WFU in the news: Jan. 23-29, 2023

FEATURED NEWS

Wake Forest University receives $30 million Lilly Grant for character education
By Michael T. Nietzel | Forbes
Wake Forest University has announced that Lilly Endowment Inc. has awarded it a five-year $30.7 million grant to support the university’s emphasis on the study of character and also create a national higher education network focused on educating character. The grant will advance the work of Wake Forest’s Program for Leadership and Character, which was established in 2017 and has become a leading center for research and teaching on character development and for infusing it into its curriculum. – 1/25/2023

The announcement was also covered by the Triad Business Journal, Philanthropy News Digest, UK Times News and Yes! Weekly.

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

An extremely common feature of gyms could be threatening the benefits of your workout
By Kiley Price | Slate
Experiencing negative feelings while staring at your reflection in the gym could be explained by something called the theory of objective self-awareness, according to health and exercise science professor Jeff Katula. “We naturally go through this self-evaluative process, whereby the ‘current self’ is compared to the ‘ideal self.’ Since most of us do not live in the ideal self, there’s a gap between the current self and the ideal self, and that gap creates discomfort.” – 1/28/2023

Trust your gut to TikTok? Not so fast warn experts
By Peter Suciu | Forbes
When it comes to staying fit and healthy, they say don’t trust your gut and certainly don’t trust everything posted on TikTok. “We are living in a time where trust in traditional sources of medical information is fragile and people are voyaging into the modern-day Wild West of social media-sourced healing,” said Allison Forti, teaching professor and associate director of Wake Forest’s online counseling program. “To understand whether or not taking medical advice from TikTok is safe, we first have to understand why people are engaging in this trend.” – 1/24/2023

New trends in death: Human composting is now legal in New York and five other states
By Avishay Artsy | Vox
“I like to refer to green burial and natural organic reduction as neo-traditional,” said law professor Tanya Marsh, author of The Law of Human Remains. “We’re not inventing some radical new way of disposing of human remains. – 1/29/2023

Plan to debut AI ‘robot lawyer’ in courtroom is on ice
By Sindhu Sundar | Business Insider
Giving legal advice, especially in court, can be deemed the “unauthorized practice of law,” a violation that some states consider a crime, said Ellen Murphy, a professor of practice at the Wake Forest law school. “We’re seeing some reform in regulations around the unauthorized practice of law, and we’re becoming less rigid,” said Murphy. “But are they going to extend that to non-humans?” – 1/26/2023

The EU banned Russian wood pellet imports; South Korea took them all
South Africa Today
“A host of studies have confirmed that, despite climate-friendly claims of sustainability by the forestry industry and by national governments, wood pellets are less energy-dense than coal, and thus produce more greenhouse gas emissions to generate the same amount of energy,” writes journalism professor Justin Catanoso. – 1/27/2023

Coffins are out. Sending your ashes to space is in
By Emily Dieckman | BuzzFeed News
The funeral industry is increasingly led by consumers and less dictated by customs. Law professor Tanya Marsh makes a similar argument. “Baby boomers are insisting upon more control over their funeral and disposition so that their choices after death match their values in life,” she writes. – 1/26/2023

REGIONAL & TRADE

WFU receives $30M grant from the Lilly Endowment to create national network for character education
By Lillian Johnson | Triad Business Journal
Wake Forest University has received a $30.7 million grant from the Lilly Endowment to create a national network devoted to educating character in higher education. The five-year grant will support the programming and research at the university’s Program for Leadership and Character, as well as extend the impact of the work by helping public and private universities develop their own character education initiatives through the administration of grants by Wake Forest. – 1/26/2023

Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist will study health effects of Winston Weaver Fire
By April Laissle | WFDD-FM (Winston-Salem, NC)
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist is recruiting participants for a study examining the health impacts of the Winston Weaver Fertilizer Plant fire, which forced mass evacuations in Winston-Salem nearly one year ago. The study was prompted by concerns from residents about the fire’s physical and emotional health effects. Wake Forest engineering faculty and students will look at the quality of the air, water and soil within a two-mile radius of the plant. – 1/23/2023

Innovation Quarter creates new leadership role to develop Winston-Salem’s life science industry
By Lillian Johnson | Triad Business Journal
Innovation Quarter is creating a new leadership role to work with Greater Winston-Salem, Inc. to develop the city’s life sciences industry as it looks to become a global hub of regenerative medicine and a leader in biotechnology and clinical trials. Isaac Perry has been named the head of biotech and life sciences ecosystem development at Innovation Quarter. – 1/24/2023

LOCAL

RiverRun to offer free screening of “Just Mercy”
By Scott Carpenter | Yes! Weekly
RiverRun International Film Festival will screen “Just Mercy,” based on the book by Bryan Stevenson, on Thursday, February 2 at 7 p.m. at Hanes Auditorium, located in the Elberson Fine Arts Center on the campus of Salem Academy and College. The screening is being presented in partnership with Wake Forest University’s Face to Face Speaker Forum, which is presenting Bryan Stevenson in person on Thursday, February 23 at Wait Chapel. – 1/27/2023

Innovation Quarter names head of biotech economic development unit
By Richard Craver | Winston-Salem Journal
Innovation Quarter officials announced that Isaac Perry has been hired as head of its Biotech and Life Science Ecosystem Development program. “Isaac will serve as a bridge between collaborators, external partners and life sciences companies and concentrate all of those efforts into attracting tenants, partners and growing our innovation ecosystem,” said Terry Hales, executive vice chief academic officer in administration, for Wake Forest University. – 1/24/2023

Medicaid expansion? If this US House bill passes, Guilford County could go it alone
By Richard Craver | Greensboro News & Record
“During the last two years, Congress enacted measures to give states extra incentives to expand Medicaid,” said politics professor John Dinan. “Congress also considered, but failed, to enact some measures that would provide direct coverage to persons who would be eligible for Medicaid expansion in states that have declined to take that step.” – 1/26/2023

This group’s goal is to make ‘Greensboro better for LGBTQ people’
By Nancy McLaughlin | Greensboro News & Record
In 2012, the Wake Forest University Film Project received $3,000 to help finish “Love in the Overlap,” a documentary about Ellen “Lennie” Gerber and Pearl Berlin, who were community activists, longtime partners and Guilford County residents. The women married at Beth David Synagogue in 2013 once same-sex couples were allowed to do so. – 1/26/2023

Community milestones
Winston-Salem Journal
For more than two decades, Wake Forest and Winston-Salem State University have collaborated to host events honoring Martin Luther King Jr. One of those is the annual “Building the Dream” awards. Six individuals were recognized this year. Wake Forest award winners are Demi McCoy, creative program manager with the divinity school and students Gah’ques Ligons, Janeel Black and Nick Aime. Winston-Salem State University award winners: Student, Treshone Weeks; and faculty, John Williams. – 1/28/2023

WAKE FOREST NEWS

Oscars nods: Rising tide of ‘Black Panther’ isn’t lifting all Black film
By Kim McGrath | Wake Forest News
Wake Forest University media studies expert Phillip Lamarr Cunningham researches ways in which race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality are represented in popular media outlets. His research primarily focuses on African American representation. In this Q&A, Cunningham talks about Black representation, under-representation and the absence of representation in modern film – both nationally and internationally. – 1/25/2023