Welcome to the McCullough Institute

The McCullough Institute for Conservation, Land Use, and Environmental Resiliency aims to be a national model for applied research addressing challenges in land use and conservation, urban planning, sustainable agriculture, and resilience and environmental sustainability. 

About the McCullough Fellowship

The McCullough Fellows program at UNC Asheville was launched in the summer of 2015. Through this competitive program, undergraduates complete an applied research project in collaboration with a faculty advisor and local partner organization. Each fellowship includes funding for students, materials support, and a faculty and community partner stipend.

The McCullough Fellowship program offers intensive mentoring to undergraduate students at UNC Asheville engaged in sustainability projects and research in the Asheville area over the summer and fall. Applicants are invited to propose faculty‑advised, applied research projects addressing one or more of the following areas: land use and conservation; urban planning; sustainable agriculture; resilience and environmental sustainability.

McCullough Institute logoThe McCullough Institute for Conservation, Land Use and Environmental Resiliency aims to help solve some of the nation’s most challenging problems, while creating new job opportunities for students in environmental and sustainability careers. UNC Asheville has named the institute to honor Dr. Charles T. McCullough Jr. for his lifelong civic and environmental advocacy. McCullough and his wife, Shirley Anne McCullough, committed $1 million to create an endowment for the institute.

The McCullough Institute’s goals include working with faculty to develop certifications in environmental studies and policy as added professional credentials to degree study for UNC Asheville’s students. Four areas of focus are land use and conservation, urban planning, sustainable agriculture, and resilience and environmental sustainability.

The McCullough Fellowship Program allows students to gain practical skills through applied research projects in Western North Carolina in such areas as data analytics and mapping, environmental and administrative law, application of new technologies, and the preservation of critical ecosystems. McCullough Fellows collaborate with faculty members and community-based businesses and organizations to address areas of critical need in our local area.