Watch a livestream of the State of the University Address meeting here on Thursday, Aug. 29 at 3 p.m.
Transcript
Dr. Heather Norris:
More seats up front.
Welcome everyone. I'm glad to see many of you here in person and thank those of you who are joining via the livestream. As we begin a new academic year together, I want to reiterate what I shared in April when I was appointed interim chancellor. I'm honored to serve our university in this current role. Appalachian State University has been my home for more than 20 years, and I extend my thanks to UNC System President Hans for the opportunity to continue to serve this institution.
Today, at this faculty and staff meeting that has in recent years become known as The State of the University Address, I'd like to begin by saying something I think we all know to be true about the state of our beloved university. We are a strong and resilient university celebrating 125 years of serving our region. Throughout this history, those who came before us established an enduring foundation, one that through the strength of our people and our community has risen to challenges, overcome adversity, and built upon our essential purpose to provide access to a high quality education, and we know there is work to be done.
The Chancellor's council members, several of whom are joining me in this address today, thank you, also join me in my love of this university and commitment to its success. We, the faculty, staff, students, alumni, and many others who care about this place, see, hear, and feel the need to collectively renew our commitment to one another and rebuild our community, which, at its roots, is defined by who we are and whom we seek to be.
Since April, we've been working on rebuilding and repairing trust internally and strengthening the university's relationships with the communities we serve. We are committed to regular communication and respectful dialogue, and we've been present in spaces with faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community members to engage in that regular communication and dialogue. Members of this team and I have engaged with our academic department chairs and members of staff senate and faculty senate. We've had wonderful conversations with student groups and student government leadership and we have worked side by side with community leaders on issues of mutual interest and concern.
I'd like to take a moment now to recognize and thank Faculty Senate Chair, Jacqui Bergman, Staff Senate Chair, Samantha Williams, and Student Body President, Kathryn Long, for their leadership and providing input for today's meeting. Thank you for the conversations and advice you've shared and we hope there's more to come.
The leaders you will hear from today are just a few of the many who are committed to making sure our campus community is informed about key issues and initiatives that are having an effect on our university, our system, and our industry. Within every situation, there are of course constraints and opportunities. Recognizing this, we're committed to leveraging our strengths. In a few moments, you'll hear from Neva and J.J. about the, excuse me, collaboration between Academic Affairs and Student Affairs to help build a culture of civic literacy and respect for differences in thought, belief, and opinions within our campus community.
We're embracing the priorities put forth by President Hans of freedom, of expression, academic freedom, non-discrimination, and institutional neutrality, and as Neva, the historian on our leadership team, often reminds us, this is really nothing new for App State. In addition to strengthening our university community and its partnerships, we also recognize that our institution relies on financial resources to support our success. Comprehensive and persistent budget review is a practice I employed as a dean and provost to ensure strategic allocations and operational efficiencies, and I'm continuing this practice in my interim chancellor role. My leadership team and I have been doing a deep dive into the budget to make sure our institutional spending is in line with our mission. While we won't go deeply into the budget today, that's something we'll do in the spring during our strategic initiatives and budget presentations, I will share some high level information with you, which we've also shared over the summer with academic department chairs and the faculty senators at their retreat.
In addition to a high level look at the university budget, for the remainder of my time today, I'm also going to share key information with you about the newly formed Chancellor's Artificial Intelligence Task Force, advances in research, scholarship and creative endeavors, and advances in academic innovation with our Project Kitty Hawk partnership. I'll also share a few quick updates about UNC System Policy 300.8.5, and Faculty Club, and Staff Connect.
Then you'll hear from Neva Specht, Acting Provost, Doug Gillin, Director of Athletics. Will Sears, Interim Vice Chancellor of University Advancement, Troy Johnson, Vice Chancellor of Enrollment Management, Hank Foreman, Vice Chancellor of External Affairs and Strategic Initiatives, J.J. Brown, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, and Neva, Hank and J.J. will also share updates from the Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, and Student Government Association.
So what you see on the slide now is an overview of the legislative budget process. It's a very busy slide. We also have it available for you on the university's budget central website. In the absence of a new budget law this year, the UNC System continues to operate on the biennial budget passed nearly a year ago. The budget included a three across the board legislative salary increase for most university employees, which went into effect on July 1st. Additionally, as I shared with faculty in the spring, we have identified internal funds for merit based faculty raises, should we be granted authority to award them during the annual raise process. In my conversations with legislators, I will continue to advocate for increases for all employees, faculty and staff. Enrollment growth is in the budget this year and there appears to be strong optimism that performance funding will ultimately be awarded.
The UNC System is refining campus specific performance metric goals and weights for the next cycle, which we'll use our 2022/23 performance as a baseline and cover the time periods 2024 through 2026. These new goals will take inflation into consideration, and overall, measures will continue to be focused on student success, including four year completion for first time full-time undergraduate students.
One of the key emerging issues Appalachian State University and many other academic institutions have been studying is the growth of artificial intelligence technologies and their implications for higher education. In 2023, as provost, I formed a steering committee on AI that included broad representation across App State's faculty and staff. This committee was charged with monitoring and exploring the effects of generative AI on the higher education landscape and developing guidelines related to teaching and learning, as well as research, scholarship and creative activities. An important outcome and extension of this work has been the development of the chancellor's artificial intelligence task force with a focus on how AI advancement and continued innovations can both enhance and challenge our teaching, research, service and administrative operations. This cross divisional team is chaired by Chief Information Officer, Keith Warner. Thank you, Keith.
The task force is creating guidance and recommendations for AI use across campus while also enhancing protective measures for institutional security and individual privacy. More specifically, the AI Task Force is responsible for developing guidance, providing a centralized set of policies, procedures, guidelines, and best practices related to all diverse areas of AI interest and utilization, including but not limited to academics, research and administrative domains, and recommendations addressing where AI might enhance service delivery, academic and research excellence, or other mission areas. Additionally, this group will identify potential privacy and security risks to university operations, resulting from the improper use of AI and recommend mitigation options to the University Risk Review Board.
As we selectively expand our research and creative endeavors enterprise, informed by academic strategic plan and our research strategic plan, we are bringing in research dollars and engaging in innovative academic work that has long set us apart from other masters comprehensive institutions. Our Carnegie classification is reviewed every three years by the American Council on Education and is intended as a descriptor rather than a ranked status indicator. This is not something we apply for directly. Rather, the designations, which are announced every three years, are listed based on two quantitative metrics: research expenditures and doctoral degrees awarded. Based on our performance, based on your performance, related to these metrics, we have a very strong indication that our classification may change to R2, which would designate our university as having a high level of research activity.
When we are designated R2, we will no longer be considered a regional university. Instead, we'll be considered a national university. With this in mind, it's important to note we won't be changing overnight. Rather, we've been steadily evolving over time to arrive at this moment because of the dedication, involvement, and success of faculty in innovative and meaningful research, much of which has provided opportunities for student scholarship. We are still, at our core, a teaching institution, and that will always remain fundamental to our identity as a university. We will continue to evolve with the interests of our faculty and the needs of our region. We are dedicated to the exploration of additional graduate degrees in support of areas where App State strategically leads and where the market shows demand.
Beyond these areas of targeted expansion, we don't anticipate a broad or universal change in workload balance in the areas of teaching, research, creative activities and service. The financial implications of this shift are nuanced and a working group, led by Vice Provost for Research and Innovation, Dr. Christine Ogilvie Hendren, is engaged in a full assessment of all related factors for our university. Christine and the team in the Office of Research and Innovation have been working to ensure we are prepared institutionally for this classification change. Christine sits on the Chancellor's Cabinet where she provides strategic advice and consultation and is leading conversations at the leadership level about the research and creative activities enterprise. The great ideas being developed by our faculty and staff span a range of strengths and areas of expertise, including educational and training innovations, laboratory devices, and clean energy and agricultural technology concepts, just to name a few.
The Office of Research and Innovation team is also focusing on the work of connecting and coaching faculty on their paths to protecting and commercializing intellectual property that has the potential to generate value and financial impact for the state of North Carolina. Additionally, to further support innovative work beyond the startup phase, the Chancellor's Innovation Program is moving to a five-year funding model. We're increasing funding for big ideas that will have a lasting impact and become part of the fabric of the institution with an emphasis on ensuring faculty can develop self-sustaining funding models so their work and the associated funding will last beyond the startup phase.
At App State, we are maintaining strong enrollment and positive return on investment for every North Carolina student. We continue our proactive efforts to prepare for changes in enrollment demands in the future, including our partnership with Project Kitty Hawk, otherwise known as PKH, the UNC System's nonprofit EdTech startup, funded by the General Assembly, that is partnering with select systemic universities to serve adult learners ages 25 years and older. In response to workforce demands in our state and region, we signed an agreement with PKH earlier this year to begin faculty-driven collaborations on workforce-aligned online programs. This semester, we launched our first PKH-powered degree programs, an online bachelor of science in healthcare management, and an online bachelor of science in business administration and supply chain management. We look forward to continuing to work with PKH as our faculty develop more programs to help meet the online education needs of adult learners across North Carolina.
Earlier today, I was able to get together with some of the App State team who launched our first two academic programs in three short months to thank them for their incredible work. I'd like to especially thank, again, Vice Provost, Mike McKenzie, the department chairs and faculty in the departments of nutrition and healthcare management and marketing and supply chain management, and the many members of our IT and enrollment management teams. Your hard work and dedication to the success of launching these programs means we have students right now who are pursuing App State degrees they otherwise might not have been able to access. Thank you again.
Many of you are aware that in late May, the board of Governors repealed policy 300.8.5 in the UNC policy manual and replaced it with a new policy called Equality within the University of North Carolina, which emphasizes commitment to institutional neutrality and non-discrimination. In order to implement the new policy system-wide, each university is charged with certifying by September 1st, and on or before September 1st annually thereafter, full compliance with the policy. This includes submitting a report that describes the actions we have taken to achieve compliance and how any savings related to these actions have been redirected to initiatives that support student success and wellbeing. The reports will then go to the Board of Governors in September by the UNC System office, after which we expect to receive feedback. To help keep our campus informed about this ongoing work, we've created a website with references and additional information.
President Hans has spoken about the new policy at length, emphasizing the importance of principled institutional neutrality, that the role of higher education is to host rather than settle debates about the challenging issues facing our democracy, and in particular, that ensuring that everyone is included and supported is core to our educational mission. I'd like to share one quote in particular from his address to the Board of Governors on May 23rd, as you see on the slide, "Non-discrimination, institutional neutrality, free expression and academic freedom are all mutually reinforcing concepts and values. We are here to serve all, not just those who agree with us. When these principles are faithfully held, they allow diversity in all forms to thrive." The president and Board of Governors have clearly stated the new policy reaffirms academic freedom and doesn't touch or impact what is taught in our classrooms or researched in our labs.
For our part, we remain focused on our commitment to student success, which has been a hallmark of our university since its inception, and of course, compliance with the new policy. Upon receiving system guidance over the summer, we formed a cross-divisional working group to begin preparations for meeting the September 1st submission deadline.
We're engaging in dialogue with Faculty Senate, Staff Senate and student government leadership, which will continue as we move forward. I appreciate the faculty and staff and your long-standing support of student success and employee well-being, and I know this long-held Appalachian commitment will guide our future work as we ensure, within our different roles, that we are complying with the new policy as expected.
As we move forward into the academic year, which already seems to be going very fast, you'll be receiving information about Faculty Club and Staff Connect for the coming year. I hope you'll plan to attend these gatherings, they're important opportunities for camaraderie. Because these are events for you, I'm looking forward to working with Jacqui and Samantha to make sure they are meeting the needs and goals of our faculty and staff.
Before I turn the microphone over to Neva, I recognize this is a State of the University address and there's a very important item of business underway: the search for Appalachian State University's next chancellor. Vice Chancellor Hank Foreman is the liaison to the system office which is facilitating the search process. He will provide an update during his remarks shortly.
With that, I'd like to invite my colleagues, who have joined me to help share important information with you today, to bring their reports. We'll begin with acting Provost, Neva Specht. Thank you.
Dr. Neva Specht:
You don't have to change the mic. Thank you, Heather, and good afternoon. Today I'll review the following topics: neutrality, civic literacy and the foundations of American democracy, brought from democracy initiatives, programmatic offerings at the Hickory Campus, and an update on efforts to reduce barriers to success for faculty and students.
First, I'd like to begin with a thank you to the AA leadership team during this transitional time, one went out and one came in. Big thanks to Jamie Parson for stepping into her new role. She brings key skills experience to the role of the Acting Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Policies, Development, Training and Academic Affairs, while also retaining her duties as one of the App State designated free speech officers. She's been focused on student success since she arrived at App State as a faculty member in the Department of Finance, Banking, and Insurance in 2021. Jamie will also oversee and review faculty policies and procedures, lead academic development and training, interpret the faculty handbook, and participate in primary faculty governance bodies, including the faculty senate.
Some key projects Jamie has underway are working on updating the faculty handbook and ASOPs to be in line with the recent changes to the UNC System policies on faculty annual workload requirements, teaching effectiveness, and PTR, as well as the communication plans to accompany each of these updates. She's also going to be working on developing professional development resources and workshops for mid-level Academic Affairs leaders, such as associate deans, chairs, and assistant chairs and program directors, and should be working with Academic Impressions to provide information to campus related to relevant professional development opportunities, such as navigating leadership changes, tools for starting a new faculty constructive dialogue, and general leadership development. You can follow the latest resources through the campus announce each month. Sounds like you'll be very busy, Jamie.
Thanks also to Mark Ginn. [inaudible 00:26:48]. Lots of great work over the summer to hone focus on student success and to reduce barriers for students and faculty and working closely with VC Troy Johnson's team in enrollment management. Mike McKenzie, for his work with PKH and the Hickory Campus, that's understating it, I think, and to Christine Hendren for her work on research and creative endeavors and innovation, and Chancellor mentioned some of this work that's been going on over the summer and before. Talana Bell for the amazing work on PKH, Hickory and much, much more, which would take the whole rest of the time, so thank you to her. And a big thank you to all their teams that support each one of them.
For faculty, the one takeaway I want to emphasize is to say that the policy of neutrality ensures academic freedom in the classroom and in your research. The learning outcomes of the foundations of American democracy courses are in development, and a working group led by Mark Ginn and myself is working on it, so we can, by the fall of 2025, have courses that will meet the policy.
The civic literacy piece is the partnership that Chancellor referenced between student and Academic Affairs. We're partnering with Student Affairs on several projects, including a civil dialogue project that J.J. will talk about more in a few minutes.
We're working to refine how Hickory Campus aligns with the overall university mission so we can better serve, not only the community, but all those that work on that campus. We'll be refining some of our offerings and we'll begin thinking about some Hickory only majors. We want to make sure we have the majors that students want, as well as the ability to complete their gen ed and business core. While we won't have official enrollment numbers until after census day, which is tomorrow, our Hickory enrollment numbers are strong, and show potential for steady growth, how we'll serve those students and that community will be informed by our academic and research strategic plans.
Our goal is to ensure students can pick the best path of success for themselves, which could mean they begin and finish at Hickory, begin at community college and finish at Hickory, begin in Hickory and finish in Boone. Overall, we'll be guided by the alignment with the Academic Affairs strategic plan and the needs in the Hickory market.
I believe strongly in removing barriers to success, whether it's a bunch of bureaucratic paperwork, or systemic requirements that are standing between faculty, staff and students and their academic and career development and achievements. I've worked on this my entire career, and in Academic Affairs, we're continuing to identify and remove barriers like those that I've mentioned. At the top of my agenda is an implementation of the Academic Affairs strategic plan that all of us has worked on very hard over the last year. Many of you probably attended those listening sessions. I'm still gathering ideas about the best way to execute this and I would appreciate any input you may have.
I also want to echo the commitment from the Chancellor to develop methods and avenues for collaborative communication. Jamie Parson is working on ensuring faculty have clear guidance and understanding on policy and any of the changes to policy. Workload, for example, post-tenure reviews, so that you as a faculty can focus on teaching, research, and creative endeavors and service.
One example is a great partnership between Academic Affairs and athletics. This is an ongoing collaboration with a commitment to student success that has led to 24 consecutive semesters of student athletes having a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Other examples, which we'll review, refine, and use as exemplars, are internship programs and other opportunities such as the Breakthrough Physical Therapy Partnership, that's right in this building, that has grown over the last two years and offered opportunities for student athletes and students who are interested in rehab and PT. Career pathways and NACE competencies are being discussed in classes through the Career Center, and it's a great partnership that helps us work together to ensure students are engaged in thinking about careers as they move through their academic experiences.
Another example of this are recent changes to what many of you have known over the years as OIED. We've streamlined the purpose of this unit and renamed it the Office of International Programs, OIP, you might want to jot that down, to better reflect its purpose. Dr. Jeff Cohen has been hired as the new Assistant Vice Provost for International Programs. Jeff is also on the faculty in the Department of Government and Justice Studies. The department is now strongly focused on ensuring faculty are able to incorporate global content into their teaching, research, and service, ensuring that faculty and students have the support they need to lead and participate in study abroad opportunities. I know there have been some challenges with procedures related to faculty leading overseas trips, and while we do need to ensure faculty are adequately prepared and have the appropriate training and insurance coverage, we don't need to have excessive complexities preventing overseas travel. I thought that'd be good.
I'll close my remarks today with a thank you to Jacqui Bergman. Where's Jacqui? Oh, thank you, serving as the faculty senate chair for her leadership, and I just think Jacqui has asked me to share three quick points on her behalf. As you can see, we're working on similar issues, so I'll read her statements for her. They'll sound better. It was her, but I'm just going to go ahead and read them. Is that okay? Okay.
The first is regarding faculty salaries. The Senate was pleased to see Chancellor Norris's message to campus that funds have been identified for faculty merit increases this year. The Senate will certainly continue to work from the last year with Academic Affairs on increasing faculty salaries relative to our peers and on addressing salary compression on our campus.
Her second point Jacqui asked me to share is regarding UNC policy 300.8.5. It has been made clear that this policy does not impact faculty teaching, research, or creative activity. Academic freedom remains protected. However, the Senate will continue to work with the administration in understanding the full impact of this policy on our faculty, staff and students, and I'll look forward to that.
The final item she asked me to share is in regards to the Hickory Campus. The Senate hears from many faculty with questions regarding the Hickory Campus and the university plans for continued growth. We will work closely with the administration regarding future plans for academic programming, degree completion, faculty assignments, and enrollment growth in Hickory. Thank you Jacqui for sharing those, and for the Faculty Senate's input.
Just a quick reminder that Faculty Senate meets once each month during the academic year, typically on the first Monday of the month. Each academic department has a representative and you can find meeting schedules, minutes and information about your representative on the Faculty Senate website.
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to speaking with you at the reception following the meeting.
Doug Gillin:
Interesting. I won't have to raise the microphone either, just keep it in this spot. Good afternoon, my name's Doug Gillin, I serve as director of athletics. Thankful to be here today and share about how the athletics department support and serve in our great university. As Dr. Specht noted, we are proud of our student athletes for impressive academic accomplishments. Our first and foremost mission is to provide our athletes with a world-class education and that will lead them to graduation.
Our student athletes are incredibly active in the community. As you can see here, an image of them participating in Stuttering Camp. They give over 2600 hours of their time in our community services each year, that ranked us among the top 25 in the country in providing hours to our community. Our student teams are recognized on the field for conference championship bowl wins, with more than 400 student athletes, 17 varsity sports. We are proud to compete at the highest level of the NCA Division I intercollegiate athletics. Last year we had four teams that won conference championships in addition to our football teams, winning the Cure Bowl with over a 1,000,000.2 people watching that game. It is our aim to offer world-class experience to all of our student athletes by supporting them with the best possible coaches, staff, support staff, facilities and resources.
The athletic department enriches the App State experience for so many, including students, faculty and staff, the local community, alumni, and Mountaineer fans everywhere. Athletics has helped elevate the brand and facilitate the growth of our university. Opportunities such as the 2022 visit from ESPN's College Game Day, men's basketball appearance in the 2021 NCAA tournament, and historical wins have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in earned media value over the last few years.
And Kidd Brewer Stadium, if you did not see, was just named this past year one of the top 25 football stadiums in America. We're super excited to be showing that off on Saturday. Because of our championship level teams and highly anticipated events on campus, athletics annually makes an economic impact of over $100 million for the high country and the state of North Carolina. Last year, that number was $112 million worth of economic impact.
We're in the midst of major college shifts in the world of college athletics, with NCAA rule changes and lawsuit settlements, there's a lot going on. These are shaping the way we do business and serve our student athletes. Since 2021, student athletes have been allowed to benefit from their name, image, and likeness. We are supportive of that. We believe they always should have been. If you've had the opportunity to go to Rivers Street Alehouse and have the Joey Aguilar wings, that's a perfect example of how a student athlete can benefit from their name, image, and likeness. It has also brought challenges that at App State, we've been able to prudently navigate to support our student athletes and continue operating our athletics department at a high, high level. In recent months, there's been lawsuits that could have financial implications for every Division I institution. At App State, we have a solid plan for how to continue to fundraise and develop resources and to remain competitive.
On the horizon, there are much needed guidelines and guardrails that have come out of the house settlement. If you haven't heard about that and you want to do some light reading, it's very interesting. Once it's settled, it will impact how we handle roster sizes and additional student athlete opportunities for enhancement. Not requirements, they're opportunities, and we're working on a three to five-year plan to continue to raise resources to remain competitive, as I mentioned.
The App State brand is incredibly strong, being a member of the 14 institution Sun Belt Conference is providing nationally relevant experiences for our students, our teams, and our student athletes. It's currently a top five conference in America. When I arrived here in 2015, it was a top 10 conference in America, so it's continuing to excel. I'm proud that we've balanced our budget every year since I've arrived in 2015. Yearly, we generate more revenue from ticket sales, [inaudible 00:39:24], philanthropic donations than any school in the Sun Belt Conference. With rising costs and the shifting landscape of college athletics, we will continue to fundraise and be innovative in our approach to ensure that we can continue to offer a world-class student opportunity for all of our student athletes and for our campus community for years to come. Thank you for your time today.
Will Sears:
I need a clicker, but I don't need to move the mic, right?
So I'm Will Sears. For those of you I haven't met, welcome. Look forward to presenting my five minutes over here. I was not nervous about doing this until I saw Dr. Harry Davis and it reminded me of 1993, sitting in his class, and that didn't end well for me. So anyway, it's great to see you, Dr. Davis.
So what I hope to do with a few slides is talk to you about the Advancement Division, give you an update on what we do and how we collaborate across this campus and in our community. So I'll start with just our priorities. Priorities, priorities.
Okay, so advancement priorities, basically they're wrapped into four buckets. Four buckets could be student success, which could be scholarships, any type of student type of activities. There'd be faculty support, which would be professorships. Athletic success, which could be non-revenue scholarships, Yosef Club, all kinds of things. And then any type of infrastructure that might be not covered by state funds we would support.
All right, so another way to look at things. I want to give you a five-year history. Everybody says, "Well, how much money do you raise and where does it all go?" So this pie chart right here gives you an example of the past five-year averages. So academics, it's about 59%. Everybody's really proud of App Summer, and we're just coming off of App Summer, thank you Linda. So App Summer at the Turchin Center, that's such a avenue for us to connect with donors over the summer, that's 5%, and then athletics is 35%, another great opportunity for us to engage donors and interact with donors to take them along in the giving process. So I thought that would be interesting to show.
So how does the dollars break down a little bit? This is 2024 data. Scholarships, $16 million in 2024 scholarship funding. It's incredible. Now some of that would've gone into endowment, so those all don't go directly to students. If it goes to an endowment, it's a percentage payout. $13 million in program support. So if you think about program support, that could be travel for faculty, technology in the classroom, different things like that would fall into that program bucket.
Now I want to transition and talk a little bit about collaboration. So obviously, as it says here, it doesn't happen in a vacuum. We can't do anything unless there's really good success across campus. No one gives money unless they've had a good experience through multiple different touch points.
Here we go. Let me just, so this is a very busy slide, but I've got a lot on here I want to walk through. If you go counterclockwise, up in the upper left-hand corner, 1200 thank you notes. So that sounds like, okay, 1200 thank you notes. Think about that. Hats off to every scholarship coordinator in this room and every scholarship coordinator in these colleges. They look at these thank you notes, our stewardship office looks at those thank you notes, and then they go to donors. That's a tremendous touch point, a lot of donors love thank you notes, but this is a process that has to happen with a lot of collaboration, so thank you.
We move across, 25 different alumni engagement chapters. So the Alumni Engagement Office, they average a program every four days. Every four days they're doing a program to engage and network with our 140,000 alumni, so the hats off to them for their work.
Moving on over to 45,000. This is something I need you to make note of. We update banner records. So if you're in your office or someone on your team has a change in life, marital status, email address, they move, we need to update the banner records. So let us know. We updated 45,000 banner records last year, which is incredible.
Our office also processes the gifts. So if you look, 29,000 gift process last year, it's a lot of gifts to process. Oftentimes you're asked, what's the size of the Appalachian State Foundation Endowment? So I thought I would just present that to this group. It's $172 million.
And then finally, I need you to take note of the iBackAPP date. March 6th this year is the iBackAPP date. iBackAPP is the day we celebrate Appalachian, we give to Appalachian, and a few years ago it was opened up to any fund. So if your passion is AppKIDS, make a note on your calendar to give to AppKIDS on iBackAPP Day. If your passion is fine and applied arts, vet tech, make a note to give to that area that day. If your passion is athletics or golf, make a note to give and celebrate Appalachian and share that story that day. So please make a note of that day.
Finally, I'm going to end with a, this is a story about a donor we wrote about a couple of weeks ago. This is Jeff and Liz Mick, and let just walk through it, top to bottom. So Jeff and Liz Mick gave on iBackAPP Day. We were talking on the phone one night and their dog, Buddy Mick, passed away, and we had shared some tears and they said, "We'd like to honor Buddy." So I called Mike and we had lunch with the Micks and we talked about the vet tech program. And what the vet tech students have to do is they have to do externships, and there's no funding for externships, but they need to do this with large animals.
So this year we had the first ever Buddy Mick Vet Tech Program, where they gave $30,000 and they underwrote this program. The Micks also gave, they gave generous scholarships to non-revenue sports. This is them with the women's golf team. Two women's golfers, two men's golfers, are underwritten by the Micks. Last slide here, they also have a first generation college student scholarship in the college of business.
I bring up the Mick's story just so y'all know that if someone ever tells you, "Oh, a development officer went and had dinner with somebody and they gave a million dollars, that development officer's good," I would submit to you, no. The reason these gifts happen, we try to be pretty good, but the reason they take the lunch or take the dinner and the reason this happens is because of great interactions in the classroom. When Liz was in the classroom, she had great experience. When Jeff and Liz were recruiting students, they got great students from Appalachian State. And then when they came back and went to a golf match or went to a football game, they had great interactions. And when we're all doing this together, then the donors are having great interactions, then they take our appointments and they write a check back in order to impact our future and impact the future of our students.
So I felt compelled to share that story because there's many of them like that, but they don't just give to one area. When donors give to multiple areas, we all win. So on behalf of University Advancement, I can't thank y'all enough. We're all trying to row in the same direction. I appreciate Heather Norris giving me this opportunity and if we can help with anything, just let us know. Thank you.
Dr. Troy Johnson:
It is great to see all of you today. Thank you, Dr. Norris, for your leadership and allowing us this time to share with this group. Those of you who have worked with me know by now how passionate I am about being sure that our university's critical role in helping students see their dreams come true is realized. In the next few minutes, I'm going to tell you a little bit about how that happens, tell you what has happened, and then give you some insights into what's about to happen in the enrollment landscape. And so first of all, as a community member of ours, I ask that you consider where you can make the best effect on our broad strategy for achieving enrollment success, which is also, remember, our financial success.
There are six elements to this broad strategy that I'd like to introduce you to and be sure you know about. And the first one is a remarkable attribute about this university and its teamwork. You see, enrollment outcomes are achieved by everyone contributing. It's really, really a team sport.
Second, focusing not only on recruiting students, but on retaining them. And then as I tell parents and students when I get to meet with them, I'm not recruiting students, I'm recruiting graduates, and that our graduation rates stay strong.
Third, working collaboratively among academic and non-academic units. And a quick story here. Over this summer, our team invited over 15 associate and assistant academic deans to take a look under the hood at our campus tours, to give us some constructive criticism about how we could do better, to learn about how tours work. And we're very grateful for that, one example of many collaborative partnerships.
Also, leveraging data technology and research and being data informed in our efforts.
Leveraging marketing and messaging, being excellent with promotion and compelling recruitment and retention techniques.
And then finally, perhaps the most fun of all, and I get to see some amazing outcomes all the time, bringing the best of App in terms of creativity, innovation, so that we can address challenges like the tremendous financial aid FAFSA challenges this year. But not only address challenges, but to capitalize on opportunities. For example, Project Kitty Hawk.
I'm glad to report that we're doing well. While we're strong, it's very important for you to know that success in the future will take the best of us, and I'll further describe that in a few minutes.
But let me shift into now what has happened. Let's review our enrollment highlights. And an apropos phrase that describes our current enrollment is strong and steady. While we won't have official enrollment numbers for a few more days, thanks to our carefully managed enrollment efforts, our total enrollment will remain strong for this academic year. Student success rates measured by student retention and graduation rates remain strong and some of the highest in the nation.
New student enrollment has remained strong. We'll see a very good year for graduate enrollment. Thanks to academic programs that are very compelling in the market, and to local decisions that were made to remove barriers in admissions and enrollment. First year in transfer enrollment was a work of great effort, even up through last week, maybe some today still. This is largely due to what's been an unprecedented year in federal difficulties with financial aid. You see, never in the history of Title IV federal aid has there been a year like the one we are going through right now. But we've risen to the challenge and we expect to see very good numbers for first year in transfer student classes.
Our purposeful work also resulted in healthy enrollments for online programs, including Project Kitty, Hawk, as well as our Hickory enrollments. If you visit Hickory and our campus there, you'll now experience what you see here in Boone in some classroom buildings, which is busyness, fullness. It is absolutely great to see.
And we've also been intentional with managing our Boone student enrollments. So while that's sometimes anecdotally measured by traffic on the streets, we do expect to see this number remain in the same range that it has been for the past three years, well-managed enrollments. It's been a commendable year and I think everyone who did their job with excellence, everyone who recognized and acted in ways that encouraged new students and current students alike that this is a great place to be. It is, it is.
So now what's about to happen? To continue our momentum, we have several important projects underway to help keep our enrollment strong. When Dr. Neva Specht was asked a question recently on a panel about what our future will look like, she said brilliantly, with one word to describe that future. I wonder what word you would pick, but her word was flexibility, and it's perfect. That is our future. Exercising flexibility means that when it comes to enrollment and program offerings, we will be challenging past processes and adapting to new expectations of the market.
Some examples of projects underway will be strengthening the new onboarding experience for students and families so that we have better enrollment yield from the students who have shown interest, so that we build stronger affinity with students and family with us at the early stage that then leads to increased retention and graduation rates. Another example that our chancellor mentioned is focus on our UNC performance metrics. These center sharply on success and student debt measures.
And I'd also like to veer a little bit off of the mainstream enrollment conversation and remind you that student information systems and academic services are key to the priorities of enrollment management. We'll be implementing a new state-of-the-art Curriculum Management System this year, and we'll be moving to more modern Banner 9 modules to improve student and faculty experiences with these critical systems. These are just a few of the examples of steps that are underway that we'll take and the experiences we're working to improve for our graduate and our undergraduate students as they join and enjoy our great university.
In closing, I'd like to share a handful of keynotes about our future. First, one of the biggest questions is whether demography will determine destiny. Will the cliff, as it is known, the national decline of high school graduates, which is real, and is directly going to hit North Carolina next year, will it determine our future? To persevere, we've been working ahead of time to manage enrollments, develop markets, develop new programs, new modes of delivery, new locations of delivery. We're innovative and we're hardworking. We can stave off that threat that demography will bring.
Second, competition for students, and the sophistication of our competitors will continue to increase for recruiting graduate and undergraduate students. And even as we get better, our competitors will be striving to do the same. That is about to happen.
Third, we will work on new markets, especially adults and stop-out students. You'll see work in Hickory continue as we transform communities in that area that have some of the lowest education attainment rates in our great state.
And fourth, unfortunately, financial aid challenges will continue as the federal government sorts out its issues and systems. Now, the good news you may not have heard is that it is true that many students receive more federal aid now and will in future. And actually, if they can get to the form, inside joke, if they can get to the form it actually is easier and faster to complete. So we have hope on the horizon.
And then finally, for our future and with App State Promise, all told our future is simply this. It's more success for App State. It's more delivery on the commitment to giving access to a top-class American University through App's programs, its faculty, its deans, its athletics, its student life, more delivery of student success, low deck, graduation rates, more placements and great jobs, and in America's top graduate schools.
In closing, I just want to thank you for your role in achieving wonderful outcomes and I look forward to you helping App State always keep our enrollment strong.
Hank Foreman:
Good afternoon everyone. Welcome. Interim Chancellor Norris, thanks for the opportunity to share a few remarks. As I told Troy, the FAFSA is a little bit like daycare in Boone. If you think you might be pregnant in the next six months, apply for daycare and the FAFSA. Just go and get it done. Start right away. You might get through in time. And this is my 32nd academic year here, and I finally have had something named after me. So if you're here and the staff are setting up, they say, "Has anyone put up the Hanks?" And that are these things here, because about two events ago, Hank flew off the stage, and the most painful thing about it was the question everybody asked me afterwards was, "Did you break a hip?" And I'm a little insulted by that remark, but it is what it is. Okay, let's go Daniel.
So while you folks are looking at this slide here, I just want to take a moment, a personal privilege to thank all the folks in these different areas who do amazing things every day and really bring their A game to make what we do on campus possible, support our students, faculty and staff, and such great folks from arts engagement all the way down to our folks in special projects. And they're amazing people to work with, great collaborators. Again, for another multiple years is the most innovative campus in our region. And so Daniel Burleson and I spent a good bit of time early yesterday morning over coffee, we're trying to solve the Boone deer problem. And so we have not solved it yet, but we're working on it. I'm trying to figure out a way we can get FTEs for them. We can't get rid of them, we should at least get some credit somewhere. But thanks again to all these folks for all the work they do, and I know you joined me in thanking everyone in these areas for supporting our campus.
So major projects and execution timelines, the large capital projects. This slide is a little redundant because I'm sure you've been able to notice the projects that are going on on campus. But our four large ones here, up on the top, that are underway, Wey Hall, Edwin Duncan, Innovation District, and Peaco*ck Hall. And then next to come online is Walker Hall. So I would like to take a moment to thank our folks in facilities and operation, Nick Caters and his whole team, who tries to manage all the moving parts in those processes and supply chain and getting contractors here has just been a real challenge to keep all the plates spinning. So I thank those folks for all the work they do every day, and yes.
I try to go to the grocery store odd hours because if I go during busy hours, I get a lot of feedback, and I just want to buy my can of corned beef hash. And so people, I was speaking with someone the other day about the construction and all the construction and I said, "Well, every time you come on campus and you see it, you really need to think of that as a point of pride. Because in the most recent years, Appalachian has gotten an historical amount of funding to support our academic buildings and our academic endeavors, an historic amount of funding, and the reason we have gotten that is because of the work of you folks. So it's completely your fault. Nick and I are just trying to manage and keep going, it's all your fault that we're getting this money." So think about that when you come on and we'll get them taken care of. And please, if you have concerns, let us know about those. Next.
So some success stories. We do finish things, on time and under budget usually. So Holmes Parking Deck, we got that, a new fire alarm system there to make sure our building is safe for our large events, athletics as well as commencement and things like that. Our Cyber Security Lab in Peaco*ck is up and running. Do you even know? How's that going? Great. Thumbs up. And the post office, have you all been to the post office? I know, who goes to the post office anymore? But is it really a post office? I think it's an Amazon drop zone. I think that's what it really is. But you should go, there are numbers and buzzers and buttons, it's like back at the old Chili's, and your thing buzzes and your package comes to a box and unbelievable, unbelievable. That's how they're going to want you all to teach next, I'm just telling you. So the post office has been updated.
App 105 tennis track and tennis support building, if you haven't been up to see what Doug and his team have accomplished up there, it's beautiful and amazing up on Mountaineer Ridge Drive. It's a gorgeous spot in Boone and we're thrilled to see all of that and supporting our great teams. Hickory Phase IIA, This is what happens when you work with the state, money comes and drips and drips. So you have 2A, 2B, 3Z. It's all in different things, but we're juggling all that to make sure that we can support the classes and the things that the faculty staff and students need at Hickory.
And roofs. Now, look, roofs don't sound important to you all until you're the one sitting under the leak. So I will say that we had Chapel Wilson and Smith Wright routes are now complete. So Chapel Wilson folks and Smith Wright, congratulations, you'll have a dry year. Some of you other folks take a bucket. But we are working on getting all of those knocked out, and Nick and his team have done a great job prioritizing those and getting all those things set for us.
Six-year capital plan. Okay, this is the part where you all pass out of boredom, but I'm going to tell you about it, because I want you to know about it, because I don't want anybody to say, "Well, we didn't know how that worked." So what happens is the system office asks us to create a six-year capital plan. So that's what you're going to accomplish over six years, ready to let to your construction needs. And then every two years we revisit that plan. So it's a rolling plan of how we're going to handle our construction and renovation and projects on campus.
Our current plan includes five categories for capital improvements and repairs, and our new plan was July 25th, the guidance for that. And our final submission is due October 4th. I try to tell the system we have this thing called the start of the school year, but they don't ever seem to... So things always end up happening right around September, October. But we will get them there because it's important for us to get the things done that you need us to get done to complete all your work. So the process is managed by Facilities and Academic Affairs. Nick and Mike, thank you for all your work on that, because most of our buildings are academic and have academic needs. And then Student Affairs, athletics and auxiliaries also participate in defining that final plan.
The current plan was created in October of 2022, and we have four years left on that plan, but it's a start point. So we're not starting all over, it's not like we put a big hat in and everybody throws things in, we start over. We move things around as they're ready to be funded or as they move into the strategic plan.
So the process is Facilities and Academic Affairs, with some input from the folks I mentioned, take that input to Chancellor's Council, and then Chancellor's Council reviews that and talks with the Chancellor about how that aligns with our strategic plan, the strategic priorities of our different areas, and how those things work. And it's a very complicated process. It's really a matrix. It's not like the cool Matrix with the Keanu Reeves, it's the matrix you don't want to live with. It's the one where you have to think about debt ratio and what things on campus were happening, what's happening at this time, how we're managing this, what needs to be built first, how do we keep all those things juggled at the right time to keep things moving. So once the Chancellor is satisfied that we have the best plan we can have at this time, then it's presented to the Board of Trustees, and then that goes to the UNC System after the Trustees review it, and then the system sends it on to the Board of Governors for their review.
And if you really want, Nick has about 732 slides with numbers about this big on them that he can share with you afterwards. He has them on his phone. He carries them everywhere. So part one of that is state capital infrastructure fund major repair renovations, and you can see the things that fall in there. Completion of current projects, Wey, Edwin Duncan, and any new projects that would fall in there. And then the other projects in that category would be roofs, HVAC, critical plant infrastructure and demolition, and renovations that are less than 70% of the building replacement value.
And then new, just to throw something in the mix this year, we have a 15 million limit for a single repair of renovation projects. So we have to try and create what we can do in that building under that cap or it becomes a new thing, it has to move to a new category.
So the part two is the State Capital Infrastructure Fund Minor. So if you want to be really cool when you're talking to someone, say skiff, or skiffing them, because that's what these things are. They all say these things all the time and nobody knows what the devil they're talking about, but it's really about where the funding comes from, if it comes from the state or if it comes from private sources. Next.
So part three are named a newly appropriated capital improvement project. Those come directly from our good friends at the legislature and any new construction or large scale comprehensive building renovations fall in there. And currently we have four in that category, which are Peaco*ck, Innovation District, Hickory and Walker.
And then part four is non-appropriated major R&R and new capital, and those are typically residence halls, dining halls, parking, student health, athletics. So those don't require legislative actions, but bonds do. And some of those things like self-liquidating decks, we had Holmes Parking Deck, which is a self-liquidating, and that means the project pays for itself. So I'm not sure if you know that, when we struggled to provide a great parking plan to build as much parking as we need, but those parking facilities have to pay for themselves. And so, guess how much a parking spot costs? $30,000. And by next year it'll probably be 35, and by the next year it'll probably be 40. Nick's shaking his head. And so that's a lot of money to invest to try and keep moving and keep rotating. So we'll continue to work on parking and creating those opportunities, but we have to manage that with all the other things we're juggling to create those.
And then part five is the non-appropriated minor repair and renovations, and those are new. And those are the maintenance of auxiliaries focused on athletics facilities. Doug has a lot of wonderful facilities that we have to keep up and keep moving to ensure our students have an excellent academic and athletic experience here.
Just another point of pride is our solar vehicle team, they had another great year. I hope you all followed them on social media, had a great team of students, staff, and faculty that work with them. And I just wanted to show this slide because it's a great point of pride for us, and to thank Interim Provost Neva Specht and our Research and Innovation Director, Dr. Christine Hendren. We're collaborating now on how to solidify a future for the solar vehicle team as well as other solar research is one of our key research areas, and they're great partners in that so you're going to see great things in the future from our SVT.
Okay. Chancellor's search update. So the committee was announced on June 28th, 2024 by President Hans, and we had our first kickoff meeting right here in this room on August 15th, 2024. So we have already completed our in-person and virtual listening sessions held for faculty, staff, students, alumni, community. And we're just getting the numbers in for all of our participants. I think our survey, which closed last night, had over 2,400 responses, which is a record-breaking number for our universities, the size of our university compared with the other searches that are underway, so we're extremely proud. So the number has bumped up since the last one. Does that mean 600 of you waited until the last day? Yes it does, but I'm not complaining. You did it, you did it.
So nomination form is available online if you have folks you would like to nominate for the position, there's a nomination form. And if you go to our chancellor.appstate.edu website, there's a search button, you click on that. We keep putting all the information that we put there, and so you can follow everything there. Completion of leadership profile is our next step. All the information that folks gave us in the listening sessions are compiled, Heather, who had a nice vacation for a few days, but is now back and now has to compile all the data for the survey. Welcome back. So we'll provide that information to our search committee and they'll use that to help inform the leadership profile who App needs as their next chancellor. So our consultants will be building the pool and getting those ready as soon as possible and they'll review all those applicants and then make a recommendation of unranked candidates to the App State Board of Trustees, and then the Board of Trustees will make a recommended slate of unranked candidates to President Hans.
And then President Hans makes the final nomination of a candidate to the Board Governor, for election by the Board of Governors. And our committee goal is the new candidate in place by 2025, which I think for an academic unit is pretty fast. We interviewed a guy here on campus a while back who was interested in a university administration position and I said, "What's your academic background that makes you feel prepared about being a university administrator?" And he said, "I'm a glacial geographer." And I was like, "Oh dude, we do not need this person as an administrator. We already have had glacial, we're done with that." So we're trying to move a little bit faster.
And I'd like to thank Samantha Williams. Where's Samantha? Oh, there she's at the back, look at [inaudible 01:10:49]. So Samantha is our staff senate chair and she shared these things with me to share with you folks today, and we tried to get them on the [inaudible 01:11:02] she provided. If you don't know Samantha or the folks on the Staff Senate, you really should talk with them about how to get involved and how to get support from the Senate, because the things that they wrote me, while they didn't fit on the slide all the way, were amazing. What a great heart they have for service and for collaboration and professionalism, and I just thank them for all the work they do. And see them back there, they have a table, and they have information, so be sure to reach them out.
So the other thing that we wanted to highlight was AppKIDS, 44th year. So if you don't support AppKIDS, talk to them.
The other thing that they raise funds for are staff scholarship, which in today's competitive work market, is helpful to us for recruitment and retention of faculty and staff. Folks can use staff scholarships to further their education.
Talked a lot about growth and healing, camping and community service, and collaboration, specifically working with the folks in Faculty Senate and SGA, and creating cohort groups on campus from different communities like Lenoir and Wilkes, because the idea behind all of their work is for staff members to find a home at App State with a community that they love. So what great folks, and so please reach out to them if you have it. Samantha's here today and talk to her about that.
This is the last slide. J.J., you're up.
J.J. Brown:
Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to speak for a few minutes this afternoon about the Division of Student Affairs and some key initiatives for our area. Thanks for also hanging in. A lot of great updates and information this afternoon. Grateful to share a few pieces.
Want to just start just a little bit about a Student Affairs overview. I'm not going to read this slide, but really want to focus on the bottom three words, which highlight our division and the work we do and connect our mission and vision, which is care, engage, transform. That's what guides our work and leads our work and the work that we do every day.
This next slide, our division represents a comprehensive broad group of dedicated teams. We serve our campus community and students. I appreciate the trust of Chancellor Norris and adding some interim departments to our team. We're grateful for the work of those particular departments in particular and what that means to serve our campus communities, specifically at campus dining, our campus store, conferences and event services, campus services express, parking and transportation, and the university post office, which we'll talk about here in a minute again too. Really appreciate the work of all of our teams, appreciate the leadership team that we have in the Division of Student Affairs to support this transition as we keep working to serve our campus community, and obviously through students, but that connects to each and every one of you as well.
The work of the departments in Division of Student Affairs are sponsored by really usage fees of some sort. So you can see student activities fee funding through the health services fee or usage fee and where that ultimately connects. There's a small portion of state support that does come in to go towards mental health and supports our counseling center specifically. Obviously, a lot of these departments also give back to some of those scholarships that Will referenced earlier in his remarks as well.
Want to share a few key project updates that have happened and a couple have been touched on just briefly a few moments ago. As Hank referenced, the Holmes Drive Parking Deck has been completed. It has 600 spaces for faculty, staff, and student use, certainly is probably one of the more beautiful parking garages that I've seen. If you have a chance and you want to see a new view of campus, I encourage you to go to the top level and look out across campus. It is stunningly beautiful, especially late in the afternoon and evening.
Hank referenced this post office renovation. We did convert those mailboxes and remodeled those to a dynamic mail process so students actually get an email, they go in, they type in that code, or scan a QR code, the box opens and then they can pick up their package or whatever comes. Generally it's packages, not so much mail. And then that box is reused for the next person, it's not assigned to one person, that's that dynamic mail process. They've done some amazing work. The first week alone was more of a Amazon central. They processed over 5,700 packages our first week of class last week. The first day of class alone, 1500 in a day. So again, you think about drop spot, this technology certainly helps enhance the volume that we all shop on the internet and see, for sure.
I want to touch briefly on tunnels, specifically Chancellor Norris shared last semester that tunnels were operational for free expression with some guidelines. Certainly appreciate that. I want to talk more specifically about our ADA tunnel, which is the one closest to Duck Pond. That was by our working group last spring to be commissioned art and to be really focused on commissioned art for our campus community. A group met earlier this week to work on that process. It's led by Amy Johnson, Professor and Department Chair of Art, along with Jeff Cathy, who's an Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and is also one of our two Freedom of Expression Officers. The group consists of students from the tunnel working group this past spring, current student leaders, as well as art students, and they're working to define that process so that we can actually showcase commissioned art for our community in that tunnel specifically.
The last thing I want to highlight is a newest edition, a labyrinth in the heart of campus. There's also a labyrinth connected to Leon Levine Hall through the College of Health Sciences as well. You see the image of our labyrinth, it is just off Sanford Mall closest to the dining facility, specifically want to thank Wellness and Prevention Services and Jordan Perry for their work to help us launch and get this and use grant funds to enhance this piece for our campus community. I hope you will be able to use that in your various efforts, whether it's personally, and you want to go out and walk the labyrinth, or you want to bring a class, there's a class out there today. And certainly it was in the announced message earlier this week, there's a variety of things that are out there to teach you how to use a labyrinth.
This is just one example of a priority for our Division of Student Affairs, of how do we leverage this amazing location where we have the outdoors, this beautiful spot? How do we leverage that in ways to enhance wellness? How we can leverage it to enhance mental health in lots of different ways. We have something that is not in Chapel Hill or Raleigh, the beauty of this location, and we want to leverage it in different ways, and is a great example for us to do so. So thank you. We're excited about more opportunities, so if you want to learn more and want to engage in that project, certainly happy to do that.
We're going to talk about student success. We've created a new arm within the Division of Student Affairs focused on student success and community. It's a direct collaboration with Dr. Srinita Lee and our colleagues in Academic Affairs to focus on student success. It's what we're all working for, certainly as a university, but certainly that connects back to the Division of Student Affairs. We're getting ready to publish an impact report from some assessment and benchmarking data that we did last year. I thought you may be interested in a few things that are on your screen. Specifically the importance of campus activities and involvement in student organization. Students that are involved in at least one organization increase their persistence to the next semester by 81%. Certainly we see that it enhances students' educational experience enhances students' ability to interact socially, which I'll talk about in a minute, related to civic literacy and conversations. Also, about sense of belonging and obviously pride in upstate.
Another example related to student success, and it connects back to university recreation, it also connects back to our assessment and benchmarking study from last year, and you can see the importance of recreation and those facilities on physical wellbeing, psychological wellbeing, and certainly the use by our community at the university recreation facilities through the student Rec Center, Mount Mitchell, or the Quinn Center. Again, I go back to a priority of we want to leverage the resources we have, this beauty that we have, to have positive impact on wellness, not only for you, but also for our entire community of students also.
It was referenced earlier by Chancellor Norris, and also referenced by Provost Specht, about civic literacy. We launched a new initiative this year and focused on civic literacy. It is a big project, when you get down into the weeds, on a multitude of fronts. It's one that we believe is really, really important and needed in our communities for a variety of reasons, and our team would love to engage in that and the importance of that number of ways, but this is a direct collaboration with our colleagues in Academic Affairs and I think we feel like we have a lot of great synergy of how we do this together in a lot of ways.
There's three pillars of focus for civic literacy. One is constructive dialogue and dialogue across difference, which I'll talk about in just a minute, App votes, and also freedom of speech. Those are three pillars that we lock in on. All of that is also framed in a nonpartisan manner, which is really, really important to really do the deep work that's needed.
Now, talk about constructive dialogue just for a moment. In the Constructive Dialogue Institute, which we've partnered with and intentionally and are leveraging in some different ways and some things that you can take advantage of right now. So what is constructive dialogue? It's a form of conversation where people with different perspectives try to understand each other without giving up their own beliefs in order to live, learn, and work together. It's not about persuading others, winning an argument, or proving the other side wrong.
How do we do that? That's complicated in today's world. Well, with the constructive dialogue, I hope you will engage in a series of modules. Maybe you want to use those modules with your class, or maybe it's with a student group, or maybe it's a department. We have a lot of students involved in these modules right now. There are six modules and we really recommend you at least focus on maybe the first two. They're about 30 minutes apiece. I hope you'll consider doing that. Our team can certainly help you connect and engage with that process. The Chancellor's Council, we are working on doing them as well right now, and it's a challenge and it's something that we also find beneficial again with some complexities and challenges of where we are.
If you want to find out more information about the civic literacy initiative, you can go to this QR code. Certainly, it'll take you there. You can read more about it, events, ways to get involved. I really appreciate our team and community engaged leadership and our colleagues in Academic Affairs for the work on this, and as we continue to do this work, not only this semester, but in the semesters to come because it's important, but it's also going to take a lot of effort on our behalf as a campus community.
Kathryn Long is our student body president. Kathryn may have slipped in. She has. I see her now, so Kathryn has been in the lab, so I wasn't sure if, oh, is she going to make it? Or she is going to class and we'll talk about that in a minute, but Kathryn is a senior major in communication sciences disorders from Jackson, North Carolina, and I'll read a short note on her behalf right now.
Hi, everyone. I hope you're doing well. Vice Chancellors and members of the Chancellor's Cabinet, I appreciate you taking out time out of your day to represent your divisions and dedication to our university. My name is Kathryn Long. I'm a senior communication sciences and disorders major and I have the privilege of serving as a student body president. With this role, I have to be a student, so I'm currently sitting in class. Well, she's here, but I look forward to meeting most of you at the reception. This year, the Student Government Association is working on three main goals, increasing communication and transparency between administration and students through working groups and public SGA meetings, establishing more relationships with the town of Boone to further foster cohesion between students and the community, and working with campus partners to encourage a culture of civic literacy and dialogue across campus. Students remain at the heart of our work as we look to uplift, empower, and advocate for the success of all the members of our Appalachian community.
Amarah Din, student body vice president, who's also here as well, Amarah Din and I ran on a campaign back in March about leaving SGA, our campus, and the town of Boone better than we found it. We believe that adopting this mindset as we step into the academic year is going to help us advance and strengthen the place that we call home. Thank you, Kathryn.
Kathryn and Amarah, I certainly look forward to working with you all to work on each of those goals and grateful to host you all last week as you started out your retreat last weekend as well.
I'll close with just the final three pieces, and one, thank you for staying, bearing with these updates. We want to close with our tagline, care, engage, transform. The greatest thing that I've enjoyed about working at this university are the people, it's what our greatest asset is people. And we think about people specifically, I think about for us in the Division of Student Affairs, where that first word is intentional, as the first word is care. We have to continue to care about us, the individuals in which we work with, the work we do. I think that's what makes Appalachian special, it's been the case for a long, long time, and will continue to be that way. I certainly look forward to working with each and every one of you as we think about care for one another and care for this place. Thank you so much.
Dr. Heather Norris:
Thank you all for joining us today and for your time and attention. I know we ran a bit longer than we thought we might, but there was a lot to share. Thank you, Neva, Doug, Will, Troy, Hank, and J.J. for joining me in this presentation today. I hope you all found it informative.
I hope you can take away from this meeting. A few points about your leadership team. Our respect for the work of faculty, staff, and students, and our commitment to academic freedom are stronger than ever. We'll remain focused on student recruitment and retention and student and employee well-being and success. We'll work to ensure every dollar we spend is used prudently to advance our institution. We'll focus on quality, meaningful relationships on our campus in Boone, in Hickory, and also in Raleigh and with our many, many stakeholders.
We're looking forward to a great academic year. One community building activity we thought would be fun to add this year is Black and Gold Fridays, an App State spin on Casual Fridays. Since tomorrow is national Wear Your College Colors Day, it seems like a great Friday to start with, so let's have fun with it. Please join our students in showing App State pride in our history, our legacy, and in the future we are building together.
I'd like to close today's meeting with a preview of our university's institutional ad, which you'll see in regional and national advertising throughout the coming year, beginning this weekend during Saturday's football game against ETSU.
Speaker 9:
What once were rows of crops are now hallways for growing our future. The old ways that serve generations before are now the perfected paths of tomorrow. These mountains have always called to the pathfinder, the trailblazer, the innovator. The faces and structures may change, but one thing remains constant: access to higher education, here and always at App State.
Dr. Heather Norris:
Thank you again for your time and attention today. I look forward to working collaboratively with you, our governing boards, UNC System colleagues, and our local communities, to ensure continued success of this great institution and our region.
This concludes our meeting today, and I hope those of you who joined us in person will stay for the reception which offers a great opportunity to continue conversations and discuss the information we've presented for you today. Thank you.
