Lots to cover today
Lots of news to catch up on today. First up, there was a Community Safety Advisory issued this morning; shots were fired into a vehicle stopped at a stoplight. The incident occurred off campus and there is no WFU community involvement. I have no additional details; all I know is what was in the advisory. Unrelated to this incident, we are testing our emergency notification systems today and tomorrow; see details.
November is Native American Heritage Month (NAHM). NAHM is an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the Native Nations and Indigenous communities that exist throughout what is currently known as the United States. Join us throughout the month for events that highlight Native & Indigenous leadership, values, and cultures. See event listings and descriptions.
Even though it doesn’t happen until the spring, Wake ‘N Shake, our annual 12 hour dance marathon, is in the planning stages now, and your Deacs have a chance to get involved: “Be a part of one of Wake Forest’s largest traditions, Wake ‘N Shake! Committee members help plan different aspects of the annual springtime event – applications are open to all students, freshmen to seniors.”
Students have an opportunity this Thursday to hear from Dr. Cornel West. Dr. West is a Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University and holds the title of Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. He has also taught at Union Theological Seminary, Yale, Harvard, and the University of Paris. West has authored 20 books and is best known for his classics, Race Matters and Democracy Matters, and for his memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud. He will be in Wait Chapel at 4 pm on Thursday as the 2021 Mac Bryan Prophetic Preaching Series speaker.
Another great upcoming opportunity is with Face to Face, our signature speaker series. On November 9, Wake Forest will welcome former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to campus for Students can attend a 5 pm student-only Q&A with Secretaries Albright and Hagel in Wait Chapel (they can submit questions in advance). Students can also attend the 7:30 program at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum; see details. For families who may want to attend, you can purchase tickets online.
We got some insights from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). The NSSE was administered for the first time at Wake to all first-years (i.e., ’24s – since they were first-years at the time the survey was administered in April 2021) and seniors (i.e., ’21s) in April 2021. “NSSE annually collects information at hundreds of four-year colleges and universities about student participation in activities and programs that promote their learning and personal development. The results provide an estimate of how undergraduates spend their time and what they gain from attending their college or university.” Here are a couple of notable findings:
Nearly all Wake first-years (93%) and seniors (95%) rated their overall experience as “excellent” or “good” – proportions higher than students at peer institutions (86% first-years and 85% seniors).
Nine out of ten Wake first-years (92%) and seniors (88%) indicated they would “definitely” or “probably” attend Wake again – proportions higher than students at peer institutions (85% first-years and 78% seniors).
So our ’24s and ’21s rated their experiences here higher than students at peer institutions. According to my colleagues in the Office of Institutional Research: Wake had a response rate of 18% among first-years (margin of error +/-5%) and 14% among seniors (margin of error +/- 7%). NSSE weighted the Wake Forest percentages by respondent gender to match the distribution of the population more closely. Even after the NSSE weighting, under-represented minority students remained slightly over-represented in the respondent sample when compared to Wake’s population.
In case you missed it: in addition to the excitement over our rise in the football rankings and our win over Duke at Homecoming, we had a big announcement this past Friday about alumnus Bob McCreary (’61) and his gift to the football program. If you didn’t see this tweet with video of the team, Coach Clawson, and Bob McCreary in the locker room, it is worth a watch.
The leaves are pretty glorious right now, but cooler weather is coming: a cold front is supposed to move across the region today, with a cooler air mass moving into our area. Highs are projected to be 10-15 degrees below normal by midweek through Saturday. It could be temps in the 30s by the weekend. Bundle up, Deacs!
— by Betsy Chapman, Ph.D. (’92, MA ’94)