Bluegrass heavyweights The Boxcars will perform July 18 as part of WCU’s free summer concert series. The series runs Thursdays in June and July on WCU’s Central Plaza.

Western Carolina University will host its annual Summer Concert Series, presented by the A.K. Hinds University Center, every Thursday in June and July (excluding July 4).

The series features an eclectic variety of genres and is free to the public. Shows in the 2013 Summer Concert Series will begin at 7 p.m. at the stage in Central Plaza, by the fountain in the center of campus, and last 60-90 minutes. Audience members are welcome to bring blankets, chairs and snacks. The rain location is inside the University Center.

This year’s lineup is as follows:

• June 6, Floating Action – A blend of multiple styles of music including folk, blues and indie rock. Floating Action is the brainchild of Seth Kauffman, an outdoor enthusiast whose music reflects his passion.
• June 13, STEREOSPREAD – Electronic pop band from Asheville. With influences as diverse as Peter Gabriel and Ella Fitzgerald, the band combines multiple genres and styles of music.
• June 20, Big Nasty Jazz Band – A nostalgic jazz experience that brings back the music of the ’20s and ’30s. From Asheville, the band is a unique jazz experience that encourages listeners to get up and dance.
• 

  The Honeycutters will bring their brand of country music to Cullowhee on June 27 as part of the 2013 Summer Concert Series at Western Carolina University.

  June 27, The Honeycutters – An old-school country experience that’s best listened to live. The Honeycutters’ music is filled with emotion and honesty reminiscent of the country greats.

• July 11, Jamie Paul – A songwriter residing near Asheville who released his debut album, “Let It Mend,” in February. Paul’s influences include singer-songwriter Gillian Welch and band The War on Drugs.
• July 18, The Boxcars – Described as a “super group” and recipients of two consecutive International Bluegrass Music Association Instrumental Group of the Year awards. Masters of traditional bluegrass, the Boxcars released a new album, “It’s Just a Road,” in April.
• July 25, Kovacs and the Polar Bear – A culmination of rich harmonies, catchy hooks and Appalachian folk music. An indie rock band from Asheville, Kovacs and the Polar Bear has released two albums, “Second Sister” and “Loathsome Teeth.”

For more information, contact Lori Davis, assistant director for campus activities, at ledavis@wcu.edu or 828-227-3622.

The visits, expected to include stops across North Carolina and the Southeast, is a follow-up to the 2011 “Get Acquainted Tour,” which took Belcher and his wife, Susan, to some 15 municipalities over four months during his first year as chancellor.

“When we visited communities across the region and state in 2011, one thing we heard over and over again was that the ‘Get Acquainted Tour’ should not be a one-time thing,” said Marty Ramsey, director of alumni affairs. “Friends and alumni asked us to return to their communities and update them about what is going on at the university, and that is what we intend to do.”

The new series of visits will begin Thursday, June 27, with a reception for alumni and friends from Cherokee, Clay and Graham counties. The event will be held from 5:30 until 7 p.m. at Doyle’s Cedar Hill Restaurant in Murphy. It is sponsored by the Murphy Electric Power Board.

The second stop will be a reception for members of the Greater Asheville/Hendersonville communities Tuesday, July 9. The event will be held from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m. at Highland Brewing Co. It is sponsored by WCU alumni Tim and Betsy Gillespie.

The tentative schedule includes future stops in the Raleigh/Triangle area, Greater Charlotte, the Greensboro/Triad area, Greater Atlanta, Tampa and Orlando, Sylva, Cherokee, South Carolina, Hickory, Knoxville and Nashville, and Southern Pines.

For more information or to RSVP, contact Cindi Magill in the Office of Alumni Affairs toll-free at 877-440-9990 or via email at magill@wcu.edu. RSVP deadlines are Thursday, June 20, for the Murphy event and Tuesday, July 2, for the Greater Asheville/Hendersonville event.

The board also will hold committee meetings and discussions beginning at 1 p.m. Thursday, June 6.

Read the full story in the new spring 2013 issue of The Magazine of Western Carolina University.

WCU students, faculty and alumni work together to create a video of vignettes demonstrating positive psychotherapy techniques.

An hour-long video created by Western Carolina University students, faculty and alumni titled “Positive Psychotherapy: Helping People Thrive” was recently released by Alexander Street Press.

Filmed in December, the video features vignettes of mock individual counseling sessions that illustrate practical applications of positive psychotherapy strategies. Topics covered include forgiveness, integration of flow in counseling, optimism, meaning through adversity, happiness as a work ethic, savoring or appreciating the small things, strength-based supervision and “satisficing,” which is a decision-making strategy that combines the words “satisfy” and “suffice.”

Leading the video’s mock sessions and providing commentary are Russ Curtis, WCU associate professor of counseling and coordinator of the clinical mental health program, and Katie Goetz, a WCU alumna and the lead recovery coordinator of the Recovery Education Center with Meridian Behavioral Health in Waynesville.

The project originated when a representative from Alexander Street Press contacted Curtis after viewing a video he had developed previously to accompany a textbook. The media company partnered with him and Goetz, a professional counselor and clinical addiction specialist, to create the positive psychotherapy training video.

Goetz said people naturally gravitate toward many positive psychotherapy skills but that putting them into practice takes intentionality.

“When supporting someone in working on these skills, you get to help them find ways to practice things that are already meaningful to them,” she said.

The video was directed, filmed and edited by students, faculty and alumni of WCU’s Motion Picture and Television Production Program. Arledge Armenaki, WCU associate professor of cinematography, served as the director.

Curtis said seeing the project come together has been exciting.

“It is extremely fulfilling to collaborate with such talented students, alumni, faculty and colleagues from other WCU disciplines to produce a product that could potentially help many people,” said Curtis.

For more information, visit the Alexander Street Press microtraining website at www.emicrotraining.com or contact Curtis at 828-227-3283 or curtis@wcu.edu.

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An image of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s LeConte Lodge by Thompson Brothers Commercial Photographers is among images from the park’s archives available through a new Western Carolina University digital collection of historic Appalachian photographs.

Western Carolina University joined forces with Great Smoky Mountains National Park for the latest addition to its digital collections, housed at Hunter Library.

“Picturing Appalachia” is a collection of more than 1,000 early 20^th-century photographs that provides a glimpse into the life, culture and natural landscape of the Southern Appalachian mountains in and around Western North Carolina.

The collection includes images by popular Great Smoky Mountains National Park photographer James E. Thompson, whose work is housed at park headquarters in Sugarlands, Tenn. A memorandum of understanding between the university and the park allowed Hunter Library to digitize the historic photographs.

“It just makes them a lot more accessible to people around the world,” said John McDade, museum curator at the park. Not only can people access the images more easily, but it also protects the images from handling, McDade said.

Thompson and his brother, Robin (whose work also is in the new collection), ran the Thompson Brothers Commercial Photography business in Knoxville, Tenn., making images for park supporters and various other regional tourism and business interests.

This image of a Carolina lily by Bertram Whittier Wells (1884-1978) is from WCU special collections and now available online as part of Hunter Library’s new digital collection of historic Appalachian photographs.

WCU staff also selected groups of pictures from Hunter Library’s own special collections, including work by George Masa, who photographed and documented the Mount Mitchell Motor Road, giving tourists a glimpse of America’s highest peak east of the Mississippi. Masa is well known for working with Horace Kephart, an authority on the cultural and natural history of the region, to build support for establishment of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The collection also comprises the work of other, lesser-known photographers, including A.L. Ensley, a Jackson County farmer who photographed families in formal portraits at his home studio.

“It is these pictures – along with the growth of the railroad and the publication of various travel brochures – that have made Western North Carolina a popular travel destination,” said Anna Fariello, associate research professor at Hunter Library who coordinates digital archiving efforts.

Users can search “Picturing Appalachia” by photographer, source institution or by topic, which includes botanicals, cities and towns, portraits, industry, landscapes, transportation, and travel and tourism. Descriptions included in each entry include biographical information about the photographer and other facts.

Images from other photographers, including R.A. Romanes, who documented communities and towns in WNC and counties in north Georgia and east Tennessee, are planned for addition. To complete the collection, the library’s digital production team also will scan and upload a number of 19^th-century travel brochures.

Functioning as an open-access database and interactive, educational Web-based resource, the images are part of a growing online archive resulting from the library’s digital initiatives program. “Picturing Appalachia” takes its place along with the library’s other digital collections, including ones for the craft revival, Cherokee traditions and Kephart, as well as the sound collection “Stories of Mountain Folk,” all of which can be accessed from www.wcu.edu/library/DigitalCollections/.

The digital collection has grown in large part through partnerships with entities including the WCU Mountain Heritage Center, John C. Campbell Folk School, Southern Highland Craft Guild, Museum of the Cherokee Indian, Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual and the N.C. Office of Archives and History.

“As a regional public institution and through collaboration with cultural partners, Hunter Library is committed to building regionally oriented, historically significant digital collections of broad research interest,” said Dana Sally, dean of library services.

The “Picturing Appalachia” project was made possible through an award of $71,574 from the State Library of North Carolina. The university and Great Smoky Mountains National Park will partner again for Hunter Library’s next digital collection, which will focus on the park’s history, Fariello said.

For more information, contact Fariello at 828-227-2499 or fariello@wcu.edu.

The Catamounts create their dogpile after clinching the conference regular-season championship.

Western Carolina swept both ends of a Sunday afternoon doubleheader on Senior Day at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium, blanking Wofford 3-0 in game one before holding off the Terriers 10-7 in the nightcap to complete the series sweep and wrap up the 2013 Southern Conference Regular Season Championship.

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A graduating student gets a congratulatory hug from a WCU faculty member.

COMMENCEMENT PHOTO GALLERY

Western Carolina University held commencement exercises Friday and Saturday, May 10-11, at Ramsey Regional Activity Center to recognize the academic accomplishments of the students who make up the university’s record-breaking spring class.

Commencement for WCU’s Graduate School was held at 7 p.m. May 10. Commencement for the undergraduate colleges of Arts and Sciences, Education and Allied Professions, and Fine and Performing Arts was held at 10 a.m. May 11, and that event was followed the same day by a 3:30 p.m. ceremony for undergraduate students from the College of Business, College of Health and Human Sciences, and Kimmel School of Construction Management and Technology.

After all academic records are finalized, WCU’s spring class, including both undergraduate and graduate students, is expected to total about 1,365 students, the largest class in university history. Some 1,200 students participated in the commencement exercises.

All three events included a period of silence in memory and honor of Angi Brenton, WCU’s provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs who passed away Wednesday, May 8, after a three-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Brenton joined the WCU community last August from her previous position as a dean at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. WCU Chancellor David O. Belcher told the audiences that Brenton faced her illness “with remarkable grace and courage.”

“In just a little over nine months, Angi found her way into the hearts of our Western Carolina University family and led us in transformative change,” Belcher said. “We will miss her tremendously, even while we pursue the vision she has led in shaping.”

During the Friday night Graduate School commencement, a WCU faculty member who has been recognized as one of the University of North Carolina system’s top teachers delivered the primary address. Chris Cooper, associate professor and head of WCU’s Department of Political Science and Public Affairs, spoke about the success of public higher education in North Carolina.

Chris Cooper

Cooper told the Ramsey Center audience that in his work as a political scientist he has found that people, in general, distrust and hate government. On a national level, only a quarter of the citizens say they trust government, he said. “In North Carolina, it’s not much better. Democrats hate government. Republicans hate government. People who own cats hate government. People who hate the people who own cats hate government,” he said.

“But, despite this near universal hatred of government, there are still some things government does well – and public education is one of them,” Cooper said.

North Carolina has had three different constitutions since 1776 and each has promoted and encouraged public higher education, he said. “Why were (state leaders) so committed to the cause of education?” Cooper said. “Did they just want you to make more money and get a good job? Partially, yes. If you’re making money and are gainfully employed, the state is betting that you will contribute more to the economy. But, at least according to your state constitution, you’re also more likely to be a better citizen and to live a happier life. Public education is a rare example of something that provides both private benefits to you and public benefits to the state as a whole.”

Cooper told the graduating students that public institutions of higher education in North Carolina can charge students much less in tuition because the state contributes more than $11,000 per year toward each student’s education. “This means that even if you paid full freight for your tuition, the state government put in more money toward your tuition that you did,” he said.

Cooper congratulated the graduating students on their decisions to pursue their graduate degrees at a public university and urged them to use their degrees to be financially stable, prosperous and live a life that, as the state constitution says, benefits “the happiness of mankind” and “supports good government.”

“Most importantly, however, you owe it to the folks who will walk across this stage in the future that they will have the same support from the state that has allowed you to be here today,” he said. “Remember that among your goals, along with money and prestige and security and happiness and whatever else, should rest an obligation to the welfare of the whole North Carolina community that has taken a part in lifting you up.”

Cooper recently was named a recipient of the UNC system’s highest teaching honor, the Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching. One award is given annually to a faculty member on each UNC campus to recognize superior teaching. He was presented the award during the Saturday morning undergraduate commencement by Board of Governors member and former WCU trustee W. Louis Bissette Jr. of Asheville.

Bissette also delivered greetings and congratulations to the graduating students at the two Saturday ceremonies on behalf of the Board of Governors and the UNC Office of the President. Handling that duty for the Friday night Graduate School commencement was Board of Governors member Phillip D. Walker of Hickory, a WCU alumnus and former chair of the university’s Board of Trustees.

Belcher delivered the chancellor’s charge at all three ceremonies. During the Saturday morning undergraduate commencement, he told the graduating students that receiving their diplomas represents a moment for them to celebrate, but that moment also belongs to everyone who supported their educational endeavors, including their families and friends and WCU faculty and staff.

“I don’t know where your next chapter is going to take you,” Belcher said. “Some of you have jobs waiting for you and some of you are still searching for that initial position. Some of you have your life trajectories all mapped out while others of you are less certain of future paths. But hear me: you are ready. You have the minds and the skills to chart your own course and you will do so. You are ready for the next chapter.

“As you look toward your future, I charge you to hold tight to your grounding at Western Carolina University and the values for which it stands – to remain firm in your commitment to excellence and high standards and to reject mediocrity and ‘good enough.’

“You are a part of Western Carolina University, and Western Carolina University is a part of you,” Belcher said. “Remember your grounding here in this remarkable slice of heaven we call Cullowhee.”

All three ceremonies included special recognition of members of the graduating class who are active duty members of the military, veterans, or members of the National Guard and Reserves. Those students were distinguished by the red, white and blue honor cords they wore with their caps and gowns.

Five University Scholars, students who completed all their undergraduates studies at WCU with perfect 4.0 grade-point averages, were honored Saturday during the ceremonies for their respective colleges. They are Tess C. Branon, a double-major in chemistry and biology from Apex; Kalli Lyn Devecki, a biology major from Murphy; Nathaniel L. Huff, an electrical engineering major from Mars Hill; James Conner Orr, an accounting major from Atlanta; and Tyler Ryan McKinnish, a biology major from Canton.

Another graduating student who was recognized at the Saturday morning undergraduate commencement is Mary Elizabeth Coulter, a psychology major from Canton. She is the granddaughter of the late Myron L. “Barney” Coulter, ninth chancellor of the university.

During the Saturday afternoon ceremony, Belcher paid special tribute to Dianne G. Lynch, chief of staff in the Office of the Chancellor who has listed among her duties the task of overseeing WCU commencement ceremonies. Lynch is retiring this summer after 10 years as chief of staff and a total of 18 years as a member of the university’s administrative staff. “She has, simply put, been one of the key go-to people in leadership at Western Carolina University for many years,” Belcher said. “I can tell you she has been my right-hand woman in leadership – a real extension of me in my first two years as chancellor. She has a keen vision of what this university can be.”

A complete list of the new WCU graduates will be announced following the posting of grades from final examinations.

Graduating students wait with excitement for their names to be called.

Sims, a freshman from Whittier majoring in Spanish, chose to perform “Sayonara” by Tanikawa Shuntaro because he felt he could convey the mellow, sad emotion of the piece.

“‘Sayonara’ is composed of words of farewell spoken by a boy to his family,” said Sims.

A 2012 graduate of Swain High School, Sims said he plans to continue his studies of Japanese at WCU.

For more information about WCU’s Japanese Program, contact Masafumi Takeda, coordinator of Asian Studies programs, at mtakeda@wcu.edu