Message of Appreciation from President Wente

Dear Wake Forest faculty,

As I begin my time at Wake Forest, I wanted to reach out to all of you with a special message of gratitude and anticipation.

First, let me commend you on your efforts over the past year and months. I am impressed by your amazing adaptation of academics during the pandemic. I know and appreciate the incredible effort it took to reimagine courses, develop creative solutions, and reinvent lab and studio experiences. You were asked to pivot on a dime. And you did it. But there were elements of the Wake Forest experience that had to be preserved, and you made certain they were. I appreciate how you were committed to finding ways to maintain the close relationships with students that are the very essence of the Wake Forest education.

At the same time, you supported each other and our staff, students and community in the continued essential work of addressing the University’s history and fostering open dialogue and inclusion. You have my utmost respect and deepest gratitude, and I hope you find some time to reflect and recharge over the next several weeks.

Since it is the summer and many of you might not be on campus regularly, I likely won’t have the opportunity to meet you face to face right away. But in the coming weeks and months, I look forward to seeing you in your classrooms, labs, libraries, creative spaces and around campus. I want to learn from you about what makes the Wake Forest experience so special. And I am excited about partnering with you to determine how we can best strengthen the academic community and achieve further excellence in all that we do in support of learning and discovery for our students.

Great universities have outstanding faculty who are committed to their students and the mission of the institution. Wake Forest is a great university. As we work to provide the best education for our students, I hope we can continue to cultivate a culture where collaboration is critical to our success.

As I shared in my message yesterday to the University community, this is a time of new beginnings. I am very eager to start writing Wake Forest’s next chapter with you. Thank you for partnering with me in the work to come.

Please enjoy your summer, and I will see you on campus in the days and weeks ahead.

With best wishes,

Susan R. Wente, Ph.D.
President