"Rethinking Community" Archive

U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse to speak in Broyhill Auditorium Dec. 4

U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) will speak in Broyhill Auditorium on Dec. 4 at 11 a.m.

The event is free and open to the public.

Sasser was elected to the U.S. Senate from Nebraska in 2014. He was formerly president of Midland University.

More details.

Categories: Inside WFU

Ishmael Beah to deliver keynote address for International Education Week

Author and activist Ismael Beah will be the keynote speaker for International Education Week, which runs Nov. 11 through 18.

His address is free and open to the public.  He will speak at 7 p.m. Nov. 13 in Wait Chapel. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.

The week is sponsored by the Center for Global Programs and Studies, the School of Law, Campus Life, Latin American and Latino Studies, French Studies, Rethinking Community and the Dean of Students.  It will feature numerous events throughout the week.  A schedule is here.

A native of Sierra Leone, Beah is the author of the memoir “A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” and the novel “Radiance of Tomorrow.”

Dr. Justin A. Chen, a psychiatrist, will address Wake Forest faculty and staff in a presentation on Nov. 17 at 10 a.m. in Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Room 401 (Ammons Gallery).  Registration is required.  The presentation will, in part, focus on learning more about the experience of international students studying in the United States and potential strategies for improving international student emotional wellness.

Categories: EventsInside WFU

National leaders gathering at Wake Forest to "Rethink Community"

For three days in October, Wake Forest is bringing together national thought-leaders across the ideological spectrum to discuss what it means to live in a society that is more diverse, polarized, global and virtual than at any time in the past.

Called the Rethinking Community Conference, it will take place Oct. 19-21.  Registration details for the conference are available at its website.  The website offers information on the conference schedule, dates and times of events, as well as locations.

Hosted by the Eudaimonia Institute and the Pro Humanitate Institute, the conference will feature timely discussions about free speech and safe spaces, the fight to end or defend DACA, a conversation about free press and fake news, and the powerful interplay of politics and sports today.  Journalists, politicians, scholars and public intellectuals will participate in the discussions.

A University news release about the conference is available here.  A separate news release focuses on a conference panel discussion that will explore the role of sports in community and address related tensions.

Categories: EventsInside WFU

Forum to be held March 1 and 2 on Rethinking Community plans

This message was emailed to students, faculty and staff on Feb. 27 by the Rethinking Community Steering Community:

Dear Wake Forest faculty, staff and students:

After several months’ informal conversations, we write to launch a campus-wide planning effort to culminate in a yearlong Rethinking Community series of conferences, dialogues, national speakers, performances, and much else. Beginning with a pair of planning forums later this week, we hope to engage many of you in helping shape and execute this vital effort, which will run through the 2017-18 academic year.

Our animating inspiration: Wake Forest graduates, across all our schools, enter a society that is more virtualdiversepolarized, and global than ever before. At a time when meaningful communal bonds are both desperately needed and increasingly frayed, rethinking what it means to be in community—on our campus, in Winston-Salem and the many other cities and towns where our students settle, as a nation—is essential.

Wake Forest’s recent history includes both ‘theme years,’ many of which engaged us campus-wide from the late 1990s forward, and a pair of national conferences—Rethinking Admissions and Rethinking Success. Taken as a group, these provide valuable precedents for our Rethinking Community effort. As significant, a hallmark of Wake Forest’s culture is a willingness to revisit core practices in order to ensure that our graduates are best prepared to navigate and lead dramatic shifts in our world – we look forward to establishing Wake Forest as a national convener and facilitator of these important conversations.

If these general details pique your curiosity, please attend an initial campus-wide forum meant to elicit ideas, avoid wrong paths, and otherwise spark discussions about what a successful Rethinking Community year will look like. Two sessions are scheduled for this week:

Wed., March 1, 5-6 p.m., Kulynych Auditorium in Byrum Welcome Center

Thurs., March 2, 4-5 p.m., Z. Smith Reynolds Library Auditorium (Room 404)

We also welcome every member of our community to submit proposals for events, speakers and programs that will engage us on these important topics across disciplines, industries and experiences. A call for proposals will be circulated on March 3.

Finally, we want to ensure that students are engaged in this important work. If you would like to nominate a student to serve on our steering committee, please email Matt Williams at williamj@wfu.edu and Sam Perrotta Turner at perrotsm@wfu.edu by Friday, March 3, at 5 p.m. with your nomination.

We look forward to your ideas and proposals in the spirit of strengthening the communities engaging current and future Wake Foresters.

Sincerely,

Rethinking Community Steering Committee

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