“EXTRA”
THE TWIG
Newspaper of the Students of Meredith College
MEREDITH COLLEGE, RALEIGH, N. C., OCTOBER 14, 1971
Dr. Weems Is Elected New President,
Special Convocation Called Friday
Faculty, staff and students will meet
Meredith College’s sixth president, Dr,
John Edgar Weems, 39, at a special 10
a.m. convocation Friday, October 15, in
Jones Auditorium.
This will be the first opportunity the
college community will have to officially
meet the newly-elected president, Dr.
Weems, vice-president for finance and
administration at Middle Tennessee
State University, was elected president
by the Board of Trustees about 8 p.m.
Thursday.
Middle Tennessee State University is
a co-educational, state-controlled, gen
eral purpose institution, located in the
Heart of Tennessee, 30 miles from Nash
ville.
Dr. Weems will assume his new office
on Jan. 1, 1972 and will continue in his
present capacity at Middle Tennessee
until late December. Dr. Allen Burris,
vice-president and academic dean at
* Meredith, will continue to serve as acting
president until Dr. Weems assumes his
new post.
Dr. L. M. Massey, chairman of the
Presidential Selection Committee, will
introduce Dr. Weems during the convo
cation. Dr, Massey presented the recom
mendation of his committee to the Board
of Trustees Thursday night and the
Trustees elected Dr. Weems president
of Meredith.
C. C. Cameron, chairman of the Board
of Trustees, made the announcement of
Dr. Weems’ election at a news confer
ence following the Board meeting.
“We feel fortunate in securing a man
of Dr. Weems’ experience and expertise
in the field of higher education who can
continue to lead Meredith toward aca
demic excellence, financial stability and
service,” Cameron said.
Dr. Weems and his family were pres
ent during the announcement of his
' election.
“I am very impressed with the tradi
tion of academic excellence at Meredith,”
Dr. Weems said following his election,
Dr. John E. Weems
prc!si(l(.‘ul-elect of Meredith
and “I am particularly impressed with
the high calibre of students here and the
obvious dedication of the faculty.”
The new president said he was “confi
dent that with the continued enthusiastic
leadership of the Board of Trustees,
Administration, and other constituents,
Meredith will continue to be strong and
viable,”
Before becoming vice-president for
finance and administration at Middle
Tennessee State University, Dr. Weems
served as dean of admissions and records
and instituted a system of computer
registration that has been recommended
as the prototype for implementation in
each of^ Tennessee’s state supported in
stitutions of higher education.
Dr, Weems received his B.S., M,A,,
and D.Ed. degrees from George Peabody
College, Naslwille, Tenn. His under
graduate majors were economics, busi
ness administration and education. Dr,
Weems’ masters degree majors were
administration of public education and
business education and his doctorate
degree major was administration of
higher education.
His doctoral dissertation dealt pri
marily with institutional research de
signed for making sound administrative
decisions in higher education.
Born in Nashville, Tenn., Dr. Weems
attended the Nashville public schools
and played varsity sports.
After receiving his undergraduate de
gree in 1953, he joined the Proctor and
Gamble Company as one of seven men
from throughout the United States se
lected to enter their Executive Training
Program.
Dr, Weems left Proctor and Gamble
in 1955 to complete his Master of Arts
degree and then taught business admin
istration, economics and finance at Atlan
tic Christian College (ACC), in Wilson.
While at ACC, the student body elected
him a member of the Student Life
Advisory Committee, which was the
governing body of the college.
In June, 1957, Dr. Weems became
director of admissions and placement
at Atlantic Christian and in 1958 his
duties were expanded to include student
personnel services.
Dr. Weems became dean of admis
sions and records at Kentucky Wesleyan
College in 1959 and dean of admissions
and records at Middle Tennessee in I96I.
He was- promoted to dean of administra
tion at Middle Tennessee and later to
vice-president for finance and adminis-:
tration.
His current duties at Middle Tennessee
include responsibility for all areas of
college administration, other than the
faculty and student personnel divisions.
Dr, Weems is past chairman of Dea
cons and a Sunday School teacher at
First Baptist Church in Murfreesboro,
Tenn. and he and Mrs, Weems have
three children: John Mark, 17; David
Van, 12; and Nancy Carol, 10. Mrs.
Weems is the former Frankie Gooch of
Chapel Hill, Tenn.