Every Fall, thousands of students step onto Cumberland University’s campus carrying far more than just backpacks and class schedules. They arrive with dreams still forming, questions about the future, and hopes of discovering where they belong.
By the time they leave, Courtney Wheeler hopes they carry something even greater than a diploma.
It’s easy to get caught up in final exams, clinical hours, and graduation checklists,” she said. “But what stays with students long after graduation is confidence, a heart for serving others, and the relationships they build while they’re here.”
For Wheeler, that’s what has always made Cumberland University special. Long before she became vice president of advancement at the university, she was drawn to something she said visitors notice almost immediately: the atmosphere.
“I was attracted to Cumberland because of the warm, welcoming environment and the family atmosphere,” she said. “There’s also a spirit of community and volunteerism that’s part of everyday life on campus.”
That sense of belonging has become one of the university’s greatest strengths. With an enrollment of roughly 3,500 students, Cumberland offers something that’s becoming increasingly rare in higher education. On this campus, professors know students by name, conversations continue after class, and mentorship often grows naturally over four years.
“There are smaller class sizes, dedicated student success coaches, accessible tutoring services, and career support,” Wheeler said. “We have the opportunity to truly work with each individual.”
Those relationships often become the foundation upon which students build their futures. For many graduates, that future begins right here in Middle Tennessee.
Whether they’re stepping into classrooms as teachers, caring for patients as nurses, or helping athletes recover from injuries, many Cumberland alums choose to remain in the communities where they completed internships, clinical rotations, and student teaching.
“They already understand the needs of the people they’re serving,” Wheeler explained. “They’re not simply starting a job. They’re becoming part of a community they already know.”
That local impact stretches far beyond individual careers.
As graduates remain in Wilson County and neighboring communities, they strengthen schools, hospitals, businesses, and organizations that families rely on every day. The investment the university makes in students often finds its way back into the same towns that helped raise them.
Preparing students for meaningful careers has never meant separating professional success from community involvement. Instead, Wheeler says the two naturally belong together.
“Cumberland’s mission is to prepare students to lead, serve, and excel,” she said. “Building a career and serving your community aren’t separate goals. They grow together.”
It’s an idea she believes defines good leadership as much as good education.
“Great leadership and great education come down to the same beautiful truth,” she said. “It’s about seeing someone’s potential, giving them the tools to grow, and then trusting them to step into who they were created to be.”
One student who embodies that idea is Lucrezia Bandini, an international student from Italy whose path to Cumberland eventually led to opportunities on one of the world’s biggest stages.
A recipient of the Monty and Pace Pope Endowed Scholarship, Bandini is also an Olympic athlete who was invited to serve as a commentator during the 2024 Olympic Games.
During this year’s Phoenix Ball, she shared how Cumberland helped influence that journey, not only through internships and friendships but through professors who believed in her before she fully believed in herself.
She credits communications professor Alan Hutchison with encouraging her to pursue broadcasting opportunities that eventually led to Olympic commentary.
For Wheeler, stories like Bandini’s illustrate the lasting influence of mentorship. Sometimes, all it takes is one professor, one conversation, or one person willing to recognize potential that a student hasn’t yet seen in themselves.
While the university’s impact can certainly be measured economically, Wheeler believes its greatest contribution can’t be captured by numbers alone.
Students volunteer throughout the community, build relationships with local businesses, and often choose to make Middle Tennessee home after graduation. Others arrive from across the country, or around the world, and discover a place that quickly begins to feel like home.
Those connections continue transforming the region long after commencement. Looking ahead, Wheeler hopes Cumberland continues growing alongside Middle Tennessee while holding tightly to the qualities it has upheld for generations.
“Our greatest opportunity is to continue expanding our impact while fiercely protecting the personal touch that makes Cumberland who we are,” she said.
If she could tell local families one thing, it would be this: choosing Cumberland is about far more than choosing a college.
“I want families to know they’re placing their student in a community that will help them discover their purpose,” Wheeler said. “We’re preparing students not only for careers, but for life, for the challenges they’ll face, the people they’ll serve and the difference they’ll make wherever they go.”
The next generation isn’t waiting somewhere in the future. They’re already walking the sidewalks of Cumberland’s campus today, preparing to become tomorrow’s teachers, nurses, business owners, coaches, and community leaders. Many of them are just a few miles from the place they’ve always called home. GN
