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Participants in a Western Carolina University faculty-led summer travel course to China say it was more than just a study-abroad program—it was a transformative journey that left students with unforgettable memories, deep cultural insights and a renewed sense of global citizenship.

The second annual CATALYST: Summer Research and Leadership Program was held in summer 2025 at Western Carolina University, welcoming 18 enthusiastic incoming honors students. A collaboration between the Office of Research Administration and the Brinson Honors College, the program underscores the vital connection between undergraduate research and leadership.

In June 2025, the House v. NCAA Settlement reshaped college athletics by allowing Division I schools to provide more financial support to student-athletes, including backpay for past NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) opportunities and a new revenue-sharing model.

The Mountain Heritage Center, a museum of Appalachian culture at Western Carolina University, will hold a crafts demonstration and music performance from 2 to 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 17.

Amidst a second world war, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Lives were lost, others were changed and one day later, the United States entered the largest conflict in human history.

A collection of Catamounts recently toured Europe’s Iberian Peninsula from Lisbon on Portugal’s Atlantic coast to the municipalities of Merida and Olivenza in western Spain as part of Western Carolina University’s second international Catamount Adventures excursion.

Heidi Von Dohlen was an educator and school principal for 27 years before becoming the director of the Principal Fellows program at Western Carolina University.

One of Jenna Dreyer’s favorite things about her field of study is just being outside — but her surroundings this summer look a bit different from the familiar confines of Cullowhee.

Several cattle tanks filled with swarms of tadpoles were all that kept the dusky gopher frog from going extinct. Now, Joe Pechmann, professor of biology at Western Carolina University, is helping the frogs return to their historical range and populations.

A Western Carolina University instructor of management will be leading a weeklong entrepreneurship and leadership camp for underserved youth in Western North Carolina to help them get an early jump on learning some of the steps necessary for starting a business.