Christine A. Retz
President

Christine A. Retz, president of the Meadows Foundation, Inc. effective January 1, 2009, is a cum laude graduate of the College of St. Elizabeth (BA), and Seton Hall University (MA), taking both degrees in English Literature.

For the past decade Chris has been the managing editor at Associated University Presses in Cranbury, publishing 125 titles annually, largely in the fields of literary criticism and history. Her efforts, and that of her staff, have been rewarded with a number of literary prizes, including the George Freedly Memorial Award of the Theatre Library Association, the International Byron Society Elma Dangerfield Prize, the Modern Language Association award for French and Francophone Studies, and several “Outstanding Academic Title” awards from Choice magazine. More than 35,000 academic librarians, faculty, and key decision makers rely on the reviews in Choice magazine and Choice Reviews Online for collection development and scholarly research.          

In addition to holding the title of President, Chris is director of the Meadows’ Fireside Chats series, which expanded dramatically in 2008 to now include a fall as well as spring series. In early 2007 she invited brothers David and John Major to speak on their new book, A Huguenot on the Hackensack: David Demarest and His Legacy. This title, which was published under the Fairleigh Dickinson University Press imprint of Associated University Presses, won the prestigious “book of the year” award from the National Huguenot Society in 2008.

In her spare time, Chris writes for the weekly, monthly and biannual publications of the Catholic Community of St. Matthias, as well as contributes book reviews to The Catholic Spirit. She is also directly involved in several hands-on programs to alleviate hunger and homelessness in Somerset County.