Message from Interim Chancellor Heather Norris

Friday, August 23, 2024

Our first week of classes for the fall semester brought new energy and excitement in Boone and Hickory, and we celebrated with ice cream socials on both campuses (watch a fun video here). The weather in Boone has a bit of a football season feel, and in Hickory, Saturday evening’s weather is looking perfect for an App State-sponsored Hickory Crawdads game — get there early to get your App State/Crawdads-themed baseball jersey!

If you missed my welcome video, I hope you’ll take a moment to watch it here.

If you're new to either campus or haven't been on campus regularly throughout the summer, you will notice there's quite a bit of construction underway!

  • Yesterday, we cut the ribbon on the new Holmes Drive Parking Deck. This long-envisioned project has been included in App State’s master planning since 2016, and we’re so glad to open the 600-space parking deck! A lot of work went into the creation of this deck by university staff as well as our contractors. The partnership with the project builder, New Atlantic Contracting, has also meant internship opportunities for students.

  • For those of you new or returning to campus after the summer, I've been providing periodic updates on projects under construction, and this is one of several projects you can learn about that are underway or recently completed. We have a lot of information about major campus construction projects, including status updates, funding sources, and more, on our App State’s Future website.

  • We also regularly publish a Campus Construction Update podcast. The latest one, which you can listen to here, covers renovations to Wey, Edwin Duncan and Peacock halls, the Hickory campus, the University Post Office upgrade and the App 105 sports complex, among other projects.

  • Two new cybersecurity labs — one on each campus — will support the new Bachelor of Science in cybersecurity program. The Boone campus lab opened Monday and the Hickory campus lab is nearing completion. Both of these labs will offer students hands-on training opportunities in safeguarding digital assets and information.

As we move forward into the new academic year, I want to make you aware of a few personnel changes that are taking place:

  • This month, we’ll say farewell, but not goodbye, to our Police Chief and Director of Public Safety Andy Stephenson. At the end of this month, Andy will join the UNC System’s Safety and Emergency Operations team.

    Andy has served our university with distinction since 2017. His legacy includes the App State Police Academy and Cadet Program, which are now well established and have distinguished the university throughout the nation. We wish Andy the very best with this next step in his career and look forward to continuing to work with him in his new role with the System.

    Capt. Johnny Brown has agreed to serve in the role of Interim Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety until a permanent Chief is named. Johnny is beginning his 23rd year at the university. He’s a proven leader who is well known and respected at the university and within the surrounding communities we serve, and he brings important experience in establishing and maintaining a culture of safety and mutual respect among the many constituencies we serve. Please join me in thanking Johnny for his prior service and for stepping into this role of continued leadership for our university.

  • We’ll also bid farewell to General Counsel and Director of Institutional Integrity Paul Meggett this month. Paul has accepted a position with the University of Maryland, Baltimore. We have been fortunate to have Paul leading our legal and compliance areas, and wish him the best as he moves to the next step in his career.

    Brad Trahan is transitioning into an interim role as General Counsel and Director of Institutional Integrity. He is coming to us from the UNC System Office, where he currently serves as Senior Associate General Counsel. He has significant experience with matters that will be important to the continued success of the university, including career experience at the University of North Carolina System and at two UNC System institutions.

    Since 2021, Brad has provided advice and counsel to administrators and staff on a broad range of legal, contractual and regulatory issues. His primary practice areas include finance and administration, strategy and policy, business and transactional matters, construction and real estate, university governance and government relations. Prior to his work at the UNC System Office, Brad worked at UNC-Charlotte (from 2018-2021) and NC State University (from 2014-2018).

    We look forward to Brad joining the App State team and appreciate the UNC System’s assistance in ensuring continuity in our operations as Paul departs.

    Both Johnny and Brad will begin in their interim roles on Sept. 1.

At the beginning of the academic year, we hold an opening meeting for faculty and staff. Earlier this week, faculty and staff received an invitation to this meeting, which is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 29 at 3 p.m. in the Grandview Ballroom of Kidd Brewer Stadium's north end zone facility. I’ve asked several members of my leadership team to join me and share key initiatives from their areas, to offer a broad perspective on what’s underway for the coming semester. The meeting will be livestreamed for those who aren’t able to attend in person (look for information coming about that next week), but I hope to see a lot of people there in person! We’ll also have an opportunity to spend time together at a reception immediately afterward, where we can have conversations about the information we’ll share.

The fall semester is off to a great start! I look forward to sharing with you the continued success and excitement that the new academic year will bring.


Heather Norris
Interim Chancellor