B.S. in Biology and Environmental Studies
South Dennis, Mass.

Presentation Remarks:

Meredith, a quote from the renowned naturalist John Muir captures the integrative nature of your numerous commitments at Denison: “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” When we consider your central engagements over the past four years, we trace them back to a single source: your passion for environmental sustainability. As a Phi Beta Kappa biology and environmental studies double major, you have blended advanced research skills with environmental activism that has helped awaken the campus to this defining issue of our time. Many campus programs and activities relating to the environment bear your fingerprints: president of the Green Team, active contributor to the Sustainability Task Force, energetic proponent of composting. Also in close alignment with your interest in nature are your work for the U.S. Geological Survey, your semester in Costa Rica, and your service to the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History and Massachusetts Audubon – not to mention your slogging away in area ponds in 95 degree weather assessing tadpole larvae and other slithery things!

With equal passion you spearheaded a movement to promote academic honesty at our College, a two-year drive that culminated in the most significant overhaul of our code of academic integrity in memory, and one that will have a profound and lasting impact at the College. These and your numerous other accomplishments led to your receiving a 2009 Distinguished Leadership Award.

Meredith, your spirit is captured well in the following words of one of your teachers: “There are many kinds of people in the world; some are as calm and content as a still summer day, willing to let life’s experiences come to them, while others go seeking new experiences and involvement like a gentle breeze. Meredith has been like Hurricane Ike on our campus, blowing down deadwood and clearing the way for new growth.” As you leave Denison and pursue new horizons in the preservation of our natural resources, we know that you will always meet with great success in your aspiration to leave the earth a greener place than you found it.

Student Achievements:

Phi Beta Kappa; Sigma Xi (Scientific Research Society); Dean’s List; Department of Biology - Fellow; McBride-Arend Summer Scholar; Women’s Leadership Network; Margaret Ann Watkin Heritage Scholar; Heritage Scholar; Omicron Delta Kappa (National Leadership Honor Society); Mortar Board (National College Senior Honor Society); Gamma Sigma Alpha (Greek Academic Achievement Honorary); Phi Society; Pi Sigma Alpha (National Political Science Honorary); Department of Environmental Studies – Fellow; The School for Field Studies, Costa Rica; Summer Scholar; Denison Campus Governance Association (DCGA) - Co-Governor, Senior Class Gift Committee - Co-Chair, Senate Speaker, Academic Chair; Sustainability Task Force; Task Force on Institutional Environmental Policy; Code of Academic Integrity Creation Committee; Board of Academic Integrity; Campus Affairs Council (CAC); Academic Affairs Council (AAC); Delta Gamma Sorority; Office of Admissions - Tour Guide, Host; Denison Community Association (DCA) - Southeastern Ohio Legal Services – Intern; Green Team – President, Co-Founder; Denison University Equestrian Team; Presentations & Publications – Co-Author: Recipe for change: Building a leadership culture at the U.S. Geological Survey; Co-Presenter to Director, Executive Leadership Team: Fostering Leadership: Building a New Culture.