AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
Twenty-seven faculty members have left Meredith College since last school year. That represents more than 21% of the full-time faculty the women’s college in Raleigh employed last year.
Read more Why Gal Gadot Finds Being a Mom of 4 Girls Her Real-Life ‘Superpower’
The school offered an early retirement buyout program this summer for the first time since 2011, and 11 professors took advantage of it, according to Melyssa Allen, Meredith’s director of public relations. The average age of faculty who took the buyout was 63.
But the school saw departures unrelated to the buyout — and at higher numbers than in recent years.
Twelve professors left Meredith “for other opportunities” without taking advantage of the retirement incentive. Four more professors had previously announced plans to retire this year.
Allen attributed the departures to a combination of typical attrition and the intended effect of the retirement incentive. In the 2023-24 school year, one faculty member retired and eight left, she said. In the 2024-25 school year, four retired and nine left.
The one-time retirement incentive offered this year gave “the College’s academic division more flexibility and ability to align academic offerings with changing student needs,” Allen wrote.
Read more Coach Dykes’ childish stunt on news coverage can’t fix TCU cover up | Opinion
The school says it’s working to ensure fall semester courses are being offered as planned and avoid disruptions in students’ path to graduation. Allen said Meredith’s student-to-faculty ratio is still lower than 10:1.
The school hired seven new faculty members this fall across three high-demand fields: art and design, industrial-organizational psychology, and food and nutrition. The school also wants to address demand in its graduate programs; enrollment in those grew by 24% this year, according to Allen. Meredith’s graduate programs are offered to both genders.
Now, the school has 106 full-time faculty.
The nonprofit college’s tax filings show three straight years of losses. Meredith last reported a positive net income in 2022, but more recently has been trending in the right direction.
It lost $891,000 in fiscal year 2023, more than $5.8 million in 2024, and just $135,000 in 2025.
Meredith laid off approximately 25 non-faculty employees — roughly 6% of its workforce — and eliminated a third of its adjunct faculty in 2025, INDY Week reported. The school also eliminated its four academic deans positions that year, the outlet reported.
Read more NC State released its ACC availability report. Who’s on it? Who might start?