"Alumni News" Archive

From Her Hand: Sally Wait’s Mission South

Mary Tribble

In June of 1993, a stamp dealer from Locust, N.C., contacted Wake Forest University with a sheath of letters, documents and journals to sell. The documents were in the possession of a caretaker who had received them upon the death of the youngest daughter of the youngest grandson of Sally and Samuel Wait. How these 19th-century documents survived at all — and then found their way to ZSR Library’s Special Collections — is just one in a series of unlikely incidents that led to the unfolding of Sally Wait’s story.

On Monday, April 4, at 4 p.m., Mary Tribble (’82, MA ’19) will present “From Her Hand: Sally Merriam Wait’s Mission South” at the ZSR Auditorium. Register for the event or watch the livestream.

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Categories: Alumni NewsEventsStaff News

For eighth consecutive year, business school alumni win CPA award

For the eight consecutive year, School of Business alumni have received the Elijah Watt Sells Award, which is presented by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA).

The 2019 award was presented to Madison Hoff (’18, MSA ’19) and Carolyn Burns (’18, MSA ’19).

To earn this accolade, test takers must earn a cumulative average score above 95.5 across all four sections of the Uniform CPA Examination, pass all four sections on their first attempt, and complete all four sections within a calendar year.

This also marks the second time that two School of Business alumni have received the award in the same year.

Nearly 75,000 individuals sat for the CPA exam in 2019; 133 met the criteria to receive the award.

The AICPA established the Elijah Watt Sells Award in 1923. Sells, one of the first CPAs in the United States, was active in establishing the group and played a key role in advancing the profession.

Categories: Alumni NewsInside WFU

New Unbroken Circle CD brings holiday cheer & supports local nonprofits

61xM+cRK+hL._SS280The Unbroken Circle, Wake Forest University’s multi-generational string band has released its debut bluegrass and old-time music album, “Songs from the Hearth.” The CD is available for $10 through Piano vs. Poverty, and the music is also available on iTunes.

Songs include bluegrass favorites like “Ridin’ That Midnight Train,” familiar folk tunes like “Shady Grove” and “The Erie Canal,” and gospel standards like “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” Also featured on the album is a recitation of W.B. Yeats’ poem, “The Fiddler of Dooney,” by Wake Forest legend Ed Wilson.

Piano vs. Poverty will distribute one hundred percent of the proceeds it receives from the sale of the CD to charitable agencies working to alleviate the effects of poverty.

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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.”

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Griffin ('69) delivers pre-game speech that inspires win over UNC

Julie.Griffin.100x100No one was more emotional about Wake’s 73-67 home win over 19th-ranked North Carolina than Julie Griffin, who accepted coach Jeff Bzdelik’s request to deliver a pre-game speech to his players, writes Bret Strelow in the Fayetteville Observer.

“Julie Griffin, a former Wake cheerleader who started working at the university two years after her 1969 graduation and retired from an athletics department position six months ago, entered the locker room with a notecard featuring a long list of Demon Deacon wins over UNC. She went through a game-by-game rundown, finishing with a 2010 road victory that occurred when Wake’s Travis McKie was a high school senior.…Griffin ended her speech by telling the players, ‘I’ll see you in the quad,’ and tossing a roll of toilet paper at them.”

Read the full story: “Emotional win for Wake Forest puts pregame speaker in tears

Categories: Alumni News

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