“He was inevitably curious and amazingly nonjudgmental.”

 

I just finished reading every single word of the Ed Wilson edition of the Wake Forest magazine. I cried. I laughed. I took breaks to read his favorite poems. Most of all, I marveled at how much the Wake Forest I experienced as a student was shaped by his vision for the University.

I am so lucky to have been a part of the Wake Forest community when I was. I had long conversations with, and dinners at the houses of so many legends, like Ed Wilson, Tom Mullen, Tom Phillips, David Hadley, Ed Christman, James Barefield, Dean Hamilton, Richard Carmichael, Father John, and Mike Ford. Reading these tributes to Ed Wilson, one thing kept coming back to me and linking all these people together – kindness. Ed Wilson was a true intellectual, but more importantly (to his legacy and to himself) he was kind. He grew up as a southern boy in a small North Carolina town in the 30’s and 40’s. He had every excuse to be racist and limited in his view, but he led the University to inclusion, brought luminaries like Martin Luther King, Ralph Ellison, and Maya Angelou to campus, and oversaw the University’s separation from the Southern Baptist Convention. He founded the extensive study abroad program and encouraged students to become true citizens of the world. He brought the arts to Wake Forest and found as much joy at an orchestra performance as he did at a basketball game. This legacy has made Ed Wilson a “larger than life” figure at Wake, but one of the secrets to his success is that he was always just another member of the community.

As a teacher I could have no better guiding light than Provost Wilson. If I can treat my students with his kindness and communicate my subject matter with his love, I will be a tremendous teacher. There are so many inspirational nuggets of wisdom in the magazine’s tributes to Dr. Wilson, but one stood out to me. Dr. Peggy Smith said of Ed, “He was inevitably curious and amazingly nonjudgmental.” For the rest of my career, one of my goals will be for students to think the same of me. Thank you, Dr. Wilson, for your years of love and service to the university and to your students, and for your inspiration to me personally that will continue for many years to come.