Faculty/Staff Accomplishments and News Briefs December 2024

In this issue, we celebrate the accomplishments of faculty and staff in accounting, history, institutional advancement, international studies, psychology, and religion. We also share news briefs about a new communication from President Sapp and about students attending a global leadership conference.

Senior Director of Gift Planning Linda Carter was elected president of the North Carolina Council of Charitable Gift Planners for 2025.

Assistant Professor of International Studies Chelsea Cutright co-organized and hosted a virtual roundtable session at the American Anthropology Association Annual Meeting on November 21, 2024. The session, “Research, Praxis, and Solidarity with 2SLGBTQ+ Young People in Turbulent Times,”  was the invited/sponsored session of the Anthropology of Children and Youth Interest Group (ACYIG). Dr. Cutright co-organized this session with Dr. Jenny Shaw, a colleague from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia. The session included two discussants and seven roundtable participants representing an interdisciplinary cohort of scholars from a variety of academic and community positionalities. A recording of the session will be available in early 2025.

Professor of Religion Shannon Grimes recently returned from Egypt, where she was a keynote speaker at the first international Hermopolis Symposium. Her talk was on Seshat, a goddess of scholars, scribes, and temple artisans. While in Egypt, she visited several ancient sites and studied the iconography of Seshat and her better-known companion deity, Thoth, the god of wisdom and writing.

Assistant Professor of Psychology Candalyn Rade and Assistant Professor of Accounting Nancy Johnson published their SoTL research “Study habits shift to adaptive interactive e-books: Rethinking instructional design” Teaching Business and Economics 28(3) 12-15. This work is a result of the Meredith SoLT Scholars programs Johnson participated in during 2023-24. Colleagues are encouraged to review the findings which show student access of e-readings and videos materially decreased after early weeks in entry-level accounting courses.

Associate Professor of History Angela Robbins was inducted into the Historical Society of North Carolina on October 18. Membership is only open to scholars who are nominated and voted in by their peers. The membership is capped at 100 and features some of the most significant scholars of North Carolina and Southern history. Robbins’ recent published research includes “White supremacy in North Carolina rests in woman’s hands”: Dr. Delia Dixon-Carroll and the Power of White Women Voters,” in Southern Cultures 30;  “Doing Their Big Bit: North Carolina’s Women on the Home Front,” in North Carolina’s Experience During the First World War, University of Tennessee Press; and  “Alice Morgan Person: ‘My life has been out of the ordinary run of woman’s life,’” in North Carolina Women: Their Lives and Times, University of Georgia Press. Organized in 1945, The Historical Society of North Carolina encourages the study of history, with primary emphasis on the history of North Carolina and secondary emphasis on the history of the South and the United States. The Society seeks to foster research, writing, and publication of worthy historical studies in these fields.

News Briefs

Coming Soon — News from the President’s Porch
The campus community will soon receive access to news from the President’s Porch – a website where President Aimee Sapp and the Executive Leadership Team will share celebrations from each of their areas. President Sapp sees this website, based on how people once shared news and conversation on their front porch, as a place for the campus community to celebrate successful initiatives and other accomplishments each semester. The first edition will be shared via emp_all soon.

Students Attend Global Leadership Conference
On October 26, more than 75 students gathered at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte for the 2024 Global Leadership and International Engagement Student Conference. The event brought together students from across North Carolina to explore global leadership and cultural exchange.

The Office of International Programs sponsored attendance by a group from Meredith, including Jacey Perez Conde, Itzel Alvarez Chavez, Christian Getaneh, Rothmila Tajrian, Yadira Martinez-Reyes, and Daniela Montanez Alvarez. The conference provided a unique opportunity to connect with peers from diverse international backgrounds and to hear firsthand experiences about studying abroad and working across cultures. A highlight of the day was a service project where students created “reverse swag bags” for local primary school students from immigrant families.