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WCU Stories

Tanner Drum works on a computer showing the images captured by SPOT

WCU construction management students use SPOT to help local community

At the Southwestern Child Development Commission building, the future is meeting the past.   

Ebenezer and his wife Racail

Young alumni: Gyamfi turns childhood struggles into career of care

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.  

WCU student kayaking on the river

Partnership on the water: WCU outfitted with new Liquidlogic kayaks

Western Carolina University students are gearing up for their next adventures with fresh equipment, all thanks to a partnership that brings a new fleet of Liquidlogic kayaks to campus.   

Patrice Brown speaks to the group

Students from WCU, Auburn collaborate in design charette

During the fall 2025 semester, 30 interior design juniors from Western Carolina University’s School of Art and Design (SOAD) embarked on an experience that extended well beyond the classroom, offering hands-on, real-world design and research opportunities through a collaborative design charette with Auburn University.  

Betty Westmoreland Suhre (in red) celebrates the naming of the women’s basketball locker room with donors (from left) Judy Stroud, Nora Lynn Finch and Donna Winbon.

WCU names renovated women’s basketball locker room in honor of program matriarch

Three former members of the Western Carolina University women’s basketball team stepped up to the line to tip off the process of raising enough philanthropic support to name the current Catamount squad’s locker room after the founder of the program.  

Abdallah Abdallah and students

$35K URPA grant will support engineering students to develop AI manufacturing skills

Abdallah Abdallah, an associate professor in Western Carolina University’s College of Engineering and Technology, has received the UNC System Office’s Undergraduate Research Program Award (URPA), $35,000 grant that allows students to gain experience that will benefit their academic and professional careers.   

Martin Tanaka works with students from the College of Engineering and Technology

Martin Tanaka secures NCInnovation funding for new medical device

Martin Tanaka has a knack for making new gadgets as a biomedical engineer. He has two patents for medical devices: one to help with rotator cuff surgery and another for a surgical tool for nasal surgery.   

WCU students with Paws on GivingTuesday

Nearly 1,500 donors contribute $1.4 million to WCU on GivingTuesday

Western Carolina University students, including members of the institution’s intercollegiate sports teams, have more than 1.4 million reasons to celebrate the results of the recent GivingTuesday fundraising effort. That’s the number of dollars contributed to the university during the national day of philanthropy.  

Nassor

King of the hills: WCU freshman Nassor Ashenafi, father go viral, persevere

Amenemhet Ashenafi uncrinkled the packaging his son’s king chess piece came in just before dropping him off at college. He looked at the new family heirloom, turned to his son and started reciting the speech he had in mind when this moment would come.   

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