Stories this week at WFU
COACHTALK: THE RHETORIC OF COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Following each game in the ACC Tournament this weekend, the media and fans will likely look to the coaches to explain their team’s victory or defeat. To help explain the coaches’ comments, the media can turn to a Wake Forest communication expert who has researched coaches’ post-game comments for nearly two decades. “After a while, if you listen to enough coaches, you begin to think you’ve heard it all before,” says John Llewellyn, an associate professor of communication. “And the odds are you have.” Llewellyn analyzed the professional vocabulary of NCAA Division I men’s college basketball coaches for “Coachtalk,” a chapter in the book “Case Studies in Sport Communication.” He says there is a pattern in what winning and losing coaches say after each game that reveals an underlying respect for each other and the world of athletics. Llewellyn is available for interviews about his research and to analyze coaches’ comments during the ACC Tournament.
Contact: Sarah Mansell, manselss@wfu.edu or 336-758-5237.
COLLEGE SPORTS AS ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS
What is the relationship between intercollegiate athletics and academics? Earl Smith, Rubin Professor of American Ethnic Studies at Wake Forest, is available to discuss the complex issue of sports and higher education. “These athletic programs, usually under the supervising structure of the athletics department and governed by the organizational rules of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), operate a form of entertainment business within the academic setting,” says Smith, who has written extensively about issues of race, sports and society. Smith will present a lecture titled “The Modern World System: Academics and Athletics in the New Millennium” at 4 p.m. March 18 in Greene Hall, Room 145. The speech is free and open to the public.
Contact: Cheryl V. Walker, walkercv@wfu.edu or 336-758-5237.
CHAPEL BELLS CONCERT TODAY AT NOON
Today at noon residents of Winston-Salem can hear the “good bells” of a “good school” when the Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs plays Wake Forest’s carillon in a free, public concert. Attendees are encouraged to bring a picnic lunch and set up lawn chairs or blankets on the University Plaza (Quad) in front of Wait Chapel. Wake Forest’s 23-bell carillon is located in the tower of Wait Chapel.
Contact: Pam Barrett, barretpm@wfu.edu or 336-758-5237.
WILL HUMOROUS ADS HELP AMERICANS LOSE WEIGHT?
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced March 9 a national public service advertising campaign that will use humor to encourage Americans to take small steps toward big changes in their diets. The announcement was tied to new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that found that eating too much and exercising too little are poised to pass smoking as America’s leading cause of preventable death. The news is not shocking to Paul Ribisl, chair and professor of health and exercise science at Wake Forest. He has written numerous articles about the causes and health consequences of obesity including “Obesity: The Influence of Genetics, Diet and Physical Activity” and “The Next Obesity-Related Epidemic: Adult Onset Diabetes in Children.” Ribisl says the most effective strategy is to alter the environmental factors that foster dietary over-consumption and physical inactivity. He is available for interviews about how to reverse the obesity trend.
Contact: Sarah Mansell, manselss@wfu.edu or 336-758-5237.
IRISH FESTIVAL COMMUNITY DAY – Wake Forest University Press, the premier publisher of Irish poetry in North America, will kick off its 7th Annual Wake Forest Irish Festival March 13 with the Irish Festival Community Day. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held from 12 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Davis Field on Wake Forest’s campus. The six-day festival runs through March 19.
Contact: Pam Barrett, barretpm@wfu.edu or 336-758-5237.
WFU CELEBRATES ST. PATTY’S DAY IN TRADITIONAL IRISH STYLE
Food, friends, music, dancing and poetry — all the ingredients of a night of Irish fun —will mark Wake Forest’s St. Patrick’s Day Celebration at Shorty’s “pub” in Wake Forest’s Benson University Center. The festivities, which are part of the 7th Annual Irish Festival, sponsored by Wake Forest University Press, will be held March 17 from 7 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. The Morris Family will provide live music. Irish dancers will perform demonstrations and offer free dance lessons, and the audience is encouraged to recite Irish poetry during band breaks. For details see full story on the News Service Web site.
Contact: Pam Barrett, barretpm@wfu.edu or 336-758-5237.
HARVARD SCHOLAR TO DISCUSS AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEN
Orlando Patterson, John Cowles Professor of Sociology at Harvard University and a leading scholar on the roots of racism and poverty, will present a lecture at Wake Forest at 4 p.m. March 22 in Benson University Center’s Pugh Auditorium. Patterson’s talk, “American Dionysus: The Image and Reality of African American Men,” is free and open to the public. The author of eight books, Patterson has helped shape the national debate on race in America. He is available for interviews before his talk.
Contact: Cheryl Walker, walkercv@wfu.edu or 336-758-5237.
STUDENTS ENJOY SPRING BREAK
The Wake Forest campus is quieter this week, as undergraduate students enjoy spring break. Students will return in time for the start of classes March 15.
Categories: Arts & Culture, Experiential Learning, Happening at Wake
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