WFU in the news: Nov. 20-26, 2023

FEATURED NEWS

Afraid of overspending on holiday gifts? Set a budget.
By Daniel de Visé | USA Today
“Don’t just set a number,” said marketing professor and retail expert Roger Beahm. “I suggest building a budget from the bottom up, by listing the people you expect to buy gifts for and estimating how much you expect to spend on those people.” Once you have a budget, move those funds into a separate account, so you “know what you’re working with.” – 11/25/2023

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

‘Dupes’ clothing, perfume craze lures holiday shoppers as major brands fret
By Katherine Masters | Reuters
Experts say the current excitement over dupes traces back to the start of fast fashion. Inditex-owned Zara, which opened its first store in 1975, made a business of replicating luxury designs. Its shorter production cycles allowed more styles to enter the market quickly, sparking “the habit of shopping more frequently,” said Ian Taplin, a sociology and international studies professor at Wake Forest. – 11/20/2023

Some protection against infidelity? How about perspective-taking
By Christian Miller | Forbes
“Cheating in monogamous relationships is prevalent these days. Depending on how ‘infidelity’ is defined, studies have found the percentage of adults reporting some form of infidelity to range from 20% to as high as 70%. And things do not show any signs of getting better,” writes philosophy professor Christian Miller. “Fortunately new research suggests a way to help fight against temptations to cheat: adopting the perspective of one’s significant other.” – 11/22/2023

Kennedy photos 60 years after assassination
Mirage News
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed as he rode in his motorcade in downtown Dallas, Texas. In 2003, forty years after the assassination, art professor David Lubin published the book “Shooting Kennedy,” where he explores iconic images of Kennedy and his family and how these photographs shined a light on the American cultural landscape of the time. For the 60th anniversary of the shooting of President Kennedy, Lubin answers questions on the power of the images of the First Family then and now. – 11/21/2023

Prediction markets can tell the future. Why is the US so afraid of them?
By Oliver Roeder | Financial Times
According to a paper by Koleman Strumpf, “Betting in the run-up to elections was a cherished ritual. A widely held value was that one should be prepared to ‘back one’s beliefs’ either with money or more creative dares.” These included the loser literally eating crow, or pushing the winner around in a wheelbarrow. – 11/10/2023

Enviva, the world’s largest biomass energy company, is near collapse
By Justin Catanoso | Mongabay
“This year has been a financial disaster for Enviva, the world’s largest producer of wood pellets for the biomass energy industry. With more than $250 million in losses to date and worsening results expected in the fourth quarter, the once high-flying company’s viability, by its own admission, is in grave doubt,” writes journalism professor Justin Catanoso, a regular contributor to Mongabay. – 11/21/2023

NY AG’s plastic bottle suit called both innovative, overreach
By Sarah Jarvis | Law360
Law professor Sarah Morath is quoted extensively in this news article about the NY AG lawsuit against Pepsi-Co. for plastic pollution. – 11/17/2023

Why was a human skull on sale at a Florida thrift shop?
By Sarah Kuta | Smithsonian Magazine
“There is actually very little federal law regarding the dead,” writes law professor Tanya Marsh who specializes in laws involving human remains. “Instead, the vast majority of law respecting the dead is state law, which varies significantly.” – 11/21/2023

Pollution is displacing Black midwesterners. White homeowners are profiting.
By Adam Mahoney | In These Times
This story was originally published by Capital B and is the fourth installment of a yearlong Capital B series on the country’s current Black migration, the most significant movement of Black people in the United States in 50 years. It was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Environmental and Epistemic Justice Initiative at Wake Forest University. – 11/24/2023

REGIONAL & TRADE

Politics gears up for momentous 2024
By Paul B. Johnson | High Point Enterprise
Republican presidential nominees have carried North Carolina since Obama’s triumph 15 years ago, though the races have been competitive. Politics professor John Dinan said “North Carolina has clearly joined the ranks of states that are competitive in presidential elections. It is now one of about six to eight states that will attract significant advertising from presidential candidates in both parties.” – 11/25/2023

LOCAL

Naughty or nice? Triad shoppers expected to spend more, give less this season.
By Richard Craver | Greensboro News & Record
Local consumers may be shopping “more cautiously” this year, predicted marketing professor Roger Beahm. “First, inflation has reduced what shoppers can get for the dollars they are spending. This, in turn, prompts them to be more cautious in various ways: what they buy, where they buy, when they buy and even how they pay.” – 11/20/2023

Wake Forest students feed the community through Turkeypalooza
By Zyneria Byrd | Spectrum News Charlotte
The smell of stuffing and sweet potatoes filled the air inside the Campus Kitchen of Wake Forest University as they cooked more than 600 meals. “For the menu this week, we’ll have turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce and then vegetables as a side,” said Raahim Khan, student coordinator of Campus Kitchen. This was the 17th annual Turkeypalooza event. – 11/22/2023

WAKE FOREST NEWS

WFU names Brandon Gilliland senior VP for finance & administration
By Cheryl V. Walker | Wake Forest News
Wake Forest University has named Brandon Gilliland senior vice president for finance and administration, effective January 1. Gilliland returns to Wake Forest after serving for the past six years as vice president and chief financial officer at the University of Miami. He previously served at Wake Forest from 2007 to 2017, rising to the position of vice president for finance. – 11/20/2023

This announcement was also shared in the Winston-Salem Journal.