Universities and colleges across the United States are finding that an ever-increasing number of students on their campuses are dealing with a variety of mental health issues, ranging from anxiety and depression to thoughts of suicide.

Recent studies and surveys indicate that nearly 45 percent of college students nationally report symptoms of depression, while almost 40 percent report experiencing anxiety.

Perhaps most concerning – up to 15 percent of college students have contemplated suicide. U.S. campuses report that approximately 1,100 students take their own lives each year, making suicide the second-leading cause of death among that demographic.

Western Carolina University is not immune from this growing mental health crisis. Thanks to a significant financial contribution from a WCU alumna, the university’s Counseling and Psychology Services Center now will be able to increase its evaluation and treatment of students struggling with depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions.

Rebecca Schlosser, a 1973 graduate of WCU and former member of the university’s Board of Trustees, recently made a transformative gift to WCU that will enable the center to greatly enhance its services by expanding access, increasing outreach and strengthening its ability to support student well-being.

“For me personally, mental health awareness came to the forefront when my son began struggling with mental health issues in 2007 and 2008 during his junior and senior year in college,” said Schlosser, a resident of Greensboro.

That son, David Edmond Wesley Schlosser, died unexpectedly at the age of 25, just nine days after graduating from Elon University.

“Students need to feel comfortable receiving mental health services,” Schlosser said. “College campuses should prioritize destigmatizing mental health, offering accessible resources and creating a supportive environment. Many times, mental health issues begin in early adulthood, which falls right during the college years. Dealing with the demands of college can add increased anxiety.”

She and her late husband, Greensboro attorney and former Guilford County District Attorney Michael A. Schlosser, made gifts in 2016 to create the David E. W. Schlosser Endowed Scholarship Fund in their son’s memory to provide support for students with demonstrated financial need in WCU’s Brinson Honors College.

They also agreed that they wanted to do something more to provide much-needed resources to WCU to help the university in its efforts to provide services to students struggling with mental health issues, in part to help parents and other family members avoid the heartache that they endured with the loss of their son.

The Schlossers later updated their financial plans to include a commitment to create an endowment to support the work of WCU’s Counseling and Psychological Services Center, a commitment that was fulfilled earlier this year.

In recognition of the gift establishing a program endowment for the center often referred to as CAPS, the university’s Board of Trustees has approved the facility’s renaming to the Schlosser Family Center for Counseling and Psychological Services.

The Schlosser Family Center for Counseling and Psychological Services has a mission of empowering students to engage in and be successful in a range of academic, social and cultural endeavors through fostering psychological wellness. The center provides individual and group counseling to students on a short-term basis at no cost as well as emergency services when a student is experiencing a mental health crisis. It is located in Suite 225 in the Bird Building and reaches beyond its physical office by offering tele-mental health services and appointments at WCU’s Biltmore Park off-campus instructional site.

Over the past few years, the center has consistently offered more than 7,000 appointments to an average of approximately 1,100 individual students annually, said Kim Gorman, associate vice chancellor for health and wellness.

Despite those numbers, the center has not experienced a significant increase in student usage of its services, which is most likely related to a limit in the ability to serve a larger number of students given current staffing restraints, said Caroline Engler, CAPS director. But the center has seen significant increases over the last three years in the severity and complexity of mental health issues presented by student clients, Engler said.

“Our data is consistent with Center for Collegiate Mental Health data in that we continue to see a rise in reported experiences of history of trauma. Additionally, according to CCMH data, WCU students report more frequent and intense experiences with depression, anxiety, eating concerns and suicidal ideation as compared to the national average,” she said.

“Although our students report higher levels of acuity than the national average, our data also indicates that, with treatment, they report more significant declines in experiences of suicidal ideation and overall distress than the CCMH national averages,” Engler said.

An official naming ceremony for the Schlosser Family Center for Counseling and Psychological Services is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 4. Fittingly, September is National Suicide Prevention Month.

“Renaming CAPS is more than just changing the name,” Rebecca Schlosser said. “I speak also on behalf of my late husband. It was our goal to provide this endowed funding to support WCU’s Counseling and Psychological Services and to help to destigmatize the challenges surrounding mental health. Our family wishes to help shine a bright light of hope along this very difficult pathway,” Rebecca Schlosser said.

“To the students at WCU, if you feel you need mental health support, I encourage you to seek services at the Schlosser Family Center for Counseling and Psychological Services,” she said. “You are not alone.”

The Schlosser contribution will enable the center to greatly increase the level of counseling and other psychological services it offers and improve and expand its training program so that additional providers will be able to more adequately address the growing need for mental health services at WCU.

Numerous factors are playing a role in the rise of mental health issues in the United States in recent years, said Engler.

“There is a trend that individuals who seek treatment at university counseling centers have been engaged in treatment prior to coming to college. This tells us that their distress levels are affecting individuals in middle and high schools,” she said.

The global COVID-19 pandemic is frequently cited as one primary source of the increase in mental health issues among young people, causing uncertainty and fear of the unknown, disrupting social connections and interrupting academic schedules, Engler said.

“However, the pandemic simply intersected with other ongoing social factors including the divisiveness we are seeing in our communities – and in our families. This is having an impact on our sense of community and belongingness, both factors that are essential for good mental health,” she said. “Furthermore, research shows the impact of social media has been problematic and contributing to mental health symptoms. Finally, there is much evidence of the impact of sleep disruption, often caused by excessive cell phone use and gaming, on mental health symptoms for teens.”

The additional services made possible by the Schlosser gift will help a larger number of students receive the mental health services they need to be able to stay enrolled in school and on track to graduate, said Gorman.

A 2023 research project conducted by Gorman and WCU colleague Kathleen Brennan, professor of sociology, found that students who seek help for their mental health issues are more likely to persist in their educational journey.

“We know that our services are helpful for retention of students as demonstrated by our recent study. The results indicate a higher number of counseling sessions was helpful in retention efforts for all students at the university,” Gorman said. “So, this gift is an investment in our students.”

Gorman and Brennan published the results of their study in a paper titled “More Sessions Make a Difference: University Counseling Centers and Student Retention” in the June 2023 edition of the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice.

“We just feel immense gratitude,” Gorman said. “This gift is an incredible acknowledgement of the importance of mental health services at WCU.”

Rebecca Schlosser earned her bachelor’s degree in education. While a student at WCU, she was a member of Delta Zeta sorority, spent four years as a majorette with the marching band, and was a member of both Kappa Delta Pi and Alpha Phi Sigma honor societies. The WCU chapter of Phi Delta Kappa named her Most Outstanding Female Student at WCU her senior year.

After completing her undergraduate studies, she taught at a private all-girls school in New York before returning to school at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, earning her master’s degree in education there in 1983. During her time at UNCG, she met her future husband and helped him start his law firm.

Mike Schlosser was a graduate of Virginia Military Institute and Wake Forest University School of Law. He died in February 2024, 10 years after he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and amyloidosis as a result of his exposure to Agent Orange as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Paratrooper Corps serving a tour in South Vietnam.

Rebecca Schlosser served on the WCU Board of Trustees from 2017 until 2023 and formerly served on the university’s Foundation Board of Directors and Board of Visitors. A member of the Madison Legacy and Cullowhee giving societies, she served on the steering committee for WCU’s previous “Lead the Way” comprehensive fundraising campaign. She is an involved member of the Triad alumni chapter and frequently hosts Triad-area events at her Greensboro home. The Schlossers have been annual donors to WCU since 1990.

The naming of the Schlosser Family Center for Counseling and Psychological Services comes as WCU is in the midst of the public phase of its “Fill the Western Sky” comprehensive fundraising campaign, an effort to raise a minimum of $100 million in philanthropic support for the university’s academic, student engagement and athletics programs.

For more information about the “Fill the Western Sky” campaign or to make a contribution, visit WesternSky.wcu.edu, call 828-227-7124 or email advancement@wcu.edu. 

Stanberrys continue tradition of supporting Catamount athletics with campaign leadership gift

By Bill Studenc

“That’s a Catamount first down, brought to you by Stanberry Insurance” is a frequent refrain echoing from the public address system across the cozy confines of E.J. Whitmire Stadium during the Western Carolina University football team’s home games every fall.

Insurance company co-owner Kevin Stanberry and wife Lynn Stanberry will soon be sponsoring a lot more than just first downs, thanks to recent gifts and pledges totaling $400,000 for the Catamount athletics program. The longtime boosters of WCU intercollegiate sports have pledged $250,000 toward athletics facilities improvements and $150,000 for the Catamount Club in support of scholarships for student-athletes.

The Stanberrys are among those making leadership gifts as part of the initial stages of WCU’s comprehensive fundraising campaign, which has a significant focus on improvements to athletics facilities. As a key priority within the comprehensive campaign goal, WCU aims to raise at least $30 million in philanthropic gifts to support upgrades to athletics facilities.

In addition, the university intends to fund an additional $30 million toward athletics facility improvements, financed by debt serviced from fees paid by WCU students. The WCU Student Government Association passed a resolution in 2021 supporting the use of increased student athletics fees for those improvements. Currently, no state-appropriated funds are allowed to be used to support intercollegiate athletics, including facilities, at any UNC institution.

Kevin Stanberry, a 1994 graduate of WCU with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, and Lynn Stanberry, a 1999 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in economics, both are serving as members of the fundraising campaign steering committee. He is vice president of Stanberry Insurance and she is the former owner of O’Malley’s Pub and Grill in Sylva, where she worked as a WCU student.

Although they both took in the occasional WCU sporting event during their time as students, both Stanberrys said they became more involved with Catamount athletics as alumni.

“I attended events while in college, mainly with my Pi Kappa Phi fraternity brothers. However, shortly after graduating from college, I became more and more involved, going to games and starting my support of the Catamount Club and WCU’s teams,” he said.

“I also attended events while in college, but I worked a lot of football weekends at O’Malley’s, so not as many as I would have liked,” she said. “Definitely, we amped up our involvement once Kevin and I were married in 2001, and since then we haven’t missed many home games if we can help it. We have season tickets for football, basketball and baseball and love to attend as many games as possible.”

Both Stanberrys are active members of the Catamount Club, and Kevin serves on the Catamount Club Board of Directors. Lynn was integral to the creation of the Purple Zone pre-game events for Catamount Club members. The husband-and-wife team received the Southern Conference Distinguished Service Award in 2011 in recognition of their support for WCU athletics.

They said they have been motivated to remain involved in supporting WCU’s athletics program for decades out of their deep love for their alma mater and their high regard for the university’s student-athletes.

“If you ever get an opportunity to meet these young women and men, you will be so impressed,” Lynn Stanberry said. “They work so hard for the same school that we all love, but it’s not just on the fields and courts. It’s also in the classroom and in the community. They are just special.”

In their nearly 30 years of involvement with Catamount sports teams, the Stanberrys say they have seen a lot of changes in the environment of intercollegiate athletics, with former members of the Southern Conference moving on to bigger conferences and new institutions joining the SoCon and quickly becoming successful.

That is why they were willing to increase their contributions to the Catamount Club and make a leadership gift to the comprehensive fundraising campaign in support of improvements to athletics facilities, they said.

“Western Carolina University is a special place in so many ways, but there is no doubt we’ve fallen behind our SoCon competitors regarding athletics facilities. This isn’t fair to our student-athletes and coaches. They deserve the best we can do for them,” Kevin Stanberry said.

“We also, of course, think these facilities improvements will help with recruiting and retention of student-athletes and will bring championships to Cullowhee,” Lynn Stanberry said.

Supporting WCU athletics has become a Stanberry family tradition. His father, Larry Stanberry, who founded Stanberry Insurance, was inducted into the WCU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005 as a Patron Award winner in recognition of more than 30 years of support for WCU student-athletes.

“Our main goal with our philanthropy is to help students at WCU,” Kevin Stanberry said. “My dad was a first-generation student, and WCU still to this day leads the University of North Carolina System in serving first-generation students. Helping these kids get their educations means the world to us.”

Alex Gary, WCU’s director of athletics, expressed gratitude to the Stanberrys for their long history of financial support and for their leadership gift to the comprehensive fundraising campaign.

“When people think about Catamount athletics, they think about the Stanberry family,” Gary said. “Kevin and Lynn’s leadership through their philanthropy and volunteerism is second to none, and we are grateful for this most recent commitment.”

In addition to their service on the campaign’s steering committee, the Stanberrys said they were eager to be among the first to make a major contribution to the campaign, especially toward the improvement of athletics facilities.

“I’ve never in my 25-plus years of support felt better about WCU and where we are at,” Kevin Stanberry said. “We have a chancellor who truly understands what the next step is for WCU to be at the top in all aspects of a great university. Our only thing lacking is in the area of athletics, and she is doing everything in her power to change that, as well.”

Lynn Stanberry agreed. “To have athletics being part of a comprehensive fundraising campaign at WCU is unprecedented. We have to take advantage of this with the other things that have been put in place to get these facility updates that are slated to be done,” she said.

Among the priorities of the comprehensive fundraising campaign are expansions for strength and conditioning, sports medicine and academic space for student-athletes. Updates to E.J. Whitmire Stadium will include a new press box, premium space for fans, a rebuilt east concourse, football offices and meeting space, and a new football locker room. The Catamounts will look to vacate Camp Lab Gymnasium and open a new facility to support the golf, track and field, and women’s soccer programs. Other improvements are in the master plan as well and will benefit all 16 Catamount athletics teams.

Currently underway is the first of a long list of improvements to WCU athletics facilities, a $1.6 million project in support of the Catamount men’s and women’s basketball programs featuring renovated locker rooms, polished and refined players’ lounges with nutrition areas, and an updated film room.

For more information about how to support the Catamount athletics program, contact Julie Miller, associate athletics director for development, at 828-227-3084.