Endowment Gift Establishes First Engineering Scholarship at Meredith

General Norman C. Gaddis, of Durham, N.C., has established the Hazel Lee Gaddis Engineering Scholarship at Meredith College. The endowment is the first scholarship for engineering at Meredith College.

Gaddis, a retired Air Force brigadier general, made this gift in memory of his wife, Hazel Lee Gaddis. During his long military career, Norman Gaddis was a Prisoner Of War in Vietnam for 2,124 days. Hazel Gaddis became an activist and advocate for POWs and their families, serving as the North Carolina coordinator of the National League of Families. Her activities involved contacting the families of North Carolina servicemen who were Killed, Missing In Action or Prisoners Of War. As a coordinator, she worked directly with the Department of Defense and the State Department.

“Hazel Gaddis had the spirit and can-do attitude of a Meredith woman. She saw a problem to be solved and became a powerful advocate,” said Meredith College President Jo Allen. “We are honored that General Gaddis wanted to honor his wife with this special gift to support Meredith’s engineering program.”

The Hazel Lee Gaddis Engineering Scholarship will support students who are pursuing their studies through Meredith’s Engineering Dual Degree Program, a partnership between Meredith College and NC State University. At completion, students in this program earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from Meredith College in chemistry or mathematics and a Bachelor of Science degree from NCSU in chemical or environmental engineering, or civil, computer, electrical, industrial or mechanical engineering.

“This scholarship will make a tremendous impact on the lives of future Engineering Dual Degree students and will help Meredith College to be able to attract and retain bright and promising students,” said Meredith College Professor of Mathematics Cammey Cole Manning, who served as engineering program coordinator for five years.

For more information on Meredith’s engineering dual degree program visitmeredith.edu/admissions/engineering_dual_degree_program.

About Meredith College
Founded in 1891, Meredith College is one of the largest independent women’s colleges in the U.S. Meredith offers comprehensive liberal arts and professional studies for undergraduate women. Meredith also offers coeducational M.B.A., M.A.T., M.Ed. and M.S. in Nutrition programs and coeducational business, paralegal, dietetics and pre-health certificate programs. Meredith has been cited as one of the “best colleges” in the region and the country by U.S. News & World Report, Princeton Review and Forbes.com.

-Melyssa Allen, Marketing