A welcome message from the Chancellor

Friday, August 12, 2016

Dear Members of the Appalachian Community:

Welcome to the Fall 2016 semester. Our campus was bustling with activity over the summer. An Appalachian Summer Festival brought a slate of world-renowned performing and visual artists to our campus, we celebrated the fifth annual Appalachian Energy Summit and we hosted hundreds of elementary, middle and high school students on our campus for academic and athletic camps.

Over the summer, many of you inquired about my health, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all the kind words of support. Your compassion is true to the spirit of Appalachian’s caring community.

At the end of the summer, our Solar Car team, Team Sunergy, was the first-ever North Carolina team to compete in the American Solar Challenge, an international competition in which collegiate teams design, build and race solar vehicles. The team placed third in the qualifying track race, the Formula Sun Grand Prix, and finished the 1,975-mile, cross-country race in sixth place. This incredible group of students and their faculty mentors represent both the entrepreneurial spirit and the deep and lasting understanding of sustainability that is representative of Appalachian.

This morning, I was proud to announce to our newest group of incoming veteran students that Appalachian will soon open a new Student Veteran Resource Center. The center will be located in the Plemmons Student Union, and will provide support and resources for our student veterans. Look for the center to open later this year.

Veteran students are a part of the mosaic of what it means to be an inclusive campus to all students, and maintaining our commitment to inclusivity will be a key focus in the coming year. Throughout the year, you will encounter many opportunities to engage in conversations, activities and events dedicated to fostering inclusive dialogue.

One of these opportunities is coming up very soon. I hope you will join me on Monday, August 15 at 1pm in the Holmes Convocation Center for our first Black and Gold Convocation. The event will feature bestselling author Jon Ronson, who wrote Appalachian’s Common Reading book, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed. Ronson’s book has much to teach us about the complexities of human interactions, and I look forward to hearing the conversations that will continue to take place about this book throughout the semester.

Move-in day is always so exciting! Today, we are expecting the arrival of about 3,100 new students to our campus. While we won’t have final numbers for a few weeks, we are anticipating the largest, most diverse class in Appalachian’s history. Please join me in welcoming the newest members of the Appalachian Community.

I wish you all a productive, safe and intellectually stimulating semester.

Sincerely,

/s/ Sheri N. Everts

Sheri N. Everts
Chancellor