Susan R. Wente, the first woman president of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has announced she will step down from her position on June 30, 2026. Following a sabbatical, she plans to return to her faculty appointment as a Distinguished University Professor of Biochemistry.
Wake Forest University has experienced significant growth since Dr. Wente took office in July 2021. Over the past five years, undergraduate applications have increased by more than 70 percent. Among other accomplishments, Dr. Wente helped Wake Forest achieve record-setting philanthropic support, establish a new academic campus in Charlotte, recruit high-quality faculty, and expand research opportunities.
Before coming to Wake Forest, Dr. Wente taught at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, for nearly two decades, including seven years as the university’s first woman provost and vice chancellor. Earlier, she taught at Washington University’s School of Medicine for nine years.
“At heart, I am still the small-town girl from Iowa whose life was changed forever by the gift of higher education,” wrote Dr. Wente in a letter to the Wake Forest community. “Universities made it possible for me to dream beyond what I could see; I never imagined I would one day lead a great national university. Serving as Wake Forest’s fourteenth president is the honor of my career, and I am humbled to be the first woman to hold this role. I am deeply grateful for this community. I look forward to our remaining months together, and I am filled with hope for all that lies ahead.”
Dr. Wente holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Iowa and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. She completed postdoctoral training at both Rockefeller University and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.