Dear App State Faculty, Staff and Students,
I am pleased to announce that Dr. Amy Wood has been appointed Associate Vice Provost for Academics and Community Outreach at the App State Hickory campus, effective immediately.
In her role, Amy will oversee program development and analysis across all levels and delivery methods for the Hickory campus. Her key responsibilities will include support for strategic development and implementation of innovative academic programs, outreach initiatives, and collaborative partnerships that benefit both the university and the local community. As the Hickory campus grows and evolves, Amy’s responsibilities will adapt to meet emerging challenges and opportunities.
Since 2023, Amy has served App State as Executive Director of Corporate and Community Engagement in University Advancement. In this role, Amy helped strengthen relationships with Hickory campus partners through her service on several community boards and committees, including the City of Hickory’s University City Commission, the Board of Directors for Carolina Caring Inc., the Advisory Council for the Art of Compassion Project and the Greater Hickory Metro Tourism Partner Committee. She has been an invited guest speaker at multiple events in Catawba County, and she developed and launched the first Hickory campus leadership forum.
Before joining App State, Amy held multiple roles at Lenoir-Rhyne University progressing through the faculty ranks to full professor and serving as assistant provost and dean of the graduate school — steadily advancing in leadership positions along the way. During her 26-year tenure at Lenoir-Rhyne, she worked closely with academic deans to build and grow new academic programs while maximizing existing graduate programs, contributing to a 500% increase in graduate enrollment from 2007 to 2022. Amy also played a key part in the development, launch and administration of two branch campuses in Asheville, North Carolina, and Columbia, South Carolina, where she managed the budgets for both remote campuses. She developed the Lenoir-Rhyne Partners program — a strategic collaboration with regional employers that yielded over 13,000 credit hours and $7 million in revenue from 2014 to 2022. She also established and supervised the Office of Graduate Student Support and Success to focus on retention and engagement. These are just a few of her many accomplishments.
Amy holds a Bachelor of Arts in politics and sociology from Wake Forest University, a Master of Arts in agency and community counseling from Lenoir-Rhyne University (formerly Lenoir-Rhyne College) and a doctorate in counseling and counselor education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Please join me in welcoming Dr. Amy Wood to her new role and in supporting her as she undertakes these vital responsibilities for our academic community.
Sincerely,
Neva J. Specht
Acting Provost