Major Reynolda Campus revitalization effort begins

Wake Forest plans significant investment in academic and student spaces over next 7 years

Wake Forest leadership gets a tour of Greene Hall, where 20 classroom technology and learning environments were recently upgraded.

This year, Wake Forest will take action on its near-term Reynolda Campus space plan as part of a holistic strategy to renew academic and student support spaces. The plan aims to create 35 percent more academic space and 50 percent more student gathering and dining space, including 60 more offices, 20 more specialized teaching and research spaces, and more collaborative gathering space to support the College of Arts and Sciences. Additionally, the plan will right-size existing classrooms, labs and offices in the buildings targeted by the plan.

Steps on the first proposed project in the plan are anticipated to begin this semester, transforming Alumni Hall from an administrative office building into an academic building.

“Wake Forest is a world-class academic institution. We provide a transformative education to students and produce powerful research outcomes for humanity,” President Susan R. Wente said. “Students, faculty, and staff deserve the academic, learning and collaborative spaces that match our academic quality and reputation. Three years of careful planning and research have positioned us to launch the most significant renewal of the Reynolda Campus core academic spaces since the University moved to Winston-Salem in 1956. We anticipate investing hundreds of millions of dollars over the next seven years to improve our academic and student facilities.”

University Advancement and University Marketing and Communications staff will relocate from Alumni Hall to the University Corporate Center before January. Pending approval by the Board of Trustees, Alumni Hall will become the new home of multiple academic units, which could move into the renovated building as early as Summer 2026.

Wente will share additional details of planned academic investments during the President’s Annual Address in November. “Working with our Board of Trustees and through our ongoing fundraising efforts, I’m excited to see significant research, planning and campus input turn into action this coming year and in the years ahead,” Wente said. “Alumni Hall’s transformation into an academic building will catalyze a series of building projects and truly transform our campus core.”

In addition to providing much-needed space for faculty to teach and engage students, Alumni Hall will be designed to support specialized and experiential research, mentored scholarship and hands-on learning. Several other buildings on the Reynolda Campus, including Kirby-Manchester Hall, the Benson University Center and Tribble Hall, offer prime opportunities for the next phases of renovation and new building options in the campus core.

“The spaces we provide for teaching and learning, scholarship and creative endeavors, and building community tell a story about the University’s priorities and shape how we experience Wake Forest,” Provost Michele Gillespie said. “Beautiful, inviting, well-functioning academic spaces will help us recruit and retain the best and brightest teacher-scholars to educate the best and brightest students.”

These new investments build upon recent work. “We’ve invested more than $2.5 million over the last two summers to refresh 43 classrooms and learning spaces,” said Jackie Travisano, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer. “That’s in addition to the significant capital project renewal investment the University allocates each year to academic and student space renewal efforts.”

Work this past summer throughout Greene Hall focused on upgrading 20 classroom technology and learning environments for faculty and students. Travisano also noted that a full-scale campus master planning effort is launching and will incorporate plans to improve Scales Fine Arts Center and to construct a best-in-class student center, among other state-of-the-art improvements.