Deacs Do

Engaged Learning for Empowered Futures

Deacs Do … transformational education. We prepare our students to think critically, solve real-world problems, and carry forward the spirit of Pro Humanitate. 

Deacs Do… expansive experiential learning opportunities across all disciplines. Together, we build on what we already do well — mentored research, community partnerships, and project-based learning — and reimagine what’s possible for our students’ future.

Deacs Do … collective effort and interdisciplinarity. Faculty and staff across disciplines play a crucial role in shaping the vision, practices, and impact of experiential learning. 

Experiential learning changes the way students learn — and who they become.

When we teach this way, students don’t just graduate with knowledge — they graduate with wisdom, resilience, and a deep sense of purpose.

See What Deacs Do

• 
  From Classroom to Conference: Student Experiences at SETC
  In early March 2026, 12 students packed their portfolios, sharpened their pitches, and traveled to Tennessee to attend the Southeast Theatre Conference (SETC), one of the largest networks of theatre practitioners in the country. Made possible by the Campo Fund for Experiential Learning, the trip gave students four days to participate in design competitions and acting workshops, audition for competitive roles, and network with professionals in the field. Students seized every opportunity to showcase their work to an audience of industry experts and gained invaluable skills that will stay with them long after graduation.
• 
  Experiential Learning in Theatre: Harold Pinter’s Old Times and Memory
  For months, students in Wake Forest’s Theatre Department have been reflecting on memories: what they are, how they show up in daily life, and what it means for one’s memory to be distorted by the present. In Harold Pinter’s Old Times, directed by Dr. Cindy Gendrich, Professor of Theatre, students engage with these themes in a way that extends far beyond memorizing lines and rehearsing choreography. As a psychology major with minors in neuroscience and theatre, Assistant Director Nancy Huang (’27) invites the whole team — from the cast members to the stage crew — to explore the play from an interdisciplinary approach, bridging research with the embodied experience of bringing a character to life on stage. The result is a powerful production that connects classroom learning with real, lived experience.
• 
  Senior Eli Leadham Wins Prestigious Schwarzman Scholarship
  Eli Leadham has been named a Schwarzman Scholar, one of just 150 students worldwide to pursue a fully-funded master’s program in global affairs at Tsinghua University. A sociology major from Portland, Oregon, Leadham plans to spend the year abroad advocating for transitional justice and human rights on a global scale.
• 
  Dr. Smith’s Black Entrepreneurship Course Connects Students with Community Leaders for Real-World Engagement
  Brave Spaces, Entrepreneurship, and Food. These are the words at the heart of Dr. Ariel D. Smith’s course, “Black Entrepreneurship in America” (ENT 304C). An elective in the Center for Entrepreneurship, the class tells United States history through the lens of Black entrepreneurs, whose contributions and experiences helped lay the foundation of entrepreneurship in America today.
• 
  Research Day showcases how functional materials shape a better future
  On the surface, the posters lining the walls of Benson 410 at Wake Forest’s third annual Center for Functional Materials (CFM) Research Day looked like the typical trappings of an academic showcase: charts, microscopy images, material diagrams, lines of data. But a closer look revealed something deeper. These projects—ranging from nanomaterials for cancer detection to thin-film technologies for improved solar cells—represent the quiet engines of innovation that shape how we communicate, generate energy, heal, and live.