Barbe receives teaching award

Contributed to the Telegram

Mary Barbe, a native of Tarboro received the 2008 Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Doctoral students under the tutelage of Mary Barbe not only benefit from her incredible research expertise, but they also can count on her as a friend and ally who will go above and beyond to help them become successful researchers and clinicians.

Lynch makes Principal's List

Contributed to the Telegram

Rocky Mount Preparatory seventh-grader Alex Lynch was named to the Principal's List.

Two earn Meredith recognition

Contributed to the Telegram

The following students received awards at the Meredith College "Celebrating Student Achievement" Academic and Leadership Awards Ceremony held April 24 in McIver Amphitheater on the college campus. Students, faculty, staff and families had dinner in the courtyard following the awards ceremony.

Margaret Charlton Armstrong of Rocky Mount won the Outstanding Student Life Committee Member Award.

Mary Elizabeth Armstrong of Rocky Mount earned the Recognition of Top Ten Seniors honor.

Chartered in 1891, Meredith College is a private, four-year, liberal arts college for women.

Mills takes leadership program

Contributed to the Telegram

Rachel Mills, assistant principal of South Edgecombe Middle School, graduated April 18 from the Leadership Program for Aspiring Principals, a 12-day course of study offered by the Principals Executive Program. Major areas of study included leadership, school law, teacher improvement and retention, resource management and communication.

"The goal of LPAP is to teach assistant principals the leadership and management skills they need to lead schools," said program consultant Dr. Debbie Goldbeck

PEP, an agency of the Center for School Leadership Development of the University of North Carolina, is North Carolina's premier provider of professional learning for school administrators and the longest running program of its kind in the nation.

N.C. Wesleyan professor retires

Contributed to the Telegram

Dr. Kenneth V. Finney, professor of history at N.C. Wesleyan College for 35 years, retired at the end of the college's spring 2008 semester and has been awarded professor emeritus status by Wesleyan's board of trustees.

Finney came to Wesleyan in 1973 after earning his undergraduate degree at Eastern Montana College and his master's and doctorate in history from Tulane University.

Throughout his distinguished career at Wesleyan, he was recognized for his teaching and scholarship. He received many honors, a few of which include receiving Wesleyan's Exemplary Teacher Award in 1999 and being named an Alumni Distinguished Scholar, a Jefferson-Pilot Professor, and a Danforth Fellow.

During his long career, Finney taught history of Latin America, Europe and technology, and at one time taught Social Studies Methods for the teacher education program. In addition to his regular teaching load, he published extensively, offered workshops for faculty, presented his work at professional meetings, addressed numerous organizations, was active in the community, and helped start several local churches.

Finney is known especially for his lively courses in Latin American history. The son of missionaries who lived in Latin America for several years, Finney gained firsthand knowledge of that area and lived in Honduras from 1970-1971 while working on his doctoral dissertation.

Finney is a veteran scholar of Honduran history who plans to continue his work in retirement. He recently released his "Hapsburg Honduras," a work-in-progress that is the first of a proposed 10-volume narrative that will chronicle 200 years of events and serve as a reference and stimulus for additional research in Honduran and Central American studies.