Staff

Dr. French serves as an Associate Teaching Professor of Communication and the Director of the Magnolia Scholars Program. As a 1993 graduate of Wake Forest, he’s proud to serve at his alma mater. He has deep ties at Wake from meeting his wife during undergrad and being the parent of a Wake Forest University student.

What’s your favorite thing about Wake Forest?

My favorite thing about Wake Forest is graduation. I enjoy seeing students that I’ve worked with for four years walk out of Wake “all grown up” and ready to tackle the world.

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Cesar is a 2019 alumnus of Wake Forest University, majoring in Politics & International Affairs and minoring in French. As a first-generation migrant and student, Cesar has a heavy passion for supporting students who exist in similar spaces. His role serves as a bridge between First in the Forest and the OPCD, positioning him to best support students when they are navigating the internship and career search processes. At the moment, you can find him in the OPCD but he’s always available to chat/meet wherever!

Dennise López is an alumna of UNC-Greensboro (’20) and majored in Psychology. During her undergraduate career, she became actively involved in the Undergraduate Admissions: Latinx Educational Affairs office which hosts CHANCE (Campamento Hispano Abriendo Nuestro Camino a la Educación) every summer. CHANCE aims to prepare Latinx high school students, many of whom will be the first in their families to attend college, to pursue higher education through academic, cultural, and leadership activities. She also worked for LatinxEd – Somos Carolina as a Summer Coach in 2021 where she led community-building activities among students in 9th-12th grade, provided 1:1 college access coaching sessions, and facilitated group as well as 1:1 classroom sessions about culture, identity, and storytelling. Dennise finds the relationships with students to be the most rewarding part of being in higher education and hopes to continue to advise and empower first-generation college students and their families here at Wake Forest.

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Matthew Ricigliano is an alumnus of UNC Chapel Hill (‘22) where he majored in History and Italian Language Studies. Previously, he served as a college advisor for the Carolina College Advising Corps at West Stokes High School in King, North Carolina. In this role, he promoted equitable access to higher education in low-income, first-generation, and underserved student populations. At West Stokes, Matthew facilitated 1:1 meetings regarding match and fit institutions, financial aid, and career advising for students, as well as meeting with family members and the community in order to grow the college-going culture. Because of this work, Matthew wanted to continue to be a resource for underserved students in higher education, and he is looking forward to working with the Wake Forest community!

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Carol Torres is a double alumna of UNC Greensboro (’13 and ’22). As an undergraduate, she double majored in English and Communication Studies. Most recently she earned her master’s in education degree. She has previously worked for an attorney’s office as a legal assistant and for the Los Angeles Unified School District, where she worked in a college access program. It was through the work for LAUSD that Carol decided she wanted to focus on making higher education accessible and equitable for minoritized students.

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From Charlotte, NC, Morgan earned her Master’s in College Student Personnel from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, OH and her Bachelor’s in Political Science- Public Administration from Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. She has worked in a variety of roles in higher education supporting student engagement, wellness, development, and success before coming to WFU, most recently as a Coordinator for Student Engagement and Programming for Thompson Scholarship Programs. Morgan’s passion for this work is rooted in empowering students to build confidence in their skills and identities, and cheering them on as they achieve success as defined by them.

Favorite thing about Wake Forest?

The motto! Pro Humanitate resonates deeply with my personal and professional values, and it is so gratifying to share that belief with our students and the campus community.

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Acacia holds a Master of Science in Education with a specialization in Leadership for Higher Education from Capella University and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Wyoming. Prior to joining Wake Forest University in May 2019 as the academic coordinator for interdisciplinary studies, Acacia worked for more than 10 years at Colorado Mountain College in Dillon and Leadville, Colorado. At Colorado Mountain College, she served as an academic advisor II, TRIO Upward Bound program coordinator (a federally funded college access program through the U.S. Department of Education), and as an administrative technician where she did admissions, registration, and academic advising. In March 2021, Acacia assumed the role of Secretary to the Judicial Council and in November 2021, joined the Wake Forest Scholars Office as the Scholars Program Specialist.

What’s your favorite thing about Wake Forest?

I absolutely love all the trees on campus. During the spring, I love seeing all the cherry blossoms, magnolias, redbuds, and dogwoods in bloom. Then comes fall and all the maples and Japanese maples put on a fantastic display of autumnal colors! I just cannot get enough of it! I also think I have some of the most amazing colleagues, which is just the icing on the cake!

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Dr. French serves as an Associate Teaching Professor of Communication and the Director of the Magnolia Scholars Program. As a 1993 graduate of Wake Forest, he’s proud to serve at his alma mater. He has deep ties at Wake from meeting his wife during undergrad and being the parent of a Wake Forest University student.

What’s your favorite thing about Wake Forest?

My favorite thing about Wake Forest is graduation. I enjoy seeing students that I’ve worked with for four years walk out of Wake “all grown up” and ready to tackle the world.

Schedule an Appointment

Jackie originally hails from a suburb of Detroit, and appreciates how Southern charm so often feels indistinguishable from Midwestern nice. She studied Russian and Political Science as an undergraduate at the University of Notre Dame before completing a Master’s degree at Georgetown University. Remaining in Washington, DC, she worked at an experiential education organization and designed semester-long academic internship programs for students around the world, in partnership with organizations like the Ford Foundation and the government of Panama. Next, she managed the Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship, which prepares diverse and talented young adults for careers in diplomacy with the U.S. Department of State. She joined Wake Forest in 2020, following her time as the Associate Director of Post-Baccalaureate Opportunities at Vanderbilt University.

What’s your favorite thing about Wake Forest?

The students–they are genuinely interesting and interested in the world around them, with an inspiring level of curiosity about a whole host of topics. It’s rare to find someone here who only cares about one thing. And the focus on undergraduate education. When so many other universities are investing more and more in their graduate schools and treating undergrads like an afterthought, College remains the heart of Wake Forest University.

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