Last Updated on January 12, 2025 3:44 pm
Friday, January 10, 2025
Happy New Year, App State!
As we kick off a new year and the spring semester on Monday, I extend a warm (and snowy!) welcome to our returning faculty, staff and students, as well as to those joining the Mountaineer community for the first time. I hope your winter break allowed you some respite and time with loved ones, and that you’re energized for the exciting opportunities ahead in 2025.
Later today, we will send an operations update with key information to help navigate the coming semester, including important resources, what to expect when winter weather — as staff and faculty navigated this week — impacts campus operations, and health and safety information. We’ll also post this information on the Appalachian Cares website.
This week’s bitter temperatures, wind, sleet and snow didn’t deter our dedicated staff, who ensured the university remained on track for the start of spring semester classes. Across our Boone and Hickory campuses, and at our Academy at Middle Fork, staff have worked tirelessly to ensure our infrastructure withstands the prolonged cold temperatures, our sidewalks, steps and buildings are free of hazards and our parking lots are cleared. Over the winter break, staff have also been upfitting our IT systems, preparing orientation and welcome week activities, conducting maintenance on our classrooms and preparing our residence halls, along with managing many other activities in preparation for the new year. To the many teams across our university who have been readying our facilities and systems for our return to classes, thank you! I deeply appreciate your hard work and commitment to our campus communities.
As we look forward, our Boone and Hickory campuses will see several capital improvement projects advance toward completion:
- Construction of the first development phase at the Innovation District on the Boone campus is well underway. Phase 1 components include the zero-carbon district energy system, which will power the district’s facilities and begin to transition the Boone campus away from steam power, and faculty and staff housing units that will help meet App State employees’ housing needs in Boone. The next phase will be to build the STEM Academic Building, which will include a new greenhouse facility, as well as laboratories, classroom spaces and a large event space.
- Renovations to Wey Hall — home to the Department of Art and more than 100 course sections offered to approximately 1,400 students — are more than 70% complete.
- Renovations to Edwin Duncan Hall, which faced a 30-day setback due to Hurricane Helene, have resumed and include upfitting classrooms and laboratories to be more technologically advanced, as well as adding and refurbishing elevators, making repairs to the building’s exterior, installing a new sprinkler system and completely revamping the facility’s HVAC system.
- Phase 3 development at the university’s Appalachian 105 property in Boone, which includes the construction of an indoor tennis courts facility, is scheduled to begin later this spring. Phase 2 construction for the project concluded in November 2024, with the development of outdoor tennis courts, a team support building and a new softball facility.
- Phase 2 renovations at the Hickory campus are underway, with current work primarily taking place on the second floor. As enrollment on that campus grows, we are creating more classrooms, as well as offices for faculty and staff, to meet the campus’s growing needs and bolster student success. In fall 2024, a new computer lab, cybersecurity lab and sciences lab were completed and opened in September as part of the Phase 2 renovations, and a coffee kiosk was installed for the campus’s student lounge in November.
These projects are essential to our university’s academic mission, to a high-quality App State Experience for students and employees and to serving our region and the state of North Carolina. You can find full information about these projects and more on our App State’s Future website.
Whether you are new to the university community or are returning after the winter break, I’m pleased to welcome you to a new year, and I look forward to a great year ahead!
Heather Norris
Interim Chancellor
