On Thursday, March 19, 2026, faculty, staff, and guests gathered in ZSR Library to celebrate faculty authors and artists from across the Reynolda campus who published books or produced creative works in 2025. This was the first time that ZSR had hosted an event like this since 2019, and we were excited to bring it back in partnership with the Humanities Institute, Wake the Arts, and the Office of Research, Scholarly Inquiry, and Creative Work.

We celebrated works by 35+ faculty members representing 17 departments within the College and three schools (Business, Law, and Divinity), including the recipients of this year’s Gladding Awards, which honor the late Samuel Gladding, longtime professor of Counseling at WFU.

More information, including a list of the faculty who were recognized and photographs from the event, is available on the Office of the Provost’s Faculty Authors & Artists page.

As part of the event, we also created an exhibit of faculty books and creative works that will remain on display in ZSR 401 (Ammons Gallery) through at least the end of the semester. Make sure to check it out the next time you’re in ZSR, and then walk across the hall to the Scholars Commons to see works by one of the recognized artists, Rudy Shepherd, which were recently installed in that space!

I am extremely grateful for the support of Dean Lauren Pressley and Vice Provost Kim McAllister and to the planning committee (Mary Muchane, Christina Soriano, Jennifer Greiman, Clarice Gallagher, and Sofia Trujillo) for their work over many months to make this event a success. I would like to extend a special thank you to my ZSR colleagues Rodrigo Castro, Barry Davis, and Erin Jones for their help in executing the committee’s vision for the event.