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  • Brian Byrd

    ĢƵprofessor Brian Byrd receives 2026 BOG Excellence in Teaching Award

    Shane Ryden
    March 10

    This February, Brian Byrd, ĢƵ’s professor of environmental health sciences and resident “skeeter man,” was awarded the 2026 University of North Carolina System Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching.

  • Drew Hollifield shoots a mid-range jumper.

    WCU’s Drew Hollifield takes talents from gridiron to hardwood, makes a difference

    Cam Adams
    February 13

    There aren’t a lot of Division I arenas in America where the gym is still rattling with the home team up by 51 on a D-III school. Inside the Liston B. Ramsey Regional Activity Center, Drew Hollifield commanded a presence that did just that in October.

  • Lisa Lefler was recognized as an honorary member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

    WCU’s Lisa Lefler named honorary member of EBCI

    Cam Adams
    February 13

    The Qualla Boundary is Lisa Lefler’s second home. Over the course of her decades-long career, the ĢƵ teaching professor has made countless trips to Cherokee, helping the tribe in any way she can through her expertise in health and anthropology.

  • Ebenezer and wife

    Alumnus Ebenezer Gyamfi turns childhood struggles into career of care

    Cam Adams
    January 12

    Stability wasn’t something Ebenezer Gyamfi was used to growing up in Ghana. He bounced between different relatives after he said his mother abandoned him from a young age, starting with his grandma and later filtering through a host of aunts and uncles.

  • EMS helmet

    ĢƵEMS looks back on 60 years of serving campus community

    Cam Adams
    December 5

    Every year for career day, Rhonda Summers’ high school had students write three jobs they wanted to hear about as a career. Summers only needed to write down one: pre-hospital medicine.

  • Sarah Maetsz

    Student spotlight: ABSN student Sarah Matesz overcomes Helene’s challenges

    Cam Adams
    November 12

    Sarah Matesz’s heart rate rose about as fast as the flood water that submerged her feet. She was frantically moving her belongings to the second floor of her cabin, which was perched on the side of the mountain some 20 minutes away from Burnsville.

  • Iyomi Grinan

    Student spotlight: Nursing transfer Iyomi Grinan finds home at WCU

    Cam Adams
    October 23

    Iyomi Grinan was looking for a change. Studying at a large public university in her home state just wasn’t her cup of tea. Classes were way too big, sometimes eclipsing 400 students, and Grinan didn’t feel that her professors were too invested in their students either.

  • Terri Durbin (center), chief faculty marshal since 2024, participates in the spring 2025 commencement ceremony.

    Nursing school director endows scholarship for WCU’s new master’s degree program

    Bill Studenc
    October 10

    ĢƵ’s new master’s degree program focusing on increasing the availability of health care in the rural Southern Appalachian Mountains is receiving a financial boost from the director of the school in which the program is housed.

  • WCU's Health and Human Sciences Building where the new MAHEC office will be located

    MAHEC expands access to healthcare with new office in Cullowhee

    October 9

    With its mission to expand access to care and create a healthier community in Western North Carolina, MAHEC announces the opening of a new health center in Cullowhee.

  • Placeholder image

    ĢƵlaunches master’s entry program in nursing to address regional workforce needs

    September 30

    ĢƵ’s School of Nursing has announced the launch of its new Master’s Entry Program in Nursing (MEPN), designed to prepare graduates with a strong foundation in nursing practice and leadership while meeting the critical need for nurses across Western North Carolina and beyond.

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