The HESA Student Research
& Travel Fundraising Campaign
has officially launched!

Support HESA graduate students through travel stipends and professional development opportunities. We believe the only thing better than watching our graduate students grow is helping them grow. Unfortunately, our graduate students do not receive the same level of support as our undergraduate students when it comes to funding research and travel. We are turning away more students than we accept when they apply for travel and professional development funding, which is necessary to propel their research and careers.

We hope to raise $1,000 to include more opportunities for our HESA graduate students for fall 2019. We have a dollar-for-dollar matching incentive!
Learn more and donate today at: give.wcu.edu/hesa

DONATE HERE!

Congrats to the Spring 2019 Graduates!

(From back left to front right) William Crandall, Tyler Melvin, Anthony Pohorilak, Meghan Blizzard, T.J. Peck, Dean Martin, Erica Longamore, Savannah Matherly, Dean Paulk, Ariel Phillips, Sophia Calhoun, Roslyn Gowens, Morgan Gill, Carrie Hachadurian, Brennan Haskins, Diana Aguillon, and Hannah Richardson

Graduating students ran into Interim Chancellor Dr. Morrison-Shetlar and VC of Student Affairs Dr. Sam Miller while taking graduation pictures.

Second Year Students who engaged with Intercultural Affairs during their graduate career were honored at the
ICA Pinning Ceremony.

Introducing the Fall 2019 Cohort

We had the largest and most competitive applicant pool in our program's history! And we're excited to welcome 15 full-time and 2 part-time students to the HESA Family!
Full Time Students:
Jessica Davis, Tyler Davis, Emily Freeze, Jessica Gonzalez, Jacquelyn Henry, Riley Jelenick, Amy Kalayjian, Elijah McCoy, Johanna Mercado, Kristen Nichols, Katherine Ruffalo, Katherine Spalding, Amber Upton, Caleb Williams, Nadaja Womack
Part Time Students:
Heather Hill and Tabitha Price

About our 2019 applicants and cohort:

Dr. Gulley Wins National Award

ACPA Diamond Honoree

Yancey was recognized with one of ACPA's most prestigious honors for his contributions to ACPA and the field of Student Affairs. Those nominated for consideration were honored for their outstanding leadership, scholarship, and significant impact on the student experience. We are so proud of Yancey as he is an asset to our program and
Western Carolina!

HESA Student Awards

Four Graduating HESA students (pictured above) were honored at the College of Education & Allied Professions Awards Ceremony (from left to right):

Dean Martin was awarded the Morrill Family Fund Research in Education Scholarship
for his educational research that benefited the community.
Dean also won 'Best Paper for Program Proposal' at the Graduate Research Symposium.

Roslyn Gowens was honored with the 2019 CEAP Soaring High Award
for the outstanding work she did during her time at Western.

Sophia Calhoun was awarded the 2019 Outstanding HESA Student
for her significant academic excellence.

Anthony Pohorilak was honored with the 2019 HESA Promising Practitioner Award
for for his exemplary commitment and service to college students.

Dean Paulk (part-time; graduating in May) was recognized with the L.E.A.D Award which is given to a student or staff member who exemplifies the ideals of leadership and makes a difference while serving students.

William Crandall (2nd Year)
won the "best problem solving"
category in the
SROW (NODA Region VI)
Case Study Competition

Second Year Students William Crandall, Roslyn Gowens, and T.J. Peck (not pictured) were recognized with the Apple Polishing Awards for their continued service to WCU's Greek student organizations.

Morgan Gill (2nd Year) was awarded the
Res Life Graduate Student of the Year

Savannah Matherly (2nd Year; left) received the Res Life Distinguished Service Award

Roslyn Gowens (2nd Year), along with her student team, was awarded
Res Life Event of the Year
for the program, I Am Not My Hair

Tyler Melvin (2nd Year) received Commitment to Community Service at the Celebrate
Excellence Awards

HESA Student Highlights

Sophia Calhoun (2nd Year), Dr. April Perry, and Carrie Hachadurian (part-time; graduating in May) presented at NASPA this Spring. Their research is currently under review for publication, but to learn more now, watch their presentation here.
Title- Preparing for the Post-University Transition: Supporting Homeless, Emancipated, Orphaned, and Other Independent Students

HESA Students at the Graduate School & Research Awards Ceremony

10 HESA Students participated in the Poster Presentations at the Graduate Research Symposium

Dean Martin, Sophia Calhoun, Morgan Gill, and Ariel Phillips
(2nd Years)
participated in the Oral Presentations
at the Graduate Research Symposium.

Jesse Chen, Alex Kerns, Sophia Calhoun, Roslyn Gowens, William Crandall, Mike Jefferson (pictured above), Ariel Phillips, Holli Stillman, Alexis Rutishauser, Anthony Pohorilak, TJ Peck, Ashley Palmer, Davis Wilson, & Dean Paulk (not pictured above) presented at 2019 Whee Lead.

Thomas Cook (Campus Activities GA), Savannah Matherly, Jacki Jenkins, Ashley Palmer, & Alexis Rutishauser supporting Miracle at WCU in raising over $46,000!

Ashley Palmer & Jacki Jenkins (1st Years) planned Sorority Recruitment with support from Roslyn Gowens, TJ Peck, & William Crandall (2nd Years)

First Year Students, Alexis Rutishauser and Alex Kerns, have been elected to the Graduate Student Association (GSA) Executive Board as
President and Vice-President.

Alumni Updates

Mike Corelli
Recognized as the 2019 WCU CEAP Peak Performer (alumni award). Mike completed his CSP degree in 2009, and he is the first recipient of this college-wide award from our program!

Ronni Williams
(HESA Class 2016)
Awarded Instructor of the Year for First Year Seminar at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville for her dedication to first year student success at UTK.

HESA Alums and students with Dr. Perry at NASPA.

Dr. Gulley with HESA students at ACPA.

Whit France-Kelly (CSP Class 2011) & Abi Aparajithan (CSP Class 2012) got married in North Carolina in July 2018.
Abi recently started a new job at Dartmouth College as Associate Director of Residential Education for Living Learning Programs & Academic Initiatives.

Alex Zernechel (HESA Class 2017) and Roslyn Gowens (2nd Year) met up at the Association of Fraternal Leadership and Values (AFLV)

Myranda Floyd-Thomson (HESA Class 2016) recently started a new job at American University as a Community Director in Residence Life.

HESA Office Updates

April completed her term as Interim Associate Dean of the Grad School, and was recognized with an "Over and Above Award" from the College of Education & Allied Professions. Learn more about April, her research, and publications here.

Yancey was awarded TENURE! He will move to the rank of Associate Professor as of July 2019. Also, he has a new book under contract! Learn more about Yancey, his research, and publications here.

HESA Advisory Board
The College of Education & Allied Professions hosted its 3rd annual dinner celebration to honor each programs' board members. We could not accomplish what we do without the support of our wonderful advisory board.

View highlighted results of the Alumni Survey Data, and see how we use this information as a recruitment tool!

Mark Your Calendar:

Oral Comprehensive Exam (Open to the Public): Wednesday, May 8th @ 12:30-2:30 in the Blue Ridge Room

Graduation: Friday, May 10th @ 7:00pm in the Ramsey Center

July 1st: Fundraising goal date! Donate Now!

First Day of Fall 2019: Monday, August 19th

HESA/Division of SA "Welcome Back Mixer": Tuesday, August 20th

Homecoming 2019: Saturday, October 26th

The HESA Student Research & Travel Fundraising Campaign has officially launched!