Meredith chief, county native addresses Rotary
Dr. Jo Allen returned home Jan. 24 to brief the Kinston Rotary Club on developments at Meredith College, where the La Grange native is president.
Allen, a 1980 graduate of Meredith, is the first Meredith alumna to hold the office of president at the 120-year-old institution, one of the largest private colleges for women in the nation. She took the reigns of the Raleigh institution in 2011 after holding administrative posts at N.C. State University, ECU and Widener University in Philadelphia.
Her audience at Rotary was peppered with fellow Meredith graduates, including wives of some club members, helping illustrate Allen’s point that “Meredith is truly a beloved institution.”
Meredith has about 2,000 students and 32 majors. Among academic offerings is a five-year engineering program in which Meredith students receive a degree in one of the sciences or in math and a degree in engineering from N.C. State. Graduate programs at Meredith are also open to men.
But it is for young women that Meredith exists. “Meredith through the years has always recognized its power in helping women build on their goals,” Allen said. The college functions as something of an antidote for a society in which “a lot of young women are growing up hearing what’s wrong with them.”
Meredith, she said, “sets young women on a pathway that is truly different than she would be on at any other college.”
Senior Games gets Blue Cross grant
Neuse River Senior Games is the recipient of a grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina. The funds are being used to implement and hopefully sustain exercise programs at local senior centers in the region. These programs are designed to enable participants to improve their physical fitness before the games. NRSG and Silver Arts Exhibition events are scheduled for April 16-25.
More information is available through county aging service providers. In Lenoir County, call Tracy Breasure at the Lenoir County Council on Aging, 252-527-1545; in Jones County, call Ivy Reid at the Jones County Cooperative Extension, 252- 448-9621; at Greene County Senior Services, call Sharon Harrison, 252-747-5436; at Duplin County Services on Aging, call Melisa Brown at 910-296-2140.
At Craven County Senior Services, call Kimberly Grissom at 252-638-1790; and at Pamlico County Senior Services, call Linda Potter, 252-745-3488.
A registration form also is available at the NRSG website, cravencounty.com/parks/seniorgames/seniormain.cfm.