The Director's Blog
Thoughts from our Founding Director and other invited contributors.
Meet Heidi Dent
Heidi is an assistant professor of marketing in WCU's College of Business. Prior to arriving at Western, she worked in industry for 25 years. In April 2020, she finished her Doctorate in Business Administration from Jacksonville University after selling the company...
Meet Craig Richardson
Happy fall, everyone. We want to begin to introduce the newest Faculty Affiliates of our 2021-22 cohort. Last week, CSFE Content Marketing Specialist, Allie Todd, talked with Faculty Affiliate Craig Richardson about his work as director of the Center for the Study of...
Catching up with Tyler Tarbet
We occasionally use this blog to catch up with our former students who are now on to great things. Today, we are “Catching up with Tyler Tarbet.” Tyler is a 2018 graduate of Western Carolina University who majored in computer information systems and minored in...
Introducing CSFE’s Human Progress Research Initiative, and Calling 21-22 Faculty & Student Affiliates
What counts as economic progress in our region? That question is near and dear to so many, especially as we all continue adapting to pandemic disruptions. So, this year CSFE is launching a year-long research project combining different perspectives from various...
Broadband investment would mean billions to NC, but there’s a holdup: Utility poles
To be included in today’s digital world, all North Carolinians need access to reliable, high-speed broadband. Yet, today nearly 472,000 in our state – primarily in rural communities – remain without broadband access, limiting their options to work, learn, pray,...
Utility Poles: Key to Achieving Full Broadband Access in North Carolina*
Robert Cooter and Thomas Ulen's classic textbook, Law & Economics 4th Edition, describes the concept known as the Hold Up Problem. A hold up is a market actor who possesses and exercises market power to interrupt others' ongoing physical investment projects. It is...
Our New Annual Report, 2020-21
Check out our new annual report, just released today! In the summer of 2020, as we sat down amidst those uncertain times to hash out plans for the 2020-21 academic year, I wrote the following vision statement for the Center: We produce high-impact research in three...
Recap and Video of “Helping the Community Helps Your Campus”
As summer settles in, we invite you to check out the recap (below) and video of our May 19 event, "Helping the Community Helps Your Campus: New and Replicable Ways Two University Centers are Impacting Their Communities." Craig Richardson and I are co-presenters. We...
CSFE as Hub and Platform: Cross-Disciplinary Research that Matters
As CSFE nears the end of its fifth year, the Scaled-Up Seminar and our Faculty & Student Affiliates programs have become two key programs. Together, these programs connect over 100 faculty and student researchers from different disciplines and colleges at WCU, and...
Meet Emma Miller
Last year, we began our spotlight series on our 2020-21 Faculty Affiliates, and continuing with this series, today we would like to highlight Emma Miller. Emma Miller, MSW, LCSW is an Assistant Professor of Social Work and the U.S. Health Resources and Services...