2026 Commencement Welcome
It is wonderful to be with you today on this most exciting occasion – and I want to extend a special welcome to your friends, your families, and all of our guests to Wake Forest University.
Categories: Speeches
Remarks at Founders Day 2026
Delivered in Wait Chapel on Feb. 19, 2026. Remarks as prepared. Good afternoon! Welcome to the 2026 Founders Day Ceremony. Every year in February, we acknowledge our beginnings as a manual labor institute in the town of Wake Forest, North Carolina, in February of 1834 […]
Categories: Speeches
Dr. Wente’s Professional Why
Presidential Address; Nov. 20, 2025 Thank you, Lexi. Good afternoon, and I thank you for being here today. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to speak to you in my final Annual Address as Wake Forest’s 14th President. Leading Wake Forest University is not a […]
Categories: Speeches
Summer reading to inspire empathy, community, and reflection
When I think of the summer, it often includes making a list of “to do” goals – the most important of which is reflecting on the past academic year, planning for the next, AND diving into making time for reading. And, just as in the […]
Categories: From Wente's Desk
2025 Commencement Welcome
It is wonderful to be with you today on this most exciting occasion – and I want to extend a special welcome to your friends, your families, and all of our guests to Wake Forest University.
Categories: Speeches
Welcome Back, Deacs!
Dear Wake Forest community, Welcome back! I hope that you were able to travel safely back to Mother So Dear, and that each of you is ready to take on a new year, a new semester, a new chapter in your Wake Forest story. Our […]
Categories: Emails
Embracing ‘Pro Humanitate’ after Helene
Dear Wake Forest community, On behalf of the University Cabinet, I write to share our sadness with the devastation and loss of life caused by Hurricane Helene across the Southeast. Conditions in many places are catastrophic, resulting in nearly half a million people still without […]
Categories: Emails
2024 Commencement Welcome
It is wonderful to be with you today on this most exciting occasion – and I want to extend a special welcome to your friends, your families, and all of our guests to Wake Forest University.
Categories: Speeches
Remarks at Founders Day
Delivered in Wait Chapel on Feb. 15, 2024. Remarks as prepared. Good afternoon, and welcome to Wake Forest’s annual Founders Day ceremony. There are so few dates on our calendar that bring this many cross-sections of our university community together — students, faculty, staff, alumni, friends […]
Categories: Speeches
2023 Commencement Welcome
Please join me in thanking your families and friends – both for the role they played in getting you here and for being here to celebrate you and lift up the Class of 2023.
Categories: Speeches