Week 9 Open the Gate Honoree: Dr. Janice Collins
10/23/2023 6:25:00 PM | Football
The first-ever Wake Forest women’s basketball player to make an All-ACC team will be returning to Winston-Salem.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Dr. Janice Collins, a former Wake Forest women's basketball star and member of the Trailblazer Award Committee, will lead the Demon Deacon football team onto the field this Saturday, Oct. 28, against the Florida State Seminoles. The game is set for a noon kickoff at Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium.
Collins was a standout basketball player for the Deacs in the 1980s, becoming the women's program's first ever All-ACC player in 1985 when was named to the second team her junior year, after averaging 12.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game while shooting .507 from the field. A four-year letter winner, Collins finished her Demon Deacon career with 992 points, 548 rebounds, 186 assists and 146 steals, playing in 109 games while starting 80. In 2015, Collins was inducted as an ACC Tournament Legend.
After graduating from Wake Forest with a degree in communications and theater arts in 1986, Collins embarked on an illustrious career in journalism, working primarily as a broadcast news producer, winning multiple Emmy, Best of Gannett, Associated Press and National Association of Black Journalist awards during her career.
In academia, she was selected as one of the Top 50 Journalism Professors in the nation of 2012 by Journalismdegree.org and has received first place in a national competition for her teaching, service, creative endeavor, and research called the Baskett Mosse National Award for Faculty Development AEJMC 2017, "Best in Digital" 2nd place, for her website of inclusion and diversity called Hearmyvoiceonline.com AEJMC 2017, and has, consistently, made the Teachers of Excellence List at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign since 2013.
She was also awarded a Faculty of Excellence award by the Department of Minority Affairs at Eastern Illinois University and an Excellence Award for Teaching and Service at Hampton University. College newsrooms she has worked in as faculty advisor or facilitator, have been award winning including a NABJ, Virginia Chapter award for original news-magazine show at Hampton called "Sound Off," and numerous College Regional Emmy, INBA, SINBA and SPJ awards at Eastern Illinois University.
Dr. Collins earned her master's degree in journalism and Ph.D in Mass Communications from Ohio University in 2005 and 2009, respectively. She currently works on Inclusion measures and SDG goals across the globe as President of World Changers Media International Foundation.
Open the Gate Information & 2023 Honorees
The Open the Gate tradition has been an important and unique aspect of football games since its inception in 2008. This allows Wake Forest to honor individuals that make its University and Winston-Salem community so special. Honorees ride on the back of the motorcycle with the Demon Deacon mascot and lead the football team onto Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium. The first ever honoree was Wake Forest and Winston-Salem legend, Chris Paul.
Week 1 vs. Elon: Cathy Pace
Week 2 vs. Vanderbilt: Jen Averill
Week 3 vs. Georgia Tech: Kimberly Jones
Week 8 vs. Pitt: Rhett Lowder
Week 9 vs. Florida State: Dr. Janice Collins
Collins was a standout basketball player for the Deacs in the 1980s, becoming the women's program's first ever All-ACC player in 1985 when was named to the second team her junior year, after averaging 12.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game while shooting .507 from the field. A four-year letter winner, Collins finished her Demon Deacon career with 992 points, 548 rebounds, 186 assists and 146 steals, playing in 109 games while starting 80. In 2015, Collins was inducted as an ACC Tournament Legend.
After graduating from Wake Forest with a degree in communications and theater arts in 1986, Collins embarked on an illustrious career in journalism, working primarily as a broadcast news producer, winning multiple Emmy, Best of Gannett, Associated Press and National Association of Black Journalist awards during her career.
In academia, she was selected as one of the Top 50 Journalism Professors in the nation of 2012 by Journalismdegree.org and has received first place in a national competition for her teaching, service, creative endeavor, and research called the Baskett Mosse National Award for Faculty Development AEJMC 2017, "Best in Digital" 2nd place, for her website of inclusion and diversity called Hearmyvoiceonline.com AEJMC 2017, and has, consistently, made the Teachers of Excellence List at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign since 2013.
She was also awarded a Faculty of Excellence award by the Department of Minority Affairs at Eastern Illinois University and an Excellence Award for Teaching and Service at Hampton University. College newsrooms she has worked in as faculty advisor or facilitator, have been award winning including a NABJ, Virginia Chapter award for original news-magazine show at Hampton called "Sound Off," and numerous College Regional Emmy, INBA, SINBA and SPJ awards at Eastern Illinois University.
Dr. Collins earned her master's degree in journalism and Ph.D in Mass Communications from Ohio University in 2005 and 2009, respectively. She currently works on Inclusion measures and SDG goals across the globe as President of World Changers Media International Foundation.
Open the Gate Information & 2023 Honorees
The Open the Gate tradition has been an important and unique aspect of football games since its inception in 2008. This allows Wake Forest to honor individuals that make its University and Winston-Salem community so special. Honorees ride on the back of the motorcycle with the Demon Deacon mascot and lead the football team onto Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium. The first ever honoree was Wake Forest and Winston-Salem legend, Chris Paul.
Week 1 vs. Elon: Cathy Pace
Week 2 vs. Vanderbilt: Jen Averill
Week 3 vs. Georgia Tech: Kimberly Jones
Week 8 vs. Pitt: Rhett Lowder
Week 9 vs. Florida State: Dr. Janice Collins
QB Robbie Ashford takes it himself for the score
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Chris Barnes scores the TD on the game's first kick
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Matt Barrie SportsCenter at Wake Forest with Demond Claiborne
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Matt Barrie SportsCenter on Wake Forest Campus (Arnold Palmer Complex)
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