Removing the barriers of institutional racism
September 11, 2017 | The Huffington Post Blog
Professor Christine Nero Coughlin and Adam Messenlehner co-authored the following blog post: “Last week tragedy struck in Charlottesville when white supremacists and neo-Nazis took to the streets of this idyllic town, brandishing Confederate flags, swastikas, and anti-Semitic banners. The protest resulted in the tragic death of thirty-two year old counter-protester Heather Heyer, whose last Facebook post poignantly stated, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.’
On Women’s Equality Day, let’s talk business
September 11, 2017 | Fox News
Women in leadership is good for business and firms with more women in senior positions are, on the whole, more profitable. Recent research from Wake Forest University School of Business demonstrated that female CEOs, chief financial officers and board members serve as an effective bulwark against accounting scandals, fraud and other Securities and Exchange Commission violations.
Media Report for Aug. 26 - Sept. 4, 2017
September 11, 2017 | WFU News & Communications
The Wake Forest News Media Report for Aug. 26- Sept. 4, 2017 is now available online.
Not enough women in STEM? How WFU's new engineering program is breaking the mold
August 28, 2017 | Triad Business Journal
The number of students enrolled in Wake Forest University’s new engineering program isn’t finalized yet, but so far at least 40 percent of those signed up are women. Faculty of the engineering department said more female students started enrolling in the program once faculty members were announced. Three of the four faculty members are women.
“It speaks to once you put in front of them role models they can relate,” said Olga Pierrakos, chair of the Department of Engineering. “It also sends the message that, ‘Hey, maybe I can do this too.’”
In recruiting and hiring the engineering department’s faculty, Pierrakos said she specifically looked for diversity, including in ages, education and level of experience.
E.M.B.A.s under pressure
August 28, 2017 | Inside Higher Ed
The University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business announced plans to phase out its full-time M.B.A. so that its final cohort will graduate in May 2019. In doing so, it joins other major institutions, like Wake Forest University and Virginia Tech, which in recent years have ended traditional full-time M.B.A. programs amid enrollment pressures and a desire to be more flexible for students.
See Also: The Daily Iowan, Iowa City Press Citizen
A Galapagos seabird's population expected to shrink with ocean warming
August 28, 2017 | Phys.org
Within the next century, rising ocean temperatures around the Galápagos Islands are expected to make the water too warm for a key prey species, sardines, to tolerate. A new study by Wake Forest University biologists, published in PLOS ONE Aug. 23, uses decades of data on the diet and breeding of a tropical seabird, the Nazca booby, to understand how the future absence of sardines may affect the booby population.
Krispy Kreme campaign with Panthers puts focus on points, not wins
August 28, 2017 | SC Now
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. is kicking off its fifth marketing promotion campaign with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. This time, the emphasis is on how many points the Panthers score rather than individual wins. The shift to a digital app and reward points system “reflects an important strategic shift for the company,” said Roger Beahm, executive director of the Center for Retail Innovation at Wake Forest University School of Business.
Media Report for Aug. 19-25, 2017
August 28, 2017 | WFU News & Communications
The Wake Forest News Media Report for Aug. 19-25, 2017 is now available online.
All too familiar bias
August 28, 2017 | Inside Higher Ed
A leaked Google memo, described as an “anti-diversity screed,” reminds many women in STEM fields of the challenges that remain not just in industry, but in academe.
“There are definitely disciplines, industries and fields that still haven’t made the progress that is needed in regards to diversity, equity and inclusion. In that regard, I’m not surprised,” said Olga Pierrakos, chair of Wake Forest University’s new undergraduate engineering program, where three out of the four faculty members are women.
Pierrakos, previously a program director at the National Science Foundation, said she hopes that starting an engineering program with a fresh slate at Wake Forest will give her a chance to build an inclusive program.
“Knowing the engineering and higher ed landscape a little better, I would say there’s been effort and there’s been a chance to improve things in engineering education.
Fossil reveals what common ancestor of humans and apes looked like
August 28, 2017 | Scientific American
The most complete extinct-ape skull ever found reveals what the last common ancestor of all living apes and humans might have looked like, according to a new study. The 13-million-year-old infant skull, which its discoverers nicknamed “Alesi,” was unearthed in Kenya in 2014.
“Alesi came from exactly the right time and place to show us what the ancestors of all the modern apes and humans might have looked like,” study co-author Ellen Miller, a primatologist and paleoanthropologist at Wake Forest University, said. “We never had information on that before — it was always a mystery.”
Their findings were published in the scientific journal, Nature, on Aug. 10.
See also: Popular Science, The Daily Mail and listen to an interview with Miller by WFDD’s Keri Brown.
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