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Jo Allen Reflects on First Year as President By Melyssa Allen
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o Allen, ’80, completed her first year as president of Meredith College on June 30, 2012. Meredith Magazine asked Allen to look back at her accomplishments and special memories since she returned to her alma mater. The first year has been “a whirlwind of meeting, greeting, connecting and learning” for Allen, who has spent much of the year getting to know Meredith alumnae, students, employees, donors and other Meredith supporters.
First Year Priorities
“One of my priorities during this year has been to get to know people, in order to understand their hopes, fears and priorities. I want to learn how to motivate and inspire them just as they have motivated and inspired me.” As the first alumna to serve as Meredith’s president, Allen has had a unique challenge managing her transition from Meredith student and alumna to president. “The perspective [on Meredith] that I had as a student has been reinforced. I knew
Meredith was well respected, but I’m not sure I realized how beloved it is,” Allen said. “People light up when you say Meredith.” Allen brings her viewpoint as an alumna and her experience at other higher education institutions. “This year, I’ve worked to find out how much of that broader perspective I need to narrow to Meredith, and how much of the Meredith perspective I might need to broaden. Getting that right is tricky.” A major priority for Allen was bringing the Meredith community together to begin a strategic planning process that is open and inclusive. “I’m proud that we launched that effort – and launched it well – with a Vision Conference,” Allen said. More than 170 people with an interest in Meredith’s future participated in the conference on January 27. The event brought together faculty, staff, student leaders, alumnae and community leaders to focus on what Meredith is doing well, what it could do more of, and what new opportunities the College should explore. Beginning to build key relationships with Meredith supporters, including those who attended the Vision Conference, is another accomplishment in which Allen takes pride, as is her work to build planning into the Meredith culture.
“It is one of those things like brushing your teeth – it is imperative for good health for the College,” Allen said. “We have to make it part of our culture and tend to it because it is for our future.” Favorite Moments
“There have been many special moments … including the excitement of Move-In Day and Cornhuskin’. Everything about inauguration was special. Having my first commencement as president, and that my classmate Silda Wall Spitzer did the address.” Meeting alumnae throughout the year, including during an Alumnae Weekend that Allen said was incredible, was also a highlight. Allen said she has enjoyed the warmth of the Meredith community – “waves from staff, the smiling faces of students in Belk, and visits from family and friends.” Looking Ahead
Allen looks forward to beginning to implement the strategic plan during her second year. “I want people to feel ownership, and feel ready to go. I also want to continue to sustain the goodwill and collegiality I’ve felt this year. That’s important to me,” Allen said. “Feeling the goodwill of the community behind you is really important.”
Author Jeannette Walls to Speak at Meredith By Melyssa Allen
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eannette Walls, author of Meredith College’s 2012 Summer Reading Book selection “The Glass Castle,” will speak at Meredith early in the Fall 2012 semester. Walls’ lecture, titled “The Glass Castle: Demon Hunting and Other Life Lessons,” will be held on Monday, Aug. 27, 2012, at 7 p.m. in Jones Auditorium. The Presidential Lecture Series event, which is sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, is free and open to the public. In “The Glass Castle,” Walls describes her childhood in the desert of the American
Southwest and then in a West Virginia mining town with her three siblings and the brilliant, unorthodox, irresponsible parents who manage at once to neglect them, love them and teach them to face their fears. The story is at times harrowing and at times hilarious as the children go without food and indoor plumbing yet are encouraged to read Shakespeare and dream of the beautiful glass house they will
all one day build. Despite all her hardships, Walls develops the determination to leave West Virginia on her own at 16, move to New York City, enroll in Barnard College and eventually become a well-known columnist for New York magazine and MSNBC.com and a television personality. Walls’ memoir has been a New York Times best-seller for more than four years. Meredith’s Summer Reading Program is now in its fourteenth year. Visit meredith.edu/summer-reading for more information. M er edi t h M ag az i n e / sum m er 2 012 /
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