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.

Morganton’s The Paper highlights two App State student teachers, Savannah Epley and Laiken Baker, who reflect on the challenges and joys of stepping into their first teaching roles while navigating the unexpected realities of the profession. Both Epley and Baker are senior elementary education majors from Morganton.

The Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education has announced the winners of its 2024 Zaentz Early Education Innovation Challenge. Now in its fifth year, the challenge recognizes and awards promising new ideas and strategic approaches that have the potential to transform early education. A team from App State’s Reich College of Education won an Audience Choice Award for its proposal to create a bachelor’s degree program with a concentration in child development.

Dr. Daniel Caton, professor in App State’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, speaks to WFDD about the negative effects of light pollution and the importance of preserving dark skies for educational and environmental purposes. Caton is the director of App State’s Dark Sky Observatory, a research facility equipped with multiple telescopes that is open to the public once a month.