Corey D.B. Walker named interim Dean of Wake Forest’s School of Divinity

A message to the WFU community from President Susan R. Wente and Provost Michele Gillespie.

Dear members of the Wake Forest community,

We are pleased to announce that Corey D.B. Walker, Ph.D., M.Div., M.T.S., director of Wake Forest’s African American Studies Program and scholar of African American social, political and religious thought, has been named interim Dean of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity, beginning Jan. 1, 2023.

Dr. Walker is an exceptional leader and scholar with extensive experience in theological education who will carry forward the Divinity School’s mission as interim dean. He joined the Wake Forest faculty in 2020 and established the University’s African American Studies Program. He is jointly appointed in the department of English and the Interdisciplinary Humanities Program. 

Dr. Walker has held faculty appointments and academic leadership positions at several universities, including Brown University, the University of Virginia and the University of Richmond. At Virginia Union University, he served as dean of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology and professor of religion and society. He also served as Dean of the College at Winston-Salem State University. Walker is an ordained American Baptist clergyperson. He preaches and teaches in congregations and universities across the nation and has published broadly on African American religion and philosophy, African American history and culture, and religion and American public life.

For more about Dr. Corey D.B. Walker and his appointment as interim dean, see WFU News.

Over the next several months, the Provost will lead a deliberative process with the divinity school faculty regarding the appointment of a permanent dean. Plans for the Dean of the Chapel transition will also be considered over the coming months and will be shared separately.

We are grateful to Dr. Walker for the wisdom and expertise he will bring to leading the School of Divinity during this time of transition.