KENYA TRIP PROVIDES
NEW PERSPECTIVES
ATHLETICS PROGRAM FACES
A CHANGING LANDSCAPE
GREEK LIFE CREATES
LONG-LASTING BONDS
CWAeRsOteLrnINA Winter
2016
T H E M A G A Z I N E O F W E S T E R N C A R O L I N A U N I V E R S I T Y
Education Proves Crucial for
21st-Century Careers and Quality of Life
SNOW DAZE
Students routinely take advantage of the hilly
topography of the campus landscape for a break
from their studies when the weather turns snowy
in the mountains of Western North Carolina.
WINTER 2016 | VOLUME 20, NO. 1
CHANCELLOR
David O. Belcher
CHIEF OF STAFF
Melissa Canady Wargo
MANAGING EDITOR
Bill Studenc MPA ’10
CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Mark Haskett ’87
STAFF DESIGNERS
John Balentine
Will Huddleston
STAFF WRITERS
Keith Brenton
Geoff Cantrell
Denise Gideon
Randall Holcombe
Daniel Hooker ’01
Christy Martin ’71 MA ’78
Marlon W. Morgan
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Ashley T. Evans
VIDEO EDITOR
Joseph Hader ’12
MARKETING DIRECTOR
Robin Oliver
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Ashley Beavers
CIRCULATION MANAGER
Cindi Magill
BUSINESS MANAGER
Linda Mallonee
Search for this icon throughout the
magazine for stories that feature
online extras – videos, photographs
and more, available ONLY online.
magazine.wcu.edu
Western
CAROLINA
The Magazine of Western Carolina University is
produced by the Office of Communications and
Public Relations for alumni, faculty, staff, friends
and students of Western Carolina University. The
views and opinions that appear in this publication
are not necessarily those of the editorial staff or
the official policies of the university.
2 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
SECTIONS
4 Worth Repeating
5 Opening Notes
6 News from the
Western Hemisphere
14 Catamount Athletics
36 Alumni Spotlight
40 Class Notes
52 Events Calendar
54 The View from Here
CONTENTS
BACK COVER
After being crowned Miss Cherokee in October, sophomore Taran Swimmer has found herself immersed in a
whirlwind of events across Western North Carolina. She has had numerous speaking engagements including Ned
Long Day, an event that honors Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian tribal elders, and opening ceremonies for WCU’s
Native American Expo. She also handled the pregame coin toss during WCU’s home football contest versus
Furman University.
FEATURES
CHANGING LANDSCAPE
14 Student-athlete stipends not
in immediate future at WCU
COMMUNITY CONNECTORS
20 New distinguished professors
link WCU and the region
GREEK EMPIRE
22 Sororities, fraternities create
bonds that last a lifetime
STEMMING THE TIDE
26 Science, tech, engineering, math
prove crucial in the 21st century
15 DAYS IN KENYA
32 Visit to the African continent
provides new perspectives
32 22 20 26
Winter 2016 | 3
WORTH
REPEATING
COMMENTS FROM OUR READERS
ON THE PREVIOUS EDITION
Have a comment about this issue that you think is
“worth repeating?” Let us hear from you!
Email us at magazinestories@wcu.edu or send us a
letter to 420 H.F. Robinson, Cullowhee, N.C., 28723.
We’ll select a few to share with your fellow readers.
BRIAN C. BOCK ’98
My wife and I are both
proud WCU grads and enjoy
reading your magazine each
time it arrives at our home.
Congratulations on your high-quality
publication keeping
everyone engaged in the
university’s important work!
Thank you for the work you do
for our alma mater.
HAROLD W. CRAWLEY ’66
Great magazine. Glad to be a
WCU graduate.
DAN FREZZA ’04
I love the latest issue regarding
external support and the
impact it has on Western.
BOB BARBER ’72
I was once again disappointed in how little the
magazine has in it about Greek life at WCU.
Out of the hundreds of pictures, not one of any
fraternity or fraternity function and only three
pictures of sororities! Check your donations to
the university. You will find that the alumni that
were Greek during their college years are your
biggest contributors. Much more than any other
group. Yet you continue to act as if we are not a
part of life at WCU! Shame on you. You are better
than that. I will look forward to more articles and
pictures of Greek life in the future.
KIM BLANCHARD ’97
It’s always great just to be back on campus to visit and see the
exciting changes taking place. But when my husband, Billy, and
I were there in April to watch some Catamount baseball and
wander around campus, we also got to watch former WCU kicker
Josh Jones ’01 attempt a 45-yard field goal to try and win a
$10,000 bet with his boss, NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick. How
cool is that? The coaches and football players were so proud to
have Josh back on the field in his uniform! It was great to learn
that Kevin gave the check to the football program even though
Josh’s kick barely missed.
CHUCK SMITH ’77
(In reference to the 2013
campus streaking expose’
“The Bare Facts”), I have
pictures I took that night in a
photo album in the attic. The
streaks continued throughout
the school year. I never
streaked but was the getaway
driver for many streaks. I had
some getaway car….the only
orange Camaro on campus,
but it was fast! One particular
shot I remember taking
was from above a concrete
overhang outside the exit door
of Leatherwood dorm. A male
student who had polio and
walked on crutches wanted to
streak so bad, the boys took a
big gray dorm trash container
that had wheels and rigged him
into it and pushed him around
the streak route. I’m going to
find those pix and send them.
Fun times.
THOMAS RHYDON ATZENHOFFER ’10
My wife and I had driven home Labor Day
weekend and the fall 2015 edition of Western
Carolina was sitting on the counter when I walked
into my family’s home Thursday afternoon. To my
delight, the first thing to truly catch my eye was a
picture of Dr. Alex Macaulay speaking to a class.
It immediately brought back fond memories of
one of the best and brightest minds that I had the
privilege of learning from during my five years
and two-degree period as a Catamount.
Editor’s note: A feature story about Greek life at
WCU has been in the works for several months
and begins on Page 22.
4 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
OPENING
Notes
When North Carolinians go to the polls Tuesday, March 15,
to select nominees for the U.S. presidency and other important
federal, state and local offices, they also will find on the ballot
an issue that is of tremendous significance for Western Carolina
University. Voters will be asked to approve a $2 billion bond
package that would provide financing for major projects for
the University of North Carolina system, community colleges,
state parks, agriculture, the National Guard, and water and
sewer infrastructure.
Of that $2 billion total, $980 million is designated for the
17 institutions of the UNC system. Most paramount to the
Catamount Nation is that this bond referendum includes
$110 million for the replacement of WCU’s obsolete Natural
Sciences Building.
If you are among those who studied — or attempted to —
in that facility, especially in recent years, you know it is in
very poor shape. The structure was built in the 1970s and is
as threadbare as the bell-bottoms some of us wore then. We
cannot patch or repair it anymore. But the building is more than
merely out-of-fashion and outdated; it impedes the process of
teaching and learning science in the 21st century.
Our university is the largest—and in some fields the only—
educational institution in Western North Carolina preparing
students to meet continually growing regional workforce
demands in health care, high-tech manufacturing, and
natural products development. Each of these fields represents
significant economic development growth potential for the
region and the state. That growth is largely dependent on our
ability to meet workforce needs, and we cannot meet those
needs in our existing science building. In order to produce the
graduates demanded by the region and state, we must increase
our capacity in courses such as chemistry and biology that are
foundational to science, technology, engineering and math (or
STEM) programs.
Simply put, we are maxed out. When the current science
facility was built, WCU had only 15 nursing majors and
no engineering majors. Today, the university has roughly
2,300 students majoring in nursing and other health and
human science programs, and almost 600 in technology and
engineering programs. In addition, we have approximately 500
students enrolled in biological and physical science programs.
Beyond all the numbers, people near and dear to your hearts
have a personal stake in passing this bond referendum — the
students in nursing and health sciences, engineering, forensic
science and others, who must take courses in biology, chemistry
and physics. They need to and deserve to learn in 21st-century
classrooms and laboratories. These are the young people who
will make up the workforce of tomorrow. We are at a pivotal
point in deciding their future.
If we can grow the number of students able to study in
STEM disciplines through the expanded opportunities offered
by a new state-of-the-art science building, we also will be
able to grow the workforce in engineering, health sciences,
natural sciences and the technology sector. Having a larger
highly trained workforce in these fields will help attract
more business and industry to the region and state, creating
more job opportunities and stimulating the economies of
our communities.
Here are a few more facts so that you go fully informed into
your polling place March 15. This bond package is a bipartisan
initiative proposed initially by Gov. Pat McCrory as Connect
NC and later endorsed by the General Assembly. In fact,
the governor visited campus last May to see for himself the
deplorable conditions that students in our STEM disciplines
currently face (see http://governorvisit.wcu.edu).
I also can tell you that, according to fiscal research from
the General Assembly, passage of the bond will not require
additional tax burden for North Carolinians. Because of
historically low interest rates and the retirement of existing
debt, issuance of the bond will not increase the total tax-supported
debt in the state beyond what it is today. The bond
amount is still well below the suggested state limit for debt
service as a percentage of General Fund revenue. Best of all,
North Carolina’s stellar credit rating will remain Triple A
even after issuing a $2 billion bond — that’s a credit rating
that many other states covet. There never has been a better
time to invest in North Carolina.
Although the potential replacement of our outdated science
building and the impact it would have for our students and our
future workforce is significant, there’s a lot more at stake. The
bond proposal includes projects in all four corners of North
Carolina. In addition to funding for construction, repair and
renovation at our state universities and community colleges,
local water, sewer and other infrastructure projects would
receive $300 million in loans and grants, while National
Guard and public safety agencies would get $70 million to
modernize facilities. Another $180 million would be invested
in agriculture, with $100 million going to our state park system
and the North Carolina zoo.
I trust that you see the magnitude of the matter before us
and understand the implications that March 15 will have on
the future of our university and our state. I also hope that
this information has been educational, and that you will read
our cover story about the importance of STEM education
at WCU and its implications for our region and state. For
more information about the bond issue, visit the website
www.ConnectNCForHigherEd.com.
Go Cats!
David O. Belcher,
Chancellor
Winter 2016 | 5
FCC GRANTS CONSTRUCTION PERMIT
TO WCU FOR NEW RADIO STATION
Western Carolina University in
August received a construction permit
from the Federal Communications
Commission to create a new non-commercial
radio station on the 95.3 FM
frequency. The university was among
five entities that filed applications in
February 2010 for a new frequency
assigned in the town of Dillsboro by
the FCC. The new signal will be more
than five times as powerful as the present
university frequency at 90.5 FM, said
Donald Connelly, head of WCU’s
Department of Communication. The
university has three years to build a
new tower approximately five and one
half miles southwest of the university
on top of Brown Mountain and begin
broadcasting.
The 95.3 FM frequency currently
is used as a translator by WCQS-FM,
Western North Carolina Public Radio
Inc., in Asheville, to reach listeners
in Haywood and Jackson counties.
Translators are secondary radio services
that receive a radio station’s main signal
and then retransmit the original signal
on another frequency to extend the
station’s coverage area, Connelly said.
Translators are not protected as licensed
radio stations are by the FCC, and their
frequencies are subject to change when
the FCC allocates a new frequency to a
nearby community, he said.
When WCU filed the application for
the 95.3 frequency in 2010, it stated in its
application that should the university be
granted the license for the new station,
the university would work with WCQS
to avoid any disruption of public radio
service. Representatives of WCU and
WCQS met recently to discuss possible
ways to maintain the WCQS coverage
area in the Jackson and Haywood county
areas, and those discussions are ongoing.
“As Western North Carolina’s public
regional comprehensive university,
Western Carolina University has a long
and mutually beneficial relationship
with WCQS, Western North Carolina’s
public radio station,” WCU Chancellor
David O. Belcher said. “We value WCQS
for providing quality local news and
programming, and for being the region’s
conduit to National Public Radio. We
are working with David Feingold, the
new WCQS general manager and CEO,
on ways to ensure that the station
continues to have a place on the radio
dial in our region.”
Western Carolina has a long
broadcasting tradition dating back to
1948, when WCCA 550 AM signed on
from the lower floor of the university’s
Joyner Building. The AM station left
the air in 1977, and WWCU 90.5 FM
signed on as the far western region’s
first FM station. A broadcast service
of WCU, WWCU has grown since its
inception from being a small club to a
professional learning laboratory in the
Department of Communication. The
student-managed facility is on the air
24 hours a day all year long.
–By Bill Studenc MPA ’10
Don Connelly, head
of the Department of
Communication, gives
pointers to WWCU-FM
student general manager
Bradley Lucore (above).
Darren Poole ’91 (inset)
was spinning discs for
WWCU in the 1990s.
6 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
A new partnership between Western
Carolina University and two local
hospitals is designed to ensure access to
quality health care in North Carolina’s
westernmost counties through a series of
activities, including an effort to increase
the number of family nurse practitioners
working in the region. Leaders from
WCU and Harris Regional Hospital and
Swain Community Hospital in October
announced The Ascent Partnership,
which also encompasses the hospitals’
support for athletics and the arts in the
region, opportunities for community
engagement on wellness, and expanded
local availability of needed health
care services.
As a key part of the initiative, Harris
Regional and Swain Community
hospitals will cover the total educational
PARTNERSHIP WITH 2 LOCAL HOSPITALS SEEKS
TO EXPAND HEALTH CARE ACCESS, TRAINING
costs for three students to enroll in
WCU’s family nurse practitioner
program who have committed to
working for one of the hospitals. One
student will be chosen to receive the
award and begin the two-year program
over each of the next three years.
Rural Western North Carolina faces
a shortage of physicians, and family
nurse practitioners are qualified, cost-effective
primary care providers who
can help meet the increasing demand for
high-quality health care in the region,
said WCU Chancellor David Belcher.
“This award program will enable the
students to graduate debt-free and will
provide guaranteed employment upon
degree completion, which certainly
will be important factors for the
students,” Belcher said. “But the real
value of this program is the
impact it will have on our
community. It will help meet
a critical need for additional
primary health care
providers.”
Steve Heatherly MBA
’99, chief executive officer
for Harris Regional and
Swain Community hospitals,
both of which are part of
Duke LifePoint Healthcare,
called the partnership
a formalization of the
hospitals’ commitment to
the community through a
decades-long collaboration
with WCU to provide
training to future health
care professionals. “The
training and placement of
highly skilled primary care
providers is a critical element
of enhancing the quality of
life in our region. However,
full tuition support for nurse
practitioner students is but
one facet of The Ascent
Partnership,” Heatherly
said. “The partnership also
is focused on improving the
health and well-being of the
communities we collectively
serve through collaboration
and innovation.”
The hospitals and
university created a sports
medicine program about 15
years ago that serves WCU’s
student-athletes, provides
training for physical
therapists and sports
medicine clinicians, and
has placed athletic trainers
in 10 high schools in the region to
provide access to a coordinated system
of care for nearly 1,500 student-athletes
and their families annually, he said.
Last fall saw the opening of a primary
care clinic called Harris Family Care-
Cullowhee inside the WCU Health
and Human Sciences Building, where
residents of the community have better
access to care and WCU students have
a place to hone their health care skills.
The Ascent Partnership also features
a community education component with
a regular speakers series highlighting
experts from the university and the local
hospitals, and it will be the foundation
for the hospitals’ ongoing support
of WCU’s Valley of the Lilies Half
Marathon and 5K, Catamount athletics
programs, and arts functions occurring
on campus through WCU’s Friends
of the Arts organization.
–By Bill Studenc MPA ’10
More family nurse
practitioners will
be working in
Western North
Carolina, thanks
to a partnership
announced by
university officials
and hospital CEO
Steve Heatherly
MBA ’99 (inset).
Winter 2016 | 7
ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMS EARN REACCREDITATION
Western Carolina University’s
bachelor’s degree programs in electrical
and computer engineering technology
and applied systems technology have
been reaccredited by the Engineering
Technology Accreditation Commission
of ABET, the global accreditor of college
and university programs in applied
science, computing, engineering
and engineering technology. ABET
accreditation assures that programs
meet standards to produce graduates
ready to enter critical technical fields
that are leading the way in innovation
and emerging technologies, and in
anticipating the welfare and safety needs
of the public, said Jeffrey Ray, dean of
WCU’s Kimmel School of Construction
Management and Technology.
“The reaccreditation of our bachelor
of science programs in engineering
technology by ABET exemplifies
our commitment to excellence in
engineering technology education,” Ray
said. “As one of only two universities
with ABET-accredited engineering
Martin Tanaka,
assistant professor
and graduate program
director, instructs
engineering and
technology students
(above). At right,
students work in an
engineering lab that
is well-equipped for
learning and research.
technology programs in
North Carolina, we are
dedicated to providing
the highest quality
graduates for economic
development of Western
North Carolina and all
of the state.”
Sought worldwide,
ABET’s voluntary peer-review
process is highly
respected because it
adds critical value to
academic programs
in the technical
disciplines, where
quality, precision and safety are of the
utmost importance, Ray said. Developed
by technical professionals from ABET’s
member societies, ABET criteria focus
on what students experience and learn.
ABET accreditation reviews look at
program curricula, faculty, facilities
and institutional support and are
conducted by teams of highly skilled
professionals from industry, academia
and government with expertise in the
ABET disciplines, Ray said.
ABET is a nonprofit, non-governmental
organization recognized by the Council
for Higher Education Accreditation.
It currently accredits almost 3,500
programs at nearly 700 colleges and
universities in 28 countries.
–By Randall Holcombe
8 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
The Energy Star logo is frequently
found on household appliances, but
rarely do you see it affixed to a building
— unless that building is the Western
Carolina University Bookstore. The
bookstore last summer became the first
building on campus, and one of just a
few in the country, to receive Energy Star
certification, and now proudly displays
two Energy Star logos on its windows
entering the building.
Energy Star is a U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency volunteer program
that helps businesses and individuals
save money and protect the climate
through superior energy efficiency. In
order to qualify for certification, the
energy efficiency of a building must be in
the top 25 percent compared to buildings
of similar use nationwide. The bookstore
was in the top 6 percent. With nearly 5
million commercial buildings in the
nation, as of 2014 only 25,000 qualified
for Energy Star certification — less
than 1 percent.
David King, certified energy manager
at WCU, credited the building’s
efficiency to Pam DeGraffenreid
’80, support services supervisor at
the bookstore, for coordinating the
building’s schedule. “It takes a lot of
coordination and effort to get all of the
schedules aligned and make sure things
are turned on when they’re supposed to
be,” King said.
DeGraffenreid said the installation
of LED lights, as well as a new heating
and cooling system in 2011, also has
made a difference. The store features
an advanced building automation
system that turns on the heating and
cooling system. King said it’s the same
automated system used in the White
House and the new World Trade Center.
“When (the store’s) not open on the
weekend, we can shut the whole building
down in 15 minutes,” King said. “We
BOOKSTORE WINS NATIONAL KUDOS FOR ENERGY SAVINGS
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT RANKS WCU AMONG TOPS IN THE SOUTH
Western Carolina University once again is ranked among
the best universities in the South in two categories in the
2016 edition of the U.S. News & World Report “Best Colleges”
guidebook released in September. The guidebook lists WCU as
13th among “top public regional universities” in the South, up
two places from last year’s spot at 15th. The publication also
has WCU tied with two other schools at No. 32 on a list of the
“best regional universities” in the South, five places above last
year’s ranking at No. 37 in that category.
The category in which WCU appears includes 618 higher
education institutions that offer a wide range of bachelor’s and
master’s degrees, and that tend to attract most of their students
from surrounding states. In addition, Western Carolina ranked
at No. 27 among institutions in the South for “best colleges
for veterans” and at No. 90 nationally in the category of “best
online programs.”
The annual rankings are based on a variety of indicators,
including assessment by administrators at peer institutions,
graduation rates, retention of students, faculty resources,
student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving.
even have an optimal start. If we need
the building to be at 73 degrees at 8 a.m.,
it’ll be at that. It’ll start ramping up an
hour ahead.”
Utility data was collected from the
bookstore for the 2014-15 academic year.
A third-party engineer was required
to look at the electric meter and make
sure the building had the appropriate
lighting levels and temperatures. They
reduced electric usage by 30,000 kilowatt
hours. It takes about a pound of coal to
generate a kilowatt hour, so WCU saved
30,000 pounds of coal, King said.
The university also saved about
$17,000. The median cost of operating
a building with similar size and use costs
$29,595.33 annually. The bookstore cost
$12,229.15 last year. King said Energy
Star buildings save about 35 percent
compared to typical buildings. “If you
figure we spend $4.3 million a year on
energy, if we got (all of WCU’s buildings)
to Energy Star level, that would be a
reduction of $1.5 million,” King said.
–By Marlon W. Morgan
WCU certified
energy manager
David King and Pam
DeGraffenreid ’80,
support services
supervisor of the
bookstore, show off
the building’s Energy
Star certification.
Winter 2016 | 9
FINE ART MUSEUM NAMES EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Denise Drury Homewood, an arts
administrator who came to Western
Carolina University as curatorial
specialist for the Fine Art Museum in
2010, has been appointed the museum’s
executive director. In her new role, Drury
Homewood is responsible for providing
strategic and operational leadership
for the museum as WCU’s College of
Fine and Performing Arts, where the
facility is housed administratively,
moves through a period of growth
and transition, said the college’s dean,
George H. Brown.
Drury Homewood had served several
stints as FAM interim director. Prior
to coming to WCU, she was executive
director of 621 Gallery in Tallahassee,
Florida, where she managed a nonprofit
gallery and 10-acre sculpture park. In
her time at WCU, she has fostered
new connections and collaborations
throughout the region and state, Brown
said. She has served as art section chair of
the North Carolina Museums Council,
on the boards of the Center for Craft,
Creativity & Design and Asheville-Area
Arts Council, and as a grant reviewer
and consultant for the Florida Division
of Cultural Affairs and North Carolina
Arts Council.
Under her leadership, WCU’s FAM
launched a variety of new programs
focused on community engagement
ranging from children’s art education
programs at the Jackson County
Farmers Market to a nationally
recognized exhibition of the North
Carolina’s glass artists. She was recently
named to the Curators Committee of
the American Alliance of Museums,
where she is charged with representing
curators throughout the Southeast on
the national stage.
Brown said he considers the recent
appointment a significant opportunity
to strengthen the strategic work of
the college. “Denise brings a wealth
of experience to this position, as well
as considerable ties to artists and arts
organizations across the state,” he
said. “As our college works to advance
the Western North Carolina region
artistically and economically through
creative place-making, I see Denise’s
proactive leadership, willingness to
collaborate and interest in leveraging the
power of the arts as a transformational
catalyst as strong assets for the college
and region.”
Drury Homewood said she considers
it a privilege to lead the museum
into its 10th anniversary year. “I
look forward to building a museum
environment that celebrates creativity,
encourages curiosity and promotes
community engagement,” she said.
“In this next decade, you’ll see a shift
in our programming that reflects a
move toward a more engaging and
relevant experience for visitors to the
Fine Art Museum.
Teresa Williams, former
chair of the Western Carolina
University Board of Trustees,
received one of the highest honors
bestowed by the university, the
Distinguished Service Award,
during Homecoming activities in
October. As part of a ceremony
at A.K. Hinds University Center,
WCU Chancellor David O. Belcher
presented the service award to
Williams, a Huntersville resident
who served on the Board of
Trustees a total of eight years, including two years in each of
the positions of board secretary, vice chair and chair. A native
of High Point, Williams was appointed to serve a four-year
term on the board in 2007, and then reappointed to another
four-year term in 2011.
Belcher said that Williams, in her role as a trustee, “always
brought extraordinary ideas to the table, always looking for
ways to raise the bar.” One of those ideas was the creation of
WCU’s Board of Visitors, he said. That board, which eventually
will consist of up to 30 members, serves in an advisory role
to the chancellor, and as advocates and ambassadors for the
university. “I am excited about the impact this board is already
having and its potential to help our university further tell its
story across our state and throughout our region,” Belcher said.
In her role as chair of the Board of Trustees, Williams
was “insightful, wise, strong and forward-thinking,” Belcher
said. “She mentored individual board members. She planned
and ran a great meeting. She advocated on Western Carolina
University’s behalf with elected officials. She was, and is,
passionate about the university and the role it plays in serving
Western North Carolina and our state. She has been my great
partner in leadership, and with her many contributions she
has changed Western Carolina for the better.”
As she accepted the Distinguished Service Award, Williams
praised the university’s faculty and staff for creating “this
most wonderful place that is famous for opening new growth
patterns for discovery and exploration for everyone who
would participate.”
“I came to you a stranger, and you took me in,” she said.
“In the days and weeks and years that would follow, I came
to know that’s simply your way, with your own special blend
of friendship, of community, of compassion, and support
and encouragement. You do that every day for students and
adults alike.”
–By Randall Holcombe
FORMER BOARD CHAIR HONORED FOR YEARS OF DISTINGUISHED SERVICE
10 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
PROFESSORS WIN GRANT TO EXTEND
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
FOR WNC MATH TEACHERS
The Western Carolina University
Foundation is the recipient of a
$200,000 grant from the North Carolina
GlaxoSmithKline Foundation that
will be used to support the Smoky
Mountain Math Teachers’ Circle, a
professional development organization
for math teachers in Western North
Carolina, and to create a network of the
organizations statewide.
Two faculty members from WCU’s
Department of Mathematics and
Computer Science organized the Smoky
Mountain Math Teachers’ Circle in the
summer of 2014, inviting middle school
math teachers from Cherokee, Clay,
Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon
and Swain counties to join with WCU
professors for an ongoing dialogue about
math with colleagues and professional
mathematicians. “It’s great to see
these counties in the western area of
the state working with this important
math education program,” said North
Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation
board member Ran Coble.
The grant will provide funding to
sustain the Smoky Mountain group
for the next five years and to take the
concept across North
Carolina. “The Smoky
Mountain Math
Teachers’ Circle has
proven a beneficial
resource for the
region, with an impact
beyond education
and teacher-student
interactions,” said
Sloan Despeaux,
the WCU professor
of mathematics who co-created and
is leading the initiative along with
colleague Nathan Borchelt, associate
professor of mathematics.
Despeaux and Borchelt created
the Smoky Mountain Math Teachers’
Circle using a model from the American
Institute of Mathematics. In addition
to uniting the regional math education
community in dialogue, the group
engages middle and secondary teachers
in problem-solving and provides support
enabling them to promote open-ended
problem-solving as a way of learning,
thinking about and practicing math in
their classrooms. Participants meet six
to seven times each school year, and
also gather for a three-day summer
immersion workshop.
In the fall of 2013, nearly 80
mathematics teachers, post-secondary
educators and business leaders from
the region attended the Western North
Carolina P-16 Education Consortium
Conference in Cullowhee. “One of
the outcomes of this conference was a
strong desire to increase opportunities
for sustained partnerships between
post-secondary faculty and in-service
teachers within our region,” Borchelt
said. “This is something that can
certainly be achieved through Math
Teachers’ Circles.”
–By Geoff Cantrell
HONORS COLLEGE WELCOMES JILL GRANGER AS NEW DEAN
Jill Nelson Granger, formerly
associate dean of academic affairs and
director of the Honors Program at Sweet
Briar College in Virginia, is now serving
as dean of Western Carolina University’s
residential Honors College. Granger
(it’s pronounced “Gran-jay”) is filling
a vacancy created by the departure
of Brian Railsback, founding dean of
WCU’s Honors College, who stepped
down at the end of the 2014-15 academic
year to resume teaching, writing and
researching as a faculty member in the
Department of English.
Granger, a tenured, full professor
of chemistry, brings to her new role
the leadership characteristics needed
to continue the upward trajectory of
WCU’s Honors College as part of a skill
set honed during her 22-year career at
Sweet Briar, including 10 as an academic
administrator, Provost Alison Morrison-
Shetlar said. “The Honors College,
which provides a rigorous academic and
social environment to more than 1,400
high-achieving students, is a signature
academic unit and a significant point of
pride for Western Carolina University,”
Morrison-Shetlar said. “Dr. Granger
has the expertise, the experience, the
enthusiasm and the energy to lead
the Honors College and to guide
the continuing success of this pillar
of distinction.”
Granger said the position at WCU was
brought to her attention by a colleague
who understood that the only reason
she would consider leaving her home at
Sweet Briar would be for a full-time role
leading a strong Honors College. “From
the start, I have been very impressed
by the level of student participation,
leadership and engagement in the
Honors College at WCU,” she said.
“This speaks, I think, to a strong
foundation on which the program
was built. Very clearly the Honors
College has strong support at WCU.
I’ve had great conversations with many
program stakeholders, faculty, advisers,
administrators and staff, who are all
invested in the future of the program.
I think this is a very exciting time
at WCU.”
–By Bill Studenc MPA ’10
Renée Stillwell,
(center) a teacher
at Cullowhee Valley
School and Smoky
Mountain Math
Teachers’ Circle,
speaks with WCU
associate professors
of mathematics
Nathan Borchelt and
Sloan Despeaux.
Winter 2016 | 11
NEW ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS CREATED
An even dozen new endowed
scholarships have been added to the
books recently at Western Carolina
University, thanks to alumni and
friends continuing to respond to a call
from Chancellor David O. Belcher for
increased private financial support for
deserving students.
Belcher identified pursuing additional
endowed scholarships as the university’s
top philanthropic priority during his
installation in March 2012, and a total
of 125 new scholarship funds have been
added since then.
Through endowments of at least $25,000,
scholarship assistance can be awarded
on an annual and ongoing basis. New
endowed scholarship funds established
between December 2014 and October
2015 are:
Elisabeth and Wade St. John Endowed
Scholarship, provides equal support
for two undergraduate students –
one participating in the Pride of the
Mountains Marching Band and one
participating on the WCU intercollegiate
baseball team; donors Elisabeth and
Wade St. John.
The Herd Endowed Athletic Scholarship,
for student-athletes who participate on
one of WCU’s intercollegiate teams;
donors represented by Tobe Childers.
PHYSICAL THERAPY
GRADS ACE THEIR
LICENSING EXAMS
The second class of graduates from
Western Carolina University’s doctoral
degree program in physical therapy has
maintained the tradition of passing a
national licensing exam on the first try
that was started by 2014’s inaugural
class. WCU’s Department of Physical
Therapy received notification this fall
from the Federation of State Boards of
Physical Therapy that all 31 recipients
of doctor of physical therapy degrees
from the university in 2015 passed the
National Physical Therapy Examination
the first time they took it, said Karen
Lunnen, associate professor and head
of the department.
Physical therapy graduates are
required to pass the exam to be
licensed to practice. Records kept by
the federation indicate that the WCU
graduates’ mean scores on the exam puts
the group in the top 1 percent among
physical therapy graduates nationwide.
“I could not be more proud of our
graduates and the dedicated faculty who
prepared them to be excellent physical
therapists,” Lunnen said.
The University of North Carolina
Board of Governors gave its approval
in 2010 for WCU to expand its master’s
degree program in physical therapy to a
doctoral-level program. WCU awarded
diplomas to the first graduates of its
33-month doctoral program in spring
2014, and members of the second class
got their diplomas after the end of spring
semester this year.
The new graduates’ 100 percent pass
rate “is directly related to the challenging
curriculum, the passion and expertise
of the faculty, and highly motivated
and talented students,” said Douglas
Keskula, dean of WCU’s College of
Health and Human Sciences who also
is a professor of physical therapy at the
university. “The Doctor of Physical
Therapy Program at WCU consistently
creates an exceptional learning
experience for students, preparing them
to meet the changing expectations and
responsibilities of future health care
providers,” Keskula said. “I am grateful
and extremely proud to work with such
dedicated and compassionate faculty
and students.”
Up to 32 students are chosen from an
applicant pool that typically numbers
around 500 to begin WCU’s program
each August.
-By Randall Holcombe
Faculty member Ashley
Hyatt (standing)
supervises WCU
physical therapy
doctoral students
(from left) Jenna Floyd,
Elizabeth Carter and
Amy Broadwell as they
evaluate a client in a
recently opened pro
bono clinic on campus.
Kevin R. Vasquez Endowed Scholarship,
for students pursuing a degree in the
College of Business with at least junior
status and demonstrated financial need;
donor Kevin Vasquez ’79.
Charles Stancil Stephens/Kudzu Players
Endowed Scholarship, for students
majoring in a degree in the School of
Stage and Screen; donors represented by
Penelope Stephens Graham ’71 MAEd
’72 and Clifford Faull.
Ruby Drew Teaching Scholarship,
for students who have completed the
first year in the master’s program
in communication sciences and
disorders; donors represented by
Ruby Drew.
Wells Fargo Diversity and Leadership
Scholars Program, for underserved
students who exhibit leadership qualities
and who come from diverse populations;
donor represented by Rusty Edwards
’92 and Jim Wood ’83 MBA ’86.
Martha B. White Endowed Scholarship,
for full-time undergraduate students
in good standing majoring in nursing;
donor, the estate of Martha B. White.
Samuel E. White Endowed Scholarship,
for full-time undergraduate students in
good standing majoring in engineering;
donor, the estate of Martha B. White.
David E.W. Schlosser Endowed
Scholarship, for Honors College students
who demonstrate financial need; donors
Rebecca H. Schlosser ’73 and Michael
A. Schlosser.
EMC Courage Belief, and Strength
Endowed Scholarship, for emergency
medical care majors with preference
given to students who are completing
their initial paramedic training, in
honor of David Trigg, Michael Hubble
and Denise Wilfong ’94 MHS ’00;
donor Carrie Astrid Powell ’06.
William Smith ’49 MAEd ’53 and
Inez Smith Endowed Scholarship, for
education majors from Jackson County
who demonstrate financial need; donors
Ron Smith and Ty Smith ’79 MAEd ’80.
Annie Lee Bryson ’40 and Ernest
Bryson Endowed Scholarship, for
incoming freshmen with a GPA of 3.0 or
higher from Haywood, Graham, Swain,
Jackson, Macon, Cherokee, Clay or
Transylvania counties; donors Norma
Bryson Clayton ’73, Anna Bryson
Allen and Carolyn Bryson Wiggins
’77 ’94 .
For information on how to establish an
endowed scholarship, visit the website
give.wcu.edu.
12 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
RETENTION RATE TOPS 80 PERCENT FOR FIRST TIME IN WCU HISTORY
A larger number of sophomores
are wandering the Western Carolina
University campus these days, thanks
to a record percentage of first-time,
full-time undergraduate students
who returned for their second year of
college this past fall. The university’s
freshman-to-sophomore retention rate
topped 80 percent, allowing WCU to
achieve one of the major goals of its
“2020 Vision” strategic plan five years
ahead of schedule. The record retention
rate of 80.06 percent is 2.2 points higher
than the fall 2014 rate of 77.88 percent
and nearly 14 points higher than in 2006.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES WELCOMES 2 NEW MEMBERS, SGA PRESIDENT
Thomas H. Fetzer, a former three-term
mayor of Raleigh, and J. Bryant
Kinney ’82, a public and government
affairs executive, are the two newest
members of the Western Carolina
University Board of Trustees. Fetzer
and Kinney took the oath of office
during the board’s quarterly meeting
in September.
Fetzer (top) was appointed by the
University of North Carolina Board
of Governors to a four-year term on
the WCU board. He is filling a vacancy on the board created
by the departure of Mecklenburg County community leader
Teresa Williams, past chair of the trustees, who reached the
end of her term June 30. (See related story on page 10.)
The UNC system governing body also reappointed to four-year
terms Pat Kaemmerling ’71, chief financial officer of
Access Computers Inc. in Norcross, Georgia, and vice chair
of the board; Asheville attorney Carolyn Coward, secretary of
the board; and Wardell Townsend ’75, an executive mentor
and a former assistant secretary with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, of Silver Spring, Maryland.
N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory appointed Kinney to a four-year term
to fill a vacancy on the WCU board created by the appointment
of trustee Charles Philip Byers to the UNC Board of Governors.
McCrory also reappointed Grace Battle, a community leader
from Marietta, Georgia, to another four-year term.
Also joining the board for the 2015-16 academic year is
Bernard “Hank” Henderson, president of the WCU Student
Government Association. A junior from Marietta, Georgia,
Henderson is pursuing a degree in entrepreneurship. The son
of Bart and Leslie Henderson, he is a 2013 graduate of Furtah
Preparatory School.
A past chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party,
Fetzer is president of Fetzer Strategic Partners, a Raleigh-based
firm specializing in government relations, public and media
relations, survey research and crisis management. He was
elected to his first two-year term as mayor of Raleigh in 1993,
becoming the city’s youngest mayor.
Kinney (bottom) is principal of
Kinney Public Strategies in Charlotte
and serves as senior counselor for the
Hawthorn Group, an international
public affairs firm headquartered in
Alexandria, Virginia. He retired from
Duke Energy Corp. following a career
that spanned two decades, most
recently serving as vice president of
regulatory and government affairs for
the company’s Carolinas operations.
Edward “Ed” Broadwell of
Asheville is serving as board chair for the academic year.
-By Bill Studenc MPA ’10
“Increasing our freshman-to-sophomore
retention rate to 80 percent
by the year 2020 is spelled out in our
strategic plan,” said Tim Metz, WCU
assistant vice chancellor for institutional
planning and effectiveness. “To reach
that goal five years early speaks volumes
about the work our faculty and student
support staff are doing to help ensure
that students stay in school and remain
on track to graduate.”
A total of 1,624 new first-time,
full-time freshmen enrolled at WCU
last fall. The academic profile of the
freshman class improved on all fronts,
with higher average scores on the SAT
and ACT entrance exams and higher
high school GPAs than the previous
year. Total student enrollment at WCU
remained steady, with a tally of 10,340
undergraduate and graduate students on
the books as of the university’s official
census day of Friday, Aug. 28. It was a
slight decline from fall 2014’s record.
Undergraduate programs in WCU’s
Kimmel School of Construction
Management and Technology and the
College of Health and Human Sciences
saw some of the most significant growth
in undergraduate enrollment last fall,
said Provost Alison Morrison-Shetlar.
“These programs supply graduates in
the fields of engineering, technology,
nursing and the health sciences,
which are key to regional economic
development and to meet the workforce
demands of business and industry and
the health care needs of the people of
Western North Carolina,” Morrison-
Shetlar said.
Western Carolina also experienced
an increase in the diversity of its student
body last fall, with a 16 percent increase
in the number of Hispanic students, a 7.5
percent increase in the number of Asian
students, and a 20 percent increase in
the number of multiracial students.
-By Bill Studenc MPA ’10
The center of campus
is bustling, thanks to
a larger number of
returning students.
Winter 2016 | 13
A CHANGING LANDSCAPE
COST-OF-ATTENDANCE STIPENDS ARE NOT
IN WCU’S IMMEDIATE FUTURE
By MARLON W. MORGAN
TO PAY OR NOT TO PAY.
That’s the dilemma facing Randy
Eaton, Western Carolina University
director of athletics, and his Southern
Conference counterparts, as well as
other NCAA Division I schools outside
of the so-called Power Five conferences,
now that the NCAA has approved
schools providing student-athletes with
a cost-of-attendance stipend.
The cost of attendance, which is the
true cost of attending school for a year,
is determined by each institution’s
financial aid office. Each school can
pay its student-athletes the cost of
attendance, minus the cost of a full
athletics scholarship.
The Power Five conferences are
the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big
Ten, Southeastern Conference, Big 12
and Pac 12.
For large universities with abundant
revenue streams, the decision to pay
student-athletes the stipend is a no-brainer,
if for no other reason than
they have to remain competitive with
other institutions. But for mid-major
schools like WCU that more often than
not must resort to increasing student
fees to help subsidize their programs, the
choice is not so clear-cut. In September,
CATAMOUNT ATHLETICS
14 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
the Southern Conference announced
it would allow its members to award
cost-of-attendance stipends beginning
with the 2016-17 academic year. The
exception is Chattanooga, which already
had plans in motion to pay its men’s and
women’s basketball athletes in 2015-
16. Each school is allowed to spend up
to $56,000 per academic year, with no
athlete receiving more than $2,000.
“I think it’s the reality of what is
the landscape of college athletics
right now,” said Geoff Cabe, senior
associate commissioner of the
Southern Conference. “I think we’ve had
great conversations in our league about
the pros and cons and the economics
of it. We’re obviously different than
schools in the SEC or ACC that have
large TV contracts and large revenue
streams. We don’t have that. But at the
same time, everybody recognizes there
are some benefits to the student-athlete.”
After considering giving the cost-of-
attendance stipends to men’s and
women’s basketball players, Eaton opted
not to issue them at WCU. How long he
keeps that stance remains to be seen.
“We’re not in a position at our level
to do it. I’m leaning toward not even
talking about it for next year. But it’s
a very fine line because I know for a
fact we’ve already lost one women’s
basketball recruit to Jacksonville
because she got offered $3,200 in cost
of attendance,” Eaton said.
“I’ve looked my coaches in the eye and
said, ‘You’re going to have a kid that’s
going to tell me they’re not going to come
here because of $2,000? I don’t want that
kid here and you need to feel that way,
too.’ If all you’re doing is bidding on
that kid, do you really want that kind of
kid here? There’s something to be said
about that train of thought,” he said. “I
also understand I need that kid in order
to win. But if that’s the case, where do
you stop as a coach if your mentality is
‘I have to bid to get this kid?’ ”
Cabe said that he believes most
student-athletes will continue to
base their selection on criteria such
as the institution itself, the area in
which they choose to pursue a degree
and the relationships they build
with the coaching staffs while being
recruited. But he does admit that cost
of attendance will be another tool
some schools can utilize.
Because the process is new, exactly
what effect paying student-athletes
stipends will have on mid-major schools
is an unknown. In non-revenue sports,
for example, schools like WCU could
lose out on players they previously
may have had a chance to sign.
Eaton said Virginia Tech plans to
provide cost of attendance to all of its
teams. Instead of giving those players
on scholarship their cost-of-attendance
money, the baseball team opted to
use the money to provide additional
scholarship for other players.
“If that were to happen, those are
four or five kids that may have played
at our level who are now going to go
to Virginia Tech because they’ve got
scholarship money,” Eaton said. “Before,
they would have had to walk on and
pay their own way, or play somewhere
like Western who could give them 50
percent of a scholarship. That’s how it
could negatively affect us.”
It also could have a negative impact
internally. One of the things Eaton
enjoys most about his athletics
department is the camaraderie among
the student-athletes. If WCU were to
provide cost of attendance, it likely
would be only for men’s and women’s
basketball. Eaton worries what that
would do to the fabric of the student-athlete
community on campus.
“I don’t think I’ve ever worked at a
place where our student-athletes were
so close-knit,” Eaton said. “So I worry
about it driving a wedge between our
kids. What’s that do to the fabric and
how those kids relate to each other? Not
to mention, at our level, all of our sports
lose money. But if we want to look at
who’s generating the most money right
now, by far it’s football. Hands down. If
I were to give it to the basketball teams,
and you’re on the football team and you
know you’re generating twice as much
as those two combined, what the hell?
I think they would have some validity
to view it in that manner.”
SoCon members VMI and Wofford
also have said they will not provide
cost-of-attendance stipends to their
student-athletes. Eaton said The Citadel
is likely leaning that way, too. WCU
sport management professor Kadie Otto
applauds such decisions.
“That’s nice to hear because the
students are already heavily subsidizing
the athletic program at Western,” said
Otto, whose research involves analyzing
major college athletics. “More generally,
if you’re talking about doing stipends
at schools like ours, I don’t think it’s a
good idea. The schools that are big-time
programs, it makes sense because they
are generating revenue. But programs
that are losing money year after year,
it’s just not the right thing to do to
be forking out additional money that
essentially the students are paying for.
“There’s a trickle-down effect where
schools like Western, and other mid-majors,
feel for some reason they need to
try and keep up with the Joneses, which
is, quite frankly, impossible. I think and
hope that the mid-majors look at their
missions and look at their values and
say, ‘Look, we’re never going to be these
schools and we don’t want to be. Let’s be
the best we can in our pond, if you will.’ ”
For now, Eaton plans to adopt a policy
of watchful waiting. While the effects of
paying student-athletes stipends remain
uncertain, there is one thing that is very
clear to Eaton.
“It’s just one hot mess, the whole
thing,” he said.
WCU Director of
Athletics Randy
Eaton is not in favor
of paying student-athletes
a stipend.
Unlike counterparts in
the power conferences,
WCU coaches (facing
page, clockwise, from
top left) Stephanie
McCormick, Larry
Hunter and Mark
Speir MAEd ’95 are
recruiting student-athletes
without the
use of stipends.
Winter 2016 | 15
Three former student-athletes
representing two sports make up the
2015 class that was inducted into the
Western Carolina Athletics Hall of
Fame in November. Football’s Tom
Broadwater ’61 and Lonnie Galloway
’94 and men’s basketball player Charles
McConnell ’66 MAEd ’69 comprise the
recently enshrined class, the 26th in
university history.
Broadwater, who played from 1957
until 1960, was a four-year letter winner
who received overwhelming support for
his induction into the Athletics Hall of
Fame. Broadwater, a running back, was
a part of what was billed the “Million
Dollar Backfield” with fellow Hall of
INDUCTION JUNCTION
THREE FORMER CATAMOUNT STANDOUTS
ENTER THE ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME
By DANIEL HOOKER ’01
Fame member and quarterback Tobe
Childers, fullback Jamie Wilkes and
running back Boogy Bass.
Broadwater recorded 23 career
rushing touchdowns, which continues
to tie him for seventh with fellow Hall
of Famer and former running back
Brad Hoover ’00 in WCU’s all-time
record books. He recorded a banner
year for then-Western Carolina College
in the 1959 season, helping guide the
Catamounts to their first winning
season (7-2-1) since the North State
Conference championship run in 1949.
He rushed for 13 touchdowns in 1959,
the most in program history at the time
and a mark that continues to have him
tied for second in WCU’s single-season
ledgers. All told, he scored a school-record
86 points in 1959, adding four
two-point conversions to go along
with his 13 rushing TDs. Leading the
Catamounts in total offense, Broadwater
collected both All-State and All-North
State Conference honors in 1959.
A quarterback from 1990 until 1994,
Galloway concluded his four-year
Catamount career as WCU’s all-time
leader in total offense with 6,832 yards
– a mark that still stood entering the
2015 season. He led the Catamounts in
total offense from 1991-93 and holds two
of WCU’s top seven single-season total
offense yardage records. Galloway also
finished his career ranked as WCU’s all-time
second-leading passer, amassing
5,545 career yards through the air on 355
career completions. At the time of his
induction, Galloway continued to rank
in eight of WCU’s season and career top
10 offensive categories.
After graduation, Galloway played
one season of professional football
with the Charlotte Rage of the Arena
Football League before trading his
cleats for a whistle in a coaching
career that spans five institutions. His
coaching career began in state at Elon,
where he coached wide receivers and
quarterbacks from 1996 through 2002.
Galloway then coached receivers at East
Carolina University for two years before
spending three seasons at Appalachian
State as an assistant coach during
ASU’s back-to-back-to-back national
championship years.
He parlayed that success into a
position at West Virginia as wide
receivers coach and passing game
coordinator, a similar position to the
one he held at Wake Forest University
Tom Broadwater ’61
16 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
CATAMOUNT
ATHLETICS
for two season before returning to West
Virginia in 2013. All told, Galloway
has coached in four post-season bowl
games and has been on three national
championship coaching staffs. In 2010,
he was named the Big East Recruiter of
the Year by ESPN.com.
“Charlie” McConnell, a beacon in
the Western Carolina community, was
a four-year letter winner (1962-1966)
and a two-year starter for the Catamount
men’s basketball team. He helped WCU
to an 81-35 record during his playing
career, including two 20-win seasons,
and never endured a losing record.
McConnell started in the backcourt
alongside another WCU Hall of Famer,
Henry Logan, for two seasons and was
credited by head coach and Hall of
Famer Jim Gudger ’48 as a key factor
in Logan’s legendary career. McConnell
finished with 1,018 career points – the
13th player to score 1,000 and one of just
45 WCU basketball players all-time to
eclipse the 1,000-career point plateau –
adding 442 career rebounds.
McConnell was a freshman on the
1962-63 Catamount squad, which won
a school-record 28 games and advanced
to the NAIA National Championship
game. That squad was inducted into the
WCU Athletics Hall of Fame collectively
in 2003. Following his basketball
career at Western Carolina, he earned
master’s degrees from both WCU and
Winthrop before earning his doctorate
in education from UNC Greensboro.
His first job as an educator and coach
was in Cullowhee from 1966-71 before
becoming a principal and supervisor
in Rock Hill, South Carolina, from
1971-81. McConnell returned home
to the mountains of Western North
Carolina in 1981 as superintendent of
schools in Haywood County before
finishing his professional career in the
same role in Jackson County. All told,
McConnell was a teacher, coach and
administrator within the public school
systems over a distinguished 30-plus
year career until his retirement in 1997.
A staple at Catamount home sporting
events, McConnell passed away in
January 2013.
Charles McConnell ’66 MAEd ’69
Lonnie Galloway ’94
Winter 2016 | 17
DIAMOND ANNIVERSARY
CATAMOUNT SOFTBALL TO CELEBRATE 10 YEARS
By DENISE GIDEON
The Western Carolina University
Department of Athletics will celebrate
a decade of Catamount softball
in 2016 with the selection of a 10-
year anniversary team and the
program’s top 10 moments as chosen by a
special committee.
The top 10 players and best moments
will be released over a two-week period
leading up to the celebration during
the Southern Conference weekend
series against UNC Greensboro
on April 2-3. Profiled players and
moments will be revealed on the
athletics program’s various social
media platforms, including Facebook
(facebook.com/catamountsports),
Twitter (@catamounts) and Instagram
(@wcu_catamounts).
Western Carolina fast-pitch softball
began in 2006, hiring its first head coach
in 2004 when Megan Smith took on
the task of starting the program. In its
first-ever game, WCU softball defeated
Tennessee Tech 3-1 on Feb. 11, 2006, at
the Georgia State Tournament. Lauren
Ross ’10 hit the first homerun of the
softball program in her first at-bat as a
Catamount. Ross would go on to hold
the school record for homeruns in a
career, with 29 in her four-year career.
Also during the inaugural 2006
season, WCU won the Southern
Conference regular-season title.
Western Carolina has reached the
SoCon semifinal day of the conference
tournament twice, in 2007 and 2015.
In the history of the program, the
Catamounts have had 22 all-conference
selections, three all-tournament, three
all-region and two named to the
Academic First Team All-District.
Current senior first baseman Taylor
Sigmon is a two-time Academic First
Team All-District selection.
Western Carolina sponsored a slow-pitch
softball program from 1978-1985.
WCU was an AIAW Division II school
for four of those years and transitioned
to an NCAA Division I school during
the 1981-82 school year. Betty Peele
commissioned the Catamount softball
squad all eight years and compiled a
record of 190-103 for a .648 winning
percentage. Also during the eight-year
span, WCU played in three regional
tournaments and three AIAW National
Tournaments, finishing fifth in both
national tournament appearances.
The Cats additionally won two
North Carolina State Invitational
Championships, in 1982 and 1984.
CATAMOUNT
ATHLETICS
The WCU softball
team, including Lauren
Ross ’10 (inset),
won the regular
season conference
championship in its
first year of existence.
18 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
BASEBALL
STADIUM
NAMESAKE
DIES AT
AGE 78
Lamar Hennon, the namesake for
Western Carolina University’s baseball
stadium and father of former Catamount
head baseball coach Rodney Hennon
’93, died Tuesday, Aug. 25, after a battle
with cancer. He was 78.
A scholarship baseball player at
Lincoln Memorial University in
Tennessee, Lamar Hennon was a
benefactor of numerous high school
and university athletics programs. In
addition to the facility at WCU, his name
adorns the baseball stadium at LMU.
After graduating from LMU, where he
participated in the inaugural NAIA
College World Series Tournament, he
went into the carpeting business in 1962,
launching Carpets of Dalton in 1971.
Rodney Hennon coached at WCU
from 1994 until 1999, including serving
as head coach from 1998 until 1999,
and is currently head baseball coach
at former Southern Conference rival
Georgia Southern University.
FOOTBALL
REUNION
SCHEDULED FOR
SPRING GAME
For all of the Western Carolina University ex-football
players out there, want to relive the good ol’ days? Want
to see teammates and coaches you haven’t seen in years?
Or reminisce with the guys who used to tape up your
ankles, or made sure your equipment was just right?
Former Catamount football players, coaches, trainers
and managers from 1964-1973 will hold a reunion while
tailgating at the WCU football spring game on April 9.
The game will be held at E.J. Whitmire Stadium.
For more information, contact Sandy Davis ’69
(828.550.3997), Roger Seacreast ’71 (843.222.3389),
Glenn Hill ’72 (704.614.6953) or Joe Hunter ’74
(828.553.3559).
For a comprehensive schedule of upcoming Catamount
sporting events and the latest news from Catamount athletics,
visit catamountsports.com.
BACK ON COURSE
FORMER PLAYER RETURNS
TO COACH MEN’S GOLF TEAM
By DANIEL HOOKER ’01
Tim Eckberg ’04, a former member of
the WCU men’s golf team, in August was
named its head coach by WCU Director
of Athletics Randy Eaton. Eckberg
played two seasons for the Catamounts
and ranks 20th on the program’s career
scoring average chart. Eckberg replaces
former men’s golf coach Bryant Odom,
who took over at nationally ranked
Kennesaw State in late July. He is the
fifth head coach of the Catamount men’s
golf program since 1991.
“We are absolutely thrilled about Tim
Eckberg joining our athletics staff,” said
Gorham Bradley ’04, associate athletic
director, who led the search committee.
“Coach Eckberg’s commitment to student-athlete
leadership and development, as
well as his proven success in building
a championship-level golf program, is
exactly what we are looking for in our
head men’s golf coach. His passion for
coaching the game of golf and love for
WCU made him a perfect fit to rejoin
the Catamount family.”
Eckberg returns to Cullowhee after
two years as head men’s and women’s
golf coach at NAIA-member Cardinal
Stritch University. The first-ever golf
coach at the small Wisconsin school,
New WCU golf coach Tim Eckberg ’04 (left) talks with Keith Tyburski ’06, a former
teammate and head coach at Colgate.
Eckberg was charged with creating and
building both golf programs from the
ground up. During the inaugural season
for the men’s program in 2013-14, he
led the Wolves to a second-place finish
at the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic
Conference (CCAC) Tournament, and
an 18th-place overall showing at the
NAIA Championship. In the second year
of the program, the Wolves won four
tournaments as a part of placing inside
the top 10 in each of the team’s 12 regular
season events, including winning the
CCAC Men’s Golf Championship.
Cardinal Stritch went on to place 14th
at the national NAIA Championship.
Originally from Walnut, Illinois,
Eckberg played for the Catamounts from
2002 until 2004, twice earning the title
of team captain, team most valuable
player and Southern Conference All-
Academic. He led the Catamount men’s
golf squad in eight events during his
two years in Cullowhee, posting four
top-five finishes. “I am honored to have
the opportunity to return to Western
Carolina University and coach the
program that I love at the university
that I love,” he said.
Winter 2016 | 19
Three new distinguished professors link
WCU and the region in fields of engineering,
fine arts and Cherokee culture
In the summer months of 2015, three new distinguished
professors were added to the faculty at Western Carolina
University – two of them in newly created positions.
Hugh Jack, formerly professor of product design and
manufacturing engineering at Grand Valley State University,
was named WCU’s inaugural Cass Ballenger Distinguished
Professor of Engineering. He also serves as head of the
Department of Engineering and Technology
The Ballenger Professorship, endowed at $1 million, was
established through a gift of $250,000 from former U.S.
Rep. Cass Ballenger (R-Hickory) supplemented by a grant
of $250,000 from the C.D. Spangler Foundation. Those gifts
were combined with matching funds through a state program
initiated by the General Assembly to encourage private support
of public institutions of higher education.
Ballenger, who represented North Carolina’s 10th
Congressional District from 1986 to 2005, died in February
2015.Th
e professorship is expected to play a role in enhancing
the economy in the 10th Congressional District by expanding
WCU’s engineering and technology programs and improving
industry relationships in the Hickory area, said Jeffrey Ray, dean
of the university’s Kimmel School of Construction Management
and Technology.
“Dr. Jack brings many years of experience and leadership
in advanced manufacturing and product design to WCU.
This background and experience are perfectly aligned with
the growth of advanced manufacturing in Western North
Carolina,” Ray said.
The Kimmel School, where the Department of Engineering
and Technology is housed, emphasizes project-based learning,
in which students not only study theoretical aspects about
engineering and technology, but also apply those theories in
hands-on projects designed to help solve real problems faced
by industry partners across Western North Carolina, under
the oversight of faculty mentors.
The new Ballenger professor is confident in the abilities of
his school to meet the challenges ahead. “There are many ways
we can support existing business and create new opportunities
in North Carolina,” Jack said. “The faculty and staff in the
Kimmel School have outstanding records of experience
and scholarship.”
Tom Ashcraft served as head of the sculpture program in the
School of Art at George Mason University before being named
the inaugural Distinguished Professor of Visual Arts at WCU.
The professorship, endowed at $500,000, also was established
through a grant of $250,000 from the Spangler Foundation
combined with matching funds from the General Assembly.
Hugh Jack – Students in the Kimmel
School share Jack’s enthusiasm for new
technology that broadens their knowledge
of engineering.
By KEITH BRENTON
In his new role, Ashcraft leads WCU’s Master of Fine Arts
Program. He has more than 30 years of experience as an educator
and artist, with lectures, visiting artist engagements, exhibitions
and creative projects all over world. Since 2005, he has been a
core founding member of Workingman Collective, a group of
artists and other professionals interested in collaboration, public
art and socially engaged creative practice.
An example of the collective’s work is the three-part “Story”
project in Monrovia, Liberia, commissioned as part of the U.S.
Department of State’s Art in Embassies program. The “Story”
project addressed the idea of learning and play, and linked the
embassy to the community through the building of a playground,
the making of a collaborative quilt, and the installation of public
sculptures on the embassy grounds, said George Brown, dean
of WCU’s College of Fine and Performing Arts.
“Tom’s experience leveraging the visual arts to engage
with diverse communities strengthens the College of Fine
and Performing Arts’ efforts to serve as the cultural heart of
Western North Carolina,” Brown said.
Ashcraft said he seeks to create an interdisciplinary
environment for high motivation, intellectual curiosity,
independent thought, research and creative production. “I believe
this will help students prepare a framework for building and
navigating a practice in the arts and sustain their contribution
to a contemporary society,” he said.
One of his goals, he added, is “to develop avenues for
connective tissue” between various academic disciplines and
to identify and establish opportunities for creative work and
outreach on campus, within the region and across the state
and nation.
Brett H. Riggs became the new Sequoyah Distinguished
Professor of Cherokee Studies after a national search, succeeding
the late Robert Conley, a noted Native American scholar and
prolific author.
Formerly a research archaeologist at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, Riggs has worked with the Eastern Band
of Cherokee Indians on various projects since the early 1990s.
Riggs continues to build upon existing partnerships between
tribal and university leaders and will play an important role in
developing and implementing future projects involving WCU,
the Eastern Band and other Native American constituents, said
Richard Starnes ’92 MA ’94, dean of WCU’s College of Arts
and Sciences.
“Brett Riggs is an accomplished archeologist with deep ties
with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. He approaches his
work with a rare sensitivity that has impressed academics and
tribal members alike,” Starnes said.
Riggs specializes in Cherokee studies and has worked in
Western North Carolina for more than 20 years studying the
lives of Cherokee families during the removal era of the 1830s.
In his position with the Research Laboratories of Archaeology
at UNC-CH, he helped to establish the National Historic Trail
of Tears Long-Distance Trail in the southwestern corner of
the region.
Riggs describes the work of his predecessors Conley and
Tom Hatley as “foundational,” and says that he seeks to build
upon “exciting initiatives in native health, Cherokee language,
history, archeology and public heritage.”
“It is particularly important that we reinforce existing
collaborations and partnerships between WCU and the Eastern
Band of Cherokee Indians and that we explore new ways of
working together to build stronger ties between the tribe and
the university,” Riggs said. “I see building that relationship
as the core mission for the Sequoyah Professor, and I’m eager
to grow and deepen the links with the tribe through engaged
and applied scholarship.”
Tom Ashcraft – MFA student Donald Sawyer Jr. (left) listens as Ashcraft discusses
a work in progress.
Brett H. Riggs – Judaculla Rock, an
enigmatic icon of local Cherokee culture, is an
example of Riggs’ interests as an archaeologist.
Winter 2016 | 21
Western Carolina University boasts 20 sorority and
fraternity chapters, with members making up 8 percent of
the overall student body. Their commitment, they will quickly
tell you, is 100 percent.
Greek life is prospering at WCU. The ideals and
values of personal growth, academic achievement and
community service don’t end at graduation, either. The
legacy of Greek letter organizations is alumni involvement
and civic engagement that are never-ending. So much so,
WCU has created the Office of Greek Student Engagement
and Development, effective July 1, 2016, furthering the
university’s commitment to students and alumni.
“We have strong Greek chapters on campus with strong
connections to the community. Why not build on those
strengths and create a program at the director level?”
said Kevin S. Koett, associate vice chancellor and dean
of students. “It was a matter of taking into consideration our
constituent needs, defining what we wanted to accomplish
with a Greek life office and building on that foundation. We
determined a mission and a vision for a system that rewards
the Greek life, for all that they do.”
So what exactly is it that Greek life does at WCU? Greeks
past and present after first mentioning philanthropic
and community efforts refer to the bond of sisterhood
and brotherhood as a leading reason for joining a Greek
letter organization.
A STAPLE OF THE CAMPUS EXPERIENCE, SORORITIES AND
FRATERNITIES CREATE BONDS THAT LAST A LIFETIME
By GEOFF CANTRELL
It isn’t exactly Charlton
Heston in “Ben-Hur”
but this “chariot race”
held during the Greek
Games segment of
2011 Greek Week
activities had plenty
of thrills and close
competition. The
friendly rivalries
extended to community
service projects as well,
including a canned
food drive.
“This is family,” said Casey Gerringer, a junior from High
Point, glancing at the women seated around her at a Phi Mu
table in front of A.K. Hinds University Center days before
Homecoming, giving away homemade cupcakes as a show of
support. Being in a sorority, Gerringer said, “is everything that
family is, or should be. Support, caring, taking care of each
other. That is what Phi Mu gives me and makes me a part of.
Even with sisters that I may not be as close with, I still can go
to them for help. That is the bond that we have, which might
be hard for others to understand.”
HOME AWAY FROM HOME
The home-away-from-home theme is a common one
for students and alumni. Sororities and fraternities foster
individual growth and discovery, they said, while providing
a caring support group of peers.
“I was a first-generation college student in my family, so
when I went away to college and joined Phi Mu, the girls
I met became family,” said Janine Bryan ’83, a licensed
counselor in South Carolina who sits on the WCU Alumni
Association board of directors. “We did everything together; we
ate together, studied together, walked to class together,
socialized together, we basically grew up with each other. We
went on weekend road trips together.” Bryan said it got to the
point where she did not want to go home during the summer. magazine.wcu.edu
Winter 2016 | 23
“The first couple of years after college, many of us would
continue to drive back to WCU to visit our sorority sisters who
had not yet graduated,” she said. “Not coming from a close-knit
family, the bond with my Greek sisters was most important
during these momentous years. In the years that followed,
my Greek family continued to be my closest friends. Despite
the miles between us, we continue to be extremely involved
in each other’s lives.”
That sense of community and “home away from home”
becomes more literal with The Village, WCU’s residential
complex of six buildings for registered student organizations,
including Greeks. The Village was built in 2003-2004, with a
commons building, vending and laundry rooms, and volleyball
and basketball courts. An $11.4 million project funded through
student room fees, the complex is designed to provide modern
housing for Greek letter organizations and other groups that
otherwise might live off-campus.
Take a quick look into alumni activities and it is immediately
obvious that Greek life remains vibrant following graduation.
For example, for the past three years alumni of Theta Xi
and Lambda Chi Alpha fraternities have held an annual
golf challenge.
“The tournament started as an idea of Craig Locklear ’82, a
Theta Xi and a very good friend of mine,” said Mitch Treadway
’83, Lambda Chi member. “Back when we were at WCU, we
all had friends in the other fraternity, but were intense rivals
in athletics, recruiting, anything competitive. So, a few years
ago, he asked me to get a Lambda Chi team together. In other
words, he challenged us! And we had about 28 players for the
first tournament and it has grown each of the three years since.
Once someone attends, they always come back.”
In the golf challenge, each foursome consists of players from
both fraternities. “Lambda Chi brother Buzz Hartbarger ’83
created a purple jug decorated with university and fraternity
emblems,” Treadway said. “The winning fraternity keeps the
prize until the next tournament, with the jug traveling with
each winning player for some time, similar to the Stanley Cup
for the NHL, and the holder may make a few friendly jabs about
the victory on social media.”
The challenge is a competitive event, but it’s really more about
the fellowship, Treadway said. “Initially, the players were late
’70s and early ’80s graduates. As the tournament has gone on,
brothers from many eras have started participating. I’ve met
many new Lambda Chis as well as Theta Xis, and they have
enriched my life,” he said.
Suits and ties, dressed
to impress, the men
of Theta Xi pose for
this 1977 Catamount
yearbook portrait.
What really unites the golfers, he said, is that “everyone is a
Catamount. Everyone shares a love and bond, not just through
the Greek life, but with the university.” Even non-golfers are
now coming to the event, he continued, and there’s discussion
of opening the challenge to other fraternities.
BATTLING THE STEREOTYPE
All of which is much different than the movie portrayals
of Greek life as in “Animal House” and “Neighbors,” which
are fictitious, WCU brothers and sisters said repeatedly.
The stereotype is nothing more than sensationalized
misrepresentation or, at best, exploitation, based on wild
exaggerations, they said. Koett readily agreed, saying the
Office of Greek Student Engagement and Development
wants to emphasize the correct image of Greek life as one
of people engaged in service and support. Alumni say they
wholeheartedly support those efforts.
“When we think about the Greek system nowadays, there
is typically an image that comes to mind of the obnoxious,
inebriated, self-absorbed individual who sprays their sense
of entitlement all over the place,” said Tim Gillespie ’86,
an Asheville dentist, Western North Carolina community
leader and active Lambda Chi Alpha alumnus. “And while this
stereotype is certainly true for a small segment of the Greek
population, the bigger picture is that Greek organizations
figuratively provide a social meeting place for students to
establish lifelong friendships through the shared experience
of supporting and participating in their university’s programs,
whether that be attending a football game, fundraising together
for worthy causes, playing intramural sports, participating in
student government, and so much more.
“The friendships developed through this shared history
of time and place in the college experience lasts and this can
be indirectly observed in the level of giving to the university
by Greek alumni – not only that, but strong Greek alumni
attendance at university events is palpable, as well,” Gillespie
said. “People who have good, shared college experiences tend to
come back and support the university physically and financially.
I’m glad Western continues to support this important aspect
of college life.”
Community service actions such as food and clothing drives,
river clean-ups and seeking bone marrow donors do make the
news. But so do those other things, such as hazing or outrageous
conduct. Rites of passage or initiation into organizations are
permissible – hazing is not. Defined as an act that endangers a
student or damages property for the purpose of admission into
or affiliation with a group or organization, hazing is strictly
prohibited by the WCU Code of Conduct and North Carolina
law. Neither expressed nor implied consent of those involved or
apathy or acquiescence in the presence of hazing are a defense.
“I would be ignorant to say that hazing doesn’t happen
around the country, because I know it does,” current Phi Mu
member Gerringer said. “But seriously, there is no hazing in
Phi Mu at Western Carolina University. I was made to feel good
about myself and that I wasn’t going to be put through anything
I didn’t want to be put through. I had to show commitment and
that I wanted to be there, to be sure. But they are sisters for a
reason and you’re not treated different because you are new.”
But isolated incidents have occurred – with prompt
disciplinary and legal action taken by the university and law
enforcement. In April 2015, WCU suspended the Zeta Xi chapter
of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity for five years for violating the
university’s code of student conduct, following an investigation
into allegations of pledges being hazed. Federal law prohibits
the disclosure of results from university disciplinary hearings,
but the action was taken following completion of appropriate
24 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
procedures, with notice communicated to the chapter president,
its adviser and national fraternity staff.
“The behaviors exhibited by members of the Zeta Xi chapter
of Pi Kappa Alpha are not in any way indicative of the values
of Western Carolina University,” said Chancellor David O.
Belcher in a statement made at the time. “While we appreciate
the many positive contributions that Greek letter organizations
add to campus life, we absolutely will not tolerate behaviors
that put the health and safety of students at risk.”
Hazing may be associated with fraternities and sororities, but
certainly isn’t limited to Greek letter organizations. Recently,
there have been incidents at other universities involving
marching bands, athletics teams, military units and other
groups, ranging from tragic to notorious. In September 2015,
the Associated Press reported that Rider University in New
Jersey had suspended its entire men’s cross country team after
reports the squad planned to run naked around the school’s
track. A university spokeswoman said an investigation found
no intent to coerce any of the team members to participate,
but the behavior was unacceptable and considered hazing.
TRADITION OF GIVING
Perhaps not as readily associated with fraternities and
sororities are scholarships. A total of seven Greek life
scholarships are available at WCU, and Greek alumni provide
tremendous support of scholarships overall.
In 2015, 545 Greeks raised close to $550,000 in scholarship
support through the Catamount Club, said Bryan, the Phi
Mu alumna. “It is because of Greek life that we have these
lasting friendships and lasting memories, why Western
Carolina University means so much to us. And it is why we,
as Greeks, give back to WCU.”
In addition to at-large scholarship endowments and
fundraising, many of WCU’s Greek organizations offer
scholarships for members and sometimes non-members.
“Collectively, better than one-third of Greek alumni
contribute in support of both endowed and annual scholarship
funds. Like me, most believe in paying it forward, as Western
Carolina gave them the best preparation for a lifetime of
successes,” said Mickey Pettus ’74, of Davidson and a senior
manager for a leading health care group.
“I understand the contribution of Greek life to the university
experience of social development and the importance of
meaningful networking and futures,” Pettus said. “The solidity
of those networks survives the years and allows alumni a sense
of ownership in campus development. What better way to
engage and make an impact than in the social development
of young men and women at the university that was the key
to our lifelong successes?”
Alumni respond to
the Catamount Club’s
Greek Challenge
The Catamount Club has created a winning tradition in the Greek
Challenge, now an annual part of Homecoming that helps alumni celebrate
the bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood while building scholarship support
for WCU student-athletes.
The traditional camaraderie and tailgating continues to exist among
Greek alumni at Homecoming, but now the rivalries have been rekindled
in the spirit of giving back to WCU through a competition among fraternity
and sorority alumni with the primary goal of increasing scholarships for
Catamount student-athletes.
“The Greek Challenge has provided WCU an opportunity to strengthen
our relationship with our alumni and, through our success over the past two
years, we have been able to generate much-needed increases in scholarship
support to make a difference in the lives of our student-athletes,” said Stefanie
Conley ’08, the Catamount Club’s associate director of development.
“Fraternities and sororities have a lasting connection to Western and
exemplify true Catamount pride,” Conley said. “We strive to create a
welcoming atmosphere for our Greek alumni, to share memories and
create new ones, for a true Homecoming experience. The investment they
have made and continue to make back to their university speaks for itself.”
The athletics department’s fundraising arm, the Catamount Club has
nearly tripled its annual scholarship fundraising from five years ago with
the help of the Greek Challenge to reach an all-time record of more than
$1.1 million raised during the past membership year. Specifically, over the
last year, Greek alumni giving accounted for 44 percent of all money raised
to support scholarships for student-athletes, Conley said.
“Needless to say, Greek alumni are making a difference for WCU,” she said.
The winners of the 2015 Greek Challenge were Kappa Alpha Order
fraternity and Alpha Xi Delta sorority, with leaders from the top three
organizations recognized as honorary captains during football pre-game
celebrations at E.J. Whitmire Stadium and Bob Waters Field on Oct. 24.
For more information about the Catamount Club and being a part of the
2016 Greek Challenge, contact Conley at slconley@wcu.edu or 828.227.2013.
There is another aspect of belonging to a Greek letter
organization that appeals to students – and parents. A
University of Missouri study found that membership in a
fraternity or sorority increased the likelihood of remaining a
student in college and graduating. At WCU, students in Greek
letter organizations have grades consistent with non-Greeks,
said Koett, dean of students.
“A common stereotype about Greek students is that they
are more interested in social life than academic success,”
he said. “Data shows that students who are a part of Greek
organizations at WCU perform at an academic level equal to
non-Greek students. A common goal between the university,
alumni, current Greek students and national offices is to
continue to strive for high levels of academic success in the
Greek community.
“WCU has a strong foundation that will help the university
reach its academic goals for Greek student engagement and
development,” Koett said. And, based on the history of Greek
alumni giving back to their alma mater that bodes well for the
university’s future, he said.
Showing spirit and
pride with smooth
moves, Alpha Kappa
Alpha perform a step
show at the annual
Valley Ballyhoo during
the 2013 “Week of
Welcome” activities on
the Central Plaza.
Winter 2016 | 25
STEMMING
THE TIDE
A rigorous curriculum in science, technology, engineering and
math proves crucial for 21st-century jobs and quality of life
By GEOFF CANTRELL
STEM is the acronym that guides
modern life. It stands for science,
technology, engineering and
mathematics – the fields of study for
mainstream careers of the 21st century.
STEM students are tomorrow’s nurses,
software designers, agricultural
managers and manufacturing
technicians. And more.
The innovations and services related
to STEM education touch the whole
of society and improve the quality of
life. Because of its science, computer
science, engineering, technology and
math curriculum, Western Carolina
University is the largest (and, in some
fields, the only) educational institution
in Western North Carolina preparing
students to meet the growing regional
workforce demands in health care,
high-tech manufacturing and natural
products development. And the
demand is increasing for programs
providing the latest in technology and
techniques, which require cutting-edge
instructional materials, equipment and
updated facilities.
“WCU graduates in STEM and health
science programs have a real opportunity
to help transform the region, the state
and the world,” said Richard Starnes
’92 MA ’94, dean of WCU’s College of
Arts and Sciences. “These students will
find new solutions to the problems we
all face. They will create new knowledge,
new ideas and new technology. They
will apply the latest in health care
knowledge to heal and improve quality of
life. Together, they have the opportunity
to transform our region’s economy. And
they will do all this grounded by deep
understanding of society, culture and
their world, knowledge they gained
in our core curriculum and in their
interactions with their fellow students
and our faculty. Their opportunities
are limitless and their futures are
bright indeed.”
Recruitment and retention of
students and adequately providing
STEM education are challenges faced by
universities across the state and nation. A
referendum will be held in March for the
Connect NC bonds, a $2 billion package
that would benefit higher education,
including replacement of WCU’s Natural
Sciences Building. Construction of a new
facility would allow increased capacity in
courses such as chemistry and biology
that are foundational to STEM degrees.
The Natural Sciences Building is out-of-date,
deteriorating and in constant need
of repair (see sidebar on Page 31).
STEM education already plays an
evolving and vital role in the economic
development of WNC, said Todd
Douglas, workforce development director
with Southwestern Commission, the
council of governments for Cherokee,
Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson,
Macon and Swain counties. “While
local governments and communities
seek to lure new businesses to the region
by means of economic development
incentive packages, they will ultimately
be questioned about the viability of
the region’s workforce,” Douglas said.
“Employers want to know that there
will be an available local workforce that
can support the growth and output of
their businesses.”
WCU graduates are
the talent pool that
local businesses and
industry will draw
upon for employment
needs (facing page).
Rachel Shinskie, a
senior and president
of the WCU Women
in Engineering
Club, gets hands-on
experience
in an electronic
engineering class
(above).
Winter 2016 | 27
Every math, science, engineering
and technology course offered at WCU
represents significant potential for the
region and, in turn, income growth
for the state, he said. That growth is
largely dependent on the ability to meet
workforce needs. To that end, WCU has
joined with the Southwestern Workforce
Development board, N.C. Department
of Commerce’s Division of Workforce
Solutions, regional community colleges
and regional economic developers in a
partnership to focus attention on the
workforce needs of employers.
Thanks to educational opportunities
at WCU, “businesses will have the
sustainable supply of talent that
they require while students get an
introduction to available career options
that they might never have considered,”
said Douglas. “STEM is tied to local
business needs and provides local
students, who are future employees, the
skills to work in good paying careers.
Young adults in rural Western North
Carolina will be afforded an opportunity
to remain in their local communities due
to the availability of good paying jobs.”
COMPETING AT
HOME AND ABROAD
According to the U. S. Department of
Commerce, STEM-related occupations
are growing at 17 percent annually,
while others are growing at less than 10
percent. While there is a growing need
to meet regional workforce demands in
health care, high-tech manufacturing
and agriculture, the context for
the future is meeting hiring needs in a
global marketplace.
“The United States economy is short
of talent for many jobs in the advanced
manufacturing sector,” Douglas said.
“There are interest gaps and skill gaps
that need to be addressed in order for
many of the vacant positions to be
filled. To fill these gaps in the future,
businesses are looking to STEM
education and STEM pathways to
provide the sustainable talent they
require. As America makes strides in
STEM education, there is no doubt
about the value of STEM on a worldwide
economic scale.”
The recent North Carolina
Commission on Workforce
Development report “Preparing North
Carolina’s Workforce and Businesses
for the Global Economy” cited that
at least 42 percent of new jobs being
created in the state will require some
post-secondary education. An even
higher share of new, higher-wage jobs
will require STEM-related skills. In
particular, STEM jobs will constitute
an increasing share of higher and
medium-wage jobs, the report found,
which will create significant barriers
to employment for unprepared young
adults and existing workers.
“The continued growth of engineering
and manufacturing in the United States
is dependent on fundamental knowledge
and understanding of STEM subjects,”
said Jeffrey Ray, professor and dean in
WCU’s Kimmel School of Construction
Management and Technology.
“Advanced manufacturing jobs and
technological changes in the workplace
require more knowledge in STEM areas
than ever before in our history.”
According to the U. S. Labor
Department, eight of the 10 largest STEM
occupations in the country are related to
computers and information technology,
including computer support specialists,
applications software developers and
computer system analysts.
“We look at job candidates right out
of college,” said Bill Hathaway ’85, CEO
of Noregon, a commercial vehicle data
company headquartered in Greensboro
that specializes in innovative product
and software development for the
transportation industry for vehicle
diagnostics and repair. “Recruiting
has changed over the years. We now
look for ‘digital natives’ who have a
degree, good communication skills and
project management capabilities. They
bring talent, a solid STEM educational
foundation, and we’ll team with them,
show them how the business works
and guide them through gaining the
practical experience in the workplace.
We build on that individual’s education
and skills in computer science and
tech, which are so important, through
internships or as new hires.”
For many occupations, employers
view a STEM degree as a progressive part
of learning and an essential building
block on a resume.
Micki Turner is the human resource
manager with GE Aviation, a world-leading
provider of jet and turboprop
engines, components and integrated
systems for commercial, military,
business and general aviation aircraft.
“STEM education is critical for us at GE
Aviation as we have large numbers of
jobs in engineering and manufacturing
technicians,” she said. The Asheville
site manufactures rotating parts and
in 2014 opened a new 125,000-square-foot
facility to produce engine
components made of advanced ceramic
matrix composite materials. Turner
readily advocates for advancement
and collaboration for local STEM
educational opportunities. She pointed
out that Buncombe County Schools
opened the Martin Nesbitt Discovery
Academy, a STEM high school, in 2014.
“It is doing great things to produce
future talent pipelines,” she said. “We
love that.”
GE Aviation held an “Engineering
Day” last October to promote careers
in that field. The purpose was to expose
high school freshmen and younger
students to the world of engineering
and advanced manufacturing. The day’s
activities included learning how an
autoclave works, experiments designing
and building kites and bridges. “The
day was a collaboration between GE
Aviation, WCU, Asheville-Buncombe
Construction,
architecture and
building trades
rely upon qualified
professionals with
backgrounds in STEM.
At a job site, William
Quigley, a junior
and an engineering
management student,
reviews blueprints.
28 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
Technical Community College and the
Economic Development Coalition for
Asheville-Buncombe County,” Turner
said. “Students gave very positive
feedback and we plan to do more of
this in 2016.”
ESTABLISHING A STEM
LIVING-LEARNING
COMMUNITY
Also last October, President Obama
announced a renewed commitment
to inspire and prepare more youth
– especially those from historically
underrepresented groups – to excel in
the STEM fields through the “Educate
to Innovate” campaign. That included a
White House committee charged with
finding ways America can increase and
sustain public and youth engagement
to improve the STEM experience for
undergraduate students. In November,
it was announced that first-generation
STEM students at WCU will get
that boost through a living-learning
community, with an atmosphere where
they are surrounded by peers, guided by
mentors and encouraged at every turn.
WCU, along with the University of
Central Florida and Florida Atlantic
University, received funding from the
National Science Foundation to support
STEM students from underserved
communities through a $1.8 million
grant that will provide scholarships and
create the innovative living-learning
community on campus. First-year
STEM students will live in the same
residence hall, take core disciplinary
classes together, work with mentors
and engage in a 12-week research
apprenticeship with faculty.
“Nearly 30 percent of WCU’s students
are the first in their families to go to
college. They have different needs than
students who come from households
where a family member has paved
the way for them and provided the
support they need to be successful,”
said Bill Kwochka, associate professor of
chemistry and director of WCU’s STEM
living-learning community. “Our goal is
to provide the foundation that addresses
those needs.”
This research-focused model is based
on success in the Learning Environment
and Academic Research Network, or
LEARN, established by the University
of Central Florida in 2011, an effort
led by UCF Director of Undergraduate
Research Kim Schneider and Alison
Morrison-Shetlar, WCU’s provost, who
previously served as vice provost and
dean of undergraduate studies at UCF.
Together, the three recipient universities,
which all attract significant numbers of
first-generation college students, will
comprise a LEARN consortium.
Findings indicate that participants
in living-learning communities have
higher GPAs, increased interaction
with faculty and peers, and a broader,
more fulfilling educational experience.
The community also comes at a critical
time in an academic career: The first two
years of college are a critical juncture
for students in STEM fields. In a
living-learning community, students
are organized into cohorts that appeal
to their interests and goals, thus the
classroom and the living room reinforce
and promote integrated learning.
Such communities are designed to
complement academic, co-curricular
and thematic learning outcomes.
LOOKING TO THE
FUTURE
So, what if future STEM needs aren’t
met and the skills gap broadens?
Mark Sorrells, senior vice president
of Golden LEAF, a North Carolina
foundation for economic development,
provided a quick reality check. “The
world is changing rapidly,” he said.
“Over the next 10 years, 80 percent of
high-growth and high-wage jobs in the
state will require a two-year degree or
higher. A significant portion, 40 to 60
percent of new jobs, will require training
in STEM disciplines.”
Education has to remain relevant to
realities of the workplace; otherwise,
too many people will be unprepared
to compete for living wage jobs and
forced to take lower-skilled, low-wage
jobs and be underemployed, he said. This
downward pressure would compound
the challenges of dealing with poverty
and further the divide between the
“haves and have-nots.” North Carolina’s
economic future depends on the ability
to produce a high-quality workforce,
Sorrells said.
Golden LEAF awarded a $225,000
grant to WCU’s College of Health and
Human Sciences last July to help increase
the number of family nurse practitioners
working in health care settings. The
Teaching with current
technology and
equipment is important
for health care fields.
Shawn Collins,
director of WCU’s
nurse anesthesia
program (standing),
explains techniques
with second-year
student Stefan
Swecker, seated. WCU
has more than 400
undergraduate and
nearly 150 graduate
nursing students.
Winter 2016 | 29
funding also is intended to decrease
the number of emergency room visits
by uninsured residents of rural WNC
seeking primary care by providing them
with an alternative through access to
family nurse practitioner services at the
Good Samaritan Clinic, which primarily
serves Jackson, Swain, Macon, Graham,
Clay and Cherokee counties. Most of
those counties are designated tier 1, or
economically distressed, by the N.C.
Department of Commerce, and all six
are designated by the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services as “health
provider shortage areas.”
Grants, along with regional public-private
consortiums and educational
partnerships, are relied upon to address
a shortage in health care professionals,
as well as career transitions into other
STEM-dependent fields, Sorrells said.
Community colleges play a vital role
in job preparedness for STEM-related
occupations, offering academic tracks
for specialty training certification,
associate degrees or transfer to a four-year
institution.
A-B Tech, for example, received
a $612,232 grant last year from the
National Science Foundation through
its Scholarships in STEM program,
which supports community colleges’
preparation of students who will
continue their education at four-year
institutions. “Graduating students
will be supported in transferring to a
senior-level university through A-B
Tech’s articulation agreements and
other resources. We are partnering
with WCU to provide transfer planning
and internship referrals for its students,”
said Beth Stewart, dean of arts and
sciences at A-B Tech.
A community college beginning
was certainly an advantage for
Ben Stewart ’13 MS ’15 (no relation
to the A-B Tech dean). He started his
STEM academic career through a dual
enrollment program offered to home-schooled
students by Southwestern
Community College in Sylva, gaining
his high school diploma and an associate
degree at the same time. Upon entering
WCU, Stewart was able to complete his
undergraduate degree in engineering
technology in three years by bringing in
those credits earned at the community
college. A Macon County resident, he
said he would like to work in product
design, computer–assisted design and
perhaps within the automotive field.
“I do believe taking advantage of
an opportunity like early college sets
individuals up for greater success for
degrees and careers in the STEM fields,”
Stewart said. “Any advantage a student
can get in the ever-changing STEM-related
academic programs is immensely
helpful, not to mention preparation for
the growing competition in STEM
career fields.”
MORE THAN JOBS,
STEM EDUCATION
PROVIDES LIFE SKILLS
But there is a broader context to
STEM education than just seeking
STEM careers.
The NSF reports that individuals
need not follow a linear pipeline from
earning a STEM degree to a job in
that same STEM field. Decades of data
show that workers with those degrees
follow numerous pathways leading to
careers, both in and out of their field
of study. Although many individuals
with a STEM degree do not work in
a STEM field, the majority indicated
that their job is related to their STEM
education, according to the report. This
aspect enables individuals to apply
STEM skills in jobs across the economy
and employers to utilize workers with
STEM skills in whatever ways add the
greatest value.
Last October, North Carolina Gov.
Pat McCrory announced that the state
ranked 10th in both the “high-tech
performance” and “innovation and
entrepreneurship” categories of the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s
sixth-annual “Enterprising States:
State Innovate” study. The study
ranked states best poised to thrive in
the rapidly evolving STEM-focused
economy. It scored states in the
categories of economic performance;
transportation and trade; innovation
and entrepreneurship; business
climate; talent pipeline; and high-tech
performance. McCrory pointed out the
Connect NC bond referendum in March
is a way to further invest in innovation.
Connect NC would dedicate more
than $1.3 billion to North Carolina’s
university and community college
systems for improvements like new
science labs across the state.
“Innovation is the key to a growing
21st-century economy,” McCrory said.
“It’s encouraging that our efforts to
support innovation are being recognized
around the country. We will continue
to emphasize entrepreneurship and
creativity so that innovation becomes
a key factor in every North Carolina
economic sector and continues to be a
role model for other states.”
The Southwestern Commission’s
Douglas gave further perspective: “As
with all successful processes, STEM
education is a fluid system that must
be relevant to regional businesses
and focused on current and emerging
sectors. STEM opens the door to many
opportunities for communities, job
seekers and businesses,” Douglas said.
“Businesses will continue to automate
as they look to increase profitability. As
this occurs, new machinery will need to
be designed, manufactured, operated
and maintained. New technologies
will also require a skilled labor force
to grow their respective industries.”
Also, America’s aging population will
continue to require and demand medical
care, specialized medical treatments and
pharmaceuticals, he said.
“STEM education has the potential
to create a brighter future for the region,
whose economic success will depend
on how successful it is implemented
in the near and distant future,”
magazine.wcu.edu Douglas said.
A STEM degree does
not necessarily mean
a STEM career, but a
majority of graduates
say those life skills
open doors to many
opportunities.
30 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
A replacement for Western Carolina University’s outdated Natural
Sciences Building – home to classrooms for burgeoning programs in
science, technology, engineering and health care – is among the projects
that would be funded by a statewide bond proposal on the ballot for the
March 15 primary election. The $2 billion Connect NC bond initiative
includes $110 million in funding to replace a science facility constructed
in the early 1970s and no longer considered suitable for science education.
The WCU building represents the largest single item among the new
construction, renovation and infrastructure projects across the state.
The Natural Sciences Building needs to be replaced so that the university
can provide more graduates in the science, technology, engineering and
mathematics (or STEM) fields to meet growing regional workforce demands
in Western North Carolina in health care, high-tech manufacturing and
natural products development, WCU Chancellor David O. Belcher said.
“When the current science facility was built, WCU had only 15 nursing
majors and no engineering majors,” Belcher said. “Today, the university
has roughly 2,300 students majoring in nursing and other health and
human science programs, and almost 600 in technology and engineering
programs. In addition, we have approximately 500 students enrolled in
biological and physical science programs.”
In 2014-15, WCU awarded 59 bachelor’s degrees in biology, with
another 10 master’s degrees; 25 degrees in emergency medical care; 26 in
nutrition and dietetics; 43 in recreational therapy; 23 in communication
sciences and disorders; and 107 in nursing. That’s along with 22 chemistry
degrees, 12 in forestry science, 10 in electrical engineering and another
23 in engineering technology. Since the 2010-11 academic year, the
university has experienced 95 percent growth in nursing, with athletic
training growing 114 percent and environmental science 118 percent. In
recent years, WCU has seen a steep climb in enrollment in chemistry and
biology courses, classes required for STEM degree programs. Include a
PRIMARY BENEFICIARY
Funds to replace WCU’s obsolete science building are included in a statewide bond proposal
By BILL STUDENC MPA ’10
new forensic science degree program and there is tremendous pressure
on the gateway chemistry and biology courses.
Statewide, the Natural Sciences Building has become a rallying symbol
for bond proponents, including North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, who
toured the facility last May. “It’s not if you need a new building, it’s when
are you going to do it,” McCrory said during that visit, pointing out broken
ceiling tiles and antiquated lab equipment. “The longer you wait, the more
expensive it’s going to get, and the less productivity you’re going to have
with your students. These, in the real estate world, would be considered
D-minus buildings, which would be torn down.”
A campaign to support passage of the bond package, the first statewide
bond referendum in more than 15 years, kicked off Jan. 5 in Raleigh. Of
the $2 billion in the proposal, more than $1.3 billion would go toward
construction and renovation projects at the 17 University of North
Carolina system institutions and the state’s 58 community colleges. In
addition, the bond package would provide financing for projects for the
state park system, the Department of Agriculture, the North Carolina
Zoo and the National Guard, and to help local governments pay for water
and sewer infrastructure initiatives.
Bond supporters say that the time is right to borrow the money for
the projects because of historically low interest rates that will enable
the state to issue the bonds without the need for additional taxes and
without jeopardizing its triple-A credit rating. Since the last statewide
bond referendum in 2000, when North Carolina voters overwhelming
approved $3.1 billion in higher education bonds, the population of the
state has grown by 2 million people. The bond referendum is among the
issues on the ballot when voters go to the polls Tuesday, March 15. It is
a bipartisan initiative proposed initially by McCrory and later endorsed
by the General Assembly.
Winter 2016 | 31
15 DAYS
IN KENYA
WCU teacher education students visit the African
continent and come back with new perspectives
By KEITH BRENTON and RANDALL HOLCOMBE
Ali Bovender says she expected that an autumn journey
to Kenya with six of her fellow Western Carolina University
teacher education students would turn out to be a life-changing
experience, but she had no idea that it would affect her like
it has. The students were accompanied on the 15-day trip to
the African continent by Rus Binkley, associate professor in
WCU’s School of Teaching and Learning, and his wife, Kathy.
Binkley said the October excursion was organized to provide
the students an opportunity to experience the schools in Kenya
by observing teaching methods and taking part in classroom
instruction. Bovender said she was mostly looking forward
to spending time with the children. “I thought I was going
to be the one to impact their lives, but they are the ones who
changed mine,” she said.
The WCU contingent spent its first week in the city of
Nairobi, and the first school visited was a private Christian
institution that is “somewhat better equipped” than the typical
Kenyan school, Binkley said. But, toward the end of that first
week, the group went to a second school that is located in a
slum outside of Nairobi – a school with no water. “Just by the
school gates there is a huge garbage dump, several city blocks
in size, and maybe 50 feet or so high,” Binkley said. “There
were hungry Marabou storks and people all over it picking
through the trash, looking for stuff to sell and for food to eat.”
Inside the school, Bovender found children to teach,
including some children with special needs – her passion.
“One of the little boys we worked with in the special needs
class came up to us before we left one day,” she said. “This
young man kept speaking to us in Swahili, and we weren’t sure
what he was saying. We asked Steve, the man who was with
us, to translate, and he told us that the little boy was thirsty.”
So, the WCU group gave the boy a bottle of water. “He
thanked us and walked off,” Bovender said. “As he did, other
children came up to him to take the water from him. I stepped
up to stop them, and Steve put his hand on my shoulder to stop
me. He told me that they were not trying to be mean, but that
they were just as thirsty. I was moved to tears. It was so hard
to see children who were having to go without something that
was so necessary for life. Things like that will set a fire inside
you. It’s a passion I now have that will never go away.”
The school enrolls about 1,800 students, and all of them
live in poverty, Binkley said. “They arrive at 7 a.m. and leave
Ali Bovender lines up
with students at a
school in Kenya where
she taught and learned
during fall break.
Winter 2016 | 33
at 4:30 p.m., and they have neither food
nor water all day,” he said. “Our students
were really moved by this.” Binkley has
a longtime friend, Winston Akala, who
is dean of the College of Education at
the University of Nairobi. “Winston
confirmed that digging a well for the
school would probably cost only about
$5,000, and that would mean kids could
drink all they want and, in turn, the
school could sell the excess to local
people for a few shillings and recover
operating costs,” Binkley said.
The WCU students who went on the
Kenya trip are making plans to raise the
money to have the well dug. In addition
to Bovender, that group consists of
Amy Bennett, Victoria Blount, Carson
Bridges, Taylor Hunter, Emily Martens
and Hannah Whitehead.
Other plans are in the works, too,
Binkley said. “As we speculated about
what we could do, we thought about
adopting this as a model school over
a number of years where there could
eventually be a school garden to feed
the kids, and provide professional
development for the teachers, who are
doing the best they can with what little
they have,” he said. “This school is full
of dedicated and loving teachers who
haven’t been paid since August, but who
keep coming to work anyway.
“I was really proud of how my
students jumped in and taught what
they’d planned, and afterward, they
winged it and taught some more. That
interaction was really what they came
for – and it was emotionally draining,
but really a tremendous experience.
We left the school about 50 kids’ books
we had brought and, of course, the
headmaster made a big ceremony of it,
with me attempting to make a speech at
the Kenyan flagpole under the equatorial
sun,” Binkley said.
During the Kenyan adventure, the
WCU group also journeyed about five
hours southwest of Nairobi to stay for
five days at Wongonyi, a small village
on top of a mountain that is surrounded
on three sides by Tsavo National Park.
The village is where a native Kenyan,
Ronnie Mdawida, was raised. Mdawida
Hannah Whitehead
(above) and Carson
Bridges (below) connect
with Kenyan students at
play and in class.
34 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
attended a Canadian university and leads
The Ronnie Mdawida Fund, which is
working on sustainable development in
African communities.
“He has so far brought a health clinic,
greenhouses, beehives, fish farming,
craft operatives, a dried banana flour
industry, a special education classroom
and fresh clean water to Wongonyi,
among other things,” Binkley said. “We
worked at their primary school and
our students got to do a good amount
of teaching. I was quite impressed with
our students as they pitched in to teach,
even with older age groups they had not
worked with previously.”
The trip to Kenya took place partially
during WCU’s fall break, and the students
had to cover their own travel expenses,
Binkley said. Taking advantage of their
rare opportunity as visitors in Africa,
members of the group also incorporated
some wildlife viewing in their itinerary,
spending a night at a safari lodge and
going on two game drives. “We saw
countless elephant herds, giraffes and
zebras. Altogether, we saw more than
20 lions, including one pride with a lone
male, some lionesses and two generations
of cubs,” Binkley said.
In addition to the powerful desire she
now has to help the Kenyan children who
live in poverty, Bovender said the trip left
her feeling surprised by the happy nature
and determination of the people she met.
“They are extremely hardworking, no
matter what the situation,” she said.
“They are thankful for what they have
and just know things are going to get
better. It was humbling to see that. We
come from a society that tells us that we
need all of these expensive things, and
here these people go without things that
they really need, but they are driven to
overcome it.”
Campus community exploring
Africa through learning theme
The WCU teacher education students’ trip to Africa comes as the university begins a two-year
exploration of “Africa! More than a Continent,” with plans to connect curricular and co-curricular
activities across academic disciplines and provide a framework for common intellectual experiences
for students.
In the current academic year, the learning theme is focusing on general awareness topics such as
Africa’s geography, politics, history, arts, food and culture. During the 2016-17 academic year, the
focus will shift to encompass a deeper perspective that is expected to include service-learning, study
abroad and performance exchange opportunities.
Collaborative opportunities provided through the theme include a partnership with the international
charity Samaritan’s Feet, which is dedicated to providing shoes for the nearly 1.5 billion people around
the world who lack safe footwear. Campus partners sponsored a shoe-less walk-a-thon at the track in
October to raise awareness about the group’s mission.
Samaritan’s Feet was founded by Emmanuel “Manny” Ohonme, a Charlotte resident and native of
Nigeria who has a daughter who is a WCU sophomore. Ohonme visited campus in September and spoke
about his organization’s goals during a call-to-action presentation at A.K. Hinds University Center.
Photos courtesy of Katherine Bartel, Ali Bovender, Taylor Hunter and Hannah Whitehead.
AN ANSWERED PRAYER
FROM THE DESPAIR OF A CORPORATE LAY-OFF, ED HOLLAND
BECAME THE NATION’S TOP CHURCH ADMINISTRATOR
By TIM FUNK
Fifteen years ago, Ed Holland ’75
was lost. Holland, then 47 and a senior
vice president at Bank of America, had
gone to work on Aug. 1, 2000, with plans
that night to mark his 25th wedding
anniversary. But at 8:30 a.m., his boss
told him he was being laid off – as part
of a cost-cutting move that would leave
10,000 people without jobs.
Holland, in a daze, said he left the
building, got in his car, and ended up
at his church. Sitting in the front row of
the empty sanctuary, weeping, feeling
betrayed and suddenly uncertain about
his future, Holland hoped God would
say something to him.
Early the following year, he was hired
to be the administrator of that church,
Friendship Missionary Baptist, one of
Charlotte’s largest and most prominent.
In July, he and wife Debbie marked their
40th year of marriage. And one of the
things they celebrated is his recent award
as national Church Administrator of
the Year.
In the past 14-plus years, Holland
has gone from working in personnel
at the bank to making sure all things
go just right at the African-American
church of more than 8,000 members
whose senior pastor, the Rev. Clifford
Jones Sr., is a leading figure in the city’s
faith community. Holland considers
alumni
SPOTLIGHT
Ed Holland ’75
takes a break from
his duties as church
administrator of
Friendship Missionary
Baptist Church.
Photo by T. Ortega Gaines, The Charlotte Observer
36 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
his transition - capped by the award
from The Church Network - to be
God’s answer to his plea for help on
that sobering day in 2000.
“Bank of America eliminated Ed
Holland’s job for business reasons, to
maximize profits,” Holland said. “But
God took that and my experience at the
bank and used it for good. And he put
it on my heart: I had some (other job)
options out there. But when I closed my
eyes at night, I knew I would feel better
working here at the church and doing
something good every day.”
In moving from a world of profits to
one of prophets, Holland said he now
measures his effectiveness on the job
by how smoothly things flow at the
church – especially on Sundays. He
manages and monitors everything from
traffic control in the parking lot to the
nursery staff to the lights, temperature
and sound in the sanctuary.
“I describe my job as the back-room
guy,” said Holland, whose team includes
20 full-time employees and a floating
number of Sunday part-timers. “We’re
the people who should be invisible.
And if we’re not, that’s a problem.
If everything goes well, we’ve done
our job.”
Anything less than a job well done
- say, faulty sound during the sermon
- can detract from members’ worship
experience. “I get my joy,” Holland
said, “out of seeing everyone enjoy that
experience and knowing that I and our
team were part of that.”
He tells maintenance workers that
their job is really the beginning of the
worship experience. When they go into
the sanctuary and clean it up, he said,
they’re preparing that place for church
members to commune with God.
Holland said it’s his job, too, to try to
keep costs down. That way, there’s more
money for ministry, which includes
missionary work in South Africa
(Jones just led a church group there)
and paying the utility bill for someone
who’s in need.
In the wake of the June shootings
at an African-American church in
Charleston, South Carolina, Holland
also has taken the lead in bolstering
security at Friendship Baptist, including
having a law enforcement officer on duty
at the church during the week – just like
it does on Sunday. “It’s more top-of-mind
to more people now,” Holland said
about keeping church members safe.
“But it’s always been a concern of mine.”
The son of a United Methodist
minister, Holland also understands the
special place church has historically held
in the African-American community
- as a second home and a community
center as well as a sacred spot for prayer,
singing and learning. In walking the
hallways of Friendship, Holland said,
he’ll often run into members who have
brought a relative by to show them
their church. “Members are proud.
They want to show it off, and our job is
to be supportive of that,” he said. “The
African-American church, whether it
has 200 members or 8,000, is a place
where we come to network and connect
and get our spiritual nourishment.”
Holland is most comfortable behind
the scenes, working to smooth the way
for Pastor Jones and the other clergy at
Friendship to do their higher-profile
jobs. “We build and maintain the road;
the ministers drive the car on it,” he said.
So it was a rare event, this past July in
Nashville, when Holland found himself
in the spotlight at the 59th annual
conference of The Church Network,
formerly the National Association of
Church Business Administrators. The
2,400-member group had decided to
give Holland its highest honor – the
Maurice Saucedo Award for Church
Administrator of the Year. Holland’s
plaque from his peer group now hangs
on the wall in a church office that is also
adorned with an African drum; a framed
photo of his robed father preaching;
autographed copies of books by civil
rights hero John Lewis and retired Bank
of America CEO Hugh McColl; and “The
President’s Devotional,” a collection
of daily meditations sent to President
Barack Obama by Joshua DuBois, one
of his White House staffers.
Holland said he values the leadership
experience he got at Bank of America.
But even more, he said, he feels blessed to
be part of the dignity he finds in working
for a church like Friendship Missionary
Baptist. In the corporate world, where
the focus is on profits, “many times, the
execs have to hold their noses in doing
stuff because it stinks,” Holland said.
“Here, I don’t have to leave the best part
of me at the door.”
Reprinted in edited format with
permission of The Charlotte Observer.
“BANK OF AMERICA ELIMINATED ED HOLLAND’S JOB FOR
BUSINESS REASONS, TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS. BUT GOD
TOOK THAT AND MY EXPERIENCE AT THE BANK AND USED
IT FOR GOOD. WHEN I CLOSED MY EYES AT NIGHT, I KNEW
I WOULD FEEL BETTER WORKING HERE AT THE CHURCH
AND DOING SOMETHING GOOD EVERY DAY.”
- ED HOLLAND
Winter 2016 | 37
HOMETOWN HERO
AN ARCHITECT OF THE REBIRTH OF DOWNTOWN ASHEVILLE REMAINS
CONNECTED TO THE CITY’S CENTER
By JOHN BOYLE
While she’s officially been named a
“Downtown Hero,” Leslie Anderson ’72
MPA ’85 is never one to take solo credit for
Asheville’s remarkable revitalization. She
drops names of other movers and shakers
who played key roles in that remarkable
rebirth, downplaying her own role. But
the woman honored by the Downtown
Asheville Association in 2007 with the
“hero” title does allow herself to savor
just how vibrant Asheville has become.
“I had this incredible opportunity
to know this community from when it
was really down and out and on its last
legs to this today,” said Anderson, who
now runs her own consulting company,
Leslie Anderson Consulting Inc.