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ACCESS Summary

Overall Score: .73

Campus history

Watauga Academy was founded to educate teachers by Blanford B. Dougherty and brother Dauphin D. Dougherty in 1899. Watauga Academy became Appalachian Training School for Teachers and became a public state institution. The school changed its name again to Appalachian State Teachers College in 1929. The college taught Bachelor of Science programs in education, physical education, math, English, science and history. Finally in 1967 the school became Appalachian State University with enrollment doubling to 9,500 by the 1970’s and became a part of the UNC system in 1972.

Student Population:

Among ASU's 14,653 students, the ratio of male to female is one-to-one. 90% of students are white, 4% black, 1% American Indian, 2% Asian, 2% Hispanic and 3% unreported. 11% of students are out-of-state. 14% of students were in the top 10% of their graduating class in high school.

Location, topography and climate:

Appalachian State University is located in Boone, North Carolina, in the Appalachian Mountains. Boone is on the North Carolina-Tennessee border 3,266 feet above sea level. Summers are mild ranging from 30 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit and the winters are cold with a lot of snowfall. The high in winters is usually around 40 degrees Fahrenheit and Boone gets around 5 inches of snow in the winter months. Common activities in Boone are camping, hiking and fishing in the warm months and skiing and snow sports in the winter.

Administrative structure of disabilities services:

A recent newspaper article talks about the lack of buildings that meet the requirements set forth by the ADA . The university has plans to build elevators in old buildings that are being renovated and marking curbs for people with have trouble with depth perception. Suzanne T. Wehner is the director of the Learning Assistance Program at ASU and her plans for the campus are to exceed the requirements set forth by the ADA , yet those plans were not specifically stated and the dates for the completion were also not mentioned. The website does not have a mission and is not clear about accessibility around the campus. However, the office does meet with students for appointments.