Get to Know Change Management

Change management — what is it and why does it matter? You can read all about it here, but briefly, it’s the key to the acceptance and support needed for implementing sustained change. In this case, that sustained change is Wake Forest’s upcoming implementation of Workday Student.

Project WakeDay’s change management team recognizes that the University’s switch to Workday Student is complex and that such large-scale transition can be overwhelming. That’s why the team’s goals are to guide the University toward Workday Student in a healthy and sustainable way, communicate changes clearly and effectively, and support the Wake Forest community in the face of something new.

Below, meet the members of the team and find out how they’re participating in the project. Questions? Contact them through this webform or by email at WakeDay@wfu.edu.

• Matt Imboden (’06, ’08) has worked at Wake Forest for over 15 years. Outside of Project WakeDay, he’s the Chief Student Services Officer for the School of Business, where he leads a number of integrated academic services and student affairs functions across degree programs and other student initiatives. Day-to-day, his responsibilities include oversight for enrolled student support and programming strategies across the school’s 10 current academic program experiences, as well as a graduate registrar function for academic recordkeeping and policy adjudication, and much more. While he has been on the WakeDay’s Steering Committee throughout the life of the project, he became the Change Management Lead in September 2023. Reflecting on his current role, Matt shares, “I hope that change management can empathetically listen for and respond to the diverse needs of our institutional community — making key connections to knowledge and resources that will enable Wake Foresters to be successful system users into the future, all while navigating the dynamic timeline of project goals and milestones.” Throughout his involvement, he says it’s been particularly exciting to explore “how Workday Student is positioned to meet our evolving needs as a national university, with academic initiatives and student populations who experience academic life at Wake Forest from a diversity of vantage points, levels, locations, and modalities.” As part of the Change Management team, he’s looking forward to “seeing the incredible amount of hard work that the implementation project teams and entire campus community are putting into this effort result in a new system environment that enables all of us to work together for a better and stronger Wake Forest.”
• Dr. Anne Hardcastle has been at WFU for 20 years. She’s currently the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs. In her daily role she oversees projects and offices that support student and faculty success, including the CLASS office, the Center for the Advancement of Teaching, the Registrar’s Office, Institutional Research and the Office of Civic and Community Engagement. She also supports initiatives for institutional effectiveness and academic programs across the University. For Project WakeDay, she’s leading the Faculty Advisory Panel. She’s excited about “the level of detail and transparency about courses that will be visible to students all in one place. Workday Student provides so much information to help them understand and choose courses for their individual academic needs.” As the project continues, she says she’s looking forward to building on the connections and insights developed among the academic schools, administrative, and other offices to facilitate and support collaborations across the University. As part of the change management team, she says, “I hope to encourage faculty, staff and students to think practically and creatively about using new tools and information we’ve never had before.”
• Mike Ayuso has been at Wake Forest for 18 years, and during his time here he’s watched his wife (MDiv ‘08) and daughter (MA ’18) become graduates. Mike is usually a project manager in Information Systems, where he’s working on the OneCampus rollout and supporting Banner/WIN, but right now he’s pretty much full-time on Project WakeDay. His role is Change Management Operational Lead. “I get to work every day with a great group of people with a diverse set of talents, who are working their hardest to make this transition as painless as possible,” he shares. The thing that excites him about Workday Student is that it’s going to affect every single student, faculty and staff member for years to come. And when it comes to change management, he says he hopes that the team serves the University “by not letting anyone feel left out, not listened to or not supported before, during and after the implementation.”
• Shari Dallas, who’s full-time on Project WakeDay, is the Workday SIS Coordinator/Administrator. She started at WFU about eight months ago. She says she’s excited that “the new system will bring so many positive changes to every user’s experience. It will unite the entire campus under one system, making it much easier to share information.” She says she’s looking forward to the time when the project is successfully completed and the Wake Forest community is comfortable with the new system. She says her goal for her role on the change management team is to help “prepare the Wake Forest community for the changes that are coming through workshops, learning labs and training.”
• Bruce Haywood (’21) has been on Wake’s campus for seven years. He’s full-time on Project WakeDay as the Change Management Administrator. He shares that, “Workday Student is exciting because it can positively impact all students, faculty and staff.” As part of the Change Management team, he says he’s most looking forward to Readiness Sessions and helping everyone learn to use the new system. “I hope that Change Management serves the University by helping members of our campus community feel that their input was heard and that they can comfortably use the system,” he says.
• Abby Langston is the full-time SIS Communications Specialist for Project WakeDay. She arrived at Wake Forest in February 2023. She says she’s excited that Workday Student will benefit all of campus because it allows the University to house all information in one system. “As someone who’s new to Wake Forest, I’m enjoying the variety of meetings I get to attend and I love meeting so many new people. I’m excited to continue that work, helping all campus constituents get to know Workday Student and understand the value it will bring to us all.” As part of the Change Management team, she says, “Such monumental change as this can be a little scary, especially when you’re already really good at your job, so I want to help change management share the benefits of the system and make sure everyone knows there are layers of support for them every step of the way.”
• Rita Mewing, who’s currently full-time on Project WakeDay, usually works as the DeaconSpace application administrator in Information Systems. (DeaconSpace will have a Workday integration after implementation.) Rita will celebrate her 30th Wake Forest anniversary in October. For Project WakeDay, she’s the Process Administrator. When asked what she’s learned about Workday Student, she says, “I am excited to see the efficiency of processes. This will really benefit so many people.” She’s also looking forward to everyone getting to see the new SIS in action. From a change management perspective, she “hopes we are able to make this a seamless transition.”
• Tracy Mills-Howell (M’17) has been at Wake Forest for 11 years, and she received a second master’s degree at WFU in 2017. She’s currently the full-time Training Lead for Project WakeDay. “I love that Workday Student is inclusive of practically everything (records, registration, finances) that students need to manage their academics while being mobile friendly,” she shares. She’s most looking forward to engaging with campus in multiple ways for training — online, instructor-led classes and open labs. As part of the Change Management team, she says it’s “her hope that we spend everything we have in time and talent to ensure our faculty, staff and students are well prepared to successfully use our new student information system.”