Freshman retention dips at WCU
After years of steady upward progress, the freshman-to-sophomore retention rate at Western Carolina University dipped slightly for students who enrolled as first-time, full-time freshmen in fall 2016.
Admissions interest rises at Western
When Chancellor David Belcher asked Sam Miller, Western Carolina University’s vice chancellor for students success, to tell the Board of Trustees about Western’s “terrifyingly good enrollment activity,” he was only half kidding about the word “terrifying” — but he was completely serious about the word “good.”
Beyond words: WCU community overflows with gratitude for Belcher’s leadership
Business as usual was a difficult thing to achieve at the Western Carolina University Board of Trustees meeting Friday, Dec. 1.
Ramsey Center to get new skin
The black glass Liston B. Ramsey Regional Activity Center is an iconic structure on the Western Carolina University campus, but it will soon have a much different look following the WCU Board of Trustees’ Dec. 1 endorsement of a $3.9 million project.
Jackson commissioners OK 185-foot radio tower
A unanimous vote from the Jackson County commissioners will allow construction of a 185-foot radio tower in Cullowhee to move forward, but the decision came after vocal opposition from six of the seven county residents who spoke at a 3 p.m. public hearing on Monday, Nov. 27.
Cancer battle causes WCU chancellor to step down
After battling brain cancer since April 2016, Western Carolina University Chancellor David O. Belcher announced Nov. 27 that his treatment is no longer working. He will go on medical leave and does not expect to return to his position.
A place to heal: Retreat center for combat veterans works to establish in Cullowhee
When Margo Capparelli, Ph.D., first began her career, she had little idea that it would develop such a strong focus on helping combat veterans that she would one day drop everything to found a retreat center serving them.
But that’s exactly what’s happened. Capparelli, 53, is founder of Equinox Ranch, located on 23 acres in Cullowhee that she hopes to get in shape to begin operations by late spring or early summer in 2018.
New development gets the green light in Cullowhee
After receiving approval from two separate boards, a proposed 80-bedroom development along Little Savannah Road in Cullowhee has the green light to move forward.
Dorm renaming recognizes Cherokee history
Before white settlers corrupted the name to Cullowhee, the land along the Tuckasegee River south of Sylva was known to the Cherokee people as “Joolth-cullah-whee,” or Judaculla’s place.
Details emerge surrounding Jacob Ray’s death
Charges against two Charlotte teens arrested following the shooting of 21-year-old Jacob Alexander Ray, of Hendersonville, have been upgraded from attempted murder to first-degree murder as of Monday, Oct. 16.