WCU Stories      April 8, 2025

By Bill Studenc

Future students majoring in English studies and participating in student media organizations at Western Carolina University will be eligible for financial assistance made possible by a planned gift of $100,000 from a WCU alumna who has enjoyed a lengthy career in the education profession.

Monica Henson, who majored in English and was editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper and the student arts and literary journal, has identified WCU as beneficiary of a life insurance policy that will create two endowed funds of $50,000 each.

The Dr. Monica Henson English Program Endowment will provide experiential learning and professional development opportunities for students in English studies, with preference given to financial support for students or helping with program expenses related to student media supported by the Department of English Studies.

The second fund, the Dr. Monica Henson English Endowed Scholarship, will provide scholarship assistance to undergraduate students majoring in English studies who have demonstrated financial need. Preference will be given to the Western North Carolina counties of Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, Swain and Transylvania. 

A 1984 graduate of WCU who currently resides in Monroe, Georgia, Henson grew up in Western North Carolina as part of a long line in a family of Clay County educators. Her paternal grandfather was principal of a community schoolhouse, and her maternal grandmother taught second grade for 39 years.

Henson was among the third generation of her family to go to college, receiving a scholarship to help her with the costs of attending WCU, which inspired her to give back to her alma mater.

“I want to support the mission of the university. I do not have the means to make a substantial cash gift in my lifetime, but I can make that gift via my life insurance,” she said. “I majored in English and had an incredible experience. I remember winning the Ashby Wade Award for freshman composition, and my professors had a profound positive impact on my career choices.”

During her time at WCU, Henson served as editor-in-chief of both The Western Carolinian newspaper and The Nomad arts and literary magazine.

“Both of these experiences had a significant influence on my time at the university. I follow the newspaper to this day on social media and enjoy seeing the students deliver a product every week on deadline, just as we did when I was in Cullowhee,” she said.

“I hope to benefit deserving students in their pursuit of an English degree, and I hope that the student journalists will be able to defray expenses of attending events such as scholastic journalism conferences,” Henson said. “We won several awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association when I was with The Western Carolinian, but we didn't attend any conferences or events.”

Annette Debo, head of WCU’s Department of English Studies, said she was thrilled to learn about Henson’s gifts creating two endowed funds that will support students in her program.

“Scholarships are game-changers for our students. Most of them need financial assistance to be able to afford the cost of higher education. Getting people to college, especially from Western North Carolina, can be challenging right now in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Scholarships will help a great deal,” Debo said.

The fund that will provide experiential learning and professional development opportunities for students will help equip them with skills they will need as they go out into the workforce.

“This is what we need in the 21st century in our department and, in fact, across the nation as we increase our focus on career pathways and what students will do after they graduate,” Debo said. “Lots of our students want to go out and work in the media, so having funding for these activities will be really important.”

Henson is currently spending her final years of work teaching high school English in a small rural school system in middle Georgia, which she characterized as coming "full circle" in a career that began as a teacher in a small rural school.

After graduating from WCU, she went on to earn her master’s degree in school administration from Seton Hall University and her doctorate in education from Nova Southeastern University. A National Board Certified Teacher, she has held leadership roles spanning the East Coast – from Massachusetts, Connecticut,  New  Hampshire, and Maine to North Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

Henson has served as a department chair, assistant principal, principal, central office administrator, regional administrator and superintendent in district, charter and independent public schools, including statewide school system leadership positions in Georgia. She also is an aspiring novelist and winner of Best Manuscript Sample and Best Pitch at the Atlanta Writers Club conference.

Henson has extensive family connections to WCU. Her paternal grandfather played basketball at Western Carolina Teachers College and earned a degree in education. “He became principal at the Elf School in Clay County before the consolidation of the schools into a single system. My mother's mother graduated from Western Carolina College and taught elementary school in Clay County for 39 years. She attended on a work-study program, and her job was to iron the college president's shirts,” she said.

“My father attended Western Carolina College in the late 1950s. He lived in Buchanan Hall on ‘The Hill,’ and that’s where I lived during my years in Cullowhee. One of my brothers and one of my sisters graduated from WCU, and my son is the fourth generation of our family to earn a degree from WCU,” Henson said. “My son and I both celebrated our graduations with family dinners at the Jarrett House in Dillsboro, where my maternal grandmother roomed in the summers while finishing her degree.”

She also has several cousins who graduated from WCU, most of whom became teachers and coaches, as she and her brother did.

Henson served two terms on the Alumni Association Board of Directors, and she is a member of the university’s Madison Society.

Henson’s planned gift comes as WCU enters the public phase of its “Fill the Western Sky” comprehensive fundraising campaign, an effort to raise a minimum of $100 million for the university’s academic, student engagement and athletics programs. For more information or to make a contribution to the campaign, visit WesternSky.wcu.edu, call 828-227-7124 or email advancement@wcu.edu.