Military-affiliated students at Appalachian State University take advantage of free resources provided by the Major General Edward M. Reeder Jr. Student Veteran Resource Center, located in the Plemmons Student Union. Photo by Marie Freeman
BOONE, N.C.—Appalachian State University ranks ninth on Victory Media’s Military Friendly Schools Top 10 list for large public universities in 2018.
Since 2010, Victory Media — the premier media entity for military personnel transitioning into civilian life — has awarded Appalachian the designation of Military Friendly School, which places Appalachian in the top 15 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools in the country that are doing the most to embrace military students, and to dedicate resources to ensure their success in the classroom and after graduation. This is the first year, however, that Appalachian has made Victory Media’s Top 10 list.
“I am particularly pleased and proud of Appalachian’s ranking as No. 9 among large public universities,” Chancellor Sheri Everts said. “Additionally, the Military Times: Best Colleges list included Appalachian for the first time in 2017. These distinctions recognize Appalachian for its university culture, academic quality and outcomes, policies, student support, cost and financial aid as part of its commitment to providing quality educational opportunities to America’s veterans and military-connected students.”
Cindy Barr, associate vice chancellor for enrollment management at Appalachian, said the university is honored to be named to the list.
“Appalachian has a well-established military affairs committee, comprised of faculty, staff and students, who are dedicated to supporting and advocating for our student veterans across the Appalachian Community,” she said. “We recognize the leadership, maturity and discipline that they bring to the classroom and our campus community.”
Eric Gormly, coordinator of student veteran services at Appalachian, said the university makes a great effort to attend military installation education fairs and meet with student veterans one-on-one. Appalachian also opened its Major General Edward M. Reeder Jr. Student Veteran Resource Center over a year ago. The center sends a powerful statement to potential students about the school’s dedication to seeing student veterans succeed, he said.
Student veterans tend to go back to where they grew up, or they stay near their last duty station, Gormly said. They often use such guides as Victory Media’s for help in making their final decision.
“In our case, it may be a student deciding between one of the 17 University of North Carolina System schools, as North Carolina has the third-highest military population in the United States,” he said. “If they see Appalachian highly ranked in the three most-often used sources of information, it maybe causes them to take a deeper look.”
Appalachian was the only school in North Carolina to make the Top 10 list for large public universities. The other schools named, from first to 10th, are CUNY College of Staten Island, Buffalo State College, Eastern Michigan University, Vincennes University, University of West Florida, the City College of New York, Palm Beach State College, Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Whiteville and California State University-San Bernardino.
About Appalachian State University
Appalachian State University, in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, prepares students to lead purposeful lives as global citizens who understand and engage their responsibilities in creating a sustainable future for all. The transformational Appalachian experience promotes a spirit of inclusion that brings people together in inspiring ways to acquire and create knowledge, to grow holistically, to act with passion and determination, and embrace diversity and difference. As one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, Appalachian enrolls about 19,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and graduate majors.
