstone explained. “Runners chose either marathon or half marathon distance, but the running was broken up into six separate runs of 4.367 miles (or 2.183 miles). Runners could only run one 4.367 (or 2.183) segment each hour from 9 a.m.–3 p.m., which totaled up to 26.2 miles (or 13.1). Awards were given to the fastest, slowest, median runners, along with the runner who accumulated the most mileage, and ran the most laps throughout the day.”

Unlike virtual races, this event required participants to come together via Zoom video conference after each running segment. Results were complied from Strava and converted into the race format by a software program that Johnstone’s husband, Anthony Corriveau, wrote.

“For me, the socializing in between running was the fun part.,” Johnstone said. “We would watched the results from each lap load, analyze who was in what place and what we would need to do to run our own fastest lap, encouraged each other, and/or talked smack. It was this synchronous format that made our race truly unique and made this a “social distance race” rather than a  virtual run or virtual race.”

Additional events are planned and the Meredith community is welcome to participate. Contact Johnstone for more information.

Online Meredith Experts Guide
The Marketing Department has created an online guide to Meredith faculty and staff who can serve as experts for members of the news media. The site is organized by area of focus, with a special section for experts on women’s topics. The site supports a strategic plan goal in the visibility pillar. Faculty or staff who would like to make edits to their listing, or who would like to be added to the site, should email News Director Melyssa Allen at allenme@meredith.edu.