Wake Forest University

Overview

Wake Forest University

Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Established in 1834 as Wake Forest Manual Labor Institute, it originally opened in Raleigh before it moved to its current location in 1941. It underwent several restructuring and name changes before it adopted its current name in 1967. With a student body that comes from every part of the United States and more than 40 countries, WFU is recognized as one of the top universities in the country.

Wake Forest University Key Statistics

WFU is organized into several schools. These include the School of Business, the School of Law, the School of Medicine, and the School of Divinity. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in liberal arts, medicine, business management, and economics.

It has a student population of nearly 9,000, including over 5,000 undergraduates and more than 3,000 postgraduates. The university also employs more than 6,200 academic staff members across its several campus locations. These campuses include the Clarkson campus, the Reynolda campus, and the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter.

Other Wake Forest University key statistics are its academic and administrative facilities that range from housing and dining services to health and wellness services and student and career centers. The university also has a comprehensive library system, which is composed of the Z. Smith Reynolds Library, the Coy C. Carpenter Library, the Law Library, and the Business Information Commons. Moreover, students can participate in more than 250 student organizations.

Wake Forest University Research

WFU is classified among “R2: Doctoral Universities” for its high research activity. Its research efforts are funded by financial support from the Provost Grant for Academic Excellence, the Wake Forest Research Fellowship, and the Collaborative Pilot Grants program.

Its top three research topics are medicine, biology, and population. Wake Forest University researchers have also attended international research conferences and symposia, such as ATS: American Thoracic Society International Conference, WebSci: Web Science, and ICC: International Conference on Communications.

The university’s most cited research work is Lozano et al.’s (2012) “Global and regional mortality from 235 causes of death for 20 age groups in 1990 and 2010: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010,” which was published in The Lancet and has 14,753 citations to date. Its second most popular research output is Gerstein et al.’s (2008) “Effects of intensive glucose lowering in type 2 diabetes,” which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and has been cited 10,055 times.

Meanwhile, its third most popular research work is Murray et al.’s (2012) “Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for 291 diseases and injuries in 21 regions, 1990-2010: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010.” This article, which talks about disease and injury burden across 187 countries, was published in The Lancet and has so far been cited 9,298 times to date.

In addition, there is also a wide range of Wake Forest University research centers and institutes. These include the Center for Bioethics, Health and Society, the Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainability, the Center for Entrepreneurship, and the Center for Functional Materials.

You can also learn more about the educational performance of Wake Forest University in our ranking of US universities & colleges.