Remarks at Founders Day 2025

Good afternoon, and welcome to our annual Wake Forest Founders Day ceremony. 

Each year, we come together as a community to celebrate the founding of Wake Forest College, in February of 1834. This year, 2025, marks 191 years of Wake Forest! 

Many universities celebrate the anniversaries of their founding – but here at Wake Forest, we think about “founders” and our founding in a broad and expansive way. 

Often, the notion of “founders” makes us think only of “Firsts.” In our case… that might mean the leaders who first established a small, manual labor institute in the North Carolina farming community of Wake Forest – which has now grown into a nationally-recognized research university; or the class of 1839, those very first graduates of Wake Forest College – whom the class 2025 will join, as alumni just a few months from now.  

And, yes, we always seek to reflect on our past for what was good, what was lasting and what has now changed, focusing intently on expanding the narrative of our history. But, Founders Day at Wake Forest is also something more. 

We recognize that who we are in 2025 is the result of many foundings, and many founders. 

Indeed, each person who has been a part of our great university for the past 191 years has contributed to the continuous ‘founding’ of Wake Forest. 

Our founders are all our students, faculty, and staff – every person – who has lived, worked or studied at Wake Forest. 

So today we honor and remember nearly two centuries of Demon Deacons. 

We celebrate each person who has made new discoveries, uncovered new knowledge, and expanded our reach and ability to better serve humanity, as our motto calls us to do. 

Every achievement, every challenge, every innovation, every pivot  since 1834, every memory we know, and those we have yet to acquire contribute to our active, ongoing founding. As do all those actions to come in the future.

Today, we are also reminded of our opportunity – our responsibility – to nurture, grow and contribute to this community, however we can. 

To continue the work of founding Wake Forest; together, we embody what Wake Forest is today and establish what Wake Forest will be for our future. 

And if all of us are founders of Wake Forest, as I strongly believe, then all of us have a voice that matters here. 

Because of these many, invaluable voices, at Wake Forest, our founding is highly collaborative. 

Together we bring to the table new ideas, distinct expertise, different perspectives and real life experiences. 

And while our many perspectives and how we express them may push and pull against one another – may be shaped by one another – I truly believe that our rich tapestry of voices is foundational to our community.  

Not only that, I also believe that the push and pull – the shaping forces of respectful conversation, debate, even disagreement – which happen within the supportive, relational environment of Wake Forest are precisely what makes this community uniquely capable of continually improving and inventing itself. 

As founders of this academic community, we are each called to engage in scholarship, research, creativity, discovery, and deep discernment, on our own and with one another. 

As stewards of this academic community, we safeguard these pursuits by our shared commitment to academic freedom and free expression. 

Academic freedom and free expression are – in and of themselves – concepts that generate honest and healthy discussion.

Here at Wake Forest, as I have seen and heard from so many of you in our work together, the root of the conversation on these ideals really does come down to our shared respect and love of learning, truth, and the common good –  where we see, acknowledge, and cherish the humanity in us all.  

I also believe that Wake Forest Founders are always looking to the future, resolute in our hope for what that future can bring, of what more we can do for one another, for humanity. 

Founders show up today for the possibilities of tomorrow, even when today might seem challenging.

In other words, founders are called to strive higher – strive for more – to be catalysts for good. Because we all want the very best for this place, and for humanity, we must all embrace the spirit of a founder: aware of the needs of the present and hopeful for the future. 

We must show up for one another, listen to each other, and collaboratively support the Wake Forest we want – the Wake Forest that we know society needs – a community of learners, and leaders with integrity,

Founded upon a shared calling: for humanity. 

Today’s program will bring to the podium reflections from different perspectives, from some of the many voices of Wake Forest. 

As you will see and hear, the founding of Wake Forest continues: in the leaders we honor, in the questions we ask, and in the challenges we set out to overcome. 

Thank you for being with us today. Now I’d like to invite Dr. Marina Krcmar to the podium to introduce our senior oration.

Presentation of the Medallion of Merit

Thank you, Zac, for sharing your Wake Forest journey with us. 

I hope that we will all take to heart your call to live fully, creatively, and in community – and that we will seek opportunities to grasp all the moments that make our journeys here so special. 

Thank you to the Chamber Choir, for inspiring us. 

And thank you Dean Klein for your wisdom, humility, and humor. 

And your important call to hold to our academic mission and our shared commitment to humanity and to one another. 

It is now my great pleasure to introduce the recipient of the 2025 Wake Forest University Medallion of Merit. 

Given annually since 1968, the Medallion of Merit is the highest honor bestowed upon an individual by the Wake Forest, given for outstanding achievement and distinguished contribution to the University.

This year’s recipient is an incredibly inspiring and accomplished leader – in both his direct contributions to the flourishing of Wake Forest University, as well as the many ways he has enabled the business, entrepreneurship and philanthropic communities of Winston Salem, the Triad and North Carolina to grow and thrive.  

I am pleased to recognize Donald Eric Flow as the 2025 recipient of the Medallion of Merit.

Don Flow, Chairman and CEO of Flow Companies, is an alumnus of the Wake Forest University School of Business, earning his MBA in 1983. 

His decades of service to Wake Forest University are truly prolific and broad-based.

He was a dedicated member, and chair of the business school’s board of visitors. He was first elected to the Board of Trustees in 2005. And, he has continued to serve as University Trustee for five terms, including a term as chair of the Board for three years from 2012-2015.  

As a Trustee, Don has been an extraordinary partner to the University and to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, serving in multiple roles, including chair and vice chair of the medical center board, and chair of the university Health Sciences board.

Don has been integral to the Medical Center and Wake Forest School of Medicine becoming the academic core of Atrium Health and now Advocate Health, including plans for the new School of Medicine campus in Charlotte. 

In 2011, Don led the charge in establishing the Winston-Salem Open at Wake Forest University, which is not only the last stop on the tour before the US Open, but is a significant fundraiser for community sports.

Last year’s tournament raised $25,000 for local middle school athletics and community tennis programs.

From 2012 to 2020, Don chaired the University’s Wake Will capital campaign – our largest philanthropic campaign to date which raised more than $1 billion.

Don’s leadership on this campaign made possible many of the key Reynolda campus facilities projects supported by Wake Will – including the construction of Farrell Hall and the renovation of our residence halls. 

In 2017, Don was awarded the Wake Forest Distinguished Alumni Award.

And while these accolades and service alone would make him a worthy recipient of this honor; it is his heart, and his humanitarianism – the way he embodies our motto with the very fiber of his being – that truly distinguish Don among the many extraordinary leaders who precede him as Medallion recipients.  

So many of you in this room, myself included, have been deeply affected by Don’s generosity of spirit, his intellect, and his abiding kindness. 

And finally, I want to take a moment for a special acknowledgement.

Don Flow’s receipt of this honor results in the only time two members of the same family have independently have been Medallion recipients! 

Don’s father, Vic Flow, who is here with us today, also received the honor in 2001.

This is a testament to the Flow family’s enduring love for Wake Forest, and their continued dedication to service and a vision for the good in our community.

Before the presentation of the medallion of merit, please join me in watching this video honoring Don – who truly embodies the spirit of a Wake Forest Founder.

On this twentieth day of February, two thousand twenty-five, Wake Forest University confers its highest honor, the Medallion of Merit, upon Donald Eric Flow.

Please join me in welcoming and congratulating Medallion of Merit recipient, Don Flow.

Special Presentation – Beth and Larry Hopkins

Congratulations again, Don – and to your family as well. 

It is now my privilege and honor to offer a special tribute to two more outstanding alumni of Wake Forest; whose life stories and many accomplishments represent fully the potential each of us has to found and to be a founder of this great university. 

I am pleased to announce that based on our ongoing University honorific naming process and the work of an ad hoc committee, the Board of Trustees has endorsed my recommendation honor two exemplary Wake Forest University alumni and professors – longtime friends and leaders in this community and examples of the very best of what it means to be a founder and a Demon Deacon – Professor Beth Hopkins and the late Dr. Larry Hopkins; by renaming South Residence Hall, Hopkins Hall. 

Professor Beth Hopkins graduated cum laude from Wake Forest in 1973 as one of the first two Black women residential students in university history. 

After earning a J.D. from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at William & Mary in 1977, Beth has had an incredible career of service, leadership, and advocacy in the legal and education fields. 

She served as a federal prosecutor in Shreveport, and as a civil rights attorney in Richmond. 

As a civil rights attorney, Beth worked at the law firm of one of her heroes, civil rights icon and Brown v. Board of Education attorney Oliver Hill. 

Beth was also Virginia’s Assistant Attorney General and Assistant U.S. Attorney from 1978-84. 

She returned to Wake Forest and has held a variety of leadership and teaching roles – most recently as a University Trustee and, prior to her retirement, she was the inaugural director of the Smith Anderson Center for Community Outreach at Wake Forest Law. 

She has done extensive advocacy work for the United States Tennis Association – expanding access to the sport she fell in love with at Wake.

In 2017, she was named a USTA Champion of Equality, and in 2023, Beth received the Billie Jean King award for her work to increase representation in tennis.

Professor Hopkins is well-known throughout the Wake Forest community as an exceptional teacher, mentor, and advocate. In 2023, Beth received Wake Forest’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

Dr. Larry Hopkins earned his bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest in 1972 and his medical degree from Wake Forest Medical School in 1977. 

Dr. Hopkins was a physician and assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Wake Forest School of Medicine. 

Dr. Hopkins was a leader in improving access and outcomes for women’s and neonatal health in Winston Salem, co-directing the Women’s Health Center, serving on Today’s Women’s Wellness Center’s Health Advisory Council, and on the Women’s Health Center Advisory Board. 

He was also an exceptional athlete, and was inducted into the Wake Forest Athletics Hall of Fame for his accomplishments as a running back on the Demon Deacons Football team. 

In 2020, Dr. Hopkins received the university’s highest honor: the Medallion of Merit.  

And, yes, Larry and Beth met when they were students at Wake Forest.

Beth, Wake Forest is forever grateful to you and to Larry for the decades of commitment, bravery, and love you have shown this community. 

You have made – and continue to make – us better. 

And now, please turn your attention to the screen as we enjoy a video tribute to Beth and Larry Hopkins. 

Please join me in honoring Professor Beth Hopkins and Dr. Larry Hopkins for their remarkable contributions to Wake Forest! 

I would now like to invite Beth to the front for the presentation of a specially commissioned art piece. 

The artwork was created by our University’s Creative Director, Hayes Henderson, whose work has also depicted other Wake Forest luminaries like Maya Angelou, Ed Wilson, Mike Farrell, and Porter Byrum.

As you will see, the representation of Beth and Larry Hopkins aims to capture their love, vibrancy, and energy for one another, as well as their shared commitment to Wake Forest.