"Vice Provost Lynn Sutton" Archive

Kami Chavis appointed associate provost for academic initiatives

Kami Chavis

Wake Forest Provost Rogan Kersh announced May 3 that he has appointed Professor Kami Chavis as associate provost for academic initiatives. She will begin serving as associate provost on July 1.

In 2006, Chavis joined the Wake Forest School of Law, where she is associate dean of research and public engagement, professor of law and director of the Criminal Justice Program.

Chavis assumes her new leadership role in the Office of the Provost as Vice Provost Lynn Sutton is retiring.

In a message emailed to faculty and staff May 3, Kersh honored Sutton for her service and announced Chavis’ appointment.

“As many of you know, Vice Provost Lynn Sutton will be retiring to Beaufort, NC, this June after her thirteen years of transformational leadership at Wake Forest,” Kersh wrote.

“Arriving here in 2004 as Dean of the Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Dr. Sutton led the ZSR to be one of the most welcoming and intellectually curious places on campus, with a particular focus on outreach to students and faculty.”

“I have been immeasurably grateful to work with Dr. Sutton for five years—including the past three as Vice Provost, where she has enlivened our office with her singular blend of creativity and conscience,” Kersh wrote. “Lynn’s collaborative spirit, uncommon dedication, and unerring good judgement have left an indelible mark on our campus.”

In that same message, Kersh wrote that he was “delighted to announce” Chavis’ appointment as associate provost for academic initiatives.

He noted that Chavis, as founder and director of the Criminal Justice Program, has “led the law school to national prominence in researching and analyzing police and prosecutorial accountability and the U.S. criminal justice system.”

As the law school’s associate dean of research and public engagement, Kersh wrote, Chavis “has helped to elevate the visibility and impact of her law faculty colleagues’ scholarship and public programs.”

A well-known faculty member and administrator, Chavis has been active with community members across the University.  In the past two academic years, for instance, she led the University’s Police Accountability Task Force.

“Through my service on university-wide committees, I have had the opportunity to meet many members of the university community, including students, faculty and staff,” she added. “I believe that I have a good sense of who we are here at Wake Forest, the values we hold dear, and the respect we have for higher learning.”

Chavis said she looks forward “to meeting more members of our university community and working collaboratively with various campus constituencies to support and implement various academic initiatives of the campus.”

She has gained recognition on campus for demonstrating her commitment to the University’s values and mission in numerous ways.

“I take our university’s motto, Pro Humanitate, to heart, and I think that my career as a lawyer and my work on various contemporary policy issues reflects this,” Chavis said.

Nationally, she has gained considerable recognition in the news media for her expertise on criminal justice issues, including police and prosecutorial accountability, community policing and law enforcement and technology.  She is frequently interviewed for stories in television, radio, print and online news outlets.

Chavis joined Wake Forest after serving as an assistant United States attorney in Washington, D.C. Previously, she had been an associate attorney at two Washington law firms.

During her Wake Forest tenure, she has been a visiting professor of law at George Washington University’s School of Law and the University of Maryland’s Francis King Carey School of Law in Baltimore.

She received a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a law degree at Harvard.

Campus Climate Team announces new measures strengthening campus community

On behalf of the Campus Climate Implementation Team, this message was emailed to students, faculty and staff on Oct. 13:

Dear Wake Forest Community,

It is with great enthusiasm that the Campus Climate Implementation Team reports several community improvements.  Commissioned by Provost Rogan Kersh in the fall of 2015, the team is responsible for coordinating action items that resulted from the advocacy of student leaders and a series of campus dialogues to foster a more inclusive campus environment.

The team’s efforts, in partnership with campus departments across the university, have produced some promising outcomes including:

  • Scholarships from the Wake Will campaign totaling more than $55 million that will help reduce indebtedness of students receiving financial aid and support LGBTQ students;
  • Enhanced intercultural education offerings, including a faculty summer institute and first-year experience with sessions focused on diversity and inclusion, and a pilot first-year course with a major component on how to live in community;
  • Expanded and renovated spaces for students, including lounges and our Intercultural, Women’s, and LGBTQ Centers;
  • Innovative and ongoing training on unconscious bias and diversity for law enforcement on campus;
  • A comprehensive assessment plan is being developed to ensure accountability for advancing diversity and inclusion across the university

These are only a few of the changes that have happened as a result of the engagement and collective efforts of leaders in our community.  Members of the community are invited to ask questions and learn more over a meal with team members at one of the community meetings sponsored by the Campus Climate Implementation team. Registration is available under the Events tab at community.wfu.edu, in addition to a full list of campus improvements on the site.

Thank you for your support and commitment.

In partnership,

Dr. Barbee Oakes, Chief Diversity Officer
Dr. Lynn Sutton, Vice Provost

Co-Chairs of Campus Climate Implementation Team

Update from Campus Climate Implementation Team

This message was e-mailed to students, staff and faculty May 5 on behalf of Chief Diversity Officer Barbee Oakes and Vice Provost Lynn Sutton:

Dear Campus Community,

With the end of the semester officially coming to a close with the conclusion of final exams, it seems fitting to update students, faculty and staff about Wake Forest’s ongoing efforts to strengthen our community and commitment to inclusion.

Over the past two years, several groups comprised of students, faculty, and staff met to provide recommendations on how to do so.

Through the work of our Campus Climate Implementation Team, a collaborative network of University leaders, faculty, staff and students commissioned by Provost Rogan Kersh, we have several notable updates to share:

  • Under the direction of Vice President for Campus Life Penny Rue and the Police Accountability Task Force, the University Police hired new staff and modified policies to ensure better relationships with community members. Significant changes include ongoing unconscious bias training, a new student patrol program, and continued dialogue between students and officers.

These improvements and many more are available at community.wfu.edu, our redesigned “Community-in-Progress” website that features updates about campus climate and sources feedback from members of the community to share with faculty, staff, and students driving change around diversity and inclusion.

We welcome any questions or comments and plan to provide details about forthcoming changes with community engagement opportunities this fall.

Thank you for your role in our collective and sustained efforts. We move forward only when we all remain committed to the promising work of making Wake Forest a place that truly feels like home to all university members.

Sincerely,

Barbee Oakes, Chief Diversity Officer and Lynn Sutton, Vice Provost

Co-Chairs, Campus Climate Implementation Team

 

Barbee Oakes named University's first chief diversity officer

Dr. Barbee Oakes, Director, Wake Forest Office of Multicultural Affairs.

Barbee Oakes, chief diversity officer

Barbee Oakes, one of the most recognized leaders in Wake Forest diversity and inclusion initiatives, has been promoted to a new position expanding her opportunities to advance those efforts.

Recently, Oakes was appointed as Wake Forest’s first chief diversity officer. She retains her assistant provost title and responsibilities, developed over her six years in that role.

“As our first chief diversity officer, Barbee is beautifully positioned to advance strategic planning and execution of Wake Forest’s diversity and inclusion initiatives,” said Provost Rogan Kersh. “She will confer regularly with the president’s cabinet, deans, governance boards and the larger campus community on issues involving the University’s progress on inclusive excellence initiatives.”

Oakes has her sights set on several high-priority goals for this year and beyond.

“Continuing to proactively address campus climate issues remains a very high University priority this year,” Oakes said. “With increased diversity, the challenges we face in establishing policies, programs and practices to ensure everyone feels included become more complex and nuanced.”

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Would you like to be a Faculty Fellow?

faculty.fellows.daltonBegun in 2013, the Faculty Fellows program has made a real difference in the lives of first-year students. The goals of the program are to:

  • Increase faculty-student engagement through informal interactions in the first-year residence halls,
  • Integrate the life of the mind into students’ social experiences, and
  • Enhance the sense of community at Wake Forest.

The first cohort of Fellows will be completing their initial two-year term in May. About half will be returning for another term, so there are opportunities to bring new Faculty Fellows into the program. Current Fellows would be happy to provide more information on what it means to participate in the program. They are listed under each of the six residence halls in “South Forest” here.

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