Following a national search, Reverend Chris Donald was named University Chaplain in August 2024. Donald spent the last five years working as the university chaplain at Vanderbilt University, where he focused on a multi-faith approach to help faculty, students and staff. Donald has over 25 years of experience, centering on community and individual support.
This interview was conducted over email and edited for brevity and clarity.
Tell me a little about yourself — what was your life and career like before coming to Wake Forest?
I grew up not far from here in Blacksburg, Va., where both my parents worked for Virginia Tech.
I met my wife when we were both in seminary, although she ended up becoming a physician. I’m the dad of two girls, ages six years and 18 months. My oldest daughter and I are on a quest to find the best cheeseburger in Winston-Salem.
I am a United Methodist pastor, and I’ve been in ministry for almost 20 years – the last 10 in higher education.
Previously, I was an administrator at the University of Virginia School of Nursing, then moved into full-time chaplaincy at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., and then at Vanderbilt University.
What drew you to Wake Forest? Is there anything you find interesting here so far?
I was attracted to the commitment Wake Forest has to the holistic development of students. The University provides a rigorous academic experience but also provides space and opportunity for students to learn and grow in other ways, which includes exploring meaning, purpose, worldview and the life of the spirit.
The warm welcome I’ve received here has been so affirming. I’ve stepped into this role and been accepted fully into this community — on campus and in Winston-Salem. I’m grateful for that.
What was your journey in your faith like? What lessons did you learn about religion and life?
I grew up in the church, and both my parents were active lay leaders in our congregation. I did all the stuff children growing up in church do — Sunday school, Bible school, youth group, kids’ choir and so on.
When I went away to college, I sort of fell away from faith. Not that I rejected it. I was just sort of apathetic about it. It was nicer to sleep in on Sunday mornings or skip campus ministry meetings to crank out another page of a paper.
In the middle of my sophomore year of college, as fall semester exams were wrapping up, my father had a major stroke. It was the first time I ever had to confront mortality — my father’s, but also my own. I realized the choices I was making with my life would not leave a meaningful legacy. Not that I was making terrible choices, but I wasn’t living with any sort of purpose or intention. I wasn’t making any meaningful difference in the community I was a part of.
My father recovered from his stroke, with some deficits, but I realized I needed to change some things about my life. After that, I rededicated myself to participation in the church and community service. I got involved with my campus ministry. I sought out opportunities for community service during the semester and at breaks. That’s what led me to Teach for America (TFA) when I graduated from college.
I decided to get involved with a church in my new city. I joined a church and they encouraged me to have a systematic approach to financially supporting the church, studying the Bible and praying with a small group, and doing the work of a church through a ministry committee.
At the same time, with TFA, I was working with children in an under-resourced school and community and praying like crazy because I had no idea what I was doing as a teacher. Studying the Bible, praying, giving, serving — that’s when I heard a call to ministry.
After my TFA obligation, I went to seminary at Duke and then served local congregations in the United Methodist Church in Virginia. Working with college students was a really life-giving part of what I was doing. I worked at Duke Chapel for two years in seminary and then as a member of an active board of directors at the United Methodist campus ministry at Virginia Commonwealth University. It was my supervisor at the UVA School of Nursing who finally nudged me to explore how to work with college students full-time.
What do you hope others can learn from your journey and experience?
I guess I would say that what I learned along the way is that young adulthood is when we make really critical decisions about what is important in our lives.
We can do that in a way like I did as a first-year student, which is to just go along with the default of what family or society or our own comfort says. Or we can be intentional and reflective about who we are, where we belong and how we live our beliefs out in ways that are meaningful and helpful to others.
For me, my faith has been an important part of understanding those things. I see my job as a religious and spiritual life leader at Wake Forest, to make space for that same kind of critical reflection for our students. Especially as they begin to discover and embrace worldviews that help them understand their own identity, place and purpose.
What any given student’s worldview is is not as important as that they engage in that process of reflection and making that framework of belief and ethical action their own.
How do you hope to engage both religious and non-religious students at Wake? Any goals as chaplain?
For this first year, I will try to be present and participate in campus life. My hope is that being out in the community means I will meet a lot of students regardless of their religious or spiritual perspective. As I think with my colleagues about what the future of spiritual life at Wake Forest should be, getting input from students — even students who are not the “usual suspects” for spiritual life — will be very important.
Along with getting to know students, I want our office staff to get to know one another! We have a lot of new members on our team in spiritual life — new Jewish life, Muslim life and Hindu life chaplains — and getting us all working as a team is a major priority this year.
There is a lot of potential at Wake Forest for a more robust interfaith engagement and connection across lines of difference through non-sectarian stories and narratives. I’m interested in exploring those areas with Wake Forest faculty and students.
Is there anything else important you think Wake Forest students should know about you or your role?
Chaplains serve all students, faculty and staff, regardless of religious, spiritual or secular perspective. My daughter and I are at a lot of Wake Forest sporting events, especially field hockey and women’s soccer. I have lunch in the Pit most days. I’m out and about on campus all the time. Come say hello!
