Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the university's main campus, has been located north of downtown Winston-Salem since the university moved there in 1956. The Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist medical campus has two locations, the older one located near the Ardmore neighborhood in central Winston-Salem, and the newer campus at Wake Forest Innovation Quarter downtown. The university also occupies lab space at Biotech Plaza at Innovation Quarter, and at the Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials. The university's Graduate School of Management maintains a presence on the main campus in Winston-Salem and in Charlotte, North Carolina.

WFU's undergraduate and graduate colleges and schools include Wake Forest University School of Law, Wake Forest University School of Divinity, Wake Forest University School of Business, Wake Forest Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Wake Forest students can participate in over 250 student clubs and organizations including fraternities and sororities, intramural sports, a student newspaper and a radio station. Wake Forest is designated "R-2: Doctoral Universities – High Research Activity" with the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education in 2019 update.Wake Forest alumni include 15 Rhodes Scholars, including 13 since 1986, four Marshall Scholars, 15 Truman Scholars and 92 Fulbright recipients since 1993. WFU is a top 5 major employer in Forsyth County in the Piedmont Triad region.Notable people of Wake Forest University include author Maya Angelou, mathematician Phillip Griffiths, Senators Richard Burr and Kay Hagan, former sportscaster and athlete Billy Packer, athletes Chris Paul, Tim Duncan, Muggsy Bogues, Brian Piccolo and Arnold Palmer, and CEO Charlie Ergen.

Wake Forest University Athletic teams are known as the Demon Deacons and compete in 16 NCAA Division I intercollegiate sports. Wake Forest is also a founding member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).