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WCU Stories

WCU Legacy Pinning Ceremony

Legacy Pinning ceremony honors family connections to WCU

Nearly 90 new first-year and transfer students at Western Carolina University celebrated the powerful bonds of kinship, tradition and alma mater during an annual ceremony Saturday, Nov. 16, as members of their own families who previously attended WCU presented them with special pins signifying their unique connection to the institution.  

Jim Moore

WCU mourns loss of former Board of Trustees, Foundation chair Jim Moore

The Western Carolina University community is mourning the loss of longtime friend, volunteer leader and donor Jim Moore, who died Monday, Nov. 18, at the age of 87 after a period of declining health.  

Fans help fill the truck for Helene relief

Donors provide emergency support to WCU students, faculty, staff affected by Helene

Although the Western Carolina University campus in Cullowhee avoided any significant damage from the fury of Hurricane Helene as it tore through Western North Carolina in late September, that does not mean that all students, faculty and staff emerged unscathed.  

WCU soccer

GivingTuesday ’24 to focus on increasing Catamount Club membership, athletics facilities

Western Carolina University will be ramping up support for the Catamount athletics program during this year’s edition of GivingTuesday, with a series of challenge gifts designed to help expand membership in the Catamount Club and increase funding for athletics facilities.  

WCU alumni award winners

Alumni return to WCU for annual homecoming celebration

Jamie Van Pelt’s drive from Florida to Western Carolina University isn’t the most riveting one. It’s several hours of rural highways, twists and turns and infamous Atlanta traffic, but when Van Pelt crests the hill south of Clayton, Georgia, he smiles.   

Alumni award winners

WCU honors four prominent alumni at Homecoming 2024

Western Carolina University paused Saturday, Nov. 2, to honor four prominent alumni – a former automotive industry executive who has supported Catamount athletics for decades, an accounting professional with extensive family ties to WCU, an award-winning educator and an up-and-coming public relations practitioner.   

RGB Portrait, a painting by Zack Schneider

Family establishes memorial scholarship fund to assist nontraditional art students at WCU

Nontraditional students working to earn a degree in an art-related major at Western Carolina University soon will have financial assistance to help them pursue their passion, thanks to a memorial scholarship fund established by the family of a recent WCU graduate who earned his degree after the age of 30.  

Alumni tower

1889 Impact Grants application deadline extended to Nov. 8

Because of the ongoing impacts of Hurricane Helene, Western Carolina University’s Division of Advancement and the WCU Foundation have extended the deadline for applications from faculty and staff interested in obtaining funding for projects through the 1889 Impact Grants Program.  

WCU homecoming parade in downtown Sylva

WCU to paint downtown Sylva purple, kick off Homecoming weekend Nov. 1

Western Carolina University alumni will paint the town purple Friday, Nov. 1, during a downtown Sylva Catamount takeover to launch Homecoming 2024 weekend.  

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