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WCU Stories

Students in a biology lab

Biology Professor Mack Powell Discusses Finding a COVID-19 Vaccine

As a professor in Western Carolina University’s Department of Biology who specializes in immunology and infectious diseases, Mack Powell finds the COVID-19 pandemic particularly interesting. The virus has rapidly spread across the world, shutting down many countries along the way, while killing thousands in the process.  

Constance Owl

Saving A Dying Language

Graduate History student working to translate Cherokee language from native newspapers. Constance Owl’s master’s degree thesis is more than a means to a graduate degree in American history. It’s a portal to understanding and perhaps saving, a disappearing language.  

Forensic Science Students

The Nobel Mission - Forensic Anthropology Students Search for Lost WWII Airman

A mission to locate remains of a missing American airman from World War II in Germany was a homecoming, of a sort, for a Western Carolina University student. Anna Maier, a senior majoring in forensic anthropology, is a native of Germany and was part of a research team made up of WCU forensic anthropology faculty and students who, through a U.S. Department of Defense grant, spent three weeks this summer participating in a forensic archaeological search and excavation.  

The endangered dusky gopher frog.

Saving the Dusky Gopher Frog

Habitat destruction and degradation are mostly to blame for the dwindling numbers of amphibians worldwide, but there are other factors contributing to the overall decline—and some of these remain elusive. Joseph Pechmann's research on conservation and recovery of the endangered dusky gopher frog.  

Researcher Aimee Rockhill

Understanding Coyotes in Western North Carolina

Coyotes have called Western North Carolina home for about 30 years. They’re relatively new to the region compared to bobcats and foxes, who are established residents with hundreds of years of lineage. Western Carolina University’s Aimee Rockhill, an assistant professor in the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resources, is examining the role coyotes play on ecosystem function in western North Carolina.   

Teenagers

Transforming the Future: Community Roles in Adolescent Substance Use

“It’s just a phase.” “They are just being teenagers.” “I drank when I was their age and I was fine.” These are things I know that I heard as a kid and that I have heard said to kids today. The flip side of these beliefs is the misconception that adolescents cannot develop substance-use disorders.  

Kevin Rumley

Combatting Addiction: A Second Chance for Veterans

Alumnus Kevin Rumley '18 serves with Asheville's Buncombe County Veterans Treatment Court (VTC) which is an example of a treatment court that specifically serves the veteran community.  

Community

Releasing the Shame: A Story About Opioids’ Impact on Individuals and Communities

We have all heard the phrase “the boy (or girl) next door.” This means a person is perceived as accessible, familiar, and dependable—a seemingly ordinary, wholesome, unassuming or average person. Prescription opioids are the drug next door. It is safe to assume that in every medicine cabinet in our neighborhoods there is the drug next door.  

Carolina Mountain Club from Hunter Library

Hunter Library Collaborates with UNCA to Merge Digital Collections

Western Carolina University's Hunter Library is teaming up with the University of North Carolina-Asheville to document the Southern Appalachian mountain region.   

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