Inside WFU – news for faculty and staff

Service for Life Trustee Bert Bennett to be held July 19

July 18, 2018

Bert Bennett

Bert L. Bennett, a Wake Forest life trustee and recipient of an honorary doctorate, died July 16 in Pfafftown, North Carolina.

He served on the Wake Forest University Board of Trustees from 1982-1985 and in 1987, Wake Forest awarded Bennett an honorary doctorate and elected him as a life trustee.

A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Bennett served in the U.S. Navy during World War II before joining his family’s business, Quality Oil Company. Under his leadership, it became one of the largest branded oil jobbers in the United States, in addition to owning and operating convenience stores, hotels and other businesses. Bennett retired as director of the company in 1996 and was succeeded by his son, Graham Bennett, who has served for many years on the Wake Forest University Health Sciences and Medical Center Boards.

A funeral service will be held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem on Thursday, July 19, at 11 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Wake Forest University, Forsyth Technical Community College or St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

Bennett’s obituary appears in the Winston-Salem Journal.  In addition, a column written by Scott Sexton also appears in the Winston-Salem Journal.

Life Trustee Marvin Gentry service to be held July 21

July 18, 2018

Marvin Gentry

Wake Forest University Life Trustee Marvin Gentry, whose extensive and profound service to the University was recognized with the Medallion of Merit, died July 14 in Winston-Salem.

A 1957 graduate of Wake Forest, Gentry was the retired CEO, president and board chairman of Fortis Homes, a residential real estate development company he founded in his hometown of King, N.C.

First elected to the Wake Forest Board of Trustees in 1989, he completed five terms, including continuous service from 1994 to 2007. In addition to service on several board committees, Gentry served as Chair of the Health Affairs Committee for 10 years and from its inception in 2001 through 2007 was the Chair of the Wake Forest University Health Sciences Board. He remained active on the Health Sciences Board as a Health Affairs Committee life trustee member since 2008.

Additionally, Gentry was a member of the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center Board from 1989-2007 and led the Medical Center Board as Chair/Vice Chair in alternating terms from 1998-2005.

“His understanding of our healthcare enterprise and his strong leadership in the integration of our Medical Center’s component organizations were critical to its success,” said President Nathan O. Hatch.  “We will always be grateful for Marvin’s far-reaching contribution to his alma mater in the monumental effort to create a unified medical center.”

In 2007, he was elected a Life Trustee and in 2009 was awarded the Medallion of Merit, Wake Forest’s highest award for service.

Two of his children, Ted Gentry (’83) and Priscilla Gentry Wood (’89), are graduates of Wake Forest.

A memorial service has been scheduled for Saturday, July 21, at 11 a.m. at Knollwood Baptist Church in Winston-Salem.

An obituary with additional information is in the Winston-Salem Journal.

Proposals funded: Beavers, Gendrich, Ballard, Iltis

July 18, 2018

Congratulations to Kristen Beavers, assistant professor of health and exercise science, whose proposal entitled “Effect of Exercise Modality During Weight Loss on Bone Health in Older Adults” has been funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Congratulations to Cindy Gendrich, professor of theatre, whose proposal entitled “Rethinking Community at Wake Forest: The WFU Interdisciplinary Performance and Liberal Arts Center and FORKLIFT DANCEWORKS” has been funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Congratulations to Grey Ballard, assistant professor of computer science, whose proposal entitled “Parallel Tensor Decompositions for Massive Data” has been funded by the Sandia National Laboratories.

Congratulations to Ana Iltis, professor of philosophy, whose proposal entitled “APOLLO Scientific and Data Research Center Application” has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and by (subaward/subcontract from) WFU Health Sciences.

Macroeconomics conference to be held here in August

July 16, 2018

Sandeep Mazumder

The 14th Annual Conference of Macroeconomists from Liberal Arts Colleges will be held at Wake Forest on Aug. 7 and 8.

At the conference, macroeconomists from liberal arts schools nationwide will gather to present their research to one another in an effort to promote high-quality research and collaboration, according to Sandeep Mazumder, associate professor of economics and chair of the Department of Economics.  Mazumder is the conference’s lead organizer.

He added that the conference is also aimed at helping junior faculty members and faculty members from under-represented groups.

Some of the colleges and universities represented will include Pomona College, Sewanee: The University of the South, Davidson College, Vassar College and the University of Richmond.

Last year’s conference was held at Davidson College.

For more information, visit the conference’s website.

WFDD selected as Greater Public's Benchmarks Station of Year

July 13, 2018

This is a guest post from radio station 88.5 WFDD:

On July 12 at the national Public Media Development and Marketing Conference (PMDMC), 88.5 WFDD was awarded the Benchmarks Station of the Year Award from Greater Public, the development and marketing organization for public media.

Greater Public’s Benchmarks for Public Radio Fundraising tracks fundraising performance across the public radio system. The metrics are designed to allow Greater Public, and stations, to make apples-to-apples comparisons of public radio stations’ fundraising effectiveness.

Fundraising metrics considered by Greater Public included net membership revenue, which increased by 81 percent; major giving growth of 167 percent; underwriting revenue growth of 36 percent; increase of underwriting sponsors of 52 percent. Only two other top-50 market public radio stations have converted more listening to revenue than 88.5 WFDD.

Judges for this distinguished award were impressed not just with 88.5 WFDD’s significant fundraising growth over the past five years, but also with the station’s “consistent commitment to better serve its audience and community,” Greater Public said.

Molly Davis, 88.5 WFDD Assistant General Manager, was at the PMDMC in Chicago to accept the award on behalf of the station.

“This award reflects several years of hard work by the many talented individuals who make up the 88.5 WFDD team,” Davis said. “Five years ago, we devoted ourselves not only to serving our listeners better, but to fundraising more effectively and efficiently, to support that increased and more robust service. We’re deeply honored to be recognized by our colleagues at Greater Public, an industry organization that understands the challenges facing the entire public media system today.”