Skip to main content

WCU Stories

Billy Ogletree

Book by Billy Ogletree published on augmentative alternative communication

As a professor of communication sciences and disorders at WCU, Billy Ogletree has special insight into and experience with speech and language.   

Moller's

Alumni keep pieces of WCU close to their hearts and in their backyard

Ask former Catamounts, Daniel and Jordan Moeller, why they love Western Carolina University and it all comes down to the most important building blocks of life.  

Chris Moore

Fire Marshal Chris Moore '01: An I Love WCU Story

“We may not be out in the light, but you’ll definitely know when the light bulb’s out.” Western Carolina University’s own Fire Marshal, safety professional and alumnus Chris Moore, succinctly noted this when discussing the Facilities Management team’s impact.  

Spring enrollment

WCU maintains steady enrollment numbers for 2021 spring semester, adds graduate students

Amid the pandemic and a recession, total enrollment at WCU has dipped only slightly for the 2021 spring semester, while the number of graduate students enrolled moderately increased over previous years.  

Martin Schemdt on a construction site

From Graduate Student to Project Engineer

Martin Schmedt MCM ’18, project engineer for WCU’s Apodaca Science Building, spent hours drawing plans for dream houses as a child. “After drawing so many, I began to envision building them for my friends and family,” Schmedt said.  

Frankie Bauer

Alumni explores historical, cultural, political and personal connections that cross tribal designations

Frankie Bauer came to Western Carolina University in 2016 to pursue a master’s degree in history. A member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Bauer concentrated on Cherokee Studies, defending his thesis and earning his degree in fall 2018.  

Ed Lopez

CSFE examines state’s prospects for economic recovery after pandemic

The Center for the Study of Free Enterprise at has issued an assessment of economic recovery, sustainability and growth in North Carolina following the pandemic.  

Panoramic image of the installation

Place - Hybrid Space

Two practicing artists from two different cultures - India and the United States - came together to collaborate on a temporal experience of visual language. “Place – Hybrid Space” is a series of diptychs, which combines two images into one frame; a juxtaposition of surface space and atmospheric space, drawings positioned on photographs, for impressions of southeastern India.  

BaShaun Smith with a mask and text that says Essential WCU

Essential WCU

We successfully wrapped up one of the most difficult semesters in our university’s history and began a new one with many known and unknown challenges ahead. Our employees and students have worked harder than ever amid the challenging circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic to achieve their goals and to make a positive difference in the world.  

Office of Web Services