Last Updated on April 12, 2025 12:39 pm
Friday, April 11, 2025
This week I joined UNC System President Peter Hans, Chancellor Kimberly van Noort from UNC Asheville and Chancellor Kelli Brown from Western North Carolina, along with North Carolina Speaker of the House Destin Hall ’09 and North Carolina Senate Deputy Pro Tempore Ralph Hise ’00, at an event in Raleigh. At this event, hosted for state legislators and officials from the Office of the Governor, we shared our experiences responding to and recovering from Hurricane Helene. We are grateful for the funding directed to our region for hurricane recovery, and as we look ahead, we will remain committed to being the best partners we can be as our state and System leaders work to secure additional resources for our continued recovery efforts. I thank these leaders for their incredible, continued support of App State and the communities of Western North Carolina.
On Wednesday and Thursday, Executive Vice Chancellor J.J. Brown and I attended the UNC System Board of Governors’ April meeting. The Committee on Budget and Finance reviewed our proposal for a new student housing project at the Appalachian 105 site, which was then approved by the full board on Thursday. This is the final step in the approval process for us to move forward with a public-private partnership model, working with a developer who will build and lease student housing, which will increase inventory on university property by approximately 850 beds in apartment-style units. This will provide much-needed housing for upper division (sophomore, junior and senior) students on university property, a short bus ride from the main campus and within walking distance to sporting events, including track and field, tennis and softball. We will update the App State’s Future website with more details in the coming days.
This morning, J.J. Brown and I are traveling to North Carolina Central University to represent App State at the installation of Chancellor Karrie Dixon. Chancellor Dixon is the Eagles’ 13th chancellor in NCCU’s 115-year history, and a well-respected, senior leader within the UNC System. I wish her all the best in this new role guiding North Carolina Central University.
Yesterday, we welcomed the fifth grade class of App State’s Academy at Middle Fork to our Boone campus. These mini-Mountaineers met with author–illustrator Katherine Roy as part of the Children’s Literature Symposium, presented by the Reich College of Education and App State's University Libraries. During lunch, each child received a book, and the class joined members of the App State football team, who shared their experiences and what it means to them to be a student-athlete. Our mini-Mountaineers inspire us, and we want to inspire each one of them to become App State college students in the coming years!
Our landscaping crew has been working to showcase our beautiful campus as signs of spring are finally arriving in the High Country, and this weekend we will welcome more than 3,300 students and their families to the Boone campus for Spring Open House. We will also host a Mountaineer Spring Tour stop and an alumni football gathering. Tomorrow afternoon, the Mountaineers football team will take part in their “Battle at The Rock” Spring game, and we’re expecting more than 10,000 fans to pack Kidd Brewer Stadium to cheer on our 2025 team as we get a peek for what to expect this fall season. Other in-season, home Athletics events will include App State Tennis vs. Georgia State at 10 a.m., and Softball vs. ULM at 3 p.m. tomorrow, both at their new facilities at the Appalachian 105 Sports Complex.
I am looking forward to an outstanding and exciting weekend!
Heather Norris
Chancellor
