Student Affairs Impact Report 2021-2022

MESSAGE FROM THE VICE CHANCELLOR

I am proud of how our Student Affairs team served students and the campus community during the 2021-2022 academic year. Within this report there are several examples of the many ways our division touches campus life through our divisional tagline Care. Engage. Transform.

The purpose of this report is to inform you about our divisional work. A few highlights include:

Contributions to various departments through teaching

The completion of several capital projects

Recognition of key gifts and contributions that truly made a difference to our students

Support for Diversity: Inclusive Excellence initiatives

COVID vaccines provided along with contact tracing

Each of the areas in this report reflect actions that have truly made a difference for our students. Thank you for being a partner, advocate, and supporter of Appalachian State University, the Division of Student Affairs and our ability to educate and graduate students!

With Mountaineer Pride, -JJ Brown

MISSION STATEMENT

We develop lifelong learners and leaders by engaging and challenging students within a culture of care and inclusion

VISION STATEMENT

We aspire to transform all students through a foundation of care and engagement

TAGLINE

Care: Our work creates a culture of care that builds a foundation for students to thrive and be resilient. Engage: Our diverse, student-centered community fosters local-to-global learning, leadership, engagement and service

Transform: We transform students into dynamic leaders and lifelong learners who will make a difference in their communities and throughout the world.

DIVISION ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Addressing COVID-19

Students, faculty, staff and community members were able to get COVID-19 testing and vaccines. Wellness and Prevention Services established a COVID-19 contact tracing team to contact all student COVID-19 positive cases and conduct contact tracing. Only 62.80% (1,776 out of 2,828) of positive student cases were reached However, once established, 90 41% (2,376 out of 2,628) of App State affiliated positive COVID cases were reached.

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Office of Intercultural Student Affairs, in collaboration with the Office of the Chief of Diversity, brought Bakari Sellers to campus for the 37th annual celebration. Students, faculty, staff and community members attended this event Sellers is a political commentator, author and former youngest African American elected official in the country

Focusing on Recovery Collegiate Recovery Community (CRC)

The CRC started out the year with one weekly SMART recovery support meeting, in addition to weekly individual support sessions for our students. We held two sober tailgates for football games and created a safe space for individuals in recovery to socialize, connect and build community. The spring semester yielded nine weekly meetings!

Chosen First Name Initiative

This initiative allows students, faculty and staff to use a chosen first name that is different from their legal first name for certain purposes, regardless of whether they have legally changed their name. Additionally, the Student Legal Clinic collaborated with the Chief Diversity Office to develop a program to assist students who wish to go through a legal name change in North Carolina

Assisting with Off-Campus Housing

Off-Campus Student Services successfully introduced and implemented a new apartment search software system to assist students who wanted to live off campus.

Reimagining Community and Leadership

After months of planning, a new office was created The Office of Community-Engaged Leadership (CEL) combines service, community and leadership in one department. This department was formerly ACT (Appalachian and the Community Together) and LEAD (Leadership Education and Development). CEL engages Appalachian State University students in academic, experiential and community-oriented programs that enhance their capacity to serve and lead in socially responsible ways for the benefit of their local and global communities.

Dollar Value of Service

Over the past eight academic years, App State students participating in service programs offered by the Office of Community-Engaged Leadership, as well as those enrolled in academic service-learning courses, have completed 270,697 volunteer hours resulting in more than $8 million contributed to the local community, when applying the $29.95 per hour national standard for volunteer time.

$29.95

270,697 completed volunteer hours national standard for volunteer time

$8 million contributed to local community

CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACADEMIC MISSION

Financial Support Across Campus

Student Affairs and App State's professionals contribute to the university’s academic mission by teaching courses and supervising internships, practicums and graduate assistantships Student Affairs also contributed financially this year by supporting the following initiatives:

Chancellor’s Scholars ACCESS Scholarship Program

Athletic Fields at App 105 Diversity Celebration

Graduate Student Government Association

Hayes School of Music ensembles

Honors College International Education Scholarship

The Smith Gallery

Student Media (WASU, The Appalachian, The Peel, AppTV)

Department of Theatre and Dance performances

36 fully-funded Graduate Assistantships

2,550+ GENERATED CREDIT BY 24 HOURSTAUGHT

STUDENTAFFAIRS

STAFF IN THESECOLLEGES

College of Arts and Sciences

Beaver College of Health Sciences

Hayes School of Music

Reich College of Education

University College

Walker College of Business

DIVERSITY & INCLUSIVE EXCELLENCE

Inclusive Excellence Grants

The Student Affairs Diversity and Inclusive Excellence Committee awarded grants up to $5,000 to Student Affairs departments to assist with their grant process. The 2021-2022 grants support diversity/inclusion efforts in the campus community and/or student experience:

Community-Engaged Leadership, Intercultural Student Affairs and Human Development & Psychological Counseling: Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) for Leadership Studies Students Students engaged in debriefing, analysis and application of their results. The IDI facilitated cooperative conversations and actions toward growth and development.

Wellness & Prevention Services: Exploring Disordered Eating and Body Image Acceptance among Students with Marginalized Identities and Males at Appalachian State University-hosted a series of educational events

Electronic Student Services: Lunch and Learn Technologystudent workers had monthly meetings/workshops focused around technology involving marginalized identities where food was provided

Community-Engaged Leadership: Inclusive Literature Book Club- This book club discussed books each month that featured a main character, diverse cast of characters, or was written by one with a marginalized identity The focus was themes of prejudice, inclusion and equity

Diversity Celebration

April 5-7, 2022

Each year, App State's Diversity Celebration provides a venue where diverse perspectives, cultures and values are accepted, appreciated and celebrated. The event supports and enhances the university’s commitment to be actively involved in addressing the educational, economic, cultural and societal needs of the changing region, state, nation and world. This year's event included the Diversity Celebration Festival, Asian Fest, Inclusive Leadership workshops, films, music and so much more

Counseling & Psychological Services: Riding the Waves Workshop Series-hosted a series of interactive psychoeducational and experiential workshops that helped empower students of marginalized identities at App State and provided them with therapeutic tools and resources

University Recreation: Adaptive Fitness-purchased adaptive fitness equipment to make exercise more accessible to more people, ensuring everyone has the opportunity to create the exercise plan that fits their unique needs

University Recreation: Goalball Sport League-Goalball is one of the most popular Paralympic sports designed for athletes who are blind. This grant helped University Recreation offer this accessible sport to both blind and ablebodied students

Intercultural Student Affairs: Inclusion and Identity of Students- This grant allowed the increase of intentional programs to bring in resources that unified student-athletes and non-student-athletes together.

BY THE NUMBERS

Counseling Center

18%

students seen for a clinical service were from historically underserved racial/ethnic backgrounds, matching the University’s percentage of underrepresented students

Periodic Comprehensive Review

(self-study and external review)

8 departments completed a Periodic Comprehensive Review

University Recreation

308,309 total visits

12,791 total visitors

1,928 intramural sports participants

Volunteer Hours

939 hours volunteered by Wellness and Prevention Services

7,200 hours volunteered by Fraternity and Sorority Life

Plemmons Student Union

84,578 hours of booked spaces

13,862 individual bookings

150 student employees

Student Health Service

49,058

total student visits to the clinic

6,812 pharmacy visits

2,114

COVID vaccines

26,641 lab tests

7,543 COVID tests

BY THE NUMBERS

University Housing Child Development Center

50 camps & conferences hosted

2,989 community-building opportunities created

4,000+ residence hall guests in summer 2022

"Welcome to App" Experience

97 children served

26 from student families

66 from faculty/staff families

5 from community families

Fraternity & Sorority Life

1,751

students surveyed after "Welcome to App" felt their experience was above average. This experience gives students an introduction to clubs, resources and activities on campus.

82% parents and families indicated their needs were met during move-in

First Year Move-In Student Veteran Services

students were members of fraternities and sororities

$52k raised in the spring for charitable organizations

#2

90% for Southern universities in the Best Colleges for Veterans category (U.S. News & World Report)

3.18 cumulative GPA for fraternity & sorority life

667 students in 14 chapters in the Interfraternity Council

36 students in 7 chapters as part of the National Pan-Hellenic Council

3.15 university's cumulative GPA

11 students in 2 chapters from the Multicultural Greek Council

1,038 members in 9 chapters in the Panhellenic Council total number of student veterans served 384

STUDENT AFFAIRS HIGHLIGHTS

Champions of Inclusive Excellence

The recipients of the Chancellor's Awards for Inclusive Excellence are Dr. Lamont Sellers, Director of Intercultural Student Affairs; Eris Jenkins, a grad student who had their assistantship in Student Affairs; and University Housing. The Chancellor's Award is designed to shine a light on individuals at App State and in the community whose work demonstrates an active, intentional and ongoing commitment to transformative change.

Show Sells Out

In February 2022, COIN was the first sold-out show after COVID-19 restrictions. In the Schaefer Center, the pop rock band played their hit "Talk Too Much" and had a memorable performance.

Noted Accomplishments

76 presentations were given by Student Affairs staff locally, state-wide, regionally and nationally

Our staff served in 80 different leadership roles across the country. Roles were held on boards, conference committees, government and local councils, economic development commissions, foundations, search committees, Staff Senate and many more.

Wellness and Prevention Services was awarded 6 grants, for a total of $87,722.56 during 21-22 and $89,995 50 in 2021-22

STUDENT AFFAIRS STAFF RECEIVED AWARDS OR WERE HONORED

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Mailyn Greig-Ratz, a senior who designed her own interdisciplinary studies major called Food Outreach Studies, served as one of the Peer Leaders on an Alternative Service Experience (ASE) program called “Growing Up Green.” This ASE program works with the Jones Valley Teaching Farm, which has been an ASE partner for more than a decade.

Laouratou Boiro is a senior psychology major and a fourth-year recipient of the Diversity Scholarship. “Being a part of the Diversity Scholars family, I have had the opportunity to connect to and learn from my fellow scholars and program leaders who hold varying perspectives and identities. Having challenging discussions, I have been empowered to be more inclusive of various ideologies and take action towards making the greater App State Community a safe place for diverse, marginalized students such as myself. The program’s commitment to service has strengthened my passion for service and allowed me to take great efforts in becoming involved with the campus community. These experiences have truly aided in my personal growth and I am so grateful to be a part of a community where I am surrounded with support from diverse-identifying students who are academically driven and inclusively minded. It has been an honor to be a part of this great community and I will look back at the positive experiences I have had as a Diversity Scholar fondly.”

Rylan O'Connor is a Plemmons Scholar. “The Plemmons Leadership Scholars Program has allowed me to experience and empathize with the community of Boone not just as an App State Student, but also as a volunteer, a leader, an advocate and a friend Additionally, being a Plemmons Scholar has helped me recognize who I am as an individual by providing me with countless opportunities to strengthen my leadership skills, explore my interests and take action on what matters to me. Plemmons has been a strong support system throughout my years at Appalachian and will have a lifelong impact on how I view community, leadership and empathy ”

CAPITAL PROJECTS

Child Development Center Expansion

The Child Development Center expansion was one of several major construction projects completed at Appalachian State University to enhance the App State Experience This project increased the capacity of the Child Development Center (CDC), which serves the university’s faculty, staff and students. Part of the Division of Student Affairs, the CDC offers high-quality, affordable care to 68 children. At the time of the expansion's opening in fall 2022, the center had a waitlist of more than 200 children/families The center can now house up to 126 students with the expansion.

New Residence Halls

New residence halls were approved in February 2019 to develop a multiphase, $191 million housing project. Phase one, which consisted of an additional 912 beds, was completed in 2020. Phase two allowed 640 more beds to come online in August 2021 with the building of Laurel Creek Hall Phase three was completed in July 2022 with around 6,100 students moving in to New River Hall and 18 other residence halls! Through the housing project, App State will save more than $73 million over the cost of developing the property on its own The housing project is made possible by millennial campus designation

Career Development Center

Career services play an integral role in preparing students to transition from college to employment or enrollment in an advanced degree This project started in December 2020 and was completed in August 2021. This space embraces more innovative uses of technology, along with high-quality, in-person engagement and flexible formats that meet the career and professional needs of App State students and the recruiting needs of employers. A couple of features of the new space include: open seating and work areas for students, evening programming space and screens and interview rooms where students engage with employers in a professional setting.

IMPACT OF GIVING

Mountaineer Emergency Fund

The Mountaineer Emergency Fund assists students who encounter an unforeseen financial emergency that places a student in significant financial hardship that would prevent them from continuing their App State education. The fund is made possible because of the generosity of donors committed to helping students in need achieve their educational goals. Almost 100 students were awarded a total of $47,840 given by 800 donors.

“Had I not been awarded the grant, I would have been evicted from my apartment. I can’t imagine the debt I could have incurred I’m sure I’d still be paying it off today if that had happened.” —

McKenzie M

Mountaineer Meal Share Plan

The Mountaineer Meal Share is a short-term assistance program developed in partnership with the Student Government Association, Dining Services and the Office of the Dean of Students for students experiencing food insecurity who do not have a meal plan. Awards were in the amount of $50. In fall 2021, $2,100 was distributed to 42 students. In spring 2022, $3,540 was awarded to 69 students.

Donor Profile, Scholarship for Student Veterans

WETHANKYOU OURPROGRAMS.

FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT OF

The creation of an emergency fund for student veterans with financial needs/emergencies, aptly titled the GY6 Emergency Scholarship for Student Veterans (GY6 Fund), is the embodiment of our institutional commitment to serving those who have served. GY6 or “I’ve got your six” is a military phrase meaning “I have your back ” The GY6 Fund is a measurable and substantive example of how much we care for our student veterans and their personal, professional and academic success.

“We are so honored to be in a position to give back to the university through a scholarship that honors veterans, spouses and their kids. After 36 years of military service, we know the need that veterans and their families have We would like to encourage others to make a donation to help the few that protect us daily in this country. What better way to say thank you than to give to the Appalachian Veteran Scholarship Center and Emergency funds.” Lt. Gen. (R) Robert “Bob” Ashley and Barbara Ashley