WCU students write letters to survivors

In between classes, students came and wrote words of encouragement to survivors of sexual assault in a letter. The letters will be donated to the Center for Domestic Peace. WCU Students Against Sexual Assault (SASA) club held the event on the front lawn of the UC on Tuesday, Sept. 27 noon until 2 p.m. “It […]

‘Cooking’ up the future of biotechnology

Apadaca’s 353 chemistry lab is home to lots of research equipment, chemical substances along with hardworking students and faculty.   Dr. Channa De Silva, chemistry professor, is the faculty advisor for one section of lab. The focus is on nanotechnology. What is nanotechnology?  As De Silva explains, nanotechnology is not new but today its applications can bring […]

What’s brewing on WCU’s campus?

Western Carolina students are crafting happy hour into the hoppy semester with the evaluation and experimentation of homebrewing in class. Sean O’Connell, microbiology professor and mentor at WCU for 21 years, is teaching students the process of crafting their own beers, ales, malts, and more. Students were put to the test by crafting their own […]

Moon research that is out of this world

I never thought that as a journalist I would be able to hold a 4 billion year old rock in the palm of my hands. This meteorite is one of many in Dr. Amy Fagan’s collection. Fagan is an associate professor of geology at WCU and the chair of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group for […]

Do minority students feel safe?

“Just because there isn’t lynch mobs on campus, doesn’t make [WCU] safe,” said Amber Jenkins, a black Western Carolina student in a podcast interview. Western Carolina University has not had a spotless record when it comes to controversy. Several racist and, more recently, transphobic incidents have stained the university’s image for years now. Earlier in […]

Dead whales and Vikings

Vicki Szabo simply couldn’t resist when she was asked to harvest the bones of a beached, 13-foot long, pilot whale that had been dead for two months. Szabo, WCU history professor, studies Norse Vikings in the sub-Arctic from the year 800 to 1300. Vikings would make tools and weapons out of whale bones. Her mission […]