Project Wake

What is Project Wake?

Wake Forest has a long tradition of engaging in a summer academic project on an issue of intellectual and social importance.  The tradition includes setting aside time during New Deac Week for students to engage with a faculty or staff member on this issue. It is a favorite New Deac Week activity.

Many social commentators have remarked on the growing problem of isolation and loneliness in the digital age.  What does it mean to be connected to each other?  What relationship do individuals have to the communities they live in?  How do individuals identify themselves in terms of gender, race, class, or nation?  What responsibilities do the individual have toward the society and polity they live in, and what expectations might they have about what the society and polity owe to them?  And how has the relationship between individual and community changed over time and space? In challenging times that seem to focus on separation and discord, how do we find  connection with one another?

As the newest members of the Wake Forest community join us, we’d like you to think about the new connections they will be making. How can you build community and find common ground in a world that can appear, at times, polarizing and isolated? How do we create closeness and connect with one another in the ultimate pursuit of realizing each person’s humanity?  

As a participant in Project Wake 2024, you will join your peers in thinking about the challenges and opportunities of the remarkable times in which we live and how your unique background equips you to meet those challenges. In June, you will find a list of the 2024 Project Wake summer reading options here. Explore the themes of Interconnectedness: A Call for Humanity across a wide range of subjects, genres, and disciplines. These conversations have proven to be an exciting and meaningful way to make new friends and discuss issues that matter.

More on Project Wake

Five former Project Wake participants and discussion leaders share their experiences with Project Wake and why they would encourage students to participate.

---

Reading Options & Discussions

Book suggestions for 2024 will be released soon.