The University Record, March 8, 1999
Hartford heads east to take over reins of Meredith College
By Rebecca A. Doyle
Vice President for Student Affairs Maureen Hartford will leave the University after winter term to assume the presidency of Meredith College in North Carolina. The women’s liberal arts college serves 2,247 undergraduate students on a 225-acre campus near Raleigh.
Hartford, who has been at the U-M since 1992, will take over the reins as Meredith’s seventh president later this summer. As U-M’s vice president for student affairs, she worked hard with students in residence halls, Michigan Student Assembly representatives and the Greek organizations on such issues as the Student Code of Conduct, alcohol abuse, living-learning programs, and student rights and responsibilities.
“I am deeply grateful to Maureen for the exceptional leadership she has provided to the University, particularly to the Division of Student Affairs, and for her wise counsel as an executive officer. Maureen is a person of warmth, courage and integrity,” said President Lee C. Bollinger. “As vice president for student affairs, she has fulfilled her highest responsibility of being acutely attuned to students’ needs and concerns.”
When Hartford began her tenure at the U-M, one of her first acts was to spend five days in a residence hall with students to become familiar with student life on campus.
That familiarity with students and student issues is something Hartford will be working to preserve at Meredith, says Rory Mueller, who has worked in Hartford’s office since she joined the U-M. Mueller notes that Hartford looks forward to close student contact in her new position.
Before joining the U-M, Hartford was vice provost for student affairs at Washington State University in 1986–92, and dean of student affairs at Case Western Reserve in 1982–86. She holds a B.A. in French and a master’s degree in college teaching from the University of North Carolina, and doctor of education degree in higher education administration from the University of Arkansas.
“I am absolutely delighted for Maureen and for Meredith College, to which Maureen will undoubtedly provide distinguished and compassionate leadership,” Bollinger said.
“It is my honor to be chosen as the seventh president of Meredith College,” Hartford said when she accepted the offer from Meredith’s board of trustees. “I am looking forward to getting to know the students, faculty, staff and alumnae. Together, we will continue to build on the foundations of fostering in all Meredith students the ideals of personal integrity, intellectual freedom and academic excellence.”
Hartford was born in Charlotte, N.C., about 160 miles southwest of Raleigh, where her mother and brother still live.
