Wake Forest in the News Aug. 30-Sept. 5

FEATURED NEWS

New African American Studies program underway
By Laurie Willis | news.wfu.edu
Wake Forest University has been working to establish an African American Studies program for a few years. Last week’s launch of the program is timely given the country is experiencing increased racial tensions, states are passing stricter voting laws and virtually everybody is uttering the term “woke.” – 8/30/2021

In the battle against Covid-19, the economics of boosters
By Kim McGrath | news.wfu.edu
There has been some concern that the push for a booster shot may be motivated by profit rather than an individual’s health and long-term wellbeing. Economics professor Tina Marsh Dalton’s research is at the intersection of health economics and market organization. She holds a joint appointment with the Wake Forest School of Medicine, and her work focuses on improving health care by analyzing how markets for health care goods and services work. – 9/02/2021

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

What does the third dose of COVID-19 vaccine mean for the booster market?
By Anjalee Khemlani | Yahoo Finance
There is debate about whether a new round of doses are true boosters or simply an additional shot in what will end up being a primary course of three doses for lasting protection. If the latter is true, would it throw off booster market projections? Probably not, according to Wake Forest health economist Tina Marsh Dalton. The companies can still count on “the revenue of everyone that’s aging into eligibility, so they are still going to have that constant baseline,” she said. – 8/30/2021

Did this summer actually … suck?
By Kayla Kibbe | InsideHook
“Obviously, people might have just had a terrible summer that didn’t meet any of their expectations,” said psychology professor Christian Waugh. “But I think that for a lot of people, even if they still had a ‘good’ summer, they had overestimated how amazing the summer was going to be at the beginning, which can inevitably lead to a little bit of a letdown later.” – 9/03/2021

More Lord Kingdom hopes to make America godly again, one T-shirt at a time
By Bob Smietana | Religion News Service
Lynn Neal, professor of religious studies at Wake Forest, said clothing has long played an important role for religious groups. It provides a sense of identity for a religious community and communicates something about a person’s beliefs to the outside world. – 9/01/2021

Old-growth forests of Pacific Northwest could be key to climate action
By Justin Catanoso | Mongabay
As humans endure one of the worst summers ever punctuated by climate catastrophes around the world, and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases its most dire report yet, Catanoso invites Dominick DellaSala, the past president of the Society of Conservation Biology, to discuss the value of old-growth forests. – 9/01/2021

An influential study of dishonesty was dishonest
By Christian Miller | Forbes
Philosophy professor Christian Miller writes: Serious questions are swirling around the past behavior of New York Times best-selling author Dan Ariely. At the center of the controversy is whether Ariely played a role in fraudulently manipulating data in a famous study that subsequently changed how governments and businesses went about promoting honesty. – 8/30/2021

Why China’s threats towards Lithuania are likely to backfire
By Milana Nikolova | Emerging Europe
Wei-chin Lee, professor of East Asian International Relations at Wake Forest University in the U.S., agrees with the notion that Lithuania is unlikely to suffer financially from a Chinese economic blockade. “While China’s state media claimed that Lithuania must pay the price for openly playing the ‘Taiwan’ card, Lithuania seems determined to continue its current policy.” – 9/03/2021

Crises bring out the toddler in power-hungry politicians
By J.D. Tuccille | Reason
“Governors in most states possess the power to act unilaterally and without need for any legislative approval, in ways not fully appreciated prior to the coronavirus, and in ways that are already leading to a reconsideration of some state emergency-power arrangements,” said politics professor John Dinan. – 9/01/2021

Why do so many countries have military bases in Djibouti?
By Eileen Whitehead | People’s World
Politics and international studies professor Lina Benabdallah, whose research focuses on China-Africa relations, has observed a growing lack of trust between Washington and Beijing, which is taking on global dimensions. – 8/31/2021

REGIONAL & TRADE

What are COVID vaccine rates at NC colleges and universities?
By Kate Murphy, Ben Sessoms | News & Observer
With many North Carolina colleges and universities back fully in person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic started, vaccination is a critical component of universities’ plans to keep campuses open and students safe. At Wake Forest, about 97% of students are fully vaccinated and those not vaccinated have received medical or religious exemptions. – 9/02/2021

Hard at work
By Bethany Bray | Counseling Today
Seth Hayden, an associate professor of counseling at Wake Forest and president of the National Career Development Association, a division of ACA, emphasizes the importance of listening for and asking clients about job-related challenges, regardless of whether their presenting concern involves work. “If work continually comes up in their conversation, let’s stop there and dive deeper, talking more about the work that they do and how they feel about it.” – 8/30/2021

U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn warns of more ‘bloodshed’ to follow Capitol riot
By Will Wright | The Herald-Sun
Asked whether Cawthorn’s comments were protected under the First Amendment, Wake Forest law professor Wilson Parker said it is. The strength of free speech protections have varied wildly over time, the constitutional law specialist said. – 8/31/2021

LOCAL

Outdoor festival in downtown Winston-Salem to celebrate IdeasCityWS
Yes! Weekly
An outdoor festival marking the culmination of a year of creative collaborations between Wake Forest, New York City’s New Museum and local community partners will be held Sat., Oct. 2, in Bailey Park from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. in downtown Winston-Salem. A highlight of the event will be the Marketplace of Ideas – an “outdoor living room” with interactive exhibits from two dozen local creative organizations. – 9/02/2021

The art of recovery: Live entertainment is back – with excitement and caution
By Lynn Felder | Winston-Salem Journal
At Reynolda House Museum of American Art, they have learned to prepare for the unexpected, says Allison Perkins, executive director and Wake Forest University provost of Reynolda House and Gardens. The current exhibition, “The Voyage of Life: Art, Allegory, and Community Response,” replaced a show Perkins had to cancel. “We combined great works of art from Wake Forest and Reynolda House – it’s the result of a massive pivot – and the inclusion of community voices. A community story spearheads each section.” – 9/01/2021