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The App State hellbender team surveys the New River near Boone. Pictured, from left to right, are biology graduate students Brent Kinser, Aidan Hedges and Hutch Whitman, App State alumna and lab technician Emily Gillikin '24 and recent App State graduate Hunter Comeford. Photo by Chase Reynolds

App State advances community-driven research for recovery and resilience
Sep 22, 2025

BOONE, N.C. — Hurricane Helene’s cascading effects swept through Western North Carolina’s communities, landscapes and institutions.

Grants & Research, Outreach & Community Engagement, University News
Students gather around the table on Sanford Mall during the 2023 Community FEaST. Photo by Chase Reynolds

October 8: 2025 Community FEaST
Sep 2, 2025

2025 Community FEaST
Wednesday, October 8, 2025, from 4:30-6:00 p.m.
Sanford Mall, Appalachian State University

Events, Outreach & Community Engagement
Dr. Julie Shepherd-Powell

From one mountain community to another: App State professor delivers warmth to Qwaqwa [faculty featured]
Aug 27, 2025

A spirit of international collaboration and heartwarming generosity filled the air on the Qwaqwa Campus as Prof Julie Shepherd-Powell, Graduate Pro

Faculty & Staff, Outreach & Community Engagement
A band competes against more than 100 others in the bluegrass band competition during the 89th Annual Old Fiddler's Convention on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025, at Felts Park in Galax, Va. Photo by Allison Isley for NPR

Old Fiddler's Convention is pushing 90 and keeping mountain music alive [faculty featured]
Aug 20, 2025

GALAX, Va. — Ellie Massey, 13, stands inside a giant, yellow tent with dozens of other contestants and practices singing the gospel tune, "I'll Fly Away." Her grandfather, Jim Coleman, and uncle, Jacob, accompany her on guitar and mandolin.

Faculty & Staff, Outreach & Community Engagement
People enjoying Guy Ford River in Sugar Grove on July 26, 10 months after Hurricane Helene hit the area. Photo by Emma Green

Stories in the mud: Boone’s rivers after Helene [student featured]
Aug 19, 2025

Hurricane Helene hit Western North Carolina Sept. 27 with three days of heavy rain, permanently altering the infrastructure and geography of the area.

Students, Outreach & Community Engagement
A Foster Grandparent Program volunteer assists a child with reading.
The Center for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University
App State environmental science majors Kyia Wing, a senior from Suwanee, Georgia, left, and Kaden Cusack ’25, an App State alumnus from Cary, take a close look at the new boulder donated to the university’s rock garden by Albemarle Corp. Cusak graduated from App State in May, earning his bachelor’s degree in environmental science. Photo by Chase Reynolds
Susan Keefe, Pegge Laine, Carolyn Grimes, Roberta Jackson and Lynn Patterson discussed the recent projects of the Junaluska Heritage Association. Photo by Nick Fogleman

Library celebrates the Junaluska Heritage Association [faculty featured]
Jul 2, 2025

BOONE — The annual Friends of the Watauga County Library celebration featured a panel discussion centered on two recently published books about Boone’s historic Junaluska neighborhood: “Junaluska: Oral Histories of a Black Appalachian Community” and “The Junaluska A

Faculty & Staff, Outreach & Community Engagement
Tucker Terrell ’25, who graduated from App State in May with a bachelor’s degree in geology-environmental geology, far left, shows community members where a single headstone was located by App State researchers trying to determine the position of grave sites in an area formerly covered with brush behind the Fort Defiance site in Caldwell County. Photo by Bret Yager