Western Carolina University will host the North Carolina Honors Association annual conference on Sept. 20 and 21.
NCHA is the association of honors programs at 33 North Carolina colleges and universities. Each year, a different school is selected to host a conference. The conference highlights the uniqueness of each honors program and allows honors students to share research that they have done.
This year marks the first time that NCHA has been hosted in person since 2019. WCU has not hosted a NCHA conference in over a decade. There will be an online option available for those unable to travel.
During COVID-19, the conference moved online. “Even after we came back the last couple of years, it was still virtual. We are trying to get back to where the conference was before the pandemic,” said Colin Townsend, honors advisor and Brinson Honors College communications director.
The theme of this year’s NCHA conference is Here and Now: The Power of Place. This connects to the WCU campus theme of Western North Carolina Mountain Life.
The keynote speaker is Annette Clapsaddle, the author of this year’s One Book “Even as We Breathe.” The One Book is given to all incoming freshmen but is only required reading for honors students. This novel is set in Western North Carolina and tells the story of a young Cherokee man trying to find his place in the world.
The keynote event will take place at 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20 in the Bardo Arts Center. This event is ticketed, but free for any WCU student or faculty member to attend. Tickets for the keynote event can be found at wcuarts.universitytickets.com. 
Clapsaddle will be available later that evening for book signing from 7:30-8 p.m.
Tickets for the full NCHA conference are available at affilate.wcu.edu/ncha2024conference/. The $50 fee is waived for presenters and volunteers. Tickets will also be available at the door.
The BHC staff is unsure of how many people are planning on attending the conference. Emily Sharpe, director of honors advising, said “the staff is ready for anything.”
Over 40 abstracts were submitted for consideration. Students and faculty from any participating NCHA school could submit abstracts. Any discipline could submit an abstract, so there will be diversity in the presentations.
“We’ve got some science, humanities and social sciences presentations. The faculty and staff that are presenting on policy and best practices,” Townsend said.
Selected presenters can share their research through a poster or oral presentation. There will be three concurrent sessions held on Saturday Sept. 21, including a poster session.
“We are trying to give some of the sessions a theme,” said Townsend. The BHC staff hopes that the themed sessions will make it easier for conference attendees to find presentations they find interesting.
The BHC Board of Directors, a student-run leadership organization, has taken an active role in preparing for this NCHA conference.
Elizabeth Pennell, public relations co-chair, leads the maintenance and logistics for the conference.
“I work on the student side, like getting people checked in and helping them find where they’re supposed to go,” Pennell said. Bigger logistics, such as parking and lodging, are handled by the BHC staff.
Pennell also submitted an abstract with the hope of presenting her article from the 2023 Imagine magazine. Her article, “Building Bridges,” discusses how BHC was founded in 1997.
“It was revolutionary when they sat down and decided how to do it like it had never been done like before,” Pennell said.
In addition to the general conference events, the Board of Directors will be hosting a student social event. Savannah Tuhro, vice president of the Board of Directors, is in charge of the subcommittee that is planning this event. Any student registered for the conference is welcome to attend this event.
The event will be held from 8-10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20 in the University Center Illusions Room. The theme will be Hollywood Glamour. Tuhro would love for students to dress in their Hollywood best, but there is no required dress code for attendees. Casablanca will also be shown in the UC Theater as an alternative activity for students.
“It really is just a social event, so leaving some of the academics behind and letting people just breathe before all the presentations start,” said Tuhro.
Dr. Jill Granger, dean of the BHC, said that WCU is able to host this year’s NCHA conference with the help of funding from One Day for Western, the Intentional Learning Grant and a gift from Andy Chmar and Gayle Watkins. Chmar and Watkins are co-chairs of the honors advisory board.
