In praise of the master, Ken Bennett

In this Issue:

• Housing selection email
• The extraordinary photos of Ken Bennett, who is retiring

Housing selection email

This morning, students got an email with important information about housing selection. You can read it here. Please urge your students to take advantage of the help desk that will be in place each night of selection, particularly if they find themselves with issues (need to add a group, add members, etc.) Students should see the email for help desk details.

The extraordinary photos of Ken Bennett, who is retiring

This is one of my all-time favorite Wake Forest pictures.

I love these young women’s joyful expressions, their robust laughter, their ability to be silly for a minute in a world that is so serious. 

This picture, and so many others like it, are the work of my friend and colleague Ken Bennett. If you’ve ever looked at an admissions publication, or our website, or an Instagram post from our official accounts, you have seen Ken’s work. 

I don’t know much about photography, but I know it involves being present to document all major events and ceremonies – and at Wake we have a lot of those, not just during the day, but nights and weekends, too. It also means getting to campus very early (or staying late) to catch the light just right for a perfect sunrise or sunset shot. Documenting the fall leaves. The spring blooms. Move in. Commencement. Face to Face. That’s all Ken.

Ken came to Wake Forest in January 1997 as staff photographer, and for 27 years, he has captured Wake Forest life through his beautiful images. Ken is retiring at the end of March, and he has found us an amazing new photographer, Lyndsie Schlink, to tell Wake Forest’s story going forward. Lyndsie has been with us for a while so you have already seen her work too!

Some of my very favorite photos from Ken’s archives are below (including one from the 2000 Presidential Debate we hosted – he caught the sunrise on debate day with all the media scaffolding. It was really exciting to see our Quad have a news set).

Please join me in saying thank you to Ken for his extraordinary eye for beauty, his exceptional photographs, and his incredible dedication to Wake Forest and telling our story. Ken, I hope you and your lovely wife Nora Ann have many upcoming national park trips, great craft beer, and fiddle playing in your future – and of course trips to see daughter Megan.