The Reporter, December 2015

• Main Author: Western Carolina University;
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Hunter Library Digital Collections, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723; 2015
• Subjects: Western Carolina University > Periodicals; Alabama; Alden; Belcher; Canada; Chapel Hill; Christchurch; Coulter; Fairview; Ferro; Frazier; Gunter; Hannah; Hector; Hudson; Huffman; Jenny; Lone; New Zealand; Raleigh; Randall; Red Rock; Rodriguez; Rus’; Sheila; The Cathedral; Wilcox; inuits
• Online Access: http://cdm16232.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16232coll20/id/7219

The Reporter is a publication produced by Western Carolina University featuring news, events, and campus community updates for faculty and staff. The publication began in August of 1970 and continues digitally today. Click on the link in the “Related Materials” field to access recent issues. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 2, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | NOTEWORTHY NEWS Annual ‘Sounds of the Season’ concert at WCU celebrates the holidays in song The annual “Sounds of the Season” holiday concert will be presented by Western Carolina University’s School of Music on Sunday, Dec. 6. The concert will begin at 3 p.m. in the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center with performances by the Jackson County Youth Chorus and WCU student ensembles, Concert Choir and University Chorus and special appearances by Pavel Wlosok, WCU associate professor for jazz studies, and the WCU Percussion Ensemble for “The Nutcracker Suite.” In the spirit of the holidays, the School of Music also encourages the audience to bring canned food items, which will be delivered to the Community Table, a Jackson County nonprofit food bank. “The season will come alive through music, from Christmas classics to children’s songs, jazz arrangements and choral works, and more,” said Sheila Frizzell, of the School of Music staff. “Our special guest is Santa Claus and he’ll lead an audience sing-along of holiday favorites to close the program.” Reserved seat tickets are on sale now. Prices are $17 for adults; $11 for WCU faculty, sta???????? and those 60 and older; and $5 for students and children. Group rates are available for advance purchase only. Proceeds bene????????t the School of Music Scholarship Fund. For tickets or information, visit bardoartscenter.wcu.edu or call 828-227-2479. By Geoff Cantrell CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES 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' LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 2, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | NOTEWORTHY NEWS Auditions set for WCU’s radio re-creation of ‘Blackbeard’s Ghost’ Auditions will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5, for the upcoming radio re-creation of “Blackbeard’s Ghost and the Queen Ann’s Revenge” at Western Carolina University. The auditions will be held in Breese Gymnasium on the WCU campus. “Blackbeard’s Ghost” will be the eighth in a series of academic-based entertainment productions mounted in collaboration with three departments and two colleges at WCU. The 2016 production is being led by director Peter Savage, music director Bruce Frazier, and writer and producer Don Connelly. Each of the shows in the series hearkens back to the golden age of radio, featuring a live orchestra and sound effects and produced only once before a live audience in the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center. The production group has won seven national broadcasting awards for its unique projects. The upcoming production will be recorded for future radio broadcast. The auditions will consist of reading small sections of the script that will be available to view in the office of WCU’s School of Stage and Screen (Stillwell 233) beginning Monday, Nov. 30. No prior acting experience is required. A signup sheet with audition time slots also will be posted in the office. The show includes roles for 19 characters, and some actors may be cast to play more than one role, which was common in the early days of radio. The characters range in age from 17 to 93. “Acting on the radio is so different than for a traditional play or musical,” Savage said. “The actor has to carry the entire role with his or her voice. It is very similar to when an actor does voiceover work for an animated motion picture.” The radio show will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 17, in the Bardo Arts Center. Tickets are $10 and will go on sale Jan. 11. Proceeds are used to fund scholarships in participating academic departments. Funding for “Blackbeard’s Ghost and the Queen Ann’s Revenge” is provided by WCU’s College of Arts and Sciences, College of Fine and Performing Arts, Department of Communication, School of Music, School of Stage and Screen, and the Carol Grotnes Belk Endowment. Individuals who have questions about auditions should contact Savage at [e-mail]. – Contributed information CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES CALENDAR LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 2, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | A promotion from the television premiere of “First Language” on UNC-TV acknowledges associate producers Tom Belt and Hartwell Francis. ACHIEVEMENTS Belt, Francis film nominated for Midsouth Emmy A documentary associate-produced by two Western Carolina University faculty members, “First Language – The Race to Save Cherokee,” has been nominated for a Midsouth Emmy. Hartwell Francis, director of WCU’s Cherokee language program, and Tom Belt, coordinator of the program and a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, were interviewed in the documentary as well as having a hand in producing it. Midsouth Emmy Awards are issued by the Nashville-based chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and recognize excellence in programming created and shared from sources in North Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee. The ????????lm’s other recent honors include the Audience Award early last month at the Red Rock Film Festival in Cedar City, Utah, and being scheduled for an upcoming screening in January at the sixth annual Das Nordamerika Film Festival in Stuttgart, Germany. The latter will showcase 50 ????????lms made by Native Americans and Inuits as film directors, actors and playwrights in which they portray their culture and their way of life. Belt was recently recognized by the North Carolina Folklore Society for his work in preserving the Cherokee language. By Keith Brenton CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 9, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | Honor Sachs NOTEWORTHY NEWS Book by WCU’s Sachs probes Kentucky frontier myths, reality Honor Sachs, assistant professor of history at Western Carolina University, examines frontier myths and realities in her new book “Home Rule: Households, Manhood, and National Expansion on the Eighteenth-Century Kentucky Frontier.” Published by Yale University Press and released in October, the book incorporates the stories of women, slaves, orphans and the poor into a history often dominated by male pioneers. Alden Ferro, Yale University Pres publicist, said the historic reality that she documents is of a time and region fraught with political instability, social unrest and economic uncertainty, even as popular culture celebrates brave pioneers like Daniel Boone to this day. Sachs complicates the stories of such popular frontier heroes and explains how western leaders secured the frontier by incorporating ordinary white men into a political culture that celebrated household order and patriarchal authority, he said. “Home Rule” has been described as an engaging read that explores early American history, gender and societal roles, political science and concepts of citizenship for a not-so-typical take on Southern Appalachian history. Sachs said she argues that ideas about family and household structure helped rebuild and rehabilitate public and private authority in the post-Revolutionary War west. Sachs holds a doctorate in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has been part of the faculty at WCU for three years. She teaches courses on early U.S. history, the American Revolution, slavery and law, and contributes to WCU’s certi????????cate program in public history. She has held fellowships from the American Philosophical Society, the American Antiquarian Society, and the Filson Historical Society, and was Cassius Marcellus Clay postdoctoral fellow at Yale University. CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES 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' LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 9, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | NOTEWORTHY NEWS Changes coming for metered Coulter parking lot The rate charged for parking in WCU’s short-term metered Coulter lot will be reduced and the hours of metered parking will be extended as of Monday, Jan. 4, said Fred Bauknecht, the university’s director of parking and transportation. Rates will be lowered from $3 per hour to $1 for 30 minutes and the lot will be monitored for metered parking from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, instead of the current 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Bauknecht said. One of the goals set by WCU’s parking operations o????????ce in 2014 was to create a designated parking lot for visitors and short-term parking, and the Coulter lot (No. 33) was the logical choice to establish the university’s ????????rst short-term metered parking lot, he said. Usage of the 84 spaces in the lot has increased from last year, with 2,077 meter transactions in September of this year, compared to 1,322 transactions in September 2014, Bauknecht said. “We anticipate continued growth with the additions of the new mixed-use complex and the Brown cafeteria expansion,” he said. “It has been the hope that revenues generated from this metered lot could potentially offset some of the anticipated increases in parking permit fees.” For more information, contact Bauknecht at [e-mail]. By Randall Holcombe CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 9, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | ACHIEVEMENTS Chemistry students, faculty share research Students, former students and faculty of the Department of Chemistry and Physics presented their research at the 2015 Combined Southwest Region Meeting and the Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Memphis, Tennessee, Nov. 4-7. Channa De Silva and Jamie Wallen, assistant professors of chemistry, presented their work, along with graduate and undergraduate students who had conducted research under the faculty supervision of De Silva, Wallen, Scott Huffman (associate professor of analytical chemistry), Arthur Salido (associate professor of analytical chemistry), Brian Dinkelmeyer (associate professor of organic chemistry), Maria Gainey (lecturer in biology) and Bill Kwochka (associate professor of organic chemistry; associate department head). Current WCU students presenting and/or contributing to research shared at SERMACS-SWRM included Alexander Lillie, Christian Jensen, Seth Sedberry, Nicole Dragan, Joey Lee, Laney Browder, Craig Crowley, Aric Butler, Alma Plaza-Rodriguez, Brittni Foster, Jenny Collins and Maggie Carver. CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 9, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | ACHIEVEMENTS Collins named nursing leadership fellow Shawn Collins, associate professor of nursing and director of WCU’s nurse anesthesia program, was recently named a North Carolina Nursing Association Leadership Fellow for 2016. Collins will be participating in the NCNA Leadership Academy training events throughout 2016. The academy prepares fellows to take on new opportunities and influence change in nursing, their current place of employment and the health-care industry. CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 9, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | NOTEWORTHY NEWS Community Chorus to perform seasonal favorites on Dec. 13 The Western Carolina University School of Music will present a concert by the Western Carolina Community Chorus on Sunday, Dec. 13, at First Baptist Church, Sylva. The free concert begins at 4 p.m. and will feature performances by the oldest, continuously active community chorus in the region, formed in 1970 and composed of singers from the westernmost counties of the state. The chorus is directed by Robert Holquist, WCU professor emeritus of music. A WCU faculty and student brass quintet will accompany four selections, including “Service to God,” written in 2003 by Holquist for the observance of the 20th anniversary of his service as minister of music at Sylva First Baptist Church. Mindy Cook will be a featured soloist in that selection. Two WCU student percussionists will assist the choir on Paul Basler’s “Gloria,” featuring Yona Wade as tenor soloist. All will be invited to sing “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” and “The First Noel” to close the concert with brass, piano and organ accompaniment. Support of the Community Chorus comes from the WCU School of Music, Jackson County Arts Council, North Carolina Arts Council and private contributions and donations. For more information, contact WCU’s School of Music at 828-227-7242. By Geoff Cantrell CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES 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' LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 2, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | NOTEWORTHY NEWS Contemporary, romantic works to be featured in Dec. 3 faculty recital at WCU Western Carolina University’s School of Music will present a recital of contemporary and romantic works featuring faculty members on Thursday, Dec. 3. The 7:30 p.m. performance will be held in the recital hall of the Coulter Building on the WCU campus. It is free and open to the public. Featured performers are Zsolt Szabo on trombone, Ian Jeffress on saxophone, and accompanying on piano, Lillian Pearson and Lyn Burkett. Szabo will be performing selections from a new arrangement for trombone and piano of Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite, two movements from “Four Serious Songs” by Johannes Brahms, and Lawrence Borden’s “Conditions of a Solitary Bird.” Je????????ress will give a premiere performance of two new works written for him, “Nanomusic III” by Bryan Burkett, a composer living in Cullowhee, and “News Flash” by Andrew Hannon, a faculty composer at Appalachian State University. In addition to works for solo trombone and saxophone, Szabo, Je????????ress and Pearson will perform a trio work of “Gnomology” by Carl Schimmel, consisting of miniature movements inspired by quotations from historical ????????gures ranging from Hesiod to James Joyce. Je????????ress and Lyn Burkett also will perform Baljinder Sekhon’s “Gradient,” a work for saxophone and piano. For more information, contact the School of Music at 828-227-7242. By Geoff Cantrell CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 9, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | ACHIEVEMENTS Electric Department achieves ‘No Lost Workdays’ recognition The Electric Department of the Office of Facilities Management at WCU received a plaque on Nov. 19 in recognition of having no lost workdays due to accidents in 2014 from ElectriCities of North Carolina Inc. “That makes eight years in a row,” said Rosie Greenwood, administrative support specialist for Facilities Management. ElectriCities is a membership organization providing customer service and safety training, emergency and technical assistance, communications, government affairs and legal services within public power communities in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. It also provides management services to two municipal power agencies in North Carolina. Electric Department employees (left to right) John Freeman, Jeff Gunter, Randy Fox, Travis Taylor, Brandon Green, Andy Edwards and (front) Keith Dills display their award. CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES CALENDAR LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 2, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | Julian Daron Jones TOP STORIES Fall commencement set for Dec. 12 at Ramsey Center Western Carolina University has scheduled commencement exercises on Saturday, Dec. 12, to recognize its fall graduating class and a group of new WCU alumni who were awarded degrees after this year’s summer school sessions. The 1 p.m. ceremony at the Ramsey Regional Activity Center is open to everyone and no tickets are required for admission. Chancellor David O. Belcher will preside over commencement and deliver his charge to the fall semester degree candidates and summer graduates. Graduating senior Julian Daron Jones will deliver the primary commencement address. Jones is a native of Richmond, Virginia, who is majoring in business administration and law, and ????????nance. He was chosen for that honor by a campus committee through a speaker selection process that was open to all graduating students. On campus, Jones is a member of the Honors College and serves on the college’s student board of directors. He also is a member of the Pre-Law Club and Finance Club, and he has served on the Student Government Association and the Campus Mediation Society. A dean’s list student, he has been honored with the Lily Community Engagement Award for his community service work. WCU’s fall class includes about 800 students who currently are working on ????????nal academic requirements to receive their degrees and who qualify to participate in the ceremony. A group of WCU graduates who completed degree requirements during summer school and who already have been conferred degrees also will be eligible to don caps and gowns for the event. For more information about commencement, contact the WCU Registrar’s Office at 828-227-7216 or e-mail [e-mail]. By Randall Holcombe CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES 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' LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 2, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | Heather Ervin, Cecilia Anderson, Kate Short and Ginny Simpson (left to right) made a stop near the banks of the Seine River to have a photo taken with the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris as a backdrop. NOTEWORTHY NEWS Faughn, students study classrooms in France during fall break Axelle Faughn, associate professor of mathematics, and four teacher education students observed classrooms in France during Western Carolina University’s fall break Oct. 10-17. Students Heather Ervin, Cecilia Anderson, Kate Short and Ginny Simpson accompanied Faughn on the trip. “The idea was for education students to go for 10 days and to observe classrooms in France,” Faughn said. “They went to a French high school in my hometown in Brittany, and spent ????????ve of those days there. The classes included some international students, so they observed classes in English as well as French language.” While there, the students stayed in homes. “They got to see pedagogy in a French school hosted by French teachers during the week, and to become immersed in French family life, getting the real cultural side of life there, as well as the educational side,” Faughn said. “It was good for them to have that experience.” The students had an opportunity to compare di????????erences between the educational system in a foreign country and those at home. “Among the things they found di????????erent was that the school day went from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.,” Faughn said. “It was much longer, though they have breaks for lunch, and sometimes break periods with no classes. For the teachers, that’s a very long day. “The classes were much more structured; the level of subject matter a little higher than in United States classrooms,” she added. “And the food was very good in the school cafeteria. They were impressed with that.” In addition to observing the high school classes, the group visited standing stones and medieval walled cities. “We went to Paris and did all the touristy things you’d think about doing there,” Faughn said. (The group’s visit was prior to the terrorist attacks in Paris in November.) She was pleased that the trip went well for the students. “I am hoping we can do this again next year, and that other faculty members can do this sort of study, too,” Faughn said. By Keith Brenton CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 2, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | The WCU teacher education students’ trip to Kenya provided them a chance to connect with some of that country’s school children, as evidenced by the photo of Ali Bovender and a young Kenyan friend (inset), and to get a close view of the country’s spectacular wildlife. WCU student Hannah Whitehead elicits a smile from a student during a lesson. TOP STORIES Fifteen days in Kenya: Drinking up the lessons of life Ali Bovender says she expected that a recent journey to Kenya with six of her fellow Western Carolina University teacher education students would turn out to be a life-changing experience, but she had no idea that it would affect her like it has. The students were accompanied on the 15-day trip to the African continent by Rus Binkley, associate professor in WCU’s School of Teaching and Learning, and his wife, Kathy. Binkley said the October excursion was organized to provide the students an opportunity to experience the schools in Kenya by observing teaching methods and taking part in classroom instruction. Bovender said she was mostly looking forward to spending time with the children. “I thought I was going to be the one to impact their lives, but they are the ones who changed mine,” she said. The WCU contingent spent its ????????rst week in the city of Nairobi, and the ????????rst school visited was a private Christian institution that is “somewhat better equipped” than the typical Kenyan school, Binkley said. But, toward the end of that ????????rst week, the group went to a second school that is located in a slum outside of Nairobi – a school with no water. “Just by the school gates there is a huge garbage dump, several city blocks in size, and maybe 50 feet or so high,” Binkley said. “There were hungry Marabou storks and people all over it picking through the trash, looking for stuff to sell and for food to eat.” Inside the school, Bovender found children to teach, including some children with special needs – her passion. “One of the little boys we worked with in the special needs class came up to us before we left one day,” she said. “This young man kept speaking to us in Swahili, and we weren’t sure what he was saying. We asked Steve, the man who was with us, to translate, and he told us that the little boy was thirsty.” So, the WCU group gave the boy a bottle of water. “He thanked us and walked o????????,” Bovender said. “As he did, other children came up to him to take the water from him. I stepped up to stop them, and Steve put his hand on my shoulder to stop me. He told me that they were not trying to be mean, but that they were just as thirsty. I was moved to tears. It was so hard to see children who were having to go without something that was so necessary for life. Things like that will set a fire inside you. It’s a passion I now have that will never go away.” The school enrolls about 1,800 students, and all of them live in poverty, Binkley said. “They arrive at 7 a.m. and leave at 4:30 p.m., and they have neither food nor water all day,” he said. “Our students were really moved by this.” Binkley has a longtime friend, Winston Akala, who is dean of the College of Education at the University of Nairobi. “Winston confirmed that digging a well for the school would probably cost only about $5,000, and that would mean kids could drink all they want and, in turn, the school could sell the excess to local people for a few shillings and recover operating costs,” Binkley said. The WCU students who went on the Kenya trip are making plans to raise the money to have the well dug. In addition to Bovender, that group consists of Amy Bennett, Victoria Blount, Carson Bridges, Taylor Hunter, Emily Martens and Hannah Whitehead. Other plans are in the works, too, Binkley said. “As we speculated about what we could do, we thought about adopting this as a model school over a number of years where there could eventually be a school garden to feed the kids, and provide professional development for the teachers, who are doing the best they can with what little they have,” he said. “This school is full of dedicated and loving teachers who haven’t been paid since August, but who keep coming to work, anyway. “I was really proud of how my students jumped in and taught what they’d planned, and afterward, they winged it and taught some more. That interaction was really what they came for – and it was emotionally draining, but really a tremendous experience. We left the school about 50 kids’ books we had brought and, of course, the headmaster made a big ceremony of it, with me attempting to make a speech at the Kenyan ????????agpole under the equatorial sun,” Binkley said. CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT WCU student Victoria Blount works with a student in a Kenyan classroom. Rus Binkley During the Kenyan adventure, the WCU group also journeyed about ????????ve hours southwest of Nairobi to stay for ????????ve days at Wongonyi, a small village on top of a mountain that is surrounded on three sides by Tsavo National Park. The village is where a native Kenyan, Ronnie Mdawida, was raised. Mdawida attended a Canadian university and leads The Ronnie Mdawida Fund (http://www.theronniefund.org/), which is working on sustainable development in African communities. “He has so far brought a health clinic, greenhouses, beehives, ????????sh farming, craft operatives, a dried banana ????????our industry, a special education classroom and fresh clean water to Wongonyi, among other things,” Binkley said. “We worked at their primary school and our students got to do a good amount of teaching. I was quite impressed with our students as they pitched in to teach, even with older age groups they had not worked with previously.” The trip to Kenya took place partially during WCU’s fall break, and the students had to cover their own travel expenses, Binkley said. Taking advantage of their rare opportunity as visitors in Africa, members of the group also incorporated some wildlife viewing in their itinerary, spending a night at a safari lodge and going on two game drives. “We saw countless elephant herds, gira????????es and zebras. Altogether, we saw more than 20 lions, including one pride with a lone male, some lionesses and two generations of cubs,” Binkley said. In addition to the powerful desire she now has to help the Kenyan children who live in poverty, Bovender said the trip left her feeling surprised by the happy nature and determination of the people she met. “They are extremely hardworking, no matter what the situation,” she said. “They are thankful for what they have and just know things are going to get better. It was humbling to see that. We come from a society that tells us that we need all of these expensive things, and here these people go without things that they really need, but they are driven to overcome it.” The students’ trip to Africa comes as WCU begins a two-year exploration of “Africa! More than a Continent,” with plans to connect curricular and co-curricular experiences across disciplines and provide a framework for common intellectual experiences for WCU students. Following-up with Rus Binkley… Where did the idea for this trip come from? Many years ago, my wife and I had a job where we led college students in an immersion experience in Haiti. We saw them come back with a new understanding of the world and an obligation to work for social justice. So, I became convinced that student travel to places so di????????erent is a must if I want to promote global citizenship. When I got my doctorate at the University of Illinois, I made a friend of Winston Akala, a Kenyan. We went to visit him and his family six years ago and have been planning this student relationship ever since. He is now the dean of the College of Education at the University of Nairobi, so he’s in a key position to make things happen. We hope to repeat this student trip every year and, eventually, I’d like to spend a semester teaching at the University of Nairobi. Will the students try to raise money to have the well dug? We are in the planning stages right now, so I think it will happen. What is reassuring is that the head principal of the school explicitly said that the school needs and wants this well, so we aren’t telling them what we think they need. As we dreamed big together in Nairobi, we thought about a multi-year plan: First, let’s ????????nd a way to dig a borehole to provide clean water for the 1,800 kids in that school. Second, could we sell the excess water to the neighbors to help defray operating cost? Third, if the well provides enough water, let’s plant maize and irrigate it to maintain a school feeding program. Last, let’s provide professional development for this group of overworked and dedicated teachers to create a model school with the University of Nairobi teacher education program. By Randall Holcombe and Keith Brenton © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 2, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | NOTEWORTHY NEWS IT’s new ‘Let Me In’ site users you reset their password The Division of Information Technology at Western Carolina University is making it easier than ever for users to recover their password if they ever forget it – though a working mobile phone number is necessary. Registered users of the WCU networks will be able to visit letmein.wcu.edu in order to change their password when they need to. Before users can do so, they must go to the site letmein.wcu.edu and click “Enroll” to register for password reset. After registration, if the user’s password is forgotten, a visit to letmein.wcu.edu can reset it. Veri????????cation will take place through the mobile phone and the correct answers to security questions. The password can be changed for network usage and email, but the site’s tool will not reset a MyCat password. Learn more at this link on the IT site, DoIT News. For assistance with the site’s tool, reach the IT Help Desk by phone at 828-227-7484, by email at [e-mail] or online at help.wcu.edu. – Contributed information CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 2, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | ACHIEVEMENTS Kwochka research on crystalline structure published A paper co-authored by Bill Kwochka, associate professor of organic chemistry at WCU, was recently published in the Journal of Chemical Crystallography. The article is titled “Synthesis of the 4-Picoline (4-Pic) Complex of 4-Trifluoromethylphenylboronic Acid Catechol Ester (TFCB): The Unusual Co-crystal Structure—5(4-Pic·TFCB)·4-Pic.” His co-authors on the paper are Nick Wilcox, who graduated from WCU with his master’s in chemistry in May, and Robert Pike, the Floyd D. Gottwald Sr. Professor of Chemistry at the College of William and Mary. CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 2, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | ACHIEVEMENTS Lillard completes advanced police management program Steve Lillard, assistant chief of the Western Carolina University police, graduated on Friday, Nov. 20, from the North Carolina Justice Academy’s Management Development Program. “This is probably the most intensive law enforcement management program in North Carolina,” said Ernie Hudson, WCU chief of police. “It lasts 11 months. It is referred to as the premier law enforcement executive training in the state.” The Management Development Program that Lillard completed is in addition to the North Carolina Basic Law Enforcement Training program required of all of WCU’s campus police officers. For more information, see the police training page in the university police section of the WCU website, or contact Lillard at 828-227-7301. CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 9, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | ACHIEVEMENTS McGhan play in New York garnering glowing reviews “In the Soundless Awe,” a play co-written by Jayme McGhan, director of the School of Stage and Screen, is playing o????????-Broadway and has found favor with the city’s critics. NY Theatre Guide has it listed as the #1 show to see, McGhan said. The review can be read online at http://nytheatreguide.com/2015/11/off-off-broadway-review-in-the-soundless-awe-at-access-theater/. It is also reviewed favorably at the site OffOffOnline: http://offoffonline.com/?p=19458. The play’s engagement at Access Theater continues through Saturday, Dec. 12. A short promotional clip for the performance can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tfni5ahPOj8. “In the Soundless Awe” was first produced at Concordia University Chicago in 2012. CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES 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' LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 9, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | The new design for WCU’s website features cross-platform compatibility, adjusting its size, shape and sometimes content to the device on which it is viewed. TOP STORIES New website design roll-out to begin A comprehensive redesign of the Western Carolina University website is expected to begin unfolding on Thursday morning (Dec. 10), o????????ering a number of new features, including clearer navigation and more storytelling. The new site also will be responsive to screen size, meaning the content scales and reorganizes to work well on mobile devices. The new website design will be featured on the home page and all top level pages, and users will also see the new design show up on pages for Undergraduate Admissions, Financial Aid, Scholarships, Development, new summary pages for each degree program, and much of the Student Life section, said Robin Oliver, director of marketing. The College of Business will be the ????????rst of the colleges to move to the new design, and all other colleges as well as important external-facing units such as Graduate School, Distance and Online Programs, the Honors College and more will move to the new design in the spring semester. “We based our initial redesign priorities on feedback we received from students in focus groups during the redesign process,” Oliver said. “What we heard was that they were most interested in knowing what life would be like on campus, seeing video and photo content, and hearing from other students about their experiences.” In addition to the new wcu.edu, the university is debuting a completely redesigned news site, news-prod.wcu.edu, and stories from the news site will feed regularly updated content on the website home page as well as gateway pages throughout the site. An updated website has been a priority for Oliver since she began working at WCU in February. The process began immediately, when Oliver began contacting key individuals on campus about the needs and expectations for the new design, as well as identifying a web design ????????rm for the project. Raleigh-based VisionPoint Marketing created the new templates for the OUCampus content management system. As designs progressed from lists of needs to “wire-frame” mockups, open presentations were given on campus during the spring semester to elicit feedback and facilitate adjustments. Later, the mockups were updated to include representative images, colors and text styles, and then presented again in the autumn. The vast majority of URLs – web page addresses – will remain the same, so the majority of existing links and bookmarks will not be a????????ected, Oliver said. The previous iteration of the WCU website debuted in 2006. The content management system Red Dot was replaced with OUCampus in 2013. By Keith Brenton Tags: Website CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES 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' LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 9, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | Pam Tillis NOTEWORTHY NEWS Pam Tillis to perform at WCU on Sunday, Jan. 24 Country music star Pam Tillis will replace Juice Newton as the featured performer at a Galaxy of Stars Series performance at Western Carolina University’s John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 24. Tillis has been a force in country music since her ????????rst single recording hit the charts and has racked up 14 top ????????ve hits including six songs that hit No. 1, and has sold more than 6 million records. She was one of the ????????rst women in Nashville to produce her own album, and was awarded the coveted Female Vocalist of the Year award by the Country Music Association in 1994. In 1999, Tillis became the ????????rst female country entertainer to ever star in a Broadway musical when she appeared in Smokey Joe’s Cafe. She also has performed on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno and “Late Night” with David Letterman and Conan O’Brien. Her acting credits include appearances on television series “Promised Land,” “Diagnosis: Murder” and “L.A. Law.” Tillis is the daughter of country music singer Mel Tillis and Doris Tillis. Newton, originally scheduled to perform, recently announced her retirement and had to cancel the engagement. Tickets for the performance are available at bardoartscenter.wcu.edu or by calling the box o????????ce at 828-227-2479. CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 2, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | ACHIEVEMENTS Perry to deliver keynote at summit in New Zealand Lane Perry, director of WCU’s Center for Service Learning, will deliver a keynote address titled “To strive for a higher purpose: High impact community engagement as a tool for balance” at the Third Community Engagement Summit on Tuesday, Dec. 8, at his alma mater, the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. Perry’s keynote is part of a larger program for the summit, which is focused on the theme of “Universities as Good Neighbors.” CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 2, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | NOTEWORTHY NEWS Philosophy and religion faculty members mourn passing of Mike Jones Faculty members in WCU’s Department of Philosophy and Religion are mourning the recent passing of Michael Paul Jones, who formerly served as chair of the university’s philosophy and religion program for 17 years. Jones also was the driving force behind the development of a philosophy major at WCU in 1990, said James M. McLachlan, current professor in the department. Jones joined the WCU faculty around 1973 after holding temporary positions at the University of Northern Arizona and University of South Carolina, McLachlan said. “Mike Jones was the ????????rst philosopher at Western Carolina University and built the program,” McLachlan said. “At that time, there was no department, but an ‘associated area’ of philosophy and religion.” In addition to his in????????uence in the academic area of philosophy and religion, Jones was the ????????rst director of WCU’s honors program years before the program was elevated to “college” status, said Brian Railsback, WCU professor of English and former dean of the Honors College. “Really, Mike was instrumental in bringing the whole concept of ‘honors’ to WCU,” Railsback said. Raised in Indiana, Jones studied engineering at Purdue University and worked as an engineer in the defense industry in Los Angeles for a time, McLachlan said. “Eventually, he decided this was not how he wanted to spend the rest of his life, and after a stint studying philosophy at Wabash College, he entered the doctoral program in philosophy at the University of Texas,” McLachlan said. “I will always remember Mike when he returned from a particularly frustrating meeting,” he said. “The top of his head was red and his eyes bulged as he would relate the whole thing to (wife) Carrie and me. I always remember his ironic smile given with a sideways glance and a laugh. I miss him.” Jones was laid to rest beside his wife in Fairview Memorial Cemetery in Sylva. – Contributed information CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES 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' LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 9, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | ACHIEVEMENTS Professor presents research in Havana Santiago Garcia-Castanon, professor of Spanish in the Department of World Languages, presented the paper “La presencia de vocablos foráneos en el ingles de los Estados Unidos” (“The Presence of Foreign Language Borrowings in American English”) at the International Conference on Linguistics in Havana, Cuba, on Nov. 25-27. CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: Beyond LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 2, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | This image of the pirate Blackbeard comes from a woodblock print created by Outer Banks artist Glenn Eure. The original is kept at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Visitor Center on Ocracoke Island. (Used with permission of the artist) TOP STORIES Radio re-creation group to present ‘Blackbeard’s Ghost’ in March The award-winning creative team from Western Carolina University that already has destroyed the world with its presentation of “War of the Worlds” and paid homage to the early broadcasts of the Cotton Club with its “golden age of radio” re-creations has announced its selection for spring 2016. “Blackbeard’s Ghost and the Queen Ann’s Revenge” will be the eighth in a series of academic-based entertainment productions mounted in collaboration with three departments and two colleges at WCU and will be under the leadership of director Peter Savage, music director Bruce Frazier and writer and producer Don Connelly. The show will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 17, in the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center. Tickets will be sold for $10 beginning Monday, Jan. 11. Each of the shows in the series hearkens back to radio’s heyday, featuring a live orchestra and sound effects and produced only once before an audience in the Bardo Arts Center. The group overseeing the productions has won seven national broadcasting awards for its unique projects. The 2016 presentation will be recorded for future radio broadcast. Actors in the show will include WCU students, staff and faculty. Auditions will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5, in WCU’s Breese Gymnasium. “I am really excited about the opportunity to work on a new piece in a medium with such a rich history,” said Savage, visiting assistant professor of acting in the School of Stage and Screen. “At one time, radio plays were a chance for families to gather together and have a communal experience. While many contemporary podcasts attempt to re-create this unique form of storytelling, the fact we will be staging ‘Blackbeard’ before a live studio audience presents many wonderful opportunities and exciting challenges, not the least of which is giving students the chance to work right alongside their professors and mentors. Don’s original script and exhaustive research brings this time period alive and will allow listener imaginations to dance upon the high seas.” “Blackbeard’s Ghost and the Queen Ann’s Revenge” is an entirely new story about the most famous pirate of all time, Connelly said. This is the sixth show the professor and head of the Department of Communication has researched and written for the group. “Many of the people and all of the locations used in the script are real,” he said. “There are some who say Blackbeard and his ship still sail the waters off the Outer Banks,” Connelly said. “The story takes place during the early part of World War II and is based on what occurred just off Nags Head in an area of the ocean known as Torpedo Junction. Nearly 400 ships were sunk and some 5,000 people lost their lives to Nazi U-boats before the attacks suddenly stopped. “The Coast Guard played a pivotal role in defending the coastline during the war. I was honored to speak with a 94-year-old former member of the Coast Guard who was stationed at Nags Head during World War II to get details for the story,” Connelly said. In addition to eyewitness accounts, the Coast Guard historian’s office in Washington, D.C., provided Connelly with a previously classified Coast Guard document that shed a lot of light on the story. Concerning the issue of why the U-Boat attacks suddenly stopped, “I’m not talking,” he said. Frazier, WCU’s Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor in Commercial and Electronic Music, created an all-original musical score for the show. “The musical underscore for the production draws upon a broad range of themes and influences,” he said. “The tones and colors highlight the shifting dramatic emotions of the drama ranging from swashbuckling adventure to tender romance, eerie late-night visitations, military flourish and, of course, maritime battle.” The WCU Artist-In-Residence Orchestra, conducted by Frazier, will provide musical accompaniment for the program. The ensemble represents a partnership involving WCU and the Asheville Symphony Orchestra in which WCU students play alongside professionals in a collaborative orchestral experience. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for the winds players and percussion students in the School of Music to perform with professional string players in our region,” Frazier said. The opening of the program before the broadcast features symphonic masterworks played by the orchestra including Hector Berlioz’ grand overture to “The Corsairs,” with its “swirling strings and pulsating brass underscoring the escapades of those masters of ships and the sea,” he said. “That work and others that follow showcase the virtuosity of the ASO strings and the excellent artistic abilities of the university’s music students,” Frazier said. Funding for “Blackbeard’s Ghost and the Queen Ann’s Revenge” is being provided through the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Fine and Performing Arts, Department of Communication, School of Music, School of Stage and Screen, and the Carol Grotnes Belk Endowment. CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES CALENDAR 5/29/2017 Ancient Forms, Modern Minds 5/29/2017 Print Plus One: LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT The March 17 show starts promptly at 7:30 p.m., and no one will be admitted after it has started. All proceeds from the event go into student scholarship funds in the participating departments. The group has raised nearly $40,000 for scholarships through the programs. For more information contact Connelly at 828-227-3851. – From contributed information © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 2, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | WCU nursing students Marisa Beatty, Larissa Capps and Christy Barker (left to right) kneel to display the donated WHEE Wagons as Harris Regional Hospital’s Lucretia Stargell, vice president of business and service line development; Autumn Neesam, director of comprehensive family care; and Stephen Plemmons, director of emergency services, accept them from Susan Hester, assistant professor of nursing (back row, right). TOP STORIES School of Nursing students donate two WHEE Wagons to Harris Regional Hospital Western Carolina University’s School of Nursing established the WHEE Wagon Program last spring to provide medically fragile children wagons with IV poles so they can play and just be a kid. Assistant professor Susan Hester says she has wanted to see Jackson County benefit from the wagons. That became a reality recently when the School of Nursing donated two WHEE wagons to Harris Regional Hospital in Sylva. It was the program’s second donation since it began, with the first going out to Mission Children’s Hospital in Asheville at the end of spring semester. “We’re excited,” Hester said. “This is the hospital that’s closest to Western Carolina University. We have a very close partnership with (Harris Regional Hospital) and we’re so excited to have a win-win situation like this where we’re helping children, we’re helping Harris Regional and we’re helping the School of Nursing.” The program is part of a service-learning project for nursing students. Seniors Larissa Capps of Hendersonville, Marisa Beatty of Chapel Hill, and Christy Barker of Statesville were on hand to deliver the wagons. This semester, Capps helped develop information on the School of Nursing’s website that helps promote the WHEE Wagon Program. “We have a list of hospitals in di????????erent areas with pediatric units that could utilize the wagons,” Capps said. “We’ll have another team next semester that will reach out to these areas. We wanted to take care of our community first, which is great.” Beatty was responsible for helping make brochures for sponsors and recipients of the wagons. She and Barker recently visited Mission Children’s Hospital and saw its wagon in use. “That was cool to see it in action there,” Beatty said. “We know that will help some kids here, too, so that’s nice to know.” The wagons are used to divert young patients’ attention away from pain sensation, a strategy called nonpharmacological distraction. It allows the hospitalized or homebound child to receive his or her IV medications or ????????uids, or be connected to other medical equipment such as a feeding pump, while also reconnecting with the everyday world of being a child. Being involved in the program has helped Barker develop an appreciation for nonpharmacological distraction. “We always want to say medicine is the ????????rst thing to go to when we have pain,” Barker said. “But kids, when they’re small, they just want to be kids. Seeing the impact this can have on a child’s life, I actually got to experience it in a hospital. I had two patients that I drove around in the wagons. It just makes them so happy. It’s just a wagon, but it’s not just a wagon. It’s a way for the kids to get around and still be a kid and have fun and feel normal. Sometimes they can be alienated due to chronic and acute diseases.” Lucretia Stargell, vice president of business and service line development at Harris Regional Hospital, said she looks forward to seeing the impact the wagons will have on their young patients. “We’re really grateful to the Western Carolina University nursing students for this donation,” she said. “It’s going to help our youngest patients feel at home and feel comfortable with the care that they are getting. We’re just really thankful that Western thought of us to donate these wagons. CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES 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' LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT “Perhaps, it will make (the children) be a little bit more compliant with some of the things we need them to do that might be scary to a child. It might help them be in an environment that they’re more comfortable in. I would see us using the wagons to transport a child from maybe the emergency department down to radiology to get a procedure. It’ll also be fun for the staff to have something to offer the child.” The wagons range in cost from $225 for one with a permanently attached IV pole to $250 for one with a detachable pole that makes transporting the wagon easier. They are donated free of charge. In addition to children’s hospitals, Hester would like to donate wagons to daycare centers with medically fragile children and pediatric outpatient centers. Those interested in making donations or purchasing a wagon should contact Hester at [e-mail] or 828-227-2898. By Marlon W. Morgan © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 2, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | Jack Sholder ACHIEVEMENTS Sholder to preside over jury at French film festival Jack Sholder, professor in WCU’s Film And Television Production Program, was announced as president of the jury for the seventh annual French fantasy/horror film festival officially known as “Festival International du Film Fantastique” in Audincourt, May 26-29. More commonly known by the English moniker “Bloody Week-End 2016,” the festival is described at its website as a cultural event featuring an international competition of short ????????lms and convention of fans of the fantastic film. The festival’s announcement, translated to English, noted “Today, Jack Sholder is professor of ????????lm production at Western Carolina University, where he puts the experience and skills he acquired during his long and distinguished career at the service of his students.” Sholder is known for his ????????lm directing achievements in the genre, including “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge” (New Line, 1985), “The Hidden” (New Line, 1987) and “12 Days of Terror” (Fox, 2004). For more information, see the festival’s o????????cial website: http://bloodyweekend.fr/ (English and French language text available). By Keith Brenton CATEGORIES | THE REPORTER TOP STORIES NOTEWORTHY NEWS ACHIEVEMENTS EVENTS PHOTOS | WCU NEWS SERVICES 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' LINKS Calendar Higher Education NewsWatch WCU Hub AFRICA! MORE THAN A CONTINENT © 2015 Western Carolina University. SEARCH Search Home About Archives Subscribe Contact WCU Home December 9, 2015 ???????? Email This Post ???????? Print This Post ???????? Share | WCU anthropology professor Ted Coyle encourages students to immerse themselves in regional culture. TOP STORIES WCU gets high marks in National Survey of Student Engagement Results from the 2015 National Survey of Student Engagement indicate that Western Carolina University consistently outperforms similar higher education institutions in a variety of factors related to undergraduate student learning. The NSSE is conducted each year by Indiana University and is sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. NSSE ????????ndings are based on a survey conducted with first-year and senior-level students across the U.S. and Canada. More than 315,000 students attending 541 U.S. institutions were involved in this year’s survey. WCU participates in NSSE every three years, and 785 students at the university took the survey last spring. NSSE is broken down into four major themes – academic challenge, learning with peers, experiences with faculty and campus environment – and those themes are re????????ected through 10 “engagement indicators,” said David Onder, director of assessment in WCU’s Office of Institutional Planning and Effectiveness. Portions of the survey results, including the engagement indicators, allow WCU to compare itself with its Carnegie peer institutions, which are public master’s degree-granting colleges and universities with an undergraduate enrollment between 5,000 and 10,000 students, Onder said. This year’s NSSE indicates that WCU signi????????cantly exceeds the average results of the Carnegie peer institutions on all 10 of the engagement indicators for ????????rst-year students, and that the university signi????????cantly exceeds the group average on six of the 10 indicators for seniors. For the other four indicators involving senior-level students, the university’s performance is in line with its Carnegie peers. NSSE also reports student participation in “high-impact practices,” enriching educational experiences that facilitate learning outside the classroom. This year’s report re????????ects student participation in three high-impact practices for ????????rst-year students and six high-impact practices for seniors. The NSSE indicates that 56 percent of WCU ????????rst-year students were involved in at least one of those activities, compared to an average of 47 percent for the Carnegie peer institutions. For the seniors, 70 percent of WCU students were involved in two or more high-impact practices, compared to an average of 60 percent for the Carnegie group. The NSSE report also reveals the surveyed students’ overall satisfaction with WCU. Ninety-one percent of WCU ????????rst-year students rated their overall experience as “excellent” or “good,” while the average at Carnegie peer institutions was 84 percent. Eighty-nine percent of WCU seniors gave their overall experience an “excellent” or “good” rating, while the average for the group was 85 percent. “This survey rea????????rms that Western Carolina University provides a high-quality undergraduate experience in which students feel actively involved in their own learning,” said Tim Metz, WCU’s assistant vice chancellor for institutional planning and e????????ectiveness. “We are pleased with what our students are saying about their experiences on campus, but we will continue to be constantly looking for ways to improve student learning and development.” Mo