Are you ready for some Mountaineer Football?!? The season officially begins today at the Bank of America Stadium, and I am looking forward to seeing it packed with Mountaineers. Thanks to App State Athletics for sharing this fantastic photo.

Message from Chancellor Heather Norris: August 29, 2025

Friday, August 29, 2025

With a new academic year underway, and as we prepare for the first football game of the season later today, I’m filled with a sense of pride for who we are as a university and who we have the potential to become.

In a challenging time for the higher education industry, Appalachian State University is operating from a position of strength, largely because of who we are as a community. Individually and collectively, we are bolstered by our shared university culture and history.

  • App State’s trusted brand, robust student demand and a solid history of strong enrollment, successful expansion in Hickory and online programs, steadfast operating support from the State of North Carolina, and long-standing, healthy donor support give us much to build upon. As a driver for innovation, we’re making significant impacts here in the High Country and far beyond — with technological innovations, rural health care initiatives, educational leadership, creative endeavors and explorations that connect our past to our future.

  • While maintaining our student-centered approach to education, our university has grown into a dynamic research institution. Our recent Carnegie Classification to Research 2 status, in recognition of our achievements in teaching and research, places us among the nation's doctoral universities with high research activity and affirms a continued trajectory of academic excellence.

To ensure we continue as a strong and vibrant institution of higher education and a community that is a jewel in the crown of the best public higher education system in the country, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to engage in collaborative, collective and iterative strategic planning.

  • We will, in the coming year, begin developing our next universitywide strategic plan — identifying our long-term goals in accordance with our institutional mission and vision.

  • We will expand efforts to ensure broad participation in the university’s Master Plan, which will be a living guide for the university’s long-term development in ways that support the strategic goals of the institution and communities we serve.

We will also have more opportunities than ever to lead with innovation and research and make a direct and lasting positive impact in our local communities.

  • As we enter into September, memories of Hurricane Helene grow stronger — and App State’s commitment to serve is stronger than ever. We are bringing together community leaders, state and federal officials, nongovernmental organizations, civic and philanthropic organizations and educators to develop and implement research and community partnerships that will help our region build back stronger and more resilient to prepare for future events.

  • And, at the end of September, we’ll host another community meal in Central Dining Hall — mark your calendars for Sept. 30 from 5 to 8 p.m. More information about the event will be provided as the date draws closer.

The university will be closed this coming Monday for the Labor Day holiday, and as we mark the unofficial end of summer, the cooler weather — and already a few changing leaves on the Boone campus — remind us that fall is coming. What better way to celebrate than with some App State Football?

I hope to see many of you wearing your black and gold this evening in the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, as the Mountaineers take on the UNC Charlotte 49ers during the 2025 Duke’s Mayo Classic. I’m looking forward to joining the roar of our fans and alumni as we cheer on these dedicated and talented student-athletes, who look to bring a victory home to Boone before our first home game next Saturday.

This season holds the promise of several exciting home games, including matches against Oregon State — who will make their first trip to Boone — Coastal Carolina, Marshall and Georgia Southern. I look forward to seeing the greatest fans in college football tonight in Charlotte and at Kidd Brewer Stadium all season long!


Heather Norris
Chancellor