I am delighted to welcome you to the web site of Meredith College, one of the largest women’s colleges in the United States. Here, we prepare young women to excel, equipping them with the tools, knowledge and confidence to go out into the world as active, informed citizens and leaders.

As president of Meredith since 2000, I have seen the College grow in exciting new ways. We’ve expanded our commitment to leadership development, student diversity and international education, including the addition of a permanent semester-long study abroad program in Sansepolcro, Italy. We were the first women’s college to become a campus site for the LeaderShape® Institute—2010 marks our tenth year offering this distinctive program that helps shape tomorrow’s leaders.

Meredith’s academic programs are rigorous and engaging. This year, our School of Business became only the second women’s college to earn accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB). A new PRISM Experience seeks to improve students’ critical thinking skills throughout their four-years at Meredith; our 2010-11 campus theme, “Critical Thinking for Critical Times,” will provide additional campus-wide support for the PRISM initiative.

We continue to foster abundant research opportunities among our students, with an extensive undergraduate research program that facilitated more than 140 research projects by students and faculty last year. To get a better sense of this exciting program, you may enjoy a video highlighting three students who are engaged in an ongoing collaborative research project.

Our athletics program has also expanded, with a new athletic field and track and three conference championships in tennis and soccer over the past two years.

Finally, we’re making significant progress toward becoming a more sustainable campus. For instance, our new apartment-style housing was awarded LEED Silver certification, the nationally-accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, and we recently completed an energy audit to support energy conservation and planning on campus.

I believe that women’s colleges continue to play in the education of women, and studies confirm our students enjoy unique benefits not found at coeducational institutions. I invite you to come to Meredith—see and experience for yourself all that this rich, vibrant and historic campus has to offer.

Sincerely,

Maureen A. Hartford, Ed.D.
President