on campus
Diversity Celebration: eight years running Every April for the past eight years, Appalachian has invited the world to its doorstep through the Diversity Celebration. This year’s event is scheduled for April 7. The festival cultivates an appreciation and understanding of cultural differences through performances of local and regional artists, craft workshops, and ethnic foods prepared by local chefs. This free, educational event engages citizens of the region, thus strengthening the ties between university and community. “Recognition of a common humanity is the first step in celebrating differences that inform our cultures, our values, and our ways of being in the world,” said Susan King, director of education and outreach with the Office of Equity, Diversity and Compliance. “Every year people of all ages who attend the festival get the opportunity to experience this lesson,” King said. The Diversity Celebration is funded in part by Appalachian’s Staff Council and Parents Association, and Watauga County Arts Council with Grassroots funds from the North Carolina Arts Council. Learn more at www.celebration. appstate.edu or by calling 828-262-6252 or 828-262-2144.
Sustained commitment to communities honored Appalachian is one of 119 colleges and universities receiving the “community engagement” classification from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The designation recognizes institutions that have internalized and sustained their commitment to collaborate with communities through teaching, research and outreach. “The university is dedicated to using its resources to improve citizens’ lives in this region, state and nation,” said Provost Stan Aeschleman. “We not only recognize our obligation to provide public service but also the educational value of doing so. Accordingly, we are committed to connecting what is learned in the classroom and laboratory to activities that promote the public good.” Appalachian’s classification reinforces its commitment to the UNC system’s UNC Tomorrow initiative that calls for institutions to serve the regions where they are located and the people of North Carolina. Both the university’s new general education curriculum, which takes effect next fall, and its strategic plan focus on community engagement.
Board of Governors grants approval for new college The UNC Board of Governors has approved the establishment of a College of Health Sciences and Allied Professions at Appalachian as well as a new dean’s position to lead the administrative unit. The new structure will allow Appalachian to combine several related programs into one college. It will house Appalachian’s Department of Health, Leisure and Exercise Science, the Department of Nursing and the foods and nutrition degree programs, all currently housed in the College of Fine and Applied Arts. Also moving to the new college will be the Department of Social Work currently housed in the College of Arts and Sci-
Summer Brook performs a Native American dance at a past year’s event.
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Appalachian Today Spring 2009
ences and the health management degree program housed in the Walker College of Business. The communication disorders degree programs currently based in the Reich College of Education may also become part of the new structure. Faculty positions will report to the new dean by fall 2011.
LGBT Center opens Appalachian opened a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center on campus last October in the Plemmons Student Union. It is one of just four of its kind in North Carolina. The center provides a safe, welcoming and inclusive space for LGBT students and organizations, provides programming and support, and serves as a resource for the entire university community. Creation of the center was recommended by the GLBT Task Force, commissioned by Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock in fall 2007, after task force members found that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students, faculty and staff at Appalachian experience the climate for acceptance and appreciation differently from their nonLGBT peers. “Appalachian is a growing, changing university,” Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock said at the dedication ceremony Oct. 3. “Today’s dedication clearly states this university is committed to helping everyone to reach their full potential and believes that every person is valued and appreciated.” More than 150 students visited the center in its first three months, many of them non-members of the LBGT community seeking information to better understand their peers. “We’re helping Appalachian learn more about the LGBT community which is helpful in opening up the campus to a greater understanding of diversity,” said Joyce Washington, the graduate assistant who staffs the center. The LGBT Center is coordinated by the Office of Multicultural Student Development.