The university first opened February 3, 1834 by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina as the Wake Forest
Manual Labor Institute; it was located in its namesake town of Wake Forest. In 1838, it was renamed to Wake Forest
College. In 1894, the School of Law was established, followed by the School of Medicine in
1902. The university held its first summer session in 1921.The School of Medicine moved to Winston-Salem in 1941 and became the Bowman Gray School
of Medicine. The following year, 1942, Wake Forest admitted its first women undergraduate
students. In 1956, as a result of large endowments from the Z Smith Reynolds
Foundation, the rest of the college also moved to Winston-Salem. A graduate studies program was inagurated in 1961, and in 1967 the school became the fully accredited Wake
Forest University. The Babcock Graduate School of Management was established in 1969.For the academic years starting between 1971 to 1980, Wake Forest adopted a "4-1-4" calendar with four courses each in the autumn and spring as well as a "January
term," with students initially selecting a one-month class of intensive study, sometimes with overseas and other off-campus
locations. The scheduling was later modified by setting up a spring semester with four, eleven, and fifteen-week courses
available. The university reverted to a conventional schedule in the academic year beginning in 1981.The James R Scales Fine Arts
Center opened in 1979. In 1995, the business
school was renamed to the Wayne Calloway School of Business and Accountancty, while in 1997
the medical school was renamed to the Wake Forest School of Medicine.On October 11, 2000, Wake Forest
hosted the presidential debate between candidates George W. Bush and
Al Gore in Wait Chapel.The current President of the university is Dr. Nathan O. Hatch.