Latest / The SEANC View / Claws Out: How Western Carolina Became a Top Employer

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Claws Out: How Western Carolina Became a Top Employer · The SEANC View

0:23
Hello, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the SEANC View podcast.
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We have a special edition today.
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We're out west. We're at Cullowhee, North Carolina, home of Western Carolina
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University, Sam's alma mater. You may have just heard her.
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I'm Jonathan Owens, the communications director here at SEANC,
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alongside Ardis Watkins, executive director, and Sam Cline, the podcast producer. What's going on?
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Claws out. Isn't that right? Yes. Claws out. Well, we're here this week.
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Actually, yesterday, we had the UNC System Golf Tournament,
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and we were fortunate enough to get in touch with the chancellor at Western
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Carolina, and she agreed to do an interview with us on their recent distinction
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as one of the top employers in the nation.
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Actually, then the third best midsize employer in the entire nation,
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according to Forbes magazine.
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And since we represent state employees, we wanted to know what that's all about, right?
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We wanted to know. It's a huge thing that a public university is number one
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in the state and number three in the nation. That's massive.
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So on what has to be a very limited budget in very tough times,
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this public university has really made a huge impact and a huge impression on
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folks who use metrics to determine which employers are the best.
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Yeah, and it's maybe even a little more impressive because you think of,
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like, UNC or NC State, larger universities in urban areas.
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This is Western Carolina out in the far west part of the state in a rural area.
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So to get this distinction is pretty unique, pretty amazing.
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Yeah, I mean, we thought it was an interesting, it's not just impressive,
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but it's a very interesting story.
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Definitely a story about public service and public servants that is worth telling.
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So we wanted to dedicate an entire episode because there's not always great news.
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But this is great news. And it's just inspirational, I think,
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for all public employees to see a group of public employees excel like this.
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So why don't we just jump right in? We have with us today the Western Carolina
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Chancellor, Kelly Brown, and Dr.
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Corey Cosby, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Human Resources and Payroll.
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It's my understanding Forbes hires a company called Statista,
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this third-party company, to look at a number of factors.
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And after evaluating all of that, I mean, we're talking massive company names that you would know.
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Lockheed Martin and Amazon, Google. Well, everybody's in the running for this,
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all of the institutions of higher learning, whether they're public institutions or private.
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And out of all of those midsize employers, Western Carolina's number one in
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this state over everybody, and number three in the entire nation.
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This is astounding. I mean, this is... And we're here to find out why Western
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Carolina is such a great place to work.
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So but first off, it is the anniversary of Hurricane Helene this week.
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And we wanted to talk a little bit about that to start.
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I guess Western Carolina was affected by the hurricane.
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I guess, first off, what was it like here during that time?
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Yeah, well, we were not as affected as many others were to the east of us.
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But we did, for a period of time, we lost internet.
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We did have power for the most of the time. So we were not affected by much
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of what had occurred that we had seen this this past year.
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But I think what's really important to think about as we think about Hurricane
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Helene is how it not only impacted our students here, which it did for a period
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of time, a short period of time, but how it impacted our employees,
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so our faculty and staff.
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And I want to say, I think it's about 40 percent, if I'm not correct.
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40 percent of our faculty and staff lived in affected areas. Wow.
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Yeah. And so that was one of the things that really drove some of the decisions
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we made here at Western. We could have come back sooner.
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But what we realized was, is
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we had faculty and staff who really needed to take care of things at home.
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So even though we were okay here, our students were okay here,
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we were fine here in the Culloway Valley, here in this area,
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we had many faculty and staff that were impacted.
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So that was one of the things that drove us to actually not start classes back
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as soon as we did. We took about three weeks off.
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And also during that time, something I'm very proud of, and Corey can maybe
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also speak to this as well, We've always had a student emergency fund.
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We've never had an employee emergency fund. And this drove us to think about that.
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So working with HR and advancement, we were able to put together,
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and we actually got a donor who donated the first $100,000 to that fund.
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Plus, we also were getting in funds from our alumni and locals and everything
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to fund an employee emergency fund, which we still have standing up to this day.
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And I'm really, very proud of that, that we were able to then help our employees
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who needed help during that time. I don't know, Corey, if you want to say anything to that.
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No, I think that was, I believe credit for that goes to you,
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Chancellor, in that that was a, I remember a meeting shortly after the event.
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And you said, is this something we can do?
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And, you know, the answer was, well, we've never done this before, but it's a great idea.
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And let's try to figure out how to make that happen. And, you know,
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we had some great people working on that that were able to implement that in
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short order, and it really made a difference for many of our faculty and staff.
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I want to say we had well over 100 people that took advantage of that fund.
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That kind of thinking is exactly the kind of thing that I can imagine.
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I don't know that Statista for Forbes would have had a way to rank or consider
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that in the rankings, but that kind of thinking certainly does make employees
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feel like they're part of a family. But we were at the Chancellor's Cup golf
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tournament yesterday here, well down the road, in Waynesville.
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And we heard some amazing stories from your staff and from a few students.
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In fact, student body president Grady Jones and vice president Karina Rodriguez-Reyes
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were talking about their experiences during the storm.
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And the main thing we took away from those conversations, though,
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we were just so moved because the.
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Unity was a theme that we kept hearing and a profound pain for staff had a profound
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pain for their neighbors if they were not affected, who lost property or loved ones.
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And then a profound gratitude to have made it through if they were not affected in that way.
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And it just was an overall positive thing, though, from your staff and your
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students in terms of the resiliency we hear about Western North Carolina after that storm.
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Do you have a good memory in the aftermath of this storm?
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Because they sure seem to have a positive spin on it. And I wondered if that's
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a Western Carolina thing or was there something that stood out to you,
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not to put you on the spot about it, but either about the broader community
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or about things here at Western.
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You might have just kind of shared it, that it's a good memory to have created
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a fund that's going to live on. Yeah.
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Well, I can think of a couple of things. One of them is from a community and
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from a student perspective is we have a small little airport here.
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It's a tiny little airport. They fly in little planes.
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And my understanding is we had in the first week or so, well over 100 planes
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per day flying in and out of this little tiny airport, bringing in supplies.
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And we had students, faculty, staff, and community members lined up to help
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unload those planes and put them onto things. I mean, that to me is just incredible.
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It is. I got notes from both the Montreat president as well as the Mars Hill
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president saying that I had students that were over in those and those areas
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were impacted more than we were.
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I had students that were over there helping out over there in those areas.
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And so those are memories that, in my mind, actually on the day of,
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I can remember myself and my chief of staff went into town.
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We went to Walmart trying to talk with students and found a whole bunch of students
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in Walmart and was giving them flyers.
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And they were all just like, we'll share the word, Chancellor. We'll tell everybody.
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It was all as if unity is a great way to put it, is that people came together
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to help other people in the ways that they could.
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Sometimes it was giving money. Sometimes it was going out unloading a plane.
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Sometimes it was going to a faith-based organization and helping out.
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People did what they could at that time. And we saw really a lot of community, I think.
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Yeah, yeah, I would say that as far as positive memories, the positive memories
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that I have are the people.
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It was a very difficult time. It was a tragic time for many people.
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And unfortunately, there's still a lot of people that are struggling,
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that are still displaced, and there's still a lot of work to be done.
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But, you know, the response from people that had challenges themselves and that
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may have been displaced and lost vehicles.
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I talked to several employees that wanted to find out where they could go volunteer.
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And I'm like, hey, you've got issues yourself. But, you know,
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that was about wanting to help others and feeling like they needed to help the
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community, help their neighbor, help their family.
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And I think that is just reflective of my perspective of what we have here at
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Western. We are an employer.
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We're a large employer in the region, but we're also central to our community,
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central to our region, and we're connected in that way. That's awesome.
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Jessica Brown, we would love for our listeners to learn a little bit more about you personally.
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So can you tell us a little bit more about where you're from and what path led you to WCU? Hmm.
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I'm very blessed to be here. My path is somewhat a unique path in some ways.
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I started out as a dental hygienist, so two-year community college,
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which I'm passionate about the work that we do with our community college partners that we have.
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Went up through the line. I took the traditional route to become a chancellor, I think.
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I was a graduate coordinator, department head, provost, dean,
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those kinds of things. This is my seventh institution.
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So sometimes I say I can't keep a job, but I have kind of moved around a little
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bit. But every place was a place that I was intentionally going to for a reason.
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My background is health and health education, but every move I made was very
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intentional in the work.
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And so when I decided that it was time for me and had other people letting me
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know that I probably should become a president or a chancellor,
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I was very intentional in the places that I looked at.
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And I looked for places like Western who were very focused on the work that
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they did, which is undergraduate students and the community and the work that
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we do. And that this is Western, and that's, you know, I came to realize that
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much more after I got here.
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But that's kind of my short path of my journey here.
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That's awesome. Well, so what brought us here was obviously the Forbes ranking.
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We looked at, I think the first time I saw it was on Twitter or X now.
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And I had to read it a couple of times to really absorb it.
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Because third in the nation is astounding, first in the state,
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equally astounding. But it's just, it's overwhelming.
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And I kind of wanted to know, as someone even just leading a nonprofit, how do you do that?
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And so you're a public university, and you have the resources of a public university.
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You can't throw money at employees to keep them happy when you're dealing with public money.
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So what do you think is behind the successful Forbes rankings,
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which culminated in 2025 as top employer in North Carolina?
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Well, I'll start and then I'm going to let Corey, because I think Corey can
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talk about some things, maybe elaborate on some things. Corey mentioned this
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earlier. It's the people.
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It's the people. We really do focus on our folks. You're right.
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Our salaries, could they be higher? Yes. We are very gracious and thankful to
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the General Assembly for the last couple of years that we've had salary increases,
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and we're very grateful for that.
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But our salaries could always be better. But what we do here,
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I think, is really focused on our people.
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People who come here, I truly do believe they are grounded in our mission.
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We are a regional public university. We are focused on our community here in
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Western North Carolina and beyond. We really focus on that.
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We don't wanna be anything different. I always tell everybody we're not going
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after that shiny little ball.
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What we wanna do is we wanna be the best regional university.
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And if we can do that, and if you wanna come here and be a part of that,
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please, we want you here.
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And the folks that we bring here could be really anywhere.
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They could be. Our faculty could be anywhere. But they choose to be here because
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they believe in our values, they believe in our mission,
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our partnerships with our community, the work that we do with our undergraduate
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students primarily, as well as graduate students, but really focused on our undergraduates.
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So it's really about that. And it's about our mission and our values and what we do.
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And I think when people buy into that, they come here and I've had people say
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to me, I came here and I was gonna stay for a couple of years and they're at
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their 35 anniversary setting that they're doing, right?
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They're in that, which gets me too. you and I, maybe Corey could talk about
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this, but I think we do a great job of recognizing our employees.
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I think we recognize them with annual awards and different things.
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And so, Corey, I don't know if you want to talk about that, because I think
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that's the other thing is we can't give them money, but we can certainly thank
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you and recognize you for the work that we do. I think we do that really well.
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Corey Scherer Yeah, I can expand on that a little bit, but to echo Chancellor,
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I think the connection to mission.
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And the common sense of purpose, you know, whether it's the chancellor's position,
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whether it's my position, whether it's a faculty member in the College of Business,
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whether it's a mechanic in our facility shop.
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I think our leadership really emphasizes the importance of understanding why
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we're all here. It's unity again.
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What is our purpose? And our purpose are our students.
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It's a regional comprehensive institution. It's to serve our community,
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to serve our region and to do it well. And so being able to see the big picture
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and understanding how each of us fit into that piece of the puzzle and making a difference.
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And I know that's important to me. You know, I got to have a sense of purpose
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and that's why I come to work every day.
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And I think for many of our employees, they feel the same way.
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And they find that here at the university.
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They find coming here to be fulfilling because they're making a difference.
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And you can tangibly see that student. You can tangibly see working with that
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nonprofit organization down in town or that company that's now coming to Robbinsville.
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You know, they can see how we have partnered with that making a difference in
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bettering people's lives. So I think that really goes a long way to that.
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And as far as some things we do as an institution, it's important to value people.
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It's important to recognize them. Part of that starts with listening.
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And do we have mechanisms to listen? And we do that through formally and informally.
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I think we have excellent shared governance structure for both our faculty and
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staff senates, and I know they serve in an advisory capacity to our chancellor.
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And the feedback that we get from those groups is really important.
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And many of our things that we do around employee recognition have come out
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of recommendations and suggestions from those groups.
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You know, we just had at the beginning of this month, I think it was our 25th annual,
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Employee Appreciation Day event. And I mean, that's not an unusual or something
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that doesn't happen other places, but it's something that really works well on our campus.
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It's an official kickoff in many ways to the fall semester.
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We get everybody together for several hours in our Ramsey Regional Activity
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Center. We have over a thousand employees attend.
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I have a benefits fair on the concourse. We have a good meal and entertainment on the arena floor.
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And it's just a really good opportunity to get together.
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And you'll see the chancellor there. You'll see members of her executive team
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serving desserts, serving drinks.
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I've heard it's awesome. It's the same time as SEANC's convention,
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so I'll never know in person, but I've heard it's amazing.
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And our board of trustees are off. I think we schedule a round,
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so our board of trustees meeting is during that time, and our board of trustees
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are there, and they're having lunch and talking with different folks across campus.
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And so they get to do part of that listing that you're talking about.
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Exactly right. Yeah, yeah. That's pretty important, actually.
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One other thing I think that we do really well here is we have an internal grow
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your own professional development program.
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And it's not only just for faculty, which is very common across universities,
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but I like ours because it's faculty and staff and they're together.
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So it is a professional, we call it this senior leadership fellows program.
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And these are folks that are selected across campus. They come in and they work
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for a whole year. It's a calendar year, January through December.
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They have quarterly meetings. They go and do, they talk about different things.
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Actually, I think they do it six times a year.
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And what I love about this program is, is that we have seen folks who stay and
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become promoted internally.
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So they might be maybe an assistant director and they become a director,
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or they might be doing something else and they get on another position in someplace else on campus.
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That is one way that I really think, when I think about the success of an institution,
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where we can promote internally.
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As well as some of those people do leave and they get jobs elsewhere.
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And I think that's success also is when someone goes off and takes a leadership role someplace else.
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But many of them do stay here and are internally promoted here.
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And I think that's another thing that we do quite well here. That's important.
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So both of you talk about folks here that work here feel very valued.
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Are there challenges to maintaining that?
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Specifically, I can think of they are state employees and there are premium
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increases on their state health plans. and maybe not the raises they expect
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all the time. We deal with that with all kinds of state employees.
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Well, a lot of legislators listen to this, so we need great raises for these
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folks because they're awesome. But we always say that because it's important.
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But are there challenges to keeping that morale high? Yeah.
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You know, our challenges, I think, are a lot of the same challenges,
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but I think being in a rural area, some of our challenges are enhanced.
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So I'm going to talk about healthcare.
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So when you talk about the premiums increasing this year, And we're grateful
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that they haven't increased in the past, but this year they will.
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I think then that's a challenge for us, right? Because we don't have a lot of
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specialties in the area.
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So they have to go sometimes two or three hours away for some of these.
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So health care, I think, is a real challenge for us. And so being able to have
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someone come here with their family, you need to have good health care. We're very fortunate.
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We do have a local hospital here, Harris Regional Hospital and Swain Community
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Hospital. So we're very fortunate with that.
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So that's one area. of child care is another area that is a real challenge,
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I think, for everywhere, but again, in rural areas, right?
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And so we have folks who, you know, want to come here and work,
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but that's a challenge as well.
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And then the cost of living, housing, the cost of living. As you can imagine,
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after COVID, this became a place where everyone wanted to come and live.
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And so now the cost of a median home is really out of the reach for someone
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who really works on a state employees' regular salary. And that's unfortunate.
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And so we're trying to work with that. We're trying to do some really innovative
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things with partnerships with different folks.
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But those three areas, I think health care, I think housing,
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and the cost of child care, I think are three things that I hear a lot about.
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I don't know, Corey, are there others that I'm missing? No, those are the consistent
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things. Housing, not only affordability, but just even availability.
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Same with child care. Child care can be up there with housing now.
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Childcare is, and the cost is obviously a challenge for the majority of our
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folks that are seeking that.
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But even if cost was not an issue, the spaces are not available in our immediate area.
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Yeah, availability and affordability. Yeah, availability and affordability.
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That's really important.
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Well, congratulations not just to y'all about making this very esteemed list, But I want to note,
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congratulations also for being in the top 100 of Forbes employers in North Carolina
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to UNC Chapel Hill, NC A&T,
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NC State, UNC Charlotte, and App State.
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And I hope I'm not leaving anybody out. I think that was the rest of the top 100.
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But in the top 10, there were two other universities. There were all those big
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name employers, but there were two other universities, Duke and Wake Forest.
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And I just have to ask, because I know I would have done it.
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You're the chancellor. Did you call their chancellors and do any smack talking?
20:54
No, I did not. Oh, come on. No. This is like the final four.
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No, we're pretty humble out here. I mean, we're pretty humble out here,
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to be quite honest with you. And actually say this, last year we were number three in the state.
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This year we're number one. I don't know where we'll go after this.
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But let me add another thing there. We were also this year in Forbes named number
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seven in America for workplace culture.
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I was getting ready to ask about that, but I know you have no more.
21:18
I think you have no more time because you have something to get to.
21:21
Yes, I do. But I wanted to ask about that. I think everything we've talked about
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here is about that workplace culture and what it's like to work here.
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People come here for our values, our mission, a place that they feel that they
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are part of the whole institution.
21:37
I mean, when we think about folks and we always talk about the importance of
21:41
our facilities folks, our housekeeping folks, our faculty,
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the folks that are in our dining and housing, everyone is as important as the
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next person when it comes to making sure that our students succeed.
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And our number one focus is on students succeeding.
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And so if you're a facilities person, you know that the number one focus is
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our students succeeding. And that's part of that workplace culture.
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So I think it all kind of goes hand in hand. But yeah, up until just recently,
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I didn't know we had all these rankings.
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And I'm happy to be number one, which is really great.
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Well, specifically about that number seven, I want to read part of a paragraph
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from a Forbes piece on the best employer list written by Rachel Peachman on September 18th.
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And I want to know, because it says, company culture can't be faked.
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The more that leaders talk about culture and mission statements without taking
22:27
action to support those ideals, the less likely employees are to believe them,
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according to a report published last month in the Harvard Business Review.
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Culture doesn't shift because a new narrative is introduced.
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It shifts when systems change.
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So, the researchers, it says, noted that senior leaders changed how,
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when they changed how they led, how they ran meetings, gave feedback,
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made decisions that responded to challenge trust scores, rose by an average of 26%.
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So, to rank seventh, really so high, on this company culture,
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I'm wondering, you've told us what you do, and so I think I can infer in some
23:03
ways how you fostered a culture of trust and making employees feel like their
23:07
voices are truly wanted.
23:08
You're not just asking because it seems like the right thing to do.
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But did you ever get a sense that, yeah, I think people are really feeling a
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part of the team in a meaningful way, like they're trusting us that we're not
23:20
just hearing them just to hear them and check a box?
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I get that sense. I mean, anecdotally, you know, I've had faculty who've told
23:28
me, you know, that they could go someplace else and work, but they choose to
23:32
stay here because they believe in what we do.
23:35
They understand what we do. When they watch those kids walk across that stage,
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again, that's our mission, right? We are a public institution of higher education.
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When they see those kids walk across that stage, it makes them happy,
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you know. And so I think that, you know, Corey mentioned, you know,
23:50
that we listen and we do, we listen.
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And we try to do what we can within the resources that we have to make this
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a place where people feel like they are listened to and what they do really
24:02
matters. And it makes a difference in not only their lives, but in the lives of others.
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And that's what we hope to instill in our students. And if you want to be at
24:10
a place like that, this is the place that we want you to come.
24:13
And so I think people really feel that. And I don't think we talk about culture necessarily.
24:18
I don't think I've used the word culture, workplace culture,
24:21
but I think we just, we are so focused on our mission and the values and people.
24:27
People is what it's about.
24:28
You know, knowing who those folks are, recognizing who they are,
24:32
how we can assist them to be the best that they can be, whether you're the plumber,
24:36
whether you're a housekeeper or a faculty member, you're in HR.
24:39
You're in our data analytics, whatever it might be, how can we help you?
24:43
And then how can you help our students succeed? And that's really what it's
24:46
all about. I think that says it all.
24:48
We appreciate y'all so much for coming on. We have so much more we could ask you.
24:53
We'll have to come back and ask it another time. Well, next year when we're
24:56
number one again. Uh-oh, that's my time.
25:00
No pressure at all. I love that. No pressure at all. I love that.
25:03
That's somebody that believes in the place and the people here.
25:09
I love that. Well, thank you very much. We appreciate it.
25:12
Thank you.
25:19
So, Chancellor Brown did step away, but that gives us a little more time with
25:23
Dr. Cosby here. I'm going to grill you a little bit, put you on the hot seat.
25:27
So, we have SEANC members who work at Western Carolina University,
25:31
and we have had SEANC members here for years.
25:33
What has struck me personally is how incredibly dedicated, not just to the university,
25:37
but to the overall community, are what we call a district, our local SEANC folks have been.
25:42
And they're so proud to work here. And they seem like they feel a responsibility
25:47
to lead in this community and pour back into this community.
25:51
And has that been the way it seems to you compared to when you talk to your
25:55
counterparts at other universities?
25:56
Or do you think something special is going on here in Cullowee?
25:59
And it stands out to me with our SEANC folks here.
26:02
I don't know. Okay, let's appreciate you sharing that observation.
26:05
I think it would probably be relatively consistent if you were to poll members
26:10
of our campus community.
26:11
I can't really speak to other campuses.
26:14
While I do speak with my colleagues fairly regularly, that's probably not something
26:18
that they've talked about.
26:20
So I don't want to infer that we necessarily have something that someone else doesn't.
26:25
So I can just speak from my firsthand experience here at the university.
26:28
And I do think, though, that what you have described is relatively indicative.
26:33
And I think it's, again, I feel like a broken record, but, you know, it's the people.
26:37
The people take a sense of pride in where they work and where they live.
26:42
And with pride comes ownership and wanting to not only be in an area that you
26:48
love to be in, but making sure that you are doing the best you can to be a responsible
26:52
steward in your community and in your region.
26:55
And I think that just translates into how do you interact in the community?
27:00
Do you become involved in, you know, community service projects,
27:03
in volunteer work, things of that nature? We see that.
27:07
And again, I don't have numbers to compare. I know what our internal numbers
27:10
are. But, you know, one of the big focuses and one of the things I really love
27:14
with our staff senate is the positive attitude that they have.
27:17
And one of their priorities every year is identifying service projects out in our community.
27:24
And they track community service hours. It really is the anchor.
27:28
Western seems to be the anchor out here.
27:30
I do think there's something in the water, though, because at our convention,
27:34
we had this year played every one of the fight songs for each of the constituent
27:38
universities in the UNC system.
27:40
And wherever our districts from those various universities were sitting,
27:45
you would hear just huge eruption of applause and excitement when they heard their fight song.
27:50
But District 1 out here, led by Mark Haskett, representing Western Carolina
27:55
University, they always shocked me because they are not the biggest district
28:00
we have, but I think they're just about the most excited.
28:03
So there's something going on when you see that. So, you know,
28:08
I like your thoughts about how it's all about community, you know.
28:12
So, Ardis mentioned that several other North Carolina universities were in the
28:15
list. Yeah, it was four or five in the top 100.
28:19
So you're competing with those
28:21
universities probably for some faculty positions, right? Is that a thing?
28:26
Like, are people deciding whether to come to Western North Carolina?
28:29
And what challenges do you have when competing?
28:32
You know, the reality is we live in a competitive marketplace.
28:37
And so those candidates that are highly skilled, highly qualified,
28:42
they're going to have options.
28:43
Yeah. And particularly if they're mobile and willing to relocate things of that
28:48
nature. We're insulated a little bit geographically from many of our UNC system peers.
28:55
So, you know, we're not in a situation where somebody's going to recruit and
28:59
go across the street and go work necessarily.
29:02
But there are situations where we do compete. But, you know,
29:05
we try not to get into a back and forth situation there.
29:08
So really what we try to do is highlight what our strengths are.
29:11
Here's what you have an opportunity to do if you come here. And from a faculty
29:15
perspective, while we're all part of a UNC system, each campus is unique.
29:19
And so, again, we want to highlight what we do, and we're student-focused.
29:23
And if you're someone looking to come and spend time in a classroom with your
29:27
students on a class size that's relatively small and potentially have the opportunity
29:32
to have service learning components where you're out in the community,
29:36
again, there's that word community, with your students on learning initiatives,
29:40
things of that nature, in a beautiful location,
29:43
we'd say this would be a great place for you.
29:45
Are you pulling faculty members from Georgia, and I mean staff as well,
29:49
from Georgia and Tennessee since you're so close to those areas?
29:52
You know, that's in a limited capacity.
29:55
You know, we're a residential-based university. The majority of our students
29:58
living here on campus, so, you know, the majority of our faculty and staff are on site.
30:04
And so while we're geographically not too far from either of those states,
30:09
it's still, you know, from Tennessee, it's probably an hour and a half closest commute.
30:13
Georgia's a little bit closer, probably around an hour. So the majority of our
30:18
workforce will reside, you know, 15 to 20 miles to the west of Cullowee,
30:24
Sylvan North Carolina, over towards Asheville, with approximately 50 to 60 percent
30:30
between the Jackson County line east of here to Asheville.
30:34
And do you have a lot of homegrown faculty and staff, folks who are from here? We do.
30:39
We do. And that's something that, you know, whether you say it's out of necessity
30:43
or something we take pride in, it's something we're intentional about.
30:46
I'll give you some staff numbers off the top of my head.
30:49
Our average for positions that come available that we recruit will internally promote.
30:55
Last year, it was 29%. And if you look at the last five years,
30:59
it's between 26% and 32%. So generally, one out of four, one out of three hires
31:05
are people that are rising up through the ranks.
31:08
That's how you build a culture. And so that helps folks to realize that there is upward mobility.
31:13
If they come in and they are able to do a good job and learn the ropes,
31:17
so to speak, for the most part, people realize they'll have an opportunity to
31:21
continue to advance and grow a career. And that's a big deal.
31:25
I bet a lot of those may even be alumni.
31:29
That's one area where, you know, we have people that move to the area.
31:32
Don't get me wrong there. But we also have been fortunate that we have identified
31:37
one area in particular where we have challenges, where everybody has challenges at IT.
31:43
And we have found success in recruiting our students who may come up through
31:49
CIS or Information Sciences Program,
31:51
Computer Science Program, and they work for three or four years while they're
31:56
here on campus getting their degree.
31:58
They may work in our IT department.
32:01
And then as they graduate, number one, they're qualified.
32:05
We kind of know what they bring to the table. They're generally excellent employees.
32:09
And they're already here in
32:11
the community and they understand what Colorway's about and all of that.
32:15
So it's a win-win. Stay and never leave.
32:18
I think Sam would do that if she could, right? Yes. You would have stayed here
32:22
forever. She wouldn't leave us.
32:24
No. She's found a new home, right? Yeah.
32:29
Now, if there would be one story that you think sums up why WCU is such a beautiful
32:35
and amazing place to work, what would that be? I'm going to share a personal
32:39
story, if that's all right.
32:41
And each person's story is different, but, you know, this is probably similar to some folks.
32:47
I grew up 25, 30 miles from here, west of here, small town, Bryson City, North Carolina.
32:53
Both of my parents grew up in western North Carolina. My dad's from Marion, mom's from Canton.
32:59
Nobody in either of their families had ever gone to college.
33:02
Both of them had the opportunity to attend the college, and it happened to be
33:07
western. And geographically, it was the one place that they could go and they could attend.
33:11
And it was affordable, either through scholarships or through their family and
33:15
support, things of that nature. So they were here in the 1960s.
33:18
And they met by chance. Both became teachers and became school administrators.
33:24
But, you know, a few years after that, along came me. So, you know,
33:27
I like to say that I guess my existence is owed in at least small part to this
33:32
university for bringing two people that probably when they were younger,
33:35
never even thought that they would be able to go to college.
33:39
And this university provided that opportunity.
33:42
And the interesting thing is we still have first-generation college students.
33:45
It's like a large percentage coming here that that's still a first-time opportunity.
33:49
So it's changing people's family trees.
33:52
It's changing their lives. And so speed that up, you know, a few years.
33:56
Had the opportunity to come back here 27 years ago into an entry-level position
34:00
and gotten two degrees through the tuition waiver program, which is a great benefit, by the way.
34:06
And had the opportunity to build a career and a life here. And so to me,
34:09
it's more than a job. So there's generational connection there,
34:13
and I think that you can say that for quite a few people in this area.
34:16
We have heard so much about you, specifically from folks in District 1,
34:20
and now all of that makes sense as to why you would be as dedicated and want
34:25
to give back to this place as much as it seems you do.
34:28
Yeah, that was kind of explains it all. I'm sincere.
34:33
Yeah, I was a first-generation college student as well, so that touches me.
34:38
My mom was also a first-generation college student, and she came here. Wow. Wow.
34:43
Yeah. It's really cool. Well, I'm going to really put you on the spot now.
34:47
It's time for John's Wacky Weird Question of the Week. Woo!
34:51
John's Wacky Weird Question of the Week.
34:58
So we're in the mountains. It's so beautiful. Everyone has their own favorite spot.
35:02
What is your favorite spot? They're going to answer as well.
35:05
So if you want a second to think about it, I'll make one of them do it first.
35:10
Sam, I know where yours is, so just go ahead and do it. Well,
35:12
I mean, I have other spots around here, but obviously WCU is my favorite spot in the mountains.
35:18
Where specifically on campus is your favorite spot? Specifically on campus?
35:22
Probably in the center of campus, so I can just sit there with the catafount and the alumni tower.
35:27
I've walked under that alumni tower multiple times just today because I know
35:32
that it confuses students slash scares them thinking, why is she doing that?
35:39
She's not going to graduate on time. Explain that. Well, the lore with the alumni
35:44
tower is if you walk under the alumni tower, you will not graduate in four years.
35:48
It's not necessarily saying that you can't graduate in three years,
35:52
but you will not graduate in four years.
35:55
And so you do not work under the alumni tower until you have graduated.
35:59
A lot of people go to college for six years. It's called doctors.
36:04
No, we don't have anything cool like that at UNC. We have Silent Sam.
36:08
I guess he's gone, though, right? We don't even have that. Right.
36:10
We have the whale. The whale, if you drink from that. We still have the old whale.
36:14
So, Arnest, where is your favorite spot in the mountains? I mean,
36:17
to be honest, it's Valley Cruces, which is not near here. Oh, Mass General's.
36:22
I just love it down there. See, I thought it would be like a lake or a stream where you fish a lot.
36:29
You don't get into trout fishing? Well, you can fish in Valley Cruises.
36:33
Oh, okay. They're in the river. It's so beautiful there.
36:36
Like the valley, when you step outside the mast door and you see the...
36:40
There's just something about that area.
36:43
So you're next. All right, yeah. Well, look, the correct answer is Cullowee, obviously.
36:47
But I'll go off script just a little bit there.
36:51
And this takes me back home towards Bryson City. It's in the National Park,
36:55
Deed Creek, and the campground there.
36:58
And it's about a mile and a quarter hike and come up along the creek.
37:03
And it's a really unique name. It's called Big Rock.
37:07
Big Rock. Because there's a giant rock there. And I used to go there as a kid
37:12
as many times as possible. And I'll still go back occasionally because you can,
37:17
when I was a kid, you would jump off the rock.
37:19
And in that one area, there's a hole and it's 20 feet or so.
37:23
And so you swim in ice cold water. And in the summer, it's wonderful.
37:26
But nowadays, it's nice to just go sit on that rock and just listen to the water.
37:32
It's like sliding rock. I used to really enjoy that, but I'm not going down that thing right now.
37:37
You see what amazing answers you get from a native? See, we need to ask more questions.
37:43
So mine is the valley where my two aunts and all of their children live near Blowing Rock.
37:50
It's called Blackberry Mountain area. They have two pottery shops there,
37:54
and Bullock and Traditions Pottery, if you're in the area. I always like to plug the pottery.
38:00
But yeah, I just grew up going there, and it's just so amazing,
38:04
and I love it there. So I guess that would be my choice.
38:07
All right, well, thanks for joining us. We won't take the rest of your day up,
38:11
but thank you so much for coming in.
38:13
Well, thank you so much. I appreciate you all coming out here.
38:15
And congratulations on what y'all achieved. Yeah, thank you.
38:25
Okay, so the communications folks here were nice enough to round us some employees
38:30
up to tell us how great Western Carolina is.
38:33
So we're going to hear directly from them. We have Phil Colley,
38:38
the Associate Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management, who is also a District 1 member for SEANC.
38:43
Julia Duvall, who is Assistant Director of Communications.
38:46
And Richard Starnes, the Provost. In keeping with what Dr.
38:51
Causey was talking about, these are all WCU alums, too.
38:55
So thank you for coming in and just telling us how great Western Carolina is to work for.
39:02
Start with, let's see, Phil. Can I call you Phil? Sure. Okay.
39:07
So what attracted you to, well, I guess you're an alum, but what attracted you
39:11
to come back here and work?
39:13
Well, I graduated on a Sunday and went to work on a Monday.
39:17
So one of the things coming in as a 17-year-old, as a first-year student,
39:22
was in the most popular major in the world, which is I don't have a clue. We're undecided.
39:26
Yeah. And came to Western really. Oh, that wasn't right.
39:29
Yeah. Yeah. That's an expensive major. Yeah. It's very popular.
39:33
But came in really just an introvert, really undecided, not knowing a lot,
39:38
wanted, the temptation was to hole up in your room.
39:40
Yeah. And yeah, I wound up becoming an English major. So I know a lot of authors
39:45
and Emily Dickson, some I could relate as a freshman of I'm a nobody.
39:49
Who are you? Are you a nobody too?
39:51
And I met a lot of somebodies at Western who made me feel like a somebody.
39:56
And that plugged me into a lot of clubs and organizations. One of them at the
40:00
time was Western Gold, which was a student service club that helped give campus
40:05
tours and introduce others to Western.
40:07
And so when it came time to graduate, a position as an admissions counselor
40:12
came open, and it was a perfect match of continuing to tell the WCU story and
40:17
share what Western had done for me. That's awesome.
40:20
You know, hearing so many students say they feel so isolated,
40:24
especially in the post-COVID era, that was a really compelling statement you
40:28
just made about how Western made you feel.
40:31
Yeah, I've actually, I have an opportunity to speak at orientation.
40:34
And at the welcome I've actually created 10 diseases
40:37
that I've seen that can wreck college success and I
40:40
count down to number one and the number one that I've named
40:43
is called isoitis where you put yourself in solitary confinement thinking you're
40:47
doing yourself a favor but you're really closing yourself off and so we really
40:51
try to educate our students on what we call living western and getting out of
40:55
that room I like to say when opportunity knocks don't invite opportunity in
41:00
because it's going to decline and say, no, you come out.
41:03
And so we really embody that.
41:06
And Western is still that culture where students can plug in and connect with others.
41:13
And Provost Starnes, how did you stick around here?
41:18
Well, that's an interesting question. So I came as a student in 1989.
41:22
I'm a historian by training, and I came out here and, like Phil said, connected.
41:29
The single greatest determining factor if a student comes into Western or any
41:34
institution, really, and will graduate is if they make a connection to somebody else.
41:39
It's a faculty member. It's a staff member. it's maybe a group of friends,
41:43
something that ties them to the place. And I did.
41:46
I worked with a number of faculty members who held me to high standards and
41:53
cared about who I was as a person and cared about the quality of work that I
41:58
did, cared about my future.
41:59
And that really resonated with me.
42:02
I stayed on for my master's and then I went off to Auburn and got my doctorate.
42:06
And I working at another institution, and a job came open out here.
42:11
And through a series of coincidences that you couldn't replicate in a lab,
42:14
I came back on faculty in 2000 and sort of kind of, like Phil,
42:19
kind of moved up through the ranks.
42:21
My granddaddy used to say, if you hang around someplace long enough,
42:24
they'll eventually put you on the payroll. And that's worked out in our cases
42:27
and worked out pretty well.
42:29
So now I'm the chief academic officer for the institution and generally the
42:33
deputy to the chancellor.
42:35
And things that keep me coming to work are the things that resonated with me as a student, right?
42:40
Providing a caring and nurturing place for students, a place where students
42:45
can follow their dreams, a place where we can connect with the region.
42:49
All those things that I experienced as a student are the same values that we
42:53
value here at Western today.
42:55
And that's a pretty important legacy to carry on, it seems to me.
42:59
It is. And I'm sorry, I didn't ask either of you But are you natives of Western
43:04
North Carolina or did you come here from somewhere else?
43:08
Yeah, I'm not. I was born in Georgia and then grew up mostly in the eastern part of North Carolina.
43:13
But it was actually a connection of an alum who was a gifted English teacher
43:17
who connected me to Western as a student.
43:20
And so I've always appreciated the, particularly the power that educators have
43:25
in opening pathways to college.
43:28
And you? Yeah, I grew up in Leicester, just outside of Asheville. Oh, okay. Okay.
43:33
And Julia, what kept you here and where are you from, I guess,
43:37
first off? Well, I'm from Silva, North Carolina. So, yeah.
43:41
So Western's always been kind of a family member, you know, an extension of the family.
43:45
My grandfather was the basketball coach here from 69 to 74, Jim Hartbarger.
43:50
So that's what brought the Hartbargers here.
43:52
And my parents went here. They met here.
43:55
So I jokingly say I exist because of Western Carolina University. Yeah.
44:01
It's just such a loving place. I was going to say, what happened there?
44:04
I don't have a lot of remnant stories from here.
44:07
And my husband is also an alum of Western. Yeah.
44:11
We didn't meet here. We knew each other in high school. But it's just,
44:14
it's such a place of community.
44:16
And you just, you know, as soon as you step on campus, it doesn't matter what
44:20
walk of life you're from.
44:21
Like, you just, you're welcomed and you just feel accepted. And you just have that community.
44:25
You know, you just really, really connect with your fellow students and faculty
44:29
and staff. And, yeah, it's great.
44:32
Awesome. So, I mean, I have a question. This Forbes honor is extraordinary.
44:36
I mean, we were talking with the chancellor and with Dr.
44:40
Cosby about how many big-name corporations are on that list and some non-public,
44:48
much better-funded universities, but Western rose to the top.
44:53
And number third in the nation. And we were just talking with the chancellor
44:57
about number seven on culture.
45:00
Did that strike any of you as, and I know in 2024, you came very close,
45:05
but does that strike any of y'all as this is wild or is that kind of,
45:11
yep, that's what I would expect?
45:13
I think the only thing that surprised me was that people, that others noticed
45:16
and the recognition, not the fact.
45:19
We often joke our mascots, the Catamount, We're one of the only two colleges
45:23
in America with that as the catamount as a mascot.
45:25
And we've always kind of joked that sometimes we're the best kept secret in
45:30
North Carolina, in the region.
45:31
And we've joked part of our job in enrollment is to let the cat out of the bag.
45:35
And so we actually had that as a tour one year of the cats out of the bag tour.
45:40
But some folks recognizing that because we probably one of our faults is we
45:44
don't toot our own horns a lot. And we've learned to be kind of self-sufficient,
45:50
supportive of one another.
45:52
And so you have that community that's been here all along.
45:55
I think looking back at it, I think part of that could come from the fact that
46:00
we are unique in the state.
46:01
We're the only UNC institution that's in an unincorporated town.
46:05
And a lot of people think that means isolation and disconnect.
46:09
But the complete opposite is true. It fosters community.
46:13
It makes you feel like a well-worn pair of jeans where there's never a day that
46:18
you're going to walk across campus that you know everybody, but there's never
46:21
a day that you're going to walk across campus when you don't know a lot of somebodies.
46:25
And I never thought my oldest, our son, would enroll at Western because he would
46:28
always say, Dad, you know everybody.
46:31
And do I know everybody? No. But we couldn't go anywhere in town,
46:35
community, where I'm not stopping kind of like the old Burl Eyes jingle,
46:41
say hello to friends you know and everyone you meet.
46:43
And they see that all the time because you're never a stranger.
46:46
And I think that whether you're a student, whether you're a faculty member,
46:50
staff member, I think that culture is refreshing. and then the renewal cycle of an academic year.
46:56
There's always that freshness and an invigorating feeling of it's a fresh start. I love that.
47:03
Yeah. Well, do you have any other questions? Well, I do have a question. For years now at SEANC,
47:09
one of the pieces of our legislative policy platform around universities is
47:15
that we would like to see the legislature give everyone...
47:21
Whether they're SHRA, EHRA, give them the same increase and make that the maximum thing you can do.
47:28
And at some campuses, we hear there is really somewhat of a disconnect faculty
47:34
and non-faculty positions. I have not gotten that feeling in talking to people
47:39
at Western, and that is kind of an interesting thing.
47:42
I'm wondering, is that part of what you think makes this?
47:46
We kept talking about unity earlier. There just does seem to be a feeling of
47:50
unity. It's a little odd.
47:51
It shouldn't be odd, but it is. What do you all think about that in terms of
47:55
faculty and non-faculty together feeling like they're all rowing in the same boat?
47:59
Yeah, I think there's a lot that goes into this. I'll pick up on something that Phil said.
48:03
We're, as our CFO Mike Myers likes to say, we're at the end of the road.
48:08
We're not quite at the end of North Carolina.
48:10
Some people think that too, but we're not. But we're at the end of the UNC system
48:14
road, and we do things that a lot of other institutions of how our learning
48:19
would never contemplate doing.
48:21
We run our own water system. We run our own electrical resale.
48:25
For a portion of the university's history, we were the electric company for the Koei Valley.
48:31
And that reality has, I think, engendered a culture of self-sufficiency, as Phil alluded to.
48:39
We solve our own problems. We identify the issues working with our community
48:44
partners so that we can facilitate positive change in the region,
48:48
be that economic development,
48:50
be it educational opportunities, be it capacity development for nonprofits or
48:54
local governments, those types of things.
48:56
But there's a self-starter approach.
48:59
Mindset here that is here historically by necessity and is carried on as part
49:05
of the culture. So I think that people feel a strong sense of belonging.
49:09
And the other thing is we're located in Cullowhee, North Carolina with an instructional
49:13
site in Asheville, but primarily our residential campus is here at Cullowhee.
49:19
And not everybody wants to live in an unincorporated place.
49:24
And so the faculty and staff here are self-selected and the folks who stay and
49:28
decide to build their lives and careers here are self-selected in a way that
49:33
they believe very strongly in what we do.
49:36
Our focus on students, student success, regional development,
49:40
those types of things, they buy into it. So they're true believers.
49:44
Makes so much sense. I'll just add, too, I think part of it is the governance and the structure.
49:50
It's very transparent. We have very active faculty and staff in it both.
49:55
They always are working in tandem, sharing information.
50:00
They have a voice at the opening assembly at the end of the year.
50:04
So folks are talking. We don't feel so siloed or compartmentalized.
50:10
And I think that a lot of the initiatives, like Provost Starn said,
50:14
a lot of the initiatives, it's all hands on deck. You know, I wear the enrollment hat.
50:18
And so when we're having an open house, I have colleagues who ask,
50:22
how do you get your faculty to come out on Saturdays and help with an open house? I'm like, we ask.
50:28
But that's a foreign concept in a lot of other places. Or a midnight breakfast
50:33
that we have the first night of exams every year.
50:36
I enjoyed that as a student. And I go, I want to be the grit server to try to
50:40
convince people to eat grits.
50:41
But there are traditions, there are ways where it doesn't matter what your title is.
50:46
I'm Western and what do you need? Whether it's the freshman run,
50:50
whether it's, you know, convocation or the class photo, it's people coming together for the common good.
50:56
And I will say, you know, our senior leadership, they are just so approachable
51:00
and so welcoming and you feel like you can, you know, go to them for anything
51:03
and just, you know, all the leadership on campus, they're very approachable
51:07
and they're engaged with the campus.
51:09
And I'm on Staff Senate and, you know, I will say, you know,
51:11
we have such a great relationship with Faculty Senate and then as well as our senior leadership.
51:15
It's just we're all on the same team and we have the one mission of changing
51:19
our students' lives and the student experience is wonderful.
51:21
I would be remiss if I did not make a point about how you premised the question
51:27
that is around parity for university employees for state salary adjustments.
51:32
Because we're located where we are, where people like to buy second homes and
51:37
retire or come in vacation, our cost of living is about the same as it is in RTP.
51:44
And everybody thinks that if you come to the mountains, life's going to be cheaper.
51:48
But the statistics tell us that housing costs, other kinds of commuting costs.
51:54
Child care, everything else is on par with what you're seeing in Raleigh or Durham, Chapel Hill.
51:58
Yeah, except, you know, we were talking with the chancellor and Dr.
52:02
Cosby. I hadn't even thought about the fact that accessibility overall has to
52:08
be the mixture of affordability and availability.
52:12
But I hadn't even thought about the availability piece. So you might be in a
52:16
tougher spot. Yeah, in some ways, I think that's true.
52:19
And so, you know, we really want to make sure that people know that we're out
52:24
here and our faculty and staff face real challenges that often in the greater
52:30
spectrum of state politics or analysis maybe are invisible,
52:36
but they're real and they're something that we feel every day.
52:39
Well, you have an extraordinary accomplishment, but all of these stories that
52:43
we've heard today have just been extraordinary.
52:45
We hear it from Sam a lot. We joke that Western Carolina may not be the largest
52:50
of the constituent universities in the system,
52:53
but we talk about it the most on our podcast because it made such a lasting
52:58
impression on her. And that's pretty telling.
53:01
And what we've learned today is she is the norm, not the exception.
53:05
That's a pretty amazing thing, a pretty big testament to this university.
53:09
That's great. So I'm so sorry you guys missed out on John's Wacky Weird Question of the Week. Oh, yeah.
53:14
But I will, Julia, I'm going to put you on the spot as the communications person.
53:18
And the question for you guys is, what is a catamount?
53:24
What is a catamount? Well, it can be whatever you want it to be,
53:27
but I imagine it's just this, you know,
53:30
mountain lion bobcat just with this prowess and, yeah, that just kind of,
53:35
you know, it's got purple in its fur and it just kind of like roams the mountains
53:38
in color and attitude. Yeah, yeah.
53:41
But it's very welcoming, but it's got a swagger. Yeah, it's got a swagger.
53:45
I love that. A swagger about it.
53:47
I'll jump in, too, because I was on the committee that was really assisted with
53:51
the input for the design of the new statue that we have out in front of HFR.
53:56
And as you might imagine, over the years, and I've been here a minute, this is my 41st year.
54:01
So I've either been a student or a staff member at Western for 34% of the history of the institution.
54:06
Wow. And we started in 1889. So it's been a minute. But so you could go back
54:11
through and flip through and see all, sometimes it was a puma or cougar,
54:14
sometimes it was a bobcat link.
54:16
So all kinds of ideas from everybody. But I was also here and good friends with
54:22
the first graphic designer who designed the cat eyes.
54:25
And I will tell you from testimony after testimony, one of the popularity factors
54:32
of the cat eyes was the fact, kind of what Julia said, the cat amount can be
54:36
anything or more importantly, any one.
54:40
And I love to say, I'm a catamount. And catamounts come in all shapes,
54:45
sizes, and their habitat is not just Western North Carolina.
54:50
They're not extinct, as some would like to believe.
54:52
We have 30, almost 40,000 catamounts roaming the country and the world.
54:56
So, if you want to know what a catamount is, it is somebody who has come here and lived Western.
55:02
It kind of goes with who we are and where we are. I had somebody ask me once,
55:07
Phil mentioned that Cullowee's an unincorporated place.
55:10
It's, in essence, the university and a post office.
55:13
And somebody said, well, is Cullowee, is that the town? And I said,
55:16
it's not really a town. It's more of a state of mind.
55:19
I love that. Yeah, I remember a faculty member going to Alaska and coming back
55:25
and commenting that I saw a car with the bumper sticker that said I'd rather
55:29
be in Cullowee in Alaska. In Alaska?
55:32
Yes. Yes. I saw one in Baghdad, Iraq on a Humvee, on the back of a Humvee.
55:39
It said, I'd rather be in Kulawi.
55:40
And I know they bought that at the Kulawi Cafe because that's where they used
55:44
to sell them. So there you go.
55:46
Well, obviously, this place has a profound effect on the folks who live and work here.
55:51
Thank you all for having us on campus and coming to join us here today.
55:54
And we'll let you get back to work. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much.
55:59
Yeah, go cats. Claws out. Isn't that what you're supposed to say?
56:02
Claws out. Is that what y'all said? I can't get it right.