Faculty/Staff Accomplishments and News Briefs 3/29/23

In this issue, we share the accomplishments of faculty and staff in communication, history, international programs, and music, along with participation in the NC State Conference on Faculty Excellence by faculty from several departments. We also share a call for proposals for Cooperating Raleigh Colleges (CRC) Professional Development programs.

Eight Communication students attended the College Media Association Spring National Convention in New York City, March 8-11. Students learned best practices for journalism, social media, podcasting, and student publications. Meredith Communication faculty Lynn Owens and Alan Buck were featured speakers at the event, leading the session “Looking and Sounding Your Best On Air.”  

Members of the Meredith College Universities Studying Slavery Research Team attended the organization’s spring meeting at UNC-Chapel Hill this week (March 15-18). Professor of History Dan Fountain participated in a panel discussion of the Locating Slavery’s Legacies Database, a project hosted by Sewanee that documents the presence and impact of slavery and the Lost Cause on college and university campuses. Other panelists represented Sewanee, Washington and Lee, William and Mary, Furman, and the University of Illinois-Chicago. Fountain has worked on the database this year with Meredith graduating senior Gwyneth Thomas, a history and music double major.

Two students of Dr. Kent Lyman, Professor of Music, competed in Meredith College’s annual Concerto/Aria Competition on March 9, 2023. Aliyana Campbell, ’24, played the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in F major, K. 459. Peyton Flory, ’26, played the first movement of Kabalevsky’s Piano Concerto in D major, Op. 50. Both students were selected as winners in the competition and will be performing their concertos with the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra on Friday, May 5, at 8 p.m. in Jones Auditorium.  The orchestra will be under the direction of Director of Instrumental Activities Dr. Jim Waddelow.

Director of International Programs Brooke Shurer and Associate Director of International Programs Liz Yaros participated in a panel hosted by the N.C. Association of International Educators titled, “Bad A$s Women Shaping International Education in North Carolina,” on March 13.

Director of Instrumental Activities Jim Waddelow conducted the premiere performance of North Carolina composer Bill Robinson’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra on March 11. Eric Pritchard of the Ciompi Quartet was the violin soloist. 

The NC State Conference on Faculty Excellence held on March 9, 2023, included the following Meredith presentations:
Dr. Rebecca Duncan, Mary Lynch Johnson Professor of English, and Dr. Jennifer C. Burgess, Assistant Professor of English, presented an interactive session entitled “Rebuilding Classroom Community through Reflective Action.”  The session engaged participants in a team-based activity combining the principles and pedagogy of Joanna Wolfe (Team-Based Writing, Bedford/St. Martin’s) with recent scholarship on diversity and inclusion.  

Dr. Nancy Johnson, Instructor of Accounting presented a session co-authored with Dr. Lynn Owens, Associate Professor of Communication, entitled “Experiential Learning Case: A Journalism and Accounting Collaboration.” The novel teaching case inspires innovative methods of cross-discipline collaboration for reducing career-specific unknowns and associated anxiety, while increasing confidence The primary deliverable includes role-playing to produce a live news segment discussing financial results and company strategy.

Dr. Monica McKinney, Professor of Education and Director of Graduate Programs, John E. Weems Graduate School, and Dr. Laura Prestwood, Associate Professor and Program Coordination of Interior Design, presented their interdisciplinary research on Placemaking in the College Classroom…Beyond the First Day. This interactive session engaged attendees in discussion and reflection of placemaking as an integral component of classroom instruction and teaching pedagogy.

Dr. Pamela Norcross, Assistant Professor of Child Development, and Dr. Betty-Shannon Prevatt, Assistant Professor of Psychology, presented a roundtable discussion entitled “Supporting Undergraduate Students in the Research Process.” Attendees participated in an interactive session sharing ideas for scaffolding undergraduate students in research using Bloom’s levels of cognition.

Dr. Brian Routh, Assistant Professor of Accounting, presented a poster titled “A Process Costing Simulation: Experiential Learning in the Introductory Managerial Accounting Course”. This presentation is based on a manuscript detailing an in-class, small-team, active learning simulation designed to assist introductory managerial accounting students in their understanding of the process costing topic. Students worked in production teams and departments to produce a product that was not familiar to them that followed through all four stages of Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model. Results from pre- and post-simulation assessments suggest that the activity improved higher-order thinking skills in students. Qualitative data suggests that students enjoyed the activity and believed that it did enhance their understanding and comprehension of the process costing topic.

Dr. Anne York, Professor of Economics, presented a poster titled “Using LinkedIn to Connect Course Concepts to Career Plans.”  This presentation is related to a forthcoming article in the Journal of Economic Education. Over the course of the semester, students are instructed in best practices for setting up their LinkedIn accounts and create posts that show their mastery in relating economics topics to what is happening in their intended career, such as growth in the demand for workers in that profession or the price elasticity of demand for a product they may one day sell.

News Briefs

Call for Proposals: Cooperating Raleigh Colleges (CRC) Professional Development
CRC is looking for speakers from its six Raleigh institutions to present during breakout sessions at its annual summer professional development conference. The conference’s theme is Refresh, Restore, Refocus: Taking Care of You. The date is tentatively scheduled for July 13, 2023, with additional details being released in mid-April. If you are interested in presenting at the conference, please consider filling out this form. Registration details for the conference will be shared at a later date for those interested in attending.