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WCU Campus

Public speaking certificate offered at Biltmore Park instructional site

Sessions will be held on Fridays beginning Oct. 18 and continuing through Nov. 15.  

WCU Campus

UNC System board approves parental leave plan for employees

The policy will provide eight weeks of fully paid parental leave to employees who have given birth to a child, and four weeks of paid leave for non-birth parents in other circumstances.  

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Mountain Heritage Day festival coming up Saturday on campus

Organizers are expecting potentially record attendance for the annual event that celebrates Southern Appalachian culture.  

Carolina Mountain Club from Hunter Library

Hunter Library Collaborates with UNCA to Merge Digital Collections

Western Carolina University's Hunter Library is teaming up with the University of North Carolina-Asheville to document the Southern Appalachian mountain region.   

Neurobiology

A Call for Empathy: Understanding the Neurobiology of Stigma of Addiction

The American people have historically used substances for reasons ranging from celebration to coping to survival. The current societal focus on the opioid epidemic has brought significant attention to addictive disorders in the United States. A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that 63,000 individuals died from drug overdose in 2016. One year later, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reported 70,237 deaths in the United States caused by drug poisoning. This is an increase of 7,237 deaths in one year.   

WCU Campus

Opportunities for Adults in the Criminal Justice System

Opioid use continues to take its toll on communities across the United States. A dramatic rise in the rates of use over the past decade led the Department of Health and Human Services to officially declare an epidemic in 2016. The most disturbing aspect of this unprecedented epidemic is the number of fatal overdoses. More specifically, 70,237 drug-overdose deaths were recorded in the United States in 2017, nearly 10,000 more than in the prior year and the highest number to date.  

Students studying

An Innovative Cross Discipline Degree Program

The College of Health and Human Science's Integrated Health Sciences degree is an adaptable program for students planning to seek careers or advanced degrees in the health field, and accommodating for those still determining their future paths.  

Mark Benge Alumnus of the Month

Mark Benge Alumnus of the Month

Meet our Alumni of the Month: Mark Benge! He graduated from WCU in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science.  

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Expert Commentary: Kae Livsey

More Than Medicine Is Needed to Address the Opioid Epidemic - In the U.S., there is a common perception that there is a pill to fix everything. We are flooded with advertisements promoting pharmacological management for all kinds of conditions. There are even drugs that have been developed to counteract the side effects of other drugs, such as a pill to counteract constipation resulting from use of legally prescribed opioids.  

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