Wake Forest University President Susan Wente will leave her position on June 30, the end of her fifth year in that role.
The decision came after discussions with board of trustees leadership about the university’s current stability, positive momentum and the need for a succession plan, according to a release. Wente and board leadership believe “that the university is ideally positioned to attract and recruit its next leader and that now is the time to begin the transition to ensure Wake Forest University’s long-term strength.”
“At heart, I am still the small-town girl from Iowa whose life was changed forever by the gift of higher education. 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,” Wente stated in a letter to the Wake Forest community.
She is the university’s 14th president and has also been a professor of biology and biochemistry since July 2021. Her predecessor, Nathan Hatch, led Wake Forest for 16 years.
“Susan Wente is a gifted servant leader,” said Wake Forest University Board Chair Jeanne Whitman Bobbitt. “She is the president who led Wake Forest out of the pandemic, expanded access and financial aid programs, and she has brought new ideas and energy to our campuses and communities.”
Wente will take a sabbatical and then become a faculty member, she said.
Wake Forest reported a total enrollment of 9,322 students last year, including 5,490 undergraduates and 3,832 in graduate or professional school programs. The university has a law school and a medical school.
Undergraduate applications at the school are up 70% over the past five years, while it reported record-setting philanthropic support in the 2025 fiscal year.
Wente joined Wake Forest in July 2021 after serving as provost of Vanderbilt University. She came about nine months after the university had announced the combination of its medical school and affiliated Wake Forest Baptist Health with Charlotte-based Atrium Health. No significant money changed hands in the combination, though Atrium pledged $3.4 billion in investments in Wake Forest Baptist projects over the next decade.
Signature achievements under Wente’s tenure include:
- The “For Humanity Scholarship” initiative raised more than $150 million to support student financial aid. The college announced an anonymous grant of $30 million in December to support its entrepreneurship program.
- Wake Forest launched an Early Action process to help first-generation college students attend Wake Forest
- In September, she announced North Carolina’s Gateway to Wake Forest University initiative, making it possible for accepted students from North Carolina with annual family incomes less than $200,000 per year to attend tuition-free.
- Her “Walk with Wente” video series has attracted more than 500,000 views.
“Wake Forest is stronger because of Susan Wente’s vision and leadership. Her commitment to community partnership has been transformational. From advancing medical and scientific collaboration to reshaping the very landscape of Charlotte with the city’s first four-year medical school, Dr. Wente ensured that Wake Forest continues to be not just an academic leader, but also a driver of progress and innovation for the region,” said Advocate Health CEO Eugene Woods.
Wake Forest partnered with Advocate Health, the parent of Atrium Health, to open a Charlotte campus of its medical school this year.
The university is also partnering with the city of Winston-Salem and private developers Front Street Capital and Carter USA for The Grounds, a 100-acre mixed-use development that will connect the university with the area’s sports and entertainment district.
Wente has an undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa in biochemistry and a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. She had worked at Vanderbilt University for 19 years before coming to North Carolina. She also spent nine years teaching at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.