Mary Lou Merrell (1925- ) grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina and began working part time for Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and in 1965 became a full-time secretary in the Department of English. Merrell discusses her observations on faculty, staff and students during her career, growing up in the college neighborhood and attending Curry School in the Depression years. She describes the dedication of the faculty and the family atmosphere that pervaded and changed as the institution grew and became coeducational with a large commuting population. Merrell also describes how the State's emphasis on higher education led to decreased quality of elementary and secondary education and, in turn, a lessening of academic quality of entering students. She puts great emphasis on how the importance of publishing in attaining tenure for faculty has lessened the importance of quality teaching. Merrell gives her perspective on integration in Greensboro and the college and the difficulty for departments to hire minority faculty. She remembers Chancellors Otis Singletary and James Ferguson.
