A message from Dr. Peter Rodriguez

Hello, Wake Forest University.

I’m Peter Rodriguez, and I am deeply honored to have been invited to serve as your 15th president.

I know that I’m still a stranger to most of you, but I hope to change that before too long. As we get to know one another, let me share three thoughts about my initial approach to serving as your president.

First, I’m an academic economist by training. I have dedicated my career to researching, teaching and advancing knowledge through that lens. Through my leadership roles at Rice and the University of Virginia, I’ve become something of a dual citizen of the academy and the business world, and I’m at home in both.

Second, I have long admired the distinct role Wake Forest plays in higher education. It has a well-earned reputation as one of the nation’s leading liberal arts institutions, with highly regarded faculty, professional schools and competitive Power 4 athletics. The more I learn about Wake Forest, the more I appreciate the collective sense of duty to advance its mission and uphold its values.

Pro Humanitate animates the sense of purpose with which you pursue research, scholarship and creative work. It serves as a guidepost for how to teach, learn and pursue our vocations. I’m proud to adopt it as my own.

Third, this moment in higher education feels urgent to me, as I’m sure it does to you. We understandably seek clarity and direction at a time of turbulence.

I will tell you now, and again when I’m with you in person, that I am confident in Wake Forest’s future and in my commitment to steward this University successfully into its third century.

Wake Forest has tremendous momentum. I will listen and learn about what makes the University tick without letting that momentum lag.

“Listen without lag” is a catchy way of conveying the charge I received from the Presidential Search Committee: to get to know you and to serve you with my full heart.

I could not be more grateful for the opportunity to do just that.