Strategic planning and resource allocation are key to Appalachian State University’s success. With effective support for our students, faculty and staff, we ensure the focus is on empowering App State’s rich and vast human potential.

Student Support Investments

It remains the utmost priority for the Division of Student Affairs to meet the wellness needs of current and future students. In recent years, staff members have developed innovative ways to meet the needs of our students, with particular emphasis on adding resources and quality improvement to the Department of Wellness and Prevention Services, the Counseling and Psychological Services Center and M.S. Shook Student Health Service.

Investments in App State Employees

App State remains committed to advocating for and supporting faculty and staff excellence:

• working toward more market-competitive faculty salary increases, with a 7% across-the-board salary increase for employees achieved in fiscal years 2023-24 and 2024-25 due to the latest state biennial budget;

• recruiting and retaining talented faculty and staff;
• improving access to quality child care; and
• providing faculty and staff housing options, that will help meet App State employees’ housing needs amid housing scarcity and cost inflation in the area.

A new group of peer institutions for App State, approved by the UNC System Board of Governors in November 2020, is expected to have positive implications for enrollment and research funding.

During the global pandemic, university leaders provided funding for COVID-19-related research clusters and subsidized training and support for faculty to flip courses from face-to-face instruction to online learning so that App State’s top-quality educational experiences for our students could continue. Also, as part of its Bridge Strategic Plan 2021–2022, App State focused on expanding faculty development to include the intBgration of responsive and inclusive online, hybrid and in-person learning methods that create enriching experiences for all students. The university continues its efforts to support the role of online and hybrid course delivery.

App State’s focus on investing in faculty and staff excellence is part of its Strategic Plan 2022–2027. This includes dedicating and ensuring ongoing resources to recruit, retain and support exceptionally talented faculty and staff.

Facilities Investments

As of December 2024, current construction projects at App State total more than $350 million, with 12 of 21 major projects already completed. Each of these projects supports and elevates the university’s educational mission.

Among the construction projects:

• The Innovation District project, which is underway and includes the STEM Academic Building, as well as housing for App State faculty and staff and a zero-carbon district energy system, both of which are being funded through public-private partnerships.

• The App State Hickory campus, which opened to students in fall 2023, has expanded public access to higher education in the Greater Hickory area. The university has received $50 million in nonrecurring state legislative funding in support of upgrades for the facility.

• The $191 million housing project, which brought four new residence halls online in fall 2020, fall 2021 and fall 2022, has replaced six residence halls as part of a public-private partnership. The project has provided nearly 2,300 beds — which includes a net gain of 500 beds — in three phases, while also adding better, more efficient campus parking.
• The $2.57 million Child Development Center expansion, which was completed in June 2022, with the new facility opening for the first day of fall 2022 semester classes at App State. This expansion nearly doubled the capacity of the five-star facility, which earned local accreditation in summer 2022.
  
• The $80 million Leon Levine Hall of Health Sciences, which was completed in 2018. At the time of its opening, Levine Hall was the largest capital project to date in App State’s history. It was the first completed project as part of the $2 billion Connect NC Bond referendum.