Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It’s been an exciting beginning to the academic year! Following the groundbreaking for the Sofield Family Indoor Practice Facility, the big wins have continued for Mountaineer Athletics. Cross country, field hockey, soccer and volleyball are all starting out their seasons with great success! And of course, we’re excited to go into our first home Mountaineer football game 1-0. More than 10,000 student tickets have already been claimed for this game — so we know it will be a fun experience for students and their families here for Family Weekend!

We also have heard great feedback about yesterday’s meeting with our High Country Community partners, and it was wonderful to have members of this board and the Foundation Board in attendance.

I thank you, Chair Ricks, for prioritizing the strengthening of our relationships with government, civic and education leaders from the High Country to the Catawba Valley.

I’d also like to take a moment here to welcome Brad Cooper to App State. As I shared earlier this week, after a national search, I’ve appointed Brad to the role of chief financial officer, effective Oct. 6. Brad’s background and experience include more than a decade of increased responsibility in accounting and finance roles in higher education at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and Auburn University, as well as three years in the public sector for the Alabama Housing Finance Authority. He is a certified public accountant with numerous professional licenses in his portfolio, and we are fortunate to have him join our team. Brad, thank you for being here today.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Greg Lovins, who continues to steadfastly lead the finance area with grace and professionalism through a key time of transition for the department and the university. Thank you, Greg.

And of course, this weekend is Family Weekend at App State — an opportunity for Mountaineer family members to spend time with their students with a wide selection of fun activities: from arts events, to sharing meals together in campus dining locations, to an evening of celestial investigations with App State astronomers, to attending local community events like the Watauga County Farmer’s Market and Blowing Rock’s Art in the Park, to cheering on our student-athletes at Mountaineer football and field hockey games.

It’s a great opportunity for families to get a taste of the variety of on- and off-campus experiences available to our students.

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. These are all factors that are independently recognized — including by the Moody’s global credit rating agency, which upgraded the university’s status to a stable overall outlook last week.

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.

Thank you to this board for your role in this continued success. We are fortunate to have you as leaders, advisors, supporters and advocates — who are passionately focused on the success of our students, faculty and staff.

Last Friday was census day — the date we use to report our official enrollment numbers. I’m happy to report that demand for an App State education remains strong. This year will mark yet another record year of enrollment for our university. Our total enrollment is now 21,798.

This is our largest enrollment ever, and the growth is accounted for primarily by a nearly 28% increase in our online student population, as well as some strong growth in the number of students on our Hickory campus and in our graduate programs.

We continue to strategically manage Boone campus enrollment, recognizing the area here has limited capacity to increase its population, and in keeping with this, Boone campus student enrollment has stayed stable again this year, as it has for more than five years.

Looking to the future, we’ll continue to hold Boone enrollment steady while focusing growth at our Hickory Campus and with our App State Online programs, including our new “Flight Path” programs, tailored for adult learners.

Supported by the Project Kitty Hawk partnership with the UNC System, we’ve launched new online undergraduate programs in supply chain management, criminal justice, health care management, accounting, and organizational leadership and learning, and we are launching an online marketing degree in the coming year.

We signed the partnership agreement with Project Kitty Hawk in April of last year, and enrollment in the PKH-partner programs now accounts for 14% of our online students.

Transfer students now make up nearly one-third of the total undergraduate student population, with 70% of new transfer students coming to the university from 140 community colleges across the nation.

Through our Aspire Appalachian program, we have formal partnerships with nearly 60% of North Carolina’s community colleges, and we’ve been recognized statewide, as well as nationally, for our support of transfer students. Thanks to Nate Weigl and the Transfer Admissions & Engagement team, we were recently recognized as a leader for our Aspire Appalachian program, which focuses on high-demand fields, significantly boosting degree completion rates, surpassing the national average by over 22%.

As we grow opportunities through our Hickory Campus and our online educational platforms, there’s a real opportunity to expand access to a high-quality, cost-effective education that builds the skills and innovations our communities need for the future.

We understood this several years ago, when we began academic program planning for our Hickory Campus — expanding higher education access in what was previously the largest metropolitan area in the state without a four-year public university campus.

Since that time, we’ve actively engaged with government, educational, industry and civic leaders in the Catawba Valley area. We’ve looked at current and projected labor market data for the area, measured student demand and industry needs and worked with faculty to ensure we can deliver programs that students can complete on time with positive return on investment and favorable career outcomes.

Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Neva J. Specht and her leadership team have focused the educational offerings on the Hickory Campus to 13 core programs that align with our Academic Affairs strategic plan and the needs of the Hickory area market. Our Hickory campus majors now include programs that span the broad areas of business, education and health sciences.

We will continue to offer opportunities to complete general education and business core courses at App State Hickory, and we are actively developing additional new program offerings unique to the Hickory Campus — as well as certificates, professional development and evening and weekend class meeting times that work for students who are also holding down full-time jobs.

The latest phase two renovations for the 225,000-square-foot App State Hickory Campus second floor were completed over the summer.

These beautiful renovations, which opened for the fall 2025 semester, include more classrooms, conference room spaces and offices on the second floor — as well as a new computer lab and cybersecurity lab, two science labs, and student lounge and study areas.

We look forward to showing you around the campus at an upcoming Board meeting, and of course you are welcome to drop by any time to see it in person!

We are grateful for the continued partnerships with education leaders in the area, and we are also appreciative of the relationships and collaborations we are forming and strengthening, including with Lenoir-Rhyne University, Catawba Valley Community College, Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Morganton. The conversations we’ve had with these institutions have been very productive — yielding the creation of new “2+2s” and research mentorship programs, and I look forward to more to come!

As we look to the future, building upon our many strengths — our purpose will continue to drive us. There are incredible opportunities for us to further advance App State’s mission to serve our region and the people of North Carolina:

• Providing access to high-quality education — with even more opportunities for experiential learning, applied research and community engagement;
• Continuing to provide these outstanding educational experiences in a cost-effective manner, ensuring our academic programs continue to yield positive return on investment and our students continue to have some of the lowest college debt in the country;
• Adding value to our students’ experiences inside and beyond our classrooms, studios and labs;
• Enriching experiences in the arts and athletics; and
• Using our collective talents and expertise to partner with — and serve — our communities.

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, there will be opportunities for students, faculty, staff, alumni, community members and members of this Board to engage in collaborative, collective and iterative strategic planning, prior to this Board’s review and approval.

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 are also expanding 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.

We’ll also lean into the work of many groups, including our AI task force and its component parts, looking at teaching, learning, research, business practices and processes and the many ways we can use this emerging and rapidly evolving technology to enhance and support our work.

As we enter into September, memories of Hurricane Helene grow stronger — and App State’s commitment to serve is stronger than ever.

We continue to engage with community leaders, state and federal officials, nongovernmental organizations, civic and philanthropic organizations and educators to develop community partnerships and implement research, regional networking tools and other resources, a path forward for identifying and meeting key needs for our region, and ways to build back stronger and more resilient as we prepare for future events while seeding a strong economic future for our region.

As you heard, during lunch yesterday, 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.

And I know we are ALL looking forward to our first home game and the best fan experience in the nation! Coach Loggains is off to a great start, and his comments at yesterday’s Community Partners Breakfast were inspirational and exciting!

I look forward to seeing you all at the game tomorrow, to a 2-0 season start, and to welcoming our students and their families to The Rock!

They can’t wait either ... as you can see in this video by the University Communications Team!

That stadium will be full ... and loud very soon! And we can’t wait!

Mr. Chair, this concludes my remarks.