Special Collections Research Center

1910: Advanced (four year High School) Course with special courses in instrumental music, art, languages and bookkeeping, and a one-year Preparatory Course covering eighth-grade-level arithmetic, history, and geography.

1912: Domestic Science course offered; Domestic Science kitchen added to Watauga Academy.

1913: Quarter system began

1913–1914: A Normal Department offering two one-year courses for public school teachers; offered only one year.

1919: Manual Training Program founded.

1921: Legislature authorizes 2-year normal courses; placed school under N.C. State Board of Education. School begins phasing out high school courses.

1925: Appalachian Training School becomes Appalachian State Normal School for training of teachers.

1925: Demonstration Elementary School built on ASNS campus. All senior Normal students required to practice teach to graduate.

1925: Correspondence-Study Department started; eight-five students enrolled.

1926: ASNS accredited by American Association of Teachers’ Colleges and Normal Schools.

1929: Appalachian State Normal School becomes 4 year teachers college; name is changed to Appalachian State Teachers College.

1933: Social Science Department established (faculty includes 1 Ph.D.; 3 M.A.s; 1 B.A.). Dr. D.J. Whitener serves chair until 1956.

1933: English and History majors offered.

1934: French major offered.

1936: Speech Department formed. Officially called the Department of Extemporaneous Speaking.

1937: Home Economics major offered.

1938: First grad courses offered in Summer School, no degree offered.

1938: Social Science teacher certificate renewal offered.

1939: Department of Music Education started.

1939: 48 graduates with a B.S. in Social Science.

1939: ASTC accredited by American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.

1940: Library Science major offered.

1942: ASTC offers first graduate courses during summer in conjunction with the UNC graduate program.

1942: ASTC accredited by Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.

1942–1948: UNC extension degree continued at ASTC.

1946: Public School Music and Business Education majors offered.

1947: Graduate school accredited by State Department of Public Instruction (51 grad students in 8 depts).

1948: ASTC establishes full graduate program; first M.A. granted summer 1948.

1949: Graduate school accredited by American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.

1949: Social Science Department offers minor for grad students working towards an M.A. (Education major until 57-58).

1953–1954: First non-education graduate majors offered.

1957–1958: Major in Social Sciences possible until 1963.

1958: Industrial Arts Program initiated; Program commences with completion of Kerr-Scott Hall in 1961.

1962–1963: Graduate curriculum is revised. Graduate School awards 245 degrees.

1963: 68 undergrad courses are offered, 107 courses total at all levels.

1965: All graduate certificates must have academic major.

1965: Lucy Brock Nursery School opens.

1965: Non-teaching degree programs activated.

1965: Department of Social Studies separated into the Departments of History, Political Science, Geography and Geology, and Sociology.

1967: Multi-purpose regional university established; name changed to Appalachian State University in August.

1967: Three degree granting undergraduate colleges are created: College of Arts and Sciences, College of Fine and Applied Arts, and College of Education.

1967: Pre-professional programs are offered in the General College, offering interdisciplinary programs for pre-law, pre-medical, pre-dental, and pre-engineering degrees.

1968: Pre-forestry is added to the pre-professional programs.

1968: Board of Trustees appoints three deans to the new colleges in April. Nicholas Erneston is dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts, William C. Strickland is dean of College of Arts and Sciences, and Ben Horton is dean of the College of Education.

1968: W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection founded.

1969: ROTC and Military Science Department is established.

1970: College of Business is created.

1970: Independent study program and interdisciplinary program of honor studies introduced.

1970: Number of hours necessary to graduate with a baccalaureate degree is reduced from 195 to 183.

1970: Lighthouse Project launched in Watauga County Schools.

1971: Triple-T program created.

1971: Appalachian State offers specialist degrees in biology, educational leadership, higher education, and elementary education. The specialist degree was situated between the master’s and doctoral degrees.

1971: College of Business divides into four programs: Accounting, Business Administration, Economics, and the Department of Business, Economics, and Occupational Education.

1971: ASU joins UNC System as one of the sixteen regional campuses.

1971: Admissions partnership program created.

1971: Appalachian Consortium begins.

1971: Pre-nursing is added to the offered pre-professional programs in the General College. The program offers the first two-years of academic education required for a BS in Nursing. The additional two years have to be completed at another institution.

1972: Watauga College founded, and includes 100 freshmen, 20 sophomores, juniors, and seniors (both men and women).

1972: Appalachian Journal first published.

1972: Bachelor of Technology Degree offered.

1972: The Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation offers a BS degree in Health Education with teacher certification.

1972: “Women in History” course is offered.

1975: ASU shifted to semester system from quarter system.

1975: Hubbard Faculty Development and Instructional Services Center opened.

1975: 1st Cratis Williams Award for best gradate thesis is awarded.

1975: Warren Wilson Cooperative Project begins.

1975: Ecology is approved as a major in Community and Regional Planning in the Geography Department.

1975: The College of Education and Division of Human Resources are combined to form the College of Learning and Human Development.

1975: Students are allowed to change their decision to take a course on a pass-fail option through mid-semester instead of only in the first few days of the semester.

1976: Appalachian State’s Women’s Studies Program is founded.

1976: Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematical Science with a Computer Science option is offered.

1976: College of Business is accredited by the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business.

1976: The Division of Complementary Education is founded with four programming components: Plemmons Student Union, Cultural Affairs, Living and Learning, and Student Development.

1977: New policy dictates that no course in a student’s major/minor field can be taken as pass-fail.

1978: Pre-theology is added to the pre-professional program in the General College.

1979: Watauga College offers a Women’s Studies minor.

1979: Center for Appalachian Studies and MA in AS established.

Late 1970s: Department of International Studies is established (office created early 1970s).

1980: Plus-minus grading scale is instituted.

1980: W.K. Kellogg Institute is created.

1981: Watauga College initiates student-faculty mentor program.

1983: College of Education establishes Center for Excellence.

1984: Appalachian Cultural Museum starts.

1984: The College of Learning and Human Development becomes the College of Education.

1985: The Division of Complementary Education is split into the Departments of Student Development and Student Affairs.

1985: The College of Business adds a major in Restaurant, Hotel, and Resort Management.

1988: Appalachian State Board of Trustees approves School of Music.

1988: The Computer Science Program is accredited by the Computing Science Accreditation Board.

1990: Art Department adds a bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

1991: IDS 3533 Gay Experience/Media Interpretations offered by Kim Duckett.

1992: Core curriculum adjusted to place more emphasis on computers, math, and communication, with emphasis on writing, speaking, and computing skills courses.

1992: WMST 3050 History of Sexuality offered by Clark.

1992: 1st doctoral degree offered - Ed.D. in Educational Leadership.

1997: Summer Readings Program instituted for incoming freshmen for Phase I Orientation, freshmen will have the opportunity to read a book and discuss it with faculty members upon arriving in August for Phase II Orientation.

1943: In January, students filed five grievances with the administration, including displeasure at the ban on dancing and bridge, the lack of a student's voice in determining dormitory and campus policies, the library closing too early, the unfairness of Human Behavior grades, and the discriminatory management of the cafeteria. Between 200 to 400 students walked out for one day, and the strike was called off that night. The administration allowed the playing of parlor games, prohibited gambling, extended library hours to seven p.m., allowed the student council to determine and define new behavior grades, allowed a new student constitution, and asked that students use the methods outlined in the future in their constitution to address grievances. (Source: The Appalachian, January 29, 1943)

1961: Students held three rallies in April to protest student restrictions and wrote a petition demanding higher quality education, abolishment of the demerit system, later curfew hours for women, revision of library hours, a liberal class cutting system (allowing unlimited class cutting privileges for students with 300 or more quality points), and a looser dress code, allowing the wearing of Bermuda shorts and toreadors. (Source: The Appalachian, April 13, 1961)

1961: In May, in response to student petitions, the Administration allowed the wearing of Bermuda shorts and trousers on campus but forbade them from being worn in town, the cafeteria, and classes. Women’s curfew hours are extended to 10 pm Monday through Friday, 12 pm Saturday, and 11 pm Sunday. Library hours are extended to 10 pm Monday through Friday, 5 pm Saturday, and 2-5 pm Sunday. Requests for a cut system and abolishing the demerit system were not approved. (Source: The Appalachian, May 18, 1961)

1967: In November, Appalachian State students held an impromptu pro-war rally in protest of the Southern Student Organizations Committee’s anti-war speakers on campus. (Source: The Appalachian, November 10, 1967).

1969: Peace protesters held a moratorium to protest the Vietnam War; they were met with counter-demonstrators who threw eggs at them. Protestors were relocated to the I.G. Greer auditorium, where President Dr. Herbert Wey advised students of the right of nonviolent protest. (Source: The Appalachian, October 17, 1969).

1971: Peace protesters held a moratorium on Sanford Mall in May. Sponsored by Students for Action, between 200 and 400 students participated. (Source: The Appalachian, May 7, 1971)

1972: In February, seven men registered as candidates for May Queen in protest of the discrimination of minorities, the archaic nature of the event, and the objectification of women. Simultaneously, there was controversy surrounding the Student Government’s heavy involvement with social events. The SGA soon withdrew its sponsorship of May and Winter courts. (Source: The Appalachian, February 18, 1972)

1973: Cherokee teacher Mike Crowe spoke at Smith-Wright Hall on Native American discrimination. (Source: The Appalachian, May 8, 1973)

1979: Students held a demonstration against the Iran hostage crisis. An estimated 350 students participated. (Source: The Appalachian, November 20, 1979)

1987: Divestment Week was held in April by students, faculty, and staff and included lectures, fasts, picketing, and protests against Appalachian State investments in South Africa. (Source: The Appalachian, April 14, 1987) .

1990: Appalachian State’s annual Walk for Awareness began. It was started to honor university employee Jeni Gray, who was abducted and murdered in 1989 while walking near campus. It continues annually as a memorial to Gray and safety awareness. (Source: Watauga Democrat, September 4, 1991)

1990-1991: Students protested the construction of a student activity center at Appalachian State that would result in increased student fees and pollution. (Source: The Appalachian, October 30, 1990)

1995: Students protested the selection of Senator Jesse Helms as the commencement ceremony; his stand against diversity was the catalyst. Helms canceled his speaking engagement on campus. (Source: The Appalachian, April 25, 1996)

1995: Faculty and community members presented a “Speak Out” against hate crimes and intolerance in response to hate messages and threats graffitied in the Rivers Street Tunnel. (Source: The Appalachian, November 30, 1995)

2008: Students were arrested for trespassing on the third day of a sit-in protest in the B. B. Dougherty Administration Building against the use of sweatshop-produced goods in the University Bookstore. (Source: “The 19 Misrepresentations in Chancellor Peacock’s Message: A United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) response to the Chancellor’s misleading letter,” April 14, 2008, Appalachian State University Libraries Archives Subject Files: Student Protests)

2014: Black Lives Matter demonstrations involving students, faculty, staff, and community members occurred on the Appalachian State University campus in response to events in Ferguson, Missouri. (Source: The Appalachian, September 11, 2014)

2014: The University chapter of the International Justice Mission hosted a Stand for Freedom event on Sanford Mall. Students stood for 24 hours to raise awareness of Human Trafficking. (Source: The Appalachian, April 10, 2014)

2014: Students carried mattresses on campus to show solidarity with Emma Sulkowicz, a student who was sexually assaulted at Columbia University. Sulkowicz carried her mattress on her campus to protest the lack of action taken against her assailant. The event was called Carrying the Weight Together. (Source: The Appalachian, November 4, 2014)

2016: Students protested House Bill 2 and occupied the B.B. Dougherty Administration Building. While there, Chancellor Sheri N. Everts spoke with student leaders about improving communication between administration and minority groups on campus. (Source: The Appalachian, April 19, 2016)

2020: The Black at AppState Collective organized and led a march from the Sanford Mall to the Chancellor’s Office. The Collective protested the lack of action on the group’s demands, which focused on diversified recruiting and a bias reporting system. (Source: The Appalachian, September 4, 2020)

1970: The Black Student Association, originally Appalachian Black Cultural Organization (ABCO), was founded at Appalachian. The association’s “major function is to present concerns, needs, and interests of black students to the administration of Appalachian State University. The organization serves to promote cultural awareness and place special emphasis on the traditions, customs, and history of Black Americans.” All enrolled black students are automatically members. The group hosted Martin Luther King Jr. commemorations, Black History Month celebrations, Black Awareness Weekend, Ms. Black Cultural Pageants, and Gospel Choir concerts. The BSA spawned several associated service and social groups, including The Funk Mob (1978), founder Jarvis Moore, The Men’s Service Club (1981), founders Joe Dixon, Bennett King, Stanley Harris, Terry Lawrence, Ed Barnes, and James Luster, The Little Sisters (1982), founder Ms. Lisha Florence, and Ladies Elite (1983), founder Selina Parks. (Source: The Appalachian, May 1, 1984)

1971: Dr. Beauregard Stubblefield joined the Appalachian State faculty and became the first tenured African-American faculty member. (Source: Board of Trustees records, UA.01 “Chancellor's Report to the Trustees,” 1971-1972, Appalachian State University Libraries)

1971: Dr. Beauregard Stubblefield’s son Benjamin enrolled as the youngest student to enroll at Appalachian at the age of 13. He was enrolled in mathematics classes. (Source: Board of Trustees records, UA.01, “Chancellor's Report to the Trustees,” 1971-1972, Appalachian State University Libraries)

1972: The Student Senate appointed freshman Judy Gentry to the Homecoming Court to ensure representation. The Judiciary denied the appointment on the grounds that Gentry was not voted in. As a compromise, Gentry was added as a “special added feature of the 1972 Homecoming activities.” Gentry was the first African-American woman on any court at Appalachian State. (Source: The Appalachian, September 29, 1972)

1972: Appalachian Black Culture Organization held a Black Culture Expo to promote an understanding of African-American culture. (Source: The Appalachian, May 2, 1972)

1972: In April, Comedian and Civil Rights leader Dick Gregory spoke at Appalachian State. (Source: The Appalachian, April 7, 1972)

1973: The Black Cultural Center was dedicated during Black Expo Week. The Center was located in the basement of the East Dormitory. (Source: The Appalachian, April 5, 1973)

1974-1975: Robert Leake, the first African-American student government president, graduated with a B.A. degree in political science in 1975. He was also involved with the Men’s Glee Club. (Source: The Appalachian, March 26, 1974)

1974: Author Jesse Jackson became practitioner-in-residence for the College of Education. He was the author of many of the first illustrated children’s books with realistic depictions of African-American children. (Source: The Appalachian, April 18, 1974)

1975: “[A] group of African American students under the direction of Willie Fleming, Darryll Howell, and Daisey Logan form a gospel music group to sing for Black Expo Week. The following semester a group of Freshman students under the direction of Willie Fleming organized the BSA Gospel Choir.” (Source: The Appalachian, October 16, 1975)

1975: Doris Foxworth was elected “Miss Black Culture” during Black Expo Week in October. Miss Black Culture then participated in the Miss ASU contest in November. (Source: The Appalachian, October 16, 1975)

1975: African-American representation is sought for the Appalachian State Cheerleading Squad leading to controversy. (Source: The Appalachian, November 4, 1975)

1978: Six African-American Appalachian State students and the North Carolina Civil Liberties Union filed a class action lawsuit against Antlers Tavern in Blowing Rock for violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 after being refused entry based on their race and other related incidents. (Source: The Appalachian, April 27, 1978)

1983: Willie Fleming is appointed as Director of Minority Student Affairs. (Source: University Communications records, UA.23, Appalachian State University Libraries)

1984: The first campus observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is held. Willie Fleming, African-American Student Development director, leads the observance. (Source: The Mountain Times, January 1, 1994)

1985: Debi Phifer-Smith is crowned homecoming queen, becoming the first African-American homecoming queen. (Source: The Appalachian, October 9, 2014)

1987: Author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family, Alex Haley, spoke at Appalachian State in February. (Source: The Appalachian, February 3, 1987)

1997: In March, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chartered an Appalachian State University branch with sixty initial members. (Source: The Appalachian, March 13, 1997)

1997: Dr. Thalia J. Coleman became the first African-American woman to become a full-tenured Professor. (Source: Other Voices: A Publication of the Black Faculty and Staff, Spring, 2000, UA.51, Appalachian State University Libraries Archives Subject Files: African-American Faculty and Staff)

1999: Appalachian State held its first Martin Luther King Day Challenge. The Challenge consisted of service projects to bring students and the community together in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Source: The Appalachian, January 22, 2015)

2014: Black Lives Matter demonstrators conducted a silent “die-in/lie-in.” Demonstrations occurred in which students laid down for four and a half hours to symbolize how long Michael Brown's body lay on the ground after he was shot in Ferguson, Missouri. (Source: High Country Press, December 5, 2014)

2016: Dr. Willie Fleming was named Chief Officer for Diversity. (Source: Appalachian State University: Office of the Chancellor message to campus, May 13, 2016)

2020: The Black at AppState Collective organized and led a march from the Sanford Mall to the Chancellor’s Office. The Collective protested the lack of action on the group’s demands, which focused on diversified recruiting and a bias reporting system. (Source: The Appalachian, September 4, 2020)

2020: The Black at AppState Collective organized and led a march from the Sanford Mall to the Chancellor’s Office. The Collective protested the lack of action on the group’s demands, which focused on diversified recruiting and a bias reporting system. (Source: The Appalachian, September 4, 2020).

1903: Watauga Academy building completed, destroyed by fire 1946. Sole campus building included: 1st Floor--model primary room, domestic science kitchen, dining room, sick room, book room 2nd floor--library, printing office, sewing room, art room, library archives.

1903: Dougherty House built; moved off campus to Appalachian Heritage Museum in 1989.

1905: Coffey Farm adjacent to Newland Hall purchased.

1905: First Administration Building completed, demolished 1967.1st Floor–office, business room, chapel, 3 recitation rooms. 2nd Floor--auditorium, music rooms.

1906: Lovill Home, first women’s dormitory, completed; demolished in early 1930s.

1907: McNeil Cottage, boarding house for women, purchased.

1908: Edminsten farm on New River two miles southeast of campus, purchased.

1908: Newland Hall, 1st dorm for men, completed; demolished mid-1930s.

1911: Science Hall completed; destroyed by fire in 1946 with Watauga Academy.

1915: New River Light and Power Plant constructed on Edminsten Farm, services campus and six Boone customers.

1915: Campus buildings wired for electricity.

1915: Second Lovill Home completed.

1915: First Lovill Home becomes Lovill Annex, used primarily as women’s dorm during summer school.

1917: Arts and Crafts Building/Gymnasium/Industrial Arts Building constructed; demolished late 1930s.

1920: Justice Residence Hall completed; demolished early 1950s.

1923: New River Light and Power hydropower plant on Edminsten Farm destroyed by fire.

1924: New hydropower plant completed on Edminsten Farm.

1924: New River Steam Generator Power Plant on Appalachian Campus completed; demolished mid-1990s.

1924: Second Administration Building completed; destroyed by fire 1966.

1924: Women’s Gymnasium completed; demolished for Welborn addition, 1956-57.

1924: First White Residence Hall completed; demolished 1968.

1925: Central Dining Hall/Cafeteria/Welborn Hall completed; slated for demolition 2008.

1925: Boone Grade School/Appalachian Elementary/Old Education Building; demolished mid-1960s.

1929: Dauph-Blan Residence Hall completed; demolished 1980.

1930–1931: First Lovill Home, Lovill Annex demolished.

1931: Justice Annex; demolished early 1950s.

1932: Watauga County Hospital Built in location of first Lovill Home.

1934: Men’s Gymnasium completed; demolished early 1960s.

1934: College Bookstore moved to brick building on corner of Locust St. and College St.

1935: D. D. Dougherty Library completed.

1938: Appalachian High School/Demonstration High School completed.

1938: The first Faculty Apartments building completed, later named North Hall, and renamed Workman Hall in 1967.

1939: Second Newland Residence Hall completed; demolished mid-1990s.

1939: First Administration Building converted to Home Economics Building; demolished 1968.

1939: Old Science Hall (1911) converted to Fine Arts Building.

1939–1940: 13 Faculty Houses completed; converted later for departmental use and gradually demolished during 1990s.

1940: Smith-Wright Hall completed.

1940: Howard Street Brick House built,* current home to Psychology Research Department.

1946: Watauga Academy and old Science Building/Fine Arts Building destroyed by fire.

1946: Art and Music Departments moved to basement of Administration Building.

1946: New Barn completed.*

1949: Service Annex completed.

1949: Campus Laundry facilities completed in Services Annex Building.

*Source: Physical Facilities Inventory, 2003

1950: Fine Arts Building, later I.G. Greer Hall, completed.

1952: East Residence Hall completed.

1952: Justice Residence Hall completed.

1952: Hagaman Hall completed.

1952: I.G. Greer occupied by Music & Art Dept.

1953: Second Faculty Apartments building completed, later Coffey Residence Hall in 1981.

1954: New Appalachian Elementary/Demonstration Elementary School building completed, later named Whitener Hall.

1955: Original Appalachian Elementary School Building renovated, known as Old Education Building.

1955: Broome-Kirk Gymnasium completed; demolished early 2000s.

1957: President’s Home completed.

1960: Dauph-Blan Residence Hall renovated, renamed Watauga Hall in mid-1960s.

1961: W. Kerr Scott Hall completed.

1962: L.S. Dougherty Hall completed.

1962: Conrad Stadium completed, replaced College Field.

1962: Field House constructed adjacent to Conrad Stadium.

1963: Doughton Residence Hall completed.

1963: Rankin Science Building completed.

1965: Addition and renovation to Welborn Cafeteria completed.

1965: Home Management House completed.

1965: Lucy Brock Child Development Center/Nursery School completed.

1965: Duncan Hall completed.

1965: Northeast Building (Winn-Dixie, later H’Appy’s/Legends) completed.

1965: Appalachian High School merged with newly created Watauga High School; building renovated and renamed Chapell Wilson Hall.

1966: Chapell Wilson Hall reopens.

1966: White Residence Hall (2nd) completed.

1966: Hoey Residence Hall completed.

1966: Bowie Residence Hall completed.

1966: Lovill Residence Hall completed.

1966: Second Administration Building destroyed by fire on December 29.

1967: Plemmons Student Union completed.

1967: Second Lovill Home demolished.

1967: Home Economics/first Administration Building demolished.

1968: B. B. Dougherty Administration Building completed on sight of first Administration Building.

1968: Gardner Residence Hall completed.

1968: Cannon Residence Hall completed.

1968: Varsity Gym completed.

1968: Belk Library completed.

1968: Cone Residence Hall completed.

1968: Coltrane Residence Hall completed.

1968: Hagaman Infirmary renovated (old nurses home).

1968: Watauga County Hospital renovated into Administration Building Annex.

1968: First White Residence Hall demolished.

1969: Sanford Hall completed.

1969: University Bookstore completed.

1969: Warehouse constructed.*

*Source: Physical Facilities Inventory, 2003

1970: Rankin Science Hall addition completed.

1970: Eggers Residence Hall completed.

1970: Mechanical and Electrical Building constructed adjacent to Steam Generator.*

1971: University Services Building constructed.*

1972: Broyhill Conference Center for Continuing Education opened.

1972: Mountaineer Apartments complex A completed.

1972: New Barn constructed.

1972: Warehouse Annex constructed.*

1972: Hardin Park Elementary School opens in Boone, replacing the Appalachian Elementary School. The former elementary school building becomes home to several academic departments.

1973: Mountaineer Apartments complexes B-H completed.

1973: Water Treatment Plant constructed.

1974: Farthing Auditorium completed.

1974: Winkler Hall completed.

1975: Walker Hall completed.

1975: Steam Generator Plant renovated and renamed Physical Services Building.*

1975: The former Appalachian Elementary School building is renamed Daniel J. Whitener Hall and is formally dedicated in July.

1975: Garage and Grounds constructed.*

1976: Herbert Walter Wey Hall completed.

1977: Chemical Storage Building constructed.*

1979: Conrad Stadium rebuilt.

*Source: Physical Facilities Inventory, 2003

Early 1980s: Child Care Center (built 1928) purchased.

1980: Watauga Residence Hall demolished for Belk Library addition.

1980: Belk Residence Hall completed.

1980: Frank Residence Hall completed.

1980: Dark Sky Observatory completed.

1980–1981: Administration Annex renamed Founders Hall.

1980–1981: Cafeteria renamed Welborn Hall.

1980: Annas Student Support Building completed.

1980: Owens Field House dedicated.

1981: Faculty Apartments converted to co-educational dormitory for honors students; renamed Coffey Hall.

1983: Broyhill Music Center completed.

1983: Methodist Church, later renamed the Turchin Center, rebuilt after a fire.

1983: University Hall completed.

1984: Winn-Dixie at northeast corner of campus purchased, reopened as H’Appy’s.

1987: Quinn Recreation Center completed.

1987: Dougherty House moved to storage in an open field.

1987: Tomlinson Park dedicated.

1987: Auxiliary Warehouse constructed.*

1988: Conrad Stadium renamed Kidd-Brewer Stadium.

1988: H’Appy’s renovated and renamed Legends.

1989: Dougherty House purchased by Appalachian Heritage Museum and moved to US 321.

*Source: Physical Facilities Inventory, 2003

Early-Mid 1990s: 13 Faculty Houses on Faculty/Rivers St. gradually demolished.

Mid-1990s: Service Annex demolished.

Mid-1990s: Steam Generator Plant demolished.

1990: Raley Business Hall completed.

1990: Owens Field House renovations completed.

1991: Trivette Hall completed.

1993: Child Care Center renovated.*

1994: Appalachian Heights Apartments completed.

1994: Greenhouse completed; destroyed by fire 1997.

1994: Second Newland Hall demolished.

1996: Third Newland Hall completed.

1996: Thomas Academic Support Building completed.

1996: McKinney Alumni Center completed.

1996: Biology Greenhouse completed.

1997: Greenhouse destroyed by fire.

1997: Steam Generator Plant rebuilt on sight of Service Annex.

*Source: Physical Facilities Inventory, 2003

Early 2000s: Broome-Kirk Gymnasium demolished to make room for new Central Dining Hall.

2001: Holmes Convocation Center completed.

2002: New Chancellor’s Residence completed.

2002: Rivers Street Parking Deck completed.

2002: Living Learning Residence Hall completed.

2003: Living Learning Academic Building completed.

2003: Old 1963 Rankin Science Building demolished.

2003: Rankin Science North completed.

2003: Regional Chiller Building completed.*

2005: Belk Library and Information Commons completed.

2005: First Belk Library renamed Old Library Classroom Building.

2006: Whitener Hall demolished.

2007: Kerr Scott Hall renamed Katherine Harper Hall.

*Source: Physical Facilities Inventory, 2003

1973: Cherokee teacher Mike Crowe spoke at Smith-Wright Hall on Native American discrimination. (Source: The Appalachian, May 8, 1973)

1979: Appalachian State joined the International Student Exchange Program. (Source: ASU News Bureau release, February 27, 1987, Appalachian State University Libraries Archives Subject Files: International Students)

1982: Appalachian State's Native American Council sponsored the Native American Festival to educate about Native American culture and heritage. (Source: The Appalachian, October 23, 1986)

1985: The International Friendship Association was founded at Appalachian and operated under the International Studies Office. Dr. Ahmad Tashakori was the advisor. The association comprised 30 foreign exchange students representing over 12 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. (Source: The Appalachian, November 13, 1986) .

1992: In August, the first Native American Pow-Wow was held by Appalachian’s Native American Council on the grounds of Watauga High School. The program featured traditional Native American dances and artisans, primarily focused on tribes from the southeast. (Source: The Watauga Democrat, August 24, 1992)

1992: The Hubbard Center issued invitations to a group of faculty, staff, and students with the purpose of identifying issues of diversity on campus. (Source: Memorandum from Chancellor Francis Borowski to campus, January 16, 1996, Appalachian State University Libraries Archives Subject Files: Chancellor’s Committee on Diversity)

1993: Chancellor Francis T. Borowski established the Chancellor’s Committee on Diversity with the purpose of examining all aspects of the University to gauge the diversity climate and provide recommendations to create a more inclusive environment. (Source: Memorandum from Chancellor Francis Borowski to campus, January 16, 1996, Appalachian State University Libraries Archives Subject Files: Chancellor’s Committee on Diversity)

1995-1996: The Chancellor’s Committee on Diversity submitted a report to Chancellor Francis Borkowski with 114 recommendations for action or change to Appalachian policy or practice. Chancellor Borkowski responded to the report with 82 approved. (Source: Memorandum from Chancellor Francis Borowski to campus, January 16, 1996, Appalachian State University Libraries Archives Subject Files: Chancellor’s Committee on Diversity)

1996: Appalachian State funded a survey on the demographics of Latino migrant workers in northwest North Carolina. (Source: The Mountain Times, October 10, 1996).

1996: The Equity Office was established after reorganizing the Office of Women’s Concerns (OWC). The OWC's mission was to offer university personnel and students a neutral and confidential place to start resolving problems involving alleged harassment or discrimination. (Source: ASU News Bureau release, November 22, 1996, Appalachian State University Libraries Archives Subject Files: Equity Office)

2001: The Office of Admissions created the University Diversity Council, which consulted with the Office of Admissions and the Office of Multicultural Affairs. The responsibilities included “advisement of university publications; assistance with open house activities; coordinating special recruitment weekends and campus visits; involvement in recruitment procedures; and reviewing discussions on current campus diversity issues.” (Source: Internet Archive, December 5, 2003)

2002: The Faculty Fellows Program was formally launched after being introduced in 1993 to recruit and retain a diverse faculty. (Source: Internet Archive, June 14, 2007).

2007: Chancellor Ken Peacock appointed a committee of students, faculty, staff, administrators, and community members to develop a diversity plan for the university. (Source: Student Development Committee for Diversity Meeting Minutes, August 23, 2007, Appalachian State University Libraries Archives Subject Files: Diversity)

2013: Chancellor’s Commission on Diversity is formed with charge by Chancellor Kenneth Peacock. (Source: Office of Diversity: Milestones, 2013)

2013: The Gadugi Program was founded at Appalachian State and focused on celebrating Cherokee history and culture. “Founded in 2013, the Gadugi Partnership is a partnership between App State and Cherokee Central Schools. This partnership began as an initiative to address the critical need for Native American educators but has since expanded to support Indigenous students as they pursue various fields of study…Gadugi means “working together.” (Source: Appalachian Magazine, “Gadugi-Working Together to Preserve Cherokee Culture,” December 12, 2015)

2014: Service to a diverse student population is included as a component in the University Mission Statement and a strategic direction for the Appalachian State University Strategic Plan titled The Appalachian Experience: Envisioning a Just and Sustainable Future. (Source: The Strategic Plan of Appalachian State University, July 2014- June 2019)

2014: Bindu Kolli Jayne was appointed Associate Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Compliance and the university’s Chief Diversity Officer. (Source: Appalachian Today, “Find Your Sustain Ability: What does Social Justice have to do with Sustainability? A Conversation with Dr. Lee Ball and Chief Diversity Officer Bindu Kolli Jayne,” November 20, 2015)

2014: The first Equity in Action conference was held at Appalachian State. The conference was centered around LGBTQIA+ student issues on campus. (Source: The Appalachian, March 20, 2014)

2014: Chancellor Sheri N. Everts formed the Chancellor’s Student Advisory Committee for Diversity Recruitment with the purpose of actively recruiting diverse students to Appalachian State. (Source: The Appalachian, October 28, 2014)

2015: Chancellor Everts announced the implementation of fourteen recommendations provided by the Chancellor’s Commission of Diversity. Recommendations focused primarily on the recruitment and retention of underrepresented groups of students, faculty, and staff. (Source: Office of the Chancellor message to campus, May 13, 2016)

2016: The Bias Incident Reporting process was launched on the University’s Diversity website. (Source: Office of the Chancellor message to campus, May 13, 2016)

2016: Sonyé Randolph was hired as Appalachian State’s first full-time Equal Opportunity/Title IX investigator in the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Compliance (EDC). (Source: Appalachian Today, “Sonyé Randolph joins Appalachian’s Office of Equity, Diversity, and Compliance,” February 16, 2016)

2017: The Eastern Band of the Cherokee flag is hung in Plemmons Student Union on December 6. (Source: Office of the Chancellor newsletter to campus, December 8, 2017)

2020: Appalachian State joins ASPIRE, The National Alliance for Inclusive & Diverse STEM Faculty, to increase diversity in STEM faculty through inclusive recruitment, hiring, and retention practices. (Source: Appalachian Today, “App State joins national alliance to develop more diverse, inclusive STEM Faculty,” December 4, 2020)

2021: Appalachian State implemented the Chosen First Name Initiative, allowing constituents to choose a first name different from their legal first name for use on official university matters, including Appcards and diplomas. (Source: The Appalachian: Welcome Guide, 2021-2022)

2021: Chancellor Sheri Everts formed the Diversity and Inclusion Accountability Team. The team comprised students, alumni, faculty, staff, administrators, and members of the Board of Trustees. (Source: Office of Diversity: Milestones, July 21, 2020)

2022: Appalachian State adopted a Land Acknowledgment to recognize Indigenous Peoples that initially inhabited the land the university is now located on. (Source: Appalachian State University: Office of Diversity Annual Report, 2021-2022)

2023: The Lumbee tribal flag is hung in the Plemmons Student Union on February 27. (Source: Appalachian Today, “Lumbee tribal flag now hangs in App State’s student union, honoring the Lumbee people and their history,” March 3, 2023)

2023: The university initiative, the Campus Climate Support Program, was launched, providing resources for reporting bias or hate incidents. (Source: Office of Diversity: Milestones, 2023)

2023-2024: In the fall of 2023, North Carolina State legislators proposed bills to restrict and eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, claiming that the programs promoted divisive ideology. Consequently, state funds to promote underrepresented groups' representation were withdrawn from college campuses. DEI offices and programming were disbanded, and related workforces were reduced and reassigned. The Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina System convened on April 17, 2024, to update system policies and to comply with the impending legislation by repealing and replacing DEI policies in favor of a focus on neutrality. On May 23, 2024, 300.8.5 [R] Regulation on Diversity and Inclusion Within the University of North Carolina and 300.8.5 Policy on Diversity and Inclusion Within the University of North Carolina were repealed and replaced with 300.8.5 Equality Within the University of North Carolina, effective September 1.

1900: Enrollment 150; 4 students enrolled in high school.

1900: “The Dew Drop,” a school bulletin, course catalog, and general information pamphlet, is published. The “Dew Drop” was the main campus publication until 1929, when the school became a four-year teachers college.

1901: First graduates of Watauga Academy, Thomas C. Baird, farmer, from Valle Crucis, NC, and Jesse L. Moore, merchant, from Elizabethton, TN.

1902: Five students graduate from Watauga Academy.

1902: Blanford Barnard Dougherty travels to Raleigh to urge passing of a bill for $2000 funding for a state-funded teaching school. Bill was sponsored by Senator William Newland and passed by 1 vote on last day of General Assembly. Bill created Appalachian Training School for Western North Carolina counties, and was intended to prepare and train both teachers and students.

1903: Boone is chosen as site of Appalachian Training School over several communities with preexisting suitable schools. To help fund school, Watauga County had to raise $1,500 to match government funds. Boone raised money with help and widespread promotion by B. B. Dougherty, and offered free use of exiting Watauga Academy, and a $500 gift from local entrepreneur Moses Cone.

1903: Appalachian Training School opens on October 5 with 325 students and 6 faculty. The school was co-educational, and Watauga Academy was the sole building.

1903: Students were required to attend chapel meetings each morning. Campus announcements were made and speeches were given by guests, pastors, or faculty.

1903: A special summer term is added for teachers unable to attend during fall and spring.

1903: First graduate class of Appalachian Training School, eight students graduate.

1904: Tuition is free for all teachers and students intending to teach minimum two years in North Carolina public schools. Tuition ranges from $4.50-11.25 per term. Ministers and children of ministers receive a 50% discount off tuition, which was paid by the month. High School classes cost $2.50 per month, first three Public School grades were $1 a month, grades 4-5 were $1.50, and grades 5-6 were $2.00. Music and art cost $2.00, while piano classes were $.25 per month.

1905: First Administration/Classroom Building is completed east of Watauga Academy.

1906: Lovill Home, the first women’s dormitory, is built north of Administration Building, approximately on current location of Founder’s Hall.

1907: The library, located in Watauga Academy, is opened one hour each school day with three thousand volumes.

1908: Alumni Association organized.

1908: First male dormitory, Newland Hall, is built on the south of campus, west of the Dougherty’s home.

1908: Campus purchases Edminsten farm on New River two miles southeast of campus, where, along with Coffey Farm, the campus maintained a dairy and grew produce for use in the school cafeteria. The dairy continued to produce meat and dairy products until 1964.

1909–1910: 371 students taught at ATS, with 108 in the summer term only.

1909: Men have a ball ground south of Administration Building for baseball. No games are allowed during regular school hours, and baseball team was not allowed to leave the neighborhood to play other teams without permission from the faculty.

1909: Women were not allowed to leave the school grounds for walks without a teacher. Men and women were not allowed to board together or associate together on any occasion. Women need written permission from parents to be allowed to spend the night away from their regular boarding rooms. Women are requested to wear inexpensive dresses during study periods and white dresses for commencement. There is no requirement for men, other than a general encouragement of neatness. Men were allowed to board off campus; women were required to board in Lovill or McNeil Cottage, or were required to have parental and faculty permission to live off campus. Both on-campus men and women were monitored by matrons. Women were not allowed in automobiles unless going to or from home, or allowed to stand by an automobile speaking with someone.

1909: Four literary societies are founded for male and female students. Male students had the Watauga and the Appalachian Societies, which met in recitation rooms weekly, and women had the Euterpean and Calliopean, which met in Lovill Home. These were the first social organizations on campus.

1909: Prayers and scriptures are read each day at Chapel. Women have prayer meetings once a week on Wednesday evenings, and men meet Sunday afternoons for religious exercises. Students are requested to attend Sunday School and preaching in different churches in Boone.

1909: Students missing more than one-fourth of the class meetings per month would not be passed without passing an exam on all the work for that month.

1909: Tuition is $10 for all students. Total student fees per term, including board, tuition, and incremental fees, reported as $48.50 for men and $44.00 for women. Teachers and students intending to teach in public schools are still exempt from tuition payments, but still required to pay other fees and board. Two scholarships for free tuition were available from the University of North Carolina and Trinity College.

1909: Board in Lovill Home for four and one-half months is $27.00. Board in Newland Hall is $31.50. Average book costs for first year are $3.25, second year $6.05, third year $6.60, and fourth year $9.05.

1909: Women in Lovill Home were required to bring their own bedding, towels, and napkins, and to perform dining room work. Men in Newland Hall were required to bring their own bedding and perform extra sweeping.

1910: The school day starts at 8:45 each day, for five days during the week. Day is broken into ten periods of thirty minutes each. Chapel exercises are from 11:30 to 12:00. During the summer term an hour break is given at noon. There are no classes on Monday, which is a designated laundry day for women.

1910: Lovill Home is fitted with bathrooms.

1911: Science Hall, the first specialized academic campus building, is completed.

1913: Library hours are increased to two hours a day and offers 5,000 volumes, two daily papers, and twenty monthly magazines. Miss Bettie Stephenson becomes first librarian.

1913: The Book Room provides students with textbooks at wholesale prices. Campus no longer provides books directly.

1913: Young women now have grounds for croquet, tennis, and other games, located behind the Administration Building.

1913: The Athletic Association is first mentioned in the “Dew Drop,” for men’s athletics. Membership is $.25 per year, and it manages baseball games, a track team, and other sports.

1913: An Audubon Society for the study of birds and a Teacher’s Club for the discussion of literary and other subjects are first mentioned in the “Dew Drop.”

1913: Alumni Association begins charging a fee of $.50 to attend annual banquet held at commencement.

1914: In addition to linens, women are expected to bring a counterpane, a spoon and a glass to school. Women do their own laundry in the campus laundries, while men pay $.50 to $1.00 per month for laundry service.

1915: School maintains 16 regular faculty and 6 assistants. Enrollment reaches 556.

1915: New River Light & Power is founded with state approval, owned and operated by Appalachian Training School. Power plant is built on Edminsten (Old State) Farm two miles south of campus, and provides electricity for the first time for Appalachian Training School and six customers in Boone, NC. Electricity and water systems are installed in all campus buildings.

1916: A flood destroys attempts to lay railroad tracks to Boone.

1917: United States enters World War I.

1917–1921: Spanish Influenza pandemic.

1917–1918: Enrollment drops to 390; 181 in summer school only.

1917: Students in dormitories are expected to work for one period each day in order to keep costs at $10. Women work in dormitory, while men work on grounds, for a total of twelve hours per month.

1917: Two-year Manual Arts Program is established.

1917: An Industrial Arts building is constructed south of campus, including the manual arts program on the second floor, and the college’s first gymnasium on the first.

1917: School attends a War Savings Rally at the Boone Courthouse during summer term, and an address was given by Major Dupont of the French Army.

1917: Each student is required to spend a period each day in the library, to study, read, or do research. A record is kept of attendance, and students are graded on the work they do during the library period.

1917: The first basketball game is played in new gymnasium in November; intercollegiate sports were not allowed.

1918: With the Act of March 19, 1918, the U.S. establishes Daylight Savings Time to save electricity during wartime along with several other allied countries. It is repealed in 1919 and became a local matter of whether to maintain or dismiss the practice.

1918: B. B. Dougherty named chairman for War Savings Stamps Campaign. School holds various patriotic programs. Male teachers were sent out to sell stamps in other parts of the country.

1918: In October, an Influenza scare hits Boone, NC. The Appalachian Training School campus is put under quarantine against Spanish Influenza, students are restricted to campus, and entrances are closed to visitors. Church services in the town are suspended temporarily. A few mild cases of sickness among students are reported, but all recover within a few days. Student population is limited because of the war and influenza scare.

1918: A narrow gauge railroad to Boone, NC, is established by the Linville Branch of Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad, known as the “Tweetsie” Railroad, in October. It ran from Johnson City, TN, to Boone.

1918: On November 7, word arrives that World War I has ended. Boone and campus celebrates.

1918: On November 11, word arrives that World War I has ended. Appalachian Training School celebrates again, with Chapel service and a parade.

1918: Student body pledges $200 to United War Work Campaign on November 14.

1919–1920: North Carolina General Assembly suggests Appalachian Training School abandon high school education in preference for training elementary school teachers, due to a teacher shortage following World War I.

1921: Boarding costs rise to $36.00 per term. Board for nine months is $100.00.

1921: School will do laundry for women for a fee of $2.40 per term, washing only. Ironing and pressing tables are available for women to use. School laundry does not provide service for men.

1921: For the first time, health certificates are required at time of registration, certifying and stating that the applicant is not sick with a contagious disease and has not been exposed to any such disease within twenty days.

1921: Students strike in March protesting the change in academic schedule putting academic work in the mornings and professional work in the afternoons. They surrender after four days.

1922: First student yearbook, the Rhododendron, is published.

1922–1923: Student enrollment reaches 770; 48 students graduate.

1923: North Carolina State Board of Education appropriates $125,000 for the construction of a new Administration Building on western side of campus; $300,000 appropriated for a hydro-electric plant on Middle Fork and a physical education building.

1923: The New River Light and Power plant burns down on March 23, causing a blackout on campus and in Boone, NC, that lasts for seventeen months. Electricity was restored in the fall of 1924, when the new hydroelectric plant was finished.

1924: 1097 students enrolled in Appalachian Training School. The road between Wilkesboro and Boone is paved to facilitate automobile travel through area.

1925: Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) chapter formed on campus.

1925: Appalachian Training School receives approval to offer two year college courses, name is changed to Appalachian State Normal School. School does not offer degrees above diploma; high school department is to be phased out entirely. ASNS opens on Oct 5 with 350 enrolled students.

1925: Boone Grade School is constructed as a Demonstration School, where Appalachian students in their final year do practice teaching with elementary school students from Watauga County. The school had previously been taught in the Science Hall.

1925: Profits from New River Light and Power set aside to be used as a loan fund for students.

1925: Dr. H. B. Perry occupies Lovill Home Annex as a hospital for students needing care.

1926: Appalachian State Normal School becomes part of the American Association of Teachers’ Colleges and Normal Schools.

1927: Duck pond established.

1928: Old Bob, B. B. Dougherty’s horse, dies and is buried on Appalachian State campus.

1928–1929: Football team begins intercollegiate sports competition.

1929: Co-founder and Business Manager Dauphin Disco Dougherty dies on June 10. Lillie Shull Dougherty becomes business manager.

1929: Appalachian State Normal School is approved for full four-year programs with bachelor degrees. Name is changed to Appalachian State Teachers College with Blanford Barnard Dougherty as president.

1930s: Great Depression. Average enrollment is 900, with a low of 350.

1930: In May YWCA sponsors first May Day Festival. The YWCA elects queen.

1931: State cuts 30% of appropriations to Appalachian State; teacher salaries are cut 10%.

1932: Campus houses 756 students and 27 faculty. Appalachian State is appropriated only $40 per capita by Legislature (University of North Carolina received $189 per capita). Teacher salaries are reduced 32%.

1932: First organized cheerleader squad appears in Rhododendron.

1932: WPA money is used to build a hospital on Appalachian campus. Building is opened in 1932 as a college infirmary.

1932: In March, students hold a mass meeting concerning the social restrictions on campus. Event was started by announcement that men and women would not sit together at an operetta. Two weeks later, B. B. Dougherty allows a series of short co-educational socials to be held sparsely over the next three years.

1933: “Playcrafters,” Appalachian’s first theatre group and dramatic club, is organized.

1933: Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) chapter formed on campus.

1933: First Freshman Orientation is held, which includes testing and classification of students.

1934: The first issue of The Appalachian is published in October. It is a student-produced newspaper reporting campus events and opinions.

1934: The Appalachian YMCA joins a current crusade against immorality in movies.

1934: Alumni Association forms.

1934: The Book Room moves into the brick building at the corner of Locust St. and College Ave. Three apartments on second floor are used for faculty housing.

1935: First campus-wide election for May Queen held.

1935: Students strike for two days against strict social restrictions in February. During a basketball game, boys defied rules to sit with girls on bleachers. After the game, approximately fifty boys marched to girl’s dormitories and the dean’s house. At both times police were called to disperse them. Striking students requested that to be allowed an integrated seating policy at athletic events and social functions. Students paraded down the streets of Boone and blocked the entrance to the Administration Building. College President B. B. Dougherty replied by allowing students to form an elected representative committee to meet with the faculty’s Student Activity Committee, which would be allowed to do so again the following year.

1935: At the opening of the fall term, B. B. Dougherty allows girls to select what days they were allowed to travel uptown, when they would be allowed to visit the soda fountain, department stores, and other Boone businesses.

1935: Glee Club forms.

1935: College hires an orchestra to play at Central Dining Hall during dinner meals for three days.

1935: Letter Club is formed by seventeen students in November.

1935: Kidd Brewer begins coaching football at Appalachian. In 1935 the team scored five wins, two ties, and two defeats. In 1936 and 1938, the team won eight games and lost one, and in 1937 was undefeated. He leaves Appalachian after the 1938 season.

1935: 850 register for spring term.

1935: Economics Club forms in December.

1936: A department for public speaking, titled the Department for Extemporaneous Speaking, is formed and directed by D. J. Whitener.

1936: Demonstration School sponsors a health project, wherein students would be provided with free showers twice a week, with free soap and towels provided.

1936: A March blizzard cuts off all travel in and out of Boone for a week. Students at the Demonstration School were forced to remain at the college until the weather improved.

1937: First Boone high school band is organized by Music Professor Gordon Nash.

1938: Appalachian Ice Cream Plant opens at the College Dairy.

1938: College Bookstore implements a textbook rental program.

1938: Mathematics Club is organized.

1938: Dr. No-Yung Park, professor of eastern history and international relations, gives a speech at Appalachian condemning the Sino-Japanese War.

1938: The college infirmary is reopened as Watauga County Hospital, where students and Watauga County residents could be treated on an in and out-patient basis. Hospital operates until 1968, when it is renovated to become the Administration Building Annex, and eventually renamed Founders Hall. Miss Edna Heinzerling served as superintendant.

1939: Music Department started.

1939: Marching Band forms, directed by Music Professor Gordon Nash.

1939: Baton Twirling Club, later the Majorettes, form.

1939: Official Student Council is founded and organized by student body, and given one seat on executive council meetings. Student Council writes and approves a student constitution.

1939: Student Council revises rules on dating and amount of dates allowed to girls. Dates were delegated by class rank: seniors were unrestricted, juniors allowed three a week, sophomores two, and freshmen one.

1939: Human Behavior grades for students are established (dropped 1955). Grades ranged from 1-5. Five resulted in expulsion. Objections to grades could be brought before the Student Council.

1939: The International Relations Club meeting in November discusses the effects of the European war on the United States.1939: The International Relations Club meeting in November discusses the effects of the European war on the United States.

1939: Appalachian State Teachers College recognized by American Association for Teacher Education.

1940: A flood washes out the tracks of the Tweetsie Railroad between Cranberry, NC, and Boone, NC. Company decides not to rebuild and switches the remaining line between Cranberry and Elizabethton, TN, to freight travel. No other railroad is built to reach Boone.

1940: First “Leap Week” held, where girls ask boys for dates and pay all expenses. Annual event is later known as “S.P.” week.

1940: Catherine Morris is elected the first student body president in April.

1940–1941: Enrollment reaches 1,212.

1941: Incoming students given tuberculosis tests and smallpox inoculations for $10 each.

1941: United States enters World War II.

1941: In December, American Red Cross asks Watauga County to raise $1,500 for the war effort by Christmas.

1942: Two members of the wrestling team drafted.

1942: Appalachian Professor Cleone Hodges teaches Red Cross sponsored training courses in first aid to Watauga County teachers and citizens as part of the governor’s plan to adjust North Carolina public education to aid defense programs.

1942: Librarian Emma Moore is in charge of Boone drive to collect book donations for the armed forces, part of a nation-wide program to collect a total of ten million books.

1942: Forum Club holds war discussion, primarily consisting of the war situations in the Pacific, Europe, and North Africa, and the speeding up of American war production.

1942: US food costs rise 29%. On January 30, school announces Cafeteria is implementing defense regulations in regard to rationing. Sugar allotments are cut in half (from 850-1,100 lbs a week to 425-550 lbs per week), and if student consumption exceeds this amount, sugar would then only be made available for breakfast. No sugar is to be made available on snowy days due to the tendency of students to make “snow cream,” using sixty percent more sugar than average. In addition, the cost of cafeteria theft, with rising food costs, causes school to threaten students with maximum punishment allowable. In a five day period, the cafeteria calculated that they had lost 300 pint bottles, 600 half-pint bottles, 25 trays, 50 coffee cups, 25 glasses, 4 dozen forks, 3 dozen spoons, 2 dozen knives, and 1 dozen sugar bowls, totaling a loss of $139.90. School threatens to raise food costs to cover the monetary losses.

1942: Students in colleges and universities allowed to join naval reserve and remain on inactive duty until the completion of their current scholastic year.

1942: Sugar rationing regulations announced in Cafeteria: students allowed only one teaspoon of sugar in one cup of coffee, refills have to be unsweetened, and only one teaspoon of sugar is allowed in a bowl of cereal. Sugar was a primary ingredient in explosive shells, approximately 2,600 lbs used in each 16 inch cannon shell, or 125,000 spoonfuls.

1942: The War Time Act on January 20 institutes a year-long daylight savings time to save electricity until September 30, 1945. In February Appalachian students blame the government for their inability to apply makeup in the dark mornings and having to eat breakfast and lunch an hour earlier to accommodate the earlier classes.

1942: Graduate courses leading to a graduate degree first offered during the summer. Graduate degrees were obtained through the University of North Carolina.

1942: On Monday, March 3, a blizzard hits Boone, which sees a total of 18 inches of snowfall with drifts up to ten feet deep, causing classes to be called off Tuesday and businesses to close. School resumes next day. No mail or traffic moves in Boone for the rest of the week.

1942: Home Economics textiles and tailoring classes perform fashion show and skit, “Gossip in the Grandstand,” during chapel period in March.

1942: In March students form defense squads for Watauga County, including fire protection, utilities repair, and fire watchers squads.

1942: In September, Appalachian High School Association discontinues competitive basketball tournaments between high schools.

1942: College Library collection reaches 28,892 volumes.

1942: Gasoline rationing starts in July. Non-essential driving limited to 2,880 miles a year. Civilian drivers are issued “A” coupon books allowing the purchase of 32 gallons of gasoline over a two-month period. Rubber tycoon William M. Jeffers calls for a nation-wide 35 mile per hour speed limit.

1942: Future Teachers Club forms in November.

1942: Appalachian State accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.

1943: Appalachian applies for pre-naval training unit, which would use available Appalachian State facilities for educating naval reserve students.

1943: In January, students filed five grievances with administration, including displeasure at the ban on dancing and bridge, the lack of a student voice in determining dormitory and campus policies, the library closing too early, the unfairness of Human Behavior grades, and the discriminatory management of the cafeteria. Between 200 to 400 students walked out for one day and the strike was called off that night. Administration allowed the playing of parlor games, prohibited gambling, extended library hours to seven p.m., allowed the student council to determine and define new behavior grades, allowed a new student constitution, and asked that in the future, students use the methods outlined in their own constitution to address grievances.

1943: Flying Fish swim team organizes.

1943: Fall enrollment drops by 200 from previous fall, to 348. There are 38 male students. Seven faculty members are on leave for terms in the armed services.

1943: On Saturday, September 25, a Red Cross War Bond Drive was held on campus.

1943: Homecoming football game replaced with Girls’ Play Day, including a pursuit relay, potato race, All-up Indian Club Relay, tug of war, skin the snake, and the three-legged relay.

1943: 450 enrolled total for year.

1944: Fall enrollment rose above 400, with ten percent of the student population male.

1944: Girls’ Chorus organizes in October.

1945: First Founder’s Day held on May 8.

1945: By September, thirty-two Appalachian State students have been reported killed in the war.

1945: Appalachian State resumes football competition with Francis Hoover as coach.

1945: Lyceum speaker Rabbi Phillip Frankel of Charlotte, NC, gives a speech on “Judaism and the Democratic Processes” in October.

1945: Library Science Club and Business Education Club organize in October. The History Club organizes in November.

1945: Student Council amends constitution to allow vets with no class status to be eligible to run for office. The amendment would be valid for two years.

1945: Cold War begins.

1946–1947: Approximately 80% of enrolled freshmen are veterans on G.I. Bill. Because of low salaries, Appalachian State loses four department heads and three faculty members.

1946: Male students outnumber female students for the first time.

1946: Annual Homecoming football game reinstated.

1946: Student Council approves women students to attend the 7 p.m. movie showing, after obtaining permission from parents or guardians. To be eligible, students had to achieve high grades for the first six weeks of the fall semester, and were expected to check back in at their dormitories by 9:20 p.m.

1946: Fire destroys Watauga Academy and Science Hall buildings on November 22. Watauga Academy, the first campus building, was serving as the music building, and the Science Building served as the fine arts building. The fire was reported at 2 a.m. by the college night watchman and was reported to have begun in the second floor of Watauga Academy.

1947: In February, the International Relations Club sponsors a talk on Atomic Destruction by Dr. Reynolds, who focused on false assumptions and false security that could lead to the destruction of the human race.

1947–1948: Lambda Zeta chapter of Alpha Psi Omega, national honorary dramatic society, is founded. Members are elected from the Playcrafters organization.

1947: Yosef becomes official mascot.

1948: 1100 students enrolled, including 65 faculty and 23 graduate students.

1948: Cratis Williams crowned Homecoming Queen

1948: College expands its graduate program to offer graduate work leading to a degree from Appalachian State starting in the summer. 271 graduate students enrolled.

1948: Appalachian State’s first master’s degree awarded to Harold C. Quincy, who received a Master of Arts in Education.

1949: Lyceum Series features atomic bomb scientist Dr. Luther Gable. Dr. Gable was one of the first six chemical engineers to commercially refine radium in America and made the first radium-powered illuminated watch dials.

1949: In March, a referendum in Boone abolishes the sale of beer and wine within the city limits.

1949: Watauga County Hospital holds a tonsil clinic. The approximate cost of the operation to remove the tonsils is $12.

1949: The first college infirmary is opened. Mary S. Shook hired as the first full-time nurse; no doctor is on staff.

1949: Summer school contains 586 graduate students (338 in M.A. program, 248 for certification renewal).

1950: Appalachian Theater catches fire in Boone in January. Damaged in the fire are the movie theater, offices, and a soda shop.

1950: WATA begins broadcasting in Boone on September 24.

1950: The railroad officials make last run of Tweetsie Railroad on September 24. The train ran on the narrow gauge track from Elizabethton, TN, to Cranberry, NC, to inspect the road conditions before being officially abandoned on October 16, 1950. Tweetsie originally ran from Johnson City, TN, to Boone, NC. The section that reached Boone had been washed out in a flood in 1940.

1950: Appalachian State Teachers College is accepted as a member in the American Band Master’s Association in December.

1951: Appalachian State’s Epsilon chapter of Pi Kappa Delta, a national honorary forensic society, is founded.

1952: Appalachian State ceases competing in wrestling matches due to lack of local competition and the cost of traveling to distance locations for meets.

1953: At an annual Science Club seafood supper, members were served crab salad, shrimp, oysters, mussels, snails, grapefruit, cornbread, fillet of eel, and seaweed cookies.

1953: The Playcrafters perform premier of “Wicked John and the Devil” in March.

1953: Monument to former student Romy Story is erected on northern side of College Field during the Homecoming Game. Romy Story graduated from Appalachian Training School in 1903 and organized the school’s first baseball team. The Monument was presumably removed during the construction of Rankin Science Building in the early 1960s.

1953: Forty women in Dauph-Blan Hall are given demerits for having their lights on after eleven p.m.

1953: Wesley Fellowship throws a Masquerade Party in October.

1953: Science Club experiments with mental telepathy during weekly meeting in November.

1953: Appalachian High School is recognized for its contributions in curriculum reorganization by the Bulletin of the National Association of Secondary School Principals in November.

1954: Playcrafters perform a production of “Home of the Brave,” a World War II drama about a Jewish soldier’s experience in the South Pacific, in January. The production won the highest rating at the annual drama festival in Chapel Hill, NC, that year.

1954: Graduate Student Club formed.

1954: Beta Psi Chapter of the National Honorary Biological Society, Beta Beta Beta, is established.

1954: Science Club and Beta Beta Beta embark on a program to identify and label all trees on campus.

1955: Nine movies are ordered for free viewing by the Appalachian State student body. Titles include Night and the City, Letter to Three Wives, Streetcar Named Desire, Rhapsody in Blue, Strangers on a Train, Captain Horatio Hornblower, Three Came Home, Young Man with a Horn, and Snows of Kilimanjaro.

1955: A transmitter fire in the WATA radio station in east Boone causes minor equipment damage in February. The fire is started by leak in an oil heater, and the station is off the air for one hour.

1955: A game room is opened in the basement of Lovill Home, including card tables, ping pong tables, and magazines. It is able to be reserved for student parties between 6 and 8 pm. Dancing is prohibited.

1955: In April, Journalist William Shirer speaks at Appalachian on the position of a re-armed West Germany and the political attitudes of the German people.

1955: College Bookstore expanded to include a snack bar, which becomes a popular hangout spot for students.

1955: In October, new library regulations are put in place for girls in dormitories: on-campus women are allowed to sign out of dorms and visit the college library between 8 and 9 pm. Students visiting the library to 9:00 are allowed fifteen minutes to visit the bookstore on their way back to their dormitory and are to be signed back in at their respective dorms by 9:15. Students visiting the library but who return before 9:00 or do not visit the library at all are not allowed to visit the bookstore after 8:00 pm. In November, the library hours are extended to 9:15 and students have until 9:30 to return to dorms.

1955: Appalachian State resumes wrestling competitions with R. W. Watkins as coach.

1955: Daily chapel changed to Assemblies; freshmen required to attend two a week; sophomores, juniors, and seniors required to attend only one.

1955: In May, the campus establishes a Traffic Department.

1955: Freshman Orientation revised; students assigned an advisor.

1955: First registration of student vehicles on campus. Freshmen registered 125 vehicles, sophomores 93, juniors 107, and seniors 49, for a total of 275 student cars; women were not allowed to bring cars to campus.

1955: Two thousandth student registers during spring semester at Appalachian State.

1955: Blanford Barnard Dougherty retires as president in June; J. D. Rankin becomes interim president.

1955: J. D. Rankin retires as interim president in September; William Howard Plemmons becomes president.

1956: On April 24, the first inauguration ceremony for a college president was held at Appalachian State at the official inauguration of President William Howard Plemmons.

1956: Julia Hough and Doris Miller of Appalachian State’s debate team are given superior status in the Southeastern Phi Kappa Delta Province Tournament in Cookeville, TN, in April.

1957: A two-room lounge is added beneath the cafeteria in Welborn Hall. One room includes a television and chairs, and the other includes tables for quiet study.

1957: Co-founder and President Emeritus Blanford Barnard Dougherty dies.

1957: First restrictions on registration: GPA required to be at least 2.0 for unconditional registration.

1957: Students are required to be vaccinated for tetanus and smallpox.

1957: General Platoff Don Cossack Chorus performs at Appalachian State in November as part of the Lyceum Program.

1957: Asian Flu outbreak affects 50% of the student body before subsiding in November.

1957: Campus infirmary begins administering three-part polio vaccine to students.

1957: Class cuts permitted.

1957: Women students allowed to wear slacks on campus for certain occasions with permission from the dean.

1958: Encyclopedia Britannica Films, Inc., donates 1,400 film strips and their collection library of 16mm film to the Audio-Visual Center.

1958: Playcrafters and the Appalachian State chapter of Alpha Psi Omega are given superior rating at the annual Western Carolina District Drama Festival in March.

1958: Ballad and folksong singer Richard Dyer-Bennet opens spring festival activities.

1958: In May, the Men’s “A” Club installs a seven foot tall Yosef statue in the lobby of the Broome-Kirk Gymnasium.

1958: Plemmons considers making Appalachian State a year-round school for undergraduate students and turning the summer school terms into a fourth quarter of the school year.

1958: The first language lab is opened in the Department of Foreign Languages. It provides mainly Spanish language materials.

1958: Honors Program started.

1958: 2,140 students enrolled; 108 faculty.

1958: First convocation is held.

1958: First Spring Arts Festival.

1959: Lawyer Hugh G. Mitchell speaks on campus in February. Mitchell was former chief counselor for the United Nations and served as chief defense attorney for Japanese war criminals after World War II.

1959: Head Coach Bob Broome dies.

1959: Fine for illegal parking rises from $.25 to $1.00.

1959: In May The Appalachian reports a gunman on campus shot a stray dog, nicknamed “Sandy,” in front of White Hall in the middle of the night.

1960: Freshman Orientation is revised to increase the number of advisors for students.

1960: First annual watermelon cutting for faculty, staff, and students held in August.

1960: In November Flying Fish sponsor a water carnival in Broome-Kirk Gymnasium, including swimming and diving competitions, clown diving, and life-saving technique demonstrations.

1960: Appalachian State creates the “Heartline Fund” for contributions for the new stadium, support the Alumni Association, and help purchase a site for an alumni house.

1960: A new electronic language lab is added for the Department of Foreign Languages in November. It officially opens in 1961 and offers Spanish and French materials.

1960-1961: IBM processing equipment is installed and student records are converted to a punch-card system during the summer. Each student is assigned a seven-digit number. The machines are rented from the IBM Corporation.

1961: The Appalachian State football field, College Field, is dismantled for the construction of Rankin Science Hall in February. No home games are played during the 1961 season, and the four scheduled “home” games are played in neutral locations. Appalachian High School, also affected by the loss of College Field, schedules games at local parks. The next home game is played in September 1962 in the new Conrad Stadium.

1961: Howard Cottrell, manager of the College Bookstore since 1944, becomes mayor of Boone, succeeding Mayor Gordon Winkler in February.

1961: Students hold three rallies in April to protest student restrictions and write a petition demanding higher quality education, abolishment of the demerit system, later curfew hours for girls, revision of library hours, a liberal class cutting system (allowing unlimited class cutting privileges for students with 300 or more quality points), and a looser dress code, allowing the wearing of bermudas and toreadors.

1961: In May, in response to student petitions, the Administration allows the wearing of Bermudas and toreadors on campus but forbids them from being worn in town, the cafeteria, and in classes. Women’s curfew hours are extended to 10 pm Monday through Friday, 12 pm on Saturday, and 11 pm on Sunday. Library hours are extended to 10 pm Monday through Friday, 5 pm on Saturday, and 2-5 pm on Sunday. Request for a cut system and abolishing the demerit system were not approved.

1961: Proposed honor system voted down by Student Council.

1961: Students in East Hall reportedly briefly panic over a 400-year-old end of the world prediction to strike on Saturday, April 30. Saturday classes proceeded without disruption.

1961: Coach and Dean of Men John Kirk drowns in a boating accident in May.

1961: In September, the students of Justice Hall purchase a Zenith television set for the lounge. It is stolen one week later. Students raise more funds to purchase a replacement, then immediately insured it.

1961: Student Council resubmits petition to allow class cuts for students based on quality points.

1961: North Carolina Legislature authorizes the ASTC Board of Trustees to control traffic on campus.

1961: College installs a new PBX switchboard telephone system on campus. Dormitories have restricted hours between 8-5.

1961: Camp Broadstone purchased for ten dollars by Appalachian School Camp, Inc.

1961: First computerized registration attempted at Appalachian State.

1961: Alpha Lambda Sigma, a literary society, is organized.

1962: The Alpha chapter of the Alpha Chi, a national scholastic society, forms. It is formerly known as the Polymathist Scholastic Society.

1962: Industrial Arts Club forms.

1962: Pre-registration using IBM a computers is instituted for summer and fall registration for sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Freshmen and students not receiving complete schedules have to register in person.

1962: Ski slopes in Blowing Rock, NC, open to paying customers for first time in March.

1962: Conrad Stadium is completed and opens in September.

1962: Unable to find housing for the fall semester, two students room in a pitched tent on a rented lot.

1963: The Student Council refuses to allow reporters from the Appalachian access to judiciary meetings.

1963: North Carolina enacts Speaker Ban Law. The law prohibits people who are communists or have taken the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer loyalty questions from speaking at state-supported college campuses.

1964: The Appalachian sends a letter of condolences signed by students to Jacqueline Kennedy in January.

1964: The Methodist Student Center opens the Cornucopia Coffee House.

1964: The Student Traffic Organization warns students against being careless with their cigarettes in the Administration Building during late night studying due to several near-fire accidents.

1964: The Appalachian and many members of the student body request Student Council hold open meetings. Student Council holds an open meeting in February. Nine students attend, approximately three one-thousandths of the student body.

1964: In April a letter-to-the-editor battle breaks out in the Appalachian over the question of race and segregation.

1964: Campus farms close.

1964: Lights are installed on the tennis courts in September.

1964: A drunk grouse flies through a plate glass window in the College Library. An autopsy performed by Order Librarian Zeb Shook showed the bird to have been eating fermented wild cherries.

1964: In October and November, Rankin Science Hall holds evening open houses on Tuesday and Friday nights to allow students, faculty, and staff use of the observatory to view stars, visible planets, and the moon.

1964: A “loyalty” pep rally is held in auditorium of the Administration Building to encourage support for the football team after its 10-0 win over Wofford.

1964: International Relations Club sponsors “Books for Asian Students” project. The program sent donated books to Asian countries.

1965: Alpha Chi inducts 26 new members.

1965: Chi Lambda Chi passes new constitution requiring all clubs on campus require a minimum 2.0 GPA of all members.

1965: The Platters perform at Appalachian in February.

1965: Yosef sells his shotgun with powder horn and pouch for $40.00. The gun was manufactured by W. & C. Scott and Sons, London, England.

1965: Campus forum vote rejects honor system proposal in April.

1965: Lucy Brock Nursery School opens.

1965: “The Appalachian” reports a small stand-in held in the Men’s Gymnasium in September, described as “an orderly demonstration, in which only a few members of the student body participated.” (September 30, 1965, p. 2).

1965: Lt. Joe Yatsko becomes the first Appalachian Alumnus to be killed in action in Vietnam in December.

1966: The Appalettes reform as a precision dance group. They were originally a drill team.

1966: Karate self-defense classes are offered to women students.

1966: Dean emeritus J. D. Rankin dies.

1966: Psychology Club holds a Vietnam Teach-In in November to promote peaceful discussion of opinions on Vietnam.

1966: A fire in the second Administration Building occurs late in the day on December 29. The fire destroys “The Appalachian” offices, the president’s office, student records, financial aid records, and several faculty and departmental libraries and records. Student and financial records were reconstructed from other offices’ records, including lists of students on academic probation.

1966: The Daydreams perform at the Homecoming Dance in October.

1966: A fire breaks out in the trash room in East Hall in October. Minimal damage was done to the maintenance entrance, leaving the rest of the building unharmed.

1967: In January, women are given the right to wear slacks at sporting events, the Bookstore, and in the dormitories. They are still prohibited in classes, the cafeteria, uptown, and in the library. In February, the Student Council alters the rule to allow the wearing of slacks everywhere except classes, the library, and in the cafeteria during noon and evening meals on Sundays. They are allowed in classes and the library on extremely cold days.

1967: Dionne Warwick and the Dukes of Dixieland perform at Appalachian State in February.

1967: Welsh Male Choir performs at Appalachian State in April.

1967: Anthony and the Imperials perform in May.

1967: Alpha Phi Omega, a service fraternity, organizes the Tau Beta chapter on campus. It receives its charter in September.

1967: Alpha Phi Omega opens the Information Center in the first White Hall in May. They offer a dating service, a travel center and a lost and found center.

1967: The Student Activity Fee is $25 per student.

1967: Fantasticks perform at Appalachian State in August.

1967: A full time physician, Dr. Lawrence Heavrin, is added to the College Infirmary staff.

1967: Administration considers filling in the duck pond to create more parking spaces.

1967: Faculty Senate created.

1967: 4939 students enrolled; 261 faculty.

1967: Freshman Seminar started.

1967: Appalachian State students hold impromptu pro-war rally in protest of Southern Student Organization Committee anti-war speakers coming to campus in November.

1967: Appalachian receives full university status from State Legislature, name changes to Appalachian State University. Three Colleges are formed, the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Fine and Applied Arts, and College of Education.

1967: Danish Gym Team performs on campus in November.

1967: Appalachian State withdraws from Carolinas Conference.

1968: Appalachian State’s Post Office begins selling postage stamps in January.

1968: The Grimm Brothers perform in a folk concert at Appalachian in January.

1968: The U. S. District Court declares North Carolina’s Speaker Ban Law unconstitutional. It was passed in 1963 and revised in 1965. It was declared unconstitutional on the basis of vagueness.

1968: Student Government passes student Bill of Rights.

1968: College Infirmary installs an x-ray machine.

1968: Writer and activist Michael Harrington speaks at Appalachian in March as part of the Artist and Lecture series.

1968: Attorney F. Lee Bailey speaks at Appalachian State in April.

1968: Pan-American Day celebrated in April.

1968: Computer Center first appears in Catalog as part of University Services. It houses a UNIVAC 9400 and an IBM 1130.

1968: William Roland Neely becomes first African-American student to graduate from Appalachian State with a BA in Psychology.

1968: 5,200 students enrolled; 305 faculty.

1968: ASU defeats Newberry College 56-14 in football.

1968: Circle K, a men’s service organization, forms in October.

1968: John Foster West begins working at Appalachian State as campus writer.

1968: The Impressions performs at Appalachian State in November.

1968: Plemmons Student Center’s coffeehouse is christened “Wit’s End,” and begins programs of live music and entertainment.

1968: Gervain Griffith, official representative from the Vietnamese Training Center in Washington, D.C., speaks at Appalachian State in December, promoting the need for more peace and reconstruction efforts, as well as cultural sensitivity and understanding, in Vietnam.

1969: Bavarian Inn opens in Welborn Cafeteria in January.

1968: Student Health Services expands to include a psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist.

1969: Belk Library opens, replacing D. D. Dougherty Library as main campus library.

1969: Caroline Anderson becomes first African-American full-time faculty member. She leaves in the summer of 1970.

1969: New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Band and singer Jerry Butler perform at Appalachian State in January.

1969: Folksingers Ian and Sylvia perform at Winter Festival.

1969: The Tempests and Eddie Floyd and Orchestra perform in February.

1969: ROTC program at ASU begins in fall semester.

1969: Yosef’s pet goat “Goldie” dies from exposure and neglect.

1969: Students For Action holds a peace table in Plemmons Student Union to promote peace in Vietnam and an end to the war twice a week for two weeks.

1969: Students for Action held a March for Unity on April 18.

1969: Johnny Mathis performs on campus in April.

1969: Doc Watson performs in May at the Spring Festival.

1969: As an experiment for the 1969-1970 school year, Hoey and Cannon Hall are made no-curfew halls for women. Women residents are required to be 21 or older or have permission from parents to reside there.

1969: William Howard Plemmons retires as president; Herbert Walter Wey becomes new president.

1969: Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) speaks at Varsity Gym on September 18 on the Black Muslim Movement.

1969: House council system is abolished by the Student Senate. They are placed with the Men’s and Women’s Residence Councils.

1969: The 4 Seasons perform at Homecoming.

1969: Peace Moratorium demonstration is held in the Student Center in October. Demonstrators are pelted with eggs by hecklers and relocated to I. G. Greer Auditorium.

1969: Abe Fortas, former associate Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, gives a series of lectures in Broome-Kirk Gymnasium in October on dissent and disorder on American college campuses.

1969: The Harlem Globetrotters perform at Varsity Gymnasium in November.

1969: The Fifth Dimension performs at Appalachian State in November.

1969: Women’s curfews are extended to midnight on Monday-Friday, 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 12:30 a.m. on Sunday.

1970: Demerit system abolished in favor of a Student Conduct Code.

1970: In January, 300 residents of Hoey Hall sign a petition refusing to elect hall monitors, responsible for the nightly room checks, and elected monitors resign in protest for being elected against their wills. A no-room-check policy is instituted in women’s dorms.

1970: Singer Jose Feliciano performs at Varsity Gymnasium in January.

1970: The Platters and Temptations perform at Appalachian State in February.

1970: A trial run of a no-curfew women’s dorm is planned for the 1970-71 school year, but is canceled due to lack of applications.

1970: Four businesses on King Street, the Gateway restaurant, A and R Food Store, the Sanitary Barber Shop, and a carpet shop, are destroyed by fire on February 18.

1970: The President of the Student Body and chair of Faculty Senate are added to Board of Trustees.

1970: In March, Appalachian students Kathy Rogers and Sharon McDonald found Elizabeth Cady Stanton chapter of the Women’s Liberation Front.

1970: In April, Appalachian State holds an all-day symposium on U. S. foreign policy in Asia, sponsored by the University Public Programs Committee.

1970: Inspection of women’s dormitory rooms for neatness is changed from once per week to once per month ("for fire and health hazard only").

1970: In April, an Environmental teach-in is held, including graveside services for a car engine, buried near the soccer field.

1970: On May 12, campus holds a memorial for students killed at Kent State and Jackson State College. It is followed on May 14 by a SGA student forum on Sanford Mall to discuss opinions on Vietnam, the invasion of Cambodia, the Kent State shootings, and student dissent.

1970: Campus approves a no-curfew policy for upperclass women, but retains restrictions on freshmen. The policy goes into effect Fall 1970. However, the doors to the residence halls are locked after midnight and students wishing to gain entry have to contact a security officer.

1970: Campus post office is made an official contract station of the United States Postal Service.

1970: In May, air conditioning is installed in two faculty lounges and offices in Edwin Duncan Hall. Classrooms and offices with exterior windows are not air conditioned.

1970: The football field and track at Conrad Stadium are fitted with artificial turf and an all-weather artificial track surface.

1970: The Geography Department offers green food stamps as a bonus to students signing up for geography electives during registration for the fall semester.

1970: Student Senate approves Appalachian State’s first social fraternity, Pi Kappa, in October. The fraternity does not receive approval from the administration.

1970: Appalachian Black Cultural Organization forms in the spring.

1970: Journalist James Kilpatrick and two NASA scientists speak at Appalachian State in October.

1970: On November 5, Jane Fonda speaks at Appalachian State on Vietnam as part of the Artists and Lecture Series.

1970: University’s outdoor shooting range opens for use for the ROTC rifle team and other student and faculty groups.

1970: Steppenwolf performs in Varsity Gym in November.

1970: University leases a UNIVAC 9,400 for the Computer Center.

1970: NOW founder Betty Friedan speaks on ASU campus in December.

1970: Faculty Senate votes to abolish textbook rental system in December. In April 1971, President Wey rejects this decision and maintains the bookstore’s rental system.

1971: Allman Brothers perform in January.

1971: A branch of Northwestern Bank moves into the second floor of the University Bookstore.

1971: Guess Who performs in Varsity Gym in March.

1971: Paul Anderson, “the world’s strongest man,” speaks during Spring Rally in April.

1971: Peace protesters hold moratorium on Sanford Mall in May. Sponsored by Students for Action, between 200 and 400 students participate.

1971: Student Government and the Popular Programs Committee sponsor a May Day Play Day with a New Orleans’ Bourbon Street theme.

1971: Biology Department museum opens in Rankin Hall in May.

1971: In May, members of Alpha Phi Omega march along HWY 421 to Winston-Salem to raise funds for a kidney transplant for member Jack Young, raising approximately $7,000.

1971: Biology Department discovers Native American remains in Valle Crucis in June.

1971: Mountaineer Playhouse (summer theatre) forms.

1971: In July, the Department of Industrial Arts raises a "25-foot-tall totem pole constructed in the department’s woodworking class in front of Kerr Scott Hall.

1971: Student Typesetting Service opens.

1971: Kenny Rogers performs during Homecoming.

1971: Students hold rally in support of visitation in women’s dorm rooms on Sanford Mall. An estimated two thousand students participate.

1971: Appalachian State University becomes part of newly created University of North Carolina System; Herbert Wey becomes first chancellor.

1971: Boone chapter of the ACLU forms in December.

1972: Alpha Phi Omega walks to Charlotte to raise funds for Sue Buchanan, who recently received a kidney transplant. The walk raised $1,000 towards the $15,000 surgery.

1972: Chancellor Wey dismisses rumors that Appalachian State will change its name to UNC-Boone.

1972: Freshmen women are allowed the same curfew privileges as upperclass women. Curfew policies now allow freshmen to leave their dorms before curfew and are not required to return, but are not allowed to leave after curfew.

1972: Appalachian Food Services expands the Gold Room and installs an ice cream parlor in Plemmons Student Union in September.

1972: Daniel Ellsberg, responsible for the publication of the Pentagon Papers, and Ralph Nader are scheduled to speak at Appalachian State as part of the Artists and Lecture Series. Ellsberg had to cancel due to the re-opening of his trial.

1972: Water shortage in Boone results in the city borrowing six million gallons from the Appalachian State water system, which includes 5 400-foot deep wells and a spring on Howard’s Knob.

1972: Student Senate appoints freshman Judy Gentry to the Homecoming Court. Gentry was the first African-American woman to be on any court at Appalachian State and was appointed to provide representation for the African-American students on campus.

1972: Human Sexuality Day is held on October 25, and includes discussion groups, information booths, panels, films and special talks.

1972: Student Senate asks administration for two day academic moratorium to allow students to return home for campaigning and voting in the November election.

1972: Beach Boys perform in November.

1973: James Dickey, author of Deliverance, speaks at Appalachian State in March.

1972: First Greek fraternity and sorority are approved at Appalachian State.

1972: In February, seven men register as candidates for May Queen in protest of the discrimination of minorities and Student Government sponsored beauty pageants. SGA soon withdraws its sponsorship of May and Winter courts.

1972: Preservation Hall Jazz Band performs at the Appalachian Elementary School auditorium in February.

1972: A fire destroys the main dining hall and an adjacent sleeping cabin at Camp Broadstone in February. The fire was caused by the explosion of one of the heating units in the dining hall.

1972: Roller Derby and the National Opera Company perform at Appalachian State in March.

1972: U. S. Department of Interior donates a sea lion to the biology department for dissection and study.

1972: WASU-FM begins broadcasting.

1972: The Computer Center’s UNIVAC assigns student dormitory rooms for 1972-73. Students are warned to be especially careful when filling out application forms, including four copies of the application, a questionnaire, and two copies of the housing contract.

1972: Watauga County Sheriff’s Department cancels a spring dance sponsored by Pi Kappa in the Boone Moose Lodge over issues concerning potential alcoholic beverages at a public event in a dry county.

1972: Appalachian Outward Bound Program is offered for first time during the summer.

1972: Office of Outdoor Programs is created.

1972: In April, the SGA urges Appalachian students to boycott classes in conjunction with a nation-wide boycott sponsored by the National Student Association and National Student Lobby, to protest the escalation of the air-war in Vietnam. The event is canceled due to rain.

1972: Activist Dick Gregory speaks at Appalachian State in April.

1972: The Black Culture Center, under construction by Appalachian Black Culture Organization in East Hall, is vandalized in April.

1972: Permit system goes into effect for hikers in the Linville Gorge.

1972: Appalachian Black Culture Organization holds a Black Culture Expo to promote understanding of African-American culture in May.

1972: Appalachian State switches PBX switchboard to the Centrex system.

1972: In September, private phones are installed in dormitories for the first time for an estimated 2100 students. Phones are placed in every dorm room in Cone, Cannon, Hoey, Gardner, Coltrane, Bowie, and Eggers Halls. Students are charged $10 a quarter for local telephone service.

1972: Alpha Phi Omega walks to Charlotte to raise funds for Sue Buchanan, who recently received a kidney transplant. The walk raised $1,000 towards the $15,000 surgery.

1972: Chancellor Wey dismisses rumors that Appalachian State will change its name to UNC-Boone.

1972: Freshmen women are allowed the same curfew privileges as upperclass women. Curfew policies now allow freshmen to leave their dorms before curfew and are not required to return, but are not allowed to leave after curfew.

1972: Appalachian Food Services expands the Gold Room and installs an ice cream parlor in Plemmons Student Union in September.

1972: Watauga College starts.

1972: Daniel Ellsberg, responsible for the publication of the Pentagon Papers, and Ralph Nader are scheduled to speak at Appalachian State as part of the Artists and Lecture Series. Ellsberg had to cancel due to the re-opening of his trial.

1972: Water shortage in Boone results in the city borrowing six million gallons from the Appalachian State water system, which includes 5 400-foot deep wells and a spring on Howard’s Knob.

1972: Student Senate appoints freshman Judy Gentry to the Homecoming Court. Gentry was the first African-American woman to be on any court at Appalachian State and was appointed to provide representation for the African-American students on campus.

1972: Human Sexuality Day is held on October 25, and includes discussion groups, information booths, panels, films and special talks.

1972: Student Senate asks the Administration for two day academic moratorium to allow students to return home to vote in the November election. While not canceling classes, the Faculty Senate asks faculty not to place any academic impediments to students wishing to return home during those two days.

1972: Beach Boys perform in November.

1973: James Dickey, author of Deliverance, speaks at Appalachian State in March.

1973: Broyhill Inn and Conference Center opens.

1973: A stretch of US HWY-321 one mile south of Blowing Rock caves-in after three days of rainfall in March. The road was expected to be out of commission for three to four months while construction crews carved a new road out of the mountainside. Until a temporary road was constructed, traffic between Lenoir and Blowing Rock was diverted through North Wilkesboro.

1973: Plemmons Student Center is officially changed to Plemmons Student Union in March.

1973: A fire damages the top floor of nearly-completed Mountaineer Apartments in March.

1973: In protest of the inflationary prices of meat, students boycott meat for one week in March.

1973: Dr. Ulysses Kay serves as composer-in-residence for the Contemporary Music Festival in April.

1973: Blues Artist Albert King performs in Varsity Gym in April.

1973: Cherokee teacher Michael Crowe speaks at Smith-Wright Hall on Native American discrimination on May 11.

1973: A Driver Education Course is built next to Edwin Duncan Hall in June.

1973: Price of a cheeseburger in the Bavarian Inn is 50¢.

1973: Blood, Sweat, and Tears performs at Homecoming.

1973: The SCEC sponsors a womanless beauty contest in October. Nine men compete dressed as women, and are judged on talent, poise, and originality.

1973: ALBION published by the History Department.

1973: Kraut (Boone) Creek floods on Memorial Day.

1973: Smoke Stack is removed from power plant when power source is converted from coal to oil.

1973–1974: Instate tuition and fees reach $151.91 per term; out of state tuition and fees reach $685.25. Housing costs men an addition $315.00 and women $280.00.

1974: Singer Earl Scruggs and jazz musician Count Bassie perform at Appalachian State in January.

1974: Students pay $12 a year for on-campus parking. It is later reduced to $9.

1974: In February, students hold a “streak festival” on Sanford Mall, attended by approximately 150 to 500 students, which lasted from 9 pm to 10:30 pm. One person is reported to have streaked.

1974: Three pay phones are installed on campus on January 31.

1974: Cold Mountain Review begins publication in May.

1974: Astronaut Charles Duke speaks at Appalachian State in January.

1974: Black Student Association founded at Appalachian State.

1974: WASU-TV is started by Learning Resources and the Department of Speech.

1974: Author Jesse Jackson becomes practitioner-in-residence for the College of Education.

1974: The Loft in New York City, New York, is opened and operated by the Art Department.

1974: Women’s Resource Center opens.

1974: The Student Transit Service starts on January 9, 1974, using a renovated 1959 school bus. The STS transports ASU students around campus and to selected locations in Boone and eventually Blowing Rock. Despite increasing popularity, the STS ceases operation in April due to severe gas shortage in Boone.

1974: Anthropologist Margaret Mead speaks at Appalachian State in September.

1974: Faculty Senate calls for a ban on smoking in classrooms.

1974: A second bus service by the newly formed Community Transit Authority begins in December for Boone residents and ASU students. Trips cost 25¢ per passenger. Service ceases operation in February 1975 due to lack of support.

1974: Flick, a local movie theater, reduces admission prices from $1.75 to $1 for adults in an effort to attract audiences.

1974: The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is passed by Congress to ensure the privacy of student records.

1976: Counseling Center forms a support group for homosexual students on campus.

1975: Sammy Davis, Jr., performs at Varsity Gymnasium.

1975: Belk Library installs security detection system to prevent the illegal removal of books. Previously every student leaving the library was searched for unchecked library books. The system included a security gate that locked when the sensors were activated, preventing the student from leaving the library.

1975: Warren Wilson Cooperative Project begins.

1975: In April, the Watauga County tax supervisor rules Appalachian State students must report personal belongings within Watauga County valued at more than $300 for tax purposes. The current County tax is 65¢ on every $100, with an additional 50¢ for every $100 in the city of Boone.

1975: Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Norman Dello Joio appears as guest artist at Appalachian State during the sixth annual Contemporary Music Festival in April.

1975: Author and poet Robert Penn Warren speaks at Appalachian State in March.

1975: Vernician Literary Society becomes the Zeta Mu chapter of the Alpha Delta Pi Sorority.

1975: The Computer Center adds a UNIVAC Spectra 70/46, worth an estimated one million dollars.

1975: In protest of the Watauga County property tax ruling, approximately 100 students march to the Boone Court House and attempt to register to vote. Only four students are allowed to register. Student Government appeals to the ACLU over discrimination, as students were rejected based on amount of community involvement and lack of financial independence as well as residence issues, despite being taxed by Watauga County.

1975: The Computer Center rents a UNIVAC 90/60 to ease the workload on the UNIVAC 70-46. The 90/60 costs $20,000 a month to operate and has a memory capacity of 524 KB.

1975: Doris Foxworth is elected “Miss Black Culture” during Black Expo Week in October. Miss Black Culture was then to participate in the Miss ASU contest in November.

1975: The Czechoslovakian Panocha String Quartet performs at the I. G. Greer Auditorium in November.

1976: The SGA holds a New River Festival to raise awareness for the environmental and agricultural damage that would result from the proposed buildnig of a second dam on the New River.

1976: In January, approximately 50 students participate in a “dirty laundry” sit in, wherein students carried pillowcases of dirty laundry to the Office of Student Housing in protests of unsatisfactory campus laundry services. Campus Laundry Services ends the required $45 laundry fee in the fall.

1976: Professor Dan Stillwell of the Department of Geography builds a 150-pound one eight-millionth scale model of the Earth.

1976: Bruce Springsteen performs at Appalachian State in April.

1976: Appalachian State’s Women’s Studies Program is founded

1976: Gene Roddenbery speaks at Farthing Auditorium in May.

1976: Phones are installed in dorm rooms in Watauga, Justice, Newland, and East Residence Halls.

1976: Jimmy Buffet, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and Jerry Jeff Walker perform in September-October in Farthing Auditorium.

1977: Boone Spring Cleanup Project is held by Appalachian State student and Boone organizations in April.

1977: Alpha Epsilon Rho, the National Honorary Broadcasting Society, opens a chapter at Appalachian State in April.

1977: Lack of dorm space and apartment vacancies results in Housing officials placing students in hotels and motels around Boone for the Fall semester.

1977: Billy Joel performs at Appalachian State during Homecoming.

1977: Appalachian House in Washington, D.C., is opened.

1978: Chancellor Wey issues moratorium banning non-service dogs from University buildings and the cafeteria, and beginning the enforcement of leash laws. The ban was aimed at stray dogs and unleashed pets that had been roaming campus buildings, the cafeteria dining area, and the campus grounds.

1978: The Appalachian reports a jock raid accomplished by women students on April 11.

1978: Gas prices in Boone are 60¢ per gallon.

1978: Six African-American Appalachian State students and the North Carolina Civil Liberties Union file a class action lawsuit against Antlers Tavern in Blowing Rock for violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 after being refused entry based on their race and other related incidents.

1978: The Town of Boone begins tapping water from Appalachian State’s independent water supply after a severe drought.

1978: Bill Murray, Mother’s Finest, and Dixie Dregs perform at Homecoming.

1978: Student Government Association offers Legal Aid service to students.

1978: Yosef is prohibited by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration from firing his rifle inside buildings and without protective gear due to the risk of potential hearing damage.

1979: The Department of Energy and NASA build a windmill at Howard’s Knob.

1979: The Appalachian Gay Awareness Association attempts to establish a constitution. The Student Government approves the constitution, and the campus holds a special referendum where 8% of student body votes 3 to 1 against it. Chancellor Wey approves the constitution, making AGAA an official campus organization in June.

1979: Conrad Stadium is rebuilt.

1979: Students hold an anti-nuke rally in April.

1979: Herbert Walter Wey retires as chancellor; Cratis Williams becomes interim chancellor.

1979: United Antenna Service offers HBO in Boone.

1979: Gymnastics Team disbands in the Fall after Bill Clinebell resigns as their coach.

1979: John E. Thomas becomes chancellor.

1979: Reverend Ralph D. Abernathy, co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, speaks at Appalachian State in October.

1979: Duke Ellington Band performs on campus.

1979: Students hold demonstration against Iran hostage crisis. An estimated 350 students participate.

1980: AppalCART begins operation in January with two buses.

1980: Students steal 960 trays from Food Service establishments in January-February for skiing.

1980: Neil Bush speaks at Farthing Auditorium to promote George Bush for president in April.

1980: Charlotte Observer cartoonist Doug Marlette speaks at Owens Field House in March.

1980: Residence Life Office is created.

1980: New Dorms A and B are opened to 380 students, despite having no installed kitchen facilities, washers and driers, or furniture, including beds.

1980: Appalachian State celebrates National Jogging Day on October 3 with a 12-hour 1,000 mile jog.

1980: Jazz musician Al Hirt and Dramatist Edward Albee appear in Farthing Auditorium in September as part of the Artist and Lecture Series.

1980: Boone Transit begins nightly bus runs to Blowing Rock for $2 round trip.

1980: Appalachian State Canoe Team forms.

1980: Little River Band and Rupert Holmes performs at Homecoming.

1981: Appalachian State celebrates Vocational Education Week.

1981: University Scholars Program begins.

1981: Boone mall opens in March.

1981: Activist Dick Gregory speaks at Appalachian State as part of Black Awareness Week in April.

1981: Alpha Phi Omega reforms on campus. The fraternity dissolved two years previously.

1981: Business fraternity Alpha Kappa Phi forms on campus.

1981: Chancellor’s scholarships initiated.

1981: Exchange contract with Northeast Institute of Technology in China is negotiated for faculty and graduate students.

1981: Association for Appalachian Women organized.

1981: Mealbook system in the cafeteria is replaced by a declining-balance system.

1981: AppalCART system is expanded to provide public transportation for the town of Boone, organized by Appalachian State and Watauga County Department of Transportation.

1981: Due to overcrowding and overpopulation, many ducks from the Duck Pond are relocated to Hickory Lake.

1981: Dark Sky Observatory is opened off-campus.

1981: ROTC’s Pershing Rifles and Capers organizations begin selling concessions in Varsity Gym for basketball games.

1982: Cafeteria begins selling plastic sleds to discourage students from stealing trays. In 1980, the cafeteria reported the loss of $13,000 of trays due to student theft in order to use the trays as sleds.

1982: A student is tried by the Student Judiciary for animal cruelty after killing and claiming to eat a duck from the Duck Pond.

1982: Board of Trustees terminates swimming and indoor track programs.

1982: AppalNet cable system is installed.

1982: Referendum to allow the sale of alcohol in Boone is defeated in May.

1982: Enrollment tops 10,000 (10,051).

1982: Touch Mime Trio performs at Appalachian State in October.

1982: The Outlaws and the Dregs perform at Homecoming. The concert loses a record $11,860.

1983: Kappa Alpha is suspended in March until January 1984 for hazing violations. The suspension was lifted in December 1983.

1983: Over 9000 students enrolled; 600 faculty.

1983: The Daniel Boone Hotel is demolished to make way for condominiums.

1983: Food Services and Pet Dairies constructs the largest chocolate sundae in North Carolina in May, including 45 gallons of vanilla ice cream, four gallons of chocolate syrup, and four gallons of whipped topping.

1983: A costumed Yosef replaces the traditional bearded Yosef.

1983: A $25 computer fee is added to the student activities fees.

1983: The Compass Club is established on campus.

1983: Trailways bus service cancels morning run between Charlotte to Boone due to lack of use.

1983: Mike Cross performs at Farthing Auditorium in September.

1983: Hugh Kaufmann, director of the Environmental Protection Agency Toxic Waste Program, speaks at Farthing Auditorium as part of the Artists and Lecture Series in September.

1983: The Safe Roads Act raises the drinking age for beer and fortified wine from 18 to 19 in October.

1983: In September, Appalnet computer system is announced that will allow students and administrators to access academic information systems across campus. Dormitory access for personal computers is expected by 1984.

1983: Cheap Trick performs in Varsity Gym in October.

1983: Homecoming parade is held without floats due to the damage they inflict on the track in Conrad Stadium.

1983: NASA Windmill is removed from Howard’s Knob.

1983: Kappa Alpha Psi is established on campus in October.

1983: Environmentalist Barry Commoner speaks at Appalachian State in November.

1983: Traveling evangelist James Gilles speaks to a crowd of approximately three hundred students on Sanford Mall in December.

1984: SGA starts an escort service for students walking alone at night in February.

1984: Dave Brubeck Quartet performs at Farthing Auditorium in February.

1984: Journalist Karl Grossman speaks at Farthing Auditorium in February.

1984: Satellite link with State’s public schools is initiated. Uplink allows educational programming to be broadcast to other schools unable to attend workshops or visit in person.

1984: ASU purchases Winn-Dixie on the northeast corner of campus, renovates it, and reopens it as a night club named H’Appy’s.

1984: The College of Learning and Human Development becomes the College of Education.

1984: Appalachian Neo-Marxist Alliance forms on campus.

1984: Former KGB agent Vladimir N. Sakharov speaks at Farthing Auditorium on U.S. and Soviet relations in October as part of the Artists and Lecture Series.

1984: Boone Cablevision removes MTV from its programming in October due to its appeal only to people under the age of 25. It is reinstated two weeks later.

1985: A late January cold wave drops temperatures in Boone to 22 degrees below zero with a -75 degree wind chill.

1985: Subway sandwich shop builds world’s largest sandwich on Sanford Mall.

1985: Appalachian Popular Programming Society forms.

1985: Russian Clowns Tanya and Yury Belov perform in the Broyhill Music Center in September as part of the Performing Arts Special Series.

1985: Conservative Phyllis Schlafly and attorney Sarah Weddington debate current events in Farthing Auditorium in September.

1985: The Romantics perform at Homecoming.

1985: Military affairs expert Andrew Cockburn and conservative William Rusher debate the Star Wars military defense program in Farthing Auditorium in November as part of the Artists and Lecture Series.

1985: SGA starts the Mountaineer Escort Service for student protection after dark.

1985: Wellness Center established.

1986: Shuttle Challenger explodes in January.

1986: Varsity Cheerleaders win National Cheerleading Championship in January.

1986: In March, a town referendum allows the sale of beer in Boone for the first time since 1949. The referendum also allows the creation of a Boone ABC Store. Blowing Rock passes referendum on the same day to allow the selling of mixed drinks.

1986: Online preregistration is offered for summer courses.

1986: The Bangles and Hoodoo Gurus perform in Varsity Gym in April.

1986: An AIDS Advisory Council is formed to inform students about the disease in April.

1986: Boone restaurants approved for beer and wine sales in April.

1986: Drinking age is changed from 19 to 21 on September 1.

1986: Food and drink prohibited in Belk Library.

1986: Athletic Department begins drug testing athletes.

1986: Boone gets 911 telephone service in October.

1986: 75 students protest Appalachian State’s investments in South Africa in September.

1986: The Other Big Apple Road Race is held on campus.

1986: Mountaineer football team wins Southern Conference championships.

1986: Alpha Kappa Alpha organizes on campus.

1987: Author Alex Haley speaks at Appalachian State in February.

1987: SGA President is made an ex-officio member of the Boone Town Council.

1987: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts perform at H’Appy’s in April.

1987: Radical Abbie Hoffman speaks on student activism at Farthing Auditorium in March.

1987: New income tax law classifies scholarships and most grants over $600 as taxable income for students.

1987: Divestment Week is held in April by students, faculty and staff, including lectures, fasts, picketing, and protests against Appalachian State investments in South Africa.

1987: The College of Business is placed on accreditation probation by the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business for lack of published faculty research and inadequate amount of faculty with doctorates.

1987: WASU changes from Top-40 format to Album Oriented Rock/Progressive Rock format in August.

1987: Nine blue-light emergency phones are set up around campus during the summer.

1987: Library replaces card catalog system with computer terminals.

1987: The baseball field is renamed Red Lackey Field.

1987: The Duck Pond is renamed Tomlinson Park.

1987: Anti-terrorist and guerilla warfare expert Yaron Svoray speaks at Farthing Auditorium in September.

1987: Alcohol Awareness Week is held in October at Appalachian State.

1987: Satirist P. J. O’Rourke speaks on South Africa in Farthing Auditorium in November.

1988: Jimmy Buffett and the Cheap Vacation Band performs at Appalachian State in February.

1988: Alpha Phi Sigma, honor society for criminal justice majors, starts on campus.

1988: H’Appy’s is renovated and renamed Legends.

1988: Conrad Stadium is renamed Kidd Brewer Stadium.

1988: The Dougherty House is moved off campus to State Farm Field during the summer.

1988: The Bavarian Inn is transformed into a food court.

1988: Chicago performs in Varsity Gym in September.

1988: Skateboarding is banned on campus.

1988: Appalachian Express Card accounts are started.

1988: Comedian Steven Wright performs at Farthing Auditorium in October.

1988: SGA approves condom dispensers in ASU public restrooms in December.

1989: Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait performs at Farthing Auditorium in January.

1989: Campus raises minimum wage from $3.35 to $3.85 an hour in the fall.

1989: Dougherty House is sold to Appalachian Heritage Museum and moved to Mystery Hill.

1989: Recycling program is created.

1989: Hurricane Hugo passes through Boone, causing floods and a sinkhole in the Legends parking lot.

1989: 38 Special performs in Varsity Gym in September.

1989: Mikhail Gorbachev and George Bush declare an end to the Cold War in December.

1990: Indigo Girls perform at Legends in January.

1990: Appalachian State chapter of Amnesty International holds a benefit concert at the Student Union Pub.

1990: Approximately five hundred students and community members march across campus in protest of a planned student recreation center on the hillside north of Kidd-Brewer Stadium.

1990: 50-100 blue gill fish die in Duck Pond due to low oxygen levels in the water.

1990: Alpha Tau Omega is organized on campus.

1990: Activist and NOW President Molly Yard speaks at Appalachian State in October.

1990: Bob Dylan performs at Varsity Gym in October.

1990: 11,000 students; 700 faculty.

1990–1991: Gulf War.

1990: Feminist Collective organizes.

1990: Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA) forms.

1990: Communist Party relinquishes control over USSR in February.

1991: Ralph Nader speaks at Farthing Auditorium in February.

1991: Women’s Basketball Team wins Southern Conference.

1991: Students hold a Troop Support Rally to support soldiers in the Persian Gulf in March.

1991: Jazz singer Jane Powell performs in Student Union Pub in March.

1991: Appalachian State Child Care Center opens in the fall.

1991: Women’s outdoor track team wins Southern Conference five years in a row.

1991: Appalachian State begins faculty-staff exchange program with North Ossetian State University in the Soviet Union.

1991: Campus Security becomes University Police.

1991: Soviet Union officially dissolves in December.

1992: Bill Clinton elected president.

1992: Student Government Association (SGA) request that Appalachian State include sexual orientation in the university discrimination policy.

1993: Appalachian State adds sexual orientation to their anti-discrimination policy.

1993: John E. Thomas retires as chancellor.

1993: Frank Borkowski becomes Appalachian State’s fifth chancellor in August.

1993: SAGA is renamed Bisexuals, Gays, and Lesbians Associated for Diversity (B-GLAD).

1994: On October 22, Appalachian State fans celebrate a Mountaineer victory over Marshall Thundering Herd by tearing down two goal posts in Kidd-Brewer Stadium, throwing them in the duck pond, then marching them down King Street.

1994: Valborg Theatre dedicated -- grand opening.

1995: Faculty and community members present a “Speak Out” against hate crimes and intolerance.

1996?: Appalachian State rebuilds the smokestack that was removed in 1973 to comply with EPA emissions regulations, requiring emissions be released into the atmosphere at a certain altitude. It is the first time the Appalachian State campus has been in compliance with emissions standards.

1996: November flooding washes out thirty-two student vehicles parked beside the John E. Thomas Hall.

1996: Equity office formed.

1997: Apartments at Appalachian Heights are flooded by 700 gallons of water from a broken sprinkler system pipe in the attic. Twenty students are evacuated, and dislodged students receive free rooms at the Broyhill Inn.

1997: Wal-Mart opens in Boone.

1997: Football players are no longer housed together in Justice Hall and are purposefully spread across different residence halls to be in compliance with NCAA regulations. During the process, six football players in Justice are accused of sexual assault, one is suspended and five put on academic probation. Student did not press charges.

1997: In March, NAACP charters an Appalachian State University branch with sixty initial members.

1997: School of Music sponsors a three-day guitar festival including performers Anthony Giles, John Michael Parris, and Thomas Patterson.

1997: Joyce Lawrence, dean of Cratis D. Williams Graduate School, retires.

1997: Alternative Transportation Committee suggests implementing a process of satellite parking lots, free parking for carpoolers with three or more passengers, not issuing on-campus parking permits to students within walking distance to an AppalCART route, and restricting residence hall student parking to perimeter lots. The only alternate transportation suggestions involve bike ramps and lanes, sidewalk installations, and closing selected roads on campus to vehicles.

1997: Open visitation approved by 93% of on-campus students in 14 campus residence halls.

1997: Annual Block Party is replaced by an alcohol-free “First Night” celebration for all students. The party is held at Sanford Mall.

1998: A smoldering cigarette sets fire to a pile of leaves just outside of Edwin Duncan Hall. Boone Fire Department was called in to put out the resulting blaze.

1998: Women’s Center opens in Plemmons Student Union.

1998: Spike Lee speaks at Farthing Auditorium Hall in November.

1998: Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, prime minister of Poland from 1996-1997, spends semester at Appalachian.

1999: New New York Loft at 117 E. 24th Street in Manhattan opens to Appalachian State students; loft was a former orthodontist’s office. The loft rents for $30 a night for students, faculty, and staff, and $40 for alumni and guests.

1999: Appalachian Majorettes win national title, “1999 National College Majorette Line.”

1999: Appalachian State celebrates 100 year anniversary since the founding of Watauga Academy in 1899.

1999: Appalachian State NOW chapter sponsors Day of Silence.

1999: Board of Governors announce that Appalachian State has the highest amount of drug violations of any school in the UNC system for 1997-98.

1999: Appalachian State reports between 200 and 300 cases of influenza among students. School denies rumors of closing or quarantine.

1999: College of Business students begin internships in China for one month internships in accounting, computer information systems, and marketing.

1999: Students participate in NOW’s national day of silence on April 7, where gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students attended classes wore tape over their mouths and handed out fliers.

1999: Chancellor emeritus Herbert Walter Wey dies.

1999: Greek Week celebrates 25 years of Greeks on campus.

1999: In April, campus police start patrolling on bicycles.

1999: In October, Mountaineer fans tear down one goal post in celebration of a victory. Although the post was quickly repaired, the repaired post was stolen days later.

2000: Skateboarding and rollerblading is allowed on campus for ASU students only.

2000: Civil rights attorney Morris Dees speaks at Farthing Auditorium in March.

2000: Appalachian State holds its first Martin Luther King Day Challenge. The Challenge consisted of service projects to bring students and the community together in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

2001: Dr. Joycelyn Elders, former surgeon general of the United States during the Clinton administration, speaks at Appalachian State, giving a presentation titled, “The Key to a Healthy America.”

2001: Jerry Hutchens becomes the senior associate vice chancellor for development.

2001: Five students arrested for second-degree trespassing while protesting at Staples for their selling of paper made from old-growth forests.

2001: Dr. William Derrick retires from Health Services, where he worked as a physician since 1968.

2001: One student and four non-students are arrested for defacing the Convocation Center the day before spring commencement as part of a protest by the “Rise Up” group. The protest concerned the murder conviction of Mumia Abu-Jamal twenty years ago.

2001: State Senate cuts $33 million in state education funds. Instate Tuition at Appalachian State University rises from $982 to $1,221. Out-of-state students pay $8,402, compared to last year’s $8,252 tuition.

2001: Yosef sculpture installed in Tomlinson Park by Duck Pond Field.

2001: Appalachian State University faculty, staff and students donated 226 pints of blood to the Watauga County chapter of the American Red Cross in one day.

2001: Fives students hit by cars while jaywalking on Rivers Street during fall semester.

2001: University responds to Sept. 11 attacks by strengthening security at Water Treatment Plant and at football games. No-drinking policy goes into effect at home games. Health Services and University Post Office establishes procedures for anthrax containment.

2001: Diversity lowest at Appalachian State University, compared to the overall UNC system. Student population is 94.4% Caucasian.

2001: First issue of “The Summit,” a student art and literary magazine, is published.

2002: Campus police start issuing jaywalking tickets on Rivers Street with fines amounting to $100.

2002: GLBT Taskforce organized.

2002: Campus computer labs begin charging $.03 per page for printing fees.

2002: Movie theater opens in Plemmons Student Union.

2003: A bear breaks into the Holmes Convocation Center in November and escapes north on Hill Street.

2003: Chancellor Frank Borkowski retires on June 30. Provost Harvey Durham is appointed interim chancellor.

2004: Kenneth E. Peacock, interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, is elected Appalachian State’s sixth chancellor in February.

2005: Appalachian State Mountaineers win first national championship.

2006: Appalachian State Mountaineers win second national championship.

2007: Appalachian State Mountaineers win third national championship.

2008: Students arrested for trespassing on third day of a sit-in protest in B. B. Dougherty Administration Building of the use of sweatshop-produced goods in University Bookstore.

2008: Appalachian House in Washington, DC, closes.

2008: Faculty Senate votes to add ‘gender identity and expression’ to EEO.

2008: Appalachian joins more than 500 universities, colleges and community colleges in pledging to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

2008: LGBT Center opens in October.

1990: The Sexual Awareness Group at Appalachian (SAGA) was formed, “a support/services group dealing with issues of all sexual orientations.” The group went through several name changes, including Bisexual, Gays, Lesbians, and Allies Associated for Diversity (B-GLAAD), then back to SAGA. (Source: The Appalachian, March 26, 1991; Internet Archive, May 10, 2008)

1991: IDS 3533 Gay Experience/Media Interpretations was offered by Kim Duckett. (Source: Schedule of Classes, Fall Semester, 1991, Appalachian State University Libraries Archives Subject Files)

1993: Appalachian State added sexual orientation to its anti-discrimination policy. (Source: Board of Trustees records, UA.01, Appalachian State University Libraries)

1995: Messages of hate were graffitied in the Rivers Street Tunnel. Campus organization Bisexual, Gays, Lesbians, and Allies Associated for Diversity (B-GLAAD) sponsored a National Coming Out Day celebration on October 10-11 and painted over the hate messages. The tunnel was re-vandalized on October 17, and B-GLAD repainted the tunnel on October 19. (Source: The Appalachian, October 26, 1995)

2002: The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Task Force was organized in the Spring. The goal was to assess issues regarding the GLBT community and develop recommendations to be addressed. (Source: Internet Archive, June 16, 2010)

2008: Gender identity and gender expression were added to the campus EEO policy. (Source: Internet Archive, September 8, 2008)

2008: LGBT Center opens on October 3. (Source: LGBT Center Dedication program, Appalachian State University Libraries Archives Subject Files: LGBT Center)

2016: Students protested House Bill 2 and occupied the B.B. Dougherty Administration Building. While there, Chancellor Sheri N. Everts spoke with student leaders about improving communication between administration and minority groups on campus. (Source: The Appalachian, April 19, 2016)

2016: The Preferred First Name initiative was launched on the Banner Self-Service platform. (Source: Appalachian State University: Office of the Chancellor message to campus, April 6, 2016)

2021: Appalachian State implemented the Chosen First Name Initiative, allowing constituents to choose a first name different from their legal first name for use on official university matters, including Appcards and diplomas. (Source: The Appalachian: Appalachian State Welcome Guide, 2021-2022)

2021: The Queer and Trans Staff and Faculty group was established to create a welcoming and inclusive community for queer and trans staff and faculty. (Source: Appalachian State University: Office of Diversity Annual Report, 2021-2022)

1902: NC General Assembly approves creation of Appalachian Training School, and creates Board of Trustees to govern institution.

1903: B. B. Dougherty serves as co-principal of Appalachian Training School and Superintendent of Watauga County Schools; D. D. Dougherty, co-principal, business manager, and teacher of Appalachian Training School.

1903: Edward Francis Lovill - chairman of first Board of Trustees.

1908: 1st summer session granting additional teacher pay.

1910: Chapell Wilson begins teaching history and government at ATS until 1932.

1911: James M. Downum joins Appalachian faculty as professor of Latin.

1913: Bettie Stephenson becomes first librarian.

1916: Mary Parsons becomes first supervisor of women.

1919: Jennie Todd becomes supervisor of women, with Mrs. H. S. Deal as assistant.

1921: Trustees elect B. B. Dougherty sole president, and D. D. Dougherty business manager.

1921: Chapell Wilson supervises teacher training, teaches psychology.

1921: Emma Moore becomes librarian.

1921: A. J. Greene joins faculty as assistant in Latin and English.

1921: James D. Rankin joins faculty as professor of English.

1922: J. E. Hillman becomes first Dean of Education.

1922–1957: Chapell Wilson becomes director of summer school.

1925: James M. Downum becomes first registrar.

1925: NC General Assembly approves changing Appalachian Training School into a normal school for training teachers, phasing out high school courses. Name is changed to Appalachian State Normal School, B. B. Dougherty is named president, and a new Board of Trustees is formed.

1929: D. D. Dougherty dies; Lillie Shull Dougherty elected business manager.

1929: William Leonard Eury joins library staff.

1929: NC General Assembly approves changing Appalachian State Normal School into a four-year college for training teachers. Name is changed to Appalachian State Teachers College, B. B. Dougherty is named president, and a new Board of Trustees is formed.

1933: James M. Downum retires as registrar; Herman Eggers becomes registrar.

1935: English Literature Professor Andrew Martin Norton dies of heart attack during class. He began teaching at Appalachian State in 1925.

1937: James D. Rankin first listed as Dean.

1938: Lillie Shull Dougherty retires; David Barnard Dougherty elected business manager.

1938: Lucy Brock joins the Home Economics Department.

1940: Miss Myrtle Brandon (Mrs. Chapell Wilson) becomes dean of Women.

1940: Lucy Brock becomes head of Department of Home Economics.

1942: Cratis Williams teaches in demonstration high school.

1942: Helen Birch becomes dean of Women.

1943: Seven faculty members listed as on leave for armed services.

1945: W. L. Eury becomes Library Director until 1970.

1946: Cratis Williams joins faculty of ASTC.

1947: Robert Broome begins coaching at ASTC.

1955: June 30, 1955: B. B. Dougherty retires as president in June; James D. Rankin elected interim president.

1955: James D. Rankin retires as dean of College, becomes interim president; D. J. Whitener becomes dean of College.

1955: James D. Rankin retires as interim president in September; William H. Plemmons becomes president of ASTC.

1955: David Barnard Dougherty becomes vice-president and comptroller.

1955: Helen Birch retires as Dean of Women; Barbara Stephenson becomes new Dean of Women.

1956: Coach Edward C. Duggins retires as head coach; Robert Broome becomes head coach.

1957: Barbara Stephenson retires as dean of Women; Maxie Edmisten becomes dean.

1957: Co-founder and President Emeritus B. B. Dougherty dies.

1957: Librarian Emma Moore retires.

1957–1958: Herbert Walter Wey becomes Dean of Graduate School.

1958: Herbert Walter Wey leaves to work at University of Miami; Cratis Williams becomes Dean of Graduate School.

1959: Coach Robert Broome dies.

1961: John F. Bozard becomes Dean of Academic Affairs.

1961: Lucy Brock retires as head of Department of Home Economics.

1962: B. B. Dougherty named to N.C. Education Hall of Fame.

1964: Dean of College D. J. Whitener dies.

1965: Vice-President and Comptroller David Barnard Dougherty dies.

1967: ASU administration supported formation of the Faculty Senate.

1967: NC General Assembly approves changing Appalachian State Teachers College into university, including a four-year undergraduate and graduate school program, without a specific teaching emphasis. Name is changed to Appalachian State University and William Howard Plemmons remains as president.

1967: George Dillinger is appointed director of Food Services. He was formerly Food Director for the N. C. Prison Department.

1967: A full-time physician, Dr. Lawrence Heavrin, is added to the College Infirmary staff.

1968: John Foster West begins working at Appalachian State as campus writer.

1969: Dr. Lawrence Heavrin resigns post as campus physician on January 1 to work in private practice. Dr. Henry Burton, psychiatrist, becomes head of the Health Center. A new Psychological Services branch is formed headed by clinical psychologist Dr. Roger L. Steenland.

1969: Caroline Anderson becomes first African-American full-time faculty member. She leaves in the summer of 1970.

1969: Roy Clogston named Director of Athletics.

1969: William Howard Plemmons retires; Herbert W. Wey is appointed president.

1970: ASU Board of Trustees approves the College of Business.

1970: Al Corum is named first dean of Learning Resources.

1971: Appalachian State University becomes part of University of North Carolina University System; Board of Governors appoint Herbert W. Wey first chancellor.

1971: James Jackson is first Dean of College of Continuing Education.

1971: Robert Snead is the First Vice-Chancellor for Development.

1971: Howard Cottrell retires from managing the College Bookstore.

1971: Appalachian State University becomes part of newly created University of North Carolina System; Herbert Wey becomes first chancellor.

1971: William Spencer resigns as head of the Department of Music. He is replaced by Wayne Shelly, former director of Applied Music at the University of Kentucky.

1972: Dr. Ralph Holt joins Student Health Services.

1972–1973: Center for Continuing Education is opened in Broyhill Inn.

1973: F. Ray Derrick resigns as head of the Department of Biology. Derrick served as chairman since 1952.

1974: Richard Sorenson becomes dean of College of Business.

1974: J. Paul Combs becomes chairman of Department of Economics.

1974: Head Basketball Coach Press Maravich resigns in January 1975 after three seasons as coach. His win-lose record when the resignation was announced was 12-51. He is replaced by Bobby Cremins in February.

1975: Cratis Williams resigns as dean of the Graduate School to become acting Chancellor during Chancellor Wey’s leave of absence. Williams served as dean since 1958. Dr. Richard Rupp becomes new dean.

1976: Dr. William A. Derrick joins Health Services staff in September.

1976: Photographer and writer William A. Bake joins the Department of Educational Media in the College of Learning and Human Development faculty for a year.

1977: Kathryn Tully, professor in the College of Business, retires in January. She has taught at Appalachian State since 1955-56.

1977: Professor Joseph Logan resigns as dean of the College of Learning and Human Development to return to teaching. Logan was formerly dean of the College of Education before it became the College of Learning and Human Development.

1978: J. Braxton Harris resigns as Vice-Chancellor of Student Affairs to return to teaching.

1979: Herbert Walter Wey retires; Cratis D. Williams becomes interim Chancellor.

1979: John E. Thomas becomes chancellor.

1979: Frank Bruno becomes dean of the College of Learning and Human Development.

1979: Football head coach Jim Brakefield resigns in November.

1980: James Jones resigns as director of the Athletic Department in June. He is replaced by Clarence Gilstrap.

1980: Sandra Godsey becomes Appalachian State’s first female security officer.

1981: Hank Steinbrecher resigns as the Soccer Coach to take a position in Boston University.

1982: Richard Sorensen resigns as dean of the College of Business.

1982: Clarence Gilstrap resigns and is replaced by Jim Garner as director of the Athletic Department in the fall.

1983: Frank Bruno resigns as dean of the College of Learning and Human Development and is replaced by Dr. Ben Strickland.

1983: James Jackson resigns as dean of College of Continuing Education.

1983: J. Paul Combs becomes dean of the College of Business.

1984: James William Byrd becomes new Dean of College of Arts and Sciences.

1984: William Howard Plemmons dies.

1985: Cratis Williams dies.

1985: College of Education named in honor of Ed & Lois Reich ($1 million gift).

1985: Ronny Brooks, dean of Students since 1971, dies.

1986: Professor William Spencer retires from Department of Music.

1987: Dr. Pat Geiger is hired to work in the College Infirmary. She is the only female physician in Boone.

1987: W. Hoyt Safrit retires from the Music Department.

1988: Dayton Cole becomes University Attorney.

1988: J. Paul Combs resigns as dean of the College of Business.

1988: ASU Board of Trustees approves School of Music.

1989: Grant Davis becomes dean of the College of Business.

1989: Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Harvey Durham becomes University Provost.

1989: Football coach Sparky Woods resigns from Appalachian State.

1989: David McIntire resigns as vice chancellor for Student Development. He is temporarily replaced by Barbara Daye in January.

1990: William Byrd resigns as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He is replaced by Dr. Don Sink.

1990: Gregory Blimling becomes vice chancellor for Student Development.

1991: Grant Davis resigns as dean of the College of Business.

1993: Appalachian State adds sexual orientation to their anti-discrimination policy.

1993: John Thomas retires; Francis T. Borkowski becomes chancellor.

1998: Dr. James W. Jackson dies. Jackson was at Appalachian since 1970 as as dean of educational innovation and assistant to Chancellor Herbert Wey. He was dean of the College of Continuing Education and director of summer sessions from 1972-83, and professor of higher education and coordinator of higher education graduate programs from 1983 until his retirement in June.

1998: History professor Thomas Keelin Keefe, at Appalachian since 1978, dies.

1999: Chancellor emeritus Herbert Walter Wey dies.

2003: Chancellor Frank Borkowski retires on June 30. Provost Harvey Durham is appointed interim chancellor.

2004: Interim Chancellor Harvey Durham retires.

2004: Kenneth E. Peacock, interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, is elected Appalachian State’s sixth chancellor in February. He is inaugurated in April.

2008: Gender identity and gender expression added to campus EEO policy.

2023-2024: In the fall of 2023, North Carolina State legislators proposed bills to restrict and eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, claiming that the programs promoted divisive ideology. Consequently, state funds to promote underrepresented groups' representation were withdrawn from college campuses. DEI offices and programming were disbanded, and related workforces were reduced and reassigned. The Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina System convened on April 17, 2024, to update system policies and to comply with the impending legislation by repealing and replacing DEI policies in favor of a focus on neutrality. On May 23, 2024, 300.8.5 [R] Regulation on Diversity and Inclusion Within the University of North Carolina and 300.8.5 Policy on Diversity and Inclusion Within the University of North Carolina were repealed and replaced with 300.8.5 Equality Within the University of North Carolina, effective September 1.

1906: Lovill Home, the first women’s dormitory, was completed and opened. (Source: Elizabeth Brown Scoggins collection, UA.45, Appalachian State University Libraries)

1913: Bettie Stephenson becomes the first librarian. (Source: Watauga Democrat, May 30, 1912; Office of the President. Blanford Barnard Dougherty records, UA.02.01, Appalachian State University Libraries)

1916: Mary Parson became the principal of the women’s dormitory. (Source: Watauga Democrat, September 7, 1916).

1926: The Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) chapter was formed on campus. (Source: The Rhododendron, 1926)

1929: Lillie Shull Dougherty became the Business Manager and Treasurer after the death of her husband, D. D. Dougherty. (Source: University Communications records, UA.23, Appalachian State University Libraries)

1932: The Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) sponsors the first May Day Festival and elects a queen. (Source: The Rhododendron, 1932)

1935: The first campus-wide election for May Queen was held. (Source: The Appalachian, May 2, 1935)

1935: President B. B. Dougherty allowed female students to select which days they could travel uptown and when to visit the soda fountain, department stores, and other Boone businesses. (Source: The Appalachian, October 4, 1935)

1939: The Student Council revised the rules on dating and the number of dates allowed to women. Dates were delegated by class rank: seniors were unrestricted, juniors allowed three a week, sophomores two, and freshmen one. (Source: The Appalachian, January 13, 1939)

1940: Lucy Brock became chairperson of the Department of Home Economics. (Source: Department of Home Economics records, UA.05.08, Appalachian State University Libraries)

1940: The first “Leap Week” was held, where women asked men for dates and paid all expenses. This annual event was later known as “S.P.” week. (Source: The Appalachian, January 19, 1940)

1941:Virginia Wary is announced as the new head of the Department of Music. (Source: The Appalachian, October 24, 1941)

1944: The Girls’ Chorus was organized. (Source: The Appalachian, October 20, 1944)

1945: Helen Burch is announced as the Dean of Women. (Source: The Appalachian, October 5, 1945)

1946: School and student officials gave movie privileges to women. (Source: The Appalachian, November 1, 1946)

1949: Mary S. Shook was hired as the first full-time nurse. M. S. Shook Student Health Service is named after her. (Source: The Appalachian, March 9, 1951)

1957: Women students were allowed to wear slacks on campus for certain occasions with permission from the dean.

1967: Women were allowed to wear pants everywhere except in classrooms, the library, and the cafeteria during noon and evening meals on Sundays. (Source: The Appalachian, January 12, 1967)

1968: Women’s field hockey became the first official team in women’s athletics. (Source: The Appalachian, March 26, 2015)

1969: Carolyn Anderson joined the faculty at Appalachian State. She was the first African-American faculty member at the institution in the Department of Mathematics. (Source: Dr. Carolyn Anderson Oral History Interview, 2017, Appalachian State University Libraries Digital Collections)

1969: Women’s curfews were extended to midnight Monday-Thursday, 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 12:30 a.m. on Sunday. (Source: The Appalachian, December 12, 1969)

1970: 300 residents of Hoey Hall signed a petition refusing to elect hall monitors responsible for the nightly room checks. Those who were elected resigned in protest of being elected against their will. A no-room-check policy was then instituted in women’s dorms. (Source: The Appalachian, January 16, 1970)

1970: A trial run of a no-curfew women’s dorm is planned for the 1970-1971 academic year but is canceled due to a lack of applications. (Source: The Appalachian, January 9, 1970; February 6, 1970)

1970: Students Kathy Rogers and Sharon McDonald established the Elizabeth Cady Stanton chapter of the Women’s Liberation Front. (Source: The Appalachian, March 19, 1970)

1970: Campus approves a no-curfew policy for upper-class women but retains restrictions on freshmen. The policy went into effect in the Fall of 1970. However, the doors to the residence halls are locked after midnight, and students wishing to gain entry must contact a security officer. (Source: The Appalachian, December 18, 1969)

1971: Triple-T program created.

1971: Appalachian State offers specialist degrees in biology, educational leadership, higher education, and elementary education. The specialist degree was situated between the master’s and doctoral degrees.

1972: The Student Senate appointed freshman Judy Gentry to the Homecoming Court to ensure diverse representation. The Judiciary denied the appointment because Gentry was not voted in. As a compromise, Gentry was added as a “special added feature of the 1972 Homecoming activities.” Gentry was the first African-American woman on any court at Appalachian State. (Source: The Appalachian, September 29, 1972)

1972: Watauga Residential College opened in Watauga Hall and offered the first co-ed housing on campus. (Source: The Appalachian, September 15, 1972)

1972: Freshmen women were allowed the same curfew privileges as their peers. (Source: The Appalachian, September 15, 1972)

1974: The Women’s Resource Center was established and directed by Dr. Gail McClain, assistant director of the Counseling and Psychological Services Center. According to McClain, the Center exists to “promote the personal development of women on campus, the local community and the region… [it] will offer support and guidance to women for personal growth, current and continuing education and career development.” (Source: The Appalachian, May 9, 1974)

1974: Temporary Interim Child-Care [TICC] opened on campus. It was located inside the Women’s Resource Center (WRC). (Source: The Appalachian, September 26, 1974)

1975: Doris Foxworth was elected “Miss Black Culture” during Black Expo Week in October, then participated in the Miss ASU contest in November. (Source: The Appalachian, October 16, 1975)

1975: Title IX of the United States Education Amendment of 1972 was created, and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare gave Appalachian three years to comply before losing federal funds. Dr. Isabel Jones was appointed coordinator of implementing Title IX regulations. (Source: The Appalachian, October 16, 1975)

1975: A chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) was formed on campus with the purpose of fighting discrimination. (Source: The Appalachian, November 11, 1975)

1976: Faculty from the departments of English, Anthropology, History, Art, and Sociology gathered and shared resources in Women’s Studies and published a resource booklet. They organized an interdisciplinary minor proposal that was submitted to the Academic Policies and Procedures Committee. (Margaret McFadden papers, UA.30.008, Appalachian State University Libraries)

1978: Appalachian State submitted plans to comply with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Title IX provision by providing more scholarships for women. (Source: The Appalachian, November 28, 1978)

1979: Watauga College opened the Women’s Studies minor. (Source: The Appalachian, October 16, 1979)

1979: Appalachian State University Faculty Concerned with the Status of Women sponsored the “Women in Power” conference. (Source: The Appalachian, October 2, 1979)

1979: Women’s track became the newest sport in Appalachian’s athletic program. (Source: The Appalachian, October 4, 1979 [note this issue was scanned with October 2 and is part of the same file])

1980: Sandra Godsey became Appalachian State’s first female security officer. (Source: The Appalachian, August 28, 1980)

1981: The coed Association for Women Students was recognized as an official organization at ASU. (Source: The Rhododendren, 1984)

1981: The Office of Equal Opportunity commissioned a campus-wide survey on sexual harassment at Appalachian State. (Source: Department of Home Economics records, UA.05.08, Appalachian State University Libraries)

1990: The activist student group, the Feminist Collective, was organized. (Source: Women's Studies Program records, UA.17, “Women’s Studies Newsletter”, November-December, 1990, Appalachian State University Libraries)

1991: Appalachian State Child Care Center opened in the fall. (Source: The Appalachian, September 10, 1991)

1996: The Department of Women’s Studies became a separate, university-wide academic program. (Source: Women's Studies Program records, UA.17, “Women’s Studies Newsletter,” Fall, 1996, Appalachian State University Libraries)

1996: The Equity Office was established after reorganizing the Office of Women’s Concerns (OWC). The OWC's mission was to offer university personnel and students a neutral and confidential place to start resolving problems involving alleged harassment or discrimination. (Source: ASU News Bureau release, November 22, 1996, Appalachian State University Libraries Archives Subject Files: Equity Office)

1997: Dr. Thalia J. Coleman became the first African-American woman to become a full-tenured Professor. (Source: Other Voices: A Publication of the Black Faculty and Staff, Spring, 2000, Appalachian State University Libraries Archives Publication Files)

1998: The Women’s Center was opened in Plemmons Student Union. (Source: Women's Studies Program records, UA.17, “Women’s Studies Newsletter”, Spring, 1998, Appalachian State University Libraries)

2008: Dr. Linda K. Robinson was named Appalachian State University’s first Chief Diversity Officer by Chancellor Kenneth Peacock. (Source: Office of Equity, Diversity, and Compliance, Contacts page, 2008, Appalachian State University Libraries)

2011: Dr. Lori Stewart Gonzalez was appointed the first woman Provost and Executive Vice-Chancellor. (Source: The Appalachian, September 13, 2011)

2014: Bindu Kolli Jayne was appointed Associate Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Compliance and the university’s Chief Diversity Officer. (Source: Appalachian Today, “Find Your Sustain Ability: What does Social Justice have to do with Sustainability? A Conversation with Dr. Lee Ball and Chief Diversity Officer Bindu Kolli Jayne,” November 20, 2015)

2014: Dr. Sheri N. Everts was announced as the first woman to hold the office of Chancellor at Appalachian State University. (Source: The Appalachian, March 20, 2014)

2019: The Lactation Lounge was opened in the Plemmons Student Union. (Source: Appalachian Today, “App State opens new Lactation Lounge in Plemmons Student Union,” June 18, 2019)