A few years ago, the idea of 3-D printing a major body organ like a kidney was unthinkable, but now scientists eye North Carolina as a national hub for human organs partly due to regenerative medicine research at Wake Forest University.  Medical advances in biotechnology seem to be coming faster than the public can understand them all or even discuss how society should handle ethical, legal and moral considerations.

To spark the national conversation, Wake Forest has partnered with Baylor University to host “After the Genome: The Language of our Biotechnological Future” April 12-13. Fourteen scholars from across North America with expertise in medicine, science, religion and communication will present, including:

• Baylor University President Ken Starr;
• Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine Dr. Anthony Atala;
• Cohen Professor for the Study of Ethics and Human Values at Dartmouth Ronald M. Green;
• Ezra E.H. Griffith, Professor of Psychiatry and African-American Studies, Emeritus and Senior Research Scientist at Yale School of Medicine 

“There is a rising awareness that the way we talk about science, biotechnology and medical miracles is not neutral, but suggests agendas,” Michael Hyde, Distinguished Professor of Communication Ethics at Wake Forest and conference organizer said. “And this national conversation will help shape public expectations regarding medical science. How far can we stretch science to give us longer or better lives through medical miracles? And if we use the word miracle, should we consider the religious implications of biotechnological advances?”

In many conferences, the papers presented are compiled into a publication afterward, but in this case, the book comes first. Wake Forest and Baylor University Press have worked for nearly two years to produce a book of essays containing the scholarship of the thought leaders who will present at the conference. That book will be available at the conference. 

“Everybody is a moral agent,” said Nancy King, co-director of the Center for Bioethics, Health and Society. “Academics don’t have any special corner on figuring out what the right thing to do is, but we can help to deepen and broaden public discussion. Science is extremely important and medicine is extremely important, but they’re not going to solve all the world’s problems. What’s going to solve all the world’s problems is how society makes use of science.”

The conference will end with a debate between Wake Forest and Baylor’s collegiate debate teams, using the presentations given over the two-day event as evidence and materials for discussion. Both schools trace their debate team histories back to the 1850s and have national titles under their belts, so it should be a spirited conversation.

Beyond the language, biotechnology has enormous economic implications. North Carolina is third in the nation behind California and Massachusetts when it comes to the life-science industrial sector and it generates $59 billion in economic activity, according to a recent study.

The Office of the Provost, Department of Communications, Humanities Institute and the Center for Bioethics, Health and Society at Wake Forest University, along with the Provost’s Fund, Baylor University Press and the Institute for Faith and Learning at Baylor University have organized the event. 

Wait Chapel saw two big crowds on Saturday, February 23. The 1,250 or so people inside for TEDxWakeForestU: Defining Our Future and the hundred or so outside rolling the Quad after Wake Forest’s huge win over No. 2 Miami.

On the inside, students, faculty, staff and Piedmont-Triad community members gathered to hear nine speakers from around North America give inspirational and motivational talks. One big highlight: the return of CollegeHumor.com co-founder Ricky Van Veen (’03).

This is the second TEDx event Wake Forest University has hosted. One of the student organizers for both events, Jake Graham (’13), says initial survey feedback shows the audience is there for future events.

“Now that it’s going to be an established tradition at Wake Forest, we hope it’s one the spring semester events people look forward to,” Graham said. “After our first TEDx last year, there was some talk about making it an every other year event, but it is clear there is an interest in having events like this to hear people’s ideas and discuss them whether you’re from Wake Forest or a member of the surrounding community.”

Attendance figures are preliminary while organizers wrap up the event. Meantime, if you weren’t able to attend the event, you could follow along via social media and the #TEDxWFU hashtag. The Storify below captures some of the event highlights.

What will define our future? Will it be our ability to share through social media, our quest to use Google to escape memorization or the impact our consumer society will have on the environment? The highly successful TEDxWakeForestU returns to Wake Forest’s Reynolda campus on Feb. 23 to tackle these topics.

The independently organized event licensed by TED, will be held from 12-5 p.m. in Wait Chapel and is open to the public.

“We are fortunate to have a special agreement with TEDx that allows us to gather an audience of 1,000. Most TEDx events are designed to be small, with around 100 people,” said Jake Graham (’13) one of the lead student organizers for the event. “We were thrilled with the attendance at last year’s event and hope the Piedmont-Triad turns out to hear the inspiring talks about our future.”

Graham and Mari Ishibashi (’13), who were involved with the very first TEDxWakeForestU last year, are joined by Christina Oelsner (’14), the NCIIA student ambassador, and a committee of students and faculty advisors to plan the 2013 TEDxWakeForestU. They have been working behind the scenes for months.

“The success of last year’s event with 1,400 attendees made us want to make this year’s TEDxWakeForestU even better,” said Oelsner. “We can’t wait to share the exciting ideas from these speakers with the community.”

Nine speakers will give TEDx talks, with the event divided into three sections. Unlike a typical lecture on a college campus, TEDx speakers are limited to 18 minutes. This short video explains a little more about this year’s event.

“All our speakers offer thought-provoking ideas and inspiration,” said Polly Black, director of the Center for Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship at Wake Forest. “Most TED talks are entertaining and highly accessible. They engage the audience and spark interest in new ways of thinking.” Highlights from this year’s schedule include:

• Ricky Van Veen, an alumnus and entrepreneur who combined his love for comedy and technology to create the highly successful website College Humor in his Wake Forest dorm room. His subject: You Are What You Tweet – How Media Changes in a Social World.
• Dr. Mark Bauerlein teaches English at Emory University. His latest book, “The Dumbest Generation,” takes the position that cyberculture is turning today’s youth into a society of know-nothings. His subject: Language, Age Segregation and Digital Teens.
• J. Henry Fair is a photojournalist known for challenging the status quo with his aesthetic yet provocative photos. His project, Industrial Scars, explores the impact of our consumer society on the world around us. His subject: The True Cost of Goods Sold.

Tickets are free to the Wake Forest community, and $10 for the general public. Register now at www.TEDxWakeForestU.com.

The event is sponsored by The Chambers Family Fund, the Office of the President, the Office of the Dean, the Office of the Provost, the Wake Forest University Schools of Business, and the Center for Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship.

Imagine enjoying the personal attention and academic rigor of one of Wake Forest’s 300-level classes while studying abroad in Australia or caring for a loved one at home.

Today, this flexibility is one step closer to becoming a reality.

On Nov. 15, Wake Forest, as part of a consortium of top-tier colleges and universities, announced plans to introduce a new, innovative program that transforms the model of online education. Semester Online will be the first program of its kind to offer undergraduate students the opportunity to take rigorous, online courses for credit from 10 of the country’s top schools.

In addition to Wake Forest, the consortium currently includes Brandeis University, Duke University, Emory University, Northwestern University, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Notre Dame, University of Rochester, Vanderbilt University and Washington University in St. Louis. The consortium is partnering with 2U, formerly known as 2tor, the leader in creating online academic experiences for top universities.

As part of the consortium, Wake Forest has committed to evaluating online tools and practices that can enhance the educational experience. Exploratory conversations with Wake Forest faculty, staff and students, as well as other consortium schools, will ultimately determine the courses Wake Forest might offer through Semester Online.

“Online learning is an area of interest and focus, and Wake Forest is honored to be among such an esteemed group of colleges and universities exploring new frontiers in higher education,” said Provost Rogan Kersh. “For years, we have engaged in an ongoing campus-wide dialogue about how Wake Forest wants to use online education to effectively enhance our deeply personal educational experience. These important conversations with faculty will continue as we determine our path forward.”

Paige Emerson (’13), a senior communication major from Wellesley, Mass., believes a program like Semester Online could enhance the Wake Forest educational experience by providing greater convenience to students who are not physically on campus – particularly those studying abroad on affiliate programs.

“It would present a great opportunity for students who want to take a class that’s only offered every other semester, such as sports communication. Being able to take a class like that in your major or minor without worrying if credits will transfer from another school would be great,” said Emerson, who studied abroad in Rome last year.

“But, the most important thing in any online program offered by Wake Forest would be allowing for personal interaction because that’s why people come here and love this place,” she added.

In fact, initial Semester Online courses will feature the same faculty and curricula as their brick-and-mortar counterparts, and they are delivered live on an interactive, online platform. Through a state-of-the-art virtual classroom, students would collaborate with peers and be guided by Wake Forest faculty, as well as professors from other schools — just as they would if they were attending classes on campus.

Semester Online is not meant as a substitute for on-campus classroom education. Instead, the program will allow students to continue taking classes towards a degree while working, traveling or managing personal commitments that, in the past, might have meant putting their studies on hold. Additionally, Semester Online will enable students to take advantage of and receive course credit for unique course offerings from other prestigious institutions, some of which they would not have had access to otherwise.

“We embrace the face-to-face, residential college model as foundational to a Wake Forest education. At the heart of our liberal arts commitment is helping our students develop the abilities to write effectively, discuss rationally, create original work, solve problems imaginatively, and learn independently — in short, to live a fulfilling, reflective life,” said Jacquelyn Fetrow, Reynolds Professor of Computational Biophysics and Dean of Wake Forest College.

“Technology can be a valuable supplement to this commitment; it is vital that we continue exploring how best to use its fruits as a tool in delivering a Wake Forest-style education,” she added.

Though many details remain to be determined, Semester Online is expected to be available to academically qualified students attending consortium schools and other top institutions across the country as soon as the fall of 2013.

Wake Forest has appointed Rogan Kersh as the University’s new provost and professor of political science.  A Wake Forest alumnus, Kersh currently serves as the associate dean of academic affairs and professor of public policy at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

Kersh will assume his new duties as Wake Forest’s chief academic officer with responsibility for supervising and administering the academic programs and plans of the university’s Reynolda Campus this summer.

Kersh will report directly to Wake Forest President Nathan O. Hatch.  He will supervise the deans of the undergraduate College, the Schools of Business, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Law, the School of Divinity and the Library.

“Wake Forest was my first academic home,” Kersh said. “During my undergraduate years and regular return visits to campus I developed an abiding devotion to the University; its faculty, students, and staff; and its traditions. I look forward to returning to my alma mater in a professional capacity.”

After graduating with a B.A. in political science from Wake Forest in 1986, Kersh earned two masters’ degrees and a Ph.D. in political science from Yale University, where he also began his teaching career. He taught political science and public administration at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University for ten years and has served in his current role at NYU since 2006. He also studies the U.S. health care policy system and is a nationally recognized expert on obesity. He is currently part of NYU faculty teams holding two separate National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants on obesity politics.

In addition to his professional credentials, Kersh brings to the position longstanding connections to Wake Forest. He served for more than a decade on the selection committee for the Reynolds, Carswell, and other named merit scholarships, traveling to Wake Forest each spring semester for a four-day selection event.  Kersh also served as an informal mentor to several of the scholar recipients during and after their time at Wake Forest, as well as graduates who enrolled in masters programs at NYU, Syracuse, and Yale.

“I cherish opportunities to represent Wake Forest,” Kersh said. Those opportunities have included representing Wake Forest as a Luce Scholar in Tokyo, Japan, and contributing to Provost Emeritus Ed Wilson’s fifth volume of the History of Wake Forest. “Twenty-five years after graduating, I remain immensely proud to be a Demon Deacon,” Kersh added.

He looks forward to the opportunity to meet with faculty, staff and students during his first months on the job to learn more about the University’s recent achievements and challenges. “I am eager to begin work with President Hatch and the extraordinary team he has assembled to advance a range of priorities, from enhancing faculty teaching and research activities to supporting a student-centered educational experience.”

A search committee chaired by  Hatch and composed primarily of faculty from Wake Forest’s academic units recommended Kersh’s appointment. He will become the fifth provost in Wake Forest’s history, succeeding Jill Tiefenthaler who served as provost from 2007 to 2011.

“The appointment of a provost is one of the most important decisions that a University president must make,” said Hatch. “Rogan brings recent and relevant leadership experience and a commitment to preserving the core values of Wake Forest while growing in new directions. He is a dynamic leader who has used his talents for teaching, strategic planning and administrative management to the benefit of every university he has served. I could not be more pleased to welcome him back to Wake Forest.”

Since taking the associate dean role at NYU Wagner, Kersh has been active in every aspect of the school’s operations, from strategic planning, budgeting, and fundraising to creating an undergraduate program and expanding the number of full-time faculty. He was also heavily involved in NYU governance, chairing or otherwise participating in approximately two dozen university committees and serving on the team responsible for NYU’s expansive global network. Heavily involved in student life, Kersh and his wife, Sara Pesek, currently live among students in a residential community at NYU.

“Dr. Hatch and the search committee have identified a great candidate in Dr. Kersh,” said board of trustees chair Jim Williams. “Rogan possesses an excellent combination of leadership, talent, and knowledge of Wake Forest. I look forward to working with him in the years ahead.”

Kersh is active in the wider public-policy and political-science profession. He has worked with NYU colleagues to advance social justice and diversity issues at the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA). Two years ago he was elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.  Kersh currently serves as president of the American Political Science Association’s organized section on health politics and policy.

Thanks to donors Karyn and Tom Dingledine, a new learning center is available to students studying abroad in Nicaragua. The facility, dedicated in February, supports learning opportunities for students from all areas of the University who have a desire to provide services within the fields of healthcare, business, science, society, law and cross-cultural exchanges. The story of the Nicaragua Nexus, from aspiration to realization, follows.

Casa Dingledine Timeline

2006

Chris Yuko

• Chris Yuko MBA (’09) and several colleagues conceive of an idea to teach basic business practices to entrepreneurs in Nicaragua as an expression of the Wake Forest’s pro humanitate spirit.
• A four-member team meets with Roberto Espinoza, the director of Business Professional Network, who is dedicated to improving business practices in his country, to identify businesses in Nicaragua that could benefit from working with MBA students.

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

For more about the Nicaragua Nexus, visit the official site »
Or read the “From Notion to Nexus” document » [PDF]

Wake Forest President Nathan O. Hatch announced today that Jill Tiefenthaler will step down as provost to become the thirteenth president of Colorado College in Colorado Springs. Her resignation as provost will be effective June 30, 2011.

In making the announcement, President Hatch said, “Jill has been a dynamic academic leader at Wake Forest and a wonderful colleague. She has brought great energy to many of our strategic objectives in academic and student life. We extend every good wish as she takes up a new set of challenges at Colorado College.”

Tiefenthaler joined Wake Forest in 2007 as the institution’s chief academic officer with responsibility for supervising and administering the academic programs and plans of the University’s Reynolda Campus. Among her many accomplishments over the last four years, she led the implementation of the University’s strategic plan and key initiatives, including diversity in admissions and enrollment, as well as new faculty development, recruitment and retention efforts. Under her leadership, the University established the Institute for Public Engagement and the Humanities Institute, as well as a number of research centers, providing new models at Wake Forest for enhanced interdisciplinary research and collaboration.

In addition to enhancements to the undergraduate admissions process that resulted in a fifty percent increase in applications, Tiefenthaler spearheaded efforts to make standardized tests optional for prospective undergraduates. Tiefenthaler also presided over the integration of the University’s two business schools.

“Wake Forest is a place of extraordinary energy and heartwarming commitment. I’ll continue to cheer for the Demon Deacons and be proud of the work Wake Forest does in the lives of its students and community,” said Tiefenthaler.

“We are deeply indebted to her for her vision, energy and contagious enthusiasm and will miss her greatly,” said President Hatch. “I wish Jill and her family the very best as she begins an exciting new chapter and know that the Colorado College community will find in Jill an uncommonly talented, energetic and committed leader.”

A national search committee, chaired by President Hatch, will be named shortly to identify a successor. More details on the search committee and process, including requests for nominations, are forthcoming.

“There is much to do and great energy among our faculty and staff to continue implementing the many initiatives and priorities that distinguish Wake Forest University,” said President Hatch. “I am firmly committed to maintaining our place as the nation’s premier collegiate university.”

Emmy-award-winning journalist Simran Sethi and Bennett College President Julianne Malveaux spoke at Wake Forest on Nov. 11, encouraging people to change the way they think about environmental justice.

The two leaders in the environmental movement spoke to a standing-room-only crowd in Carswell Hall’s Annenberg Forum.

Since the 1970s Americans have benefited from legislative action to clean up air and water supplies, remedy toxic spills and increase food safety. In many communities, grassroots efforts provide a backstop where legal compliance is absent.

Malveaux said it takes audacity to believe that all people should have the same good things. “Degradation of our environment in someone else’s neighborhood is a rejection of that person’s humanity.”

But in both rural and urban areas across the U.S., racial minorities and the economically disenfranchised suffer disproportionally from the ill effects of assaults on the environment and often lack access to the power to protect their communities.

“African Americans still lag in our economy,” said Malveaux, who is an economist. “Recession has made inequities much worse. 14.3 percent of our nation lives in poverty. 25.8 percent of these people are African American. 25.4 percent are Latino. There are poor areas in Mississippi that have never seen clear water, but the people who live there are told it’s safe to drink. Certain people are not entitled to the same things other people are entitled to. What is acceptable in ‘Sugar Ditch,’ Mississippi, would never be acceptable in White Plains, N.Y.”

Sethi links environmental justice to concerns about the future of humanity. “This generation is the first generation that may not outlive its parents,” she said. “Pollutants and toxins do not have boundaries. Toxins start in one place but they don’t stay there. If you put something into the environment that’s harmful, it affects everyone.”

Sethi said the solution for environmental injustice is about looking at the world differently. “Everything we love, everything we want to do or be, exists in this ecosystem. No one wants to live in a world with contaminated soil where they can’t drink the water.” Reusable water bottles, recycling efforts and walking rather than driving are first steps in nurturing a long relationship with the earth, said Sethi. But the best relationships, while gratifying, are messy, complicated and hard, she added.

Malveaux encouraged students to become involved by “examining the structural issues around environmental injustice and being willing to talk about the uneven distribution of resources and burdens.” She particularly encouraged people of color to become more involved.

“Environmental inequities can be solved,” said Provost Jill Tiefenthaler, who moderated the question and answer session following the presentations. “Bold conversations need to continue on college campuses to educate people about these issues and empower them to find successful solutions through economic, social and political action.”

The event was co-sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Office of Sustainability.

“Single Threads Unbraided,” a celebration of the work of poet A.R. Ammons will be held Nov. 15 – 16 at the Z. Smith Reynolds Library.  The symposium will examine Ammons’ poetry, art and letters as well as his contributions to American culture and the arts.

Untitled, 1978

Events will include a discussion of Ammons’ paintings, an original one-act play by Winston-Salem writer Michael Huie based on Ammons’ letters to his future wife, and readings of selected poems.

Twice the winner of the National Book Award for his poetry, Ammons was a 1949 Wake Forest graduate.   He was also a prolific painter.  Twenty of his brightly colored abstract paintings will be on display in the library in conjunction with the event and will then have a permanent home in the library.

Ammons was a native of southeastern North Carolina, but was, for many years, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Poetry at Cornell University.   He died in 2001.

Scheduled speakers include: Helen Vendler, A. Kingsley Porter University Professor at Harvard University; Eric Wilson, Thomas H. Pritchard Professor of English at Wake Forest; Roger Gilbert, a professor of English at Cornell University, who is currently writing a critical biography of Ammons; Elizabeth Mills, professor of English at Davidson College; Robert West, associate professor of English at Mississippi State University, who is editing Ammons’ complete works; and Kenneth McClane, W.E.B. DuBois Professor of Literature at Cornell University and Ammons’ close associate, who will discuss his legacy as a poet and artist.

“The Z. Smith Reynolds Library is the center of intellectual activity on campus,” said Lynn Sutton, dean of Z. Smith Reynolds Library and organizer of the event.  “We think this symposium is an outstanding way to honor the creative achievements of one of Wake Forest’s most notable alumni, A. R. Ammons, celebrating all of the forms of expression that he used.”

This project is made possible in part by a grant from the North Carolina Humanities Council, a statewide nonprofit and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is also funded by Wake Forest University’s Provost’s Fund for Academic Excellence.

For a complete schedule of events, go to http://cloud.lib.wfu.edu/blog/ammons/.  Admission is free, but registration is suggested.  To register for the event, visit https://pdc.wfu.edu/register/1869.

Building on its liberal arts tradition, Wake Forest University has established the Wake Forest Humanities Institute to support innovative scholarship and collaboration in the humanities.

Wake Forest President Nathan O. Hatch announced the Institute’s launch Friday at a gathering of faculty and others from the campus community in the atrium of the Z. Smith Reynolds Library.

“The Humanities Institute both honors the liberal arts tradition that has long stood at the center of the Wake Forest experience and promotes innovative scholarship that is already invigorating our faculty and enhancing our intellectual community,” said President Nathan O. Hatch.

The goal of the Institute is to enhance and build a collaborative community of scholars in the humanities through initiatives such as faculty seminars, reading groups, round table discussions, long-term collaborative research projects, guest speakers, events and symposia.

Four faculty members—Sally Barbour, professor of Romance languages; Mary Foskett, Zachary T. Smith Associate Professor of Religion; Dean Franco, associate professor of English; and David Phillips, associate professor of the program in humanities—have worked for the past three years to lay the groundwork for the Institute. More than 45 Wake Forest faculty across the university have been involved in research projects and creative activities started during the planning stages for the Institute.

“We anticipate the growth of new and evolving seminars, increasing engagement between Wake Forest and national and international humanities scholarship, a reaffirmed role for the humanities in the Wake Forest curriculum, and unique contributions to the public life of the humanities, in the spirit of our motto, Pro Humanitate,” said Franco, who spoke at the event.

The Humanities Institute began as a grass-roots initiative among a group of Wake Forest faculty who received a planning grant in 2007 from the provost’s office to fund humanities-focused initiatives. From a reading group exploring the relationships between neurobiology and music to collaborative research on peace and conflict management, to a faculty seminar on “Landscape and Place,” the group has already supported creative connections among faculty in departments across campus. The results of such collaboration have included panels at national conferences, guest speakers on campus, new books and new courses.

“The Institute is poised to make Wake Forest a leading national site for collaborative humanities research and education,” said Wake Forest Provost Jill Tiefenthaler.

A faculty director for the Humanities Institute will be named this fall and begin serving in that role in January. Also in the fall, the Institute will release a new call for proposals from Wake Forest faculty that will provide funding for new projects in the spring. In March, the Humanities Institute will host a two-day symposium featuring Edward Ayers, historian and president of the University of Richmond, who will give a keynote address on new directions in humanities research.