The Park Scholars class of 2025 is excited to honor Walt Wolfram with the William C. Friday Award.

Wolfram is the William C. Friday Distinguished University Professor at NC State, where he also directs the North Carolina Language and Life Project. He has pioneered research on social and ethnic dialects since the 1960s and published 24 books, eight edited collections and more than 300 articles. Over the last two decades, he and his students have conducted more than 3,500 sociolinguistic interviews with residents of North Carolina and beyond, primarily under funding from the National Science Foundation.  

The Friday Award, established in 2000 and named for the former president of the University of North Carolina System, is an annual honor presented by the senior class of Park Scholars on behalf of the entire Park Scholarships program. This award honors Friday’s dedication and excellence in scholarship, leadership, service and character and recognizes individuals who emulate Friday’s dedication to those principles. Each year’s award recipient is invited to speak at a campuswide event.