Affiliated Faculty

Since 2012, Associate Provost Christina Soriano (Dance) has regularly taught a community dance class in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to people living with Parkinson’s Disease, and has been involved in three scientific studies that look at the ways improvisational dance can help the mobility and balance of people living with neurodegenerative disease.

In partnership with Senior Services, Professor Soriano has worked to scale this class and this method for other seniors in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County. She has received funding from the National Parkinson Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC, and most recently the NIH to conduct a randomized clinical trial, testing her improvisational dance method in a community of adults living with Mild Cognitive Impairment and their care partners.

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Dr. Betina Wilkinson (Politics/LALS) and other faculty in the Latin American and Latino/a Studies (LALS) department, together with Dr. Dani Parker-Moore (Education),  partner with the Hispanic League for a mentoring program for Latina/o middle and high school students in Winston-Salem.

The program matches Wake Forest undergraduate mentors with mentees affiliated with the Hispanic League for a relationship lasting at least two years. Students interested in participating in this program should contact Dr. Betina Wilkinson.

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The Sports Literacy Program, launched on-site at Paisley IB Magnet Middle School in the Boston Thurmond Neighborhood, represents the realization of Dr. Alan Brown’s (Education) teaching and research interests that also addresses a community identified need.

The program has four goals: support youth through academic, social and community engagement; empower students who are interested in sports to read and write for enjoyment; explore social issues that affect the lives of adolescents and young adults through literature; and improve literacy skills and practices that support learning across content areas and promote college and career readiness.

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Dr. Leah McCoy (Education) led an effort in 2013 with faculty across the sciences to start the annual STEM @ Wake day as an opportunity for local high schoolers with a passion for STEM to experience what this research is like on a college campus.

Every year over 100 students from 10 area public high schools come to campus for the day with their science teachers, attending lectures, participating in lab demos, and meeting faculty, undergrads, and graduate students conducting research in the STEM fields. The Office of Civic & Community Engagement is proud to sponsor this annual event along with University Admissions and Wake Downtown.