College Board of Visitors Leadership Award winners named

December 7, 2023

Wieters

Pierrakos

Professor of Engineering Olga Pierrakos has been awarded the 2023 College Board of Visitors Faculty Leadership Award. Since 2017, the College Board of Visitors has supported an annual faculty award to recognize outstanding academic leadership in the Undergraduate College.

Pierrakos was selected as this year’s recipient for her visionary leadership as the founding chair of the Department of Engineering, a position she served for six years.

“I am honored to receive the 2023 College Board of Visitors Faculty Leadership Award and feel blessed for the recognition that the College Board and my colleagues have offered me,” said Pierrakos. “Engineers have an immense responsibility to better humanity, and I felt this responsibility as the founding chair of Wake Forest Engineering. On the first day of the first-ever engineering class back in August 2017, I shared with the 55 students and the founding engineering faculty Maya Angelou’s famous quote: ‘Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.’ Engineers do not only better humanity with scientific and technological innovations but they should better humanity in any role they take on. That is the vision and hope I had and continue to have for all our Wake Forest engineering graduates.”

Read more about Pierrakos’ award on the College website.

Assistant Dean for Finance and Administration Kim Wieters has been awarded the 2023 College Board of Visitors Staff Leadership Award. The Staff Leadership Award was started in 2020 and is the highest honor the College Board of Visitors awards an individual staff member.

Wieters was selected as this year’s recipient for her steadfast leadership and effective direction of the Finance and Administration unit through significant changes, including eight transitions of dean administrations and the disruption of COVID-19, and her mentorship to other staff and faculty throughout her Wake Forest career.

“I am honored and humbled by this award and by the kind words. I am very grateful to work at Wake Forest with such talented and caring colleagues who inspire me every day,” said Wieters.

Read more about Wieters’s award on the College website.