The App State Board of Trustees held its regular meetings on Sept. 4-5 in the North Endzone Facility. As is normally the case, the committee meetings were more informative than the full meeting, which turns into a “look how great we are” lovefest.

I watched all these meetings and took notes. There’s some interesting governance stuff if you’re into that.

Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee, 10 a.m. Thursday

-Office of Internal Audits update by Head Audit Lady. No interference in auditing last fiscal year, which is good. It’d be really bad otherwise.
(thank goodness I covered county and municipal budgets for years, so I can decipher boring, necessary audit talk.)
-More advisory hours than before, which is a trend.
-They started 28 audits in FY25, four more than expected. That’s a lot of audits for 12 months. Eight were carried over, five were cancelled, and the rest were done.
-Clients gave a 4.75 rating out of 5. If Hank Hill could give 4.75, he would. 
-“It was wonderfully painless,” was one comment.
-Hooray, compliance!
-There are some areas to improve, such as AI and soft controls, but everything is compliant.
-The Fraud, Waste and Abuse hotline is still operational and there were 16 calls last year, which is 8 more than the previous year.
-Finalized FY25 audit plan is wrapping up. Doing two years at once.
-So proud of those auditors. That’s tough.
-There was a look into the ticket incentives in Alaura Sharp’s contact, and it was found to be satisfactory.
-There are other accounting looks, such as international trips, New River Light and Power, Athletics Ticketing performance (for which there were recommendations for upgrades), and the Gear Up grant.
-Three auditors working full-time, plus the department head who leads.
-Now talking about external audits, including one on the Luck Brock Child Development Center.
-Office of Internal Audits inner-departmental updates.
-Approving the FY26 audit plan. There were 49 (!!!) potential projects, then ranked and prioritized to the 25 projects presented for approval. Unanimous approval.
-Already in process with 7 audits, 2 are done.
-University finance dude with glasses named David talking about finance assessment.
-No major areas of fraud found. Some areas for improvement, which are corporate language, for it ain’t perfect. Basically, nothing is wrong, but it’s protections and policies to minimize the possibility of things going wrong.
-Q on CyberSecurity. Long answer about communication and training.
-Short Queen Heather Norris on screen. She was hiding in the corner.
-Everyone heartily laughed at a dry joke. End this goddamn meeting.
-”There’s been some high profile instances of fraud, particularly related to our transfers, that are initiated by deepfakes.” No other details offered, but that’s interesting.
-And with that, we go into closed session. No further business after closed session.

Academic Affairs/Student Affairs, 11 a.m. Thursday

-Full house for this one.
-They forgot to turn the audio on, so we’re into faculty handbook changes, but it’s a silent film.
-Four minutes in and the audio cuts on as we get a motion to approve the faculty handbook.
-Faculty workload report. 100% of faculty completed their workload requirements for 2025-26. Yay. 
-Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). This person is nowhere near a mic, so they’re really hard to hear.
-Smiling faces on a resilience slide.
-There are new climate literacy requirements in the Gen Ed curriculum. 
-This QEP is 2024-2029.
-The University now has Hurricane Helene archives.

-There was expressive art therapy post-Helene.
-There’s an upcoming Climate Studies minor that’s in the works.
-Brock Long, the former FEMA head and App grad who left DC every Thursday to drive home to Statesboro and once watched an App State football game with POTUS45 on Air Force One, was at one of the events.
-There were several events, and they have pictures from all of them.
-(i wanna go painting now. Maybe not painting a house, but a tree and a mountain sound nice.)
-I know these are all important for the students and around 3,000 took part, but they kind of run together after a while.

-(meeting tip. Never promise you’re almost done. You’re setting someone up to be really annoyed with you. This person will end up in front of you at the Cookout drive-thru at 1 a.m. with a car full of people with different orders)
-No questions.
-There’s a student here presenting his research in GIS and geography about Helene and phosphorus. They immediately turn up the mics for his soft voice.
-Shortages caused by mining can lead to lots of dead plants and animals in the long run.
-Helene caused around 30% of the annual phosphorus from the county to be washed out that weekend, which is leading to erosion and loss of soil.
-”Small drainage areas, what most people think of as creeks.” Just say creeks, my man. Make it a scientific thing.
-”Probably taking too much time,” then wraps up 10 seconds later. Mics turned down so we can barely hear again.
-No closed session, meeting is adjourned, but someone interrupts and the video goes dark.

Athletics Committee, 2 p.m. Thursday (the reason most of you clicked this link)

-Reeder and Gillin at the table
-Gillin’s slideshow time. Tommy Sofield is next to Gillin.
-Mission slide. Gillin does this monthly for his staff.
-”College athletics is getting crazy,” and says some places are losing their way, in Gillin’s opinion
-“It’s not a pro sports model.”
-”We win when the student walks across the stage and gets their diploma.”
-Story time. Malachi Jones, former WR, comes back to speak to the team. Tons of alums were to be at the Lindenwood game.
-Mentions excitement over the win versus Charlotte.
-Matt Greenhalgh, S&C Coach, said we’re the 4th most expensive football ticket in the country. “All the guys are talking about it.”
-”This is a national brand.” Feels like we get lost on that sometimes.
-Every team had a 3.0 cumulative and semester GPA in the Spring. And there’s community service highlights.

-Twelve straight football sellout “and many more to come.”
-4K to 5K at FanFest, the largest ever held.
-Student athletes were at every Watauga County School on the first day (that’s 9 schools). Leaves a big impression on kids.
-After the Charlotte win, App State sold 500 tickets to the Arkansas State Thanksgiving Saturday game.
-$200K raised at Legends Gala. Moving to early September in 2026, wrapped around the football game.
-Women in Motion, in its 4th year, was the biggest yet. 40% of attendees never engaged with us before.

-New Sofield Indoor will have a 100-seat event space near the stadium with indoor/outdoor seating, timberframe wood look and mountain aesthetic.
-10,000 square feet for public/private health collab, can be a huge community driver.
-App 105 Phase 2 and 3. Indoor tennis facility steel was brought in that week. Softball Stadium to be completely done by Spring 2026. 
-Outdoor and indoor tennis courts partially funded by USTA grants (they’re doing these grants all over)
-MBB and WBB now have separate offices, video equipment, conference space, etc.
-Had to cancel 2 practices in the preseason because of the weather and no indoor facilities. Had to do a walkthrough in Harrell Gym. Was to do it again before Lindenwood.

-New Sofield Indoor timeline? “Beneficial by August [2026].” Field space will be done first, then clinic space. Need to practice in the facility next year.
-Fourth 2026 non-con game? “Stay tuned.”
And that’s that.
-Gillin accidentally showed the new men’s golf coach’s proposed contract, which was for a closed session.
-Closed session. 

Finance and Operations Committee, 3 p.m. Thursday (hey, look at what we’re building

-New CFO Brad is here. He’s come to Boone for 20 years on vacations.
-Four capital projects are up for approval. JJ Brown and his bowtie are up. These are part of the Dining Master Plan.

-Increased meal plan holders. More upperclassmen are on meal plans now.
-Plan on paying cash for these projects out of Dining Trust Fund. Saved up for years.
-Potential new venue at Mountaineers Hall.
-There’s advanced planning for all 11 spaces.

-Former McAllisters space will be $4.5M for a central production kitchen. Says that the kitchen is “still 1960s vintage.” Currently, Central Dining Hall serves all spots on campus. This would help provide more options. “Concept of a ghost kitchen,” with no dining area.

-Bottom floor of Thunder Hill Residence Hall will be turned into a market, move the Trivette market there and transition that space into something else.
-Engage with the designer this fall, begin construction in 2026.
-Believes Thunder Hill Grab N Go will be a good gameday option. This was the original idea, but it was paused during construction.
-Many questions are interrupting. What about the bottom floor of Trivette? This allows for some furnishings, but no concept.
-The second and third phases will look at Student Union eateries, such as Cascades and Crossroads. More Grab N Go options, such as a popular phrase.
-Gonna change underutilized spaces into Grab N Go spaces.
-Do we have DoorDash-type service on campus? Already have GrubHub, can use AppCard to pay for it.
-Cascades gets packed around 12:15, so Grub Hub isn’t working.
-West Campus, with 500 more beds, has two-thirds of on-campus students.
-Long-term plan is to have more dining options on West Campus besides Trivette to avoid everyone going to one location.
-One of the trustees says that soon there will be more on-campus students in the future, helping App State become a true research institution.
-Trustee says put the Wheel of Death back in the dorms. That’s a deep cut.
-Question about having 24-hour food service options in the future. Staffer says it could be, no reason why we couldn’t.
-Noted that Gran N Go’s are real food, “not corn chips.” Same options as in the dining hall. Potential to be unmanned sites run by computers and AI.
-Q about evening dorm deliveries. Said it happened with a pizzeria in the past. Not in the next 12 months, but it can be looked at. “We explored robots,” but it’s a little complicated in the mountains.
-Belk Library Master Plan request for $75,000. Six months to finish the master plan.
-Last project in New River Light and Power repairs at the Helene site. Oak Grove Substation. This got more expensive since the last approval, just like 80% of every campus capital project. Estimated 9 months to complete. Some reimbursements are expected.

-Trustee has a request. He wants more black and gold in the buildings. “I see more black and gold in Walmart than I see in some of the buildings on campus.” Response is……….”absolutely” after a dramatic pause. It will be a focal point going forward. Noted that 20 years ago, there was very little black and gold on campus.
-Parking and transportation regulations. Rates were previously approved, with no major updates. Short and sweet.
-A trustee says when he got here, he learned parking is a big deal. So does everyone else.
-Accounts receivable write-offs. Required by policy and general accounting principles. These ain’t for a lack of trying to collect. Some just can’t be. Just over $551K from 233 accounts, from 1.9% of total accounts receivable.
-Credit rating report. On Aug. 27, Moody’s updated the university’s outlook from NEGATIVE to STABLE (spell checker screwed this up initially) and affirmed the Aa3 rating. That’s pretty good. Millennial campus revenue bonds are A1.
-Various capital project updates with JJ Brown.

-Duncan is 75% done, will be completed in March 2026.45 days were added on due ot Helene, and 90-120 days due to a change in scope. Will host the College of Arts and Sciences and the Math Department, and add needed labs.

-Peacock Hall extension will now have a fourth-floor addition. It will be done in August 2027, later than before. Massive concrete pour just happened. Brown says, might as well add to the project now. App State had the largest undergraduate College of Business in NC.

-Wey Hall is open for class, 99% done. Hooray everyone! UNC President Peter Hans was here to see Wey Hall done. Says students noted how Wey “use to be a cave,” and now there’s light inside.

-The STEM Building at Innovation District is no longer a living building challenge because of the costs associated with that. Asking the legislature for more support to finish this. Still aiming for August 2027.
-The conservatory from the project is kaput. Gonna maximize classroom space.

-App 105 Phase 3 will be done in February 2026.
-The App 105 student housing project started this summer, and dirt is being moved. It will cost $125 million. 852 beds for non-freshmen. Each student will have a bedroom, bathroom and shared kitchen. (Says August 2027 completion, but I seriously doubt it.)

-New Sofield is underway. Want a certificate of occupancy by the start of practice next summer.

-The Walker Hall mechanical room was flooded by Helene, which is underground. Now planning to start in two years, 2027, and be done in 2029. Walker “has good bones.”

-Hill Street traffic light (which sounds like a dumb idea to me to have two traffic lights so close together), has been a tough slog due to finding a contractor. DOT has approved a light at the site. Using funds from the Holmes Deck bond for this.

-There will be a clinic added to University Hall for the Beaver College of Health Sciences.
-Hot dang, look at all those projects, the impressed trustees ay.

Full trustees, Friday 9 a.m.

-Mark Ricks and his giant Yosef gavel welcome everyone.
-Swear in the new trustees, and we go into closed session. It went on for like an hour.
-Short Queen Norris’s remarks, which are word-for-word printed online.

-There are more students, mostly from online and Hickory.
-Hickory campus starting to look like an actual campus.

-Committee reports (what was done yesterday, condensed)
-Will Sears here for the University Advancement Division. Says there were 100 firms for Palmetta Philanthropy. Was told they will learn your DNA and customize the plan for you.
(I’m completely lost on what this is right now)
-Oh, it’s about fundraising and how to maximize it. It’s basically a sales job about how this firm will be great in so many different ways.
-More “meat” will be brought next time about this, as opposed to the fluff being brought now.
-There’s going to be talking. And then they will talk about how great the talk was.
-How long will the campaign last? A good question! We don’t know, says Palmetta Dude No. 3. Gotta craft that puzzle first.
-Sears says if you experienced what we did over the last 12 months, we earned the right to be aggressive.
-Consent agenda approved without issue.
-Scoreboard Byers has comments, but his mic dies as he talks, so you can’t hear anything he says. Oh well. Cuts back to the whole “more upperclassmen are buying meal plans than underclassmen” and “wheel of death.”
-Don’t write in the paper that Scoreboard Byers is soft in old age. 
-Next meeting is Thursday, Dec. 4, in Hickory.