Western Carolina University

Chancellor John W. Bardo (right) talks about the processes of WCU’s Center for Rapid Product Realization with (from left) UNC Board of Governors members John Blackburn and Walter C. Davenport, and WCU trustee Ed Broadwell.

Five newly elected members of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, and one almost-new member of the board, visited Western Carolina University recently to learn about university initiatives from Chancellor John W. Bardo and tour the campus.

The board members’ four-hour visit was part of a statewide orientation tour that is taking them to all 17 campuses in the UNC system.
The 32-member Board of Governors is the policy-making body that governs all UNC institutions. Members are elected by the General Assembly to serve four-year terms.

The new board members visiting WCU on Oct. 13 were Burley B. Mitchell Jr., former chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court and a resident of Raleigh; Franklin E. McCain, a chemist from Charlotte who was one of four black N.C. A&T State University students who refused to leave a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in 1960, one of the milestone events of the civil rights movement; Walter C. Davenport, a certified public accountant from Raleigh and former member of the Elizabeth City State University board of trustees; and John Blackburn of Linville and James M. Deal Jr. of Boone, two former chairmen of the Appalachian State University board of trustees.

The new Board of Governors members were accompanied by Dr. Cheryl Locklear, a dentist from Pembroke who was elected to the UNC board in 2007, but was unable then to take part in the statewide tour, and Bart Corgnati, secretary on UNC President Erskine Bowles’ leadership team. Two other new members of the board, Paul Fulton of Winston-Salem and Bill Daughtridge Jr. of Rocky Mount, were unable to take part in this year’s tour.

During a luncheon at A.K. Hinds University Center, the Board of Governors members were versed on a wide range of topics by Bardo, including details about WCU’s origins as a “normal school” for educating teachers and the historic “Cullowhee Idea,” which he defined as “understanding the needs of the local people and developing an educational program to meet those needs.”

What is happening now on WCU’s campus is a “living version” of the Cullowhee Idea, Bardo said. He gave examples of students and faculty collaborating on projects that have promoted economic development, or enhanced the quality of life for individuals. “What we’re really about is engagement with the people of this region and the state to produce positive outcomes in education,” he said.

Also attending the luncheon to welcome the new Board of Governors members to campus were members of the WCU board of trustees and the chancellor’s executive council.

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Last modified: Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009