Thank you, Jacqui, and good afternoon, everyone.
I know both Jacqui and Jennifer had other academic commitments and couldn't be part of the faculty/staff meeting but it's great to see them here today.
I’d like to begin by saying that I appreciate Brad sharing a legal perspective here today. The university’s senior leadership team is aware of and monitoring changes to federal policies and how they may impact higher education, including App State. I shared at the Faculty Staff meeting Friday — and I’d like to reiterate here in this setting — that changes in federal policies are nothing new for us. That said, currently, there’s nothing requiring us to make any changes at App State. If any changes should become necessary, my colleagues and I will work with our teams to communicate and provide support.
I’ll now share a few highlights from my remarks on Friday. My full remarks, as well as those shared by:
- Assistant Vice Provost of Student Success Shernita Lee,
- Assistant Vice Provost of General and Experiential Education Ted Zerucha and
- Director of Career Development Jennifer Shaffer
are posted on the Academic Affairs website.
Today, I’ll cover the following topics:
- The Innovation District’s academic building, energy district and the faculty/staff housing;
- The university’s performance metrics;
- Our expected research designation through the Carnegie Classification system;
- Planning for academic offerings at the Hickory campus;
- Collaborations with Project Kitty Hawk; and
- Our collaboration with NC Innovation.
Innovation District update
Construction continues moving forward, with the benefit of the recent mild weather. New wind turbines have been erected on the hillside; builders are completing the final steps to make them fully functional and tie them in with the zero-carbon district energy system, and ground-mounted solar panels are on track to be installed later this spring. Construction on the district’s STEM Academic Building will begin later this spring as well.
Progress continues on construction of new faculty and staff housing units. Despite delays due to the hurricane and the extreme weather in January, we anticipate residents being able to move in this fall. Pilar Fotta, Assistant Director of Relocation and Dual Careers Assistance, has invited Radnor Property Group and Harrison Street, the housing development team, to share information at an upcoming Faculty Senate meeting. A working group representing faculty and staff, headed by Pilar is also developing criteria for allocating these housing units, which have already generated significant interest.
Institutional performance metrics update
We’re in the second, 3-year phase of measuring and reporting our institutional performance metrics, which align with the UNC System Strategic Plan and emphasize undergraduate student success, as well as affordability and university productivity. They include a strong emphasis on degree efficiency and reducing student debt.
The performance metrics being assessed include:
- The institutional four-year graduation rate for first-time, full-time bachelor’s degree-seeking students;
- Undergraduate degree efficiency — the number of undergraduate degrees awarded per 100 full-time equivalent undergraduates;
- Average credits earned per year for full-time undergraduate, degree-seeking students;
- First-time students’ debt at graduation;
- Transfer students’ debt at graduation; and
- Education and related expenses per degree.
As you’re aware, App State's funding allocations are tied to success in these areas, based on how our actual performance compares to baseline and stretch goals (unique to each campus relative to its own historical performance).
Specific details about our performance metrics and our progress to the goals are posted on the App State’s Future website. Just go to the university homepage and click the block that reads, “What’s in App State’s future?”
I’ll note that these are not a measure of individual program return on investment, however, it’s certainly worth repeating that all of our programs have positive ROI for in-state, undergraduate students.
Carnegie Classification update
As Chancellor Norris and I have been sharing, our Carnegie Classification is reviewed every three years by the American Council on Education. Research designations are based on two quantitative metrics: research expenditures and doctoral degrees awarded.
In the last three years, the innovative efforts of our faculty have assisted in increasing research dollars invested in App State, allowing more students to work side-by-side with faculty who are seeking and applying knowledge to solve problems and sharing their findings in peer-reviewed and published academic research.
App State researchers have steadily built — with staffing, processes, and research opportunities — a foundation for our new, higher levels of research and creative activity productivity. We've been evolving over time to arrive at this moment because of the dedication, involvement, and success of faculty in innovative and meaningful research, much of which has provided opportunities for student scholarship.
The depth of our expertise facilitates our ability to differentiate ourselves on a national scale as offering a high-quality education that utilizes local-to-global applications and tailors technology, business and social systems to build strong communities around the world. We expect to receive recognition of this by the American Council on Education very soon.
Over the past year, App State celebrated a record-breaking year in terms of the number and dollar amount of awards sought and received, surpassing $25 million awarded! This success provides more opportunities to creatively educate, engage and prepare our students.
Of course, we are still, at our core, a teaching institution, and that will always remain fundamental to our identity. It’s why we remain focused on student success and including students in our research and creative endeavors, offering educational opportunities that wouldn’t be available to them at other institutions.
As we continue to evolve and expand our research and creative endeavors, we will remain focused on areas in which App State strategically leads and where the market shows demand. This expansion will be informed by our new Academic Strategic Plan and our Research Strategic Plan, and we don't anticipate a broad or universal change in workload balance in the areas of teaching, research, creative activities and service. A working group, led by Vice Provost Christine Hendren is engaged in a full assessment of all related factors for our university.
Hickory Campus update
As we develop programs with future enrollment in mind, we are planning for steady numbers in Boone — consistent with the last 5 years — and increased enrollment on the Hickory campus and for our online program.
The Hickory campus now serves more than 500 students. Programs offered at our Hickory campus continue to be refined to align with our academic and research strategic plans and to meet the needs of the community, region, and state. It is important that App State offers the majors that students want, provides students with the ability to complete General Education and business core courses, and supports the workforce needs of the region.
We are committed to ensuring students can pick the best path to earn undergraduate degrees in 4 years. We are continuing to develop options for Hickory-only programs and additional graduate degrees that support areas where we strategically lead and where the market shows demand. In doing so, we’ll rely heavily on our academic and research and creative activities strategic plans— which you can find on the Academic Affairs and IRAP websites.
Project Kitty Hawk update
App State Online continues to provide an excellent option for students who wish to attain their educational goals and career aspirations, but are place-bound. Our partnership with Project Kitty Hawk represents a significant extension of the university’s 50 online programs. Since signing an agreement with Project Kitty Hawk last April, we’ve added five online programs to our portfolio, which are designated as Flight Path programs in our online portfolio.
You may recall in Chancellor Norris’ message to campus last Friday, she reported that App State had record spring enrollment. This included 154 Flight Path students in our five current programs. The PKH programs are already contributing significantly to our overall enrollment numbers, demonstrating that we are responding to demand from nontraditional students.
Last fall, we offered Bachelor of Science degree programs in health care management and in supply chain management, and this spring, we added three new programs to this portfolio: bachelor’s degrees in accounting, criminal justice, and organizational leadership and learning. These five undergraduate programs target busy, working adults who — through Project Kitty Hawk — have 24/7 technical support, personalized coaching and advising, and multiple start dates to meet their needs. These programs also help provide flexible opportunities — for adult learners in particular — across the state and beyond.
NCInnovation update
I’ll conclude my remarks with a brief update on our partnership with NCInnovation.
You may recall that NCInnovation is a nonprofit organization that provides grant funding, mentorship and partnership development to support researchers at North Carolina’s public universities, and that NCInnovation hubs assist researchers by connecting them with industry and business services, helping advance their research so it can become widely available and applicable for the marketplace.
In November, the UNC System announced App State would become a regional NCInnovation hub. It’s an exciting step forward for App State and for Western North Carolina, and it will come with additional opportunities.
Our collaboration with NCInnovation not only enhances opportunities for our faculty, staff and students, but it also supports the vital mission of translating university research into solutions that benefit the people and economies of our state and region.
Additionally, the Office of Research and Innovation, with support from the Transportation Insight Center for Entrepreneurship, is also working to connect and coach faculty on their paths to protecting and commercializing intellectual property that has the potential to generate value and financial impact for the state of North Carolina.
There’s great work taking place here, and I enjoy every opportunity to share it with you.
Chair Bergman, this concludes my report.