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WCU employees give back in time, talent, treasure

Members of WCU’s faculty and staff senates do their part by coming together to support those in need.  

Sandi McCracken with scholarship recipient

McCracken endows scholarship to accelerate pathway to change

Sandi McCracken spent her professional life in education as a business teacher and administrator, and as a stock broker. Now she’s continuing her support for students with her Sandra Jayne McCracken Endowed Scholarship to help ease the financial burden for WCU education majors.  

Greek Challenge

Love for Cats keep Greeks coming back

It’s all in the family for Amy Kilby, Samir Hafiz and Jerry Matheny when it comes time to shake the money tree for Western Carolina University’s student-athletes. All three are enthusiastic participants in WCU’s Greek Challenge – now in its fifth season – which rallies members of past and present fraternities and sororities at WCU to pony up big bucks and to join the Catamount Club all in support of athletic scholarships.   

Brinkley Weigh Room

Catamount student-athletes benefit from generosity of alumni

David and Marie Brinkley believe in the Catamounts so much they donated $400,000 to improve the weight-lifting facility at Western Carolina University, their alma mater, which benefits all WCU athletes. Yes, they’ve been blessed with money, they say, but the joy is in helping others.  

High Falls, DuPont State Forest, Cedar Mountain, NC

Wife endows scholarship to honor late husband’s work ethic

Hazel Hawkins always admired her late husband’s work ethic, a man who spent years working fulltime while attending WCU to complete his degree. She honored him by easing the burden on other students, with an endowed scholarship in his name.  

Joan Humphries

Grateful Student Pays Homage to Dedicated Teacher Through Career, Establishment of Scholarship

Lena Dula Mayberry Engstrom had a passion for teaching that changed the trajectory of Joan Davis Humphries’ life. To honor her former high school teacher and mentor, Humphries established an endowed scholarship in Engstrom’s name.  

Harold and Henrietta Saltz Anderson

Saltz Anderson endowed scholarship honors family of educators

They traded Western North Carolina for central Washington, where he farmed and she taught school. When it came time to settle their affairs and with no children of their own, Harold and Henrietta Saltz Anderson looked homeward, to North Carolina.  

Members of the board of directors of Entegra Bank participate in a signing ceremony marking the creation of the Entegra Bank Endowed Scholarship Fund.

Entegra Bank announces $250,000 contribution for scholarship effort

In recognition that more than 20% of Entegra Bank's workforce in Western North Carolina graduated from WCU, the financial institution's board of directors announced a $250,000 contribution to provide scholarship assistance to students from the region who want to study in WCU's College of Business.  

Burton during WCU's Dec. 2017 commencement.

Campus fixture Carol Burton creates scholarship to aid international graduate students

Through cash gifts, pledges and an estate gift totaling $50,000, Acting Provost Carol Burton has established a scholarship fund designed to help international students, especially those from Jamaica, earn graduate degrees at WCU.  

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