From Staff Reports

Western Carolina University celebrated the consolidation of its Asheville-area graduate and undergraduate academic programs at Biltmore Park with an open house and reception — and a speech by WCU Chancellor David O. Belcher at the new site on Sept. 27.

Belcher welcomed everyone to the program and recognized the presence of local political leaders, WCU officials and other notables, as well as George and Jack Cecil, leaders of the Biltmore Estate.

He noted that Jack Cecil, president of Bilmtore Farms, LLC, and developer of Biltmore Park, was “sort of the indispensable one in this. Yeah, I know Biltmore Park is his baby.” Belcher said that the younger Cecil is “completely committed to public education in this state.”

Belcher said that Cullowee-based WCU has had a presence in the Asheville area “dating back to 1937 at a variety of sites,” including at UNC Asheville and A-B Tech.

However, Belcher said in recent years needed growth and expansion at these locations has faced space limitations, so WCU decided to consolidate all of its Asheville-area academic programs at Biltmore Park.

“With 25,000 square feet of space, WCU programs are located” in an exciting area on a growth corridor, along I-26 between Asheville and Hendersonville.

“We’re all in one location and, therefore, better able to meet the instructional needs of this university.”

Belcher called WCU’s move reflective of “an engaged university” and he prompted some laughter in the crowd when he said, with a note of understatement, “We’re an institution that’s really not about navel-gazing.”

His voice rising with enthusiasm, the chancellor said, “We’re in the middle of this mixed-used community ... It’s a place where people live, where people work ... and now it’s a place where people (can) learn.”

He added that, besides the other programs consolidated at the new site, WCU’s undergraduate and graduate nursing programs will be there, with a $1 million grant it had landed for a new high-tech laboratory.

“We served 500 students here (now), where we offer” 20-plus academic programs.

Belcher then said emphatically that “we have pledged that we will not duplicate any programs already offered by UNC Asheville or any other UNC system school. We are not here (in Asheville) to be a competitor.”

The chancellor received thundering applause and appreciative laughter from the crowd when, with a dramatic flourish, he asserted, “We like to think of Western Carolina University programs at Biltmore Park as ... the space, the grace and the place!”

In a separate statement released through WCU, UNCA Chancellor Anne Ponder said, “This is a wonderful opporunity for Western Carolina University and for UNC Asheville to expand the graduate school opportunities for the citizens of our region.

“Western Carolina’s relocation of its programs to Biltmore Park allows us to accelerate our collaborations with other UNC campuses to offer high-quality graduate education in Asheville,” Ponder said.

Tom Ross, president of the UNC system, recently approved a 10-year lease agreement between WCU and Biltmore Farms, LLC, enabling classes to begin at the WCU Biltmore Park site this fall.

In a statement through WCU, Jack Cecil said, “This WCU location will accelerate economic growth along the I-26 corridor by bringing a regional research university that provides advanced and technical degrees to the southern Buncombe and northern Henderson area.

“The educational research component that WCU will add to this region has been noted by many economic developers as a key driver of job growth in many other successful communities around the state and nation,” Cecil said.