Appalachian Today

In this Q&A, Dr. Charlie Chen, App State’s winner of the 2025 UNC Board of Governors Excellence in Teaching Award, reflects on his 22-year career at the university. The annual award is given to one outstanding faculty member at each UNC System school. Six additional App State faculty have been recognized by the board with campus-based awards.

At the App State Academy at Middle Fork, instead of a single teacher handling all responsibilities for one classroom for one grade, a collaborative team of academy educators supports student learning across two combined grade levels.

More than 350 people — including cybersecurity professionals from 12 states — took part in App State’s fourth annual Cyber Summit, held Feb. 21 at the Boone campus. The event was hosted by the Walker College of Business’ Department of Computer Information Systems.

Tommy Guy ’07 said the out-of-the-box thinking he learned as a Mountaineer has been fundamental to his success since graduating from the university. Now Guy — who works at Microsoft as a principal architect for Copilot AI — remains an engaged member of the App State Community, investing in students and programs across the university.

App State assistant professor Dr. Ashley Adams is conducting research on soil biotic communities across rangelands in California — work that is vital for sustaining one of the world’s top agricultural producers. Her work is part of a $7.9 million USDA investment to promote soil health.