Stories this week at Wake Forest

FRESHMEN ARRIVE FOR ORIENTATION

This week, 982 freshmen moved into their residence halls and began orientation activities. This year’s freshman class is comprised of 505 women and 477 men from 44 states and seven foreign countries. Orientation activities continue throughout the week for students and their parents. Sophomores, juniors and seniors move into their rooms on Aug. 21 and 22. Classes begin Aug. 25.

MILESTONE IN TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE

Wake Forest reached a milestone in its technology initiative with the arrival of this year’s freshman class. All undergraduates now have their own IBM ThinkPad computer for use in and out of the classroom. Wake Forest has provided laptop computers to each freshman class since fall 1996 as part of a plan to enhance undergraduate education. On Aug. 20, freshmen will attend a computer orientation session where they learn about their computer and its software. Sessions are from 12 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. On Aug. 23, juniors will turn in the computers they received as freshmen for an upgraded model. The students keep their computers upon graduation.

DIVINITY SCHOOL OPENS THIS FALL

Classes start Aug. 25 in the Wake Forest Divinity School-the first professional school to open on campus since the Babcock Graduate School of Management was founded in 1969. The school offers a three-year program to earn a master of divinity degree. Twenty-four students from a variety of denominational traditions comprise the entering class. The school will formally celebrate its opening Oct. 12-13. Divinity School Dean Bill J. Leonard, a Baptist minister and nationally known church historian, is available for interviews by calling 336-758-4315.

EXHIBIT ON PIRATE’S FLAGSHIP OPENS

A special exhibit, “Queen Anne’s Revenge: The Search for Blackbeard’s Flagship,” will open at Wake Forest’s Museum of Anthropology on Aug. 20 and run until Sept. 14. The exhibit, which is not scheduled to appear in another part of the Piedmont or western North Carolina, documents efforts to identify a shipwreck found off North Carolina’s coast as Blackbeard’s lost flagship. Also featured are recovered artifacts and a seven-minute video of research dives. Mark Wilde-Ramsing, an underwater archaeologist leading the project, will discuss the investigation of the shipwreck on Sept. 2 at 7:30 p.m. Admission to the museum and the talk are free. The museum is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

DNA PIONEER TO SPEAK AT WAKE FOREST

James D. Watson, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who discovered the structure of DNA, will deliver Wake Forest’s Opening Convocation address at 11 a.m. on Sept. 16 in Wait Chapel. Watson’s address is part of “Science & Technology: The Next Millennium,” a yearlong series of events and activities focusing on science and technology topics, such as cloning, computer security and the environment.