Frequently Asked Questions

It is a thoughtful sequence of renovations to decompress central campus and re-focus on academic and student life needs. The plan addresses: 

• significant needs for academic, living, and learning spaces on Reynolda Campus, including unaddressed program and department growth. It will decrease administrative space in the campus core and increase academic, gathering, and dining spaces.
• significant deferred maintenance of our existing space; 
• out-of-date, overcrowded classrooms and common spaces. 

Capital requests and program reviews in the College consistently point out: inadequate academic space; space that is not designed for current pedagogical, creative, or research needs: and/or space that would not allow for program growth. Some programs haven’t been allocated much space at all; some faculty are sharing offices. We must respond to these priorities more holistically and strategically, planning for today as well as future use, rather than scattering programs and faculty offices here and there and inserting them in existing space.

This project will decompress our crowded central campus by moving select and interrelated non-student-facing administrative departments off campus, freeing up the core of campus for spaces that will facilitate a vibrant academic and student experience. We seek to develop academic, student, and collaborative spaces that bring people together. This will be space that we all want to come to: space that sustains and enhances the quality of education, and the faculty and student experience.
What this plan won’t do is solve every space challenge, or renovate all spaces on campus that need it. During Fall 2024, the university will kick off an updated and holistic Campus Master Planning process, which will include our academic, residential, athletics, and associated real estate portfolio.

In November 2023, the project sponsors made a presentation to the University Space Planning Group, Capital Projects Advisory Committee, University Priorities Committee, and the Faculty Senate Ex Comm group to introduce this project. A similar presentation was made to the full Faculty Sentate in November 2023.

In February 2024, the Office of the Dean of the College met with leadership of many departments in the College experiencing departmental growth, challenges, and/or changes that could impact their space. Departments in Tribble and Manchester / Kirby halls were prioritized as those buildings could be impacted most directly in the near-term. These meetings introduced the idea of the Near-Term Central Space Planning Project, invited participation in the March How Wake Works presentation on space planning, and introduced the Ayers Saint Gross March listening sessions with academic leadership. 

We created opportunities for the campus community to be engaged in the early planning phases of this project via an open house on May 1, 2024 in the Benson Center and an online survey in May and June 2024. For departments who will be relocating, representatives from departments will work with our design partners at Ayers Saint Gross multiple times during the design process.

Early conversations with Student Government and the Student Government Physical Campus committee have taken place and upcoming conversations are being planned with the Provost’s Student Leadership Advisory Committee, Campus Life Advisory Committee, and Dean’s Student Advisory Panel. As plans continue to formalize, students will be involved in focus groups and planning committees.

We created opportunities for the students to offer feedback at an open house on May 1, 2024 in the Benson Center and an online survey in May and June 2024. We also have plans to engage existing student committees and leadership groups during the design process.

Decisions will be made by the project co-sponsors, informed by: the input shared by academic and administrative department leadership; feedback from our campus community; prior campus space surveys; and the work of our project team, architects and the design team.

We know space matters to everyone. Our partners in the Office of Residence Life and Housing have a saying that housing assignments for students are like a 4,200-piece puzzle with human emotion attached to each piece. The same is true for faculty and staff space, as well as spaces that support all of our campus community.

Our current space crunch is unsustainable. For the greater good, we cannot continue to function well for our students and in support of our research, teaching, advising, and creative work. In Fall 2023, 19 full-time College faculty shared offices. Teaching-track faculty often teach more courses and mentor and advise many students, particularly first-year students, and are especially impacted by our space issues. At Wake Forest, we value teaching as part of the teacher-scholar model, but we are not always demonstrating that value through space equity. 

Everything this project is doing is in support of student learning and there will be many benefits for academic departments. We want to: situate faculty equitably in private offices; create common spaces and classrooms that are exciting to be in, ones that facilitate collaboration and evidence-based learning; and stimulate innovation, engagement in research, collaborative work, and mentorship.

Academic departments and programs being impacted in fall 2024 – Computer Science, Education, Philosophy and the Entrepreneurship program, respectively – have been notified about the eventual relocation plans to move into Alumni Hall once renovated. While a timeline has not yet been established, the earliest the moves would likely take place is Summer 2026.

Our goal is to move academic units only once, but this is a complicated puzzle as we work to make space better for all and prioritize our academic mission.

To avoid interruption of teaching and learning, academic department moves would only take place during the summer or during winter breaks.

Wake Forest is a compact, walkable, and bikeable campus. Students have successfully navigated going to classes in Farrell and the HES addition in Worrell for some time; Alumni Hall is only a short distance from the HES addition.

Renovating Alumni Hall into academic space will be completed with student, faculty, and staff engagement; by adhering to our campus learning spaces and facilities’ standards and industry best practices; and through attention to its impact on the class schedule and continuity of student, faculty, and staff experience traveling campus.

Creating new space for vibrant departments – and supporting them with modern, purpose-built teaching, learning, gathering, and research space – will bring students, faculty, staff, and visitors and help activate more of the campus.

University Advancement and University Marketing and Communications (formerly CER) are scheduled to move into swing space at the University Corporate Center (UCC) Nov. 4-Dec. 16, 2024 as the Baity Street administrative cluster is developed. Other non-student facing departments will move once the administrative cluster is completed.

The Near-Term Central Campus Space Plan is just that: a plan. It is the beginning of this conversation. Administrative and academic department leadership have been involved in the initial conversations for the first phase of our planning as we listen for priorities and account for near-term and future growth. 

We hosted an open house on May 1 in Benson 401 for students, faculty, and staff to share the overall plan, and gather input on planning ideas – outdoor space, study space, learning spaces, collaborative space, feel, amenities, etc. An online version followed for those who could not attend the in-person Open House.

From those initial conversations and research, the architects reflected on what they have gleaned and began a draft list of building priorities, including the scope of work to be designed as well as architectural programming. 

As plans come into focus and as we work with departments and programs, we anticipate adjustments and revisions along the way as architects and project managers start each phase and its programming. Keep in mind, space represents a large puzzle with many moving parts, and we are planning for future, not just current use. Our plan cannot be predetermined or determined all in one phase; it requires iterative conversations and careful planning, and there will be multiple phases of work.

We will be providing regular updates in the Inside WFU (faculty/staff) and WFU Should Know (student) weekly e-newsletters, and will keep this website updated as plans progress.

Students, faculty, and staff were invited to attend a drop-in open house on May 1 to learn about the overall plan, and share their input on priorities for outdoor space, study space, learning spaces, collaborative space, feel, amenities, etc. 

We will be providing regular updates in the Inside WFU (faculty/staff) and WFU Should Know (student) weekly e-newsletters, and will keep this website updated as plans progress.

We recognize that most of the buildings on the Reynolda Campus were all built at the same time, and many need renovations and improvements. We also know we cannot do everything in the near term. We encourage you to be an active participant in the Campus Master Planning process that will launch in Fall 2024 and continue to provide that feedback within your department. Be assured that campus leadership is aware of the challenges of other buildings; those are top of mind.

The Academic Commons building had been proposed prior to the pandemic. We learned a lot of lessons about space during the pandemic. In addition, the pandemic impacted the number of tenants we have in Wake Forest owned real estate, giving us more space. All these factors contributed to our decision to table the Academic Commons project.

That survey provided valuable data about academic space that works well (or does not): the factor that contributed most to determining a favorite classroom among faculty and students was the size of the room. In terms of least favorite classroom, the key factor was furniture, including mobility, type, and size. Lighting and lighting control were also common reasons to determine a favorite (or least favorite) classroom. Farrell Hall and ZSR were listed as a favorite place to study. Respondents also noted that the Pit is too small and that can create a stressful environment. The feedback from this 2022 survey was instrumental in determining areas of focus in this project: better academic space that increases collaboration and mentoring, community gathering spaces, and more dining.

We are still a long way from any construction taking place in the Benson Center, so those plans have not been outlined yet. We will need to use some of our spaces differently throughout the course of this project, and will do our best to find solutions that work as well as they can. We will need everyone’s patience and flexibility during this process.

It is too soon to know what these plans might look like, but that issue is top of mind as we work on this project.