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Wake Forest Welcomes New President Susan Wente

Dr. Susan Wente is Wake Forest’s 14th president, and the first woman to lead the school. Photo courtesy of Wake Forest University

Wake Forest University has welcomed new president Susan Wente, who took the helm on July 1st.

Wente is Wake Forest's 14th president, and the first woman to lead the school.

Wente's background is in the field of biomedical science, and she began her academic career at Washington University's School of Medicine.

In addition to teaching and mentoring undergraduates, Wente served as the first female provost at Vanderbilt University. She also took on the role of interim chancellor for eleven months, guiding the school's response to the pandemic.

In an interview with Wake Forest Magazine, Wente pointed to her experience with Division 1 athletics and the Power Five conference, and expressed her commitment to the school's student-athlete experience.

Wente said in a news release that she is eager to “get started writing the next chapter of Wake Forest's story,” and build “further trust, transparency and teamwork.”

Wente succeeds Nathan Hatch, who has led Wake Forest for the last 16 years.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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