At long last, today is the official Inauguration Day for President Wente. The morning started off with a lively and festive Community Breakfast on Manchester Plaza (aka Mag Quad). There were tons of people there, including the cheerleaders and our band. People sat under the tents and enjoyed conversation and fellowship. It was a lovely event.
At 3 pm, Dr. Wente’s official installation ceremony took place in Wait Chapel. If you did not watch the livestream in real time, you should be able to see it archived on the Livestream page in the hours to come. In her inaugural address, Dr. Wente spoke of her training as a biologist and her research in cellular biology. She talked about enzymes, which act as catalysts to speed up processes. She called on Wake Forest to be a catalyst for opportunity, and said [I am paraphrasing here] let’s dream together, and then let’s act, and we will be catalysts for good. It was a great speech.
But inauguration doesn’t end with the formal ceremony in Wait Chapel! Tonight is the Inauguration Ball at the Joel Coliseum; the student portion starts at 10 pm, though there is [blessedly] an earlier start time for faculty and staff who may not be ready to *start* their evening at 10 pm 🙂
We will have more Inauguration coverage in the coming days. For now, let me say that this really was a historic day for our campus – and a joyous one at that: beautiful weather, high spirits, and lots of excitement about what the future holds for Mother So Dear.
