2015 Women in Leadership Speaker: Dr. Michele Gillespie ’79
Dr. Gillespie spoke to the Stuart community on Friday, November 20, 2015.
Stuart alumna Dr. Michele Gillespie has academic oversight for the undergraduate school of arts and sciences at Wake Forest University. A noted teacher, scholar, historian and author, she balances academic rigor with integrating community engagement into her work and her classes. Dr. Gillespie says that her Stuart education has always encouraged her to be a more confident thinker and a more curious person, and one willing to take risks in pursuit of what she believes in.
She is Presidential Endowed Chair of Southern History and teaches courses on the American South and US History. In 2013 Dr. Gillespe was the first Wake Forest faculty member to be honored with an endowed Presidential Chair, which recognizes and supports faculty who excel in both academic leadership and outstanding scholarship. In 2010, she was honored as a pioneer in the national service-learning field with North Carolina’s Robert L. Sigmon Service Learning Award. Dr. Gillespie earned a BA from Rice University and both an MA and PhD from Princeton University.