Secretary Meyers to leave this year

After over two decades on campus, University Secretary Mary Ann Meyers announced yesterday that she will leave the University in December to become president of the Annenberg Foundation. Meyers, who has served as secretary since 1980, said yesterday that while she will miss working at the University, she is looking forward to working for the philanthropic organization set up by Trustees Walter and Leonore Annenberg. "I'm very excited," Meyers said yesterday. "These have been stimulating and rewarding years [at the University], but I'm looking forward to the opportunity to work with Ambassador and Mrs. Annenberg." Walter Annenberg said yesterday that he has worked with Meyers for many years and praised her for her work at the University. "I have great respect for this woman," Annenberg said. "I think she'll do an outstanding job as our administrative executive." The former ambassador to England added that he offered Meyers the position even though Meyers was not looking to leave the University. "A great many people at the end of ten years [in one position] have taken to the idea that they want to take on a new area, a new challenge," he said. The primary responsibility of the University secretary is to serve as the liaison between the administration and the Board of Trustees. Trustee Board Chairperson Alvin Shoemaker said yesterday that he was sorry to see the University lose Meyers, but thinks she will be happy in her new position. "She served this University very well," Shoemaker added. John Gould, the President's Office executive director, said that a search committee to fill Meyers' post has not been set up yet, adding that he is unsure as to the process of selecting a new secretary. "We haven't searched for a new secretary in a while," Gould said. Formerly at Haverford College as director of college relations and editor of the alumni magazine, Meyers has taught classes in American religious history both at Haverford and the University. In the mid-1970s, she served as an assistant to then-University President Martin Meyerson before assuming the position of secretary. Meyers graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Syracuse University, and received her doctorate in American Civilization from the University in 1976.

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