Angel Wings Program Under Way NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 23, 2009 � Email This Post � Print This Post � Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

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TOP STORIES Angel Wings program under way NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 23, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

EVENTS Long-standing programs at Western Carolina University, Angel Wings and the Jackson County Christmas Store oer community members in need an affordable opportunity to acquire holiday gifts for their families.

PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES The Department of Residential Living is coordinating participation in several ways. Financial donations and unwrapped, new toys and clothing to be donated to the Jackson County Christmas Store will be accepted at the residential living office in Scott Hall.

For details about the program, click on the “Angel Wings” information link on the right side of the Web site for the Department of Residential Living. Call (828) 227-7303 for more information about how to get involved. CALENDAR Click here to read about a Toy Run Parade that WCU communication students assisted with to benefit the Jackson County 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Christmas Store. Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond Click here to read a previous story in The Reporter about Angel Wings. LINKS Calendar

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TOP STORIES Athletic training group completes fundraising run from WCU to ASU NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 16, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

EVENTS Catamounts could be seen running along the Blue Ridge Parkway this past weekend, but these weren’t of the four-legged variety. It was a contingent from Western Carolina University’s athletic training program completing the second annual Mountain Jug Run for Research.

PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES Nine WCU runners – including students, faculty and sta – began the 174-mile continuous relay at the WCU football stadium in Cullowhee early Saturday morning, Nov. 14, and completed it 30 hours, 14 minutes and 33 seconds later when the group reached the football stadium at Appalachian CALENDAR State University in Boone. 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds Named in honor of the annual football rivalry 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond between WCU and ASU, the Jug Run was LINKS organized to raise funds for the National Athletic Calendar Trainers’ Association’s Research and Education Foundation, a nonprot corporation that awards Higher Education NewsWatch research grants and academic scholarships in the WCU Hub field of sports medicine.

AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT The inaugural Jug Run in 2008 oered up single- digit temperatures and snow for much of the rst 100 miles of the event, but the mild weather this year created perfect conditions for the A WCU athletic training group prepares for the second annual Mountain Jug Run for Research from participants as they took turns running ve-mile Western Carolina University to Appalachian State University. segments, said Jay Scifers, director of WCU’s athletic training program.

Last year’s run was completed following roads that mostly run through valleys, but this year the group ran along the Blue Ridge Parkway for 150 miles, which meant the runners faced extremely long uphill and downhill sections. “Although the parkway was much more dicult to traverse than last year’s course, it provided a wonderful location for the event,” Scifers said.

The six student participants – Heather Brown, Emily Whittington, Aleesa Lennon, Jeremiah Nichols, Kris Leamon and Britton Harper – “did an excellent job handling the run and the fatigue factor,” Scifers said. When they weren’t running, participants rode in the support van. “It was dicult getting much sleep during the event because we were stuck in a vehicle for 30 hours when not running. Some participants slept as little as one hour during the trek, and trying to stay hydrated and maintain adequate nutrition was a challenge,” he said.

Scifers said the students’ performances were especially impressive considering the fact that they were anything but seasoned runners when they signed on to participate. Most had never run more than one or two miles at a time prior to beginning training in August.

Harper, a sophomore from Waxhaw, completed what was considered to be the toughest segment of the event, a 1,200-foot climb on the parkway north from Balsam. He ran a total of 25 miles over the 30-hour span and reported that he was “completely worn out” when the group arrived on ASU’s campus. Harper said the run was exhausting but satisfying.

The Jug Run participants ran through the night on the parkway, and Harper had one of the group’s more interesting encounters with wildlife around 9 p.m. Saturday, when he came upon an aggressive possum standing in the road. “The possum was about 10 feet away,” Harper said. “I looked at him, and he looked at me, and then he started coming toward me.” Harper scooted to the side of the road to avoid the animal and continued his journey.

In addition to the “attack possum,” other wildlife encounters included fox, deer, owls, bobcat and one small bear that refused to get o the road for the van to pass.

Scifers said the group encountered no other human trac on the parkway from 10 p.m. Saturday until 5:15 a.m. Sunday. “During that time, our group ran about 40 miles. It is incredible how dark it is on the parkway at night, and also how peaceful and quiet it is,” he said. “Everyone enjoyed the evening running due to the wonderful temperatures and the peacefulness of the surroundings.”

The logistical challenges of the Jug Run included a parkway closure in the Mount Pisgah area, where the scenic road is blocked o for one mile because of the possibility of landslides. The runners proceeded to the closure gate, and then had to turn around and take a 30-mile detour by van to get to the other side of the closed section and resume their journey.

In addition to Scifers and the six students, the running group also included Associate Professor Jill Manners and staff member Emily Martin.

Jug Run participants have collected about $1,000 in donations so far to present to the NATA’s Research and Education Foundation. Their goal is $2,000, and donations are still being accepted. Donations may be made in the form of checks payable to NATA-REF and sent to Jill Manners at 134 Moore Hall, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee N.C. 28723. All donations to the foundation are tax deductible.

By Randall Holcombe

Tags: athletic training program, Emily Martin, Jay Scifers, Jill Manners

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TOP STORIES Awareness weeks coincide on campus to highlight topics from NOTEWORTHY NEWS homelessness to heritage ACHIEVEMENTS November 16, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | EVENTS

Campus groups will dedicate this week – PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES Nov. 15-21 – to highlighting a range of issues – the struggle for equal rights, the reality of hunger and homelessness, the importance of international education to address global needs, and the value and diversity of Native

American heritage. CALENDAR

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Fight for Equal Rights Week LINKS

Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Calendar Week Higher Education NewsWatch International Education Week WCU Hub Native American Expo in celebration of Native American Heritage Month AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT

Tommy Wildcat performed at WCU on Nov. 4 during Native American Heritage Month.

Fight for Equal Rights Week

What began as a UNITY student’s idea for a music festival grew into Fight for Equal Rights Week, which will feature movies, discussions, speakers, a drag show and training designed to explore the struggles of different groups for equal rights.

“This is not a national program around the country on college campuses but grew out of the Logo for Fight for Equal Rights Week desire of our students to educate the campus about the different eras of human rights movements,” said Michelle Clonch, director of the Women’s Center, which is an event host and sponsor. “We hope students are able to critically think about and understand that these parallel human rights movements –civil rights, disabilities rights, gay rights and women’s rights – have historical and institutionalized roots but are still fresh, relevant and being fought for today by underrepresented and disenfranchised populations and allies.”

“We want our students to understand that as individuals pursuing the privilege of higher education, they have a responsibility as members of the global community to not only be aware of social injustices happening around the globe, but to also be aware of what is happening here in the United States and to affirm that they can contribute to the solution,” Clonch said.

Fight for Equal Rights Week features an exhibit on the second floor of the University Center and a range of events:

Screening of “Hairspray” followed by civil rights discussion at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, in Multipurpose Room A of A.K. Hinds University Center; Screening of “Iron Jawed Angels” and panel discussion about the women’s suffrage movement at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, in the University Center theater;

Discussion titled “A Look Into the Funhouse Mirror” led by Lance Alexis, director of disability services at WCU, at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, in the Rogers Room in the University Center; “Women Who Dare” speaker series event about Zora Neale Hurston and highlighting the women’s and civil rights movement at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, in a University Center multipurpose room.

Discussion titled “Sex & Religion” with Dan Boyd and highlighting the gay rights movement at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, in the Catamount Room of the University Center.

Annual drag show at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, in the University Center Grandroom. Tear-down ceremony of the “Wall of Oppression” at 4 pm. Friday, Nov. 20, on the lawn of the University Center.

Safe Zone Training to provide training, support, resources and a network of allies committed to enhancing gender, sexuality and orientation issues reflected in the campus and local community at 10 a.m. in the Catamount Room of the University Center.

In addition to the Women’s Center, sponsors and participating groups include the UNITY Student Organization, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Organization of Ebony Students, Di-Ga-Li-I Native American Student Organization, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the Philosophy and Religion Department, Residential Student Association, Disability Services and International Programs and Services. For more information, check out the Women’s Center Web site.

Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week

The Center for Service Learning is coordinating two community service projects, a film presentation, guest speakers and discussions, and a potluck dinner as part of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.

“Our participation in the week’s events will help us face the stark reality of hunger and homelessness across the nation and right here in our own communities,” said Glenn Bowen, director of service learning. “Furthermore, it should serve as a catalyst for concerted action to assist our neighbors who are experiencing these poverty-related conditions.”

More than 70 percent of Western North Carolina households with children among clients served by Manna FoodBank and documented by Hunger in America 2006 were “food insecure,” while 53 percent of households facing hunger must choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel.

Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week events include:

WCU staff members of administrative support units under the Office for Undergraduate Studies will volunteer at the Community Table in Sylva on Monday, Nov. 16. The Community Table, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in August, serves dinner free of charge four evenings a week to Jackson County residents. “The Pursuit of Happyness” will be screened at 8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, in the University Center theater. During an intermission, Amy Grimes McClure, executive director of the Community Table, will discuss hunger-related issues with the audience. A Haywood County Meals on Wheels representative will speak to faculty member Jeanne Dulworth’s social work class at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, in the University Center theater. The presentation is open to the campus and community, and will be followed by a discussion. A 15-member group of service-learning faculty, administrators and students will visit MANNA FoodBank in Asheville on Thursday, Nov. 19, to spend two hours sorting and packing food items for distribution to a network of community-based nonprofit partner agencies that serves individuals and families in need throughout the 16-county Western North Carolina region.

The Wesley Foundation will host a potluck dinner Friday, Nov. 20, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Cullowhee Methodist Church on the WCU campus. This event is free and open to the public. The event will have live entertainment featuring a WCU student brass quintet as well as speakers, testimonials and educational information.

For more information, contact Brendan Braaten, project coordinator, in the WCU Center for Service Learning, at [email protected] or (828) 227-2592.

International Education Week

With the theme “Tearing Down Walls: Overcoming Barriers to Freedom,” International Education Week is a joint initiative of the U.S. departments of State and Education.

WCU has participated since the event began in 2000 and aims to highlight the importance of internationalizing the campus through the presence of international students, international research by faculty and students, and an awareness of news events and cultures worldwide, said Lois Petrovich-Mwaniki, director of International Programs and Services at WCU.

“We chose the topic this year, ‘Tearing Down Walls: Overcoming Barriers to Freedom,’ to mark the 20th anniversary of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989,” said Petrovich-Mwaniki. “In addition, we hope to highlight various other types of physical and mental walls that people build to prevent freedom of expression, like the trench built near Mt. Kenya during the Mau Mau rebellion in the 1950s, the community suppression of freedom in Bulgaria and the status of women in the world.”

The week began with a presentation by Antoinette Sithole, museum educator and curator at the Hector Pieterson Museum in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, on Monday, Nov. 16. Sithole is the sister of the late Hector Pieterson, who died on June 16, 1976, during the Soweto uprisings. At 12 years of age, Pieterson was the first and youngest child to be killed by the apartheid regime, and Sithole witnessed the incident.

International Education Week events also include:

“Trench as a Wall”in Kenya by Nyaga Mwaniki at noon Tuesday, Nov. 17, in the University Center Cardinal Room.

“Life and Culture in Madrid as Presented by Pio Baroja” by Nancy Norris at noon Wednesday, Nov. 18, in the University Center Cardinal Room. “Intensive Language Program in Southern Spain” by Josie Bewsey, 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, in the University Center Cardinal Room.

“Never Saw Another Butterfly” by Ian Jeffress and Mary Kay Bauer, at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, in the University Center Cardinal Room. “Religious Tyranny Against Modern-Day Earth Pagans” by Lianna Costantino, 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, in the University Center Cardinal Room. “End of Communism in Bulgaria and the Impact on its Society,” by Teodora Krasteva, 2:30 p.m., University Center Cardinal Room.

“The Fall of the Wall and the End of the Great War” by David Dorondo at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, in the University Center Cardinal Room. “Women’s Status in the Quest for Freedom” by Claudia Bryant at 3:30 p.m. in the University Center Cardinal Room.

“Zora Neale Hurston – Provocateur” presentation in Women Who Dare Speaker Series at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, in the University Center Multipurpose Room. Presentation about the Catamount Pilgrims to Japan during summer 2009 at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, in Illusions at Hinds University Center “Tear Down the Wall” moment of silence at noon Friday, Nov. 20, on the lawn of Hinds University Center.

In addition, study abroad information tables will be set up at Hinds University Center throughout the week and glass cases at Hunter Library will display related literature and materials. For more information about International Education Week events at WCU, call the International Programs and Services office at (828) 227-7494.

Native American Expo

Western Carolina University will host a gallery of exhibits and series of presentations that explore social issues, traditions, images and values of Native American communities as part of the Native American Heritage Expo on campus Nov. 16-19. The event will be held in the Grandroom on the third floor of A.K. Hinds University Center from 1 to 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, and 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. A reception will be held at the close of the expo Thursday.

“We want to foster an appreciation of Native American culture and continuously make an effort to create an inclusive community on campus,” said Yolany Gonell, assistant director of multicultural affairs at WCU. “Although our campus lies on the ancestral homeland of the Cherokee, many are unaware of the historical sites located on our campus. We hope expo participants gain a better understanding of what it means to identify as Native American and recognize that Native American culture is vast and diverse.”

Participants from Western Carolina University, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and the University of North Carolina at Asheville will host presentations at the expo:

“Native American Women in Society” by Sheena Bark, Morgan Davis and Lee Griffin at 1 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16;

“Chiefing: Past and Present” by Meghann Locklear, Patience Owl and Lashaunda Ryan at 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16;

“History of the Lumbee Tribe” by Mary Ann Jacobs, chair of the American Indian Studies Department at UNC Pembroke, and Rosa Winfree at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17; “Native American Images in Advertisements” by Kyle Bielan, Brittany Young and Keshia Young at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17; “Indian in the Cupboard: Native Americans in Children’s Books” by Susan Cloer and Kristin McRorie at 1 p.m. Wednesday, “The Impact of Diabetes among the Pima” by UNC- Asheville students Emily Jones, Mike Small, Chris Roberts and Michelle de Ondarza at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18; “Native American Mascots in Sports” by Scott Allen, Caleb Chandler and Chason Stevens at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18;

“Promoting Travel to the Qualla Boundary – Homeland of the Cherokees” by Elizabeth Hall, Eriko Ishibiki and Zara Sadler at 4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19;

“Barriers to Nursing Education for Native American High School Students” by Sheila Chapman, coordinator of the ABSN option at Western Carolina, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19;

Reception at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, featuring performance by flutist Hawk Brown.

The expo is sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Di-Ga-Li-I Native American Student Organization, the Cherokee Center and Cherokee Studies.

Sky Kanott, president of Di-Ga-Li-I, said she hopes attendees find the expo to be an educational experience. “This expo gives people near us a chance to see our Native American community here at WCU,” said Kanott. For a full schedule of events, check out http://multicultural.wcu.edu or contact Gonell in the Office of Multicultural Affairs at (828) 227- 2615.

Compiled by Teresa Killian Tate

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TOP STORIES Behind the scenes with Don Connelly and the writing of ‘On the NOTEWORTHY NEWS Home Front’ ACHIEVEMENTS November 9, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | EVENTS

Don Connelly, head of the communication department at Western Carolina University, spent nearly two years researching the PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES original Armed Forces Radio shows to write the production “On the Home Front: Nov. ’44,” which will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Veterans Day – Wednesday, Nov. 11 – in the Fine and Performing Arts Center.

Admission is $5 to a one-time-only re-creation REHEARSAL AUDIO CLIPS of a live recording of “Command Performance, Army Theme USA!” – the most popular Armed Forces Radio Chattanooga CALENDAR show among GIs during World War II. The Clarinet Ancient Forms, weekly variety-style radio show featured music, 5/29/2017 God Bless America Modern Minds comedy and the most popular radio and movie 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: stars in Hollywood, and often fulfilled the LINKS requests of a GI to hear sounds from home. Calendar

Connelly spent more than 25 years in managerial and on-air roles before coming to Higher Education NewsWatch WCU from Clear Channel of Orlando. WCU Hub

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The Reporter: What sparked your interest in the original Armed Forces Radio shows?

Connelly: While working in Florida for 17 years, I met many veterans. I got to interview people such as Chaplain Bill Downey, who was on the flight line and asked a blessing for the crew of the Enola Gay before their takeoff on the atomic mission to Hiroshima, and Don Connelly the fire control officer on the USS Tennessee at Pearl Harbor.

What I noticed was that they were more than happy to share the good times and very rarely talked about the war itself, and one of the things that came up several times was Armed Forces Radio. I’ve been addicted to radio since I was 12, and the more I learned about Armed Forces Radio, the more impressed I was with the men and women based in Hollywood who didn’t get medals or a whole lot of recognition, yet were responsible for boosting morale of our men and women overseas.

So the idea for “On the Home Front” was, “Let’s do something for veterans that’s not just about the rough and the bad times. Let’s look back at the good times.”

The Reporter: When did you hear Armed Forces Radio for the first time?

Connelly: I’ve listened to so many “Command Performance” shows that I don’t remember the first one. They turned out hundreds – basically once a week with only three to four days to write and score the show and then rehearse. They did it on the fly. Some are just off-the-charts, stellar – good. I only heard a few clunkers.

The Reporter: Where did you find old recordings for your research for “On the Home Front?”

Connelly: They are scattered all over the place – the Department of Defense and national archives records. You can go online and search and find MP3s of them. A photo from the personal war-time scrapbook of Lt. Vern Carstensen, 5th Army Mobile Radio Station, The Reporter: What were some of the most humorous moments you encountered while depicts a GI operating a homemade listening to the old recordings? field radio built to listen to broadcasts like the one being re- Connelly: Some are times when, say, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope were doing a bit, and the joke created at WCU. (Photo courtesy of James Carstensen ) didn’t work. It was their reaction to it not working that was hysterical. And, there were a lot of jokes they got away with on “Command Performance” that they could not do on regular radio. In one, Bob Hope joked about Jane Russell, the most popular pin-up girl in World War II. He said soldiers would think as she was getting out of the airplane in Algiers that they were in for more training – learning how to handle those “booby traps.” They could never have done it at the time on commercial radio.

The Reporter: What were some of the most poignant moments?

Connelly: GIs would make requests, and some were very simple. They wanted to hear the hot dog vendors at Yankee Stadium or the street sounds from their hometown. One guy said the biggest thing was the dinner his wife fixed him before he shipped out and asked GI Jill, the most popular woman on all of Armed Forces Radio, because she sounded like his wife, “Would you please call me to dinner?”

The Reporter: Did she call out “Dinner’s ready?””

Connelly: I think it was, “Honey, the mashed potatoes are ready. It’s time to come to dinner.” You have to keep in mind the idea was to boost morale, and so there were some touching moments but it never got deep or maudlin.

The Reporter: Did you have any family who served in the war?

Connelly: Yes, my grandfather was a typesetter and printer and photographer. He was drafted when he was 37. His ship was the USS Yorktown, and he served in the South Pacific from late 1943 to the end of the war. I was 13 years old when he passed away. Interestingly, I have obtained his service records, and he was stationed at New Caledonia when the first Armed Forces Radio station went on the air in the South Pacific. That was one of those, “Ooh, wow,” moments. Cast members of “On The Home Front, Nov. ‘44” practice lines and music cues with Bruce H. Frazier (seated) the conductor of and arranger for the Home Front Radio Orchestra. Standing, from left, is Don The Reporter: The show is on Wednesday. What do you hope Connelly, the show's producer; Steve Carlisle, the show’s director; those who attend take home from the experience? Melody Huddleston, who is playing the role of G.I. Jill; and Terry Nienhuis, who is playing the role of Private Jimmy “Sad-Sack” Walters, the show’s comic relief character. Connelly: Respect and honor for the veterans – all veterans from all wars. The truly incredible thing about it is we have people from all different departments coming together and students engaging with faculty to do this for our veterans. The scary part for the audience may be that I’m singing in one of the songs.

The Reporter: Are you already working on another radio show?

Connelly: My wife (Debra Connelly, visiting assistant professor of communication at WCU) says that under no circumstances am I permitted to discuss the next project. There is one, but I’m not allowed to discuss it until this one’s finished.

Interview by Teresa Killian Tate and printed in edited and condensed form

Tags: Don Connelly, Q&A

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TOP STORIES Capacity problems prompt decision to hold NOTEWORTHY NEWS three commencement ceremonies in May 2010 ACHIEVEMENTS November 2, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | EVENTS

Record enrollments at Western Carolina University in recent years have produced corresponding increases in graduating students, and now PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES university ocials have set a strategy of holding three spring commencement ceremonies as a way to address crowd capacity issues at Ramsey Regional Activity Center.

WCU’s spring graduating class is the focus of concern because that group is historically much larger than the classes that nish their degree requirements at the end of the summer sessions or at the end of fall semester, said Fred Hinson, senior vice chancellor for academic aairs and chairman of the university’s commencement committee. CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern The spring classes have pushed the commencement venue, the Ramsey Center, to its absolute limits in recent years – in terms of numbers of Minds students participating in commencement, and the audience of families and friends who show up to watch them walk across the stage, Hinson said. To 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond deal with the numbers, university ocials decided to hold two ceremonies in May 2008 – one for graduate students on Friday night, and another for the Glass Matrix undergraduates on Saturday afternoon. 5/29/2017 Water Portraits: Barbara Tyroler The same strategy was followed this past May, but concerns about the potential size of the May 2010 undergraduate class prompted the decision to go 6/9/2017 Musical Variety Show 'Livin' the Dream' with three ceremonies, Hinson said. 6/10/2017 Musical Variety Show 'Livin' the Dream' Plans are now set to hold a ceremony for Graduate School students at 7 p.m. Friday, May 7, and two undergraduate ceremonies on Saturday, May 8 – at 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. The start time of the Saturday afternoon ceremony is being delayed from the typical 2 p.m. start to allow adequate cleanup and turnaround time for the Ramsey Center staff, and holding a later ceremony also will help with traffic, Hinson said. LINKS Calendar The May 8 morning commencement will include graduating students from the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Education and Allied Professions, and Higher Education NewsWatch Fine and Performing Arts. The day’s afternoon ceremony will include students from the colleges of Business, and Health and Human Sciences, and the Kimmel School of Construction Management and Technology. Honors College students will walk in either undergraduate ceremony, according to WCU Hub their degree affiliation, Hinson said.

AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT Plans for spring commencements are being put in place now to provide adequate notication for students, so that they and their families can make plans, Hinson said. All of WCU’s commencement ceremonies will continue to be non-ticketed events that are open to everyone, he said.

WCU’s fall commencement is not aected by capacity problems and will go on as planned, with one ceremony set for 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 19. With the university’s summer commencement eliminated due to budgetary concerns, students who complete degree requirements at the end of the summer sessions have the option of participating in the December ceremony, Hinson said.

By Randall Holcombe

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TOP STORIES David Strahan asked to evaluate teacher innovation program NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 16, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

The Asheville City Schools Foundation awarded $4,669 to David Strahan, the Taft B. Botner Distinguished Professor in Elementary and Middle EVENTS Grade Education at Western Carolina University, to evaluate the Inspired to Innovate program.

PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES The program, supported by funding from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, was designed to provide a comprehensive approach to retaining early- and mid-career educators by inviting teachers to design and implement innovative approaches to addressing the achievement gap in their classrooms. Inspired to Innovate program participants meet in seminar sessions to get the professional development necessary to implement their ideas and guidance for assessing student responses.

As project evaluator, Strahan will help teachers study the results of their work and prepare a final report about the impact of the program. CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond the Glass Matrix 5/29/2017 Water Portraits: Barbara Tyroler 6/9/2017 Musical Variety Show 'Livin' the Dream' 6/10/2017 Musical Variety Show 'Livin' the Dream'

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TOP STORIES Dillsboro leaders to tour WCU campus to explore possible partnerships on NOTEWORTHY NEWS Monday, Nov. 30 ACHIEVEMENTS November 30, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | EVENTS

As part of Western Carolina University’s ongoing eort to apply the talents of its faculty, sta and students to help the neighboring town of Dillsboro, a PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES group of merchants and leaders from the Jackson County municipality were scheduled to tour the campus Monday, Nov. 30.

The group planned to visit WCU’s Center for Applied Technology, Fine and Performing Arts Center, Balsam Residence Hall, Honors College, Campus Recreation Center, A.K. Hinds University Center and the Center for Service Learning. After the afternoon tour, town leaders and merchants were to meet faculty and sta from several university departments for a buet dinner in the Courtyard Dining Hall. The meeting was designed to allow town and university representatives to continue to explore needs, interests and potential partnerships. CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Click here to read “Chancellor, WCU representatives go to Dillsboro to hear needs, requests.” Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond LINKS

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TOP STORIES Donations accepted through Dec. 11 for Angel Wings program NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 30, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

Financial donations and unwrapped, new toys for the nonprofit Jackson County Christmas Store, which helps families acquire holiday EVENTS gifts, are being accepted in the Scott Hall office of the Department of Residential Living as part of its annual Angel Wings program.

PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES The Christmas store aims to make sure each child in the families served receives an outfit, a package of socks and underwear, a stuffed animal, an age-appropriate toy, a game and, depending on their needs, shoes and a book.

The store’s wares come from gifts and donations made by programs such as Angel Wings and area merchants, churches and community members. To find out what items are needed, check out the “Angel Wings” information posted online.

CALENDAR Last year, Western Carolina University’s Angel Wings program helped the Jackson County Christmas Store make holiday wishes come true for more than 780 children from 338 families.

For details about the program, click on the link on the right side of the Web site for the Department of Residential Living. Call (828) 227- LINKS 7303 for more information. Calendar

Read a feature (below) that appeared in the Dec. 1, 2008, issue of The Reporter about the Angel Wings program and its history: Higher Education NewsWatch

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AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT Feature story about the Angel Wings program at WCU published in the Dec. 1, 2008, issue of The Reporter newsletter for Western Carolina Unviersity faculty and staff.

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TOP STORIES Faculty and staff invited to join sustainability council NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 2, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

The energy management office at Western Carolina University is seeking students, faculty and staff to be members of a campus EVENTS sustainability council.

PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES The council will assist the staff of the energy management office with developing smart energy solutions at WCU and a comprehensive plan for leading the WCU community toward a sustainable future. Meetings will be held once a month starting in November.

For more information, contact Lauren Bishop, energy manager, at [email protected] or (828) 227-3562.

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TOP STORIES Flutist honored for lifetime achievements to perform Tuesday at WCU NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 9, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

EVENTS Flutist William Bennett will perform at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, with Lillian Pearson on piano and assisted by Eldred Spell, professor, on flute.

Bennett has received the American National Flute Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award and recently was awarded the Chicago Flute Club’s PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES Lifetime Achievement Award.

He serves on the faculty of the Royal Academy of Music in London and teaches around the world. He has been principal ute with the London Symphony, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and the English Chamber Orchestra.

In addition, Bennett has helped make acoustical improvements to the design of the modern ute, which have been adopted by virtually every ute maker CALENDAR on the planet, said Spell. 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds “The result is that modern students and professionals have a much easier time playing the flute, particularly as regards intonation,” said Spell. 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond LINKS

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TOP STORIES Flu vaccine arrives at WCU NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 16, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

More than 275 students were vaccinated against the 2009 H1N1 inuenza virus at the rst four clinics held on campus after the arrival of the rst EVENTS shipment of vaccine in early November.

PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES “Most of our students t into one of the priority groups to receive the vaccine, so we tried to take the shots to them where they were by hosting clinics in residence halls and Hinds University Center,” said Pam Buchanan, director of health services. “We will have u vaccines available in CALENDAR the Health Center this week and expect toward 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern the end of the week to be able to open that up to Minds faculty and staff.” 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond the Glass Matrix WCU initially received 500 doses of vaccine – 5/29/2017 Water Portraits: Barbara 300 nasal-spray u vaccines and 200 u shots. A Tyroler second shipment arrived soon thereafter with 6/9/2017 Musical Variety Show 'Livin' the Dream' 400 nasal-spray flu vaccines. 6/10/2017 Musical Variety Show 'Livin' the Dream' “We are on the list to get more (vaccine), but we are not sure when it will arrive,” said Buchanan. LINKS Priority groups to receive the vaccine include Kyle Lickteig, a junior emergency medical care student, gives a u shot to Scott Hall freshman Calendar young adults ages 19 through 24 as well as resident Jennifer Mitchell. Higher Education NewsWatch pregnant women, health care and emergency medical services personnel, children from 6 WCU Hub months through 18 years of age, infant caregivers and people ages 25 though 64 who have health conditions that put them at higher risk of medical complications from influenza. AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT

Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the H1N1 u had killed an estimated 3,900 Americans from April to October, including more than 500 children, and that an estimated 22 million Americans had been infected and 98,000 hospitalized.

As of Wednesday, Nov. 11, the WCU Health Center had treated 417 patients for u or ulike illness – a combination of fever, aching, congestion and cough – since the start of the fall semester. That’s about 411 more patients with ulike illness than usual by this time in a typical fall semester, said Buchanan.

“We probably see on average about three people a day,” said Buchanan. “At the peak at the beginning of the semester, we were seeing between 15 and 25 patients a day.”

Most recover quickly – within three to four days, and Buchanan was not aware of any students who required hospitalization because of the flu.

For Will Huddleston, a designer in WCU’s publications oce, what began as an allergy-like scratchy throat and cough developed into full- blown u within 48 hours. “I felt pretty rough,” said Huddleston. “On a scale of one to 10, with 10 being death, I was maybe an eight. I told my wife I felt as if I had been in a bad wreck.” For him, the worst part of the weeklong illness was muscle aches and sinus pressure.

Buchanan said Health Center sta members typically, at a minimum, recommend u patients get plenty of rest, drink plenty of uids, and use over-the-counter medications to control fever.

When the H1N1 u surfaced, university leaders reviewed WCU’s pandemic u plan, which was developed to respond to a virulent illness with a high mortality rate, and implemented Whitney Shoaf, a junior majoring in emergency medical care, administers the flu vaccine. appropriate measures. A u prevention and treatment education campaign was launched, and the WCU community was encouraged to take action: Wash hands frequently and for 15 seconds with soap or anti-bacterial sanitizer. Sneeze into a tissue or napkin, carefully covering the mouth to prevent the spread of germs, and disposing of the tissue or napkin properly.

Avoid contact with people who are ill.

Stay home if experiencing flulike symptoms, including fever, cough, chills, aching muscles or respiratory issues, and calling health care providers for guidance.

“I think the key really is communication,” said Buchanan. “We’ve done a good job of providing updates and information, and helping campus community members become aware of the importance of such small things as coughing in their elbow or frequently washing their hands to prevent the spread of the flu.”

Buchanan said the team will continue to post updates and information about upcoming vaccine clinics on the university’s H1N1 Flu Update Web site and through e-mail.

By Teresa Killian Tate

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TOP STORIES Fulbright awards take two WCU scholars abroad NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 30, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

EVENTS About 1,100 faculty and professionals from across the United States are traveling abroad this year through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, and two hail from Western Carolina University.

PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES “Having two Fulbright Scholars is an accomplishment,” said Meghan Jones, program associate for outreach and publications with the Council for International Exchange of Scholars that administers the Fulbright program. “While Fulbright Scholars come from institutions of all sizes, having multiple scholars is more common from large research institutions.”

This fall, Vicki Szabo, associate professor of history at WCU, is in Cardi, Wales, helping create a database to identify whale species from artifacts and to examine historical whale-hunting patterns. Meanwhile, Paul Dezendorf, an instructor in WCU’s master’s degree program in public aairs, is in CALENDAR Moscow conducting research and teaching courses at the State University-Higher School of Economics. 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds A two-time Fulbright winner and Fulbright application consultant with WCU’s Coulter Faculty Center, John LeBaron said having two faculty members 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond overseas at the same time on Fulbright Scholar grants is impressive for WCU and an extraordinary opportunity for the faculty members. LINKS Calendar LeBaron, the Jay M. Robinson Distinguished Professor of Educational Technologies at WCU, said his experience 10 years ago at the University of Oulu in Finland, which was made possible with a Fulbright grant, was among his most rewarding career opportunities. “In addition to academic development and Higher Education NewsWatch cultural growth, the experience launched continuing scholarly collaboration and close, lifelong friendships,” said LeBaron. “On many dierent fronts, a WCU Hub Fulbright offers the not-to-be-missed opening of a lifetime.”

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Vicki Szabo

Szabo’s Fulbright grant enabled her to continue research she began nearly 15 years ago into medieval whaling and that led her to author the book “Monstrous Fishes and the Mead-Dark Sea: Whaling in the Medieval North Atlantic,” which was published in 2008.

Vicki Szabo, associate professor of history at Western Carolina Univeristy, studies whale bones. Sperm whale skulls are part of the collection being studied as part of Project ORCA.

This fall at Cardi University in Wales, Szabo worked on “Project ORCA – Online Resource for Cetacean Archaeology: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Whale Bone Identication and Premodern Whale Demographics.” One of the goals of the collaborative, interdisciplinary eort is to use the study of whale bones and DNA to help develop a virtual whale bone database.

“We also will complete the design of our prototype Web site, to be launched in 2010, in consultation with Cardi University’s Advanced Research Computing Centre, which also has agreed to host and construct our virtual skeleton database,” said Szabo.

In addition, she and research partner Jacqui Mulville began constructing an international consortium of historians, archaeologists, biologists and technical specialists. They met or arranged meetings with representatives from an array of institutions, including the United Kingdom’s National Physics Laboratory, National Museums of Scotland, British Museum of Natural History, International Whaling Commission, Max Planck Institute, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, New Bedford Whaling Museum and the Smithsonian Institution.

Also, Szabo has been making presentations about their research. She was invited during the fall to present at four institutions: New Bedford Whaling Museum, where she received the L. Byrne Waterman Award; Cardi University; Institute of Archaeology at University College, London; and Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Meanwhile, Szabo and Mulville are completing two articles about the project for submission to The International Journal of Zooarchaeology and The Journal of Cetacean Research and Management.

“Fulbright has given me the opportunity to work closely with other faculty at Cardi University’s School of History and Archaeology, and to work closely with their students,” said Szabo. “I’ve participated in numerous conferences and forged close connections with other faculty, both at Cardi and across the United Kingdom. Being part of an institution like Cardi has opened more research doors for me than were I to have come over on my own without Fulbright sponsorship.”

Paul Dezendorf

Dezendorf is spending the 2009-2010 year as a Fulbright Scholar in Russia, where he is teaching at one of the country’s top universities, conducting research and traveling. His Fulbright focus on government public relations expands on his work in WCU’s political science and public aairs department, where he teaches courses in government public relations, e-government and grant writing.

Paul Dezendorf, at right in front row, participates with, from left, France's Cultural Aairs Attache to Russia, French Consul - Ekaterinburg, and London Metropolitan University representative, in an international conference. (Urals Academy of Public Administration Staff Photo)

Paul Dezendorf, WCU faculty member, visits one of the monuments found in cities and villages to honor Russia’s struggle in World War II. "A Russian custom is that after the wedding ceremony, the wedding party and guests go to these monuments for photos,” said Dezendorf.

WCU faculty member Paul Dezendorf keeps the cost of lunch to under $3 by eating at university cafeterias in Russia. "The staffs are friendly and the food is well done," said Dezendorf.

His host is the State University-Higher School of Economics, where he has presented papers annually for the past three years. HSE was created in the early 1990s as a Western-style research university to provide a think tank and consulting service for the post-Communist Russian government as well as train a new generation of government leaders. HSE this year became the rst social science university to be raised to the rank of National Research University in Russia.

His workplace is in the center of Moscow at the School of Public Administration, within walking distance of the Kremlin and a short distance from several dozen museums, theaters and other cultural attractions. “For lunch, I can walk and sit near the base of the Kremlin walls or go to a cafe at one of Russia’s top museums and be back in time for class,” said Dezendorf.

At the start of the year, he developed a symposium method for bringing his teaching to a wider audience in Russia. His idea was taken up by the National Democratic Institute, a nonprot based in Washington, that carries out programs to improve democracy in more than 100 countries. NDI is now sponsoring one-day symposiums in four major cities. These closed-door events bring 35 to 50 people representing government, media nonprot organizations and the academic world together for a discussion of the state of government public relations in that region.

“My goal was to expand my impact as a teacher by taking the government public relations model we teach at WCU to inuential persons in important cities throughout Russia,” said Dezendorf. “For example, in Yaraslovl, our symposium was the rst time such a frank and broadly representative discussion had been held in this historic city. The high degree of success led the host university to schedule similar symposiums as an annual event. This regional attention to expanding the quantity and quality of two-way dialogues between the government and the public signicantly contributes to improving public administration and public policy in local government, a goal of my Fulbright.”

His symposium work caught the attention of sta at the U.S. Embassy. He was asked for his ideas about government public relations on the agenda of the new Russian-U.S. Bilateral Presidential Commission, co-chaired by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “They asked some very thoughtful questions and then requested a written proposal,” said Dezendorf. “It was immensely gratifying to see the high-level recognition of this topic’s importance for Russia.”

Read more about his experience at www.dezendorf.wordpress.com.

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TOP STORIES Georgia Hambrecht and communication sciences students to present at NOTEWORTHY NEWS national conference ACHIEVEMENTS November 16, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | EVENTS

Georgia Hambrecht Professor and seven communication sciences and disorders graduate students will present “Examples of Service Learning PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES Imbedded within a Professional Preparation Eort” at a National Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association poster session. The convention will be held in New Orleans, and the presentation by Hambrecht and WCU students Nicole McRight, Tyra Minton, Lauren Rhein, Jordan Simmons, Michael Taylor, Rhian Vanderburg and Caroline Workman will take place Friday, Nov. 20.

The poster is a product of a grant-funded project “Improving Speech-Language Pathology Services to Children with Severe Disabilities through Preprofessional and Professional Training,” sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education’s Oce of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. CALENDAR Hambrecht and Bill Ogletree and David Shapiro, professors of communication sciences and disorders, co-authored the grant proposal and are in the 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern second year of implementing the four-year grant. Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond Click here to read more about the “Improving Speech-Language Pathology Services to Children with Severe Disabilities through LINKS Preprofessional and Professional Training” grant. Calendar

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TOP STORIES H1N1 vaccine now available to employees NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 23, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

EVENTS Western Carolina University Health Services has made doses of the H1N1 vaccine nasal spray available now not only to students but also to faculty and staff.

PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES Restrictions that prohibit someone from qualifying to receive the nasal spray include:

People younger than 2 years of age

Pregnant women

People 50 years of age and older CALENDAR People with a medical condition that places them at higher risk for complications from influenza, including those with chronic heart or lung disease, such 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern as asthma or reactive airways disease; people with medical conditions such as diabetes or kidney failure; or people with illnesses that weaken the immune Minds system, or who take medications that can weaken the immune system 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond LINKS Children younger than 5 years old with a history of recurrent wheezing Calendar Children or adolescents receiving aspirin therapy People who have had Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare disorder of the nervous system, within six weeks of getting a flu vaccine Higher Education NewsWatch

People who have a severe allergy to chicken eggs or who are allergic to any of the nasal spray vaccine components WCU Hub

Call health services at (828) 227-7640 to schedule an appointment. There is no charge to receive the vaccine. AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT

To nd out when more doses of the injectable form of the vaccine arrive, or for more u information at WCU, check out the regularly updated WCU H1N1 Flu Information Web site.

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TOP STORIES History students visit mosque NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 2, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

EVENTS To help students see past common stereotypes and hostility toward Muslims, Andrew Kurt, visiting assistant professor of history, partnered PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES with a University of North Carolina at Asheville professor to take students to Atlanta for a one- day Middle Eastern experience. Kurt and 10 WCU students, primarily from his “Middle East since Mohammed” course, UNCA professor Samer Traboulsi and 10 UNCA students visited a CALENDAR mosque, a Muslim-run bakery, a restaurant with a 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Persian buet, and grocery stores oering Middle Minds Eastern products. 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond LINKS

“The trip to Atlanta was a wonderful opportunity Calendar to get a taste of the Middle East, short of going there,” said Kurt. “We literally ate the food and Higher Education NewsWatch walked past the grocery aisles of Middle WCU Hub Easterners, then got to hear from Muslims themselves some of the key elements of their AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT belief and practice. Going to a mosque and seeing people praying there is to break through some From left, students Cody Ashe and Justin Hinson study the architecture of Al Farooq-Mosque in basic barriers of separation and ignorance. You Atlanta. could tell the students were gathering in a whole new experience.”

The experience began when students left campus in the darkness of early morning Saturday, Oct. 23, in time to watch the sta at the Muslim-run Jerusalem Bakery in Marietta, Ga., roll out date- lled pastries and sample breads hot from the oven. They visited both Nazareth Grocery Store, which is operated by Christians from the northern part of Israel, and a grocery store featuring Iranian goods. They ate lunch at a Persian buet and spent the afternoon at Al-Farooq Mosque, the largest mosque serving Atlanta’s approximately 75,000 Muslims.

“Its name refers to the second Caliph, or successor of the Islamic prophet Muhammad,” Students, from left, Jimmy Leithauser, Samantha Matott and Leia Hays watch the rolling of long said Kurt. “That Caliph’s actual name was Omar, dough strips at Jerusalem Bakery in Marietta, Ga. but he is sometimes known as al-Farooq, the Divider, for his strong distinctions between what is good and what is evil.”

The group not only toured the building, including the prayer hall, but also asked their guide, a cardiologist and leader of the mosque, questions about his beliefs. After an afternoon prayer, younger members of the mosque also stopped to welcome and talk with students.

Alecia Page, a freshman in “World Cultures in Historical Perspective” at WCU who went on the trip, said she came away more open-minded and with a deeper understanding that cultural dierences are not right or wrong, just dierent. “Often, news reports ll my mind with concerns that the Islamic religion is full of followers who harbor hatred and malice for those with dierent beliefs,” said Page, an English education major and history minor at WCU from Shelby. “When we traveled to the mosque, I found the worshipers to be welcoming, kind and sincere.”

For Ariel Rocchio, a WCU junior in Kurt’s course, the trip was fun and fascinating. Rocchio enjoyed sampling the fresh pita, baguette-type bread and the date-lled cookies – so much that he brought a package of cookies home. The trip to the mosque also was a rst. “The architecture resembled what I had seen in photographs from around the world, but there was a sense of grace and open space that a photo can’t capture,” Rocchio said. “The interior seemed much larger than the outside. I felt immersed in a sense of ancient culture and was intrigued by the social rules I was subject to while inside the mosque. No textbook can adequately show the relationship between architecture, decorative design and Arabic script that I observed while I was there.”

By Teresa Killian Tate

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WCU students and Professor Andrew Kurt stand in front of the mihrab, a prayer niche indicating the direction toward Mecca, at Al-Farooq Mosque in Atlanta.

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TOP STORIES Honors College office open in Balsam Hall NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 20, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

EVENTS The Honors College oce has moved from Reynolds to Balsam Hall, which opened this fall. The WCU community was invited to check out the news space at an open house held Friday, Nov. 20.

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Brian Railsback (center), dean of the Honors College, greets visitors to the college's new oce space in Balsam Hall.

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TOP STORIES Human resources prepares for transition to new payroll system NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 9, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

EVENTS The Oce of Human Resources at Western Carolina University is preparing to transition to a new payroll system and has issued an announcement about some of the changes and how they affect employees.

PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES Training will be provided to prepare employees for the changes, which will aect some pay schedules, deadlines and methods for submitting paperwork. Eective Jan. 4, students or temporary employees paid on an hourly basis will move from a monthly payroll to a bi-weekly payroll and receive paychecks every other Friday. Permanent employees will continue to be paid monthly and will receive their first paychecks via the new system on April 30, 2010. Students or temporary employees paid a flat monthly amount will continue to be paid monthly, with the date of payment shifting in June from mid- month to the end of the month. CALENDAR When the transition is complete, employees will be able to utilize the self-service portal in MYCAT to view their pay stubs, W-2’s, benets and 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern deductions online. Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond Click here to read the full announcement. the Glass Matrix 5/29/2017 Water Portraits: For more information, e-mail Diana Catley at [email protected]. Barbara Tyroler 6/9/2017 Musical Variety Show 'Livin' the Dream' 6/10/2017 Musical Variety Show 'Livin' the Dream'

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TOP STORIES Jane Nichols to help lead international design organization NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 16, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

EVENTS Jane Nichols, assistant professor of art and design, has been named a regional chair of the Interior Design Educators Council international organization. Nichols will represent Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia on the council for two years. PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES

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TOP STORIES Jerry Miller to plan U.S. participation in collaborative study of contamination in NOTEWORTHY NEWS Chile river basin ACHIEVEMENTS November 16, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | EVENTS

Jerry Miller , the Whitmire Professor of Environmental Science at Western Carolina University, won an $11,106 grant to develop a partnership between PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES U.S. and Chilean researchers to study contamination in the Rio Loa basin in northern Chile.

The National Science Foundation grant will fund a planning trip to Chile to develop an integrated, multidisciplinary investigation that effectively tracks the movement of trace metals from source areas, including several mine sites, through the river basin.

Previously collected data show that water and sediments within the Rio Loa are contaminated by toxic trace metals and metalloids including arsenic, CALENDAR copper, lithium and lead. 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds The headwaters of the Rio Loa are located along the western part of the Andes Mountains, where they receive considerable water from intense rains and 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond snow, said Miller. From there, the river ows downstream across the Atacama Desert, often considered among the driest places on the planet, to the LINKS Pacific Ocean. Calendar

“The Loa essentially represents the only signicant source of water in this part of the Atacama, and is therefore used for industrial, agricultural and Higher Education NewsWatch domestic purposes,” said Miller. “Its contamination, particularly with regards to drinking water, is a significant concern.” WCU Hub

The projects to be planned will include a training and educational initiative focused on research experiences for undergraduate and graduate students, AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT and the development of a multi-institutional student and faculty exchange program.

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TOP STORIES Jim Costa to appear on UNC-TV NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 30, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

Jim Costa, professor of biology and director of Highlands Biological Station, was among those interviewed for a segment of “North Carolina Now” to EVENTS appear on UNC-TV at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 30. The segment features the upcoming debut of a three-part series about human evolution called “The Human Spark.” Costa was part of a panel discussion held Nov. 4 at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh after a special screening of the program. PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES

Click here to read more about Costa’s recent appearances in connection with the 150th anniversary of “The Origin of Species.”

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TOP STORIES Justin Menickelli and Chris Tuten lead Disc Golf Field Day at WCU for WNC NOTEWORTHY NEWS physical education teachers ACHIEVEMENTS November 1, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | EVENTS

Western Carolina University recently hosted a Disc Golf Field Day on campus to introduce the sport to 22 physical education teachers who work with PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES more than 5,000 students in Western North Carolina.

“Our goal was to provide teachers with the knowledge and basic skills necessary to teach disc golf and to encourage schools in our region to include disc golf in their school’s physical CALENDAR education curriculum,” said Justin Menickelli, 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern associate professor and director of the health, Minds physical education and recreation graduate 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond program. “We educated physical education the Glass Matrix teachers in Western North Carolina on the 5/29/2017 Water Portraits: Barbara health, physical tness, sportsmanship and Tyroler environmental stewardship opportunities that 6/9/2017 Musical Variety Show 'Livin' the Dream' disc golf affords.” 6/10/2017 Musical Variety Show 'Livin' the Dream' Menickelli and WCU instructor Chris Tuten led the event, which was sponsored by the LINKS Professional Disc Golf Association with a $500 Calendar grant and hosted by WCU’s health, physical education and recreation department. Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub Click here to read about the creation of Catamount Links, the disc golf course at From left, Sarah Lowell, physical education teacher from Cartoogechaye Elementary School in AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT WCU. Franklin, and Cyndi Blankenship, physical education teacher from Bethel Elementary School in Canton, practice putting during Disc Golf Field Day.

Western North Carolina physical education teachers participated in an educational Disc Golf Field Day at Western Carolina University.

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TOP STORIES SCENE ON CAMPUS: Kimmel School labs spark Scouts’ interest NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 19, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

EVENTS Deborah Lovern, a budget specialist at Western Carolina University, and Wes Stone, associate professor of engineering and technology, shared PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES pictures from a “Go-See-It” trip for Cub Scout Pack 914 members and their families to the engineering labs at Western Carolina University’s Kimmel School.

“Our scouts are at an age that they are interested CALENDAR in Legos and building, and the trip to WCU gave 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern them a practical idea of what they can do with this Minds love of Legos in their adult lives,” said Lovern. 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond the Glass Matrix Stone said James Zhang, associate dean of the 5/29/2017 Water Portraits: Kimmel School, led an outstanding tour of the Barbara Tyroler Kimmel School labs in the Belk Building and the 6/9/2017 Musical Variety Show Cub Scout Luke Ammons looks through a microscope with help from James Zhang, associate dean 'Livin' the Dream' Center for Applied Technology, and had excellent of the Kimmel School. 6/10/2017 Musical Variety Show assistance from Bob Adams, associate 'Livin' the Dream' professor of engineering and technology, and graduate students Josh Ellis and Jason Proffitt. LINKS

“I asked a few of the boys what impressed them Calendar the most and heard a variety of answers,” Higher Education NewsWatch Lovern said. “One loved the arm that picked up and dropped balls. Another was impressed with WCU Hub the hydraulics. Yet another loved the laser-cut words that they had to use a microscope to read. AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT My daughter thought the electric car was the best.”

Lovern said as they were leaving, her 9-year-old son said, “See you in 10 years!”

James Zhang, associate dean of the Kimmel School, talks about WCU’s electric vehicles, which have helped reduce petroleum usage on campus.

Scouts from Cub Scout Pack 914 hold a mock conference. Participants in the Cub Scout Pack 914 visit to the Kimmel School were, from left in the front row, Luke Ammons, Doston Freeman, Brian Koonts, Samuel Parker and Gage Stevens; middle row, William Woodru, Jakob Lovern, Tucker Stone, Adam Rogers, Kaylee Lovern and Sheridan Parker; and back row, Ruth Thompson, Josh Lovern, Wes Stone, James Zhang, Edward Thompson, Patrick Moses, Jayson Madill, James Thompson, Chase Queen, Connie Queen, Deborah Lovern and Troy Ammons.

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TOP STORIES Book examines national trends through Citadel NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 30, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

EVENTS Alexander Macaulay, assistant professor of history at Western Carolina University, was a senior at The Citadel in 1994, when Shannon Faulkner became the first woman in the school’s history to register for day classes, sparking massive resistance from the all-male public school’s cadets.

PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES The Citadel and those events in some form have dominated Macaulay’s academic interest ever since, serving as catalysts for Macaulay’s thesis as a graduate student at the University of Tennessee and his dissertation as a doctoral student at the University of Georgia. Now Macaulay has turned the subject matter into a book: “Marching in Step: Masculinity, Citizenship, and The Citadel in Post-World War II America” was published in October by the University of Georgia Press. It is the rst book for Macaulay, who also coordinates the history graduate program and CALENDAR whose research interests include the modern South, modern American history and concepts of 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern masculinity. Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond Conventional wisdom places The Citadel, in Charleston, S.C., and founded in 1842, among the the Glass Matrix most conservative of institutions and emblematic of the South. “Marching in Step” examines 5/29/2017 Water Portraits: The Citadel’s response to shifts in postwar life, including the Cold War and the ’60s student Barbara Tyroler movement, and concludes that The Citadel’s concept of masculinity as characterized by strength, 6/9/2017 Musical Variety Show 'Livin' the Dream' obedience and conformity was not distinct to the school or the South, but reective of 6/10/2017 Musical Variety Show mainstream America. 'Livin' the Dream'

Macaulay also concluded that The Citadel’s “long-held traditions” are sometimes a misconception. For example, around 2000, when school administration halted the practice of LINKS shaved heads for freshmen, called “knobs,” many students and alumni decried the decision as Calendar breaking tradition. Macaulay discovered that the practice only started in the 1960s as a reaction Higher Education NewsWatch to the hippie subculture. WCU Hub “Ultimately, this is a book about citizenship,” Macaulay said. “Our understanding of citizenship has shifted over time and is no longer exclusively a male domain. The Citadel has mirrored larger trends and ideas nationwide.” AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT

For the book, Macaulay chiey researched in The Citadel archives. More than 40 oral interviews also provide material for the book. Fellow history professors Elizabeth McRae and Richard Starnes were invaluable to his writing and editing, Macaulay said.

Macaulay, of South Carolina, recently spoke at The Citadel and was featured in a newspaper article in Charleston’s Post and Courier. His lecture at the school attracted about 100 audience members, including alumni, faculty and students. It focused on changes in the knob year, called the “fourth class system.” Post World War II, the freshman year grew more violent, but has since returned more to its original mission of imparting the school’s rules and regimentations.

“I was impressed with the cadets,” Macaulay said. “They asked a lot of good questions.”

“Marching in Step” is part of a UGA Press series called “Politics and Culture in the Twentieth- Century South,” studies of the region’s social, political and economic transformation. Series editor Bryant Simon was a member of Macaulay’s dissertation committee and recommended the book for inclusion in the series. Alexander Macaulay “The rst time I read it, I wanted the book,” said Simon, a professor of history at Temple University whose own academic interests include Southern politics and urban America. “It’s really crisply and briskly written. The story is fascinating and a little troubling, but it’s also important. Alex is talking about the appeal of a certain kind of masculinity. It’s a story not just about The Citadel, but about why people are drawn to attend.”

“Marching in Step” is available through Amazon and the University of Georgia Press, and is on order at the WCU bookstore and City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.

By Jill Ingram

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TOP STORIES Madrigal dinner tickets go on sale Nov. 3 NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 2, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

UPDATE: The dinner scheduled for Friday, Dec. 4, 2009, has been canceled. EVENTS

Tickets for this year’s Madrigal Christmas Dinners will go on sale 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3. The annual dinner extravaganza, a tradition for PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES WCU and the surrounding communities since 1970, is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 4, and Saturday, Dec. 5, in the Grandroom of WCU’s A.K. Hinds University Center.

The dinners are re-creations of the pageantry, music and food of 16th-century England, with authentic madrigal entertainment and costumes.

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TOP STORIES Mary Adams to read from her poetry at Sylva bookstore NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 30, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

EVENTS Mary Adams, associate professor of English, will be one of the featured poets to read from recent works and answer questions at City Lights in Sylva at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5. Other featured poets are Kathryn Stripling Byer and Cecilia Woloch.

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TOP STORIES New book takes closer look at baskets and their makers NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 9, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

EVENTS Anna Fariello believes that artifacts – somewhat like windows – can act as passageways to a culture’s soul. PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES

“Material culture can be a window onto the changes that occur in social and cultural history,” said Fariello, an associate professor and chief architect of the Craft Revival Project at Western Carolina University’s Hunter Library. CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern An author, editor and former research fellow at Minds the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Fariello 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond most recently turned her attention to Cherokee LINKS basketry, a thousands-year-old tradition, passed Calendar from mother to daughter, that she believes is integral to Cherokee culture. Fariello’s new book, Higher Education NewsWatch titled “Cherokee Basketry: From the Hands of our WCU Hub Elders,” studies Cherokee baskets and basket- makers who lived during the rst half of the 20th AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT century.

The project reinforced Fariello’s understanding that for Cherokee people, “the making of things is signicant to their culture and their identity,” a concept foreign to many people in contemporary, mainstream culture, she said. The Cherokees’ use of natural resources as basket materials gave Fariello an appreciation of the environmental sustainability and ecological balance also inherent in the culture. Lucy George (1897-1978) weaves honeysuckle over white oak. The Great Depression prompted George, already a young married woman, to learn the art in order to supplement her family’s The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians played a income. National Archives and Records Administration photograph. signicant role in the Craft Revival, a regional movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that produced a wealth of objects, identied traditional skills, and revitalized handwork production in Western North Carolina. With a grant from the State Library of North Carolina, Fariello originally set out to expand the information available on the Craft Revival Web site, which chronicles the movement and its impact on Western North Carolina through text and images. Fariello worked with Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual and the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee with the purpose of making their collections available online. A grant of $47,000 from the Cherokee Preservation Foundation added a second element to the project: to research and more fully document basketry in those collections.

While the project “did not start out as a book at all,” Fariello said, it seemed the logical conclusion. “The book takes scattered elements and arranges them for a more complete picture,” she said.

“Cherokee Basketry” joins a handful of texts dedicated to Cherokee basketry, but is alone in its approach to “drill down” and examine specics about the basket makers themselves, how baskets were made, and what they were used for, Fariello said. Etheyn Conseen holds a rivercane basket at the entrance to Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, an artisan The seven-chapter book begins with an overview cooperative founded in 1948. Photograph by Clemens Kalischer, courtesy of Qualla Arts and Crafts of the Cherokees and their baskets. It then Mutual. explores the forms and functions of dierent types of woven objects: burden baskets, typically used to carry food crops, nuts, rewood and bedding; sh baskets, dunked into the river to scoop up sh trapped at the mouth of a weir; baskets to store food, clothing and other domestic goods; baskets for carrying items; baskets for storing items; lidded and nested baskets; trays; mats; and decorative baskets.

One chapter documents basket-making materials – rivercane, white oak and honeysuckle – and the processes of preparing the materials for weaving. Another chapter examines basket patterns and the evolution of their descriptive names, such as chief’s daughter, cross-on-a-hill, man-in-a-con, noon day sun, and peace pipe.

A chapter about the availability of artisan resources includes the eorts of the Revitalization of Traditional Cherokee Artisan Resources, or RTCAR, an initiative operated through Western Carolina University’s Cherokee studies program. The nal chapter, arguably its richest, oers intimate biographies of 14 basket makers, all but two of whom are deceased.

Archival photographs illustrate “Cherokee Basketry,” published by The History Press of Charleston, S.C. The book’s footnotes and bibliography are extensive, and chapter titles are printed in English and the Cherokee syllabary.

“I hope that this book has a broad audience,” Amanda Smoker weaves a basket of white oak dyed with native plants. National Archives and Records Fariello said. “I think it can serve as a classroom Administration photograph. text for Cherokee studies or the visual arts, and I also think it will have a broad public appeal for anyone interested in regional culture, especially the influence of the Cherokees on Western North Carolina.”

Fariello credits the book’s creation to a team of people. Jason Woolf, who holds a master’s degree in history from WCU, and Kate Cater wrote captions, checked facts and veried sources. Project staer Lucas Rogers photographed the contemporary baskets that appear in the book. James “Bo” Taylor, archivist for the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, opened the museum’s archives for research. And members of WCU’s Cherokee studies program – Tom Belt, Robert Conley, Andrew Denson, Jane Eastman and Hartwell Francis – shared their expertise.

Dana Sally, dean of Hunter Library, and Vicki Cruz, manager of the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual cooperative, deserve special thanks, Cherokee basket maker Emma Taylor (1920-2002) quarters a white oak sapling. Like many other Fariello said. “Ever since Dean Sally arrived, he has basket makers, Taylor learned the art by watching her mother. Indian Arts and Crafts Board recognized the importance of preserving the photograph, courtesy of Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual Inc. region’s cultural heritage through documentation and oering wide access to the information via digitization,” she said.

Fariello and Sally agree that projects such as the Craft Revival site fulll the mandate of UNC Tomorrow – an initiative for the state’s institutions of higher learning to respond to current and future challenges facing North Carolina – to “apply, translate, and communicate research and scholarship to broader audiences.” In particular, the site and library projects follow the UNC Tomorrow recommendation to “create a mechanism for applying research and scholarship to addressing signicant regional and statewide issues.” Cruz’s help was so steady and unwavering that Fariello didn’t realize its extent until the project was complete. “Vicki was there every step of the way,” Fariello said. “She made sure that Cherokee families had a chance to review what I wrote about their relatives.”

The project was of great service to the arts and crafts mutual, whose permanent collection has more than 100 baskets and continues to grow. Before the archive organization, Cruz said, “The only recorded information in our permanent collection was a handwritten line about each item.” Now the co-op’s archives are digitized and include contemporary photos, as well as information about dimensions, materials and patterns, and the artists themselves. Fariello also worked with co-op employees on the care and display of the baskets, and about recordkeeping when a new piece enters the collections.

The project helped Cruz gain an appreciation of the baskets as pieces of history. “We need to have their information on record, written and photographed,” she said. The enhanced archives increase the permanent collection’s value and are a valuable resource for individuals who want to learn more about their own basket collections. A picnic basket by Cherokee basket weaver Elsie Watty, known for large picnic baskets with dramatic “The baskets are as individual as the artists,” Cruz color patterns. An Indian Arts and Crafts Board photograph, courtesy of Qualla Arts and Crafts said. Mutual.

She eventually plans to use her new knowledge to document the work of contemporary basket makers. “The daughters of basket makers Agnes Welch and Eva Wolfe, they’re basket makers too, and now their daughters are starting to weave,” Cruz said.

The basketry book is the rst in the “From the Hands of our Elders” series, a three-year project to document Cherokee arts. The next book, funded with $87,770 from the Cherokee Preservation Foundation, will focus on Cherokee potters and pottery during the rst part of the 20th century. A book on Cherokee woodcarving and mask making is scheduled to follow.

On Nov. 5, Fariello presented books to Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Chief Michell Hicks and the Tribal Council. On Nov. 20, Fariello and Sally will give 200 copies of the book to Cherokee School Superintendent Joyce Dugan for teachers A singleweave rivercane storage basket made by Lottie Stamper (1907-1987). Learning to make a to use in the Eastern Band’s new K-12 school. good basket “meant new clothes and shoes to wear back to school each fall of the year,” Stamper Funds for the book donation came from the once recalled. Photograph courtesy of Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual. Cherokee Preservation Foundation and Hunter Library.

For more information about the “From the Hands of our Elders” series or the Craft Revival Web site, contact Fariello at (828) 227-2499 or [email protected].

“Cherokee Basketry: From the Hands of our Elders” by WCU Associate Professor Anna Fariello was recently released by The History Press of Charleston, S.C.

Meet the Author

Anna Fariello will have two book signings Saturday, Nov. 21, in honor of her new book, “Cherokee Basketry: From the Hands of our Elders.” The events will be at 11 a.m. at Osondu Booksellers, 184 N. Main St., Waynesville, (828) 456-8062; and 3 to 5 p.m. at the Asheville Art Museum, 2 S. Pack Square, Asheville, (828) 253-3227, ext. 110.

By Jill Ingram

Tags: Anna Fariello, Cherokee Studies

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TOP STORIES New football scoreboard to feature video screen and sound NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 30, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

Construction crews will spend the next six weeks installing a new scoreboard that features video and sound on the Ramsey Regional Activity Center EVENTS side of E.J. Whitmire Stadium.

PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES The scoreboard will stand more than 50 feet above the ground – higher than the concourse level of the Ramsey Center – and feature a video screen 32 feet wide and 17 feet tall. During games, three or four cameras will be set up on the CALENDAR sidelines and end zones to capture live 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern video footage. Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond “The new scoreboard is certainly an the Glass Matrix exciting addition to Whitmire Stadium,” 5/29/2017 Water Portraits: Barbara said Chip Smith, director of athletics. “The Tyroler ability to provide video of game action, 6/9/2017 Musical Variety Show 'Livin' the Dream' close-ups of fans and replays will really 6/10/2017 Musical Variety Show ‘pump up’ the game atmosphere. The 'Livin' the Dream' board will allow us to showcase many other aspects of WCU athletics as well.” LINKS During construction, access to the north Calendar end of the Ramsey Center will be Above is an artist's rendering of a new WCU scoreboard (not to scale). Image courtesy of Daktronics Higher Education NewsWatch restricted to those directly involved with the installation of the structure and WCU Hub equipment. Barricades and signage will indicate safe detours and routes around the construction site. The scoreboard may be used as early as the spring game, said Smith. AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT

The scoreboard was made possible with private gifts and a sponsorship from Pepsi-Cola.

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TOP STORIES Historical drama ‘Wesley’ has WCU connection, premieres this month NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 2, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

EVENTS Arledge Armenaki knew lming a movie about John Wesley, a founder of the Methodist movement, with an independent lm’s budget would be a challenge, considering just some of the actual events of Wesley’s life: rescue from a house re, a near-shipwreck, a star-crossed love aair and violent mobs. But with challenge comes opportunities, and Armenaki, visiting associate professor at WCU, saw many when director John Jackman of Foundery PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES Pictures asked him to be the director of photography for the project.

First, he thought of his students and the hands- on experience they could get. With coaching from Armenaki on lming locations in and around Winston-Salem and Morganton, 16 students CALENDAR served as a unit production manager, assistant 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern directors, construction coordinators, set dressers, Minds carpenters, boom operators, grips, camera 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond assistants, wardrobe managers, an oce manager the Glass Matrix and a script supervisor. Their assistance was 5/29/2017 Water Portraits: critically important, said Jackman. “We couldn’t Barbara Tyroler have done the movie without them,” he said. “We 6/9/2017 Musical Variety Show 'Livin' the Dream' were trying to accomplish a very ambitious 6/10/2017 Musical Variety Show picture while operating on a very restricted 'Livin' the Dream' budget, and their help was just invaluable.”

For two months in 2007 and two weeks in 2008, LINKS the students worked closely with Jackman and Calendar Armenaki to help nd, manage and build sets Higher Education NewsWatch tting for the 18th century and in line with the storybook feel the director and cinematographer WCU Hub wanted to create. Some even helped build a re- From left, Burgess Jenkins and WCU alumnus Keith Harris act out a scene in "Wesley" the movie while creation of the HMS Simmonds ship inside an old then-WCU student Aaron Putnam and WCU faculty member Arledge Armenaki operate the cameras. AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT gymnasium at Methodist Children’s Home in (Photo by Matthew Skala) Winston-Salem, and a 50-by-20-foot blue screen, which required a lot of sewing and lighting, to hang behind it. “Getting everything ready for a scene was quite a production in itself – like dressing a museum diorama,” said Armenaki.

Kristen Philyaw, a 2008 WCU graduate with a degree in motion picture and television production, can attest to that. She helped coordinate props for “Wesley.” “It was incredibly stressful because we had no budget to work with, and it often felt like we did not have enough hands among us or hours in the day to get the sets dressed, props made or pieces coordinated,” said Philyaw, who works at a nancial institution in Charlotte and just co-founded a small production company with her ance, Robert Cassidy, a WCU alumnus who also worked on “Wesley.” “Looking back, I have some great memories of working alongside my fellow classmates and Professor Arledge.”

The movie not only created opportunities for students but also for faculty. Armenaki coordinated auditions on Western Carolina’s campus that led to roles for Terry Nienhuis, retired professor of English, and Peter Savage, visiting lecturer of theater. Nienhuis was cast as John Locke, Wesley’s gardener, and Savage as Mr. Williamson, the scoundrel who is betrothed to and mistreats the woman Wesley loves.

Both said the audition was challenging and the experience rewarding. Savage said he nervously overacted the rst time he met with Jackman and didn’t get oered the role until after a second, more relaxed audition with him at WCU. Nienhuis wondered if the lm was too sophisticated for him when Jackman stressed the importance of authentic dialects and asked Nienhuis to try John Jackman, far left, and Arledge Armenaki, center back, celebrate the crew of the movie "Wesley," reading with an 18th-century sea captain dialect. “I which included 16 Western Carolina University students. (Photo by Matthew Skala) did something that may have sounded like a pirate,” said Nienhuis. When cast as the gardener and advised to use a rough country Yorkshire dialect, “I did some research and found a recording of a Yorkshire farmer and then called Henry Mainwaring from the biology department (and from England) for help,” said Nienhuis. “He said, ‘It’s funny you should ask because I have a friend visiting from that area.’ I brought a tape recorder over, asked his friend to read my lines and then studied the recording.”

In addition, WCU alumnus Keith Harris played a leading role, Wesley’s brother Charles; three students had small on-screen parts; and two business professors, Stephen Jarrell and Paul Jacques, volunteered as extras in the lm. They played churchgoers in one scene. In another, lmed on a dierent day, Jarrell was in several scenes, including one shot in a vineyard at sunset. “If I survived the nal editing cuts, you may see one two-second shot of me, and if you stopped the frame, there might be 10 or more of me on the screen if they used technology to enhance the crowd,” said Jarrell. “But if I don’t show up in the movie, it was still worth it. I had such a great time and especially enjoyed seeing our students behind the cameras, working in costumes, doing hair and makeup, and hearing (student) Alex (Dillard) yell, ‘Quiet on the set.'” Savage also was impressed with the students. “Everyone acted so professionally, and it was exciting to see students using what we are teaching and to begin to work with them as colleagues,” he said.

The eorts of many, including the contingent from Western Carolina, come together Saturday, Nov. 14, when the lm will celebrate its world premiere in Winston-Salem. Attendees will see how Wesley and his brother became revolutionary champions for the poor and how Wesley struggled to nd the spiritual peace and faith for which he is known. “It’s quite a beautiful lm with really powerful performances,” said Armenaki. “I am moved by Wesley’s journey and his wrestling with his faith. I WCU faculty member Peter Savage think many of us have our own spiritual journey during the course of our own lives. It’s such a great played "Mr. Williamson." story, and we – the actors, the set carpenters, costume-makers, electricians, camera operators, editors, the composer and special eects crew-members – all did our very best to make it into a wonderful film.”

Terry Nienhuis of WCU was cast as gardener James Locke.

Alex Dillard was a student at WCU when he worked as first assistant director.

WCU alumnus Keith Harris plays Charles Wesley in "Wesley," the movie. WCU professor Arledge Armenaki, second from right, was director of photography for "Wesley," the movie.

John Wesley, played by Burgess Jenkins, preaches to a crowd at Epworth. (Photo courtesy Foundery Pictures)

From left, Arledge Armenaki, director of photography, and WCU student Alex Dillard listen to director John Jackman discuss a scene in "Wesley," the movie. Bishop Ryder, played by Kevin McCarthy, defends Wesley against a move to defrock and discredit him. (Photo courtesy Foundery Pictures)

From left, WCU alumnus Keith Harris, who is playing Charles Wesley, and Burgess Jenkins, who is portraying John Wesley, speak with director John Jackman. (Photo by Matthew Skala)

WCU student Ian Vigstedt, left, was script supervisor for "Wesley," the movie. WCU students, from left, Ian Vigstedt and Aaron Putnam, take a break from working as a script supervisor and grip for "Wesley," the movie. (Photo by Matthew Skala)

WCU students worked on the crew of the movie "Wesley."

Click here to read more about “Wesley,” the movie. Screenings will be posted on the movie’s Web site as schedules become available.

By Teresa Killian Tate

Tags: Arledge Armenaki, College of Fine and Performing Arts, Paul Jacques, Peter Savage, Stephen Jarrell, Terry Nienhuis

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TOP STORIES Physical Education Majors Club to host ‘Parents’ Night Out’ on Friday, Dec.4 NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 20, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

EVENTS Children of Western Carolina University administrators, faculty and sta ages 3 and up are invited to a night of fun and physical activity from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 4, in Reid Gym.

PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES At the event, called Parents’ Night Out, students in the Physical Education Majors Club will organize games, provide healthy snacks and supervise participants. There will be one WCU student for each six children.

Donations to the club will be accepted. Last year, the money raised helped send students to the North Carolina Alliance for Athletics, Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance student leadership retreat and bought healthy snacks for the Cullowhee Valley School after-school program (as well as not-so-healthy pizzas for club meetings). CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern To register, e-mail David Claxton at [email protected] with the names and ages of children who will participate. Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond Tags: Physical Education LINKS Calendar

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TOP STORIES Professor tells 150 students to take a hike … literally NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 9, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

Bill Papin was mountain biking when the idea EVENTS that evolved into a class hiking assignment was born. Papin, who teaches Health 123 “Health and PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES Wellness,” was pedaling and pondering how to better teach students this semester about cardiovascular training zones and dierentiating between muscular strength, muscular endurance and cardiovascular endurance when it hit him.

CALENDAR “While I was riding, I was working all three types 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern of tness,” said Papin. “There is a long, slow Minds uphill that trains the cardiovascular system. Next 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond is a section that requires short but very intense the Glass Matrix burst that improves muscular strength. And then 5/29/2017 Water Portraits: Barbara there are a bunch of in-between hills that take Tyroler about two to ve minutes of serious grunt-work, 6/9/2017 Musical Variety Show 'Livin' the Dream' but not all out eort. That section tests and 6/10/2017 Musical Variety Show trains your muscular endurance.” 'Livin' the Dream'

The next day Papin diagrammed the route on the LINKS board as the basis for a lesson and a student Britt Cline reflects on leisure activities during a hike in Pinnacle Park. Calendar commented it was the best lecture of the year. “Consequently, I wanted to take all of my Health Higher Education NewsWatch 123 students out mountain biking.” WCU Hub

Instead, he considered an alternative activity – AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT hiking. He discussed the idea with Bob Beaudet, head of the health, physical education and recreation department, and collaborated with Robert Crow and others at the Coulter Faculty Center to analyze the project and identify ways to directly link its aspects to achieve outcomes identied in Western Carolina’s Quality Enhancement Plan, “Synthesis: A Pathway to Intentional Learning.”

Students would be required, while hiking, to periodically calculate their heart rates, estimate the number of calories they burned and also, specically, determine how many 160-calorie Taco Bell Fresco grilled steak tacos it would take to replace the calories burned on the hike. Students lend each other a hand at a stream crossing.

In addition, students were required to rate their stress and mood levels during the hike and a sedentary leisure activity, such as watching TV. Other aspects of the project included reecting on what their use of free time says about their values, and creating a video about the experience to help them achieve a QEP learning outcome centered on communicating eectively and responsibly.

“Bill honed the project in an intentional way to maximize QEP outcomes,” said Crow.

The nal hurdle was liability, and Papin contacted Josh Whitmore, director of Base Camp Cullowhee, for help. Base Camp sta oered to facilitate the trips, leading groups of students on hiking trips at Pinnacle Park near Sylva and to Schoolhouse Falls in Panthertown Valley. “Base Camp is always looking for ways to bridge Students check their heart rates during a hike. the classroom and co-curricular experiences – one of the principles of the QEP,” said Whitmore. “The class could have accomplished the same goals on a treadmill or by walking around the track, but this experience introduced students to some of the great outdoor recreational opportunities that make our location unique. Before this, I think many hadn’t taken the opportunity to explore the area, as is it so easy to just get caught up with life on campus. Lots of students hiked farther than they thought they could, and several made strong connections that this kind of exercise can be fun and good for their health.”

On one Saturday expedition, students ascended into snow. Some reected on discovering how hiking helped them feel peaceful, or how they did not want to go, but were glad they did. One student, Erica Long, said initially she was frustrated on the hike and with the mud, but Students get a close look at Schoolhouse Falls in Panthertown Valley. ultimately found the experience to be very rewarding. “I love to workout, but I prefer the gym,” Long said. “I would do another hike if it was shorter. Overall though, it was a great experience and gave me a great workout for the day.”

Papin is excited about the results and responses, and has begun planning how to adapt the requirement next semester. “Not only does it illustrate physical fitness, but also it’s a great tie- in with weight management and stress management,” he said. “One of the liberal studies objectives for this course is that ‘Students will understand the important contribution of leisure activity to the overall balance of lifelong health.’ How do you teach that? You don’t. All you can do is give students the opportunity to reect on it. That’s what we did.”

Bill Papin (center) hikes with students Nick Sottile and Joshua Sims.

By Teresa Killian Tate

Tags: Bill Papin, Coulter Faculty Center, Josh Whitmore, QEP, Quality Enhancement Plan, Robert Crow

Snow begins to fall during a hike. Students enjoy a beach on a hiking trip in Panthertown Valley.

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TOP STORIES Q&A on mediation (and how to keep the peace during the holidays) NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 20, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

Mediators act as neutral third parties to facilitate discussion among disputing parties to help them resolve their conicts, and Jayne Zanglein, an EVENTS assistant professor of business law, teaches courses at Western Carolina University that include Law 285, “Mediation.”

PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES Zanglein recently coached WCU’s rst student team at the national Intercollegiate Mediation Tournament in Chicago, and the team won awards, including third place and “Outstanding New School.” In addition to teaching at WCU, she directs the North Carolina Agricultural Mediation Program and serves on the Mountain Mediation Services board of directors.

Zanglein grew up in Stratford, Conn., and holds a law degree from the State University of New CALENDAR York at Buffalo and a bachelor’s degree in music education from the Berklee College of Music. 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond the Glass Matrix The Reporter: Why do you think mediation skills are so valuable for your students to learn? 5/29/2017 Water Portraits: Barbara Tyroler Zanglein: In every job and in every relationship, we encounter conict. Mediation skills include 6/9/2017 Musical Variety Show 'Livin' the Dream' listening, negotiation, conict resolution and cross-cultural communication skills that we use every 6/10/2017 Musical Variety Show day. But you have to make a conscious effort to use them. 'Livin' the Dream'

Right after the mediation tournament, the team was struggling to navigate the Chicago public LINKS transit system, which had a weekend detour due to construction. We asked a bus driver which bus Calendar to take to get to the subway station. He told us, and when we got confused he yelled, “You are not listening to me!” We laughed, because after a weekend of intensely using active listening skills, we Higher Education NewsWatch Jayne Zanglein were tired of listening. WCU Hub

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The Reporter: What inspired you to help develop the competitive mediation team on campus?

Zanglein: I had an excellent group of students and a very active student organization — the Campus Mediation Society. I was astonished at how much work they put into preparing for the tournament.

The Reporter: What is a common misconception about mediation?

Zanglein: One misconception is that the mediator makes a decision for the parties, or that the mediator is supposed to provide solutions for the parties. It is the parties’ decision, and the reason that mediation is generally successful is because the parties control the outcome, and therefore the solution can be tailored to their specific needs.

The Reporter: The holidays are right around the corner, and for many that not only means good cheer and time with family, but also some stress and conict. What strategies or advice can you share as a professional mediator that might help someone diuse a holiday conflict?

Western Carolina University’s award-winning mediation team members are, Zanglein: When a family member starts a sentence with “You never from left, Bob Greeson, Eric Brailsford-Cato, Mike Doherty, Jayne Zanglein …,” interrupt and say, “Please pass the turkey.” Sometimes (team coach), Nicholas Fracassi and Tiffani Giesy. diversion is the best solution.

But if you want to try active listening, reframe the oending statement, as in “I feel embarrassed when you show my new girlfriend my naked baby pictures.” Or you might try some productive feedback when there are too many cooks in the kitchen, as in, “I think the dinner is coming along nicely, but we are getting in each other’s way. While I am fixing the turkey, can you set the table?”

The benet of mediation is that it does not just resolve the immediate issue. It allows the parties to discuss the underlying issues. But mediation can be hard work and emotionally draining, so you might want to set aside time before the holidays to resolve the issues privately rather than fueling the fire at the dinner table.

The Reporter: Just wondering, have you ever thought about setting up an emergency mediation line for the holidays?

Zanglein: We have a few ideas. The Campus Mediation Society has considered starting a matchmaking service. That way when people get in ghts or break up, we would have more business mediating cases! We also thought of an airport mediation kiosk. For $20 we could mediate between the airline employees and customers. I don’t think we have enough mediators to staff the kiosk, though!

Interview by Teresa Killian Tate and printed in edited and condensed form

Tags: Jayne Zanglein, Q&A WCU student Eric Brailsford-Cato was named All American Mediator at the 10th annual Intercollegiate Mediation Tournament in Chicago.

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TOP STORIES Rob Young co-authors book about monitoring geological changes NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 30, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

EVENTS Rob Young, WCU professor of geology and director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines, co-authored “Geological Monitoring,” which was recently published by The Geological Society of America. The book is a nontechnical guide detailing how to monitor short-term and long-term geologic and landscape changes. PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES

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TOP STORIES WCU electric staff wins safety award from ElectriCities of North Carolina NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 9, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

EVENTS Western Carolina University’s electric department recently was presented a 2008 Safety Award from ElectriCities of North Carolina for achieving a perfect record of no lost workday accidents during 2008.

PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES “ElectriCities is proud of the Western Carolina University electric department for achieving this recognition,” said Jim Shill, ElectriCities manager of safety programs. “Electric power line work can be very hazardous when working in and around high voltage energized conductors. Western CALENDAR Carolina University’s well-trained workforce is 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern always ready to meet the challenge.” Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond The National Safety Council has reported that LINKS every lost-day work injury costs an average of Calendar $28,000. Achieving an entire year of no lost-day work injuries can positively aect worker’s Higher Education NewsWatch compensation insurance rates. WCU Hub

While the nancial impact is important, Shill AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT emphasizes the impact of safety on employees. Shill says the real reward of an eective safety program is that employees are able to work in a safe environment and return home to enjoy life with their families.

“This award is also a credit to supervisors and workers, demonstrating that they can work as a team and look out for each other,” he said. “Safety rst really does pay both nancial rewards and in Employees with Western Caroilna University's electric department honored with a safety award human value.” include, from left, Keith Dills, John Freeman, Travis Taylor, Terry Watson, and Brandon Green.

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TOP STORIES Campus police department honors officers NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 20, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

Eight Western Carolina University Police Department ocers recently received medals, ribbons and certicates honoring educational and EVENTS professional achievements.

PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES WCU police chief Tom Johnson presented life-saving medals to ocers Randy Dills Jr. and Bruce Barker and to former ocer Joseph Wagoner. Dills and Wagoner used an automated external debrillator to resuscitate a person who experienced cardiac arrest after playing handball in Ramsey Regional Activity Center in July. Barker was honored for his efforts to revive a victim of an airplane crash near Jackson County Airport in August.

Ribbons were bestowed on Ernie Hudson, assistant chief of police, and officer Bob Scott for completing law enforcement command schools at the FBI

National Academy. CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Education ribbons, which honor ocers for earning a bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited college or university, were presented to Lt. Minds Kent Davis and Officer Robert Carter, and to Barker, Dills, Scott and Wagoner. 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond the Glass Matrix In addition, certicates from the Law Enforcement Ocers’ Professional Certicate Program were awarded for intermediate certication to Barker 5/29/2017 Water Portraits: Barbara and Ocer Bruce Moore and for advanced certication to Hudson and Davis. The Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission Tyroler established the program to recognize the level of competence of law enforcement ocers serving governmental agencies within the state of North 6/9/2017 Musical Variety Show 'Livin' the Dream' Carolina, to foster interest in college education and professional law enforcement training programs, and to attract highly qualied people into a law 6/10/2017 Musical Variety Show enforcement career. 'Livin' the Dream'

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TOP STORIES Professor helps build international community of Netherlandic history scholars NOTEWORTHY NEWS with new books ACHIEVEMENTS November 30, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | EVENTS

Laura Cruz, associate professor of history at Western Carolina University and president of the Society of Netherlandic History, edited and contributed PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES articles to two scholarly books recently published by Brill.

Cruz worked with scholars Benjamin Kaplan and Marybeth Carlson to produce “Myth in History, History in Myth: Proceedings of the Third International Conference of the Society for Netherlandic History (New York: June 5-6, 2006)” and Willem Frijho to prepare “Boundaries and their Meanings in the History of the Netherlands” for publication. CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern “These books are part of an eort to bring together the Minds international community of scholars within this discipline,” 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond said Cruz. Contributing writers represent junior and senior the Glass Matrix scholars from the United States, the Netherlands, England, 5/29/2017 Water Portraits: Belgium and Canada. Barbara Tyroler 6/9/2017 Musical Variety Show 'Livin' the Dream' Cruz traces her interest in the eld to living in the 6/10/2017 Musical Variety Show Netherlands as a child and learning to speak uent Dutch. 'Livin' the Dream' Later as a graduate student, she became fascinated with the history. LINKS

“A lot of Dutch history tends to run counter to what we often Calendar hear in the grand narrative of Western civilization,” she said. Higher Education NewsWatch Laura Cruz “For instance, when most other European countries had kings, the Dutch had a republic. When others had republics, they had WCU Hub a queen. Even today the country is more socially progressive than other countries with legalized euthanasia, drugs and prostitution. The country goes against the grain.” AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT

The two books explore the impact of not only events from centuries ago but also World War II, which has had a more lasting eect than many outside the country realize, said Cruz. The Netherlands had declared itself a neutral country, but was invaded by Germany and suffered a death toll, particularly among the Jewish community, of more than 100,000.

“The ghosts of World War II still haunt the country,” said Cruz.

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TOP STORIES Representatives from WCU in Mexico to study Mayan language, art NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 20, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

EVENTS Representatives of Western Carolina University’s Cherokee studies program and the Fine Art Museum have traveled to San Cristóbal de las Casas, in the Mexican state of Chiapas, to learn about the Mayan art and language.

PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES Martin DeWitt, director and curator of the art museum, and Hartwell Francis, director of the Cherokee language program, will spend through Saturday, Nov. 28, in Mexico. Also along on the trip is Luzene Hill, a WCU graduate of the ne arts program and a program associate with the Oconaluftee Institute for Cultural Arts on the Qualla Boundary. Hill, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, has illustrated three books written entirely in the Cherokee syllabary, part of a series published by the Cherokee language program.

The Universidad Intercultural de Chiapas is central to the visit, Francis said. “The university is hosting a conference on indigenous languages and CALENDAR teaching those languages,” he said. The university has a program similar to WCU’s program of training education students to deliver course content in 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern the Cherokee language. The group also hopes to meet ceramic and fiber artists, and to invite an artist to campus this spring. Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond Tags: Cherokee Studies, Fine Art Museum, Hartwell Francis, Martin DeWitt LINKS Calendar

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TOP STORIES WCU staff and faculty support charitable organizations through State NOTEWORTHY NEWS Employees Combined Campaign ACHIEVEMENTS November 16, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | EVENTS

Western Carolina University sta and faculty committed more than $39,000 to charitable organizations through the State Employees Combined PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES Campaign — more than $4,000 above the $35,000 goal for 2009.

The State Employees Combined Campaign provides all state employees, including employees of Western Carolina University, opportunities to support charitable causes and to help those in need. The annual campaign is the only officially sanctioned fund drive conducted on the WCU campus.

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TOP STORIES WCU to host statewide student conference on community involvement NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 2, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

EVENTS Western Carolina University is hosting a statewide conference designed to help students enhance their community involvement at a time when student civic engagement at the institution has reached a signicant level, said Glenn Bowen, director of service learning. Last year, WCU students provided

53,000 hours of service to the community through course-based and co-curricular volunteer projects. PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES

On Friday, Nov. 6, and Saturday, Nov. 7, about 180 participants from nearly 30 colleges and universities will gather at Western Carolina University for the 17th annual North Carolina Campus Compact Student Conference. N.C. CALENDAR Campus Compact is a coalition of colleges and 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern universities collaborating to increase campuswide Minds participation in community and public service 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond across the state, and the annual conference is LINKS designed to help students learn about best Calendar practices and innovative ideas in civic engagement. Higher Education NewsWatch

WCU Hub “Western Carolina is a perfect host for this Banner of 2009 conference to be held at WCU conference, as the university continues to be a AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT leader of community engagement in the region,” said Lisa Keyne, executive director of North Carolina Campus Compact. Last year, WCU was named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with distinction.

Preceding the conference is a canned food drive, which began on conference participants’ campuses in October. A blanket-making service project will be hosted at WCU on Friday, Nov. 6. Other events at the 2009 conference, themed “Color Outside the Lines,” include a brief opening address oered by WCU Chancellor John W. Bardo, workshops, presentations and roundtable discussions. A workshop for civic engagement administrators will feature a panel discussion about “Canton Connections,” a WCU initiative to assist the Haywood County town with post-disaster revitalization projects.

In addition, the Community Impact Student Awards will be presented at the conference. Each campus compact member institution selects one recipient of the community impact student award in recognition of outstanding service. The honoree from WCU will be Shawna Hipps, a WCU senior history major from Raleigh.

“Shawna is both passionate and compassionate,” said Bowen. “Her volunteer work, focusing on cancer survivors and bringing attention to the plight of child soldiers in Uganda, reects a deep understanding of what it means to be a caring, active citizen of the world. She is an exemplary student-leader, a dedicated volunteer and a positive role model for her peers.”

Since her rst year at WCU, Hipps has participated in the Student Leadership Institute and in various student organizations and community service projects. In Alpha Phi Omega, the national co-ed service fraternity, she is currently the president, having previously served as vice president of fellowship and vice president of service. Through APO she has assisted with various service-learning initiatives, including the Invisible Children Campaign that raised campuswide awareness of the atrocities being committed against children in Uganda, where many are forced to fight as soldiers.

She also participated in the Campus Kitchen Garden Project and the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.

Hipps was selected recently as WCU’s Relay For Life event chair for 2010 after serving as a volunteer since 2006 and helping to raise $25,000 for the American Cancer Society in 2009.

“As a volunteer student leader, she has not only increased giving to the American Cancer Society but Shawna Hipps has also supported the organization’s eort to increase relay participation and expand awareness of cancer’s impact on the campus and surrounding community,” said Lisa Du, senior community manager for the American Cancer Society’s South Atlantic division. “Due to her direct involvement, several cooperative eorts have been established on campus, including those with the School of Nursing, Wellness Center and the Athletics Department.”

Hipps was a recipient of the Center for Service Learning’s Shining Star Award for 2009 and Omicron Delta Kappa’s Award for Service.

“I have discovered that regardless of what is going on in my life, there is always time to help others,” Hipps said.

For more information, visit the 2009 conference Web site, or contact Glenn Bowen, director of the WCU Center for Service Learning, at (828) 227- 7184 or [email protected]. Tags: service, service learning

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TOP STORIES Spirit of giving at WCU shows through service NOTEWORTHY NEWS November 23, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | ACHIEVEMENTS

Members of the Western Carolina University community spent the weeks before Thanksgiving giving of themselves to activities ranging from food EVENTS drives to volunteering at organizations that combat hunger.

PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES One food drive sponsored by Staff Senate yielded about 450 pounds of food for The Community Table’s backpack program, which provides easy-to- prepare food for schoolchildren to take home on weekends and holidays. In addition, that eort spurred two WCU student psychology groups, the Psychology Club and the honor society Psi Chi, to dedicate their annual food drive to the same cause, said Mickey Randolph, professor of psychology. “The response was overwhelming,” said Randolph. “We had more than 50 bags or boxes of food donated.” Together, the donations from the food drives filled a truck from the bed to the backseat, said Brenda Holcombe, chair of Staff Senate and financial aid counselor.

CALENDAR Meanwhile, the Center for Service Learning, which also assisted 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern with a preholiday food drive, hosted an array of activities such as Minds community service projects and discussion groups as part of 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week in the Glass Matrix November. Among total clients in households served by MANNA 5/29/2017 Water Portraits: Barbara FoodBank and documented by Hunger in America 2006, more than 70 Tyroler percent of Western North Carolina households with children were 6/9/2017 Musical Variety Show 'Livin' the Dream' “food insecure,” while 53 percent of households facing hunger must 6/10/2017 Musical Variety Show choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating 'Livin' the Dream' fuel.

As part of the awareness week activities, a group of sta members LINKS volunteered Nov. 16 at The Community Table, which serves dinner Calendar free of charge four evenings a week as a way to reach out to Higher Education NewsWatch “neighbors in need.” The average number of meals served at each dinner at The Community Table jumped in October alone from about WCU Hub 40 to about 60, said Amy Grimes, executive director of The Ben Rutz, a member of the WCU Catamount Student Service Corps; Paul Community Table. Jacques, associate professor of management; Glenn Kastrinos, assistant AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT professor of recreational therapy; and Robert Anderson, director of the “Due to increased need, we are also functioning as a food pantry,” engineering technology program, help sort food for distribution from MANNA said Grimes. “We hope that for many of our guests we can help them FoodBank in Asheville. (Photo by Jennifer Cooper) at least reduce their food costs, thereby freeing their budgets up to pay rent or mortgage, utilities, car repairs, medical bills or ll up their heating oil tanks for winter. I am so thankful to have WCU nearby and for all the support we receive from the folks there – food drives, volunteer help and other donations and events. We can only carry out our mission with the help of our community.”

Mardy Ashe, director of the Oce of Career Services and Cooperative Education, was among the group of volunteers from WCU who took orders at The Community Table for pulled pork, hot dogs, coleslaw, baked beans, red beans and rice, squash and cake; served food; and helped clean afterward. “I was impressed by how busy we were and the welcome feeling that was noticeable throughout,” said Ashe. “Several of the customers stayed the entire time we were open, chatting with friends, drinking coee and sharing stories. I left that night feeling that I had accomplished something worthwhile.”

Jill Woodruff, special events coordinator with the Oce of Career Services and Cooperative Education, said she also enjoyed her time volunteering at The Community Table and also has taken her children, William and Mary Grant, with her to help. “I want them to understand the value of giving back and to know we are never too young or too old to help others,” said Woodruff.

F o r Nory Prochaska, director of the Mathematics Tutoring Center, the experience strengthened her desire to serve the community. Prochaska said initially she was not looking forward to volunteering at The Community Table – a feeling she expects many WCU students and faculty help sort food at MANNA FoodBank as part of the WCU students have when rst asked to participate in a service- Center for Service Learning's observance of National Hunger and Homelessness learning project. Once she arrived, however, she had a great time with Awareness Week. the other volunteers from WCU, realized that the little they did made a big dierence, and left energized. “A horse rescue (eort) I’m familiar with just put out a call for help in anticipation of an increase in abandoned animals this winter, and I found myself making an extra eort to collect some resources for them,” said Prochaska. “I’m confident that my experience on Monday at The Community Table is part of the motivation.”

Then on Thursday, Nov. 19, a representative group of service-learning faculty, administrators and students visited MANNA FoodBank in Asheville. The 15- member group spent two hours sorting and packing food items for distribution to a network of community-based nonprofit agencies.

“Without volunteers, MANNA FoodBank would fall well short of its mission to involve, educate and unite people in the work to end hunger,” said Josh Stack, communications and marketing coordinator for MANNA FoodBank. “We rely heavily on volunteers to assist in the acquisition and distribution of almost 6.7 million pounds of food to 315 partner agencies across 16 counties of Western North Carolina. Educational institutions play a major role in helping us to fulfill our mission as well as providing hands-on experience to our future leaders.”

By Teresa Killian Tate

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TOP STORIES ‘Women Who Dare!’ speaker series to host presentation about Zora Neale NOTEWORTHY NEWS Hurston on Wednesday, Nov. 18 ACHIEVEMENTS November 9, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share | EVENTS

Sharon D. Johnson, journalist and screenwriter, will discuss key essays by Zora Neale Hurston, the most published African-American woman of her time, PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES as part of the “Women Who Dare!” series at Western Carolina University. The presentation will be held in the multipurpose room of A.K. Hinds University Center from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18.

Hurston, who lived from 1891 to 1960, authored “Their Eyes Were Watching God” among numerous other books, plays, essays and articles. Johnson will explore in her presentation how Hurston’s writing could be described in contemporary terms as “politically incorrect,” pushing the boundaries of long- held ideas and timely trends in the gender, race and cultural politics of her time. She also will share how Hurston’s essays not only oer a look at CALENDAR Hurston’s take on historical events such as Brown vs. Board of Education, but also provide insights relevant today. 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds For more information, contact WCU’s Women’s Center and Women’s Programs. 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond LINKS

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TOP STORIES WORKING TITLES NOTEWORTHY NEWS Library group mixes business with pleasure ACHIEVEMENTS to develop leisure reading collection EVENTS

November 30, 2009 Email This Post Print This Post Share |

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At his desk in Hunter Library, Bob Strauss concentrates on creating bibliographic records that meet standards prescribed by the venerable Library of Congress. But after work, when nightfall descends and the moon appears, so does the affable cataloger’s penchant for horror.

Across the library, Eva Cook receives and processes serials—magazines, journals and CALENDAR other publications—that arrive each 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern morning in a caravan of mail carts. Patrons Minds used to nding what they’re looking for on 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond time and on the right shelf may never LINKS suspect that the check-in assistant who Calendar makes this happen is so well versed in another kind of serial: killers. Higher Education NewsWatch

WCU Hub Strauss and Cook belong to a special library committee of vociferous readers who have AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT taken on some extra duties all for the love of books. The six members of the Leisure Reading Group, as they are known, wear two hats: one for their jobs in cataloging, reference and collection development and resource management; another for their behind-the-scenes work choosing the Bob Strauss reads and reviews horror books for Hunter Library's leisure reading collection. horror, suspense/thrillers, contemporary ction, nonction, sci-, romance and graphic novels for the library’s small but treasured collection of pleasure reads. In addition, they submit posts to the Hunter Library Leisure Reading blog.

“I come by every few weeks just to see what’s new,” said George Rector, an art and design faculty member who was perusing “Pizza: A Global History” by Ken Albala. “We make pizza a lot at my house, and I’ll probably take this one home.”

Rector follows book reviews on National Public Radio and in The New Yorker and often nds the featured titles in the leisure reading collection. That’s most likely because the library sta members who select the books also learn about them by listening to NPR, and reading The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, best-seller lists, a host of reader advisory Web sites, and paying scrupulous attention to suggestions and e-mails sent by faculty, staff and students.

With only 1,950 books, the leisure reading collection represents a tiny portion of the library’s 800,000 holdings, acquired for the most part to support the university’s academic mission. But the collection’s shelves, located next to the Java City Café on the main floor, are a popular destination nevertheless. Members of the university community who want to think outside of their e-mail inboxes for a while can check out these books for up to three weeks.

Dana Sally, dean of library services, believes the collection enhances the library’s fundamental mission to encourage reading by everyone (including himself) as a rewarding and benecial activity. “I’ve reached a point in my life where I nd practically any book I’m interested in to be a leisurely and richly transformative experience. So much so, that I often nd myself giving them a second and third run,” Sally said.

The leisure reading section often has a theme when featured titles are displayed on book carts. In the weeks before Halloween, Strauss, an aliate member of Horror Writers of America, chose many of the showcased selections, and checkouts spiked for books with vampire themes.

For the holiday season, metadata librarian Anna Craft, who doubles as nonction selector and chair of the Leisure Reading Group, cooked up selections on a culinary theme. There are cookbooks, culinary histories, memoirs and more, ranging from Bill Buford’s “Heat: An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany” to “The Kitchen Diaries” by food writer Nigel Slater. In fact, Craft has thought of everything, including “Rethinking Thin” by Gina Kolata for after the holidays.

Readers interested in leisure reading’s romance department will nd titles carefully selected by Sharon McLaurin, who believes there’s more to love there than meets the eye. McLaurin, who also is the library’s serials business coordinator, has enriched the collection with a variety of subgenres, from historical and inspirational to young adult and beyond. “I look for story,” she said. “There’s always a central love theme and a happy ending, but also plenty of wiggle room in between for a good story to unfold.”

Cook is the group’s suspense/thriller selector. She’s a former shopkeeper who passed the hours on slow business days reading Iris Johansson, Lee Child, John Grisham, Catherine Coulter and other popular authors. She recently chose for the collection a book by Virginia Lanier, who started writing at 65 and penned an entire series in seven years.

Other members of the leisure reading group are Heidi Buchanan, assistant head of reference, who specializes in contemporary ction, and Serenity Richards, metadata Eva Cook serves as the suspense/thrillers selector for the Leisure Reading Group. assistant, who selects graphic novels and sci-fi.

Freya Kinner, an educational leadership and foundations faculty member and regular browser, said she was initially – but pleasantly – surprised at the diversity of books in the collection. “This week I picked up a couple of cookbooks for the holidays and a young adult lit book,” said Kinner. “I’ve also found books by Geraldine Brooks, the rst book in the Stieg Larsson series (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”) and fantastic books by local authors Ron Rash and Pamela Duncan.”

Read the blog about new books and the selectors’ favorites at http://hunterleisure.wordpress.com.

Send leisure reading book suggestions and other comments to members of the Hunter Library’s Leisure Reading Group: Anna Craft, chair of the Leisure Reading Group, is the nonfiction selector. Heidi Buchanan, contemporary ction, [email protected] Eva Cook, suspense/thrillers, [email protected] Anna Craft (chair), nonfiction, [email protected] Sharon McLaurin, romance, [email protected] Serenity Richards, sci-fi and graphic novels, [email protected] Bob Strauss, horror, [email protected]

By Christy Martin

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