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WCU Stories

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WCU receives grant to improve skills of local children who are English language learners

WCU is the recipient of a $583,074 grant from the U.S. Department of Education for an afterschool program to help improve the academic skills of students at Cullowhee Valley School who speak English as another language.  

Green College

WCU designated a ‘green college’ for 10th year by The Princeton Review

WCU keeps its streak alive in being listed by The Princeton Review as one of the most environmentally responsible and ecologically connected institutions in North America.   

Holly Pinter 1

Passion for middle grades teaching leads to national award for Holly Pinter

Associate professor Holly Pinter was recently named National Middle Level Professor of the Year by the Association for Middle Level Education.   

Roya Scales

Roya Scales named a UNC System literacy fellow

Roya Scales is one of eight appointees to a University of North Carolina System literacy fellowship, an effort intended to develop a common framework for literacy instruction in teacher preparation.  

April Perry and Her family

WCU's April Perry recognized as top professional in region by Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

April Perry, an associate professor in the College of Education and Allied Professions at Western Carolina University, has been named to the Standout Blue Ridge Class of 2020 by the Carolinas’ chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  

Students in a socially distant classroom

Teaching: COVID-19 Style

There was a time when faculty members spent most of their days preparing their lectures, presenting them to their students and being available during office hours for extra instruction. Some also had the additional task of preparing for laboratory work or work outside of campus, such as hospitals and nursing homes. Then came the coronavirus, COVID-19, and a new way of teaching was born.  

David Virtue with students in Norway

WCU’s Newest Professor Sees ‘virtue’ in Middle Grades Students

David Virtue has been involved with middle grades education for 20 years. So, when he first learned that he was named Western Carolina University’s Taft B. Botner Distinguished Professor of Elementary and Middle Grades Education this summer, it’s no surprise that he compared his reaction to the excitement of a middle schooler learning “they were getting a snow day.”  

Meet David Virtue  

Brad Witzel

Developing future teachers is what fuels professor Brad Witzel

Brad Witzel said he has a lot of teaching left in him, at least 15 to 20 years. That’s why it’s taken him some time to get used to being called a distinguished professor. Witzel will join Western Carolina University’s College of Education and Allied Professions this fall as the Adelaide Worth Daniels Distinguished Professor of Special Education. Rather than look at the honor as a career-defining moment on the downside of his teaching, Witzel views it differently.   

Read His Story  

Students teaching

New flexible, online program at WCU makes it easier to be a teacher

Becoming a teacher through Western Carolina University just got a little easier for people wanting to switch careers and enter high-demand fields of education. The College of Education and Allied Professions is offering new comprehensive education master of arts in teaching concentrations for people who already have bachelor’s degrees and want to become a teacher.  

Learn More About the Program  

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