Editorial: THE WATAUGA DEMOCRAT

[asu66]

Our View: ASU forward

http://www2.wataugademocrat.com/Editori ... -id-014498

From group selfies to hobnobbing on campus with students, faculty, staff and the community, newly elected ASU Chancellor Sheri Noren Everts is already proving a crowd-pleasing pick to replace retiring Ken Peacock -- and her first official day is more than three months away,

Sustaining that momentum won't be easy, but that's not Job 1, anyway. Yes, Everts is up against the athletic and academic legacies of the über-popular Peacock administration, but getting down to business, the portions of her professional inheritance that matter most will center on dollar signs.
The Nebraska-native Everts will take over Appalachian State University even as the university system itself is becoming increasingly mired in declining budgets and rising tuition.

Closer to home, ASU's $200 million fundraising goal of the Campaign for Appalachian will end as Everts' tenure begins. With the continuing development of the new College of Health Sciences as but one component of that -- recall that ASU officials indicated that although the land for that building was conditionally donated by Appalachian Regional Healthcare System, the university did not expect to receive a state funding appropriation for the building itself -- fundraising will continue to be a high priority of the corner office.

And so it goes in the day-to-day life of a university chancellor. Fortunately, Everts' resume comes complete with a propensity toward major grant fundraising.

That's a good start. But to meet the full potential of our university, this is a skill-set she'll need to develop if ASU academia is to evolve alongside ASU athletics.

[ASUPATCH]

The more I hear from staff that have met her on campus the more and more I am really liking her.