Wake Forest Media Report Oct. 16-22, 2023

FEATURED NEWS

Wake Forest earns national ‘Career Spark Award’
By Kim McGrath | Wake Forest News
Wake Forest is one of 12 institutions earning a 2023 Handshake Career Spark Award in the student engagement category. The award recognizes the University’s Office of Personal and Career Development for its innovation and dedication to engaging students in career development from Day One. “At Wake Forest, we are committed to educating and empowering every student to be confident and ready for the entire career journey, and effectively employable for life,” said Vice President for Personal and Career Development Andy Chan. – 10/17/2023

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

El estallido social de 2019 y el revisionismo histórico
By Peter M. Siavelis | El Mostrador
“The outbreak was violent, destructive and spiraled out of control. And certain groups took advantage of the situation, especially in the following months. However, referring to the event as a “coup” is intellectually dishonest and incorrect,” writes politics professor Peter Siavelis in this opinion piece. – 10/17/2023

Prestigious symposium on AI lawyering reveals keen insights
By Lance Eliot | Forbes
The author provides commentary and coverage of a prestigious symposium on AI lawyering featuring WFU law professors Raine Haque and Keith Robinson that was recently jointly undertaken by the Tsai Center for Law, Science and Innovation of the SMU Dedman School of Law and with Wake Forest Law via a special event entitled “AI Lawyering: Adapting to the Era of ChatGPT and Large Language Models”. The range of topics encompassed at the symposium consisted of three major areas of focus: (1) AI in legal education, (2) AI in legal practice, and (3) AI as viewed from the bench, the ABA, and state bars. – 10/17/2023

Seniors get slight boost for 2024 Social Security checks
By Chelsea Torres | Fox Business
Finance professor Ajay Patel said it can be a tough situation with the new increase since the new Cost of Living Adjustment percentage reflects the current inflation numbers. “If for whatever reason inflation spikes again then the COLA they’re going to get is going to be less than the actual price increase in ‘24; and that’s going to hurt them.” – 10/13/2023

How a Colorado funeral parlor became home to 189 decaying bodies
By Jess Thomson | Newsweek
“The Colorado funeral home was required to either dispose of the bodies within 24 hours or refrigerate or embalm them, ” said law professor Tanya Marsh, who is also a licensed funeral director. “We’ll find out more facts as the case unfolds, but my guess in Colorado is that the funeral home either lost its contract with a crematory, or there was some other problem. It is really indefensible, but unfortunately not the first time it has happened.” – 10/20/2023

The evolution of Halloween throughout the course of history
Buckrail
While there is much debate around the origins of Halloween in the United States, many historians agree that the holiday is an amalgamation of European cultural traditions. People lit bonfires and wore costumes made of animal heads and skins to protect themselves, according to Wake Forest University Press. They left their front door open and a meal on the table for kind family spirits. – 10/20/2023

12 educational facts about ‘Abbott Elementary’
ReportWire
A workplace mockumentary in the vein of The Office and Parks and Rec, Abbott focuses on an underfunded, predominately Black school based in Philadelphia. Communications professor Mary Dalton, who studies the representation of educators in popular culture, told CNN, “This is the first female teacher character in a comedy who has been portrayed in a positive light, and who is realistic, like a well-rounded person, in a very long time.” – 10/20/2023

REGIONAL & TRADE

Power Player 2023: Dr. Ebony Boulware, Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Triad Business Journal
Wake Forest University School of Medicine Dean and Chief Science Officer, Advocate Health Dr. Ebony Boulware has been named a 2023 Power Player. She took over the Wake Forest University School of Medicine at an exciting time for the Triad’s only medical school. Her first day on the job coincided with the groundbreaking of WFUSOM’s new 700,000 SF campus in Charlotte. The school expects to seat its first full class next fall with 75 medical students in Charlotte. – 10/23/2023

NC Biotech’s Piedmont Triad office adds 5 thought leaders to advisory committee
By Chris Capot | WRAL TechWire
Wake Forest University Director of Technology Innovation Kenneth Russell, who helps inventors turn their ideas and inventions into licensable medical devices and digital healthcare products, has been named to The North Carolina Biotechnology Center’s Piedmont Triad Office’s advisory committee. – 10/17/2023

Senate bill would change how Watauga commissioners are elected
By Paul Garber | WFDD-FM (Winston-Salem, NC)
A bill in the state Senate would change the way Watauga County voters choose their county commissioners, a move that could shift the balance of local power. “The move from county-wide to district, in those kinds of cases has real implications in that sense, and ends up concentrating the votes of one party in a central area of a district and allowing for other voters on the periphery of the district to go with another party,” said politics professor John Dinan. – 10/19/2023

From outliers to luminaries: Warren County’s PCB protests get mainstream attention
By Will Atwater | North Carolina Health News
Reporting for this story was supported by the Wake Forest University 2023 Environmental and Epistemic Justice Summer Institute. The Institute, held in June, was a collaboration between Wake Forest’s Program in African American Studies and journalism program with support by a major grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The goal was to provide community members and scholars with stories that both inform and inspire action to address environmental concerns in under-resourced communities of color. – 10/20/2023

LOCAL

The Local Vibe tailgate series: Wake Forest University
By Kaela Carter | WXII-TV (Winston Salem, NC)
Assistant Vice President, Alumni Engagement Kelly McConnico and Wake Forest Alumni Council’s Shelley Holden were interviewed about the University’s homecoming traditions and preparations as part of WXII’s Tailgate Series. – 10/19/2023

Beth and Larry Hopkins are honorees for The UNITE Award given to each school by the ACC
By John Dell | Winston-Salem Journal
The Atlantic Coast Conference announced that Professor Beth Hopkins and her late husband, Dr. Larry Hopkins, are the Demon Deacons’ two honorees this year for The UNITE Award which is an initiative of the ACC’s Committee for Racial and Social Justice. The UNITE Award is presented annually to individuals who best exemplify ACC CORE’s mission to promote and encourage racial equity and social justice through education, partnerships, engagement and advocacy. – 10/19/2023

Business Milestones
Winston-Salem Journal
Hearn Plaza at Wake Forest University will soon be filled with young children donning colorful Halloween costumes as part of Project Pumpkin. This year’s event will take place from 3 to 6 pm Oct. 24. – 10/22/2023

WAKE FOREST NEWS

Project Pumpkin will welcome hundreds of local children to campus
By Keri Brown | Wake Forest News
Hearn Plaza will soon be filled with young children donning colorful Halloween costumes as part of Project Pumpkin. This year’s event will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 24 from 3-6 p.m. The student-led program will welcome more than 500 children to campus who attend Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools or after-school programs at nonprofit organizations, including the Salvation Army and Latino Community Services. – 10/18/2023

WFU Face to Face will host star of ABC’s ‘Shark Tank’ Daymond John
By Kim McGrath | Wake Forest News
Founder & CEO of FUBU, Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship, Star of ABC’s “Shark Tank” and CEO of The Shark Group Daymond John will join Wake Forest’s Face to Face Speaker Forum for an evening of conversation with Emmy Award-winning talk show host Mario Armstrong on Wednesday, Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m. in Wait Chapel. – 10/23/2023