After President Harry Truman broke the ground for the new Wake Forest campus in 1951, Barbee Oakes’ paternal grandfather, a man named David Myers, was one of the team members that helped clear the land to build the university there. Then, a couple of decades later, Barbee came to Wake Forest to help students from all walks of life navigate life at a major university–in essence, clearing the land for their success. Barbee’s Wake Forest legacy will be honored soon with the Distinguished Alumni Award and I sat down with her to talk about her life and career creating a level playing field for everyone with a passion to learn.
Barbee Oakes is a trailblazer in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work at Wake Forest University–and in this conversation she clarifies the misconceptions about the term.
Barbee shares her journey from being one of the few black women in her undergraduate class to becoming a significant figure in the university's administration. The discussion covers her experiences as a minority student, the challenges she faced, and her advocacy for creating an inclusive environment for all students. Barbee reflects on her family's legacy of advocacy and the importance of building an infrastructure that supports diversity and inclusion within academic institutions. In this conversation, we discuss the importance of creating inclusive environments in education, the current challenges facing DEI initiatives, and the impact of programs like the PhD Project. We reflect on personal experiences, the significance of diversity in higher education, and the legacy of empowering students for success.
