Wake Forest Turns Entrepreneurship Center Into First 'Impact' Hub

Wake Forest University's Center for Entrepreneurship will launch a faculty startup accelerator, two alumni networks and an expanded events calendar, becoming the first center on campus to carry a new Provost's Office designation: Engagement & Impact Center.

The Office of the Provost approved the expansion on September 16, 2026. The move extends hands-on venture support that the CFE built for students to faculty for the first time.

Two pillars, three new initiatives

The CFE organizes its work around two pillars: the Faculty Startup Accelerator, which supports research- and IP-based ventures, and High-Profile Entrepreneurial Culture Events, including TEDxWakeForestU and alumni engagement. This year it is launching three new initiatives across those pillars.

The Faculty Startup Accelerator builds on two established student accelerators, Deacon Springboard and Startup Lab. Wake Forest faculty regularly produce research with commercial and social potential, the university says, but many lack the time or support to build a venture around it. Louis Foreman will serve as faculty director of the new program.

"Faculty have incredible ideas born out of years of research, but very few of us are trained to think like founders," Foreman said. "This accelerator gives faculty the tools, mentorship and confidence to take that next step, without stepping away from the classroom or the lab."

The events pillar adds two alumni networks: WAVE (Wake Alumni in Ventures and Entrepreneurship) and WAN (Wake Angel Network). Both will host events connecting Wake Forest alumni pursuing entrepreneurship and venture capital careers across the country.

The Center is also expanding TEDxWakeForestU, which it now co-sponsors with the Center for Regenerative Medicine. Rebecca Gill, Larry J. and LeeAnn E. Merlo presidential chair for Communication and Entrepreneurship and faculty director for TEDxWakeForestU, leads the effort.

"TEDxWakeForestU has always been about making big ideas accessible," Gill said. "This expansion lets us do that at an even greater scale, and partnering with the Center for Regenerative Medicine means we can bring even more of Wake Forest's brightest thinkers to the stage."

Dan Cohen, John C. Whitaker, Jr. executive director and professor of Entrepreneurship, called the expansion a turning point.

"This is a game-changing moment for the Center for Entrepreneurship, and it wouldn't be possible without the generous support of the Provost's Office," Cohen said. "For the first time, we can bring the same hands-on support we've built for student entrepreneurs to faculty, while also growing the alumni networks and campus events that keep our entrepreneurial culture thriving. The entire Wake Forest community stands to benefit."

A new category of center

The expansion also changes how Wake Forest classifies its provost-sponsored centers. These centers and institutes connect six schools — the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Business, Divinity, Law, Medicine and Professional Studies — around challenges no single discipline can solve alone.

Until now, every provost-sponsored center belonged to a single category: Interdisciplinary Research & Scholarship Centers, defined by knowledge creation, intellectual merit and interdisciplinary inquiry. Going forward, centers will fall into one of two designations. Interdisciplinary Research & Scholarship Centers remain focused on generating new knowledge. Engagement & Impact Centers, the new category, are defined by translating knowledge and university resources into community, economic and cultural outcomes.

The CFE is the first to carry the new badge.

"The Center for Entrepreneurship's new designation reflects something the Provost's Office wants to make visible: that translating our research and expertise into real-world impact is as vital to Wake Forest's mission as the knowledge creation itself," said Kimberley McAllister, vice provost for Research, Scholarly Inquiry and Creative Activity. "As our first Engagement & Impact Center, the CFE will show what's possible when we give faculty, staff and alumni the resources to turn ideas into ventures that serve our community and beyond."

The designation creates a template other provost-sponsored centers could follow. If the CFE's faculty accelerator and alumni networks deliver measurable ventures and investment activity, expect more Wake Forest centers to pursue Engagement & Impact status in the cycles ahead.