The announcement of the Millennial Initiative at Western is a major step in the University’s on-going commitment to a powerful combination of academic excellence and economic development in Western North Carolina. The new initiative is designed both to promote exciting new educational opportunities for faculty and students and to expand the university’s partnership opportunities with the private sector. It strengthens Chancellor Bardo’s vision of the university as an educational community committed to growth and prosperity throughout the region.

Formal state approval for Western’s Millennial Initiative, originally called a Cornerstone Campus, came in 2000 with Senate Bill 586. It followed legislation in 1987 establishing NC State’s Centennial Campus and in 1999, UNC Chapel Hill’s Horace Williams Campus, now called Carolina North. The new legislation, when it passed in July 2000 as Session Law 2000-177, authorized a Millennial Campus at Western and at member campuses of the University of North Carolina system.

Western immediately began the process of acquiring two parcels of land totaling approximately 344 acres adjacent to the Cullowhee campus. During negotiations for the land, Western received a federal grant of $300,000 to develop business and marketing plans as well as a master plan for the Millennial Initiative. In December 2004, the land acquisition was completed for a total cost of $2.87 million in state funds.

The University is working with Eva Klein and Associates, a consulting firm nationally recognized for its work in planning and developing university-related research and technology parks. The firm held a series of meetings on campus to involve faculty and staff in the planning process and organized a conference at Western to explore ideas with regional leaders. The result of those discussions was a series of recommendations which are helping to shape the focus of the Millennial Initiative.