Meredith College’s annual Alumnae Awards Ceremony was held Friday, May 16, as part of the 2008 Alumnae Reunion Weekend. The following alumnae received this year’s awards.
Margaret Strickland Collins
Career Achievement Award
Margaret Strickland Collins, of Richmond, Va., is the recipient of Meredith’s Career Achievement Award for 2008. Collins, a 1964 graduate of Meredith, has served as the director of Richmond’s River Road Church Preschool Development Center since 1987. The center, which serves 330 children, is the 2008 recipient of the National Association of Child Care Professionals National Child Care Center of the Year. The school was selected for this honor because of its outstanding program, curriculum, the techniques of the teachers and staff, the school’s outreach to the community and its leadership in the field of early childhood education. A recognized leader in the early childhood education field, Collins was named the National Child Care Director of the Year by the National Association of Child Care Professionals in 2002. She has served on numerous professional boards.
Michelle Rich Goode, ’73
Alumna Philanthropy Award
Michelle Rich Goode, of Raleigh, N.C., is the Alumna Philanthropy Award recipient for 2008. Goode, founder of Rich Commercial Realty, has served Meredith in numerous capacities since her graduation in 1973. Recent service includes being chair of the Board of Trustees and as one of the tri-chairs of The Campaign for Meredith, the most successful fundraising campaign in the College’s history. She has also been a leader in Meredith’s very successful effort to fund the Alumnae Legacy Scholarship, Meredith’s first full academic scholarship program. Currently, she is the chair of the institutional advancement committee for the Board of Trustees, serves on the fundraising committee for Meredith’s Habitat for Humanity project, and on the steering committee for the Alumnae Legacy Scholarship.
Amanda Oliver, ’02 and Elizabeth Warren Hamilton, ’01
Recent Graduate Awards
Amanda Oliver and Elizabeth Warren Hamilton, both of Raleigh, N.C., are the recipients of Meredith’s Recent Graduate Awards for 2008.
A 2002 graduate of Meredith, Oliver has served as an early intervention service coordinator for Children’s Developmental Services Agency since 2005. She has served as a volunteer for Komen for the Cure since 2001, as the Triangle Race for the Cure Merchandise Committee co-chair from 2001-07, and as chair of the awards program for 2008. She is a guardian ad litem in Wake County, and in 2007, was the co-chair of the Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina’s AIDSWALK and RIDE. Since August 2005, Oliver has served as the secretary and service committee chair of the Meredith College Young Alumnae Board.
Hamilton, a 2001 graduate, works at Deloitte and Touche, and was recently promoted to audit manager. Her community involvement includes serving on the Ravenscroft School Alumni Association, membership in the Junior League of Raleigh, and volunteering with the Junior League’s Team Step Up tutoring program. Hamilton’s service to Meredith includes being a member of the Young Alumnae Board since 2002, and serving on the Alumnae Association’s reunion steering committee and on the nominating committee. She has also been a class agent for the Class of 2001 and helped to plan the class’ five year reunion.
