Meredith
April 30, 2003
Volume XVIV, Issue 26
Meredith takes a day to
''Celebrate Student Achievement”
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CHRISTY
SADLER
Editor in Chief
Meredith held its first
annual Celebrating Student
Achievement Day on April
24.
The specific idea for this
daylong celebration began
to be discussed last summer
by Dr. Rosalind Reichard,
vice president for academic
affairs, and Dr. Jean
Jackson, vice president for
student development.
However, the seeds for this
day were planted several
years ago.
"Four years ago, I oi^an-
ized a committee to work
on the Academic Awards
program, and at that time,
we discussed the merits of
having College-wide and
departmental awards pro
grams on the same day,"
Jackson said. "So, with the
cooperation of many com
mittees and advisory
groups, departments and
student organizations, we
were able, this year, to
bring together a number of
events including the April
Arts Celebration in addition
to the under^aduate
research conference and
awards programs, for a full
day showcasing student
achievement."
The day began with a
"fun run and ramble," as
members of the Meredith
community were invited to
walk or run on a course set
up around the campus.
Dr. Michael Novak, head
of the histoiy and politics
department, helped to pub
licize the ramble through a
bet with students that facul
ty participation In the event
would be higher than that
of the smdents.
"I
pushed
hard to
promote
it be
cause I
thought
it would
be a nice
way to
get the '
day
moving
and
because
I knew
we'd win
the bet," Novak said. The
faculty did win the bet, and
Novak won the right to toss
SGA President Lora
Tillman, SGA President
elect Erin Hege and
Jackson into the pool at the
end of the day.
After the ramble got the
campus going, events
kicked into high gear. One
of the largest portions of
the celebration involved
student research presenta
tions through the
Undei^duate Research
Program (URP), which
began at 8:30 a.m. and con
tinued throughout the day.
Dr. Rhonda Zingraff,
director of the program,
said 90 research submis
Senior Renn Baker explains her poster to Dr. Charles Davis.
Photo by JhIIo Stenebury
sions were received this
year, and 78 of these were
accepted for the confer*
ence. These 78 posters and
presentations represented
the work of 95 students, a
50 percent increase from
the 62 students represented
last year.
According to Zingraff,
decisions on whether or not
a submission was accepted
for the conference were
made on the basis of the
abstract submitted by the
student with her applica
tion.
Zingraff said the change
in the format of the confer
ence had a positive impact
on conference attendance.
"The struggle to attend ses
sions last
year
while
classes
were
going on
during
the entire
confer
ence
made it
difficult
for
everyone
and
reduced
the size
of the audience for all of
the presenters," she said.
"This year the students who
were presenting had si^ifi-
cantly more people learning
about their research."
Novak attended several
research presentations and
said, "On the whole I
thought that the presenta*
tions were-very good. A
few that I attended were
absolutely amazing."
Novak said one had even
caused him to rethink the
French Revolution.
Zingraff also noted,
although some departments
focus less on research and
therefore were less well-
represented at the confer
ence, the day included
"presentations that reflect a
broadly comprehensive
range of studies at
Meredith."
One area of study that
was focused on more
strongly this year was
women's studies.
According to Dr. Sherry
Shapiro, director of
women's studies, the pro
gram this year honored
those students who present
ed research focused on
women with a certificate
8«o Aehlovomant
Paga3
On the inside:
Chack out our axclualva Intar-
vlaw with commanaamant
apaakar Judy Woodruff.
Faga 2
MaradKh aanlora ahara thair
favorita aanior mamorlaa.
Paga 5
The aanior Naraltf adltora
have tho laat word!
Pagaa 6-7