WFU in the news: April 29-May 5, 2024

FEATURED NEWS

Students use the performing arts to teach elementary schoolers
By Amy Diaz | WFDD-FM (Winston-Salem, NC)
Inside of a second-grade classroom at Speas Global Elementary School, students learn science from a couple of special guests — students from Wake Forest. Theatre professor Brook Davis created the class more than 20 years ago. “I started to realize that there were a lot of theater students who ended up in classrooms…that didn’t have a lot of practical experience about how you work with students,” Davis said. “Then I started to hear from some education colleagues that they were also looking for ways to incorporate the arts or more creative activities in their classrooms. Davis and education professor Alan Brown created a course that merged the two groups to design creative and engaging ways to teach. — 5/01/2024

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

Millennials have it better than everyone thinks
By Sydney Lake | Fortune
“Millennials that saved and invested as well as purchased homes soon after entering the workforce are most likely in okay to strong financial positions,” Mark Johnson, a professor and investments and portfolio management fellow at Wake Forest University School of Business, tells Fortune. – 4/29/2024

For birds, having siblings can be a matter of life or death
By Nell Greenfieldboyce | NPR
Biology professor David Anderson comments in this piece for this NPR series exploring the ways siblings can influence, sharing insights on his research on Nazca boobies in the Galápagos Islands. A Nazca booby incubates eggs with its webbed feet. In his research, Anderson would see nests with two chicks inside, a big chick and a little chick — but then the little one would disappear. “And I would frequently find it a meter, half-meter away from the nest site, just dead on the ground, apparently unrescued by the parents.” — 5/01/2024

Government remains essential for the nation’s financial stability and prosperity
By Sidney Shapiro, Joseph P. Tomain | The Hill
“It is disappointing to know that American politics have not changed all that much between Hamilton’s day and the recent so far unsuccessful efforts by House Republicans to tie President Biden to the alleged financial misdealing by his son, Hunter,” writes law professor Sidney Shapiro. – 5/03/2024

US losing ground to Russia in geopolitical battle over Africa
By Brad Dress | The Hill
Politics and international affairs professor Will Walldorf said the U.S. focus on counterterrorism is “missing the heart of the problem” and that it was “staggering” how terrorism has surged under U.S. watch. “The lack of good governance, the lack of meeting the everyday needs of citizens in West Africa, where we know food insecurity is extreme, has been the core driver of terrorist recruitment in the region,” he said. — 5/01/2024

LOCAL

NC sports wagering bills would ban prop bets on college sports
By Richard Craver | Winston-Salem Journal
Sports economics Todd McFall said prop betting, especially on college games, does “two worrisome things when it comes to maintaining an environment in which gambling on games is more entertainment than a means for profit. First, it allows for those gambling on games to target specific players who didn’t meet a gambler’s expectations, and thus causing the gambler’s wager to fail. Second, prop bets open the window of players finding ways to profit from the gambling markets a little wider than when bets can only be made on outcomes.” — 5/05/2024

Two Wake Forest students named Goldwater Scholars
By Kim McGrath | Wake Forest News
Wake Forest junior Elena Singer-Freeman and sophomore Cassi Hung have been named 2024 Barry M. Goldwater Scholars. The two are among 438 college students from across the U.S. to receive the award for the 2024-25 academic year. The Goldwater Scholarship is the premier undergraduate award for STEM students; its recipients go on to become some of this country’s finest scientists. — 5/01/2024

Bill to require N.C. sheriffs to work with ICE advances in House
By Richard Craver | Winston-Salem Journal
“It is no surprise that Republicans in the N.C. General Assembly are taking up this immigration bill in this year’s short session,” said politics professor John Dinan, a national expert on state legislatures. “This is an example of Republicans in North Carolina seeking to set the legislative agenda in ways that may respond to constituent concerns, but also may shape upcoming elections and campaigns.” — 5/01/2024

A heckler tried to derail Trevor Noah’s speech at Wake Forest University. He answered her question.
By John Hinton | Winston-Salem Journal
Comedian Trevor Noah spent part of his speech Tuesday at Joel Coliseum talking with a heckler. “Why don’t you stand up for Palestine?” the woman yelled at Noah, a popular comedian and the former host of “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.”“What are you shouting ma’am?” Noah asked the woman. The woman repeated her question. And Noah answered. “First of all, do you see what you are doing right now? You are not engaging me. — 5/02/2024

Campus protests at Wake Forest in response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza were covered by local and regional media and included in the Chronicle of Higher Education’s coverage of protests on college campuses nationwide.

You can meet Peyton Manning, Anderson Cooper, John Legend and more celebrities
By Carolyn Conte | WXII-TV (Winston Salem, NC)
Winston-Salem is going to see more famous, international figures. Face to Face announced its speaker lineup for Season Four. It will include Peyton Manning, Anderson Cooper, Jesmyn Ward, David Brooks and John Legend. Wake Forest University’s Face to Face Speaker Forum concluded Season Three on April 30 with Trevor Noah. — 5/01/2024

How the performing arts can teach kids concepts in science
By Keri Brown | Wake Forest News
Wake Forest University is collaborating with Speas Elementary and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools for the initiative. Sixteen WFU education and theater students are working with seven classes of Speas second graders this spring using the performing arts to teach lessons on weather patterns, the properties of liquids and solids and other science topics. “We know kids learn in different ways,” said theatre professor Brook Davis. — 4/29/2024