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 Ģ������ƵStories      February 12, 2025

By Bill Studenc

A newly established scholarship fund at Ģ������Ƶ is designed to celebrate the contributions of the founding dean of what is now known as the Brinson Honors College, Brian Railsback, by providing financial assistance to the college’s students.

Made possible by gifts from Mark and Kathy Whitehead Jr., former residents of Highlands who now live in St. Simons Island, Georgia, the Whitehead Family Dr. Brian Railsback Honors College Scholarship marks the seventh endowed scholarship funded by gifts from the Whiteheads.

Nearly 20 Honors College students have already received substantial scholarship support from the Whiteheads’ previously endowed funds, the first of which was established in 2015. That number will continue to grow with the new scholarship fund in recognition of Railsback, said Jill Granger, current dean of the Brinson Honors College.

“At a time when student scholarships were the university’s number one priority under former Chancellor David Belcher, Mark and Kathy Whitehead led the way in bringing that vision to reality. For our students, those scholarships mean so much,” Granger said. “Mark and Kathy very thoughtfully set each scholarship up to support an interest, in memory or in honor of someone dear, to support students in those pursuits.”

In the case of their most recently created scholarship fund, that person near and dear to the Whiteheads’ hearts was Brian Railsback, who provided them with their initial introduction to the university down N.C. Highway 107 from the Cashiers-Highlands area.

“We first met Dr. Railsback when he was giving lectures for the Center for Life Enrichment in Highlands. We also met other Ģ������Ƶprofessors lecturing for CLE in Highlands,” said Mark Whitehead, a retired urologist. “After one of Dr. Railsback’s lectures, he approached me about starting an advisory board in Highlands-Cashiers to expose his Honors College students to people of various professions and advanced degrees. Kathy and I agreed to develop this board with him.”

The relationship between Ģ������Ƶand the Highlands community has strengthened greatly over the years since the advisory board was launched, he said.

“Kathy and I feel that the innovative and strong leadership of Dr. Railsback in founding the Ģ������Ƶ Honors College and its advisory board plus his continued support of a strong relationship between Ģ������Ƶand the Highlands and Cashiers communities needs to be honored,” he said. “This is why we created the English department scholarship in his name.”

Kathy Whitehead agreed. “Through our relationship with Dr. Railsback over many years, we have learned that many Honors College students were the first in their families to go to college,” she said. “We wanted to help him offer opportunities to get to know many in the Highlands-Cashiers area with degrees beyond the bachelor’s level and to assist financially when we could where needed.”

The Railsback Scholarship Fund will provide financial assistance to Brinson Honors College students who are majoring in English. The new scholarship joins six other funds for Brinson Honors College students established by the Whiteheads since their first, in 2014. Those funds are:

• The Dr. Mark and Katherine Whitehead Honors College Scholarship, which provides support to students in a pre-professional program who are planning to attend medical school.
• The Katherine Carlson Whitehead Honors College Nursing Endowed Scholarship, which benefits students in the School of Nursing.
• The Whitehead Carlson Honors College of Engineering and Technology Scholarship in support of students studying engineering and technology.
• The Katherine and C. Mark Whitehead Jr. Honors College Music Endowed Scholarship, assisting students in the School of Music.
• The Whitehead Family Fine and Performing Arts Honors Scholarship for students majoring in a program offered by the David Orr Belcher College of Fine and Performing Arts.
• The Whitehead Family Honors College Pre-Med Endowed Scholarship, which benefits students enrolled in a pre-professional program providing a pre-med pathway.

All seven scholarship funds recognize members of the Whitehead family who have degrees in disciplines represented by the specific endowments.

“We are honoring my father, Edwin William Carlson, who was a civil engineer graduating from Michigan State; Mark’s father, Dr. Mark Whitehead from the University of Georgia School of Medicine; and our mothers, Dorothy Whitehead and Dorothy Carlson, in music and fine arts,” said Kathy Whitehead, who attended Northwestern University in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, studying music and nursing, while husband Mark attended Washington and Lee as an undergrad and Tulane Medical School.

“We have two sons – Mark Whitehead III, who graduated with degrees in medicine and law from Tulane, and David who graduated with a master’s degree in public health and tropical medicine and a medical degree from Tulane. They both received their bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia,” she said. “We all benefited from our educations and feel it is very important.”

Mark Whitehead echoed that sentiment, saying he and Kathy felt moved to help Brinson Honors College students even though neither of them are alumni of WCU.

“We have learned that there is a high incidence of students being the first in their families to attend college, and many need financial assistance. We feel that education is very important,” he said. “While we may not have attended Ģ������Ƶ, it is our school. Western serves this region, and this area depends on Western, which is why we’re a part of the university through our support of the Honors College.”

 Co-chairs of the Honors College Advisory Board starting at its founding, the Whiteheads moved from Highlands to St. Simons Island a few years back to be closer to family. They were active members of the Highlands community for many years through the Rotary Club, the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival and the Center for Life Enrichment. She served as president of the Board of Directors for the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival, and he was a board member and past president of the CLE in Highlands.

For Railsback, namesake of the newest scholarship fund created by the Whiteheads, the tribute represents the latest example of a long, fruitful relationship.

“Mark and Kathy Whitehead helped me immensely in creating the first external advisory board for the Honors College. They led the selection of its first members and, thanks to them, from our first board meeting in 2005, we had an organization that helped transform the direction of the college,” he said.

“Without the enthusiastic and astute advice of the Whiteheads, we could not have supported and driven undergraduate research and study abroad for our students as we did,” he said. “Although the Whiteheads’ financial contributions have been generous, their leadership and advice have made the most lasting mark.”

Railsback said he is humbled that the Whiteheads created a scholarship fund for students at the Honors College he founded and affixed his name to it.

“I am very grateful to them. Having a scholarship named for me is the highest honor of my career, more so since it was a complete surprise. What’s most important is that the Whitehead family name is on it, too, so we are in there together. It’s wonderful to think of the Honors English majors who will be helped by this scholarship. I hope I meet one in my class,” he said.

As current dean of the Brinson Honors College, Granger agreed that the Whiteheads’ impact goes well beyond their philanthropy.

“It is no exaggeration to say that today's Brinson Honors College would be a mere shadow of its current existence without the Whiteheads. Through their devotion and advocacy, the Honors Advisory Board was developed and thrived, leading in no small part to the signature student leadership and student-adviser relationships that we see being built still today,” she said.

“Because of Mark and Kathy's excellent leadership, the Brinson Honors College continues to flourish with Andy Chmar and Gayle Watkins as current co-chairs of our advisory board. They continue to direct and guide the development of the Brinson Honors College in the same thoughtful way, helping to advocate for resources that will support our high-achieving students into the future,” Granger said.

Establishment of the Whitehead Family Dr. Brian Railsback Honors College Scholarship comes as Ģ������Ƶenters 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 or to make a contribution to the campaign, visit , call 828-227-7124 or email advancement@wcu.edu.