Sustainability and resilience are guiding principles at App State and institutionally interwoven into our strategic plan, academic mission, engagement locally and globally and day-to-day best practices. We are recognized as a national leader for our endeavors.
We’re enhancing the Appalachian Experience — with a stronger physical infrastructure and five-year goals that further empower human potential. Get the full picture through a new, special website detailing our growth and change.
Join a diverse and dynamic community that elevates your dreams and champions your capacity for real impact with life-changing opportunities for research and exploration.
University of North Carolina System President Peter Hans has named Dr. Heather Hulburt Norris as the interim chancellor for Appalachian State University. She succeeds Sheri Everts, who stepped down as chancellor after 10 years. The appointment became effective April 19.
After 10 years as App State’s Chancellor, Dr. Sheri Everts is stepping down. Under her leadership, enrollment exceeded 21,000, she secured more than $550 million for state-of-the art residence halls, academic facilities and athletics facilities, and opened a campus in Hickory.
Several national publications, including U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review and Forbes magazine, have named App State among the best schools in the nation — and the Southeast — for 2023–24, recognizing the university for its academics, innovation, value and more.
The Princeton Review, U.S. News & World Report, CEO Magazine and Fortune magazine have named App State’s Walker College of Business and its Master of Business Administration program among the best in the nation, Southeast and world for 2022–23 and 2023–24.
Commencement is the ultimate celebration of one of the most significant accomplishments of our students' lifetimes. We are proud to honor your achievement.
The Office of Sustainability’s Free Store hits the road! Come learn about the Office of Sustainability’s Food Pantry and Free Store. Help divert landfill waste by getting free clothes and learn about how you can donate your old clothes to help the environment and your community.
Join Dr. Melissa Birkhofer, Ms. Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle and Dr. Paul Worley for this day-long retreat to discuss representations of Indigenous cultures in theater. Participants will be selected from amongst students of theatre at App State and professionals involved in Horn in the West, Lees-McRae Summer Theatre and other productions. Attendees will share their experiences, reflect on literary texts and performance strategies and engage in group activities geared toward honing and refining their skills.
We invite interested participants to join us for our third annual Summer Institute, which utilizes the National Writing Project Summer Institute curriculum. The 2024 theme will be “Writing Your Story.” Through a series of writing activities and discussions, we will explore how writing our own story can be a source of healing and wellness for us and for our students.
An Appalachian Summer Festival is an annual arts festival presenting and producing programs in music, theatre, dance, film and visual arts. The festival forges a unique national identity through artistic excellence, innovative programming, commissioning new works, educational opportunities, and by bringing the most accomplished and respected creative and performing artists from around the world to the Appalachian State University community.
In celebration of her ninth studio album, “Keep Your Courage,” ’80s superstar singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant comes to Boone, accompanied by Hickory, NC’s Western Piedmont Symphony. “An artist with a singular voice and vision. Time has only amplified the power of Merchant’s music.” — Mojo. “One of the most successful and enduring alternative artists to emerge from the eighties intact and uncompromised.” — Vogue.
Experience a night of groundbreaking musical fusion as the Eastern Music Festival Orchestra, under the baton of Gerard Schwarz, collaborates with 16-time Grammy-winning banjo master Béla Fleck. Béla will showcase his unique interpretation of Gershwin’s iconic “Rhapsody in Blue”, seamlessly weaving his virtuosity with the orchestra accompanying him, followed by familiar works of Tchaikovsky and more.
Award-winning filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki (Le Havre, The Other Side of Hope) makes a masterful return with Fallen Leaves, a timeless, hopeful and satisfying love story that won the Jury Prize at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Set in modern-day Helsinki, the film tells the story of Ansa (Alma Pöysti) and Holappa (Jussi Vatanen), two lonely souls whose chance meeting at a local karaoke bar is beset by numerous hurdles.
The GRAMMY® Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer has been hailed as “the world’s reigning male chorus” by The New Yorker, and is known around the world as “an orchestra of voices” for its wide-ranging repertoire and dazzling virtuosity. Founded in San Francisco in 1978 by singer and musicologist Louis Botto, Chanticleer quickly took its place as one of the most prolific recording and touring ensembles in the world, selling over one million recordings and performing thousands of live concerts to audiences around the world.
Grammy Award winner and Grand Ole Opry member Brad Paisley will perform live at Kidd Brewer Stadium! Brad Paisley has earned his place in country music history as one of the genre’s most talented and decorated male solo artists. For more than 20 years, his songwriting and unmatched showmanship have won him numerous awards, including three GRAMMYs, two American Music Awards, 15 Academy of Country Music Awards, and 14 Country Music Association Awards.
Join Yadkin Riverkeeper Brian Fannon and other public history experts for guided tours of the Hickory Ridge Living History Museum, a site with six historic, furnished cabins that recreate the atmosphere of eighteenth and nineteenth century mountain communities. Learn what rural life was like for pioneers in the High Country.
Dr. Katherine Ledford, professor of Appalachian Studies, will share her expertise prior to a performance of Horn in the West. The pre-performance talk is free and open to the public. This program is the sixth one in High Country Humanities' ongoing series “Connecting Local and Global Rural Cultures.” This series of talks, workshops, demonstrations and film screenings is supported by a grant from North Carolina Humanities.