Leadership Team

Dr. Alan Brown is Associate Professor of English Education at Wake Forest University. He is a former high school English teacher and basketball coach who now serves as department chair and English education coordinator in the Department of Education. He is the inaugural director for the Wake Forest Center for Literacy Education and co-PI for Winston-Salem TEACH, a five-year, $4.7 million U.S. Department of Education Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) grant, a collaboration among Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem State University, Salem College, and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. Dr. Brown teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on topics including action research, adolescent literacy, arts integration, educational leadership, English methods, secondary education, and young adult literature. His scholarly interests include critically examining the culture of sports in schools and society while connecting contemporary literacies to students’ extra-curricular interests. He is the co-author of Reading the World through Sports and Young Adult Literature (NCTE, 2024), co-editor of Developing Contemporary Literacies through Sports (NCTE, 2016), and has published in numerous education and sport journals. Dr. Brown organizes the Skip Prosser Literacy Program, a collaboration between Wake Forest Athletics and the Department of Education, and he leads the Paisley IB Magnet School Sports Literacy Program, a weekly program for seventh- and eighth-grade boys that supports youth through academic, social, and community engagement.

Alicia Lemar is the Education Librarian and Outreach Coordinator at Wake Forest University.  She received her Master of Library Science from Indiana University in 2008 and has been working in early childhood education and librarianship ever since.  Her interests include promoting multicultural understanding and social-emotional learning through children’s literature.

Jaylen Hudson graduated from Wake Forest University in 2023 with a BA in Communication. Jaylen helped recruit and organize student-athletes to attend weekly school visits with 4th graders in Forsyth County as part of the Skip Prosser READ Challenge. He has spent countless hours working on programs and activities to help develop a community of readers. He currently attends the University of Massachusetts in Amherst where he is earning his graduate degree.

Wendell Dunn, a former standout Demon Deacon defensive lineman, returned to the Wake Forest Football program as the first ever Director of Player Development in March 2021. In his role, Dunn helps lead the newly created Football Player Career Development program in a student-facing position to help create a meaningful student-athlete experience at Wake Forest. Working as a member of the Student-Athlete Development team, Dunn oversees the football program’s off-the-field efforts to maximize student-athletes’ potential and help them transition into and out of college. Dunn earned his bachelor’s degree in communications from Wake Forest in 2017, and his master’s degree in educational studies in 2019.

Elizabeth Goodwin joined Wake Forest’s Student-Athlete Services in August 2022. She works directly with the Demon Deacon football program, in which she is responsible for monitoring the academic performance of student-athletes and helping them to fulfill their undergraduate academic requirements. She also assists with coordinating study halls, tutors and aids in the development of time management skills for student-athletes.  As a staff member for Student-Athletes Services, Elizabeth also oversees “Athletes in Education,” an interest group to help student-athletes who are interested in pursuing a career in education after college.

Brendan Jones is Senior Associate Athletic Director and Chief Revenue Officer for Wake Forest Athletics. Brendan previously worked at The University of Southern Mississippi. He has ACC roots as a Clemson graduate who also worked for Learfield IMG College as he managed properties of member institutions.