Story co-written with Becki Veach Have you ever been called by a supposedly trusted source like a bank or a courthouse and the conversation just doesn’t feel right? For example, they try to pressure you into sending money or ask personal questions like your address or credit card information. Well, you’re not alone because you […]
Bridging the gap of the digital divide
April 17, 2026 by
Spencer Davis, a senior English major at WCU, saw a need for a human-centered, user-friendly website to provide greater access to services during his internship with Circles of Jackson County. Davis and Drew Virtue, a professor in the English Department at WCU, worked together to improve the Circles of Jackson County website to help more […]
Learn how to spot a scam
April 3, 2026 by
The story was published in The Sylva Herald, April 1 edition Pretty much everyone has been called on the phone by someone telling us we have won a big white Mercedes – the latest model, but first we need to wire the company a processing fee of $500 immediately while they wait on the phone. […]
Battle of the bots: WCU engineering students compete in robot showdown
March 12, 2026 by
The Society of Manufacturing Engineers at WCU has some end-of-midterm season fun with a competition between handmade robots. The SME president, Chloe Stewart, says the robot showdown creates not only a learning opportunity for students but also allows them to be creative within their engineering discipline. “The Society of Manufacturing Engineers is an organization where […]
Scammers go phishing for students information through emails
May 7, 2025 by
With students getting hundreds of emails a day for school, it’s hard to sort through all of them to figure out which are real and which are scammers. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, phishing is a way people try to “trick us into opening harmful links or downloading malicious software.” “These […]
