Who Do You Think You Are (8pm, NBC) - Actor Blair Underwood traces his lineage in a genealogical journey that includes a DNA test, a trip to Africa, and articles that reveal the hardships and unforeseen triumphs of his ancestors. Meredith College history professor Dr. Dan Fountain (right) was consulted and worked with Underwood for the episode. Read more about Fountain and his experience on the show.

A Gifted Man (9pm, CBS) - Michael's high school girlfriend arrives at Holy Neuro with a grave condition and he has trouble accepting the limits of what he can do to help her.

Great Performances: Memphis (10pm, UNC-TV) - A performance of the Tony Award-winning musical about a white high school dropout in 1950s Tennessee who becomes a disc jockey in order to promote the music of a black singer he has fallen for.

Merlin (10pm, Syfy) - Merlin tries to treat a mysterious illness that's inundated a distant village, but soon suspects something sinister is at play when even his spells are unable to cure the sick.

Blue Bloods (10pm, CBS) - Danny's emotional state causes concern for his wife and kids when he relentlessly searches for a killer who murdered an undercover detective. The case is personal for Danny because the victim was a Reagan family friend.

A Taste of Romance (8pm, Hallmark) - A movie about a classically trained chef (Teri Polo) who gets competition when a former fireman (James Patrick Stuart) opens a restaurant next door to hers. Though they clash initially, the pair soon strike up a friendship with the help of the man's precocious daughter (Bailee Madison). Check out Adrienne's review.

The Firm (8pm, NBC) - If you missed the two-hour premiere of this new drama last Sunday, and it sounds like a whole lot of you did, you can watch tonight. But just like on Sunday, it's opposite a big NFL game (AFC Divisional game on CBS).

My Cat From  Hell (8pm, Animal Planet) - Jackson Galaxy helps owners of a Bengal cat who disturbs the peace, and a cat who sneaks into an apartment.

Miss America Pageant (9pm, ABC) - Brooke Burke and Chris Harrison host the pageant, which is in its 91st year. Miss North Carolina, Hailey Best of Goldsboro, will be competing. Best is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts and currently attends Meredith College, where she is a vocal performance major. Best is also Miss Durham 2011.

Collision Earth (9pm, Syfy) - A solar event puts Mercury on a collision course with Earth, and a discredited scientist's weapon of mass destruction may be the world's only hope.

Saturday Night Live (11:29, NBC) - Daniel Radcliffe hosts and the music guest is Lana Del Rey.

Austin City Limits (Midnight, UNC-TV) - Arcade Fire perform songs from their Grammy-winning album, "The Suburbs."

Triangle.com weekend photo recap: North Hills had its weekly Midtown Music Concert Series Thursday night with the band Sleeping Booty. We have 64 photos online now.

Friday night is the First Friday Gallery Walk in Raleigh. Photos from the event will be on triangle.com later tonight. Also, triangle.com photographers will be at the 2011 Strawberry Festival Saturday in Durham. Event is from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Old North Durham Park. Check the website later Saturday for photos.

We will also have graduation photos this weekend at newsobserver.com. Here's a rundown that I stole from a story that editor Richard Stradling is writing as we speak for Saturday's paper. (Thank you, Richard)

Peace College: 10 a.m. Saturday, College Green; speaker, Deborah Ross, state representative from Raleigh.

Shaw University: 11 a.m. Saturday, Dorton Arena; speaker, Bob Etheridge, former congressman from Lillington. 

These photos will go online Saturday afternoon.

UNC-Chapel Hill: Sunday at 9:30 a.m., Kenan Stadium; speaker, Edward O. Wilson Jr., biologist, writer and Harvard University professor, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction.

Meredith College: Sunday at 10 a.m., McIver Amphitheater; speaker, Sally Brice-O’Hara, U.S. Coast Guard vice admiral.

We'll post these photos Sunday afternoon.

For the first time, a Meredith College graduate will lead it.

The private women's college has named Jo Allen to be its 8th president. Allen, a 1980 graduate of Meredith, takes over July 1, succeeding Maureen Hartford, who retires after a 12-year tenure.

Allen was introduced to faculty, students and staff today in a mid-day ceremony in Jones Auditorium.

An English scholar, Allen is the current provost and executive vice president at Widener University, located in Chester, Pa., with branch campuses in Pennsylvania and Delaware.

A native of LaGrange, N.C., - between Goldsboro and Kinston - Allen earned her master's degree from East Carolina and her doctorate from Oklahoma State and taught at ECU and N.C. State prior to moving to Widener.

Allen, 53, was lauded for visionary leadership at Widener, where she helped craft a 10-year strategic plan.

She'll have a similar charge at her alma mater.

"We wanted someone who could bring the world to Meredith and bring Meredith to the world," said Elizabeth Triplett Beam, who chaired the search committee.

The Raleigh Report attended a Monday evening lecture by esteemed New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize-winner Nicholas Kristof, who channeled his new book on the global oppression of women.

Neverminnd the irony that Kristof lectured on the oppression of women at Meredith College- an establishment that openly discriminates against men by refusing to grant them admission (Report is only kidding, of course).

Burgetta Wheeler has a great summary over at The Opinion Shop. It's well worth a read, as is, we suspect, Kristof's book.

Here's a snapshot: The central moral challenge of this century is gender inequality across the globe.

Meredith College is looking to turn over a new leaf this fall after a trying year marked by questionable spending and frustrated faculty.

The college has cut programs and majors while spending big on some new facilities and a new program in Italy, decisions some have questioned.

Jay Price reports.

Meredith College's annual lecture series kicks off in September with Nicholas Kristof, the Pulitzer Prize winner and columnist for the New York Times.

Kristof penned "Half the Sky: From Oppression to Opportunity for Women Worldwide," the text Meredith chose for its summer reading program.

Kristof, a columnist for the Times since 2001, speaks Wednesday, Sept. 20. Ticket information will be available in August.

Click here for more information on the lecture series.

Meredith College has received a $1.7 million gift from Joyce Causey, a 1955 graduate who bequeathed the second-largest gift in the institution's history.

Part of the bequest will go to fund an alumnae legacy scholarship at Meredith, the greatest prize to an incoming freshman, estimated at $135,000 over a full college career.

The gift also will go toward a new athletic field and track complex, which opened last year.
 
"This gift from Joyce Causey allows us to address two of our highest priorities, financial assistance and recruitment of the very brightest students, and supporting the athletic complex, which is a resource both in and out of the classroom," Meredith College President Maureen Hartford said in a news release.

A native of Tarboro, Causey earned her degree in sociology at Meredith. She worked for the Social Security Administration, and later as a real estate agent. Causey died in Maryland last fall.

From the weekend: Two more local universities hosted graduation ceremonies Sunday.

At UNC-Chapel Hill, author John Grisham gave a witty address for 5,630 graduates. The story's here and a photo gallery is here.

 And at Meredith College in Raleigh, 460 new graduates turned their tassels Sunday. The speaker there was Gretchen Holt Witt, a 1989 Meredith graduate and founder of an organization that raises money for pediatric cancer initiatives.

You can read about Meredith's commencement here, and click here for an extended photo gallery.

 Sunday's ceremonies came a day after three others in the Triangle. 

On Saturday, Shaw University, Peace College and Saint Augustine's College all held their commencements as well.

 And what faces all these new graduates, many of whom are now joining - or at least trying to join - the workforce?

In Sunday's News & Observer, reporter Sue Stock addresses that issue and suggests that maybe, sorta, things are looking up. Kinda. A little.

The next two weekends will be busy ones in the Triangle as our local universities send their latest batches of graduates out into the world.

Here's the rundown (click the links for more info on each):

Saturday, May 8

Shaw University, 11 a.m., Dorton Arena.

Peace College, 10 a.m., on the College Green.

Saint Augustine's College, 9 a.m., Front Lawn

Sunday, May 9

UNC-Chapel Hill, 9:30 a.m., Kenan Stadium

Meredith College, 10 a.m. McIver Amphitheater

Saturday, May 15

N.C. State, 9 a.m., RBC Center

N.C. Central University, 8 a.m.,  O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium,

Sunday, May 16

Duke University, 10 a.m. Wallace Wade Stadium