Wake Forest is a private, coeducational university located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Wake Forest offers the personal attention of a small liberal arts college, coupled with the breadth and global relevancy of a leading research institution. Our mission is to educate the whole person, graduating students who seek purpose-filled lives while building a community dedicated to serving humanity in the spirit of our motto, Pro Humanitate.

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Pro Humanitate Day 2015

Wake Will: The Campaign for Wake Forest represents the largest fundraising effort in the University's history. Wake Forest University and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center will significantly...

Wake Will: The Campaign for Wake Forest

The Human Face of Environmental Inequality
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland
Wait Chapel

Voices of Our Time featuring Mary Robinson is presented in conjunction with “The Human Face of Environmental Inequality” interdisciplinary symposium, March 26–27, sponsored by the Wake Forest University Humanities Institute, its affiliate Human Rights and Global Justice research group, and the University’s Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainability.

Voices of Our Time: Mary Robinson

On Feb. 19, the Wake Forest community gathered together in Wait Chapel to commemorate the 181st anniversary of the founding of the University at Founders' Day Convocation. The annual event recognizes student leaders and honors faculty for teaching, research and service.

Founders' Day Convocation 2015 - Full Event

The Medallion of Merit, Wake Forest University's highest honor, is presented to a person who has rendered outstanding service to the University. This year it was awarded to Dr. Louis C. Argenta, Professor and Chairman Emeritus, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center; and Michael J. Morykwas, Professor and Director of Research, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

Founders' Day Convocation 2015 - Medallion of Merit

Holiday decorations, music and the smell of sweet coffee filled Wait Chapel as more than 2,200 students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the University gathered to celebrate the 50th Annual Lovefeast.

50th Annual Wake Forest Lovefeast: Video Highlights

Following a tradition started by student Jane Sherrill Stroupe in 1965, more than 2,200 people gathered for the 50th annual Christmas Lovefeast and Candlelight Service in Wait Chapel on the campus of Wake Forest University on Dec. 7.

50th Annual WFU Lovefeast: Audio Slideshow

Homecoming 2014

Wake Forest Provost Rogan Kersh speaks about the importance of the United Way campaign.

2014 United Way Campaign: Rogan Kersh

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Expert: Why do entrepreneurs fail? They choose the wrong idea. 

The importance of having a sound business idea for a startup is essential, but identifying the ideas most likely to go from concept to venture is challenging. Statistics show that about 34 percent of startups fail within the first two years and 56% within the first four years. Most failures are due, in part, to the pursuit of ideas that are poorly selected and/or tested.

“Inexperienced entrepreneurs have improved odds of succeeding over the long run if their first idea is sound,” says Dan Cohen, director of Wake Forest University’s Center for Entrepreneurship.  “A key to that success is to generate 100 ideas and then evaluate and select the best one. That first win builds confidence for the next.” - Dan Cohen Cohen’s new teaching method, IDEATE, has been proven to help develop higher-quality, more innovative ideas. He is available to discuss ways fledgling entrepreneurs can refine their ideas — from product or service development to customer testing to securing investors to marketing and sales. He can also discuss why starting a business is easier today than it has ever been and what characteristics people share who are drawn to opportunities, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Dan Cohen and Wake Forest’s Center for Entrepreneurship were prominently featured in the Winston-Salem Journal’s Business & Innovation section Spotting valuable ideas. IDEATE was one of four finalists for the 2018 Excellence in Entrepreneurship Teaching and Pedagogical Innovation Award from the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers — winning recognition from among more than 100 submissions. Most recently, Wake Forest University was a finalist for the Model Emerging Entrepreneurship Program Award at the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) Conference focused on entrepreneurship education.  Broadcast Television and Radio Studio Information  Wake Forest operates a fully-equipped, professional television and radio studio to connect experts with global news media. Video interviews can be coordinated through LTN Global Communications’ Smartcloud IP video transport service that provides regular high-quality video transport connections to most major broadcast networks. Audio interviews are coordinated through ipDTL, an IP codec used for remote radio broadcasts as well as voice-overs. ipDTL replaces classic ISDN audio codecs and has backward compatibility. Details available here. 

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This Valentine’s Day, give the gift of great conversation

When is the last time you and your partner made time to talk? Or, more important, made time to really listen to one another. 

The newness of getting to know our partner – that interest we had in the beginning of a relationship – begins to take a back seat to the everyday busyness of life. And while the days, months and years pass by, it is easy to assume that the one we love is essentially the same person with the same needs, interests, values and goals.

 "People think that ‘change is the only constant’ doesn’t apply to our relationships. We forget that we are always growing and learning new things about ourselves and so is our partner,” says Wake Forest University communication professor Jennifer Priem. “As we and our partners grow, we need to learn how to best make adjustments in our relationship so that our relationships grow with us. That happens when we listen.”

Priem studies relationships and conducts research that explores the connection between supportive conversations and physiological signs of stress reduction. She recently launched a blog on Psychology Today, Stressing Communication, and is sharing a series of posts called, “Conversations That Will Save Your Relationship.” Priem offers these tips to help set the stage for meaningful conversation.

Ask your partner if it’s a good time talk. “After work or when your partner is tired is usually not the best time to talk,” says Priem. “If your partner says ‘no’ it doesn’t mean forever. Rather than force a conversation because you’re ready, wait for a time that will be good for you both to engage.” When it is time to talk, listen first. Be a supportive listener. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by your cell phone, other things happening around the conversation, or tangential thoughts that pop into your mind. Listen to understand, rather than to respond.  Try not to interrupt your partner. Wait to respond until your partner has completed his or her thought. It may be that by waiting to respond, you will learn something new that will change how you respond.  Conversations don’t require “work,” says Priem, but they do require that we recognize how we maintain our relationships, assess if it is in line with what is best for us and our partner, and adjust our strategies to create the best possible relationship over time. 

Priem is available for phone, email and broadcast interviews.  Broadcast Television and Radio Studio Information  Wake Forest operates a fully-equipped, professional television and radio studio to connect experts with global news media. Video interviews can be coordinated through LTN Global Communications’ Smartcloud IP video transport service that provides regular high-quality video transport connections to most major broadcast networks. Audio interviews are coordinated through ipDTL, an IP codec used for remote radio broadcasts as well as voice-overs. ipDTL replaces classic ISDN audio codecs and has backward compatibility. Details available here. 

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Expert on Virginia Constitution available to comment on gubernatorial removal, succession issues

John Dinan, a Wake Forest University politics and international affairs professor who specializes in the study of state constitutions and is the author of the book The Virginia State Constitution, can answer questions about the process in Virginia for removing a governor from office and what happens if a governor is removed or resigns.  Removing a governor from office  The Virginia Constitution provides two pathways for removing a governor from office. First, the Virginia Constitution allows for impeachment in cases of "malfeasance in office, corruption, neglect of duty, or other high crime or misdemeanor." Similar to the process in place at the national level, it takes a majority vote in the house to impeach an official and a two-thirds vote in the senate for conviction and removal from office. Second, in a provision that roughly tracks the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and was intended to apply to cases of physical or mental disability, a governor can be deemed "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” as determined either by the attorney general, senate president pro tem, and house speaker acting together or by a majority vote of all members of the legislature. Such a determination triggers a process that ultimately requires a three-fourths vote in the house and senate to remove a governor on the ground of inability to discharge the powers and duties of the office.

Succession to the office of governor  When a governor leaves office before the end of the term, he is succeeded by the lieutenant governor. In case the lieutenant governor’s office is vacant, the attorney general would become governor. In case the office of attorney general is vacant, the house speaker would become governor. In any of these situations, someone assuming the office of governor mid-term would not be prohibited from running for and serving another full term in office, despite Virginia’s prohibition on a governor serving consecutive terms.

Succession to the office of lieutenant governor  In the event the lieutenant governor succeeds the governor and therefore the lieutenant governor’s office becomes vacant, the senate president pro tem would discharge the duties of the lieutenant governor, while continuing to serve in the senate. The governor is then permitted to appoint someone to fill the vacancy in the lieutenant governor’s office, with this appointee serving until the next scheduled general election (November 2019), when an election would be held to fill out the remainder of the original term.

Succession to the office of attorney general  In the event of a vacancy in the office of attorney general, the position would be filled by a person selected by a majority vote of all members of the legislature, as long as the legislature is in session, and that person would then serve the remainder of the original term. If the legislature is in recess, then the position would be filled temporarily by an appointee of the governor and that person would serve until the legislature is next in session and would select someone to fill out the term.

 Broadcast Television and Radio Studio Information  Wake Forest operates a fully-equipped, professional television and radio studio to connect experts with global news media. Video interviews can be coordinated through LTN Global Communications’ Smartcloud IP video transport service that provides regular high-quality video transport connections to most major broadcast networks. Audio interviews are coordinated through ipDTL, an IP codec used for remote radio broadcasts as well as voice-overs. ipDTL replaces classic ISDN audio codecs and has backward compatibility. Details available here. 

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