"Hot Topics" Archive

Sports performance center FAQ

sports.performance.center.renderingA $7.5 million gift in support of the Wake Forest Football program from alumnus Bob McCreary (’61) adds momentum to Wake Forest Athletics’ plans to move forward with a 95,000-square-foot sports performance center.

Wake Forest University President Nathan O. Hatch and Director of Athletics Ron Wellman made the announcement when publicly celebrating McCreary’s longtime philanthropy, which includes more than $15 million in lifetime commitments, at last night’s men’s basketball game.

Q: What do plans for the sports performance center entail?
A: Designed to meet the training needs of more than 350 student-athletes who compete in 18 sports, the four-story sports performance center will be located behind Miller Athletic Center on the Reynolda Campus. The new building will serve as the home for the football program, while featuring a robust strength and conditioning facility that enables multiple athletes in different sports to work out simultaneously, improving upon the current Bob McCreary Strength Complex in Manchester Athletic Center. Additionally, the facility will include space for football coaches’ offices, team meeting rooms and other areas designed to enhance recruiting efforts. There will also be space dedicated to enhancing the nutrition program for all Wake Forest student-athletes with convenient access to nutritional resources and grab-and-go food options.

Wellman said, “Our plans will provide a state-of-the-art space for our sports performance staff to improve every aspect of student-athlete recruitment, competitiveness and overall wellbeing.”

Read more

Hogan wins award from Society for Utopian Studies

Sarah HoganOn  Nov. 16, Sarah Hogan, a new assistant professor in English, received the Arthur O. Lewis Award at the annual meeting of the Society for Utopian Studies.

The Lewis award, given annually by the organization, recognizes the best paper by a younger scholar (generally defined as untenured) presented at the previous conference. Hogan received the award for “What More Means Now: Utopia, Occupy, and the Commons,” her essay on the continued legacy and contemporary relevance of Thomas More’s “Utopia.”

The essay was published this fall in “Upstart: A Journal of English Renaissance Studies,” and will be reprinted in the forthcoming anthology, “The Next Generation: Emerging Voices in Utopian Studies.”

Categories: Faculty NewsHot Topics

Thomas named CSAB Fellow

Stan Thomas, professor of computer science, has been awarded the CSAB Fellow designation.

The award is given in recognition of individuals who have given sustained, quality service to the computing profession and to computing education through the activities of CSAB. Thomas was recognized for his long service to the Computing Accreditation Commission (CAC) of ABET. Thomas is currently the vice chair of operations for the CAC.

ABET is the organization recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation for its leadership and quality assurance in applied science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology education.  ABET’s membership is composed of 33 professional societies including AIChE (Chemical Engineering), ASCE (Civil Engineering), ASEE (Engineering Education), IEEE (Electrical/Electronics Engineering), SPE (Petroleum Engineering), and CSAB.  CSAB represents the interests of the computing profession with respect to ABET accreditation of programs in computer science, information systems, information technology, and software engineering.

“Visiting and reviewing academic computing programs with respect to accreditation standards has been a highlight of my professional career over the past 17 years,” Thomas said. “The commitment of the numerous volunteers with whom I have served has been outstanding. My respect for these peers makes recognition as a CSAB Fellow extremely rewarding. I am truly honored by this recognition for service to computing education.”

Thomas has been part of the Wake Forest faculty since 1983. He served as department chair from 2004-2011.

Categories: Faculty NewsHot Topics

Hyde named Distinguished Scholar by NCA

Michael HydeMichael Hyde, Distinguished Professor of Communication Ethics, has been selected as a 2013 Distinguished Scholar by the National Communication Association (NCA). Hyde will be receive his award during the NCA’s 99th annual convention on Nov. 21-24 in Washington, D.C.

The NCA Distinguished Scholar Award was created in 1991 to recognize and reward NCA members for a lifetime of scholarly achievement in the study of human communication.

“I am grateful for the award and especially proud that I received it while serving Wake Forest University and its Department of Communication,” Hyde said.

Categories: Faculty NewsHot Topics

Collins named vice provost

Jennifer Collins

Wake Forest is delighted to announce the appointment as vice provost of Jennifer Collins, who currently serves as associate provost for academic and strategic initiatives.  Collins is also a professor of law, joining the law school faculty in 2003, where her areas of focus are criminal law and family law.  She continues to teach courses on gender and the law (to both law students and undergraduates) and legal professionalism; her acclaimed classroom gifts have earned her both of the School’s top teaching awards.

Since taking up the associate-provost role in 2010, Collins has led the successful efforts to establish both the LGBTQ Center and Women’s Center at Wake Forest, organized a visionary year-long series of conversations on campus culture, and this past year spearheaded the university’s new well-being initiative. Last year, she also chaired a campus-wide group discussing expanded use of the WFU Center in Charlotte.

“Jennifer’s remarkable strategic intuition, collaborative gifts, and wide-ranging knowledge of our campus, built on her experience working closely with faculty, students, and staff, makes her an ideal choice as vice provost,” said provost Rogan Kersh. “I’ve been so grateful for her incisive counsel and creative ideas, on everything from online education to our capital campaign, as well as her vision for and profound dedication to enhancing the Wake Forest community.”

In addition to her extensive responsibilities in the provost’s office and law school, Collins serves as a lower-division adviser in the college and was integral to creating the new Faculty Fellows program. She is a valued contributor to Winston-Salem life as well, serving on the board of the Arts Council.

Before arriving at Wake Forest, Collins was a homicide prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, worked in private practice, and clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals’s Ninth Circuit. Collins earned her JD at Harvard and BA at Yale. She is married to fellow-lawyer Adam Charnes; they have three children, Jake, Lily, and Sam.

Archives