Article from 2001:
For the second consecutive year, WCU participated in the Global Partnerships School Consortium, with East Carolina University and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, to facilitate collaborative exchange, program development and research across school levels and teacher education in Japan and North Carolina.
Three national universities in Japan (Hiroshima University, Osaka University of Education,  and Naruto University of Education) collaborated with teacher education programs in North Carolina as a result of a three-year grant from the United States-Japan Foundation.
The foundation is committed to promoting stronger ties between the U.S. and Japan in order to increase broader awareness of important policy issues and to address the common concerns in the Asia-Pacific region through a greater mutual understanding.
Eleven Japanese teachers led by Professor Hiroaki Sera (Naruto University) taught, worked with and learned from a select group of Western North Carolina public school teachers from March 25 through April 4.
This year, the United States/Western North Carolina host teachers included Anne Loughlin (Cullowhee Valley Elem.), Barbara Wilkes (Scott’s Creek Elem.), Beverly  Reavis and Tammy Bates (Cherokee and Tuscola High), Summer Lewis (Clyde and Jonathon Valley Elem.), Mary Lynn MacGillivary (Cowee Elem.), Kristy Kowalske and Laura Norris (Rugby Middle), and Lisa Green (Flat Rock Middle).
A reception was held at Lake Junaluska Assembly on March 25 to welcome the visiting teachers. Among the guest speakers were WCU Vice-Chancellor Richard Collings, N.C. House Rep. Phil Haire, and Henry Foy, Mayor of Waynesville, North Carolina.
On March 31, host families took the visiting teachers to Asheville, the Henderson County Arts Festival, the Cherokee Reservation, and even caught a home baseball game between arch-rivals WCU and Appalachian State University.
The following day, the visiting teachers finally teamed up with the other two groups of Japanese teachers that were hosted by UNC-Wilmington and East Carolina University for a reception at the Brown Stone Hotel in Raleigh.
 (Front) Yumiko Ono, Etuko Takagi, Satoshi Kagawa, Akari Shiota, Kiminori Kawakami, Yoshio Mori, Miori Ueta, Mieko Yamada, Keiko Hujimoto, (Back) Waynesville Mayor Henry Foy, NC House Rep. Phil Haire, WCU Vice-Chancellor Richard Collings, Prof. Hiroaki Sera, Prof. Kensuke Chikamori, and IPS Director Dr. Lois Petrovich-Mwaniki.
Western Carolina University coordinators Dr. Lois Petrovich-Mwaniki, Dr. Casey Hurley and Dr. Dixie McGinty, and the 2001 hosting Western North Carolina Teachers, as well as Dr. Don Spence and Dr. Hideki Yonekawa (US-Japan Foundation Grant Coordinators), were present at the reception.
The Japanese teachers concluded their week-long visit with a collaborative presentation, in which they expressed North Carolina school teachers’ knowledge of educational objectives as clear. They were also impressed with the degree of academic accountability and discipline, the pursuit of a competitive society, a well-executed faculty development system, the instructional technology, and the new idea of more individualized instruction found across the state.
In June 2001, seven WNC teachers traveled to Japan to visit public schools and study their curriculum.
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