Last Updated on February 15, 2025 8:44 am
Friday, February 14, 2025
Following our annual Spring Faculty and Staff Meeting last week, Provost Specht met with the Faculty Senate on Monday, reiterating key points shared during the Feb. 7 meeting, including updates on the university’s Innovation District, our performance metrics, Hickory campus academic offerings and our partnership with NCInnovation. As Provost Specht shared in both meetings, we’re aware of and actively monitoring federal policy changes that may impact higher education institutions, including our university. Currently, there is nothing requiring us to make any changes at App State. That said, changes in federal policies are not new for us, and should any changes require action at our university, my leadership team and I will communicate and provide the necessary guidance and support.
University leadership and I met with Project Kitty Hawk leadership this week to track the progress of our programs. Appalachian State University was founded with a mission of increasing access to education, and we are proud of our partnership with Project Kitty Hawk. To ensure North Carolina’s bright future, it is essential to create clear pathways for all students — those beginning and those continuing their educational journeys — to succeed in their professional and personal endeavors.
Our agreement with Project Kitty Hawk — under a year old — is already helping us deliver on that promise, and we’re now offering five online programs — in health care management, supply chain management, accounting, criminal justice, and organizational leadership and learning. These programs, designated as Flight Path programs, are geared toward working adults who need flexible start dates and coaching and advising services tailored specifically toward their needs. Our current enrollment of 154 students in our five PKH programs already demonstrates that we are responding to demand from nontraditional students.
Our recent partnership with Hugh Chatham Health, based in Elkin, is helping to provide the health care network’s registered nurses a tuition-free pathway to complete their Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees. The Hugh Chatham Health Foundation is covering the entire cost of tuition for employed nurses who apply, meet health system criteria and are accepted into App State’s RN to BSN online program.
Many Western North Carolina counties are designated as Health Professional Shortage Areas and our nursing graduates are stepping into these regions to provide critical care. As a rural-serving institution, we are proud to respond to the needs of our state’s rural and underserved communities.
App State’s nursing degree offerings include two undergraduate programs — a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and an online RN to BSN program, an online Master of Science in Nursing to train nurse educators and health care leaders, and, beginning in fall 2026, a Doctor of Nursing Practice to educate family practice nurse practitioners. The nursing department is on track to increase the number of Bachelor of Science in Nursing graduates by 60% from 2022 to 2026.
Our efforts to grow our nursing programs, as well as the program’s excellent graduation and first-time national licensure exam pass rates, were lauded at the UNC System Board of Governors meeting last month, and our nursing programs have received national recognition, including our Master of Science in Nursing, which was named among U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Online Programs” for 2025.
As we work to increase access for more students, we’re pleased to participate in Financial Aid Awareness Month, an effort of the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority, to help students plan, apply and pay for college. Free seminars are offered throughout this month, assisting students and their families in learning ways to bridge the gap between family funds, financial aid and paying for college. Members of App State’s Financial Aid team have also been offering workshops at Watauga High School and other regional locations to help students and their families understand their options as they plan for their futures.
Thanks to the innovative efforts of our faculty and staff, our students have had increasingly more opportunities to work on real-world solutions and technologies that support our communities and strengthen economies. Expanding our research and creative endeavors while maintaining a strong emphasis on teaching enriches the student experience and increases the value App State brings to our region, state and world.
These increased levels of research activity, along with our production of awarded doctoral degrees, have been recognized by the American Council on Education, which has assigned App State a new Research Activity Designation of Research 2 through the Carnegie Classification system. This designation is one of three Carnegie Classifications App State will receive this year, as part of the system’s new, modernized framework for categorizing colleges and universities across the country. We expect to receive our 2025 Institutional Classification and Student Access and Earnings Classification in April.
It’s an exciting time to be at App State, and it’s so rewarding to see the efforts and investments of teaching, research and service by our faculty and staff benefitting our students today — and the promise they hold for the future.
Heather Norris
Interim Chancellor
