Faculty/Staff Accomplishments & Departmental News August 2018

The World’s Best Short Short Story Contest, sponsored by the Southeast Review at Florida State University, awards one winner and four finalists. Professor of English Rebecca Duncan’s “A Serious Man” was named a finalist for the 2018 competition. The contest was judged by Robert Olen Butler, and the winning stories will appear in a forthcoming issue of the Review.

Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD) Director Rachel Findley presented “Tips and Interactive Tools for Training the Adult Learner” at the School Nutrition Association annual conference in Las Vegas in July.

Professor of Political Science David McLennan published two op-eds recently. The first argued that, despite high voter dissatisfaction with both major political parties, third parties face too many obstacles to be successful in North Carolina. The second  co-authored with Assistant Professor of Political Science Whitney Ross Manzo, contents that women like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Stacey Abrams are the new faces of the Democratic Party and are creating a challenge for establishment Democrats.

McLennan also spoke at the Lee County Democratic Women’s July meeting on demographic changes in North Carolina and how those changes will affect politics, starting with the 2018 Midterm Election. He also spoke to Duke Energy employees in Raleigh and Charlotte on North Carolina’s political climate and the importance of civic engagement.

Sasha Ormond and Andrea Carter, Assistant Professors of Chemistry, attended the 25th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education July 29-August 2, 2018 at the University of Notre Dame. Carter presented a talk, titled “Building a library of analogies and graphics to assist general chemistry students, including visually impaired students.” Ormond presented a poster on this summer’s du Pont Interdisciplinary Project (with Child Development faculty member Fain Barker), titled “Chemistry for all: An outreach goal.” Together, Carter and Ormond presented a talk, “Using a departmental review to spearhead curriculum changes at a small, women’s liberal arts college.”

Meredith Director of Instrumental Activities Jim Waddelow led the Next Generation Performing Arts Camp Orchestra in a series of concerts in Joplin, Missouri from July 22-29.

Waddelow was also interviewed by CBS Sunday Morning for a feature about legendary Oklahoma high school music teacher Robert Moore. The story ran on July 15. Waddelow shared this about the subject of the story: “I was lucky to grow up in a town that had one of the strongest and most well-funded performing arts programs in the Southwestern United States. This is a program that had the top choral program in the state for each of the 30 years Robert Moore taught at Ponca City High School.

In the summer of 2017 a group of former students decided to track down every living singer from 1966-1996 who came through the program. Just over 300 of the 900 of us made it to Oklahoma that weekend to celebrate Mr. Moore’s 80th birthday. Most of us had not ever been to a high school reunion and in most cases i got to see and perform with people I had not seen since 1988. As a tribute to one of my biggest mentors I sang in the chorale and performed on my cello that weekend. He really had no idea that this was an event that had been planned for a full year. Each of us knows the impact of a special teacher in our lives, but what made the weekend special was see the scale of the impact the same person had on so many others.”

Watch the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywadiqtQyaI

The library’s Head of Research and Instruction, Jeff Waller, gave a presentation with former Peer Research Tutor Miranda Pikaart, ’18, at the Cooperating Raleigh Colleges Library Workshop at NC State. Their presentation, “With a Little Help From My Friends: Peer Research Tutors at the Learning Center,” outlined the development of the new research tutoring program, assessed its achievements to date, and offered “lessons learned” to other institutions thinking of launching similar programs.

Security Officer Jerome Robinson’s son, Jerome Jr., was selected 13th overall (1st round) in the NBA draft June 2018. Jerome Jr. will start his professional basketball career with the Los Angeles Clippers. He played college basketball at Boston College and high school basketball at Broughton High School here in Raleigh.

Chief Al White was presented a community service award by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. at the 81st Conclave in New Orleans, Louisiana, on July 23, 2018 for his international programs leadership and service to the community.

Departmental News
Headshots Photo Session Scheduled for September 7
A photo session for faculty/staff is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 7. This is an opportunity for faculty and staff to have headshots taken by the Department of Marketing. All headshot sessions will be conducted in front of Brewer Residence Hall behind Johnson Hall.

Your headshot will be automatically added to your profile on the Meredith College Website. Marketing will also send you a high-resolution copy of your headshot for your personal use. To help with scheduling, please register for a timeslot (https://goo.gl/forms/xModPv9QLgmjTRiy1). Walk-ins will also be welcome!

If you have any questions please contact Charlotte McKinney at 2876 or cmckinney@meredith.edu.