- Community & Alumni Engagement
- Community and Economic Engagement
Community and Economic Engagement
As a regionally engaged university, WCU embraces its role as both a steward of the unique place that is Western North Carolina and as a catalyst for economic and community development. Partnerships with regional businesses and industries, nonprofit and civic organizations, government agencies, communities, and municipalities represent an integral part of WCU’s core mission.
Economic Development in WNC
The Rapid Center
The Rapid Center (formerly the Center for Rapid Product Realization) help clients refine existing products, develop new ones and improve business practices. Industry-experienced faculty and staff work with business partners to address their specific needs and to remove obstacles to product commercialization and process improvement.
Learn MoreCorporation for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
WCU’s Corporation for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI) helps entrepreneurs create and sustain vibrant businesses that generate jobs, grow our region's economy and create opportunities that retain high potential entrepreneurs, talent and intellect in our region.
Learn MoreSmall Business and Technology Development Center
The SBTDC is the business and technology extension service of the University of North Carolina system. It operates 10 regional service centers offering six specialty programs for small businesses, including a center in Asheville operated by WCU.
Learn MoreCenter for the Study of Free Enterprise
The Center for the Study of Free Enterprise (CSFE) seeks to provide economics research and thought leadership focused on issues in economic development in our region, North Carolina and beyond.
Learn MoreLocal Government Training Program
Since its inception in 1984, the Local Government Training Program (LGTP) has addressed the training needs of public officials and personnel in the 26 westernmost counties of North Carolina. The LGTP brings courses from the UNC School of Government in Chapel Hill to the western part of the state.
LEARN MOREPublic-Private Partnerships
Millennial Initiative provides for public-private partnership
Select areas of WCU’s main campus in Cullowhee, N.C., have been designated as part of the university’s millennial initiative. The millennial designation, approved through the UNC System Board of Governors, allows for public-private partnerships on university property.
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