Teacher-Scholar Legacies: Mark Welker

Wake Forest junior KyungMin Yoo (’18) works on her research project with her mentor, William L. Potent Professor of Chemistry Mark Welker, in a lab in Salem Hall on Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Yoo was awarded a Beckman scholarship for basic research into molecules that could be used for wound care in medicine.

By Bruce King, Kitchin Chair of Chemistry

Dr. Mark Welker, William L. Potent Professor of Chemistry, began his career at Wake Forest in 1987, following post-doctoral work at the University of California Berkeley. He earned his Ph.D. at Florida State University following his B.S. in Chemistry at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

A gifted teacher-scholar, Mark taught in our undergraduate and graduate organic courses and first-year seminar program and is also an accomplished researcher (95 peer-reviewed publications and more than $4 million in external support). In 2008, he was elected as a Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for “contributions to the field of organometallic chemistry, particularly for metal-mediated cyclization and cycloaddition reactions.”

Besides these accomplishments, Mark further distinguished himself in mentoring, service, and leadership. Mark mentored more than 100 undergraduate researchers and was recognized with a Henry Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award. He worked with 11 post-doctoral researchers/senior scientists and 29 graduate students earned Ph.D./MS degrees under his guidance.

Mark also actively mentored many junior faculty in the department over his career. Mark served the department on many committees and played an important role in the growth of the Ph.D. program in chemistry. In 2002, Mark became a program officer in the Division of Chemistry of the National Science Foundation and when he returned, became the first Associate Provost of Research at Wake Forest. In this position, Mark revamped the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, increased Wake Forest’s research visibility and infrastructure, and initiated the Research Centers’ program. Mark then served as Vice-Provost and the interim Provost of Wake Forest (2011-2012) before returning to the Chemistry Department, where he served as chair (2014-2018) and led our expansion to Wake Downtown and the renovation of Salem Hall.

He also was instrumental in developing the Friends of Chemistry alumni group as a means of helping our current students connect to industry after Wake Forest.

This summary only describes a small part of what Mark has accomplished and meant to the department and University. The department will miss his efforts and guidance and wishes him the best in his next chapter of life.