Meet the Team

Dr. French serves as an Associate Teaching Professor of Communication, the Executive Director of First in the Forest, 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.

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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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