The following is a message from President Nathan Hatch: 

While commencement season always brings about a sense of new beginnings and opportunities, it’s also a time to say thank you and bid farewell to many of our friends, colleagues and mentors who have called Wake Forest University home.

Please join me in congratulating and commemorating a marvelous class of Reynolda Campus faculty and staff retiring from Wake Forest this year. We are grateful for the many contributions from this remarkable group of individuals, who together have more than 800 years of service to the University: Continue reading »

See a list of employees joining and leaving the University in March 2013: Continue reading »

See a list of employment milestones reached by faculty in April 2013: Continue reading »

School of Law reference librarian Kate Irwin-Smiler has been appointed to the federal Depository Library Council for a three-year term, the Government Printing Office announced.

The Depository Library Council is a 15-member board advising the Public Printer of the United States and the Superintendent of Documents on matters related to the Federal Depository Library Program.

Read more about Irwin-Smiler on the School of Law website »

As the N.C. General Assembly considers compensation for victims of a state-run forced-sterilization program, Wake Forest will host “Scarred for Life: The Legacy of Forced Sterilization at Home and Abroad,” April 4-5 in Annenberg Forum in Carswell Hall on the Reynolda Campus.

The interdisciplinary event is sponsored by Women’s and Gender Studies, the Journalism Program, the Office of the Provost, the Center for Bioethics, Health and Society, the Department of History, the School of Law, the Department of Politics and International Affairs, the Department of Communication, the Film Studies Program, the Center for International Studies, the Documentary Film Program, the Humanities Institute, and the Writing Program.

The conference will examine the history of the eugenics movement and its expression in North Carolina and Central Europe, and examine what lessons can be learned from the past as the world heads into the genomic revolution.

Genes for breast cancer, kidney disease and mental illness are being identified. How will this information be used? How might knowledge of an individual’s DNA profile affect reproductive decisions, medical insurance and employment? Continue reading »

(left to right) Elaine Tooley, Cheryl Walker, Gretchen Edwards, Molly Griffith, Katie Neal, Lisa Snedeker and Patrick Beeson

Wake Forest brought home three awards at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District III Conference Feb. 17-20.

Wake Forest Magazine won an Award of Excellence. It also brought home a Special Merit Award for “Boundary Hopping,” a feature on adjunct lecturer Jan Detter in the Spring 2012 issue.

The Office of Alumni Relations also won a Special Merit Award for using Instagram to encourage, capture, and increase social conversation during Homecoming 2012.

Gretchen Edwards

Additionally, Lisa Snedeker, the director of communications and public relations in the School of Law, and Gretchen Edwards, assistant director of digital engagement in the Office of Alumni Services, led a breakout session about using LinkedIn to connect and engage alumni. More than 75 people attended the session, which highlighted their experience in developing and administering our series of “Get LinkedIn” webinars that taught Law School alumni how to take full advantage of LinkedIn’s resources.

And while in Atlanta, Ga., Cheryl Walker, associate director of news and communications, took the opportunity to connect with a reporter at CNN.

In all, seven staff members from Communications and External Relations, Alumni Services and the School of Law attended the annual symposium.

School of Law professor John Knox, who is the United Nations Independent Expert on human rights and the environment, urged world governments to take into account human rights laws in designing and developing environmental governance at the Global Ministerial Environmental Forum hosted by the U.N. Environmental Programme on Feb. 18-22 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Read more on the School of Law website »

Patricia Dos Santos waits to receive her award.

The Wake Forest community gathered together for Founders’ Day Convocation on Feb. 21 to celebrate the University’s founding in 1834 and the accomplishments of faculty and alumni in teaching, research and service.

Faculty awards are listed below:

• Rhoda B. Billings (JD ’66), who was a professor at the School of Law from 1973 to 2003, won the Medallion of Merit, the University’s highest honor.
• Music professor Louis R. Goldstein won the John Reinhardt Award for Distinguished Teaching.
• Assistant professor of physics Oana Jurchescu won the Reid-Doyle Prize for Excellence in Teaching.
• Assistant professor of chemistry Patricia Dos Santos received the Award for Excellence in Research.
• Anne Boyle, professor of English and associate dean for student-faculty academic initiatives, received the Donald O. Schoonmaker Faculty Award for Community Service.
• Ken Zick, vice president and dean of student affairs and professor of law, was awarded the Kulynych Family Omicron Delta Kappa Award.
• Associate professor of legal writing Tracey Banks Coan was presented the Joseph Branch Excellence in Teaching Award.

To find out more about Convocation, the awards and those who won then, see the Wake Forest News Center »

The following faculty had writings published in January 2013:

Coates, David. (Politics & International Affairs). Pursuing the Progressive Case?: Observing Obama in Real Time. iUniverse. December 2012.

Sparks, Karol K., & Harding de C. Williams. (School of Law, Adjunct). The Keys to Banking Law: A Handbook for Lawyers. American Bar Association. November 2012.

Professor Beth Hopkins (’73) was among nine Wake Forest women recognized at the 2012 Women of Justice Awards reception at the Raleigh Marriott City Center on Nov. 15. Hopkins, who is the director of outreach for the School of Law, received the Legal Scholar Award.

North Carolina Lawyers Weekly hosted the reception that recognized women across the state who have demonstrated leadership, integrity, service, sacrifice, and accomplishment in improving the quality of justice and exemplifying the highest ideals of the legal profession.

Read more on the School of Law website »

Read more about Hopkins and student Kristina Wolf from the Winston-Salem Journal »