My first fall in the Forest

Good afternoon, Wake Forest!

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been on campus with you for just over two months, but here we are. I’ve spent most of that time getting to know as many of you as I can — and a little of it driving around trying to figure out where the best eating spots are near campus!

But after these first weeks, I’m beginning to understand something much more important about Wake Forest.

This is a place where ambition and connection meet to make big things possible.

The relational culture is 100% real.

From my very first day on campus, I have been deeply moved by how genuinely friendly and welcoming this community is. People here don’t simply pass one another with a quick wave. They stop. They ask questions. They get to know one another.

That may sound like a small thing, but I don’t think it is. It’s rare and meaningful. 

Relationships are the foundation for everything else that happens here. They create the trust and curiosity that allow people to learn from one another, challenge one another and imagine what might be possible together.

And people here are aiming high.

Everyone I meet seems to care deeply about Wake Forest — and to believe that we can do even more together.

I see that ambition everywhere: in faculty pursuing consequential questions, in students preparing to make a difference, in alumni investing their talents and resources, and in colleagues across the University who are constantly asking how we can do something better.

What strikes me is that ambition at Wake Forest is rarely a solitary pursuit. People want to accomplish something meaningful, but they also want to do it with and for other people.

That combination of ambition and connection is one of the things I find most compelling about Wake Forest.

One of the things I am learning is that Wake Forest has much more happening than many people realize.

We have remarkable work taking place across our schools and disciplines, and some of our greatest opportunities may be found where those fields intersect.

What happens when we innovate at the intersection of medicine and technology? What happens when business is pursued for the purpose of advancing humanity or when scientific discovery is applied to questions of ethics and leadership? Those intersections are where new possibilities emerge.

I want Wake Forest to become known not simply for the excellence of the individual parts of our University, but for what becomes possible when those parts come together.

That is an important part of what I believe we can do as a comprehensive university: bring people, ideas and perspectives into the same place and create something none of them could have created alone.

So, what does all of this mean for me? 

This fall, I’ll be intensely focused on continuing to get to know you and this amazing community. I’ll be listening a lot — working to understand how Wake Forest works, where our strengths and opportunities lie, and where we can invest for future impact. I will be leading the searches for our next Provost and Dean of Business, two critical academic leadership positions that will shape the best possible academic vision for our future. And I’ll be thinking about a vision for Wake Forest’s future that represents the best of who we are and where we can go together. 

This is an important moment for Wake Forest.

Universities have a real opportunity to remind the country why higher education matters. 

I believe that means telling a bigger story than return on investment alone. The value of education is also measured in the questions we learn to ask, the people we learn from, the ethics and character we develop, the relationships we build and our capacity to adapt throughout our lives.

At Wake Forest, we have an opportunity to demonstrate those ideas in a particularly powerful way. We can prepare people not just to succeed in the world as it exists today, but to help shape the world that comes next.

And I’m excited for what comes next!

As we move through this fall semester, I am looking forward to the many formal and informal opportunities we will have to get to know one another. I want to hear your stories, your ideas and your hopes for Wake Forest. And I want us to continue discovering together what becomes possible when we bring our talents, disciplines and ambitions together.

I’m grateful to be here.

Go Deacs!

Peter Rodriguez
President 
Distinguished University Professor of Economics and Business