Last Updated on May 4, 2025 2:20 pm
Friday, May 2, 2025
With spring semester classes finishing this week, students have turned their attention and studies toward final exams. Walking across campus, I’ve come across many soon-to-be graduates dressed in their regalia, taking photos at iconic locations on campus. I can’t help but smile at their excitement about the future and the promise I know they are bringing to their communities across the state and beyond.
Last month, the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching announced our Institutional Classification and Student Access and Earnings Classification. These designations, under the redesigned Carnegie Classification system, recognize our focus on providing access to a high-quality App State education, as well as our professions-focused undergraduate and graduate academic programs, which help students achieve economic success postgraduation.
In addition to our Research Activity Designation of Research 2, announced in February, these new classifications are continued recognition of the work that has been undertaken by our faculty and staff, and I thank you for your enduring commitment to expanding pathways of success for our students. These dedicated leaders work diligently to grow and strengthen programs that reflect the needs of our communities and the region, providing boundless opportunities for our students — both inside and beyond the classroom — that challenge them, broaden their perspectives and support them in becoming versatile individuals who are positioned for success across a variety of career and civic positions.
To one of our key partners in this honorable work, Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute, we offer our congratulations as they celebrate the 60th anniversary of their Watauga Campus. Thank you for being a vital part of our community and an exemplary partner in providing educational opportunities in the High Country. Here’s to many, many more anniversaries!
The research expertise of our faculty and staff is recognized statewide for critical efforts related to our regional recovery from Hurricane Helene, and on Tuesday, I welcomed representatives from FEMA, North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality and the Governor's Recovery Office for Western North Carolina, along with many educational, civic, philanthropic and research leaders, for a Western North Carolina Research for Recovery and Resilience workshop, hosted by App State. This is a powerful group of leaders working on disaster recovery while also combining expertise and innovation to build back better, more resilient systems throughout our region. We are not only at this table, we are leaders in these efforts, exactly as we should be, serving our communities with resources and expertise that are invaluable.
On Monday, I joined Faculty Senate for their final meeting of the semester. It was an opportunity to thank outgoing Senate Chair Jacqui Bergman and all the senators for their leadership and unparalleled dedication to the success of our students during a year filled with challenges and changes. I look forward to working with incoming Chair Jim Westerman, Vice Chair Jennifer Swetzloot, Secretary Jennifer Luetkemeyer and Parliamentarian Randy Reed, as well as the rest of the senate, in the year ahead.
This morning, I joined the quarterly meeting of the Appalachian State University Foundation Board of Directors, which supports our faculty, staff and students through stewardship of our university’s philanthropic vision and assets. At this meeting I was pleased to announce that, with support and very positive input from the Board of Trustees Executive Committee and Foundation Board Chair Cantey Alexander, I have appointed Will Sears to the position of Vice Chancellor of University Advancement, effective July 1 of this year.
In the last 11 months, during which Will has served as Interim Vice Chancellor, he has provided strategic leadership, achieving record fundraising growth for the university. In the last year, App State experienced its best fundraising year in school history, $46 million, and is on pace to exceed that record by an additional 30%, with $60 million expected as the total for the current fiscal year.
In the wake of Hurricane Helene, Will’s leadership was instrumental in mounting an extraordinary fundraising effort that resulted in over $4 million in disaster relief funds for App State’s students, faculty and staff — for which he credits his exceptional Advancement team.
In the years I’ve worked with Will, I’ve seen his keen ability to build relationships and translate donor vision into institutional impact in action. A proud App State alumnus, he’s earned a strong reputation as a highly collaborative fundraiser, and I’m confident he’s the leader we all need in this role to take the university’s fundraising to the next level. I hope you will join me in congratulating Will on being named to the role in a permanent capacity. You can read a news release about Will’s appointment here.
In the last few weeks, I’ve also enjoyed visiting alumni and friends of App State Athletics during the 2025 Mountaineer Spring Tour, a partnership of the Mountaineers Athletic Fund and App State’s Alumni Association. I joined their event in Winston-Salem this week and will join the Charlotte event next week. These opportunities to celebrate our university have been fun and rewarding, especially when we can showcase our amazing student-athletes.
- App State’s Women’s Tennis Team has earned 17 victories — a program-best. This was achieved by closing out the regular season with a 10 match overall winning streak and eight consecutive conference wins — both also program records. The team earned a postseason bid to the 2025 National Invitational Tennis Championship for the third year running. Congratulations to the team and Head Coach Hannah Fetters and Associate Head Coach Cedric Rupa for an outstanding season, and good luck in the quarterfinals match against North Texas next week!
- Our Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Team broke three school records and earned 16 first-place finishes at both the Penn Relays and the Lenoir-Rhyne Open last weekend. I wish Head Coach Damion McLean and the team good luck as they get ready for the Sun Belt Championship next weekend.
Yesterday, we shared an end-of-semester operations update that includes key university operations, health and safety resources and other important campus information for students and employees as we transition to summer. If you’ll be on the Boone or Hickory campus during the summer months, I encourage you to read this update, which shares a wealth of helpful information.
To all of our students wrapping up classes, taking finals and graduating in the next week, congratulations on getting to this next step! To our faculty and staff, thank you for your daily work to ensure our students’ ongoing success.
We have had a challenging and eventful academic year together, and I wish you all well as we close out the semester.
Heather Norris
Chancellor
