Maya Angelou Artist-in-Residence Award nominations open
Wake Forest University is accepting nominations for the newly established Maya Angelou Artist-in-Residence Award.
The award will honor world-renowned artists who reflect Maya Angelou’s passions for creating, performing and teaching. The Maya Angelou Artist-in-Residence honor celebrates exceptional artists for combining achievement in the arts and a commitment to improving the human condition.
Award winners will visit Wake Forest to educate and engage both the University and Winston-Salem communities.
“Wake Forest’s motto Pro Humanitate is a calling to use our knowledge, talents and compassion to better the lives of others,” said associate provost for the arts Christina Soriano. “It can mean donating time and resources to our communities or simply a lifelong commitment to pursuing our best self. We look forward to receiving nominations from our faculty and staff of artists who embody this philosophy.”
Nominations may be submitted on the Wake the Arts website by Oct. 15.
Read more on the Wake Forest News website.
Categories: Faculty News, Inside WFU
Maya Angelou Garden Party to be a podcast this year
Organizers of the Maya Angelou Garden Party announced, recently, that the event will be a podcast this year.
On the website devoted to the event, it is announced that due to COVID-19, “the garden party will no longer be able to take place in person. Although this news is disheartening to many, we are choosing to transition the programming into a pre-recorded podcast that will be curated and shared over the coming weeks.”
The announcement adds that “if you would like top submit an original poem, spoken word, or audio clip to be included in the podcast,” that can be done through a link on the website. The submission will be reviewed by the Garden Party Committee, according to the announcement.
Additional information is available here.
Categories: Events, Inside WFU
Garden party in honor of Maya Angelou to be held in Bailey Park
Maya Angelou
A garden party in honor of Maya Angelou, the late internationally-acclaimed writer and Wake Forest professor, will be held April 7 from 2 to 4 p.m. in Bailey Park at Wake Downtown. In case of inclement weather, the event will move to Turbine Hall in Bailey Power Plant.
All are invited to attend the free event.
The celebration will take place on the 91st birthday of Angelou, who was Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest for more than 30 years. She was also known for her civil rights activism, as well as for her achievements as an actor and director and more.
The garden party will feature live music, poetry readings, lawn games, food trucks and more.
Wake Forest University, including Wake Downtown and Z. Smith Reynolds Library, will host the event.
Categories: Events, Inside WFU
Maya Angelou Garden Party planned for April 8
Wake Forest University is honoring poet, actress, author and longtime professor Maya Angelou in celebration of what would have been her 90th birthday.
Angelou was Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest for more than 30 years and inspired generations of students to become better writers, thinkers and citizens. Angelou died in 2014 at the age of 86 and would have turned 90 years old on April 4.
One of a series of events scheduled will be a Maya Angelou Garden Party on April 8 from 2-4 p.m. in Bailey Park, adjacent to Wake Downtown, Wake Forest’s STEM-centric urban campus in the Innovation Quarter. A rain date is set for Sunday, April 15.
The student-organized event is free and open to the public.
A poetry slam and spoken word performances will honor Angelou’s legacy. Food trucks, music and lawn games are also part of the celebration.
Categories: Events, Inside WFU
Magjuka named executive director of Pro Humanitate Institute
This is a guest post from the Pro Humanitate Institute:
Marianne Magjuka
On Sept. 1, Marianne Magjuka was named executive director of the Pro Humanitate Institute at Wake Forest University. As executive director, Magjuka will provide strategic vision, oversight, and development for curricular and co-curricular initiatives of the Pro Humanitate Institute (PHI). Magjuka has held a variety of leadership roles since arriving at Wake Forest. As both Assistant Dean of Students in the division of campus life and Director of Democratic Engagement for the PHI, Magjuka is well-regarded on the Reynolda campus as an innovative, creative, smart, and diligent leader who combines scholarly inquiry and practical engagement in daily work.
For several years, Magjuka has supervised much of the social justice and democratic engagement initiatives of Wake Forest including leading the campus climate assessment process; establishing a regional VISTA program to address poverty in Winston-Salem through campus/community partnerships; initiating the BRANCHES social justice retreat for undergraduates; enacting social and racial justice training institutes for professional staff; supervising the staff of Campus Kitchen and multiple pre-orientation programs for first-year students; and serving as co-director of the innovative Wake the Vote effort.
“Marianne has an impressive and unique professional portfolio. She coordinates students, staff, faculty, and community members in an ongoing process of building and sustaining key relationships for our university,” said Melissa Harris-Perry, the Maya Angelou Presidential Chair of Politics and International Affairs who now assumes the title Faculty Director of PHI. “Marianne is an unparalleled leader in our organization and I am thrilled to have this opportunity to work even more closely with her as she leads PHI as its executive director.”
Categories: University Announcement
