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Impact Stories

Our alumni, community, faculty, staff, and partners are dedicated to supporting the success of current and future Catamounts. Western Carolina University is committed to sustaining and improving individual lives through education and by enhancing the economic and community development of our region. Discover the philanthropy and the people who make this happen...

Dr Yanjun Yan

Dr. Yanjun Yan: An I Love WCU Story

Education. Connection. Heart. - As an educational institution, Western Carolina University faculty utilize their vast resources of knowledge to nurture students, use their time to advance the curriculum offered to students, and work with an educational community to stem new ideas. Yanjun Yan is one of these individuals, but the lessons do not stop in the classroom.  

Faculty and Staff at an I Love WCU celebration

‘I Love WCU’ to celebrate alumni, students and new giving societies

It’s February and that means big love for Western Carolina University during the “I Love WCU” celebration.  

Chancellor Kelli R. Brown and Husband Dennis

Chancellor Brown’s late mother honored with namesake scholarship

Charlene Leontine Francis McCormack married young, worked hard, loved her family and her church, and ultimately laid the groundwork for the success of her three children, especially her oldest, Western Carolina University Chancellor Kelli R. Brown.  

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Giving Tuesday 2020

Thank you for making GivingTuesday a success this year in support of the Center for Service Learning and Community Engagement and the Whee Are One Fund! We are so proud of our community. When we come together, we can truly make a difference.  

Students with a professor

Scholarship established in memory of WCU finance professor

A new scholarship has been established to honor long-time Western Carolina University College of Business professor Grace Allen, who passed away Aug. 19 after a brief battle with cancer.  

Aerial photograph of campus in fall showing Scott and Walker Residence Halls

Keeping the Memories, Supporting the Future

Western Carolina University’s Scott and Walker residence halls are scheduled for demolition soon to make room for new living spaces, but a watercolor version of the beloved dorms can hang on your wall forever, all while benefiting a good cause.  

Athletics

Time and Treasure Highlight ‘I Love WCU’

Western Carolina University faculty and staff opened their hearts as well as their wallets and calendars this year to support the university’s fourth annual “I Love WCU” campaign during the month of February. This year’s campaign, which was a joint effort from the Division of Advancement and the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning, encouraged participants to volunteer their time to community service projects, as well as to make charitable donations.  

Facilities Management

Family Comes First for New Facilities Management Scholarship, an “I Love WCU” Story

Western Carolina University’s Facilities Management unit is a family, as far as members of its leadership team are concerned, so they decided to help take care of their own by establishing the WCU Facilities Management Annual Scholarship in honor of “I Love WCU” month.  

Jennifer Hinton

Recreational Therapy Director says Helping Others Helps Her; an “I Love WCU” Story

It’s hard to tell where Jennifer Hinton’s real job ends and her volunteer work begins. As program director and clinical education coordinator for Western Carolina University’s recreational therapy program, Hinton spends much of her time teaching her students about service-learning, coordinating volunteer projects for them or doing community service herself — sometimes for work, her church, her family — or often a combination of some of them, if not all.   

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