This fall, Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina, has experienced a 21 percent reduction in full-time faculty, according to a report from The News & Observer. This reduction in faculty follows Meredith’s 2025 decision to eliminate six percent of its non-faculty workforce, resulting in the lay-offs of 25 staff employees.
Over the past year, 27 faculty members have departed the women’s college. This summer, Meredith offered an early retirement buyout program, and 11 professors took advantage of it. According to the college, the retirement incentive provided Meredith with “more flexibility and ability to align academic offerings with changing student needs.” Among the remaining 16 exiting faculty members are 12 professors who left for other opportunities and four who had already planned to retire.
Currently, the college employs 106 full-time faculty members, including seven new educators across three of Meredith’s most in-demand fields: art and design, industrial-organizational psychology, and food and nutrition.
Additionally, Meredith recently announced a successful fundraising effort during the 2025–2026 fiscal year. The women’s college raised $12,351,960 in major gifts ($25,000 or more), annual gifts, and planned gifts — far surpassing Meredith’s goal of $10 million.