App State celebrated its new chancellor, Dr. Heather Norris, at the Hickory campus on Friday, Feb. 28. The reception was attended by App State employees from the Boone and Hickory campuses, students, the president of Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute, and others from across the region.

myFutureNC honors the 2025 Champions for Attainment — a distinction awarded to individuals and organizations demonstrating outstanding dedication to expanding access, success and completion for adult learners across N.C. App State was recognized for its Aspire Appalachian program, which provides transfer students from 27 partner community colleges with a clear pathway to completing their associate and bachelor’s degrees.

Dr. Rahman Tashakkori, Lowe’s Distinguished Professor in App State’s Department of Computer Science, is featured in this NCInnovation Q&A series. Tashakkori speaks about the two-year grant he received to advance the development of the Beemon system — a unique tool for decreasing honeybee hive die-off and increasing hive production.

Experts, including Dr. Lori Medders, chair and professor in App State’s Department of Finance, Banking and Insurance, explain how “last resort” insurance plans likely won’t have enough reserves to cover damages from natural disasters like the Los Angeles wildfires and hurricanes Helene and Milton, specifically in Florida.

In this WalletHub feature, Dr. Yalçın Açıkgöz, associate professor in App State’s Department of Psychology, offers his expert predictions for the job market in 2025. Açıkgöz is a faculty member in App State’s Industrial-Organizational Psychology and Human Resource Management (IOHRM) program.

The Hickory Daily Record features two recent App State graduates, Vee Bui ’24 and Cody Zimmerman ’24, both first-generation students from Hickory, who speak about their time at the university and their plans for the future. Bui earned her bachelor’s in communication sciences and disorders from App State in 2024, and Zimmerman earned his bachelor’s in both general management and sales from App State in 2024.

The latest Open Doors Report on International Education Exchange has ranked American colleges and universities that sent the greatest number of students to study abroad in the 2022–23 academic year. App State ranked third among master’s level institutions, with 697 students who studied abroad during that time frame. The university also ranked first for the number of students who participated in short-term study abroad programs, and 13th for the number of students who participated in mid-length study abroad programs.

The Hickory Daily Record covers the second installment of App State’s Hickory Leadership Forum series, moderated by Dr. Melba Spooner, dean of the Reich College of Education. At the event, Spooner and other local education leaders discussed leading with compassion.

App State is set to launch a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree program in fall 2026 — the university’s first doctoral program in the field of health sciences. WFDD speaks with Dr. Tammy Haley, professor in and chair of App State’s Department of Nursing, who explains how the new program will help address the nursing shortage in rural North Carolina.