A variety of updates today

In this Issue:

• Join the livestream of President Wente’s annual address on Nov. 16
• Expanding our narrative through memorialization
• Supporting our community
• Maya Angelou Artist-in-Residence Debbie Allen coming to Wake Forest
• The ‘hot hand’ is real, but there’s a catch – plus an ACC Tournament glory days video
• The social classroom/WFU in the News
• Resident student survey about RAs (Resident Advisers)

I know I talk about the weather a lot, but I like to give you a sense of what your students are feeling. After all my talk of fall, we are warm again this week. Today’s high is 77 and it is sunny and glorious outside. Who knows when Actual Fall will be here.

Check out a screen grab from our Quad Cam below. Honestly, campus is just so spectacular right now.

And now onto today’s news…

Join the livestream of President Wente’s annual address on Nov. 16

Dr. Wente’s annual presidential address will be held on Thursday, Nov. 16 at 4 p.m. in Brendle Recital Hall of Scales Fine Arts Center. A light reception for our campus community will follow the remarks, so your students can do Pitsgiving lunch earlier in the day and come to the presidential address and have a little extra goodies at the reception.

Families are invited to join in the address via livestream. Note that a captioned livestream will be available on Facebook.

Expanding our narrative through memorialization

President Wente has a new post in her “From Wente’s Desk” blog. This is about the campus memorialization project:

“At Wake Forest, our motto invites each of us to stand with and for humanity. Whether through research, teaching, community service, or institutional initiatives, how we respond to this call shows up in countless ways on campus — and makes me proud to lead this University. I want to share some recent updates on just one example of a University project – memorializing Wake Forest’s historical ties to slavery – that exemplifies our ongoing efforts to live out our motto and uphold our commitment to fostering an inclusive learning and working environment.” Read the full blog post.

Supporting our community

There was an item in our student e-newsletter, WFU Should Know, that I wanted to share with all our families:

“As the Israel-Hamas war continues, Wake Forest continues to provide support in many forms. Students, staff, and faculty are encouraged to attend Holding Space events, hosted by the Office of Wellbeing and the University Counseling Center. These events provide a space to connect with others and to process and reflect. The next event will be Tuesday, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m. in Wellbeing 330, and a full list of event times is available on the Outreach website. Read more about University support options on Inside WFU.”

Maya Angelou Artist-in-Residence Debbie Allen coming to Wake Forest

Wake Forest University’s inaugural Maya Angelou Artist-in-Residence Award winner Debbie Allen will participate in a conversation about her life and career in Wait Chapel on Sunday, Nov. 12 at 4 p.m. Professor of Dance Nina Lucas and Monet Beatty (‘20, MA ’21), owner of Monet Beatty Dance Company in Winston-Salem, will moderate the discussion. All are welcome.

As artist-in-residence, Allen’s engagement with students will include teaching a ballet class, participating in a roundtable discussion with students, and critiquing the dress rehearsal of Wake Forest’s Fall Faculty and Guest Artist Dance Concert that opens Nov. 16.

This is an incredible opportunity for your Deacs to hear from her. I hope they go to these events.

The ‘hot hand’ is real, but there’s a catch – plus an ACC Tournament glory days video

This one is for the sports fans out there. Have you ever seen your favorite basketball player have a ‘hot hand’ where they seemingly can’t miss? Well, we have faculty that have analyzed that very thing.

“Fans and players both feel it in the gut when the ‘hot hand’ shows up in sports. Something special is happening that can’t be explained. Cross your fingers the streak continues. Wake Forest economist Erik Nesson investigated the hot hand phenomenon using statistics from NBA 3-point shooting contests from 1986 through 2019. In this Q&A, Nesson talks about his research and new takeaways on hot hand.“

And for our alumni families in the Daily Deacdom, I will go to my grave believing that Randolph Childress had the hottest hand ever in the 1995 ACC Tournament (you are going to want to click that link and take a beautiful walk down memory lane, sports fans!).

Randolph faking out UNC’s Jeff McInnis and motioning him to get up to watch Randolph drill a 3, and “The Shot” at the end of the game remain a thing of beauty and a joy forever 🙂

The social classroom/WFU in the News

This week’s issue of WFU in the News Oct.30-Nov. 5, had some really good stuff in it. This article particularly caught my eye:

“Philosophy professor Francisco Gallegos tells the Chronicle of Higher Education that he puts students into small discussion groups and asked them to meet outside of class, using a format adapted from a consulting company where he had worked before. ‘It’s the single most powerful thing that I do in the classroom. It’s the thing students say was the most meaningful to their learning. And it’s the thing that takes the least amount of actual work from me.'”

Resident student survey about RAs (Resident Advisers)

Last but not least today, resident students received an email today about an RA survey they are encouraged to take.