Faculty/Staff Accomplishments July 2019

In this issue, we celebrate the accomplishments of faculty and staff in art, campus police, English, health services, human environmental sciences, music, political science, research, planning and assessment, sociology, StrongPoints, and theatre.

Professor of Sociology Lori Brown was interviewed by WUNC radio for a story about aging trends in North Carolina. The story ran during news breaks on the local NPR station on June 26-27.

Professor of English Laura Fine’s article, “Sexual Violence and Cultural Crime in the Country Noir Fiction of Bonnie Jo Campbell,” was published in Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction. https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/eahmk99CbKJEySBu3DBj/full?target=10.1080/00111619.2019.1612838

Associate Professor Woody Holliman will be presenting “The School of Hard Knocks: A Role-Playing Game for Designers” at this year’s SECAC Conference for Art and Design Educators in Chattanooga, Tenn. The premise of this game is that it’s only a slight exaggeration to say “there are no bad clients, only clients turned into bad clients by bad designers.” Describe almost any nightmare scenario with a so-called “bad” client, and a veteran designer can explain how a tighter creative brief, an additional contract provision, proper use of a change order, or adherence to some other standard business protocol would effectively prevent or resolve that issue. To bring this point home, Holliman’s role-playing game challenges each group of students to draw a card describing a difficult client scenario, and then act out a scene in which they fix the problem with a minimum of pain and suffering.

Director of Health Services Mary Johnson was awarded the Southern College Health Association’s New Professional of the Year. This award is given to individuals who have been in the field of college health for five years or fewer and demonstrate the potential for sustained leadership important to the mission of American College Health Association. The award was presented during the ACHA annual meeting. Meredith College earned second place in the National Wellness Challenge, sponsored by the National Consortium for Building Healthy Academic Communities. Meredith’s winning entry was the “Building CommuniTea” program. Winning teams were recognized at the Building Healthy Academic Communities 2019 National Summit. (Learn more about the CommuniTea program https://www.meredith.edu/news/tea-mindfulness-and-resilience-meredith-hosts-communi-tea)

Assistant Professor of Political Science Whitney Ross Manzo presented “Another Double-Bind: Running for Office as a Republican Woman Post-Trump” at the European Conference on Politics and Gender in Amsterdam, on July 5. This research grew out of work Emily Slusser, ’19, did for her senior thesis in political science, and looks at how Republican women running for office in North Carolina in 2018 felt on the campaign trail, as well as how Republican voters feel about women candidates. Manzo shared the following about their findings: “We found that Republican women believe they face different challenges running for office than a Republican man would, including fundraising and appealing to Republican voters. We also found that, surprisingly, older Republican voters believe intersectional Republican candidates are more important than younger Republican voters do.”

Professor of Theatre Catherine Rodgers was interviewed by The News & Observer about Meredith alumna Beth Leavel’s Tony nomination for The Prom. The story ran in June prior to the awards ceremony.  https://www.newsobserver.com/entertainment/article231125743.ece

Professor of Human Environmental Sciences Deborah Tippett co-presented a session on Living Our Values and Mission: Dialogue & Action on Controversial Issues: Family Separation as a Case at the AAFCS Annual Conference and Expo in St. Louis, Mo on June 24, 2019.   As Leader of the Global Perspectives Community, Tippett led business meetings and spoke at a luncheon on The Immigrant Crisis in the United States:  How Can We Respond?.

From June 6-16, Director of Instrumental Activities Jim Waddelow conducted three orchestral concerts and performed as a cellist in an additional three chamber music concerts across five Oklahoma cities with the members of the Oklahoma Haydn Festival. Two Meredith students, Guadalupe De la Rosa, ’20, and Carolina De la Rosa, ’21, joined him as arts marketing and performing interns.

Director of StrongPoints Candice Webb and Survey and Report Coordinator Dilnavaz Sharma, along with Dianne Raubenheimer, Director of Research, Planning, and Assessment, presented at the NCICU Assessment Conference on June 12 at Guilford College. The presentation was titled “Turning a Challenge into a Strength: Using Assessment to Refine a Collaborative Program.” The presentation highlighted the development of an ongoing assessment plan for StrongPoints and demonstrated how the evaluative process was used to refocus and enhance the program.

Campus Police Chief Al White was appointed to serve a three-year term on the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators’ Education and Learning Committee. His appointment took place at the international conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, on June 26.