Western Fall 2015 CAROLINA THE MAGAZINE OF WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY

RISING TIDE: A substantial surge in external funding is ‘granting hope’ to WCU research, programs

CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS FARM TO SCHOOL PROGRAM URBAN DEATH PROJECT CHANGING FACE OF CAMPUS TEACHES HEALTHIER EATING BEING TESTED AT WCU Western CAROLINA FALL 2015 | VOLUME 19, NO. 2

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.

CHANCELLOR David O. Belcher

CHIEF OF STAFF Melissa Canady Wargo

MANAGING EDITOR Bill Studenc MPA ’10

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Randall Holcombe

CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER Mark Haskett ’87

STAFF DESIGNER Will Huddleston

STAFF WRITERS Keith Brenton Daniel Hooker ’01 Christy Martin ’71 MA ’78 Marlon W. Morgan Teresa Killian Tate

BUILDING RAPPORT STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER As one of several campus construction projects, the former Brown Cafeteria Ashley T. Evans will undergo a major facelift and expansion to include the addition of 25,000 VIDEO EDITOR Joseph Hader ’12 square feet of space with a new façade facing the center of campus. See story MARKETING DIRECTOR on Page 26. 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

2 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University Courtesy of Watson Tate Savory CONTENTS

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FEATURES SECTIONS INDIE MOVIE 4 Worth Repeating Students throw their filming skills into 20 high gear on an alum’s movie project 5 Opening Notes

GROWING MINDS 6 News from the Program supports local farmers while Western Hemisphere 22 teaching about healthy cooking, eating 14 Catamount Athletics GRANTING HOPE 38 Alumni Spotlight 60 percent surge in external funding 28 enhances education, research, programs 40 Class Notes

GIVING BACK TO THE EARTH 52 Events Calendar WCU researchers are helping test 34 theories of the Urban Death Project 54 The View from Here

FRONT COVER A rapidly eroding beach at Hunting Island, , leaves a cottage standing in the ocean. WCU’s Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines, which is investigating the impact of rising sea levels on coastal communities, is among the many WCU initiatives benefitting from an increase in external grant funding.

BACK COVER Singer-songwriter Jeanne Jolly ’01 gives a special performance at WCU for the Friends of the Arts annual benefit fundraiser. Jolly broke onto the American music scene as featured vocalist for Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter Chris Botti. Her recent full-length album, “Angels,” debuted in the top 15 on the ITunes singer-songwriter chart.

Fall 2015 | 3 WORTH REPEATING COMMENTS FROM OUR READERS ON THE PREVIOUS EDITION LONNIE HARRIS ’64

Great edition. I always look RUPSI BURMAN MBA ’02 forward to this excellent publication and kudos to the I received a copy of your most recent magazine in the mail and entire staff for the job they do. was touched by the “Community of Caring” story. Way to go WCU! So proud to be a graduate of While I was pursuing my MBA at the Forsyth business school WCU. (2000-2002), I had the opportunity to visit local schools to introduce local communities and school children to different cultures. I JOE POOLE ’60 had fun being an international grad student and participating in those activities. I take pride in the fact that I am a WCU alumnus, Nobody does it better. You all especially when the band shows up on my TV screen on Macy’s are the best. Thanksgiving Day Parade! Keep up the good work.

GORDIE HOWELL ’57 JILL FISHER DEMARCO MS ’90 MAT ’06

Thank you and all your contributors to this Enjoyed this edition! It does a good job of most recent issue of the winter magazine. It is showing a well-rounded university and includes one of the most interesting and relevant I can inclusion and social activism. Real hands-on, not remember. Kudos to all. just talk!

RON WIMBERLY ’69 K.C. CULLER ’00

Got the hard copy – very good, Just finished reading through the latest edition of the Western keep up the good work! Carolina magazine. Bill Studenc MPA ’10 and staff do a great job with it!

KATHY DUDEK ’91 MS ’92 FRANK W. CALDWELL JR. ’67

I really enjoyed the article about the band going The 2015 winter issue of the Western Carolina to NYC. That was so exciting! The article about Magazine brought back fond memories of my the outdoor programs was interesting, as well. two years at Western Carolina. Shortly after I used to walk the trail that looped down near the entering Western Carolina, I met a group of six track, freshman parking and picnic tables, and guys who were into hiking. One of the guys had was sad to see part of the trail go when the new a 1953 Chevrolet station wagon, and all seven of dorms were built. The new greenway and multi- us would frequently pile into his station wagon use trail look like a nice addition to promote on weekends and go on hiking trips. My senior getting out. Thanks for such a great publication! year, I did not hike as much since I shared my time with my girlfriend, now my wife of 46 years, and my hiking buddies. Every time my wife and I go on a road trip, we throw our hiking boots into our van. Our trekking poles reside permanently Have a comment about this issue that you think is under the back seat of our van. I am very “worth repeating?” Let us hear from you! appreciative of my two years at Western Carolina Email us at [email protected] or send us a where I developed a love of hiking, and I am letter to 420 H.F. Robinson, Cullowhee, N.C., 28723. very pleased that Western Carolina is actively We’ll select a few to share with your fellow readers. promoting outdoor recreation.

4 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University OPENING Notes

Western Carolina is a university firmly grounded in two As part of our emphasis on being a good regional partner, inherent principles that have guided this institution since its we convened the WNC P-16 Education Consortium, bringing founding – providing access to higher education and meeting together a group of leaders to address education needs the needs of Western . In recent months, we toward the goal of improving the knowledge and skills of the have emphasized the need to ensure our commitment to WNC workforce. Last November, we hosted the inaugural access by identifying fundraising for endowed scholarships for LEAD:WNC summit, attended by nearly 300 business leaders, deserving students as our No. 1 philanthropic priority. And elected and appointed officials, educators, economists and rest assured…we will be continuing that conversation in the entrepreneurs. The message of the day was that the key to months and years ahead. economic and community development in WNC is for the But it is important that we not overlook that other founding public, private and nonprofit sectors to reach beyond town ideal of serving the people of , a limits and county lines to embrace a more regional approach, common theme in many stories in this magazine edition. steeped in a spirit of cooperation and partnership. During my installation, I affirmed WCU’s commitment to It is in that spirit that WCU is hosting an ongoing series of meeting the needs of this wonderful region, and I am pleased to spin-off LEAD summits. This spring, two events focused on report that commitment is stronger than ever. Your university the subjects of hospitality and tourism, and entrepreneurship is an engaged, active partner in the communities of WNC. and innovation. The university is in the planning stages for The examples are legion. The majority of research conducted conferences this fall on topics expected to include quality of by WCU faculty and students, including work funded by life and, once again, education, innovation and tourism. outside agencies, is focused on regional issues – from efforts to In addition to hosting regional partners on campus, we also revitalize the native Cherokee language to helping underserved have committed to taking our leaders into the very communities populations enter the health care professions, and from we serve. This year marked the second time that members of the assisting WNC businesses to protecting water quality and WCU Leadership Academy and other campus leaders spent a forest resources. week in May crisscrossing the mountains as part of a regional Our institutional focus on our region is evident in the work bus tour, with stops from Robbinsville to Asheville, to learn done by students involved in service-learning initiatives. Over more about the region and to help strengthen relationships the years, students have played an integral role in helping the between WCU and its surrounding communities. This annual town of Dillsboro deal with the economic blow caused by the trip helps ensure that WCU stays grounded in the region loss of a major tourism attraction. They have reached out to we are designed to serve and that we fulfill our mission as a less-fortunate neighbors through a variety of poverty-relief public institution. projects and have provided service to wounded warriors at Earlier this year, the Carnegie Foundation for the the Veterans Administration hospital in Asheville. Last year, Advancement of Teaching honored WCU’s emphasis on they teamed with television personality Ty Pennington to community engagement and its link to engaged teaching, transform a shuttered prison in Waynesville into a homeless research and service by selecting the university to receive its shelter, halfway house and soup kitchen. 2015 Community Engagement Classification in recognition of Meeting regional needs is why last year, with the legislative alignment of campus mission, culture, leadership, resources help of N.C. Sen. Tom Apodaca ’80, we expanded our and practices that support dynamic community engagement. undergraduate education program in engineering to our None of this should really come as a huge surprise to those Biltmore Park instructional site. The expansion was a direct who bleed purple and gold. Helping meet the needs of the region answer to pleas for assistance from business and industry in is part and parcel of “the Western Way.” It’s in our DNA, this the fast-growing Asheville-Hendersonville corridor to increase recognition that we have an important role to play in what I the number of qualified employees. Meeting regional need is at like to call this slice of paradise that is Western North Carolina. the heart of the Kimmel School of Construction Management You are part of the Western Carolina family, and I trust that and Technology’s philosophy of project-based learning, where you share my pride and belief in the future of our university. 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. And meeting regional need is the driving force behind new clinics located in our Health and Human Sciences Building, which provide exceptional health services to our David O. Belcher community while supporting the education and development Chancellor of the highly skilled health professionals of the future.

Fall 2015 | 5 STUDY CONCLUDES THAT WCU CONTRIBUTES $900 MILLION TO STATE ECONOMY

Western Carolina The state of North Carolina reaped an economic benefit will appreciate the exceptional return on investment our state University Chancellor from the existence of Western Carolina University to the tune and region receive when they invest in higher education, David O. Belcher of $901.8 million in 2012-13 through the combined impact of whether through appropriations, tax dollars, tuition and fees, (center) discusses payroll, operational, construction and research expenditures by or charitable contributions.” the economic impact the university and the spending habits of its students, visitors The study also calculated the return on investment in WCU of public institutions and alumni. Furthermore, the statewide income generated by for students, society and taxpayers, finding that for every dollar of higher education WCU and its constituencies was equivalent to creating 15,381 students invest in their educations, they will receive $2.90 in on the region with new jobs that fiscal year. higher future income. From a statewide societal perspective, University of North Those are among the findings of a comprehensive study for each dollar that society spent on education at WCU in the Carolina Asheville conducted by Economic Modeling Specialists International year analyzed, North Carolina will receive a cumulative value Chancellor Mary examining the impact of higher education on North of $10.60 in benefits such as savings related to reduced crime, Grant (left) and Carolina. The EMSI study investigated the combined impact lower unemployment and increased health and well-being Asheville-Buncombe of the University of North Carolina system, North Carolina across the state. Technical Community Community College system and private institutions, and also For every dollar invested by state and local taxpayers to College President assessed the impact of individual UNC campuses, private support the operations of WCU in the 2012-13 fiscal year, Dennis King (right). colleges and community colleges on their local economies. those taxpayers gained $5.40 in added tax revenues collected The bulk of WCU’s economic impact – $511.3 million – and public sector savings, the EMSI researchers said. was felt in the state’s 10 westernmost counties of Buncombe, Specifically, taxpayers contributed $85 million toward WCU Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, that year, while the added tax revenue stemming from students’ Macon, Swain and Transylvania. Looking at the regional higher lifetime incomes and increased output of businesses picture, that economic impact was equivalent to creating totaled $358.6 million, with another $103.6 million in benefits 10,475 new jobs in 2012-13. because of reduced demand for government-funded services, Leaders from WCU, UNC Asheville and Asheville- the study revealed. Buncombe Technical Community College gathered in February “I am a proud product of North Carolina’s public higher at the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce to discuss the education system, as are my wife and my children, so I know impacts of their respective institutions – and of Blue Ridge, first-hand of the value that the UNC system and the North Haywood, Southwestern and Tri-County community colleges Carolina Community College system bring to the people of – on the communities that they serve. North Carolina,” said N.C. Sen. Tom Apodaca ’80. “From “It has been no secret that Western Carolina University and laid-off factory workers seeking retraining at their local our UNC system, community college and private institution community colleges so they can re-enter the workforce of partners in higher education are engines of economic and the 21st century to first-generation college students finding community development for the communities and regions we a welcoming environment at our regional universities, the serve,” WCU Chancellor David O. Belcher said. “It is heartening people of our communities benefit tremendously from public to read the results of this study, which clearly demonstrates the higher education.” A printable report is available at wcu.edu/ incredible value that WCU and other institutions bring to the WebFiles/PDFs/15-123-Economic-Impact-Report-Western- state and to the region. I trust that elected officials, taxpayers, Version.pdf. magazine.wcu.edu students, parents, alumni, donors and the business community –By Bill Studenc MPA ’10

6 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University WCU JOINS NC HEALTH PROFESSION DIVERSITY ALLIANCE Western Carolina University has joined 19 North Carolina universities, colleges, organizations and health agencies in the creation of a new statewide alliance designed to increase minority representation in the health professions. Called the North Carolina Alliance for Health Professions Diversity, the partnership between academic institutions and state agencies will work to reduce disparities in health status and health care by increasing racial and ethnic diversity in the state’s health care workforce. Doug Keskula, dean of WCU’s College of Health and Human Sciences, said the North Carolina Alliance brings statewide emphasis to the issue of an insufficiently COLLEGE OF FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS, diverse workforce in health care LIBRARY SERVICES WELCOME NEW DEANS fields, a concern that WCU is working to address regionally Two academic units of Western learning, discovery and community Making the “deans through a pair of $1 million federal Carolina University have new leaders engagement while embracing the arts list” at WCU are grants awarded since 2013. “We in at the helm following the appointment at its core,” he said. “As an academic Farzaneh Razzaghi the College of Health and Human of George H. Brown as dean of the leader, educator and artist, I enjoy (left) and George Sciences have made it a priority College of Fine and Performing Arts and working, living and creating in this Brown (right). Farzaneh Razzaghi as dean of library to do all that we can to help improve age of dynamic change. I am energized services. Brown, formerly associate dean the diversity and quality of nursing by the possibilities it brings to us as we of the College of Fine Arts at Western care provided to patients in rural explore our ‘brave new world.’” University, began working at Western North Carolina,” Keskula A native of Iran, Razzaghi had served WCU at the beginning of the 2015 spring as dean of library at the University of said. “We are pleased to become semester while Razzaghi, formerly dean a part of this important new -Pan American since July 2007. of library at the University of Texas-Pan Prior to that appointment, she served for state alliance.” American, joined WCU effective Aug. 1. a year as that institution’s interim library In addition to WCU, Associate dean at Western Michigan director, her second term in the interim participating colleges, universities since 2011, Brown has a 36-year career leadership capacity. She first joined the and agencies include Bennett in the arts, including 21 years in higher school in March 1990 as a librarian for College, Campbell University, education. Prior to his appointment at the nursing department, advancing Davidson Community College, Western Michigan, Brown served as through increasingly responsible East Carolina University, Elon chair of the Department of Theatre Arts positions in her nearly 25-year career at Bradley University, and he taught and University, University of North at the library until being named its dean. served as head of the directing program Carolina Greensboro, North “I am so excited to start my work as Carolina Central University, High at Texas Christian University. He has worked in professional and university the dean of Hunter Library,” Razzaghi Point University, Appalachian said. “It is my pleasure to join the State University, Elizabeth City theater for more than 20 years in positions ranging from director to actor library team of experts to serve WCU’s State University, Fayetteville to fight choreographer, and has directed students and faculty. Together, we will State University, Johnson C. more than 100 productions in theaters continue to create an environment Smith University, St. Augustine’s across the U.S., Caribbean and Europe. not just for learning, but a place for University, Winston-Salem Brown said that he was attracted to creation of knowledge and discovery State University, N.C. Area the position at WCU by the university’s for our students and faculty. It will Health Education Center, N. emphasis on the importance of the arts be an honor to work with the WCU C. Department of Health and at a time when budget cuts and other administrators and the college deans to Human Services, Wake Forest financial woes are taking a toll on arts. have one of the most engaging academic Baptist Medical Center and the “It is exciting to see Western Carolina libraries within the University of North Forsyth County Department of University actively pursuing a vision Carolina system.” Public Health. of the future that promotes vibrant –By Bill Studenc MPA ’10

Fall 2015 | 7 WCU DRUMMER TAPPED FOR U.S. MARINE CORPS’ ‘COMMANDANT’S OWN’

Former Pride of the Seth Estes ’15 knew being on the audiences that include U.S. presidents, Middle School. “Through the arts Mountains drummer drum line of the Pride of the Mountains world leaders and other dignitaries. The education programs in his schools, he Seth Estes ’15 is now Marching Band would mean hundreds corps, a sister group to the U.S. Marine had some amazing experiences and a a member of the U.S. of hours of practice, rehearsals and Band, frequently appears in parades in chance to excel and these opportunities Marine Drum and performances. It started with the field the nation’s capital. The members also are shaping his entire life.” Bugle Corps. shows at football games and a trip to tour nationally and internationally. Matt Henley ’93 MA ’95, WCU the 2011 Tournament of Roses Parade All the corps’ musicians are on active assistant director of athletic bands, when he was a freshman. It ended with duty, and Estes reported for 13 weeks of called Estes an “amazing asset” at the the band’s great triumph, leading the basic training at Parris Island, South university. “I’m exceptionally proud of 2014 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Carolina, in early June. After that, him,” Henley said. “From the classical in City his senior year. he will reside in the historic Marine stage to the marching band, he’s an All that marching and drumming barracks at 8th and I Streets, near the exemplary model of talent combined produced a surprise for Estes, who Capitol Building in Washington. Music with work ethic.” graduated in May and already had a and performance are top priorities for Even though Estes was feeling job waiting – a position on the drum line of the U.S. Marine Drum and Bugle “The Commandant’s Own,” and its “legitimately nervous” prior to Corps, known as “The Commandant’s members are rarely deployed. departure for boot camp, he said all Own,” in Washington, D.C. “It’s kind Growing up in Lincoln County, Estes the hours on the field practicing with of unbelievable and I couldn’t imagine joined his school’s symphonic band in the Pride of the Mountains gave him being able to say this would happen a seventh grade. At East Lincoln High excellent preparation for the military year or two ago. There’s been a lot of School, he switched to the marching and his music career. “I came here hard work, but everything seems to have band, directed at that time by former to be in the marching band because built on itself,” said Estes. WCU drum major Dustin Stamey that’s what I love to do, and now I get In “The Commandant’s Own,” he is ’03, who encouraged Estes to enroll to keep doing it,” he said. “I learned part of a long-standing music tradition at WCU, major in music and join the the habits of preparation and practice in the Marine Corps. The group’s 90 band. “Seth has a lot of natural talent, at WCU. I think the band program has musicians play in several hundred and as he matured he was always trying been developed in a way that helps its public shows and ceremonies each to be a better musician,” said Stamey, members succeed.” year and give special performances for now assistant principal at East Lincoln –By Christy Martin ’71 MA ’78

8 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University MOUNTAIN HERITAGE CENTER MOVES ACROSS CAMPUS TO HUNTER LIBRARY

Loading up and moving out in pursuit to the eventual construction of a new it some challenges, but in the end we are Mountain Heritage Center of new opportunities is an American WCU welcome center, which will include extremely excited about the opportunity staff and student workers tradition, and the staff of Western space for the museum. Also, plans call this new library location provides move items into the Carolina University’s Mountain for the relocation of the university’s to reach out to WCU students and to museum’s temporary new Heritage Center has been putting that Office of Admission, currently based in area residents in new and innovative home in Hunter Library. theme into action this summer by the Cordelia Camp Building, into space ways,” said Pam Meister, curator and moving the museum of Appalachian that has been occupied by the heritage interim direction of the Mountain history and culture across campus to center in Robinson Building. Heritage Center. Hunter Library. The Mountain Heritage Center staff As of magazine press time, the The temporary relocation of began packing up exhibits in late spring Mountain Heritage Center staff was Mountain Heritage Center offices and in anticipation of an August re-opening busy setting up exhibits in new space exhibits from the first floor of H.F. at the library. The museum’s artifact in Hunter Library and planning a grand Robinson Administration Building to collection will remain in the Robinson re-opening event. Updates will be posted the library is an initial step that will lead Building. “This move has brought with at mhc.wcu.edu.

KIPLINGER NAMES WCU AMONG ‘BEST VALUES’ IN THE NATION

Western Carolina University has been named a “best value” master’s program in educational leadership at No. 5 on a list in the nation among colleges and universities that cost $30,000 of programs in that academic area. per year or less. WCU is listed at No. 19 by Kiplinger Personal Other recent national rankings for WCU’s online Finance in the publication’s rankings of the “24 Best College programs include: Values Under $30,000/Year.” WCU was one of two University • The bachelor’s degree program in nursing was ranked of North Carolina system schools that made the list. No. 3 among nursing programs by CollegeChoice.net. The rankings are based on data from the 2013-14 academic year, including academic quality, cost and financial aid. Other • WCU’s package of online academic offerings earned a factors weighed include graduation and freshman retention No. 7 ranking on a list of “best online colleges” released by rates, admissions competitiveness, academic support and BestValueSchools.com. student debt. • The website OnlineU.org gave WCU’s programs in the In addition, WCU earned three top-five national rankings general area of education a No. 14 ranking. for online programs from GetEducated.com, which gave the programs a “Best Buy” designation in recognition of their high • WCU’s master’s degree program in special education was quality and affordable cost. WCU’s master’s degree program listed No. 15 in the nation on a list of graduate special in special education was listed at No. 2 among all graduate education programs by TheBestSchools.org. special education programs. On a rundown of master’s degree • U.S. News & World Report included WCU on its 2015 list of programs in the general area of education, WCU’s special schools with the best online bachelor’s programs and the education program ranked No. 5 and its school administration best online graduate programs in business (excluding the program was No. 11. Also, GetEducated.com ranked WCU’s master’s in business administration.)

Fall 2015 | 9 25 students who help us achieve our goals. We organize trips and events in places like Colorado and Utah, but we focus heavily on our own backyard.” That “backyard,” the article said, consists of public lands like Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests, which “afford WCU students quick and easy access to some of the best landscapes the Southern Appalachians have to offer. But what really sets it apart from similar mountain schools are WCU’s outdoor resources, experience, and leadership.” Whitmore, who oversees Base Camp Cullowhee operations, also spoke of many land-, air- and water-based activities available in the university’s area, and of his program’s growth in the adventure-rich environment. “Over the years, Base Camp Cullowhee has evolved from a small outdoor program within the recreation department to its own entity with over 9,000 participant experiences per year. In 2008, we completed a 2,100-square-foot indoor WCU ONCE AGAIN NAMED TOP OUTDOOR COLLEGE rock climbing facility, and just a couple Western Carolina University against Tech, the University of years ago we added a 7-mile multiuse successfully defended its title as the -Knoxville and Appalachian trail system,” Whitmore said. “Our No. 1 college for outdoor adventure State. Representatives of Blue Ridge staff does a lot of great work, but the in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic as Outdoors announced the results of students are the ones that really run determined by the readers of a leading the competition in May and promised the show here.” outdoors magazine in an annual online a more complete survey of regional In addition to Base Camp Cullowhee, poll earlier this year. outdoor education offerings in the WCU offers numerous academic After winning Blue Ridge Outdoors publication’s August issue. programs for students interested magazine’s “top adventure college” Magazine staff member Travis Hall in careers in the outdoors, including contest last year, WCU recaptured the interviewed Josh Whitmore of Base parks and recreation management, title, this time over the second-place Camp Cullowhee, WCU’s outdoor forest resources, hospitality and tourism, school, Montreat College, following programming organization, and and natural resource conservation several rounds of voting in which quoted him as saying, “We have a staff and management. the university also came out on top of three full-time employees and about –By Keith Brenton

NEW PROGRAM DESIGNED TO HELP EX-STUDENTS COMPLETE DEGREES

Western Carolina University is the recipient of $50,000 WCU Department of Communication and coordinator of the in funding from the University of North Carolina General Finish Line. “This project will open doors to new opportunities Administration to create a program designed to help former for many students who never graduated.” college students who didn’t finish their bachelor’s degrees goback The project’s immediate goal is to enroll 15 students for fall to school. The funding through UNC General Administration’s semester, with a long-term goal of attracting up to 50 students Office of Academic and Student Success will be used for the a year who are “part-way home” in their college educations to planning and implementation of a WCU initiative named the enroll at WCU and complete degree requirements, said Lowell Finish Line. The UNC system allocated a total of $320,000 to Davis, assistant vice chancellor for student success. fund targeted efforts at UNC campuses to recruit, enroll and UNC enrollment records show that approximately 10,000 retain the students. bachelor’s degree-seeking students left the UNC system before The program is for people living in North Carolina who they earned diplomas and did not graduate or re-enroll in a attended a U.S. college or university in the past, but left without higher education institution. Finding these students and helping earning a diploma. In the UNC system, these former students them finish college is one of the strategies included in “Our are known as “part-way home” because they have completed Time, Our Future: The UNC Compact with North Carolina,” part of their undergraduate studies but, for a variety of reasons, the long-range plan adopted by the UNC Board of Governors did not make it to graduation. in 2013. The plan outlines goals for higher education to help “We are grateful for the support from the UNC General North Carolina become one of the top 10 “most educated” states Administration,” said Iveta Imre, assistant professor in the in the nation by 2025.

10 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University Lane Perry (right), recipient of state and national honors for his leadership in service-learning activities, works with faculty member Julie Johnson-Busbin to transform a closed prison into a shelter, halfway house and soup kitchen. UNIVERSITY TO FOCUS ON COMPLIANCE, SEXUAL ASSAULT

Mary Ann Lochner, general counsel for Western Carolina University, repeatedly has characterized higher education as “the most heavily regulated industry in the .” Take the Americans with Disabilities Act, as one lone example. Including the text of the act itself, design standards for local and state government, and proposed regulations under development, that single piece of legislation totals 716 pages. And that’s just one of the literally hundreds and hundreds of laws, regulations and policies with which WCU must comply, Lochner said. To ensure that WCU remains in accordance with that ever-expanding menu of federal and state requirements, the university recently hired its first chief compliance officer, J. Wesley “Wes” Chancey. A combat veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps infantry, Chancey worked for four years in the president’s office and general counsel’s office at University, followed by a two-year stint in private practice representing claimants in the civil and family law court systems. Among Chancey’s first tasks is to design and implement a comprehensive employee training program for all WCU faculty and staff on the subject of Title IX, focusing specifically on the issue of campus sexual assault. Those training sessions will begin during the fall semester. In SERVICE LEARNING DIRECTOR HONORED WITH TWO addition, Shea Browning, WCU’s associate legal counsel, AWARDS FOR INSPIRING CIVIC ENGAGEMENT has been assigned the responsibility of serving as the university’s Title IX coordinator. In that role, Browning, Lane Perry, director of the Center for projects Perry has been involved in, such who is training in victim outreach and compliance with Service Learning, has been recognized as aiding Hurricane Sandy victims in Title IX, is the go-to person for faculty and staff who twice this year for excellence in 2013, partnering with WCU’s Mountain suspect gender-based discrimination. connecting students with opportunities Heritage Center and the Sylva Herald to Chancey points to the numerous national media to learn by serving in their communities sponsor a concert to benefit landslide headlines – the Penn State child molestation case, the and beyond. victims in Snohomish County in the Rolling Stone magazine article on allegations of rape The American Association of Colleges state of Washington the next year, and at the University of Virginia, best-selling author Jon Krakauer’s non-fiction account of sexual assaults at the and Universities presented Perry its John assisting with the conversion of a closed University of Montana – as ample evidence of the need Saltmarsh Award for Emerging Leaders Haywood County prison to a shelter, in Civic Engagement on June 4 “in for taking action at WCU. soup kitchen and halfway house. “Campus sexual assault is very real and deserving recognition of exemplary early-career Since becoming director of service leaders who are advancing the wider of our attention and efforts. We must ensure that our learning in 2012, Perry also was part institution takes adequate steps to protect students and civic engagement movement through of a four-person team that submitted a employees from this disturbing trend,” he said, citing higher education to build a broader successful application to renew WCU’s national statistics indicating that one-fourth of women public culture of democracy.” Carnegie Community Engagement are sexually assaulted while attending an institution of In February, Perry was named the Classification. In 2013, Perry received higher education. 2015 Civic Engagement “Emerging a matched grant valued at $18,000 As part of the university’s increased focus on Leader” Professional of the Year by from the AACU to develop the Ripple compliance, WCU leadership recently approved revisions North Carolina Campus Compact at Effect Learning Community, an to University Policy 10, which provides guidance on the organization’s annual conference. interdisciplinary program that has nondiscrimination and equal opportunity practices at The award recognizes one staff person Western Carolina University, and University Policy 53, served 42 first-year WCU students over working in North Carolina higher which covers sexual harassment, sexual misconduct and the past two years. He helped create education with less than five years other unlawful discrimination. of professional work in the field new Habitat for Humanity projects “Our community must be free of discrimination for efforts to institutionalize a in Jackson County, a campus Habitat and harassment in the workplace and the classroom,” campuswide vision of service, support chapter and a new business plan for a Chancellor David O. Belcher said. “Our campus must be the engagement of faculty and students, local Habitat ReStore. a bastion of dignity, fairness and respect for all members and form innovative campus- “WCU is such a fertile ground for of our community. Our university must be a place where community partnerships. all the high-impact practices to thrive, different cultures, backgrounds, ideologies, viewpoints Carol Burton ’87 MAEd ’90, and I am lucky to be involved in one and ideals are not only accepted but welcomed as critically associate provost for undergraduate – service- and community-based diverse elements in our vibrant, intellectually, culturally studies, nominated Perry for the learning,” Perry said. and economically thriving community of scholarship.” Saltmarsh award, citing service-learning –By Keith Brenton –By Bill Studenc MPA ’10

Fall 2015 | 11 their lives. He has linked historical lynchings with more modern cases of institutional violence and injustice, and has shown the connection between late 19th-century labor unions and contemporary issues of free market economy and workplace regulation, said Elizabeth McRae MA ’96, associate professor of history. “Over and over, students leave his classroom engaged in issues that began for them as facts to memorize about a distant past but ended with them critically analyzing the thorny political issues of both the past and present,” McRae said. Macaulay’s interest in oral history has led to his students recording histories of veterans of World War II, the Vietnam War and recent conflicts in the Middle East; members of the Jackson County African-American community; residents forced to leave their homes when the construction of Fontana Dam flooded their communities; and long- time residents of Sylva in connection HISTORY PROFESSOR AMONG TOPS IN UNC SYSTEM with the town’s recent 125th anniversary celebration. “I seek out familiar, yet nontraditional Alexander Macaulay Alexander Macaulay, associate the qualities of a gifted storyteller, wins rave reviews from professor of history, has been named engaging discussion leader and topics and sources that will not only students for being a one of the best teachers in the University rigorous academician, prompting many pique students’ interests, but also alert dynamic teacher. of North Carolina system in recognition students to continue studying history them to ways they can analyze and of his ability to convince students beyond their undergraduate years. understand the past and the present,” that history is more than just the “Dr. Macaulay is the sort of professor Macaulay said. “For those who believe memorization of dates and the study of who pushes students to unlock their history is the study of dates and accomplishments of “dead white men.” potential,” said Joshua Wilkey ’14, a ‘dead white men,’ they learn that Macaulay, a member of the WCU faculty WCU master’s degree student in history history is made by millions of ordinary since 2004, is among 17 recipients of the planning to earn a doctorate and teach and extraordinary people who live 2015 UNC Board of Governors Awards at the university level. both everyday and exceptional lives. for Excellence in Teaching, announced Macaulay’s faculty colleagues praise It also helps me democratize the in March. his ability to engage students – many past and the classroom, encouraging The UNC committee that selected of them confessing to not liking the contributions from those who may not the recipients noted that Macaulay subject of history because they don’t know about Alger Hiss, but do know regularly wins rave reviews for being think it matters – in dynamic classroom about Elvis Presley.” a dynamic teacher who combines activities that make history relevant to –By Bill Studenc MPA ’10

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS FORMS COMPANY TO ASSIST ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The College of Business is establishing a new, for-profit businesses, and will allow WCU to engage in commercial limited liability company designed to provide entrepreneurial activities and enterprises with greater flexibility, said Darrell business, scientific and technical services to help spur economic Parker, dean of the College of Business. Shifting from being development activity in Western North Carolina. Formation of a unit of the college to a for-profit associated entity also will the new entity was authorized earlier this year by the University increase the potential to generate revenue from professional of North Carolina Board of Governors. and consultative services provided by faculty and staff; provide The LLC will replace WCU’s Center for Entrepreneurship broader access to financing necessary for product development, and Innovation, created in 2007 within the College of business expansion and technology transfer; and enhance the Business to serve as a catalyst for the creation of successful potential to generate revenue for internships and other forms entrepreneurial ventures in WNC while providing hands- of student financial aid, Parker said. on learning experiences for WCU students. The new entity “Small businesses and entrepreneurs represent an will be wholly owned by the Western Carolina University increasingly important segment of the economy in Western Research and Development Corporation, formed in 2001 for North Carolina,” he said. “By transferring the activities of the purpose of aiding and promoting the educational and the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation to this new charitable purposes of WCU. venture, we will be able to better leverage the resources of The for-profit company will enable faculty and students to our faculty, staff and student expertise to create a nourishing be more nimble and responsive when dealing with requests environment that will foster the creation of new businesses for services from local entrepreneurs and owners of small and new jobs in our region.”

12 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University 100 AND COUNTING...ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP TALLY CONTINUES TO RISE

Western Carolina University in Scholarship, for members of the December 2014 hit the milestone of baseball team; donors Dale Sims ’78 100 new endowed scholarships created and Debbie Sims. since Chancellor David O. Belcher’s Ed and Donna Broadwell-Home Trust installation address that identified Bank Scholarship, for undergraduate increased funding for student support students who graduated from public as the institution’s top philanthropic high schools in Western North Carolina; priority. Endowed scholarship funds donors Ed and Donna Broadwell and number 101 through 113 are now on Home Trust Bank. the books as alumni and friends Donna Winbon Endowed continue to respond to Belcher’s call Scholarship, for undergraduate students for more scholarship assistance for with demonstrated financial need; donor deserving students. Donna Winbon ’80. Through endowments of at least Phipps Tholkes Singleton Endowed $25,000, scholarship assistance can Scholarship, for students majoring in TAILGATING AREAS ARE EXPANDING be awarded on an annual and ongoing parks and recreation management; FOR 2015 FOOTBALL SEASON basis. New endowed scholarship funds donors represented by Maurice Phipps, established since December 2014 are: Ben Tholkes and Debby Singleton. Susan L. Swanger, CPA, Ph.D., Jerry and Mickey Cook Endowed Fire up those grills, pop up those canopies and unfurl those purple and gold banners! There are more Professional Accountancy Endowed Scholarship, for students majoring places to partake of adult beverages when tailgating at Scholarship, for graduate students in engineering or technology; donors Catamount home football games this fall. The WCU Board pursuing a master’s degree in Jerry Cook ’69 and Mickey Cook ’71 of Trustees in March unanimously approved a revision to accountancy after completing a non- MAEd ’74. the university’s tailgating policy that adds an additional accounting undergraduate degree; Elisabeth and Wade St. John Endowed parking lot to areas in which alcohol may be consumed donors Susan L. Swanger MBA ’93 and Scholarship, for students in the Pride of on campus as part of fans’ pregame festivities. Mark Swanger. the Mountains Marching Band and for Beginning this fall, the Belk Building parking lot, which Carl David Coffee, D.B.A. members of the baseball team; donors previously had been designated as an alcohol-free zone, Accountancy Endowed Scholarship, for Elisabeth and Wade St. John. will be among the alcohol-permissible tailgating areas. graduate students pursuing a master’s Kevin J. Bradshaw Endowed The move became necessary because of increased interest degree in accountancy or undergraduate Scholarship, for students pursuing in pregame tailgating at WCU in the wake of recent students with a declared major in a degree in the field of inclusive improvements to the football program. In 2014, the WCU accounting; donors represented by education; donors Brad Bradshaw ’76 football team enjoyed its first winning regular season Susan L. Swanger MBA ’93. and Eileen Bradshaw. since 2005, earning a second-place finish in Southern Dianne and Larry Lynch Endowed Another recently endowed fund, Conference play. Scholarship, for juniors and seniors the Betty Duff Distinguished Faculty With the revision to the policy, parking lots at the H.F. with a declared major in finance, Award, will provide support to a full- Robinson Administration Building, John W. Bardo Fine entrepreneurship, hospitality and time faculty member of the School and Performing Arts Center, Camp Building, Jordan- tourism, accounting, computer of Nursing who demonstrates a Phillips Field House, , E.J. Whitmire information systems or business distinguished record in the areas of Stadium, Hennon Baseball Stadium and Belk Building administration and law; donors Dianne caring, leadership and advocacy for are considered alcohol-permissible areas during approved and Larry Lynch. diversity and the underrepresented tailgating hours. Lots located at Walker and Scott halls Bill Jarrett Family Endowed Baseball (donor Judy Neubrander). remain alcohol-free tailgating areas. Scholarship, for members of the baseball For information on how to establish Tailgating at WCU may begin no earlier than three- team; donor Bill Jarrett. an endowed scholarship, visit the and-a-half hours before kickoff of the football game. Jay and Susan Strum Endowed website give.wcu.edu. Consumption of alcohol must be discontinued at the start Scholarship, for biology or Correction: Some information about of the game, and tailgating without alcohol beverages chemistry majors from Western North the Mary Alice Gambill Shuford and Dr. may continue after the game for a period of two hours. Carolina; donors Jay Strum ’87 and David F. Shuford Endowed Scholarship, Only malt beverages (beers and other brewed libations) Susan Strum ’87. for students majoring in education and unfortified wine are allowed in approved tailgate Western Club of Endowed (donors Mary Alice Gambill Shuford ’56 areas. Spirituous liquor and kegs or other common- Scholarship, for students from Georgia; and David F. Shuford ’55 MAEd ’59), source containers are not permitted. Campus officials donors represented by Leslie Greer ’90. was incorrect in the previous edition of vigorously enforce laws regarding underage consumption Dale and Debbie Sims Endowed this magazine. of alcohol.

Fall 2015 | 13 CATAMOUNT ATHLETICS HOME COURT ADVANTAGE STEPHANIE MCCORMICK RETURNS TO THE ROOTS OF HER BASKETBALL COACHING CAREER By MARLON W. MORGAN

It was an early April morning when Stephanie McCormick, Siena College assistant basketball coach, got the call from Randy Eaton, director of athletics at Western Carolina University, that he wanted her to be the Catamounts’ next head women’s basketball coach, a day she will never forget. After briefly allowing it to soak in, McCormick quickly accepted her first head coaching job. There were times during her 20 years as an assistant coach that McCormick would dream about someday being a head coach. But most of those dream jobs were at Division II schools. It wasn’t until this past year that McCormick shifted her focus. “From my personal sessions with myself and my meditation and prayer time, something just told me I wasn’t dreaming big enough,” McCormick said. “I wasn’t reaching high enough. And then this position became available. I really tried not to go too far into the thought of being the next women’s basketball coach at Western Carolina without finishing the season there at Siena. It was pretty amazing the way the whole thing happened.” Growing up in High Point, McCormick did not dream early about wanting to be a basketball player, much less a coach. McCormick was the youngest of five children born to Alfred and Peggy McCormick. Although they lived in the projects, McCormick had a modest upbringing. Her father worked nights, often two jobs. Her mom also worked, and McCormick said she never wanted for anything. During her middle school years, McCormick began hanging out at the recreation center behind their home. The outdoor basketball courts were where most of the neighborhood kids congregated, whether they played hoops or not. “It was just kind of the old country fun that we used to have.” McCormick began playing basketball and eventually made her eighth-grade team. But she quit after one year to give softball a try. “That was a bad idea. It was too hot,” she said. McCormick went back to the cooler confines of the gym and took up basketball again in the 10th grade. At first, it was just something for her to do after school. Then, things changed. She began developing relationships with her teammates and coaches, bonds that kept her involved in the game. Then, she started getting good, which opened doors she never imagined. Traveling with her Amateur Athletic Union team and going to different camps allowed McCormick to see areas outside of High Point. Her skills eventually landed her a scholarship to Catawba College, where she became the first player in school history to record 1,000 career points and rebounds. Stephanie McCormick looks to She also holds the school record for career (1,244) and single return the Catamounts to their season (374) rebounds. She was inducted into Catawba’s Hall winning ways. of Fame in 2013. With her bachelor’s degree in business administration in hand, McCormick was prepared to head into the corporate world. But her coach at Catawba, Gary Peters, who had been concern for Eaton. In addition to talking extensively to Harper hired at WCU after her junior year, called and offered her a and others for whom McCormick worked, Eaton conversed position as a full-time assistant. with Siena men’s basketball coach Jimmy Patsos, with whom he She coached at WCU from 1994-97, before holding jobs at worked with closely at the University of Maryland. “Apparently, UNC Wilmington (1998-01), Charlotte (2001-03), Georgia Stephanie became even closer with Jimmy and his wife up there,” Tech (2003-04), a second stint at WCU (2004-09), North Eaton said. “When people that you trust in the business tell you Carolina State University (2009-13) and Siena (2013-15). Nine ‘don’t worry about it,’ you don’t worry about it. If you can sell of her 20 years as an assistant were spent under Kellie Harper, a 17-year-old from Charlotte to come to Cullowhee for four or five of those at WCU as she helped lead the Catamounts to five years of their life, you can probably do the X’s and O’s, too.” four postseason appearances and two titles. McCormick followed Harper to N.C. State, where the Wolfpack went to three postseason tournaments in four years. The two developed a bond that is still strong today. Harper was “FROM MY PERSONAL SESSIONS WITH instrumental in McCormick returning to Cullowhee. “She was ready,” Harper said. “She could’ve been a head MYSELF AND MY MEDITATION AND PRAYER coach several years ago. But I think for her, it needed to be the right fit. It needed to be the right time. Everything just fell TIME, SOMETHING JUST TOLD ME I WASN’T into place. She was in a really good place mentally. She was in DREAMING BIG ENOUGH.” a really good place with her skill set – not just ready to make the move, but confident. The passion she had for Western - STEPHANIE MCCORMICK Carolina made that even more special.” That passion has the returning players excited about playing for their new coach. “The moment we met her, we saw that she’s not only very passionate about winning and going in a different McCormick is happy to be back in the place she affectionately direction for the program, but about winning as players and as calls “home,” a place where her coaching career began. She is a team, building a team that the community would be proud thankful to WCU Chancellor David O. Belcher and Eaton for of,” junior forward Brianne Mack of Charlotte said. allowing her to become the first African-American head coach Senior guard Lindsay Simpson of Franklin is confident at WCU, a milestone she doesn’t take lightly. But even more McCormick can return the Catamounts to their winning important to McCormick is the fact she’s at a place where she ways, something she has yet to experience at WCU. “I think can continue to make a difference in the lives of student-athletes. she’s committed to changing the culture and really instilling the core values of a winning program,” Simpson said. “Having “A lot of politics and things come into play as you go to somebody that’s been to the promised land before and has been certain places,” McCormick said. “Western has always been the there multiple times, that gives you good assurance she knows type of place that was super supportive of the student-athletes what it takes and that she’s going to pass that down to us.” as a whole. It’s not a case of a winning-at-all-cost situation in As an assistant, McCormick was known for her strong the athletics department here. Obviously, winning is huge or I magazine.wcu.edu ability to recruit. Now she’s looking to show she knows a wouldn’t be here, but it’s not at the cost of the student-athlete, little something about X’s and O’s, too. However, that wasn’t a and that was big for me.” DRIVING AMBITION J.T. POSTON MAKES CATAMOUNT MEN’S GOLF HISTORY By DANIEL HOOKER ’01

Western Carolina’s senior J.T. Poston of seven-under par, 209, was one-stroke second WCU men’s golfer to earn an at- '15 became the first Catamount men’s shy of Cook’s program-low of 208 carded large berth into the NCAA post-season golfer to advance to the NCAA Men’s in the 2008 regional. field, playing in the East Regional in Golf Championship in May, when he In the championship tourney in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was the first rallied on the 54th hole of regulation Bradenton, , Poston remained of his three-consecutive NCAA regional to move into a tie and force a sudden in contention after the first day of appearances, the final two coming as death playoff in regional tournament competition but faltered in the later the conference champion automatic competition. Poston went on to claim rounds to place among a 10-way tie for qualifier. The 2013-14 SoCon Men’s the final qualifying position as the top- 113th-place overall. Golfer of the Year, Poston was a three- finishing individual not on one of the A four-year starter for the golf time All-SoCon selection, garnering five qualifying teams, earning a berth in program, Poston etched his name into four career post-season honors as he the championship tournament. the WCU men’s golf record books. was dubbed all-freshman in 2011-12. Poston finished the Chapel Hill Poston tallied 30 career top 10 finishes A native of Hickory, Poston again Regional tournament regulation in a tie including 21 top-five showings with six was named to the Divison I PING for the runner-up spot, the best-ever by individual medalist honors. He claimed All-East Region team this year by a Catamount men’s golfer. His second- back-to-back Southern Conference the Golf Coaches Association of place showing surpassed the 14th-place individual championships among America (GCAA). It is the third tie by Matt Cook ’09 in the 2008 NCAA those victories. consecutive season Poston has earned East Regional. Poston’s three-day score In 2013, Poston became just the the regional recognition.

Fall 2015 | 15 CATAMOUNT ATHLETICS Williamson’s success has come with a budget that only recently has become competitive with other conference schools. And WCU Director of Athletics Randy Eaton said a lot of that has to do with the conference’s restructuring of schools. Regardless of the hand he’s dealt, Williamson learned early on how to overcome whatever hurdles there may be. “That was a message that was relayed to me by our former baseball coach, Jack Leggett,” Williamson said. “When I first got in the business, I was in his office and he was making peanut butter sandwiches for his team. He said it was because we don’t have the money to do anything else. It was a valuable lesson right there. I took it as if we have a penny, let’s see if we can turn it into a dollar.” Williamson’s student-athletes say the No. 1 reason for the Catamounts’ continued success is the family-like culture he has created within his program. “He tries to be our daddy in our personal lives, making sure we’re not messing up,” sophomore Kayla Williams of High Point said. “He stays on top of us in everything – school work, track, relationships, study hall. He’s on it,” added junior Michaela Williams of Charlotte. “He knows everything about you. He’s one of those coaches that knows every one of his athletes personally.” He’s also a tough coach who demands the best out of his athletes on a daily basis. And when the trophies keep piling up, they understand the motivation behind those grueling practices and workouts.

“HE KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU. HE’S ONE OF THOSE COACHES THAT KNOWS EVERY ONE OF HIS ATHLETES PERSONALLY.” - MICHAELA WILLIAMS

“Whenever we get ready to go to a conference championship, or get ready for a hard workout, it’s the same speech,” said Michaela Birek ’15 of Raleigh. “`What are you out here for? Why are you doing this? Are you doing it to be a champ?’ We PILING UP get that speech from the beginning.” The family atmosphere allows the athletes to take ownership DANNY WILLIAMSON HAS LED of the program. During recruiting visits, it is the team that WCU TO 29 TRACK TITLES does the majority of the selling of the program, answering any questions recruits may have. Outside of that, the Catamounts’ By MARLON W. MORGAN success speaks for itself. In addition to the conference titles, Williamson has won 36 SoCon Coach of the Year awards Danny Williamson ’84 Immediately upon entering the track and field office at between men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track. MAEd ’86 is in need of Western Carolina University’s Cordelia Camp Gymnasium, And once his athletes get a taste of that success, it becomes a larger trophy case. you are greeted on the floor by three Southern Conference unquenchable. “Even though sometimes we’re considered a championship trophies. A quick glance up finds more SoCon smaller program, we’re able to do a lot of things with little,” trophies lining the shelves, as well as on desks. They spill over junior Jared Johnson of Fayetteville, Georgia, said. “It really into the office of CoachDanny Williamson ’84 MAEd ’86. shows with the championships each and every year. Every And seemingly with no end in sight to the Catamounts’ run year I’ve been here, we’ve been able to win a championship.” of success in both men’s and women’s track and field, a large “Before I came, I had no idea about the program and trophy case might be in order. After sweeping the SoCon men’s winning,” said junior Corina Archie-McMillan of Charlotte. and women’s indoor championships in February, the women “I didn’t come from a winning program in high school. My also claimed the outdoor title in May, while the men came freshman year at WCU, we won indoors and then we came in second. In 30 seasons under Williamson, the Catamounts back and won outdoors. When we lost my sophomore year, it have won seven men’s indoor and five men’s outdoor SoCon was a horrible feeling, it hurt so bad. You don’t know what it’s championships, and nine women’s indoor and eight outdoor like to lose until you lose.” titles, for a total of 29. It’s a feeling the Catamounts don’t experience often.

16 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University Restore Relationships.

Revive Rivalries.

Join the Catamount Club Greek Challenge.

Western Carolina University’s Catamount Club is once again inviting Greek alumni to reconnect with their sorority and fraternity sister- and brotherhoods for the 2015 Catamount Club Greek Challenge. Last year, the Fraternity-Sorority Challenge generated over $65,000 in new scholarship support for WCU student-athletes, along with over 450 new Catamount Club members. This year, the tradition continues. One sorority and one fraternity will be honored at this year’s Catamount football homecoming game, Saturday, Oct. 24, for showing their WCU pride by supporting Catamount Learn more at athletics. For more information, contact Stefanie Conley, Associate Director of the Catamount Club, at 828.227.2013. greekchallenge.wcu.edu CATAMOUNT ATHLETICS JUST FOR KICKS KEVIN HARVICK MAKES A BET WITH A FORMER CATAMOUNT KICKER By DANIEL HOOKER ’01

Former All-American Derived from a previous friendly coach Mark Speir MAEd ’95 was busy uniform, right down to his familiar No. kicker Josh Jones ’01 wager, a bet that came to be known compiling his signing class, Jones took 22 jersey. Under drizzling rain, Jones attempts a 45-yard throughout the Twitter-verse as to Twitter to wish the Catamounts good warmed up until late in the practice field goal to win “#TheKick” took on a life of its luck. Harvick got involved and, after when his number was called for the $10,000 for own – and ultimately produced a much good-natured back-and-forth money kick. his alma mater’s financial windfall for the Catamount smack talk online, the bet was born: Although Jones’ practice kicks were football program. football program on a rainy April strong and accurate, his “kick for cash” Jones was to kick a 45-yard field goal afternoon at E.J. Whitmire Stadium barely missed wide left. The looks of in full pads against a defensive rush for / Bob Waters Field. disappointment on the faces of the Josh Jones ’01 – also known by his $10,000 to go toward Speir’s “Feed the Catamount players quickly dissipated, Twitter handle, @Mother_Function Cats,” a program to provide meals for however, when Jones presented Speir – is director of business development players during summer workouts. with a $10,000 check from Harvick in for KHI Management, owned by On the next-to-last day of WCU’s spite of the miss. defending NASCAR Sprint Cup spring practice, Jones returned to And now the Catamounts have a new champion Kevin Harvick. Jones is his alma mater and was fitted in full favorite NASCAR driver. a former All-America selection as a placekicker at WCU, also having spent time in the arenafootball2 league. Through working together and their COACH RUNS MARATHON TO ‘FEED THE CATS’ friendship, Harvick knew that Jones had been a kicker in college. But the Former placekicker and current sports management guru Josh Jones ’01 was driver of the No. 4 machine doubted not the only person putting his best foot forward for the WCU football team this Jones’ actual ability, all those years spring. Just days after his team finished spring drills and collected $10,000 from removed from his playing days. Jones’ boss, NASCAR star Kevin Harvick, head football coach Mark Speir MAEd Early in Jones’ employment and ’95 had one last item to check off before entering the summer months. friendship with Harvick, the driver Speir and his older brother, Ken, tackled the grueling 2015 Boston Marathon, had challenged Jones to a three-out- the world’s oldest annual marathon, which ranks as one of the world’s most of-five, 50-yard field goal competition prestigious running events. A day after relaxing and catching a Boston Red Sox at his old high school in Bakersfield, game, the Speir duo made its way to the starting line for the 26.2-mile course – or California, with $1,000 on the line. as Boston.com fittingly called it, 431.12 football fields. magazine.wcu.edu Jones split the uprights four times, the Speir used one word to describe his experience in Boston: pain. But, beneath a grin, he quickly used another word to relive that windy, rainy race day: rewarding. final kick from 60 yards away, to win “It’s like I tell our players all of the time – it’s not going to be easy, but it’ll be worth Watch the JRM the bet. Harvick, true to his word, paid it. And that is what I thought about the entire time I was running,” said Speir. “It 360 that outlines up – in $1,000 worth of quarters. was tough, but really worth it and I’m glad I did it.” the parameters of Fast-forward to National Signing Thanks to pledges from fans of the football program, Speir also raised more #TheKick Day 2015. While WCU head football than $4,000 for his “Feed the Cats” program to help fund players’ meals during summer workouts.

18 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University We love our alumni Stop by the Bookstore during your next visit % to campus and receive 10 OFF a 10% discount* with this coupon. COUPON Offer good for online at books.wcu.edu – enter WCUALUM at checkout

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#PROVEYOURPURPLE CatamountSports @Catamounts wcu_catamounts 800.34.GOWCU | CATAMOUNTSPORTS.COM Indie Movie Students throw their filming skills into high gear on an alumnus’ movie project By KEITH BRENTON

An Elkin dirt track Four students from Western Carolina cameras for a complex shoot of a dirt- late dad’s service station business going, provides the setting for University’s Film and Television track auto race at Elkin in April. only to find that he’ll have to partner racing action in the movie Production Program, their professor The invitation came from R. Keith with his dad’s dirt-track racing friend to “Shifting Gears,” co- and the program’s equipment manager Harris ’92, co-producer and star of the win enough money to keep the station. produced by and starring served last spring for three days and film, who has worked with Armenaki “The movie has elements of a Disney R. Keith Harris ’92. nights as camera crew members for a and WCU students before on the story,” Armenaki said. Among all the motion picture location shoot that was independent period film “Wesley,” also other challenges the character faces, he almost as much “Indy” as it was “indie.” featuring Harris in a major role and shot added, “the dad is trying to get his son An invitation from the production in North Carolina locations. (See the to go to college.” team of the independent film “Shifting Fall 2007 edition of The Magazine of Harris wants “Shifting Gears” to be a Gears,” sent to Arledge Armenaki, Western Carolina University.) family movie. “In the industry, they say associate professor of cinematography, “Shifting Gears” tells the story of a there’s the film you write, the film you put him, the students and equipment career-challenged father moving his shoot and the film you edit,” he said. magazine.wcu.edu manager Jason Ledford ’13 behind the family to his old hometown to keep his “We’re definitely aiming for a wide

20 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University middle ground.” Harris also acted in different camera units out on the track be the end of a long road. “We worked Movie crew members the 1940s-era road-racing film “Red Dirt getting shots, it’s important to know who out a partnership to film at the track from WCU include (back Rising” (produced by Gary Lewallen ’04 should be covering what. I learned the four years ago, but the financing fell row, from left) Jason and based on experiences of Lewallen’s necessity of having multiple cameras through,” Harris said. He feels confident Ledford ’13, C camera father Jimmie – see “Changing Gears” out there capturing footage,” she said. that there’s a happy ending ahead. “I operator; Brittnee in the Fall 2010 edition of The Magazine “Overall, it was so much fun I would go think we’ll end up with a movie that’s Baskin ’15, B camera of Western Carolina University). out and do it again in a heartbeat. I grew poignant, funny and coherent,” he said. first assistant; Brandi Harris considers the students’ a lot closer to my classmates during this An ending scripted for “Shifting Anderson ’15, C camera involvement in the current production trip and had a blast!” Gears” features a resolution of a plotline second assistant; Jason Miller, B camera second a win-win situation for both parties. The production team wrapped that could endear the film to members assistant; Arledge The students received professional principal photography in the spring. of the WCU community. “We had great Armenaki, B camera “Ideally, we’ll have a final edit locked cooperation from the university on experience and will get title credits at operator; and (kneeling) down by the end of July,” Harris said. location shooting and use of properties,” the close of the film. The filmmakers Josh Scharfman ’15, C “Then comes the sound design and mix, Harris hinted … but would not say more. benefited from students’ expertise. camera first assistant. “It was great that they brought their and color correction by Halloween.” “Shifting Gears” is not the only film experience with WCU’s Sony camera – Armenaki, a veteran of Hollywood being released in the near future that which is pretty incredible – and that we filmmaking, estimated that editing features Harris. He also is featured in all got to work with Arledge Armenaki,” could take as long as six to nine months. the role of Sam Bryson in this fall’s “A Harris said. “Post-production always takes longer Walk in the Woods,” starring Robert Ledford agreed. “It was an honor than you think it will,” he said. Redford, Emma Thompson, Nick Nolte to be asked to join Arledge Armenaki Securing distribution for the film will and Mary Steenburgen. and four of our finest cinematography students – Brandi Anderson ’15, Brittnee Baskin ’15, Josh Scharfman ’15 and rising senior Jason Miller,” he said. “It was a fantastic experience.” A 2013 graduate of the FTP Program, Ledford has worked regularly on films, especially on the North Carolina independent film circuit. “I learned a lot about shooting racing,” he said of his “Shifting Gears” experience. “I had never shot racing scenes before, so that was a first and a great learning experience. The crew and set were extremely professional and gracious. That was the largest set that I had been on to date.” The movie’s director of photography, James Suttles, allowed Ledford to set You can learn more about the film production at shiftinggearsmovie.com. up and operate the camera on a stunt. “There was a scene where the ‘hero’ car, Clem’s Revenge, was supposed to come to a smoking stop just before the finish line,” he said. “I was able to set the camera up on the track and press the ‘record’ button before jumping over the retaining wall as the stunt played out. So I was relieved when I reviewed the footage and it was all there.” Another member of the “B” and “C” camera units from WCU, Anderson also felt the film experience was invaluable. “I learned a lot from being on set,” she said. “I’ve worked on a few film sets outside of college, but this was a higher budget film. So it was more intense, but really fun. It is very cool to see the correlation of what we do on our school film sets and real life film sets; it’s pretty much the same thing – just on a bigger scale.” Anderson says that she had learned first-hand the importance of communication and how to distribute work. “With three or sometimes four

Fall 2015 | 21 GROWING MINDS

WCU students and faculty help craft a model for involving college students in a program to support local farmers while teaching community members about healthy cooking and eating By TERESA KILLIAN TATE A 4-year-old started crying when WCU nutrition and dietetics student Christina Shupe invited him and his classmates to glue pictures of carrots, lettuce, potatoes, onions, strawberries, apples and other fruits and vegetables on paper crowns. “He didn’t want to eat vegetables, and he thought he was going to be forced to,” said Shupe, a senior from Raleigh. She visited the preschool weekly during the last academic year to lead cooking and gardening activities, and assist with special events such as a visit from a local farmer with a baby goat. Her efforts to help children become more aware and accepting of healthy foods and the connection with local farms and farmers were part of a collaborative project involving the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, WCU and local schools. For the past six years, WCU faculty members and students have assisted with developing a model for involving college students – particularly students preparing to be educators, nutritionists and dietitians – in Farm to School programs, and to teach them how to incorporate program activities into their future careers as educators and health professionals. About 800 WCU students have taken part in some way in what has become a program called “Growing Minds @WCU.” “Together, we have created a model that other universities are interested in,” said Emily Jackson ’99, founder and program director of the Farm to School Growing Minds Program for AN IDEA GERMINATES ASAP. “The project has exceeded our expectations, and WCU With a grant from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Jamie Adams, an inclusive was integral to making it happen.” Carolina Foundation, a pilot project was launched in 2009. education major, works Farm to School programs across the nation help schools Participants included health sciences students enrolled in a with students in the Head procure local, healthy produce for cafeterias and classrooms in liberal studies course offered by the School of Health Sciences Start program at Fairview a way that supports farmers in their communities. Programs centered on food, nutrition and culture, and a “Didactic Elementary School. also can teach students about making healthy food choices Program in Dietetics” course focused on community nutrition, through activities such as working in school gardens, farm field as well as elementary and middle grades education students trips, taste tests and cooking lessons. Part of what led Jackson in a science methods course. The students learned about to take the helm of ASAP’s Farm to School programs in 2002 ASAP and its mission, Farm to School programs, curricular were experiences she had as a teacher in Haywood County. connections and ASAP’s resources from lesson plans to Even though Western North Carolina is home to nearly 12,000 recipes. Afterwards, five education and four nutrition students family farms, many of Jackson’s students were distanced from took part in a semester-long Farm to School professional the region’s agricultural heritage, she said. learning community. They met monthly with each other, “They were surrounded by farms, but when they talked about ASAP staff and WCU faculty to make plans for implementing gardens, they talked about mamaw and papaw, not mom and Farm to School activities in Jackson County elementary dad,” said Jackson. “If we don’t know where food comes from schools and then to share their efforts, problem-solve and have a value for fresh, whole foods, then it is harder to make and celebrate successes. choices to buy and eat fresh, healthy food. In my experience, ASAP and WCU faculty also worked with the Jackson if children grow it in the garden, they want to eat it. If they County School System and Head Start to establish Cullowhee meet the farmer, they want to eat it. If they cook it, they want Valley School and Fairview Head Start Center as “learning lab to eat it. It’s about relationships, and through Farm to School sites” where WCU volunteers could assist with and begin to take programs, we have the opportunity to help our children value on leadership roles in administering Farm to School program fresh, healthy food and live healthier lives.” activities. Participating WCU students said they were excited In addition to seeking interest from working teachers, to work with a program that offered them a way to combat nutritionists and dietitians in Farm to School programs, childhood obesity, connect them with the community and she wanted to reach professionals-in-training as early in promote environmental stewardship, and their excitement their careers as possible. To that end, she contacted Patricia propelled the project into the second phase. Bricker, associate director of WCU’s School of Teaching and With support from a three-year grant from the W.K. Kellogg Learning and an associate professor of science education, Foundation, Farm to School at WCU continued to be integrated about incorporating Farm to School into WCU students’ into health sciences and education courses, and the university coursework or activities. initiated a Farm to School fellowship program. Students “As Emily and I discussed a Farm to School partnership, I selected to serve as fellows received stipends to facilitate Farm to was excited about helping our students experience ‘outside the School programming at the learning lab sites and to coordinate box’ teaching methods and the possibilities this could bring,” volunteers from WCU in the activities. said Bricker. “I began to envision our pre-service teachers A pre-service teacher from WCU said that the potential learning, creating and leading ways to engage their students for matching the curriculum to Farm to School activities in experiential activities that could make a difference in their was strong, according to an interview excerpt included in a individual lives and in our local community.” science education book chapter that Bricker co-authored with

Fall 2015 | 23 From left, Kim Knoppel, Jackson and Russell Binkley, associate professor of social studies were tasting on his plate, cut it, touch it and sometimes try a graduate student in education. The pre-service teacher noted that Farm to School it,” said Shupe. health sciences, leads a activities could help students strengthen skills in mathematics Other ways health sciences students implemented Farm to “Growing Minds” taste through measuring, creating graphs, adding, subtracting, School ranged from coordinating healthy food taste tests at test at Cullowhee Valley analyzing data, and discussing probability and symmetry; farmers markets to applying for grants for local, healthy food School; student Blair in language arts through comparing and contrasting and programs. WCU nutrition and dietetics students and graduates Spangenberg prepares reading stories; in social studies through discussions of being have had a hand in making it possible for Women, Infants and cups of cucumber salad responsible citizens or community differences based on recipes; Children vouchers to be accepted at local farmers markets, for children at Cullowhee and in science through examining states of matter, physical procuring local foods that would be incorporated on menus and Valley School. and chemical changes, and making and testing hypotheses writing procedures for food preparation that account for local using the scientific method. foods, said Sherry Robison, WCU dietetic internship director As a Farm to School fellow, Monica Gatti ’13 MAEd ’15 and clinical coordinator for dietetic internships. hosted cooking lessons for kindergarten, first- and second- An annual workshop WCU developed with ASAP and with grade students on Fridays and with individual classes monthly support from Lenoir-Rhyne University for dietetic internship at Cullowhee Valley School. Using recipes from ASAP, Gatti students has attracted attendance from WCU, Lenoir-Rhyne would organize supplies such as blenders or ingredients University and Appalachian State University, all of which also including locally grown produce; show pictures of the farmers work with ASAP, said Robison. The workshop covers topics and their families who grew those ingredients; and discuss the such as identifying local food vendors and approaches for foods and use a recipe board so students could see and talk adjusting menus to incorporate local foods in a sustainable about the ingredients and instructions. They were given ASAP way, conducting a nutrition education event and complying recipe cards to take home. with regulations in licensed child care centers, such as not In her work as a fellow and a student teacher, Gatti also led cooking over heat. ASAP activities such as sorting locally purchased pumpkins “We see Farm to School as a way to nurture children’s minds by shape, counting the seeds inside and then baking the seeds and nurture their bodies with healthy foods and skills that will for the students to taste. In another, students picked and last a lifetime and impact future generations to come,” said then proudly used the sugar snap peas that they had grown Robison. “We want to make a strong connection and see that in a garden in the lettuce wraps they made, she said. In yet transition of information into the home. If I walk through a another, she led students in creating digital stories about their grocery store to see a young child wanting to add fruits and garden. Gatti had learned about digital storytelling in a course vegetables to the grocery cart, that’s a success.” taught by Nancy Luke, WCU assistant professor of educational technology. The stories, which featured photos and captions as RECIPE FOR SUCCESS well as writing, offered a way for students who were struggling Surveys of parents at the learning lab sites indicated that with writing or who may not be as participatory in other areas children who participated in Farm to School programs were to succeed. “It was really magical,” said Gatti. “Seeing the kids inspiring their families to try new foods. Parents said their react to the hands-on activities was a great experience, and I children came home with recipe cards, wanted to cook what they liked how it incorporated the aspect of supporting the local had enjoyed at school and urged them to buy the ingredients. community as well.” Kathryn Kantz, principal at Cullowhee Valley School, also For health sciences students, Farm to School programming said visits to the school’s salad bar, which features fresh local offered a way to promote health in a hands-on, educational way vegetables, increased during the past year. In addition, she in venues such as schools, hospitals, health departments, child said students who participated in Farm to School programs care centers and residential facilities that serve meals. Shupe, early in their educational careers seemed to be more willing who was nicknamed the “vegetable lady” by the students at to try vegetables and fruits than others. “Anecdotally, we have the preschool where she coordinated Farm to School activities, found that those students who began school at Cullowhee said she witnessed significant attitude changes in the children, Valley and had been exposed to fresh foods were more open including the boy who had cried during the crown decorating to trying new foods than those students who joined us in later activity. “He was still resistant, but he began to allow what we years,” said Kantz.

24 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University Another offshoot of the university partnership of ASAP has for Service Learning. The center will serve as an administrative WCU softball player been WCU student research. Projects have ranged from an hub for WCU’s Farm to School programs, fund associated Heather Chastain education student’s exploration of how to integrate farm field fellowships and offer additional leadership and volunteer practices making trips, nutrition, cooking and gardening into an already filled management training to the fellows, said Lane Perry, director healthy snacks. third-grade curriculum to nutrition and dietetics students’ of the Center for Service Learning. “This project was started study of whether children were more likely to try a new food if with seed funding, and what we are seeing today is that they saw a cooking demonstration first. (They were, according transformation from a sapling to a stronger oak to an oak to the findings.) tree,” said Perry. “This program fits with our mission by offering Also, the partnership led Robison to work with ASAP students a chance to help the region with a salient issue while dietician Amy Paxton-Aiken and Jackson to design Farm to learning through experiential learning, service learning and School-related activities and assignments that correspond community engagement – all while working with the people with core competencies for a nationally required 1,200-hour that they will be working with after they walk across the stage supervised practice internship for registered dieticians. For at commencement.” instance, for the “analyzing financial data to assess utilization of resources” competency, students could compare the cost of a standardized recipe to the cost using locally produced foods. For “developing and evaluating recipes and menus that accommodate the cultural diversity and health needs of a group or individual,” interns could adapt a recipe to replace an ingredient with a local food item and conduct a taste test to evaluate how well the adapted dish would be accepted. Robison shared information about the initiative at a national Food and Nutrition Expo held in with 75 faculty members and students from institutions as far away as Washington. She also shared the work at a Southeastern Obesity Summit held in Nashville. Meanwhile, the model for incorporating Farm to School in university settings emerged. Components include hosting local and Farm to School training tailored for specific university student groups; incorporating Farm to School experiences into class presentations, research projects and service-learning requirements; offering paid, part-time positions or fellowships for Farm to School programs in which students gain leadership experience; establishing learning labs at schools, tailgate markets, health facilities or other locations where university students can regularly participate in Farm to School activities; and offering resources such as a library of children’s books, curriculum guides, cooking kits, recipe cards, stickers and stipends for cooking demonstrations, taste tests, farm field trips and farmer and chef classroom visits. Jackson also said their experience suggests a higher success rate for Farm to School programs when faculty members and students are able to go to a farm and make a personal as well as professional connection with local farmers. “ASAP has all kinds of local food stories, but the faculty member and the students need to have their own stories to share,” she said. Another key is leaving room for college students to bring their own ideas and initiative to the program. When students were charged only with finding a way to incorporate Farm to School in their student teaching or internship sites and then reporting what did and did not work, “it was marvelous to see how excited they were,” said Jackson. “It is important for the students to be able to pioneer rather than just walk into a classroom where food is already purchased, cut up and prepped for the activity.” Bricker said she and others at WCU are proud to be part of an initiative that brought together multiple partners with multiple goals in a common project. “There is a lot of value when we are able to come together and pool our expertise and resources to address a range of needs in a way that has a positive impact in the community,” she said. Now with a model developed, WCU will build on the foundation and continue to feature Farm to School components in courses while increasing the involvement of WCU’s Center

Fall 2015 | 25 BUILDING RAPPORT

By BILL STUDENC MPA ’10

Several major construction projects are in the works or on the drawing boards for the coming years

Workers demolish the old When images by WCU photographer facility that will rise like the mythical at press time, legislators were debating a commercial strip in the Mark Haskett ’87 of the demolition of phoenix from the ashes of the past. possible statewide bond referendum that center of campus after Bob’s Mini-Mart and other businesses in Construction of a mixed-used facility could result in as much as $115 million a November 2013 fire the center of campus hit the university’s on the site of the much-loved mini-mart for a new science building at WCU. “It is damaged three businesses Facebook page this summer, they is just one of a handful of projects in not outside the realm of possibility that located there. prompted a huge outpouring of nostalgia the works or on the drawing board for we could be in the midst of four major and expressions of concern for the store’s WCU in the coming years. A $22.5 construction projects in the next year or namesake, Bob Hooper, and other million renovation of Brown Cafeteria two,” said Chancellor David O. Belcher. business owners. Many alumni called is in the early stages of work, while Although construction of a it “the end of an era” and lamented the university officials in late spring selected MIXED-USE FACILITY to replace loss of an iconic part of campus, while a developer to build a medical office the commercial strip along Centennial others said they were looking forward building adjacent to the Health and Drive has been an element of the to the new commercial and residential Human Sciences Building. Meanwhile, university’s master plan, it was originally

26 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University envisioned as a project that would not year, you give students a nice change of ’78 MBA ’80 MPA ’91, executive see the light of day for several years. pace in terms of their eating options.” director of millennial initiatives. But then a November 2013 fire severely Work on the project is now slated to In the meantime, university officials damaged three restaurants on the begin in spring 2016. When completed, are seeking support for state funding ground floor of the two-story structure the renovated Brown Building will be for a new facility that would replace that had been the site of The Townhouse home to food services and dining spaces, WCU’s existing NATURAL SCIENCES restaurant, a popular gathering spot plus residential living administration BUILDING, which was originally built for students from the 1940s until the offices. The structure will feature in the 1970s and is no longer considered mid-1980s. University officials weighed a new facade that faces toward the suitable for science education. In the numerous options concerning what to center of campus and a large outdoor spring, N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory included do with the property, owned by the dining area. Together, the Brown and funding for the building in his “Connect Endowment Fund of Western Carolina mixed-used facility projects will result NC” bond proposal that would include University, before finally determining in “transformative building” that will $504 million for the University of North that demolition of the fire-damaged enhance the appearance of center Carolina system. The $114.9 million structure and adjacent buildings, campus, said Byers. proposed for WCU would be used to including Bob’s Mini-Mart, followed Across N.C. Highway 107, work is replace a building constructed when the by construction of a new mixed-used expected to get underway in early 2016 university had only 15 nursing majors and no engineering majors. Today, WCU “It is not outside the realm of possibility has about 2,300 students in health that we could be in the midst of four major and human sciences programs, nearly 600 construction projects in the next year or two.” in technology and engineering programs, – Chancellor David O. Belcher and about 500 in biological and physical science programs. facility, was the most cost-effective step. on a MEDICAL OFFICE BUILDING, McCrory visited campus in May seeking The 120,000-square-foot replacement which will be the first privately support for the proposal, which must will be a mix of residential units and developed structure to be built at WCU be endorsed by the General Assembly commercial and dining establishments as part of the Millennial Initiative. A in order to be placed on the ballot for on the ground floor, with residential comprehensive regional economic consideration by voters statewide. spaces on the upper floors. It is expected development strategy, the Millennial A final campus project will result in to contain a total of about 420 beds, Initiative is designed to enable the the demolition of a 35-unit FACULTY- which will help meet housing needs university to engage in public-private STAFF APARTMENT COMPLEX related to increasing student enrollment partnerships that enhance educational that has provided short-term housing and enable the university to begin to opportunities for students and increase opportunities for WCU employees since renovate older residence halls, said the ability of faculty to conduct the 1960s. Located off Long Branch Mike Byers, WCU vice chancellor for research, while also promoting regional Road across from the main campus, An architect’s administration and finance. Owners development. When completed in early the complex will be leveled and replaced rendering provides of businesses located in the commercial 2017, the building should encompass at by a parking lot to help alleviate the a preview of what strip have the right of first refusal to least 30,000 square feet of space that will anticipated parking crunch expected to a new mixed-use seek space in the new building, said be home to a mix of offices for health accompany the addition of more than facility may look like Mary Ann Lochner, university general care professionals and space for health- 400 beds to the university’s inventory of when the project is counsel. Target completion date is related businesses, said Tony Johnson student housing in fall 2016. completed in 2016. August 2016. Just around the corner, BROWN BUILDING will undergo a major Credit: McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture facelift and expansion to include the addition of 25,000 square feet of space to its existing 30,000 square feet. The 53-year-old building was originally used as a cafeteria, but dining operations moved out in 2010 when the university opened Courtyard Dining Hall. The original plan called for the project to be completed by the opening of the fall 2016 semester, but delays have pushed that timeline back to spring 2017. “Unlike a housing facility, which you can open only in August, you can open a dining facility mid-year,” Byers said. “In fact, when you open a dining facility mid-

Fall 2015 | 27 GRANTING HOPE

When high school students in A 60 percent surge in external Haywood County captured stream samples and tested the water quality, funding to the university enhances they learned more than research skills. They learned that science can be fun education, research and programs and that it matters, says Sue Miller, a teacher at Tuscola High School. “The for the benefit of the community, more advanced students delved deeper into water quality issues such as flood region and state frequency and prediction, which leads to land-use planning in their local By TERESA KILLIAN TATE community,” said Miller. The water

28 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University quality research program was developed with colleagues such as husband Jerry Miller, WCU’s Whitmire Distinguished Professor of Environmental Science, and supported with grants including $11,000 from the Pigeon River Fund. The grant was one of 32 external awards to WCU faculty and staff and their collaborators during fiscal year 2014 – a year when total awards across the institution climbed 60.1 percent, from $3.4 million to $5.5 million. Funded projects helped enhance education, address community needs and expand research. They included Cherokee language revitalization efforts, DNA sequencing technology research, a study of controlled burns and forest restoration, programming for literary and heritage festivals, leadership training for youth and aspiring regional leaders, and regional education conferences. They also included support for undergraduate research, engineering students, and development of a campus learning community committed to helping students identify what they love about the world and being the change for a research services coordinator to program is almost entirely self-funded, Grant funded projects they want to see in it. support funding searches for faculty and grants are crucial to supporting PSDS at WCU in the past year have varied from DNA “The more external funding our staff. Moshier said the team helps with staff as well as faculty and students as research (facing page) faculty and staff are able to secure, the everything from identifying funding they examine the scientific basis for to an iron pour (above) better able they are to actively improve opportunities, developing concepts managing developed shorelines. They as part of an exhibit education, explore ideas through and navigating proposal submission use the data to assist decision-makers in to assisting with compliance reports, adopting responsible strategies, plans, about contemporary research and support programs that cast iron art. benefit our community and region, and has launched multiple programs policies and actions that promote the and a 60 percent increase in funding is to encourage more faculty and staff long-term sustainability of the coastal a particularly admirable achievement to apply for external funding. The economy and ecosystems. in light of the increasingly fierce research office collaborated with Coulter Judy Neubrander, director of the competition for funding,” said Mimi Faculty Commons to host workshops School of Nursing, said the ability to Fenton, who recently stepped down and training, and with Hunter Library win larger grants can be enhanced with as dean of the Graduate School and to acquire the Foundation Center experience with smaller grants. “Grant Research and the university’s chief Directory and InfoEd SPIN database reviewers like to see that you can not research officer. of funding opportunities. A mentorship only write a grant but also implement WCU faculty and staff who applied program that matches faculty and it. They want to see you are successful,” for grants credited increased support staff members who have little grant said Neubrander, who successfully has from the university’s Office of Research experience with mentors continued written several multimillion dollar Administration for helping them in its second year with eight new grants to enhance nursing education, succeed. Fenton said the vision and participants. Events such as a grant and related regional partnerships and mission of the office was transformed to writers’ reception celebrated faculty programs. Her most recent award of focus on providing outstanding support and staff who submitted proposals, more than $1 million supports a three- for those seeking external funding, and the office created and offered a year partnership to improve the diversity while continuing to assure institutional number of grantsmanship workshops and quality of nursing professionals in compliance and research integrity. “We for faculty and staff. In addition, a new the region. are committed to providing support sponsored research council reviewed Although the process of applying for for activities at all levels,” said Fenton. standard operating procedures in the grants can require a month or more of The office also underwent significant office and helped develop the process solid work outside of assigned duties, restructuring and now includes a for an internal grants program. the results are extremely rewarding, said permanent director of sponsored The service the Office of Research David Westling, WCU’s Adelaide Worth research, Andrea Moshier; a research Administration offers now is perhaps Daniels Distinguished Professor of protections officer, Erin Burnside; a the best it has ever been, said Rob Young, Special Education. Westling has worked grants manager/proposal development director of the WCU Program for the with co-principal investigators to secure specialist, Alison Krauss ’03; and a Study of Developed Shorelines, which about $6 million in grant funding research designer/methodologist, Yanju has been awarded more than $6 million during his time at WCU. Funded Li. A search was underway in the spring in grant funding since 2007. Because the initiatives have included a multimillion

Fall 2015 | 29 dollar program to help young adults the United Kingdom, and a public forerunner of all modern technology,” with intellectual disabilities attend and iron pour held in conjunction at the said Muth. “Spectators were able to succeed in college. “Grants enable you Jackson County Green Energy Park appreciate the skills of the artists and to make a contribution to your own gave community members the chance the incredible detail of their finished academic life, and to the community, to see how iron artwork is made. Timm castings while watching fiery grouts of the state and society,” said Westling. Muth, director of the Green Energy Park molten iron splash into the molds.” For instance, Denise Drury, director and a student in WCU’s engineering Meanwhile, grants enable Peter Bates, of WCU’s Fine Art Museum, said a technology graduate program, said associate professor of natural resource $5,000 grant from the North Carolina participants included about four dozen conservation and management, to involve Rob Young (at left) Arts Council helped bring an exhibit artists from North Carolina, Kentucky, WCU students in long-term research guides students in and program to Western North Carolina Tennessee and Georgia, and 75 visitors. evaluating the effects of prescribed studying the impact that the museum would not have been “The iron pour event introduced burning in Tennessee, Georgia, North that rising sea levels able to host. “Iron Maidens: Women many local community members to Carolina and South Carolina. may have on coastal of Contemporary Cast Iron” featured the ancient art of foundry work – the “During the last few decades, land communities. the work of artists from America and oldest metallurgical technique and the managers have realized that fire was a much more important component of our Southern Appalachian forest ecosystems than previously thought,” said Bates, who won a $22,000 grant from the U.S. Forest Service to study the effects of fire in forest communities. “A lot of plant species evolved with periodic fires and require the conditions created by fires to survive. Our success at preventing forest fires, starting with the Smokey the Bear campaign, has allowed non fire-dependent species such as birches, maples and beech trees to replace fire- dependent species such as oaks and hickories in many areas. Non fire- dependent species create completely different forest communities. The goal of land managers and conservation groups is to restore fire-adapted forest communities with most of their associated flora and fauna.” Fiscal year 2014 awards also included funds from a three-year, $250,000 grant for a project involving WCU’s Hunter Library and Anna Fariello, associate professor of digital initiatives at the library, titled “Great Smoky Mountains: A Park for America.” The initiative will yield a collection of 7,000 digital items in collaboration with Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Western Office of N.C. Archives and History. John McDade, museum curator for the park, said the digital collection will allow people who are not able to visit a park visitor center or park archives an opportunity to learn about the park and the region’s history. “This project is valuable because it makes our museum collections more accessible to a wider audience,” said McDade. Darcy Orr, art editor for “Wayfaring Strangers: The Musical Voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia,” said digital collections such as those at Hunter Library improve the quality of the work she is able to do. In a digital collection created with a previous grant Fariello won, Orr found an image she

30 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University needed for “Wayfaring Strangers” of Hallmarks of the resulting Scholarship To encourage more WCU faculty and Tom Belt helps keep the Olive Dame Campbell, author of a book Program Initiative via Recruitment, staff to invest their time and resources Cherokee language alive about mountain ballads. “I searched Innovation and Transformation (or in seeking external funding, Provost through grant funding the Western Carolina online collection SPIRIT) program include undergraduate Alison Morrison-Shetlar made $50,000 from the Cherokee and found a beautiful portrait by research and working as part of a diverse available at the end of the 2014 fiscal Preservation Foundation. photographer Doris Ulmann of Mrs. team that brainstorms solutions to year for seed grants of up to $10,000 Campbell,” said Orr. “Access to these address the needs of real organizations each, and those were directed to seven historic photographs, illustrations and and people, and then constructs and projects across multiple disciplines. documents is important to researchers tests devices and systems in response to Another $100,000 from the offices of the and writers. Digital access allows the them. “Communications and teamwork chancellor and provost provided seed research to be more thorough and are important to the SPIRIT scholars certainly easier and cost-effective. The funding during the 2015 fiscal year for as they meet and work with the people time and expenses needed to physically 11 grants that, again, spanned academic and organizations they serve through search museum and library archives in disciplines. For the 2015 fiscal year, the their projects,” said Ferguson. “Each all parts of the world would have been chancellor and provost increased their SPIRIT project must be sensitive to prohibitive and would absolutely have support of the program to $150,000. environmental, social and cultural had a negative impact on the visual Meanwhile, external grant aspects of its intended use.” history in the book.” application submissions from WCU Today, the SPIRIT program is serving Another crucial contributor to recent halfway through the year were up almost students such as Dustin Burgess, grants success at WCU was persistence. 20 percent -- from 31 to 37 – during the who changed his major twice before Landing $625,000 from the National 2015 fiscal year, and Moshier said the Science Foundation for a program to choosing engineering. Burgess said the more than three dozen proposals still encourage more students to pursue program helped him gain confidence under consideration toward the end of careers in engineering took several that engineering was the right fit for the year offered great diversity in size years, said Chip Ferguson EdD ’08, him when, as a freshman, he worked and scope. associate dean of the Kimmel School with a faculty member to build a of Construction Management and hovercraft prototype using balsa wood, “There are multi-year proposals to Technology and associate professor aluminum foil, wires and high voltage – federal agencies with requests ranging of engineering and technology. an experience that left him confident he from several hundred thousand Recognizing the need for more could succeed in the field. “One-on-one dollars to the millions, and there are engineers in WNC, Ferguson worked experience working with a professional smaller proposals to national and local with collaborators on the project to doing research, which most students foundations,” said Moshier. “In this revise the proposal based on reviewers’ don’t get until upper level classes, gives competitive funding environment, all feedback through several funding cycles. me an edge,” said Burgess. achievements are remarkable.”

Fall 2015 | 31 Grants awarded to faculty and staff in just one year – fiscal year 2014 – supported a variety of research and programming to enhance student learning and meet needs in the community. WCU’s Office of Research Administration helped faculty and staff secure external funds to support:

Students and placement of engineering technology students. Funded As a teaching-centered, regional university, WCU prioritizes by the National Science Foundation. the needs of its students in pedagogy, in service and in “Fostering Tomorrow’s Advanced Manufacturing Engineers: sponsored research. Efforts to improve accessibility and quality A University, Community Colleges and Industry Collaborative of education include: Initiative” – $500,000 to James Zhang, Kimmel School, to “WCU Spring Literary Festival” – $7,000 to Pamela Duncan, support Kimmel School partnership program. Funded by the English, to support annual event that brings local, American Golden Leaf Foundation. and internationally renowned authors to WCU to present to “Bringing Theory to Practice – The Ripple Effect: A students and members of the community. Funded by the North Thematic Interdisciplinary Design for Engaged Learning and Carolina Arts Council. Community Involvement” – $7,000 to Lane Perry, Center for “SMURCHOM VII: The Seventh Smoky Mountain Service Learning, for programming to help students identify Undergraduate Research Conference on the History of what they love about the world and be the change they want Mathematics” – $1,600 to Sloan Despeaux, Mathematics and to see in it. Funded by the Association of American Colleges Computer Science, to support event that enables students from and Universities. across the region to discuss their mathematics research. Funded “NCCAT’s Beginning Teachers Sustainability Project” by the Mathematical Association of America. – $45,000 to Laura Cruz, Coulter Faculty Commons, for “North Carolina Ready for Success Application Supporting development of a series of training modules to help new Alignment for Student Success Mini-Grant: WNC P-16 teachers. Funded by the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation via Education Consortium” – $9,000 to Dale Carpenter, College the N.C. Center for the Advancement of Teaching. of Education and Allied Professions, for conference in which “2014 Problem Gambling Outreach/Prevention/Awareness teams of prekindergarten to higher education faculty discussed Plan” – $5,000 to Margaret Basehart, Student Community implementing Common Core standards in mathematics. Ethics, to create programs that raise awareness of problem Funded by the N.C. Ready for Success. gambling and alcohol use. Funded by the North Carolina “Transitioning to Success: A Model to Facilitate Achievement Department of Health and Human Services. by Young Adults with Intellectual Disabilities” – $225,000 “WCU GEAR UP Day” – $1,944 to Mark Anderson, to Kelly Kelley ’03 MAEd ’06, School of Teaching and Admissions, for a “Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Learning, to develop transition models and improve post- Undergraduate Program” that brings seventh- and eighth-grade school opportunities. Funded by the N.C. Department of students to the WCU campus. Funded by the U.S. Department Developmental Disabilities. of Education via UNC General Administration. “Iron Maidens: Women of Contemporary Cast Iron” – “Student Mentor Program” – $5,000 to Todd Murdock $5,000 to Denise Drury, Fine Art Museum, for exhibit and ’85 MAEd ’93, Project Discovery, to hire WCU students who programming. Funded by the North Carolina Arts Council. attended Swain or Robbinsville high schools to serve as mentors “Western North Carolina Nursing Career Network” – for students at those schools and support them in the college $349,305 to Judy Neubrander, School of Nursing, to help application process. Funded by the Appalachian Regional students from underserved and disadvantaged populations Commission via Appalachian State University. enter nursing programs. Funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration. Regional Business and State Economy “2013 WCU NAT GRANT” – $13,791 to Shawn Collins, WCU’s “2020 Vision: Focusing Our Future” strategic plan School of Nursing, to support WCU student nurse anesthetists. commits the institution to supporting regional businesses, Funded by Health Resources and Services Administration. industries and economic development efforts. To that end, “The SPIRIT: Scholarship Program Initiative via external funds secured by WCU faculty and staff have included: Recruitment, Innovation and Transformation” – $625,179 to “North Carolina Agricultural Mediation Program FY 2014” Chip Ferguson EdD ’08, Engineering and Technology, for – $95,844 to Jayne Zanglein, Business Law, Hospitality and program to enhance the recruitment, retention, education Sport Management, for a program that serves U.S. Department

32 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University of Agriculture customers. Funded by the USDA. “Western North Carolina Leadership Initiative” – $228,516 From left, grants to “2014 Faculty Liaison” – $7,000 to Robert Carton, to Laura Cruz, Coulter Faculty Commons, for a youth program WCU during the 2014 Entrepreneurship and Innovation, to fund faculty and student based on Cherokee values and leadership traditions and a fiscal year are funding travel and supplies for work to assist businesses. Funded by program for adults focused on solving regional problems. projects to help increase the N.C. Small Business and Technology Development Center. Funded by the Cherokee Preservation Foundation. diversity in the nursing “Free Enterprise Educational Activities at WCU” – $12,000 “Duyudvi Cherokee Second Language Learner Project” profession; digitize photographs from Great to Stephen Miller, Accounting, Finance, Information Systems – $2,500 to Juanita Wilson ’02, Educational Outreach, for Smoky Mountains and Economics, for activities such as a guest speaker series and initiatives including distribution of Cherokee language compact National Park and the student travel to academic meetings. Funded by the Charles discs to enrolled members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee G. Koch Charitable Foundation. Western Office of N.C. Indians. Funded by the Sacred Fire Foundation. Archives and History; “Small Business and Technology Development Center” – “African Americans in Western North Carolina” – $750 to $515,773 to Wendy Cagle ’86 MBA ’95, SBTDC, to provide provide collegiate Scott Philyaw ’83, Mountain Heritage Center, for work with Western North Carolina entrepreneurs and business owners experiences to young a study of the long-term impacts of the removal of AME Zion assistance with counseling, interest rebates and loans, financial adults with learning church and cemetery from WCU’s campus, an oral history planning, Energy Efficiency and Clean Technology advising disabilities; and develop project of the black community in Haywood County and meaningful service- and hurricane recovery resources. Funded by the N.C. Small Business and Technology Development Center. commemoration of the death of 19 black convict laborers. learning activities Funded by the North Carolina Humanities Council. for students. “Mountain Heritage Day programming support” – Community $1,100 to Peter Koch, Mountain Heritage Center, to enable Grants help WCU faculty, staff and students enhance the work demonstrations by traditional craftspeople in areas such as they do with regional partners in response to community needs: blacksmithing, Cherokee pottery, weaving and spinning, and “Cherokee Language Revitalization 8th Year” - $74,617 furniture making at a free annual heritage festival held at WCU. to Hartwell Francis, Cherokee Studies, for development of Funded by the Jackson County Arts Council. Cherokee language learning tools. Funded by the Cherokee Preservation Foundation. “31JK12 Pottery Analyses” - $5,500 to Jane Eastman, Earth Anthropology and Sociology, to analyze pottery shards from The mountains of WNC that are home to WCU attract archaeological excavations in Jackson County. Funded by the thousands of tourists annually and contribute to an ambiance Louis Berger Group Inc. at WCU that Chancellor David O. Belcher dubs “a little slice “Assessing Sample Preparation Methods and Emerging of heaven.” A commitment to protecting and understanding DNA Sequencing Technologies for Human Forensic mtDNA the environment so crucial to the economy and the quality of Analysis” – $717,768 to Mark Wilson, Chemistry and Physics, life in the region motivates involvement with projects such as: to evaluate emerging methods of DNA sequence analysis in “Faculty and Student Training in the Collection and connection with forensic casework. Funded by the National Interpretation of Water Quality Data” – $11,317 to Jerry Miller, Institute of Justice. Geosciences and Natural Resources, for work with teachers “Rural Healthy Aging Research Network” – $84,950 to and development of hands-on learning experiences for high Turner Goins, Social Work, to continue research on disparities school students. Funded by the Pigeon River Fund. in health and health promotion among rural older adults. “Prescribed Fire Effects in Oak-Hickory, Yellow Pine and Funded by Center for Disease Control via West Virginia High Elevation Red Oak Communities in the Southeastern University. United States” – $22,000 to Peter Bates, Geosciences and “Get Smart(er): Engaging 21st Century Teachers and Learners using Interactive Whiteboards” – $18,193 to Elizabeth Natural Resources, to expand research of forest restoration McDonough, Hunter Library, to provide whiteboard technology at burn sites. Funded by the U.S. Forest Service. access to pre-service teachers and professional development to “Grassroots FY 2013-2014 Grant for Highlands Nature teaching librarians and teaching faculty. Funded by the North Center, Highlands Biological Station” – $62,816 to Karen Kandl, Carolina Library Services and Technology Act. Highlands Biological Station, for educational programming, “Great Smoky Mountains: A Park for America” – $93,314 exhibits, staff and operations. Funded by the Highlands to Anna Fariello, Hunter Library, to design a collection of Biological Foundation. 6,000 digital items through a library collaboration with Great “Climate Change Facilities Adaptation Support” – $136,000 Smoky Mountains National Park and the Western Office of to Robert Young, Program for the Study of Developed N.C Archives and History. Funded by the North Carolina Shorelines, to develop tools that support the Climate Friendly State Library. Parks program. Funded by the National Park Service.

Fall 2015 | 33 GIVING BACK TO THE EARTH

“There’s fear about it because it reminds us of our mortality, but decomposition is crucial to our existence.” –Katrina Spade, Urban Death Project founder

34 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University WCU researchers are helping test the Urban Death Project’s new option beyond traditional burial and cremation By MARLA HARDEE MILLING

It almost has shades of the opening of a mystery novel, said. “I think there are people out there who want another something like Patricia Cornwell’s 1994 “Body Farm”: A woman option to being burned or put in the ground. I think it would cold-calls a forensic anthropologist and says “I need your help be great if people accepted it.” with a project. It’s about composting humans.” “I don’t want to convince anyone,” said Spade. “It’s just about But this isn’t a mystery novel, and the caller, Katrina Spade of providing another option. It’s about people thinking about the Seattle, was dead serious when she solicited the help of Western options and the fact that we’re all going to die. We really do Carolina University’s Cheryl Johnston, who serves as director live better if we are aware of our own mortality, and it’s good of the Forensic Osteology Research Station (FOReSt) and as for our friends and family to know how we want the end of an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology our lives to be. We’re just beginning as a culture to getting and Sociology. around to talking about it.” “We started talking in October 2014, and I knew right away Setting a Research Plan in Action that Cheryl has expertise in human decomposition,” said Spade. There currently are two bodies being studied for the project at “She was really excited about the project.” Spade is founder the FOReSt, which is one of only six such human decomposition and director of the Urban Death Project. Her goal is to create facilities in the country. The wooded area situated close to a viable alternative to burial and cremation that will provide a campus has what Johnston calls “pretty serious fencing,” with more natural way to dispose of human bodies and allow them razor wire and wooden privacy walls. “We can put a body in to give back to the earth. the wood chips and animals can’t get to it,” said Johnston. “We With a background in architecture and anthropology, Spade can control for things that would happen outside the fence.” envisions creating a three-story compost-based renewal system As for how the Urban Death Project research on campus where bodies would gently decompose and leave behind rich began, “sometimes events just start coming together,” Johnston compost. She hopes to break ground on the first center of this said. “I was in the Leadership Academy here at Western and type by 2020 in Seattle and then provide a tool kit to help cities talked with Lauren Bishop, the director of sustainability and and towns create facilities of their own. energy management. She has access to all the wood chips taken A Kickstarter campaign for the Urban Death Project ended from trees on campus. I had a ready source of wood chips, and in May and resulted in more than $91,000 in donations from they were all free.” 1,218 supporters. That money doesn’t go to the building of a Johnston received the first body in February and the second facility, but will be used at this point to fund additional design in March. Both were placed in wood chips, but the researchers and engineering. have added alfalfa pellets and water to the second body after Spade envisions providing a center that will be respectful of consulting with Lynne Carpenter-Boggs, a soil scientist at the ritual of those in mourning. Friends and family would be Washington State University who has studied using composting able to carry the shrouded body of their loved one to the top to dispose of the bodies of livestock and other animals. of the three-story structure that Spade calls “the core.” During a “laying-in ceremony,” the body would be placed inside and would gradually move down as the process reduces the body to compost, which survivors could possibly use to plant a tree. While it may be uncomfortable to confront thoughts of death, and equally distressing to think about the ultimate deterioration of human bodies, it is a 100 percent truth that everyone is going to die. “The fact is, we are existing because of decomposition,” said Spade. “There’s fear about it because it reminds us of our mortality, but decomposition is crucial to our existence.” Composting remains is not a new idea. Some farmers already are composting livestock. But is this an appropriate alternative for human bodies? That’s where Johnston’s research comes into play. “We’re starting out simply by putting human remains in a pile of wood chips at the FOReSt to see how long it takes to decompose,” said Johnston. “We’ll see what the resulting material looks like at the end of the process. We also need to find out if it would be a biohazard and whether it’s safe to spread on a garden or a field.” Johnston sees Spade’s plan as a better alternative to burials or cremation. “It’s not burning fossil fuels, not taking up landscape or putting chemicals into the environment,” she

Image courtesy of the Urban Death Project with the ultimate goal of working in a medical examiner’s office, hopefully in Seattle. “The program at Western is really a hidden gem in the UNC system,” he said. “The opportunities that are available are a dream come true at the undergraduate level. It’s really a special thing.” Human Remains Recovery While the research for the Urban Death Project is ongoing, Johnston’s work at WCU also focuses on human remains recovery and training of cadaver dogs. In a monthlong field school each summer, she teaches “Field Recovery of Human Remains” (Anthropology 486), and also a weeklong summer class called “Surface Recovery of Human Skeletal Remains.” This type of training prepares forensic anthropology students for future work as consultants in forensic investigations, she said. “They learn how to recover remains systematically and to create proper documentation of the process so that they could defend their interpretations in court,” Johnston said. Johnston grew up in Asheville and graduated from Asheville High School before heading to N.C. State University in Raleigh where she earned bachelor’s degrees in biological sciences and psychology, followed by a master’s degree and doctorate in anthropology at the Ohio State University. She worked in a variety of teaching roles before joining the WCU faculty in 2005 and has earned recognition as one of three board- certified forensic anthropologists in the state, and one of only 72 in the country. While in Ohio, she was called in on numerous cases to retrieve human remains. She continues to consult, but says there are few cases in the Cullowhee area. Some of her more memorable cases in Ohio involved bodies that had been buried in basements. “A lot of houses in Columbus, Ohio, are American four squares. They have four rooms downstairs and four rooms upstairs. Earlier in the 20th century, they were very common and Sears sold them as kits from which they could be built,” she said. “A lot of those houses have a room in the basement for coal storage. Those rooms often don’t have concrete floors. Instead, they have dirt floors. In two cases, we recovered Cheryl Johnston (left) “We took a peek at the one that’s been out since February, remains buried in the dirt floor.” and Lucas Rolleri ’14 and there’s still a lot of soft tissue,” said Johnston. “The other For the cadaver dog training Johnston offers, each two-and- monitor progress on a one may be a little farther along. When we start setting up a a-half day session runs twice in the spring and once in the fall. decomposition study at system like Katrina has in mind, we’ll find ways to accelerate The popular training sessions have attracted dog handlers the FOReSt facility. the process. With cows and horses, it’s a matter of weeks.” from all over the United State and Canada, and even from as During the spring and summer, Lucas Rolleri ’14 was the far away as Croatia. only WCU student involved in the project, but Johnston hopes “The dogs have been training in the FOReSt with the to get grant money to hire additional students. Rolleri received remains that are on the surface,” she said. “If you want to a degree in anthropology with a concentration in forensic find a decomposing human, you have to train the dogs with anthropology from WCU in December 2014 and is enrolled in decomposing human tissue, which is hard to come by. Having a master’s degree program at Southern Illinois University that access to whole body decomposition is very important to the starts in August. Originally from Cary, he spent his first two dog handlers.” Most of the dogs’ handlers are not taking part in years of college at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro the training as part of their job, she said. “It’s a second calling, and then transferred to Western Carolina. so they aren’t paid to do it. Some are retired law enforcement “Learning from two board-certified forensic anthropologists and some are people who got involved in other ways, such as is more than any student could ask for,” said Rolleri. “It was an being private investigators,” Johnston said. amazing opportunity, and really cool that Dr. Johnston was Johnston also usually offers a bone identification class for dog open to undergraduate research. I could go into her office and handlers. “They often are the first people who are going to see say, ‘Hey, I have this idea,’ and she helped facilitate it.” a bone in the field, and it’s a good idea for them to know what His work at the FOReSt included taking temperatures of the it is that they’re looking at,” she said. Johnston recommends wood chips that surround the bodies. “The one that also has a the cadaver dog training Facebook page as a great resource layer of alfalfa looked like it was reaching higher temperatures. for those seeking additional information. It may be accessed The goal is to find the best, most efficient ways to compost at www.facebook.com/wcucadaverdog. humans,” he said. Future Study After earning his master’s degree, Rolleri plans to pursue his Training as a forensic anthropologist requires having access doctorate and board certification as a forensic anthropologist to multiple sets of human remains to study. While Johnston

36 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University says the research for Spade’s Urban Death Project includes Johnston is open to hearing from those who are considering In addition to the finding a way to decompose the whole body, including bones, donating their bodies for research at WCU, but she cautions ongoing Urban Death Johnston hopes that some people will want to donate their that because of the demands of her research and teaching Project study, WCU’s skeletal remains to WCU and other educational institutions schedule, potential donors may not get an immediate reply. forensic anthropology for forensic anthropology research and education after the soft She’s hopeful she can enlist the help of students to expedite program also offers tissue is reduced to compost. the process of replying to donation inquiries. Those who are cadaver dog training, in “I hope something can be set up like that so our students interested in discussing the possibility can reach her by email collaboration with the have access to the skeletal remains,” she said. “It’s critical in at: [email protected]. university’s Division of this field to see a wide range of human skeletal variation. I Educational Outreach. Marla Hardee Milling is a freelance writer and editor who hope there will be an option so that if someone wants to be lives in Asheville. part of human remains research, they can.”

Image courtesy of the Urban Death Project

Fall 2015 | 37 alumni SPOTLIGHT

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT David Joy rose from the ashes to complete his first novel, and has two more on the way By RANDALL HOLCOMBE

David Joy ’07 MA A perilous momentum toward destruction haunts the lives reality is that while I’m just not talented enough to get it right ’09 is earning rave of the central characters in the novels penned by David Joy the first time, I’ve never been scared of work.” reviews for his debut ’07 MA ’09. The protagonist Joy created for “Where All Light Regardless of his literary self-assessment, the publication novel, “Where All Tends To Go,” his first novel, is the son of a meth-making father of “Where All Light Tends To Go” prompted a series of rosy Light Tends To Go.” and drug addict mother who is trying to break away from the reviews from critics nationwide who hailed it as a top-notch chains of his family’s violent legacy. Joy’s second novel, “The work. A reviewer for The New York Times Book Review called Weight Of This World,” is finished and will be published in it a “remarkable first novel.” The Huffington Post said it is a 2016. It tells the story of a veteran of the war in Afghanistan “savagely moving novel that will likely become an important and his associates as they witness the accidental death of their addition to the great body of Southern literature.” drug dealer and attempt to climb their way out of the abyss. A Charlotte native, Joy moved to Western North Carolina Joy says the depravity faced by his fictional characters is a when he was 18 and earned his bachelor’s degree in English far cry from his own experience as the son of loving and law- literature and his master’s in professional writing at Western abiding parents. But as a writer, he has looked destruction in Carolina University. Ron Rash, Pamela Duncan and the eye, and survived. During the writing of “Where All Light Deidre Elliott were his mentors in the university’s English Tends To Go,” published last March by G.P. Putnam & Sons, department. Elliott, now retired, coached him in producing Joy was faced at one point with the realization that he “had nonfiction, a process that resulted in Joy’s first book, the 2011 gotten the narrator’s voice wrong.” So he set fire to about 200 memoir “Growing Gills: A Fly Fisherman’s Journey.” “David pages of his work. “I can remember as I stared at that pile of continues to hone his craft, he reads a lot of work by successful ashes feeling as lonely as I’ve ever felt in my life,” he wrote later authors, and he has landed a terrific agent,” Elliott said. “He on his blog. Then, in his eighth month of working on “The continues to challenge himself to write the truth about life in Weight Of This World,” Joy again was compelled to destroy the modern South.” his creation – this time 100 pages. “Any writer who has spent As spring rolled into summer, Joy, who lives along the banks a great deal of time with a story has reached a place where a of the Tuckaseigee River a few miles downstream from WCU, mistake has been made and there’s just no way to fix it,” he learned that Putnam has agreed to publish his third novel, a said. “I do that a lot because I’m just not a quick study. The work in progress tentatively titled “The Line That Held Us.”

38 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University Photo by 828 Images, LLC Bellamy, who returned to college Terry Bellamy for her master’s degree in public affairs MPA ’14 and is now working on a doctorate in continues her educational leadership at WCU, says career of that opening doors to education is one public service. of her goals in her new job. She wants to develop policies that will lead to more educational opportunities for public housing residents, especially those who have intellectual disabilities. Bellamy was 33 years old when she was elected to her first term in 2005, becoming North Carolina’s youngest mayor and Asheville’s first African-American mayor. Voters re- elected her for another term in 2009. During eight years of municipal leadership, she focused on reducing homelessness, improving the city’s water system, creating new job training programs, upgrading community centers and developing Asheville’s economy by attracting new and expanded businesses, including New Belgium Brewing Company. Bellamy was still serving as mayor when she went back to school for her master’s degree at WCU. At the time, she also was executive director of ARC of Buncombe County, a service organization that assists people with intellectual disabilities. All of her classes, except for three online courses, were held at WCU’s Biltmore Park instructional site. “One reason for going back to school was that I had been working for many years on the side that approves public policy, and I thought it would be great to learn more about where it all begins, how to create policy and how to do that in a way that would be sustainable,” she said. Although juggling her active life of community work, career and family PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE responsibilities was challenging, Bellamy finished the program in Asheville’s former mayor is now focusing her two years. She made top grades and attention on the issue of affordable housing was inducted into the Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society for social By CHRISTY MARTIN ’71 MA ’78 sciences students. Bellamy this spring was among 10 Former two-term Asheville mayor issue of affordable housing. We all need incoming members of WCU’s recently Terry Bellamy MPA ’14 brings many a roof over our heads, a decent place to launched Board of Visitors, which is of her priorities as a community leader, live, a good job and opportunities for designed to serve as an advisory body wife and mother to her position at the education. Families need that. Children to the university’s chancellor. Members Asheville Housing Authority. The local need that,” said Bellamy, who as a child of the Board of Visitors serve as government agency assists more than lived in public housing until her mother advocates and ambassadors for WCU; 6,500 low-income people with their was able to buy a house. promote and advance the mission, vision housing needs. Bellamy, who began her When her appointment was and strategic plan of the university; job April 27, is serving as the agency’s announced in April in the Asheville make WCU a philanthropic priority; first neighborhood outreach coordinator Citizen-Times, she said that one of her and provide the chancellor and the and communications specialist. proudest accomplishments as mayor was Board of Trustees with advice and “Ever since I became involved in helping to create some 3,000 affordable counsel on issues that are critical to public life, I’ve continued to work on the housing units. the institution’s strategic interests.

Fall 2015 | 39 class NOTES

1954 Mary Dorcas Love and husband Charles Love ’55, who met as students at WCU, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in 2014. 1958 Baxter Wood MAEd ’63 and Clevie Luckadoo ’68 received the Knight Commander’s Accolade, the highest award given by Kappa Alpha fraternity, during the Delta Alpha chapter’s 50th anniversary held in August 2014 in Asheville. A lifelong educator, Wood formerly taught in Virginia. He is the retired director of WCU’s A.K. Hinds University Center. Luckadoo retired in 2009 after a long career in the automotive industry. 1966

William Coffey MAEd, who races in a classic 1971 Datsun 240 ZR, was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Southeast Division Solo 1 of the Sports Car Club of America. Before his retirement in 1998 after 37 years of teaching, Coffey served as department chair in physical education and director of the Wellness Center at Santa Fe College in magazine.wcu.edu Gainesville, Florida. Above, after racing in the Tail of the Dragon Hill Climb near Robbinsville, Coffey meets the “dragon.” WRAP ARTIST 1967 The national music education organization A dress that Olivia Mears ’14 created from Taco Bell wrappers made a fashion statement on national Music For All Inc. honored Bob Buckner, television. Mears twirled in the dress in the commercial, “True Fans of the Bell,” which aired in the retired director of the WCU Pride of the spring. Taco Bell treated Mears to an all-expenses-paid trip to in February to appear in Mountains Marching Band, for his career the commercial wearing her dress, which won second-place in the fast-food chain’s 50th anniversary of 45 years devoted to teaching and contest several years ago. Taco Bell also sent a crew to the WCU campus in May to film the young directing bands. Buckner, who served artist and her work for a promotional YouTube video. Mears, a double major in art education and fine as WCU’s athletic bands director for two arts, has been making fanciful fashions since childhood. She was inspired at an early age by television decades, was featured in “Forty to Forty: Educators Who Have Made A Difference,” superheroes and role-playing characters. Many of her costumes feature recycled materials, including an online publication of Music for All Inc. a suit of armor sculpted with empty beer cans. A national brewing company has expressed interest in Buckner retired in 2011 and continues that one. Mears is the daughter of Debbie and Johnny Mears of Laurinburg and is a 2009 graduate to be active in the band world, serving as of Scotland High School. Her costume art can be seen at www.avant-geek.com and the Taco Bell a drill writer, consultant and teacher of commercial can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/nppxg4y. online courses.

40 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University opening of Jones vonDrehle Vineyards and 1971 Winery in Thurmond in May 2014. Among 1981 Al Kesler, Steve Armstrong and Ken the winery’s recent honors was the 2014 Dean Sprinkle MA became president of Allen ’82 are visiting inmates at several Wine Grower of Excellence award from the Wytheville (Virginia) Community College Georgia prisons through the Kairos Prison North Carolina Winegrowers Association. on July 1. Sprinkle previously was senior Ministry organization. They discovered vice president of instruction at Wilkes the WCU connection they had in common Community College in Wilkesboro. a short time after joining the ministry. 1979 The ministry, based in , is an ecumenical Christian organization active 1982 in 35 states and nine countries. Kesler, Keith Corzine, Armstrong and Allen are serving at assistant vice Phillips State Prison in Buford, Hayes chancellor for State Prison in Trion and Walker State campus services, Prison in Rock Spring. won the prestigious Paul A. Reid Distinguished 1973 Service Award TD Bank has promoted Donald R. Mincey for Administrative of Tampa, Florida, to senior vice president Staff for 2015. and regional director for commercial real In presenting estate operations in Florida. Mincey has Critically acclaimed soprano Jacquelyn the award at the annual faculty and 39 years of experience in banking and Culpepper (above, left) returned to campus staff awards convocation held April 24, lending. He joined TD Bank in 2008. for a special performance, “An Appalachian Chancellor David O. Belcher said: “Under Songbook: North Carolina in Word, Music his watch, WCU has seen major campus and Song” held in January, with pianist expansion and improvement in residence 1975 Philip Bush and poet Kathryn Stripling and dining facilities, shaping the look Michael C. Tuggle has written a thriller, Byer. Culpepper has performed for and feel of the university and improving “Aztec Midnight,” about the undercurrents audiences across the United States, the experience of every student. Keith of Mexican drug cartels and the militias Europe, South America, the Caribbean and accomplishes this while maintaining who oppose them. Tuggle’s fantasy, Asia in more than 85 roles in opera and an objective perspective focused on science fiction and literary stories have oratorio and solo concert tours. She is a meeting the needs of everyone and member of the faculty at Davidson College. appeared in Kzine, Bewildering Stories, being a champion for the rights of the Mystic Signals, Fabula Argentea and disability community.” Fiction 365. His latest work is published by Novel Fox. 1983 Jan Wall MAEd ’84 won the 2015 Nancy 1977 S. Frazier Distinguished Teacher Award at After living in California for 37 years, Sue Northwest Elementary in Arcadia. She has Guy returned to North Carolina to become served as the school’s speech-language the human resources manager at the pathologist for the past 30 years. Greensboro headquarters of Disaster One. Other WCU alumni at the firm are Mark Klamerus MCM ’09, branch manager 1984 in Wilmington; Tyler Smith ’15, a restoration technician in Wilmington; and Kaleigh Reddick ’15, project coordinator Georgia Tech football coach Paul Johnson in Greensboro. Disaster One provides (above, left) was honored with a special professional restoration services for a commendation from the Georgia House of variety of emergencies, from water and Representatives. The legislature passed a storm damage to the total reconstruction resolution in March praising Johnson for of buildings after major fires. leading Georgia Tech to an 11-3 record for the 2014 season and being named the Atlantic Coast Conference’s “Coach of the 1978 Year,” an honor he has won three times. Johnson also had successful coaching Lifelong friends Gary Transou (left) of careers at Georgia Southern University and Little River, South Carolina, and Scott the U.S. Naval Academy. Pictured with Flowe ’85 (right) of Matthews enjoy Johnson are Linda Hughes, staff member proving their WCU pride by donning at Georgia House of Representatives during purple shirts and caps when they play golf the 2015 legislative session who also together. “WCU was a great school for attended WCU, and Joe Hamilton, former Georgia Tech quarterback who now is a both of us. We still talk about our recruiting assistant for the Yellow Jackets Catamount days,” says Flowe. For the past football team. 20 years, the two have traveled to Lake Lure for the annual “Big I” invitational tournament, named for Independence 1980 High School, another school that they Diana Jones (above, right) and husband Wanda Fowler MPA ’91 MSA ’98 is the both attended. Transou is a manager at Chuck, who also attended WCU, are co- 2015-16 Wells Fargo Principal of the Year Federal Express and Flowe is regional owners of a new winery that garnered at Morehead City Primary School. It is the sales manager for ITW Pro Brands. more than 100 awards in its first year of second time Fowler has won the honor. Flowe’s son is Reid Flowe ’14. operation. Jones, her husband, and her She also was Principal of the Year at White sister and brother-in-law Ronnie and Oak Elementary, a school she served for Raymond vonDrehle, celebrated the grand eight years.

Fall 2015 | 41 practitioner with a career of 30 years in class the Army, has returned home. She planned to retire in the summer. Killen, a physician’s assistant, was expected to NOTES complete his deployment in June. The two met for the first time while working at an Dianne Barrett Gray, president of Hospice aid station in Bagram. and Healthcare Communications of Naples, Florida, is the associate producer of a new documentary, “The True Cost.” The film examines global issues related 1988 Western Carolina Community Action to the clothing and fashion industries and of Brevard has appointed Chris Powell the lives of the people, from designers to Parker as the new director of the Photo courtesy of the N.Y. Jets factory workers, who are involved in the Silvermont Opportunity Center for production of garments. senior citizens. A native of Transylvania Former Catamount now flying high County, Parker has more than 20 years experience working with older adults. 1985 She also teaches water fitness classes at with NFL’s NY Jets Col. Lista Caraway has retired from the the Brevard Racquet Club. She and her U.S. Air Force after 27 years of service After coaching 13 seasons of high school and college husband Dennis have two daughters. football in six states, John Scott Jr. ’00 has joined the ranks as a nurse. Caraway traveled all over the world during her career. Her duties ranged of the National Football League. The New York Jets hired Phil McManus MBA ’91 has achieved from obstetrical nursing and managing Scott in February to be the team’s defensive quality-control certification from the American Culinary family health clinics to caring for coach. He is among several new faces joining the staff of Federation as a culinary administrator. wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and McManus, who has taken classes in new head coach Todd Bowles. Afghanistan. She is retaining her nursing artisan breadmaking and dessert buffets at Scott most recently was at the University of Buffalo. The license and volunteers at Hulbert Field Air the San Francisco Baking Institute, Jets hired him just one month after he joined the coaching Force Base in Okaloosa County, Florida. also completed training to be an staff at UB, where he helped recruit two players expected approved certification evaluator for Jack W. Guffey has been elected to play major roles for the team’s defense. ACF competitions. Although grateful for the chance to coach at Buffalo, chairman of the board of directors of the Scott said he jumped at the opportunity to work for the Tree Care Industry Association Foundation, Jets. “It has always been a goal of mine to coach at the a national organization dedicated to advancing education and professional 1989 highest level,” Scott said. “When Coach Bowles offered me Katie Knobloch development in the industry. Guffey, Hiland and the opportunity to join the Jets staff, I knew that it would president of Carolina Tree Care Inc. of husband Bruce be a chance to learn from some of the greatest minds in Concord, also serves on the board of have moved to The the sport and to grow as a coach.” directors of the Carolinas Medical Center- Villages in Sumter A former member of the admissions office staff at WCU, Northeast Foundation. County, Florida, to Scott previously spent two seasons coaching the defensive enjoy retirement. Lorrie Jones-Hartley is serving as the line at Texas Tech. He also coached at Georgia Southern Hiland was director of review programs and services for three seasons, Missouri State for one season, WCU for employed by the at the Carolinas Center for Medical three seasons, and Norfolk State for one season. Federal Bureau of Excellence of Cary. Jones-Hartley has His first coaching job was at West Davidson High School, Prisons at the more than 30 years of experience in Federal Correctional Complex in Pollock, where he served as defensive line coach for one year. Scott health care in the areas of patient safety, , for 25 years. then moved to Louisiana for graduate school. He served accreditation and regulatory affairs, as a graduate assistant football coach at the University of clinical quality and case management. Louisiana at Lafayette, where he earned his master’s degree She previously was vice president of quality and safety at Mission Health 1990 in education in 2006. Amye Wilson and Paul “Adrian” Burks in Asheville. Growing up in Greer, South Carolina, Scott played on the ’13 were married Jan. 16 in St. Thomas, high school football team that won the state championship Virgin Islands. They live in Statesville, in 1994. While at WCU, he lettered at the defensive end where Wilson is a marketing and event position all of his four years on the Catamount team. He coordinator for the City of Statesville and led all defensive linemen in tackles for the 1997 season Burks is a police captain. and was a second team All-Southern Conference selection. After graduating with a degree in communication, Scott played several years of professional football. He was the 1991 Asheville attorney Greensboro Prowlers’ 2000 defensive player of the year in Jacqueline Grant the Arena Football 2 league. In 2003, he participated in served as the preseason camp for the Canadian Football League’s Montreal moderator for a Alouettes. He returned to WCU in 2006, serving as defensive March 28 forum end, defensive line and outbacker line coach until 2008, at WCU featuring three North when he accepted the position at Missouri State. While serving in Afghanistan, U.S. Army Carolina Supreme “My time at WCU has shaped my entire coaching career. Col. Elizabeth Lohse MSN, MS ’08 (right) Court justices, From competing as a Catamount, to serving as an admissions and 1st Lt. Christoper Killen ’09 (left) who discussed officer and eventually to working on the coaching staff, I was placed a memento of WCU at Bagram Air how their college Force Base. The purple bumper sticker able to build the foundation from which I have honed my studies prepared them for their careers. joined dozens of other reminders of home, professional skills,” he said. “At WCU, I learned the value Grant is president of the 28th Judicial from college stickers to advertisements for of professionalism, hard work and a determination to be District Bar Association and a partner favorite restaurants, that military personnel the best human being I can be.” in the law firm Roberts & Stevens. An left on the doors of the base’s Greene Scott and his wife, Stephanie McKoy Scott ’00, are the active community advocate, she has Bean Coffee Shoppe. Lohse, a nurse parents of two children. served on the board of directors of local

42 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University organizations ranging from the YWCA and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Western North Carolina to the City of Asheville’s task force on sustainable economic development.

Candance Van Vleet received her doctorate in health administration at the Medical University of South Carolina in May. Van Vleet, who serves as the president of the WCU Emergency Medical Care Alumni Association, also holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Winston-Salem State University and an MBA from Elon University. She is the trauma outreach coordinator at the Duke Trauma Center in Durham. 1993 Matt Henley MA ’95, assistant director of WCU athletic bands, has been elected president of the Big T Club, the athletic booster club at Tuscola High School in Waynesville. Henley is a 1987 graduate of Tuscola and his son is a freshman at the school. Stage makeup class leads to Hollywood Special effects makeup artistRachael Wagner ’12, a contestant in the Syfy Make-up artist 1994 channel’s “Face Off” reality television series, discovered the art of face and Rachael Wagner ’12 Justice Parrott has been appointed as body paint as a WCU student. Wagner, an art education major who planned to specializes in supernatural director of the nurse anesthesia program teach, needed one elective class during her senior year. She enrolled in a stage and fantasy creatures. at the Uniformed Services University makeup course taught by faculty member Glenda Hensley and soon found More of Wagner’s of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, herself working on the makeup crew for “Fiddler on the Roof,” which was a work can be seen at Maryland. The university educates musical theater production that year. rachaelwagnermakeup.com and trains health care professionals for “I was behind the scenes, going from one cast member to another putting service in the military medical corps at on makeup, checking makeup, putting on wigs, moustaches and beards. I home and abroad. just loved it. After that experience, I knew what I wanted to do,” Wagner said. Wagner moved to when she graduated for special training 1995 at the Make-up Designory. She completed a full-time, six-month course Colleen A. Vasconcellos, associate that introduced her to professional opportunities in film and television. professor of history at the University of She specializes in creating faces for supernatural and fantasy creatures and West Georgia, is the author of a new constructs full-body characters. She has worked with short horror films, book, “Slavery, Childhood, and Abolition including “Danger Word” and “Changelings: Cambions,” and a comedy, in Jamaica, 1788-1838,” published in “Bridge and Tunnel.” May by the University of Georgia Press. Wagner auditioned and was selected to compete in the seventh season of “Face Off,” which premiered in July 2014. Fifteen makeup artists from all over 1996 the United States were brought to California for the show, living together for Charlotte native three months in a huge mansion in Los Angeles. In the show’s episodes, they and longtime were challenged to create animals, gangsters, villains, monsters, fairies and health advocate assorted fanciful beings fitting the theme “Life and Death.” Wagner made it Shannon to the 10th of 14 episodes before she was eliminated. Emmanual has Now a permanent resident of Los Angeles, Wagner is project supervisor for been named Global Effects Inc., of North Hollywood, California.Joseph Deese ’11, who community health majored in interior design at WCU, also works at the company, which provides director for the props, costumes and makeup effects for the television and movie industries. American Heart Association. Emmanual was director of community support and partnerships for the YMCA of Greater Charlotte for the past eight years. 1997 David M. Bickford Jr. is the southeast Alison Dale Francis has been elected regional sales manager for ITW Medical president of the School Nutrition Products of Coeur Inc., makers of Association of North Carolina. Francis, disposable products for the medical the school nutrition director for Haywood imaging market. ITW Medical is a County Schools in Waynesville, also major manufacturer of fluid delivery serves as a preceptor for the dietetic medical devices used in MRI, CT scan, internship program at WCU. She lives in interventional radiology and cardiac Asheville with her husband, Josh, and catheterization. Bickford lives with his wife their 15-year-old son. and daughter in Charlotte.

Fall 2015 | 43 more than 500 families in nine class 1999 Tennessee counties. Lee and her husband When James Phillips MSA ’07 started his Jesse have two children and live in career in public education, he often talked Nashville, Tennessee. NOTES with his mother Dorcas Phillips ’09 about his struggles and successes. Their Kyle Lomax, son of David Lomax ’69 conversations inspired Dorcas Phillips to and Linda Lomax ’69, is serving as the pursue her degree at WCU so that she international projects manager for Water also could become a teacher. She recently to Wine, a nonprofit aid organization that completed her third year on the faculty provides clean water projects for people at Andrews Elementary School. James in need. The organization has sponsored Phillips now serves as principal at Swain projects in 17 countries. Water to Wine West Elementary in Bryson City. was featured on the CNN network’s Robin Pate (right), president-elect of the “Heroes” program in 2012. board of directors of the WCU Alumni Association, was among university 2000 representatives recently invited to Kenneth “K.C.” Culler is the sports 2002 Knoxville, Tennessee, to meet Travel information director at Johnson C. Smith Rupsi Burman Channel host Jack Maxwell (center) University in Charlotte. Maxwell was in Knoxville to help raise MBA is an funds for the Friends of the Great Smoky Cannon School in Concord hired former information Mountains National Park and to promote Carolina Panther Brad Hoover as head technology his new television series, “Booze Traveler.” football coach. Hoover, a starting fullback project manager Also attending were senior Luke Ball (left), in the 2004 Super Bowl, played 10 and business whose family owns Asheville Distillery, seasons with the Panthers before leaving analyst at the and Steve Morse (in background), director the team in 2009. A member of the Port of Long of WCU’s hospitality and tourism program. WCU Athletics Hall of Fame, he was Beach, a two-time All-Southern Conference California, one selection as a Catamount. of the world’s 1998 busiest seaports. Ed Foster joined Elizabeth Wall-Bassett, associate After hours, Keller Williams professor of nutrition science at East Burman is pursuing her passion to raise Triad in Kernersville Carolina University, is directing an ECU awareness about domestic violence. as a real estate program, “Seeds to Snacks,” featured in Though never a victim herself, she has agent in May. the newsletter of the Academy of Nutrition established a nonprofit organization, Foster and wife and Dietetics. The program educates Hope In Life Foundation, to help Pamela, a children in Boys and Girls Clubs about lead women to violence-free lives Greensboro healthy food choices. Wall-Bassett is a and is a frequent public speaker in attorney, have member of the WCU Alumni Association southern California. two sons, ages 19 board of directors. James W. Thomas, founding artistic and 15. director of the Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre of Mars Hill, has 2001 received the Order of the Long Leaf Nate Edwards is the general manager of Pine, North Carolina’s highest honor the Hattiesburg () American, a for achievement and service. Thomas, newspaper owned by Gannett Company who served as a faculty member at Mars Inc. Edwards, who started his career in Hill College for 38 years, was praised Web design and networking, has helped for his instrumental role in the growth several newspapers transition to the digital of the college’s theater arts major and era. The Southern Newspaper Publishers for the transformation of an old church Association selected him for its NextGen building on campus into the Southern program designed for up-and-coming Appalachian Repertory Theatre. young executives shaping the future. He and wife Michelle have a 7-year-old son. 2003 Jeremy Brooks is designing menswear for Belk Inc. in Charlotte and traveling to Paris, London and New York City each year to attend shows and shop for samples. Brooks creates prints and graphic T-shirt designs for the Belk’s Private Brands division. As a student, he assisted with the design and layout for a variety of university publications while working at the WCU Print Shop.

Joe Crocker ’74 (left), former chair of WCU’s Board Billy Roland of Bryson City has been of Trustees, meets with West Virginia Power pitching named marketing operations manager coach and former Catamount baseball standout Mark In 2009, registered nurse Angela Lee (at at Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino right, with family) founded a company, DiFelice at a gathering at the home of the Greensboro and Hotel. Roland began his career at Blessed Beginnings, to provide in-home Grasshoppers. The event was part of a series of Harrah’s in 2003 as VIP coordinator consultations for breastfeeding mothers of and has served as a manager of the receptions hosted by the WCU Alumni Association. newborns. Since that time, the business total rewards and events and For information about upcoming events, contact the has grown to include childbirth classes promotions departments. Office of Alumni Affairs at 877-440-9990. and overnight care services and serves

44 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University Wilderness EMT rescues adventure writer The well-known adventure writerTim Cahill, 71, who almost died after being thrown out of a raft in the Grand Canyon, is giving credit toJustin Kleberg ’11 (left) for saving his life. The mishap took place when Cahill, founding editor of Outside Magazine, was on a private rafting expedition Dec. 7, 2014, with 15 people. Kleberg, a wilderness emergency medical technician, was along for the trip. At Lava Falls, one of the river’s most treacherous rapids, Cahill was tossed from his raft and submerged. An accomplished swimmer, he managed to reach the water’s surface, but soon became trapped under another raft. Kleberg and another rescuer pulled him from the river when he resurfaced again. Cahill collapsed on a nearby beach, stopped breathing and had no pulse. Kleberg started CPR and registered nurse Steve Schmit performed rescue breathing. Cahill regained consciousness and was flown by helicopter to a Flagstaff, Arizona, hospital, where doctors and nurses described his recovery as “a miracle.” He wrote about the experience in “The Death of Tim Cahill,” published in the April issue of the Montana Quarterly. The story describes the heroic efforts of Kleberg and the other rescuers. Cahill calls them his “Colorado River Miracle Team.” Kleberg is humble about his role that day, and says he is just happy that Cahill had a full recovery. “I’ve spoken to him recently. He was at his home in Livingston, Montana, and doing really well,” he said. An avid whitewater kayaker, Kleberg is an honors graduate of the Parks and Recreation Management Program. He works for the National Outdoor Leadership School, based in Vernal, Utah, and was trained at the Wilderness Medicine Institute in Lander, Wyoming. He divides his time between Utah and . He says that most of his emergency medical work in the wilderness is routine and rarely as dramatic as a river rescue. He takes care of people with sunburns, infections, wounds and gastrointestinal problems, sometimes evacuating them from wilderness settings if necessary. “This is an area where there are vast expanses of land, wild canyons, big trees and wild animals,” said Kleberg. “So it’s a fun place to live and work, and I can explore the natural world.” Kleberg will return to the Grand Canyon to lead a river adventure in January 2016, when he will be joined by his close friend and fellow alumnus, Will Butler ’11, a ranger in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Photo by Ralph Lee

William Womack and Andrea Calhoun Eric Greitens for a story in the April issue of indigenous artists producing innovative Womack have a daughter, Elizabeth of Missouri Life magazine. Livingston work through $5,000 awards. It will “Libby” Claire, born Nov. 8, 2014. He is completing a graduate degree in help fund a project of Hill’s focusing on is a senior project manager with Apple journalism at the University of Missouri. Cherokee syllabary, culture and language Rock Displays in Greensboro and she is preservation. Additionally, Hill was among director of social work at Alamance five Native American artists named Health Care Center. 2006 contemporary art fellows by the Eiteljorg Christopher Edmonds, media content Museum of American Indians and Western manager at the Greenville television Art of Indianapolis, Indiana this year. An 2004 station WNCT-TV, was selected for the exhibit opening there in November will The Florida Fish “Circle of Excellence” by Media General, showcase her work. and Wildlife owner of the station. Edmonds won an all- Conservation expenses-paid trip to Cancun, Mexico. Commission promoted Catherine Diane Hall earned her master’s degree Kennedy ’12 to in counseling psychology in December senior wildlife 2014 at Northwestern Oklahoma State assistance biologist University. for northern Florida. In her new position, Jennifer Lowrance, a fire inspector and Kennedy is based investigator for the Catawba County at the University of Emergency Services in Newton, is Florida in conducting research on the topic of Gainesville. She previously was the depression. She currently is preparing wildlife assistance biologist for the state’s a presentation on stress, anxiety and northwestern region out of Panama City, depression among first responders. Florida. Prior to joining the wildlife commission, she was an avian field ecologist at the University of Georgia. She 2007 earned two bachelor’s degrees at WCU, in Luzene Hill MFA ’12 is one of only Leslie Elliot McPeters (right), clinical anthropology and biology. 19 artists in the nation selected for the research nurse at Mission Hospital in prestigious First Peoples Fund’s Artist In Asheville, married her high school Wade Livingston MAEd ’06 interviewed Business Leadership fellowship program sweetheart, Steven McPeters, on Jan. 26. the best-selling author and Navy SEAL for 2015. The program supports the work

Fall 2015 | 45 Former member of the WCU Pride of class the Mountains Marching Band, Ryan class “Andy” Reed is working as a living history interpreter at Bennett Place State Historic NOTES NOTES Site in Durham. Reed recently narrated a short documentary about Bennett Place, the site where Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and Union Gen. William T. Sherman signed surrender papers for the Southern armies. 2011 Jessica Humphrey is attending graduate school in musical theatre at San Diego State University, where she performed the part of Cosette in the university’s Donnie Wilson (right) is living in production of “Les Miserables.” A native of Huntington Beach, California, and Dallas, Texas, Humphrey formerly lived in working in the sales and advertising New York City. department of Fox Sports West in Los Angeles. Wilson and wife Megan were Prudential Financial recently selected married in August 2014 in Newport Romie D. Patel as the firm’s First-Year Beach, California. She is an account Advisor of the Year for North Carolina. executive with Xerox. Patel previously was assistant director of admissions at WCU. 2009 Photo courtesy of Grayson Bowen MFA was the workshop 2012 Jennifer Hudspeth leader for “Healing Arts Night” held Jarrett Frazier was one of the associate in March in the Student Union at the producers of NBC’s XXII Olympic Winter University of North Carolina at Chapel Games sports coverage who won a Hill. Bowen is currently pursuing a 2015 Emmy award for “outstanding new master’s degree in art therapy at Saint approaches.” The award was presented Students help fund kidney transplant Mary-of-the-Woods College. at a special ceremony held May 5 at for teacher, husband New York City’s Lincoln Center. Frazier, a Cody Walker has member of the sports production staff at English teacher Kayla Losh ’12 never will forget the been promoted to the NBC television network in Stamford, kindness of her students at Monroe High School. When they vice president of Connecticut, worked as a photographer in found out that her husband, Matt Losh, needed a kidney Hibernia Bank of the Office of Communications and Public transplant that was financially out of reach for the young New Orleans, Relations while attending WCU. Hired Louisiana. Walker, couple, the students started a collection at school. Some by NBC after assisting at the Summer who joined the bank Olympics in London, he also traveled gave their lunch money, which was all that they had. The in 2012, is studying to Russia to work for the network at the students raised $580 in one afternoon. “Heroes Among for an MBA degree Winter Games in Sochi. For his many Us,” the story of the students’ generosity, appeared in the at Tulane University. accomplishments since graduating, Jan. 22 issue of People magazine. Frazier received the Young Alumnus “What my students did was overwhelming. We’re still Award during Homecoming ceremonies processing it all,” said Kayla. “Many of them come from 2010 in October 2014. Aaron D’Innocenzi families who have nothing to give, and they are so selfless. , whose on-air name is Aaron Michael, has been promoted We’re still looking for ways to thank them.” to the position of music director of the Matt Losh has IgA nephropathy, known as Berger’s country music station WSSL-FM 100.5 VISIT US ONLINE AT disease, an inflammatory kidney condition that worsened in Greenville, South Carolina. As a MAGAZINE.WCU.EDU while he was in college. He became seriously ill his senior student, D’Innocenzi was recognized by FOR ANYWHERE-ACCESS year and had to withdraw from WCU. The couple eventually the Broadcast Education Association for TO MAGAZINE FEATURES moved to Matthews, where he was undergoing home dialysis his outstanding on-air work through the every day and needed a transplant. Kayla Losh had been university’s radio station, WWCU-FM AND ONLINE EXTRAS. Power 90.5. tested and approved as the donor. The couple had insurance but faced major out-of-pocket expenses. As word spread about the collection started by the students, contributions poured in from individuals and families throughout Union County. A fund for the Loshes set WE WANT THE SCOOP up on the nonprofit website HelpHopeLive.org eventually reached $20,000. The successful transplant operation ON YOUR LIFE EVENTS was in December 2014. Since his surgery, Matt Losh has returned to work as a 911 dispatcher. SEND US YOUR NEWS AND PHOTOS “He’s doing really well and has a ton of energy,” said Kayla Losh. She also is in good health and continues to teach at EMAIL: [email protected] the school, where she also serves as the yearbook adviser FOR MORE MAIL TO: Class Notes editor INFORMATION CALL and junior varsity basketball coach. She recently enrolled 420 H.F. Robinson in graduate school at the University of North Carolina Cullowhee N.C. 28723 828.227.7327 at Charlotte.

46 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University Magazine’s list of top young casino professionals in the U.S. Vaught, winner of the 2014 Emerging Leadership scholarship award from the Global Gaming Expo, joined Harrah’s in 2004 as a member of the impressment team and quickly rose through the supervisory ranks, serving as a relief game manager, transportation manager and casino manager. He is a native of Cherokee County.

Blaire Minter Hammond (left) and ALUMNI DEATHS husband Nick Hammond ’11 are happily settled in Portsmouth, Virginia, where they Richard L. Allen ’78 enjoy stand-up paddleboarding and other Dec. 11, 2014; Charlotte. water sports on the Elizabeth River. Nick Hammond is an environmental health and John Scott Arch ’94 safety specialist working on a midtown Jan. 12, 2015; Cherokee. tunnel project for the city. Blaire Wanda L. Beck ’75 Hammond is pursing her master’s degree Nov. 8, 2014; Charlotte. in human resources through WCU’s online degree program. “We love to think back on Gary Raymond Benton ’64 our four years at WCU and the amazing Jan. 31, 2015; Charlotte. memories we created there,” she writes. The couple met for the first time in an Donald R. Boone ’58 Recent grads headed to law school American history course at WCU which, Oct. 26, 2014; Asheville. coincidentally, was titled “Turning Points.” Kevin H. Boutelle ’74 Seth Crockett ’12 (above) is heading to law school. Feb. 9, 2015; Anderson, South Carolina. Crockett, who achieved a perfect 4.0 grade-point average at WCU, had offers from some of the most prestigious 2013 Carter D. Brown EDS ’87 The March issue of Bicycle Retailer and Jan. 4, 2015; Leicester. law schools in the country, including Harvard, Duke, Industry News featured Brandon Blakely Georgetown, New York University, University of Texas, as one of 41 influential people in the John David Bumgarner ’72 Cornell and others. He chose Cornell, in part, because he U.S. bicycle industry under age 35. Nov. 8, 2014; Conover. was offered a generous scholarship that will cover almost Blakely, a professional downhill racer Dennis R. Cable ’59 all of his tuition costs. and full-time engineer at Cane Creek Oct. 1, 2014; Brooks, Georgia. Crockett is not alone. Samantha “Sam” Mungro ’15 and Cycling Components in Fletcher, has been Charlean “Charley” Maurer ’15 also are law school-bound instrumental in the development of new Rebecca J. Clark ’61 and will begin their studies in the fall. Mungro will attend suspension products. Dec. 30, 2014; Roswell, Georgia. Elon University. Maurer will be going to the University Carson Williams has returned to his William D. Clodfelter ’66 of Florida. hometown of Hickory to be the band Jan. 9, 2015; Asheville. “I am extremely proud of Seth, Sam and Charley,” said Chris Cooper, head of the Department of Political Science director at Hickory High School. A George L. Conley ’72 former member of the WCU Pride of the Dec. 9, 2014; Murphy. and Public Affairs, who calls this year “probably the best Mountains Marching Band, Williams also ever” for law school admissions from the department. “All was a staff member in the Provost’s Office Chester W. Crisp MAEd ‘79 three are tremendous students who worked hard and pursued at WCU. March 28, 2015; Stecoah. their dream throughout their time at WCU. They also reflect Rebecca Christenbury Crowley ’64 our department’s commitment to helping our students 2014 Feb. 8, 2015; Indian Trail. achieve their fullest potential.” Tyler Cook has Crockett, son of Douglas and Patricia Crockett of Whittier, Alma Lee Davis ’42 postponed law school for a few years to work full-time while released a novel, Jan. 29, 2015; Swan Quarter. “The One,” an making a decision about his future. After graduating, he upbeat story of Rupert A. Decker ’78 stayed in the WCU area and got a job in Sylva at Wal-Mart. love, heartbreak March 21, 2015; Black Mountain. After a year, Wal-Mart offered him a management position and moving on. in Kailua Kona, Hawaii, where he has been working since Cook also is the Brett Michael Dumsha ’08 Dec. 13, 2014; Charlotte. 2013. He planned to leave Hawaii in the summer and move author of “A Guide to the Cornell campus in Ithaca, New York. to Historic Thomas E. Dunn ’80 Mungro, daughter of Tony and Joy Mungro of Conover, Dillsboro,” which Dec. 25, 2014; Fletcher. commemorates the accepted a $35,000 merit scholarship award and a $14,000 historic town’s Tammy S. Dyke ’81 leadership fellowship to attend Elon. She also was accepted 125th anniversary. “The One” is his first Jan. 2, 2015; Berkeley Lake, Georgia. at North Carolina Central University. Maurer had offers work of fiction. from Campbell University, Penn State and the University of William Chris Edmonds ’78 Tennessee. She is the daughter of Chuck and April Maurer Joshua Vaught MBA, Nov. 9, 2014; Greensboro. of Maiden. director of operations Albert G. Eller MAEd ’75 Todd Collins, associate professor of political science at Harrah’s Cherokee Jan. 29, 2015; Raleigh. and public affairs, serves as the adviser for WCU’s pre-law Valley River Casino students. “Dr. Collins deserves a great deal of the credit for and Hotel in Murphy, Earl V. “Chuck” Farmer ’60 was selected for “40 Sept. 25, 2014; Candler. all of our law-school success,” said Cooper. “He holds both Under 40,” Global a PhD and a law degree and, as a result, is able to give our Gaming Business Charles E. Fetter ’75 students a pre-law education based on both practical and Jan. 5, 2015; Summerfield. academic experience with the law.”

Fall 2015 | 47 Virginia Pickens Foster ’61 Ruth Penland Lucas ’38 John Thomas Smart Jr. ’58 MA ’64 class Nov. 27, 2014; Asheville. Sept. 29, 2014; Penrose. Nov. 16, 2014; Hayesville. William H. Foster Jr. MAEd ’66 Frances Moore MacCorkle ’53 Clyde T. Smith ’65 NOTES Dec. 3, 2014; Beaufort, South Carolina. Jan. 12, 2015; Hayesville. March 20, 2015; Lincolnton. Dennis Franklin ’47 James M. Martin ’51 MAEd ’56 Caroline G. Spencer ’38 Dec. 24, 2014; Dallas. Dec. 15, 2015; Duluth, Georgia. Jan. 18, 2015; Winston-Salem.

Gordon W. Friedrich ’77 Mitchell Darren Mathews ’08 Alvin J. Stiles ’57 MAEd ’59 Dec. 31, 2014; Charlotte. Feb. 11, 2015; Canton. March 12, 2015; Sylva.

Gwendolyn R. Gilbert MAEd ’83 Rebekah Ray May ’72 Sue Hall Still ’55 Feb. 9, 2015; Mill Spring. March 30, 2015; Franklin. Feb. 20, 2015; Andrews.

Jeanne G. Gochenour MS ’89 Jon A. Mayhew ’93 Donald Watson Thames ’51 Jan. 26, 2015; Asheville. Jan. 10, 2015; Surfside Beach, Feb. 9, 2015; Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. South Carolina. Nancy Blanton Goodson ’48 Nov. 28, 2014; Charlotte. Norma D. Morgan MAEd ’62 Frederick M. Trost IV ’97 Jan. 1, 2015; Weaverville. Jan. 4, 2015; Franklin. Robert J. Gore ’80 March 4, 2015; Charlotte. Hazel D. Morris ’57 Lolita Baldwin West ’50 Oct. 21, 2014; Asheville. Jan. 30, 2015; Franklin. Sarah Kepley Hackamack ’07 Jan. 27, 2015; San Jose, California. Linda Polk Mullis ’61 Robert E. White MAEd ’74 EDS ’84 Feb. 4, 2015; High Point. Dec. 17, 2014; Bryson City. Lonnie R. Hamm ’77 Oct. 7, 2014; Bear Creek. Roger L. Nelson Jr. ’81 Samuel E. White ’71 March 23, 2015; Kernersville. Oct. 21, 2014; Fort Mill, South Carolina. Jackie M. Hartman ’80 Oct. 9, 2014; Phoenix, Arizona. Gene T. Ownbey ’80 Edna P. Whitley ’35 Dec. 21, 2014; Pfafftown. Dec. 24, 2014; Charlotte. Thomas J. Hawkins MPM ’11 March 11, 2015; Raleigh. Barbara C. Passmore ’67 MAEd ’74 Douglass F. Willis ’92 Jan. 26, 2015; Dillard, Georgia. Oct. 4, 2014; Candler. Michael A. Higgins ’64 March 9, 2015; Clarksville, Virginia. Emily Fisher Phillips ’68 Robert M. Wright ’43 March 24, 2015; Orange Park, Florida. Feb. 22, 2015; Greensboro. Carleson H. Hipps ’59 MS ’68 Feb. 6, 2015; Canton. Sue T. Pilarski ’74 William Russell Zakroski Jr. ’98 Jan. 10, 2015; Seattle, Washington. Feb. 8, 2015; Robbinsville. Carolyn B. Hoots MAEd ’57 Nov. 29, 2014; Greenville. Charles C. Poindexter Jr. ’56 Jan. 1, 2015; Beaufort. UNIVERSITY DEATHS John C. Howell ’73 David George Price ’57 MAEd ’60 Dorothy P. Bell, retired staff member, Feb. 23, 2015; Waynesville. Jan. 27, 2015; Sylva. March 19, 2015; Charlotte. Larry W. Huffman ’76 James Gardner Garrison ’55, 2007 March 4, 2015; Newton. Debra K. Prueitt MAEd ’80 WCU Athletics Hall of Fame Career Nov. 22, 2014; Morganton. Achievement Award recipient, April 3, Larry V. Hughes ’74 2015; Murfreesboro. Nov. 12, 2014; Clemmons. Marie L. Rakes ’49 Oct. 10, 2014; Pfafftown. Coleen M. Jakes, retired staff member, Sandra R. Humphries ’08 March 1, 2015; Canton. Nov. 26, 2014; Forest City. Jeanne M. Rawding ’74 Oct. 16, 2014; Clemmons. Mary Sue Lewis, retired staff member, Ella Bryson Hyatt MAEd ’55 Feb. 4, 2015; Sylva. Jan. 17, 2015; Whittier. William Ben Ray ’55 MAEd ’67 Feb. 5, 2015; Charlotte. Daniel J. Peters, former assistant Daniel L. Irvin ’69 basketball coach, Oct. 27, 2014; Nov. 3, 2014; Shelby. Patricia Cogdill Rivers ’77 Uniontown, Ohio. Jan. 7, 2015; Asheville. Joan Burnett Jackson ’65 Ella Mae Rogers, retired facilities March 13, 2015; Danville, Virginia. Jennifer Flynn Rymell MAEd ’73 management staff member, Nov. 17, 2014; Cullowhee. March 17, 2015; Asheville. Eric Shelton Jordan ’87 Edd L. Shope, retired information March 4, 2015; Charlotte. Joshua D. Scott ’02 technology staff member, March 4, 2015; March 16, 2015; Lexington. Otto. Jane B. LaFountaine ’59 MAEd ’78 Jan. 2, 2015; Waynesville. Martha Derreberry Shakib ’64 Harry M. Speissegger Jr., retired facilities March 20, 2015; Andrews. management staff member, Nov. 23, Shirley R. Laughter ’59 2014; Waynesville. Jan. 26, 2015; Hendersonville. Ilse F. Shaw ’60 MA ’62 March 9, 2015; Chapel Hill. The Rev. Amos Henry Stone, benefactor Craig Carow Lian ’05 and friend, Jan. 18, 2015; Fayetteville. Feb. 18, 2015; Fargo, North Dakota. Susan Tilbrook Sheap MAEd ’67 Feb. 20, 2015; Pittsburgh, . Jayne Rogers Wells, former A.K. Hinds Edith S. Leake ’62 University Center staff member, Dec. 19, Jan. 28, 2015; Lowell. Michael H. Shuler ’85 2014; Sylva. Nov. 3, 2014; Franklin. Lewis T. Lockaby MA ’66 Patricia L. Wilson, former facilities March 7, 2015; Greenville, Jerdie Ferguson Simpson MA ’83 management staff member; Jan. 11, South Carolina. March 6, 2015; Candler. 2015; Sylva.

48 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University GROWTH FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS

For Smoky Mountain High School history teacher Jeremy Cauley Louise Hooper, the scholarship fund honors her parents by helping ’13, the decision to work toward a career in education was an easy high-potential students from Jackson County – people like Jeremy one. After all, Cauley says he was blessed growing up surrounded by Cauley – be able to afford the cost of attendance. tremendous teachers and coaches, people who were instrumental in Cauley says the scholarship made a big difference in his life. helping him develop. Cauley recalls a long-time football coach sharing “Receiving the Hooper Scholarship was an unexpected blessing, and his experiences working with young people. “He said that over the course I will never be able to say ‘thank you’ enough,” he said. “This gift not of his career, he will have the opportunity to influence thousands of only allowed me to have financial assistance toward my education, but students and players,” Cauley said. “This idea really resonated within showed me the lasting impression of what it is like to take a chance me. From that point on, I knew I wanted to go into a line of work that on someone and to see what the individual can become. I can now was not about myself but whose purpose was to assist others.” If deciding what to study was easy, the tricky part of the college do this every day. “ education equation was paying for it. “As with any high school senior, Including a gift to the Western Carolina University Foundation a big question that needed to be answered was ‘How was I going to via your estate, no matter how large or how small, can provide the afford the education?’” he said. The answer came in the form of the support a student needs to complete a degree and achieve his or her Dillard and Hattie Hooper Scholarship Fund at WCU. Established dream. Through your gifts, you, as Cauley has learned, will have the through proceeds from the estate of Madison Legacy Society member opportunity to influence many young people for many years to come.

Contact Herb Bailey or see attached envelope for additional information giftplanning.wcu.edu | 828.227.3049 | [email protected]

Fall 2015 | 49 class NOTES

told me she had written the obituary. I did not ask her to read it to me. I knew it was private between her and her family,” Enloe said. But the sisters were able to laugh, because Enloe revealed that she, too, had written her own obituary two years ago. “It will not go viral,” Enloe said. “I’m not funny. Emily and (younger sister) Betsy were funny. It doesn’t say I did anything well. It just says I did it.” Enloe said Phillips had hoped she could come home from hospice and come back to the mountains one more time, but Enloe knew it would not happen. “I felt in my heart of hearts that she would not be back,” she said. “I was glad she thought she could. That A LASTING IMPRESSION was important to her. She loved her mountain house.” The self-penned obit by the self-professed After that, Enloe knew it wouldn’t ‘Diva of All Things Domestic’ goes viral be long. Then, on March 24 – exactly one month after being diagnosed with By LAURA HASSEBROCK pancreatic cancer – Phillips’ husband called Enloe, and she knew immediately. “It pains me to admit it, but perfectly, went viral. “Charlie (Emily’s “I’ve been expecting this call,” she apparently, I have passed away.” husband) can’t believe what all has told him on the phone. He told her These are the first words of the happened,” she said. “But I believe it. It that Phillips had passed peacefully moving, self-written obituary of just resonated with people.” and painlessly. Emily Fisher Phillips ’68, originally of On Feb. 24, Phillips was diagnosed “Charlie is a saint,” Enloe said. “He Hazelwood. Her obituary — which had with pancreatic cancer after having was with her at the end, never left her the perfect touch of sass and humor— already known she had cancer in her side day and night. He was holding was first published in The Florida liver and lungs. She was living in Florida her hand, and they were listening to Times Union and in The (Waynesville) at her winter home in Orange Park at the Nat King Cole, which they had danced Mountaineer. Since it was published, time. She was very pragmatic when she to as students at Western Carolina Phillips’ obituary has been featured on called,” Enloe said. “She’s a take-charge University.” NBC’s “Today” show and ABC news and person. She sees a situation and looks at Enloe was glad that people all over in the New York Daily News and TIME how it’s going to turn out and what her have had the chance to see her sister’s magazine...the list goes on. part in it is.” talent and creativity. “Emily was true to “It has reached so many people,” said Phillips told Enloe that day that it herself until the end,” she said. “I have Emily’s older sister, Mary Ann Enloe. wasn’t looking good, and that she was great admiration of that.” “And Emily would be so overjoyed. I’m making lists of what she had to do before To read the obituary in its entirety, so glad for that. I just wish she knew it, her time came. She called Enloe again on see the online version of the magazine and maybe she does know it.” March 14, the day she went to hospice. at magazine.wcu.edu. Enloe was not at all surprised when That was when Phillips said she had the obituary, which she said reflected written her own obituary. Reprinted in edited format with permission of magazine.wcu.edu her sister’s intelligence and humor so “It had begun to sink in on her. She The Mountaineer of Waynesville.

50 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University Visitors make history at Mountain Heritage Day By KEITH BRENTON

It’s horse-drawn haywagons and antique automobiles. It’s shape-note singing and chainsaw challenges. It’s a fair in a field and a path to the past. The sights, sounds, fragrances and flavors of a bygone era draw thousands of visitors to Western Carolina University each year on the last Saturday in September to experience the region’s rich history of mountain culture at Mountain Heritage Day. Last year marked the festival’s 40th anniversary and the 125th year of the university hosting it; the second 40 years begin Saturday, Sept. 26. The festival will feature Eddie Rose and Highway Forty opening for bluegrass supergroup Balsam Range – plus many more local and regional favorites performing bluegrass, country, gospel and mountain music on two stages. More than 100 booths offering handmade arts and crafts will be in friendly, juried competition side-by-side with living history and craft demonstrations, cooking/canning/baking contests, beard-and-mustache and chainsaw rivalries, and wagon rides – plus a tent featuring children’s activities all day. The tradition of free admission and free parking will continue in 2015. Visitors are encouraged to bring a blanket or chair, and an umbrella to shed unwanted sunshine or rain. Service animals are welcome, but guests are asked to leave pets at home. To learn more about the Sept. 26 festival, visit www.mountainheritageday.com.

Fall 2015 | 51 events CALENDAR

SUNDAY, SEPT. 27 WEDNESDAY, OCT. 14 SEPTEMBER “An Evening with Groucho” – 3 p.m. Volleyball – vs. ETSU. 7 p.m. Ramsey TUESDAY, SEPT. 1 Award-winning actor/director/playwright Center. 800.34.GOWCU School of Music Faculty Showcase Frank Ferrante re-creates his acclaimed Concert – 7:30 p.m. Recital Hall, Coulter portrayal of legendary comedian Groucho FRIDAY, OCT. 16 Building. 828.227.7242 Marx. Part of the Galaxy of Stars Series. Volleyball – vs. The Citadel. 6 p.m. Bardo Arts Center. 828.227.2479 Ramsey Center. 800.34.GOWCU SATURDAY, SEPT. 5 Football – vs. Mars Hill. Catamount Club WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30 SATURDAY, OCT. 17 Day, postgame fireworks. 7 p.m. E.J. Volleyball – vs. Furman. 7 p.m. Ramsey Tournament of Champions – 15th annual Whitmire Stadium. 800.34.GOWCU Center. 800.34.GOWCU invitational high school band tournament with performances by the Pride of the WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 9 Mountains Marching Band. All day. E.J. Golden Dragon Acrobats – China’s Whitmire Stadium. 828.227.2259 premiere troupe featuring acrobatics, OCTOBER traditional dance, ancient and THURSDAY-SATURDAY, OCT. 1-3 SUNDAY, OCT. 18 contemporary music. 7:30 p.m. Part of “Pop! Who Shot Andy Warhol?” – A Volleyball – vs. UNCG. 2 p.m. Ramsey the Arts and Cultural Events Series. Bardo comedy/drama musical “whodunit.” Part Center. 800.34.GOWCU Arts Center. 828.227.2479 of the Mainstage theatre season. Thu.- Sat., 7:30 p.m.; Sat. matinee, 3 p.m. MONDAY, OCT. 19 FRIDAY-SATURDAY, SEPT. 11-12 Hoey Auditorium. 828.227.2479 Steep Canyon Rangers – Friends of the Sixth Old Cullowhee Canoe Slalom – A Arts membership concert. 7:30 p.m. nine-gate canoe/kayak/paddleboard THURSDAY-FRIDAY, OCT. 1-2 Bardo Arts Center. 828.227.2479 event, open to all. Practice at noon “Octubafest” – 7:30 p.m. Recital Hall, Friday; competition at 9 a.m. Saturday. Coulter Building. 828.227.7242 TUESDAY, OCT. 20 Registration $5 beginning Aug. 20 at WNC: LEAD – Second annual regional Base Camp Cullowhee. 828.227.3844 SATURDAY, OCT. 3 conference on economic, community Football – vs. Presbyterian. Family development. 10 a.m. Ramsey Center. FRIDAY, SEPT. 25 Weekend. 3:30 p.m. E.J. Whitmire 828.227.7397 Volleyball – vs. Wofford. 6 p.m. Ramsey Stadium. 800.34.GOWCU Center. 800.34.GOWCU WEDNESDAY, OCT. 21 FRIDAY, OCT. 9 Homecoming Comedy Show: Iliza SATURDAY, SEPT. 26 Soccer – vs. The Citadel. 7 p.m. Shlesinger, featuring Chloe Hilliard and Mountain Heritage Day – Southern Catamount Athletic Complex. Kevin Yee; hosted by Jose Barrientos. Appalachian food, mountain music, 800.34.GOWCU – Part of the Arts and Cultural Events dance, arts, crafts, activities. Performers Series. 7:30 p.m. Bardo Arts Center. include Balsam Range, Eddie Rose SATURDAY, OCT. 10 828.227.2479 & Highway Forty. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Football – vs. Mercer. Youth Football Intramural Fields. 828.227.7129 Day. 3:30 p.m. E.J. Whitmire Stadium. FRIDAY, OCT. 23 800.34.GOWCU Soccer – vs. Chattanoga. 7 p.m. Catamount Athletic Complex. 800.34. SUNDAY, OCT. 11 GOWCU Soccer – vs. Mercer. 2 p.m. Catamount Athletic Complex. 800.34.GOWCU

52 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University EXHIBITS FINE ART MUSEUM 828.227.3591 | fineartmuseum.wcu.edu

“YEE-HAW: Selections from the WCU Fine Art Museum Permanent Collection.” Letterpress and block prints are the media for this imaginative miscellany of commercial and fine art pieces. Through Sept. 4.

“CONNECTIONS: Diane Fox and Beauvais Lyons.” In obscuring the boundaries between art and science, the imaginary and the real, Fox and Lyons challenge the way that beliefs about the natural world are formed. Oct. 12 – Jan. 15. FAM reception and artist talks: Thursday, Nov. 19, 5 – 7 p.m. FRIDAY-SUNDAY, OCT. 23-25 FRIDAY, NOV. 13 Homecoming – Events include concert, a Volleyball – vs. Samford. 6 p.m. Ramsey MFA THESIS EXHIBITIONS.The museum partners with the WCU golf tournament, parade. See inside back Center. 800.34.GOWCU School of Art and Design in the presentation of new work by cover for details; homecoming.wcu.edu as candidates in the master of fine arts program. In this exhibition event nears. SATURDAY, NOV. 14 debut, four artists introduce their work to the campus, community Volleyball – vs. Chattanooga. 6 p.m. and the world. SATURDAY, OCT. 24 Ramsey Center. 800.34.GOWCU Laura Sellers: Oct. 5 – 16. Football – vs. Samford. Homecoming Leigh Ann Parrish: Nov. 16 – 25. game. 3:30 p.m. E.J. Whitmire Stadium. WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY, NOV. 18-22 Renee Roberson: Oct. 26 – Nov. 13. 800.34.GOWCU “Blithe Spirit” – A “spirited” and classic Hannah Rebecca McBride: Oct. 26 – Nov. 13. Noel Coward comedy. Part of the SUNDAY, OCT. 25 Mainstage theatre season. Wed.-Sat., “SOMEWHERE BETWEEN HERE AND THERE: Cathryn Griffin.” Soccer – vs. Samford. 2 p.m. Catamount 7:30 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m. Bardo Arts This visual anthology brings to light the liminal moments in time, Athletic Complex. 800.34.GOWCU Center. 828.227.2479 the regular stuff of life that one neglects to remember. Griffin The United Kingdom Ukulele Orchestra captures these moments in photographs that command viewers – A two-hour show that combines music to stop and consider the power of these quiet moments. Aug. 3 – ranging from Mozart to Monty Python, DECEMBER Sept. 25. FAM reception: Sept. 3, 5 – 7 p.m. Bach to the Beatles, Chick Corea to Rossini with spontaneous humor. SUNDAY, DEC. 6 “TOMB TO TALLER: Contemporary Maya Artist Books.” This Part of the Galaxy of Stars Series. 3 p.m. Sounds of the Season Concert – This exhibition features artist books from Taller Lenateros and the Bardo Arts Center. 828.227.2479 annual performance of holiday classics Woodlanders Workshop, a community of Maya printmakers, will open the musical celebration of papermaker and book artists from San Cristobal de Las Casas, gratitude, giving and light. 3 p.m. Bardo Chiapas. Sept. 17 – Nov. 1. Reception and artist talk: Arts Center. 828.227.2479 NOVEMBER Sept. 17, 5 – 7 p.m. FRIDAY, DEC. 11 SATURDAY, NOV. 7 MOUNTAIN HERITAGE CENTER “3 Redneck Tenors Christmas Spec-tac- Volleyball – vs. Mercer. Noon. Ramsey 828.227.7129 | mhc.wcu.edu yule” – Foot-stompin,’ toe-tappin,’ bell- Center. 800.34.GOWCU ringin’ fun for the whole family. Part of the Football – vs. Furman. Senior Day, Hall The Mountain Heritage Center began a move to WCU’s Hunter Galaxy of Stars Series. 7:30 p.m. Bardo of Fame Day. 3:30 p.m. E.J. Whitmire Library in May. Some exhibits, yet to be determined, are Arts Center. 828.227.2479 Stadium. 800.34.GOWCU scheduled to open there Aug. 17. These traveling exhibits from the center will be open this fall: SATURDAY, DEC. 12 THURSDAY, NOV. 12 Winter Commencement – Undergraduate “Mercy Killers” – A one-man play “BARTRAM’S JOURNEY: The 1775 Journey of William Bartram to and graduate students (including August performed by author Michael Milligan Western North Carolina.” Traces the natural history explorer’s life 2015 graduates). 1 p.m. Ramsey Center. about loved ones and health care in and his observations of not only plant life, but also the people and 828.227.7216 America. Part of the Arts and Cultural places he encountered in the southeastern United States. Smith Events Series. 7 p.m. Recital Hall, Coulter McDowell House, Asheville. Through October. SUNDAY, DEC. 13 Building. 828.227.2612 Community Chorus Holiday Performance “QUALLA ARTS AND CRAFTS MUTUAL: Tradition and – 4 p.m. Recital Hall, Coulter Building. Innovation.” From its beginnings in 1974 as “Founder’s Day” 828.227.7242 through this year’s milestone observance, this annual community festival is exhibited. Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, Townsend, Tennessee. Through November. WCU is a University of North Carolina campus and an Equal Opportunity Institution. 59,000 copies of this public document were printed at a cost of $19,007.00 $0.32 each. Office of Public Relations/Creative Services | July 2015 | 15-334

Fall 2015 | 53 THE VIEW FROM HERE

Martin Luther King’s dream lives on through the passion, action of today’s students

In her essay “The Long Civil Rights Movement and the • Set the highest records of eligible voter turnout in American Political Uses of the Past,” historian Jacquelyn Dowd Hall history. This goal is most appropriate, especially for the vast noted that we have made the mistake of freezing Martin Luther majority of us today who could not have voted for George King Jr. in time, forever standing in our memory on the steps Washington in 1789, when we consider all the blood, lives and of the Lincoln Memorial, dreaming of a day when his “four deferred dreams that were sacrificed for the right to vote. Even little children will one day live in a nation where they will with our busy lives, distracted priorities and short attention not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of spans, what legitimate excuse can we really have not to exercise their character.” Reconvening each January to repeat these this precious civic fundamental right? words and measure progress toward the dream’s fulfillment • Invest ourselves in a liberal arts education and a thoughtful is laudable, but it is not enough. I believe that today’s WCU examination of American history. Whatever our professional Brandon A. Robinson students are highly capable of ending poverty, restoring the discipline, there is no substitute for an education that broadens our minds, acclimates us to critical thinking and thoughtful ’05 MA ’10, vice chair middle class, reviving civic pride and participation, and putting consideration of opposing views, and orients us in our shared of WCU’s Board of racism and sexism on a permanent path to extinction in the past. History does not provide “answers” to contemporary Visitors, is an attorney 21st century – their century. problems, but it does offer context and clarifying questions as to currently practicing law We forget that King alienated much of the country, right up what is most important about America in a global age. King and in Durham. He shared to his death, by speaking directly to the systemic inequities all great American leaders have had a strong sense of history – these thoughts as part of wealth and opportunity in our power structure. Not only indeed, of the human spirit. Without broad cultural exposure, of his keynote address whites, but many African-Americans were angry at King for we will not have the necessary wisdom and intellectual capital at WCU’s annual Martin what they perceived to be his diversions from more-pressing to rise to historic occasions in our own lives. Luther King Celebration needs of civil rights, integration and voter protections. • Be the national leader in the struggle against sexual assault Week last January. Moreover, President Lyndon B. Johnson and many whites on U.S. college campuses. King did not live long enough to asked, following passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and witness the emerging women’s rights and gender equalization 1965 Voting Rights Act, “What more can he ask of us now?” dialogue of the 1970s, but had he lived longer, I believe he would King refused to congratulate himself on these legislative have joined in the battle for political and social equality between successes, his “I Have a Dream Speech,” or his 1964 Nobel the sexes. Reportedly, one-fourth of all women experience some Peace Prize. He knew that these marked only the beginning, kind of sexual assault before college graduation; this number not the end, of a painfully long journey to make America what is too high. Sexual assault has absolutely no place at WCU. It is it has claimed to be since 1776 – an equal-opportunity nation. the least we can do for our daughters, granddaughters, sisters, If it took until 1971 for all citizens over age 18 to vote, what nieces, friends and significant others. other aspects of citizenship were similarly delayed? Economic • Transcend political ideology to identify innovative solutions citizenship? Social citizenship? Intellectual citizenship? Almost to poverty in our state. As an undergraduate and graduate 50 years since King’s death, we are only slightly past halfway in student, I relished attending debates between the College our progress through the wilderness, en route to the “Promised Democrats and College Republicans. I encourage WCU Land” King envisaged on his last day on earth. students to engage in public forums at which the two political Evidence in North Carolina. In 2013, 18 percent of North clubs seek terms of “agreement and cooperation,” especially on Carolinians –about 1.7 million people – lived in poverty. This the issue of poverty. This will likely be the greatest civil rights statistic rises to 41 percent of North Carolina’s children of issue of our time, and it will require the attention of brave, color. We ranked fifth in the nation overall for hunger, with brilliant, talented and altruistic leaders in communities across Greensboro being the second hungriest city and Asheville the North Carolina – leaders like the ones we see at WCU every ninth. Nine-thousand homeless military veterans live among day. If there was ever a need for a “greatest generation” on our us, and at least 5,000 homeless children currently enroll in the nation’s domestic front, the present widening gap between rich Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district. In Durham, where I and poor furnishes a historic opportunity. live, at least 23,000 children live in what is called “extreme Each time I visit our alma mater and engage with students, I poverty,” with three-quarters of the city’s elementary school am inspired by their passion, intellect, earnestness and genuine kids on free or reduced-price lunches. These trends do not desire to achieve something larger than their individual bode well for social cohesion, and, left unchecked, will have ambitions. Reconnecting with WCU and the youngest unpleasant consequences for us all. Catamount generation is something that all of us who have That is where our students, and therefore, our future, factor been away from Cullowhee for some time should do to revive in. I see four ways that WCU students can change the social our spirits and keep alive our optimism. In them, and in their justice calculus of the 21st century: future, Dr. Martin Luther King’s fondest hopes thrive.

54 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY HOMECOMING 2015

THURSDAY, OCT. 22 FRIDAY, OCT. 23 SATURDAY, OCT. 24

THE LAST LECTURE. 4-5 p.m. Vicki GOLF TOURNAMENT. 11 a.m. CHANCELLOR’S BRUNCH AND ALUMNI Szabo, associate professor of history, will shotgun start. Maggie Valley Golf Club. AWARDS. 10 a.m.-noon. Award recipients discuss “Scholars, Warriors, Cowards and Four-person “captain’s choice” format. are Teresa Williams, Distinguished Fools: Fear and Learning from Rome to $100 per person includes mulligan, Service; Keith Ramsey ’73, Academic Raleigh.” A.K. Hinds University Center refreshments, dinner. RSVP by Achievement; Michell Hicks ’87, Theater. Information: 828-227-7196 or Friday, Oct. 16. 828-227-7335 or Professional Achievement; and Brandon [email protected]. [email protected]. Robinson ’05 MA ’10, Young Alumnus. A.K. Hinds University Center Grandroom. SPIRIT NIGHT PEP RALLY. 8 p.m. Music, HOMECOMING PARADE. 6:15 p.m. Main $15 per person, business attire. RSVP by food, fun. Central Plaza, adjacent to the Street, downtown Sylva. Friday, Oct. 16. 877-440-9990, Alumni Tower. 828-227-7335 or [email protected]. WCU VS. UTC SOCCER. 7 p.m. Catamount Athletic Complex. TAILGATING. Noon-3:30 p.m. Parking lots around E.J. Whitmire Stadium.

WCU VS. SAMFORD FOOTBALL. 3:30 * Events/locations subject to change. p.m. E.J. Whitmire Stadium/Bob Waters Field. Tickets: 800-344-6928.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN ALUMNI POSTGAME RECEPTION. 6:30-8 p.m. Ramsey Center’s Peele, Westmoreland Suhre, Hartshorn Hospitality Room. RSVP by Friday, Oct. 16. 877-440-9990, 828- 227-7335 or [email protected].

SUNDAY, OCT. 25

WCU VS. SAMFORD SOCCER. 2 p.m. Catamount Athletic Complex.

INSPIRATIONAL CHOIR CONCERT. 3 p.m. A.K. Hinds University Center Grandroom. Information: 828-227-2276 or [email protected].

Fall 2015 | 55 WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY 1 UNIVERSITY WAY CULLOWHEE, NC 28723