Educator and Advocate

A college education provided Meredith College President Jo Allen ’83 a foundation from which she learned, questioned, taught and led in administrations at five institutions.

Jo Allen

Allen believes in the value of education and will continue to be an advocate for higher education when she retires at the end of this academic year following 13 years at the helm of her alma mater.

“I am so fortunate to have been able to make a career out of something I love so much and that’s had so many different facets,” Allen said. “It’s not only that I’ve been to different institutions in different roles, but that I’ve used my language skills in so many different ways. It’s been really, really rewarding.”

Allen earned a bachelor’s degree in literature from Meredith in 1980 and followed her curiosity and abilities to earn a master’s in English and technical communication at ECU and then her doctorate at Oklahoma State University in 1986.

She was introduced to ECU as an undergrad. Her sister was taking graduate school courses, and Allen decided it would be a good opportunity to take a couple of summer classes Meredith didn’t offer. “My real reason for choosing ECU for graduate school was because I’d had such a positive summer experience there and it just felt like a natural next step for me,” Allen said.

During graduate school, Allen was tapped to teach freshman composition. “I remember feeling very, very honored that the program leaders thought I had a skill set to teach, and that was quite exhilarating to me,” Allen said.

She accepted an offer to join the ECU faculty in 1987. Allen became a tenured associate professor of English/technical and scientific communication during her 12 years on faculty and was director of the University Writing Center.

“The collegiality of the graduate students and the faculty was always really a special highlight to me of my time at East Carolina as a student and then later as a faculty member,” Allen said.

In 1997, on leave from ECU, she was an American Council on Education Fellow at the University of Virginia. Allen left ECU in 1999 for N.C. State University. She later became a full professor and served as senior vice president and provost at Widener University in Pennsylvania before being named president of Meredith in 2011.

During Allen’s first week at Widener, President James Harris III asked what her plan was and if she wanted to be a college president. He frequently brought job openings to her attention, and Allen declined them each time.

“He asked if I knew where I’d like to be a president. I said, ‘That part is easy: Meredith,’” Allen said. In her seventh year at Widener, Harris approached Allen again. “He came in and said, ‘Do you know about Meredith?’ I said yes. And he said, “‘It’s time.’ And I said, ‘Yes, it is time.’”

Leading Meredith has been the pinnacle of Allen’s career. Particular points of pride include the impact Meredith has on its students and the institution’s fundraising success. Allen said Meredith students know their strengths and are work ready when they graduate. Meredith surpassed its capital campaign goal, raising $90 million a year ahead of schedule. What carried more weight for Allen was receiving 33 gifts of $1 million or more.

“What was so important to me was that it sent the message that Meredith was worthy of million-dollar gifts and large investments,” Allen said. “We have had 15 to 20 major capital projects from constructing buildings to major renovations, and all of that was done without borrowing a penny.”