Appalachian State University encyclopedia topics

History

Appalachian State University began in 1899 when a group of citizens in Watauga County, under the leadership of Blanford B. Dougherty and his brother Dauphin D. Dougherty, began a movement to educate teachers in Northwest North Carolina. Land was donated by Daniel B. Dougherty, father of the leaders in the enterprise, and by J. F. Hardin. On this site a wood frame building, costing $1,000, was erected by contributions from citizens of the town and county. In the fall of 1899, the Dougherty brothers, acting as co-principals, began the school which was named Watauga Academy. The first year saw 53 students enrolled in three grades.

In 1903, after interest in the school had spread to adjoining counties, D. D. Doughterty was convinced the state would fund institutions established to train teachers. He traveled to the state capital, Raleigh, after drafting a bill. W. C. Newland of Caldwell County introduced the bill in the North Carolina Legislature to make this a state school, with an appropriation for maintenance and for building. Captain E. F. Lovill of Watauga County, R. B. White of Franklin County, Clyde Hoey of Cleveland County and E. J. Justice of McDowell County spoke in favor of the measure. On March 9th, 1903, the bill became law, and the Appalachian Training School for Teachers was established. The school opened on October 5th, 1903 with $2,000 from the state and 325 students.

For twenty-two years there was a period of steady growth, academic development, and valuable service to the State. In 1925, the legislature changed the name to the Appalachian State Normal School and appropriated additional funding for maintenance and permanent improvement. Four years later, in 1929, the school became a four-year degree granting institution and was renamed Appalachian State Teachers College. Over 1,300 students were enrolled in degree programs offered for primary grades education, physical education, math, English, science, and history.

Appalachian attained national standards by becoming accredited by the American Association for Teacher Education in 1939, and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1942. In 1948 a Graduate School was formed. Dr. Dougherty retired in 1955, after 56 years of serving the school. J. D. Rankin became interim president until Dr. William H. Plemmons was installed. Plemmons lead from 1955 to 1969, and his administration oversaw the addition of new buildings as campus expanded and enrollment growth to nearly 5,000 students.

Appalachian was transformed from a single-purpose teacher’s college into a multipurpose regional university and Appalachian State Teacher’s College became Appalachian State University in 1967. Growth continued in the 1970s to around 9,500 students and 550 faculty. Afterward, three degree granting undergraduate colleges were created: Arts and Sciences, Fine and Applied Arts, and Education. Dr. Herbert Wey succeeded Plemmons as president in 1969 and was named chancellor in 1971. In 1972 Appalachian State became part of the University of North Carolina system.

Campus

Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of northwestern North Carolina, Appalachian State University has one of the highest elevations of any university in the United States east of the Mississippi River, at . The university's main campus is in downtown Boone, a town that supports a population of 13,328, compared to a total ASU enrollment of 15,871 students. The campus encompasses , including a main campus of with 21 residence halls, four dining facilities, 19 academic buildings, and 11 recreation/athletic facilities.

The center of campus is considered to be Sanford Mall, an open grassy quad between the student union, dining halls, and library. Along with Sanford Hall, located on the mall's edge, it is named for Terry Sanford, a former governor of the state. Rivers Street, a thoroughfare for town and university traffic, essentially divides the campus into east and west sections with underground tunnels and a pedestrian bridge connecting the two halves. The eastern half includes Sanford Mall, Plemmons Student Union, and Belk Library, along with two communities of residence halls, Eastridge and Pinnacle. The campus on the west side has Trivette Dining Hall, the Quinn Recreation Center, Kidd Brewer Stadium, and Stadium Heights and Yosef Hollow, the two remaining residence hall communities. At the north end of campus, Bodenheimer Drive crosses over Rivers Street and leads to Appalachian Heights (an apartment-style residence hall open only to upperclassmen), Mountaineer Apartments (housing for non-traditional students), the Chancellor's House, The Living Learning Center, the Broyhill Inn and Conference Center, and Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium. The George M. Holmes Convocation Center, located at the south end of Rivers Street is the gateway and entrance to campus.

The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, located on the edge of main campus, is the university's visual art center. The Turchin Center is the largest visual arts center in northwestern North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and southwestern Virginia. It displays rotating exhibits indoors and outdoors, some exhibits being culturally specific to the Appalachians, and offers community outreach programs through art courses. Farthing Auditorium, a 1,734 seat performance venue, hosts artists from around the world.

Administration

The University of North Carolina's Board of Governors plans and develops the coordinated system of higher education with the state. They establish university policy but delegate daily operation of Appalachian State to a chancellor. The chancellor likewise delegates some duties to the provost, several vice-chancellors, and other administrative offices. These administrative offices are advised by several university committees on the needs of campus constituents, as represented by a Faculty Senate, Staff Council and Student Government Association.

Presidents

Dr. B.B. Dougherty (1899–1955)
Dr. J.D. Rankin (1955, Interim)
Dr. William H. Plemmons (1955–1969)
Dr. Herbert Wey (1969–1971)

Chancellors

Dr. Herbert Wey (1971–1979)
Dr. Cratis Williams (1975, Acting)
Dr. John E. Thomas (1979–1993)
Dr. Francis T. Borkowski (1993–2003)
Provost Harvey Durham (2003–2004, Interim)
Dr. Kenneth E. Peacock (2004–present)

Academics

Rankings and recognition

Recognized by TIME Magazine as a College of the Year in 2001.
Featured in The Princeton Review's 2008 edition of America's Best Value Colleges.
Ranked 5th overall among regional public comprehensive universities in the South and 10th overall among public and private universities in the South in U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges 2008.
Ranked 21st in Consumers Digest magazine's 2007 edition of Top 50 Best Values for Public Colleges and Universities.
Ranked 27st in Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine's 2008 edition of 100 Best Values in Public Colleges.

Library

In 2005, the Carol Grotnes Belk Library & Information Commons opened in a new five story building. Belk Library holds over 871,000 bound books and periodicals, 1.5 million microforms, 24,000 sound recordings, and 14,000 videos. The Library holds varying collections, including the W.L Eury Appalachian Collection for regional studies and the Stock Car Racing Collection Besides serving university patrons, the library also serves as a public library for the local community, although circulation is available only to registered patrons.

Colleges

The university comprises five colleges and schools and one graduate school that offer 99 undergraduate and 68 graduate courses of study. The average GPA for incoming freshman in 2007 was 3.68 and the average SAT score was 1124. The Goodnight Family Sustainable Development Program (SD) is an interdisciplinary course of study unique to Appalachian State.

Publications

The university publishes or holds copyrights to several periodicals, including:

Appalachian Business Review, Bureau of Business and Economic Research, Walker College of Business
Appalachian Journal, Center for Appalachian Studies, College of Arts and Sciences
Appalachian Today, University magazine
Cold Mountain Review, Department of English
The International Comet Quarterly, Department of Physics and Astronomy (ceded to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in 1990)
Journal of Developmental Education, Center for Developmental Education, Reich College of Education
Journal of Health Care Marketing, Center for Management Development, Walker College of Business
" The Appalachian", Student Newspaper

The University's faculty contribute to a variety of peer reviewed journals as listed by the Belk Library's faculty publications database, and members of its Department of Physics and Astronomy serve as editors for the nationally distinguished journal The Physics Teacher.

Centers and institutes

The university houses several academic centers and institutes related to its mission. These include:

Adult Basic Skills Professional Development Project
Appalachian Energy Center - Includes the following:

Appalachian Family Innovations - Committed to the development, implementation, and refinement of leading edge helping programs for troubled youth and their families
Appalachian Regional Development Institute - Outreach and economic development for the Appalachians
Center for Appalachian Studies - Includes the Appalachian Collection held by Belk Library, the Appalachian Cultural Museum, and publishing editor of the Appalachian Journal
Center for Entrepreneurship
Center for Judaic, Holocaust, & Peace Studies
Center for Management Development
Institute for Health and Human Services
Math and Science Education Center
National Center for Developmental Education and the Kellogg Institute

Student Life

Students at ASU enjoy a variety of outdoor activities. The mountains offer snowboarding, skiing, tubing, rock climbing, hiking, rafting, camping, and fishing on and around the Blue Ridge Parkway. ASU also supports many clubs and organizations such as Greek organizations, academic and diversity clubs, and sports clubs. ACT office supports community service in the area.

Car and motorcycle enthusiasts are within minutes of some of the best known roads in the Appalachians as well as several local roads that are geared toward the performance driver/rider and the sightseers alike. Many ASU students are members of car clubs in which they actively participate in including the student run, Boone section of Western North Carolina Rides and a local club: High Country Sports Car Club. Both clubs hold regular meetings year round, even when the majority of the students go home for the summer or when the weather gets nasty in the winter.

ASU also offers off campus courses to students living off the mountain. Students work in cohorts and create family-like relationships. Off campus programs offer students the ability to maintain family and careers while working towards a degree.

Beginning in the Fall of 2008, new distance-education, full-time undergraduate programs will be available in Advertising, Criminal justice, Management, and Psychology.

On the famous King Street, you can find almost anything you wish in our eclectic shops. King Street also offers a large variety of different cultural food choices.

Greek Life

Greek life on Appalachian State University's campus is made up of 14 fraternities and 7 sororities. There are several events that the Greeks hold each year. Lots of these raise money for the surrounding community. Such events include lip sync which takes place during the Homecoming weekend and raises money for the red cross. Greek community service events are held by each fraternity and sorority on campus. Individual sororities and fraternities all have major philanthropies that hold certain events each year to raise money for the specific cause. Each organization strives to better the community and also form strong bonds with their members. Sorororites and fraternities mix with each other at social functions and also encourage a strong panhellenic unity. Not only do fraternities and sororities mix at social functions, but also mix to do service events like roadside clean-up. Sororities on campus include Alpha Phi, Kappa Delta, Sigma Kappa, Alpha Delta Pi, Delta Zeta, Phi Mu and Chi Omega. Alpha Omicron Pi will be starting a new chapter at App State in fall 2008. Fraternities on campus include: Delta Chi , Delta Tau Delta, Pi Kappa Alpha, Pi Kappa Phi, Theta Chi, Tau Kappa Epsilon, Kappa Alpha Order, Sigma Nu, Kappa Sigma, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Lamda Chi Alpha and Alpha Sigma Phi.

The Arts

Appalachian State University has rising Theatre and Dance Department. The theatre aspect of the department offers opportunities to get involved in multiple areas of theatre including: performance, technical, and general. The website is located on ASU's main web page to find the link to find out more information on the Bachelor degrees offered at the campus.

Athletics

Appalachian's sports teams are nicknamed the Mountaineers. The university currently operates 20 intercollegiate athletic programs which compete in the NCAA Division I Southern Conference. The Mountaineer football team competes in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA).

Kidd Brewer Stadium is the home of Appalachian football. Affectionately nicknamed "The Rock", the stadium is located at an elevation of .

The Holmes Center, seating 8,576, is the homecourt for Appalachian's basketball teams. It is also the home for volleyball and indoor track and field. The arena, located on the corner of Rivers Street and Blowing Rock Road, opened on November 17, 2000.

University Recreation (UREC) also offers 19 club sports that compete with other regional institutions on a non-varsity level. They are: lacrosse (men's and women's), rugby (men's and women's), soccer (men's and women's), ultimate frisbee (men's and women's), volleyball (men's and women's), climbing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, ice hockey, skiing, racquetball, snowboarding, swimming, and triathlon.

Football

Appalachian won three consecutive Division I FCS (I-AA) national championships in 2005, 2006, and 2007, over the University of Northern Iowa, the University of Massachusetts, and the University of Delaware, respectively. The Mountaineers are the first FCS team to win three straight national championships since the playoffs began in 1978. They are also the first Division I program to win three consecutive national championships since Army accomplished the feat in 1944, 1945, and 1946, and the first Division I school in modern times to claim three straight undisputed national titles.

In a milestone for ASU athletics, the Appalachian State football team played their season opener at the University of Michigan in front of the largest crowd to ever witness an ASU football game on September 1, 2007. Appalachian State beat Michigan 34-32 and became the first Division I FCS (I-AA) football team to defeat a Division I FBS (I-A) team ranked in the AP poll. College Football also changed a rule allowing FCS teams to be ranked in the Top 25 following the App State / Michigan upset.

On August 30th, 2008 the 2007 FCS champions Appalachian State will face the 2007 FBS champions LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at 4 PM Central for their opening game.

Events and news

An Appalachian Summer Festival, hosted by the university, has been named one of the "Top 20 Events in the Southeast" by the Southeast Tourism Society for more than a decade.

In 2004, a committee for the Appalachian Family Caravan tour created a promotional video titled "Hot Hot Hot," shown throughout the area by Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock. The video became an inadvertent internet phenomenon and was featured on VH1’s Web Junk 20 program in early 2006. The video was never intended to promote Appalachian State to anyone but the Family Caravan, much less as a recruiting tool for prospective students. The video is no longer used by the university, due to student and alumni protests.

In 2001, MTV's program Road Rules visited ASU to produce an episode called Campus Crawl, aired on-campus during an annual, winter student swimming event called the "Polar Plunge". The show's participants also crossed a high-wire strung between Coltrane and Gardner Halls.

On July 2, 2008 The Appalachian State Football team received an ESPY nomination for the biggest upset in their 34-32 win over the Michigan Wolverines on September 1, 2007