Diversity and Inclusion Events at App State

Oct 67
Virtual 7th Annual Women in Educational Leadership Symposium (WIELS)
October 6-7, 2022
WIELS is a partnership between faculty members in the Leadership and Educational Studies at Appalachian State University and practicing educators. Our mandate is the development of an 'armoring process' that will equip women with pragmatic knowledge, skills, and dispositions that prepare them for success as educational leaders.
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Oct 10
Political Polarization: Making of Mountaineers - Series 2 (Dinner Series)
Office of Diversity
Monday, October 10, 2022
6:00pm-8:00pm
An opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations by hosting structured conversations between groups of community members. This program is based on polarization research which find that the most effective means of addressing political polarization is for individuals to discuss with each other their personal and shared values. This event is open to the App State Campus Community. Lunch or dinner provided.
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Oct 10
Political Polarization: Making of Mountaineers - Series 1 (Lunch Series)
Office of Diversity
Monday, October 10, 2022
6:00pm-8:00pm
An opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations by hosting structured conversations between groups of community members. This program is based on polarization research which find that the most effective means of addressing political polarization is for individuals to discuss with each other their personal and shared values. This event is open to the App State Campus Community. Lunch or dinner provided.
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Oct 10
Why Ira Walked: The Struggle To Teach American Indian History
Office of Diversity
Monday, October 10, 2022
6:00pm-8:00pm
In celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day, join Gadugi Director Dr. Allen Bryant and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians community activists Darius Lambert and Simon Montelongo for a discussion of the effects educational gag orders and the Critical Race Theory panic are having on the ability of history teachers to discuss American Indian history and culture.
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Oct 11
Film: Lingui, The Sacred Bonds (Lingui, Les liens sacrés) (2022)
Féroce et Formidable: A Francophone Film Festival
Tuesday, October 11, 2022
6:30pm
On the outskirts of N’djamena in Chad, single mother Amina lives with her teenage daughter Maria. But Amina’s already fragile world collapses when she discovers Maria is pregnant with an unwanted child, in a country where abortion is prohibited by both religion and law.
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Oct 12
The Longest Table
Office of Diversity
Wednesday, October 12, 2022
11:00am-12:30pm
A conversation based lunch designed to bring together individuals from diverse identities, including student-athletes, to have genuine conversations that inspire change and build unity within our campus community.
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Oct 12
We’re Here: LGBTQ+ Communities at App State
Office of Diversity
Wednesday, October 12, 2022
3:00pm-4:00pm
Led by Dr. Kristen Benson, Faculty Director for LGBTQ+ Communities, join us for an engaging conversation with members of our Appalachian community. The “We’re Here”series features the voices of faculty, staff, students and alumni from diverse communities coming together to share their experiences with stereotypes, stigmas and barriers to success as well as stories of resilience, cultural pride, and success.
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Oct 13
EmpowHER Book Club
Office of Diversity
Thursday, October 13, 2022
12:30pm-1:30pm
EmpowHER is a university-supported affinity group designed to cultivate an intentional and meaningful community for women of color in faculty roles and staff roles at App State. Through the co-creation of a supportive community of women, individuals will have the ability to explore their identities, share lived experiences and discuss what it means to be a woman of color navigating the joys and challenges of higher education.
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Oct 21
Multicultural Center Social Justice Lunch and Learn
Climate Justice Month
Friday, October 21, 2022
12:00pm-1:15pm
During the App State Climate Justice Lunch and Learn, Chief Sustainability Officer Lee Ball will focus on the nexus between climate justice and social justice within the context of Appalachian State's climate action plan.
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Oct 24
Dr. Jean R. Schroedel: Voting in Indian Country: The View from the Trenches
Gadugi Speaker Series
Monday, October 24, 2022
12:00pm
119 Anne Belk Hall
To celebrate Native American Heritage Month, the Gadugi Partnership will sponsor “Voting in Indian Country: The View from the Trenches.” Claremont University's Dr. Jean Schroedel will examine how voting-rights conflicts shed light on the centuries-long fight for Native self-determination. Weaving together history, politics, and law, Dr. Schroedel offers insights into this often-ignored struggle for social justice from the ground up.
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Oct 24
Dr. Annette Gordon-Reed
University Forum Lecture Series
Monday, October 24, 2022
7:00pm
Dr. Annette Gordon-Reed, the first Black person to win the Pulitzer Prize for History and MacArthur Genius, is one of the integral voices who helped Juneteenth officially enter our national conversation. Her book about this profound day, “On Juneteenth,” is a powerful, essential work of history that weaves together America’s past with personal memoir; it was named one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post, TIME, and NPR.
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Oct 25
Film: Angel of Alabama (2022)
Fall Sustainability Film Series
Tuesday, October 25, 2022
7:00pm-9:00pm
A mid-career investigator returns home in rural Alabama to support her mother's failing health. Amidst unusually rampant disease, she becomes a caretaker for her community until an unexpected diagnosis launches her investigation to heal her county. A film by Elijah Yetter-Bowman and several other wonderful people.
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Nov 15
Film: Josep (2020)
Féroce et Formidable: A Francophone Film Festival
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
6:30pm
February, 1939. Spanish Republicans are fleeing to France to escape Franco’s dictatorship, even as the French government builds internment camps to imprison the refugees. In one of these camps, an unusual friendship develops between a French guard and a freedom-fighting artist.
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Nov 16
Appalachian Global Symposium
Office of International Education and Development
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
The Appalachian State University Global Symposium is an opportunity for faculty, staff, and students to share their global work on a professional platform while simultaneously contributing to global learning at Appalachian. Symposium presenters will discuss a variety of topics including science, technology, business, education, music and politics.
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Nov 29
Film: The Ants and the Grasshopper (2021)
Fall Sustainability Film Series
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
7:00pm-9:00pm
“The Ants and the Grasshopper,” a film about gender, race, climate change and the future of the planet that asks “how do you change someone's mind about the most important thing in the world?” A film by Raj Patel + Zak Piper, narrated by Anita Chitaya with Peter Mazunda.
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Dec 1
Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy: A Celtic Family Christmas
The Schaefer Center Presents
Thursday, December 1, 2022
7:00pm
The holidays truly become a family affair when married duo Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy — two of the globe’s best and brightest fiddle players — invite their children onstage for an unforgettable evening of holiday fun.
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Jan 31
Film: Benedetta (2021)
Féroce et Formidable: A Francophone Film Festival
Tuesday, January 31, 2023
6:30pm
In the late 17th century, with plague ravaging the land, Benedetta Carlini joins the convent in Pescia, Tuscany, as a novice nun. Capable from an early age of performing miracles, Benedetta’s impact on life in the convent is immediate, irreverent, and scandalous.
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Feb 21
Film: The Red Circle (Le cercle rouge) (1970)
Féroce et Formidable: A Francophone Film Festival
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
6:30pm
An aristocratic thief, a fugitive and an alcoholic ex-cop plan to carry out the ultimate robbery, and become locked in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with an inscrutable but dedicated police inspector. The heist scene is a tour de force that plays out in almost complete silence.
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Feb 25
Mavis Staples
The Schaefer Center Presents
Saturday, February 25, 2023
7:00pm
Hailed by NPR as “one of America’s defining voices of freedom and peace,” Staples is the kind of once-in-a-generation artist whose impact on music and culture would be difficult to overstate. She brings her powerful message and equally powerful voice to the Schaefer Center for a one-night-only experience. “I’m the messenger,” Mavis Staples said on the eve of her 80th birthday. “That’s my job — it has been for my whole life — and I can’t just give up while the struggle’s still alive.”
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Mar 21
Film: Little Girl (Petite Fille) (2020)
Féroce et Formidable: A Francophone Film Festival
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
6:30pm
Seven-year-old Sasha has always known she was a little girl. As society fails to treat her like the other children her age—in her daily life at school, dance lessons, or birthday parties—her supportive family fights to make her difference understood and accepted.
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Mar 23
Poet Ricardo Nazario-Colón: Craft Talk
Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series
Thursday, March 23, 2023
Time TBD
Dr. Ricardo Nazario-Colón was born in the South Bronx, New York City, and raised in the Highlands of Puerto Rico. He lives in the Appalachian region of North Carolina, where he works as the inaugural Chief Diversity Officer and Inclusive Executive at Western Carolina University. His work has been widely published and anthologized in print and online publications.
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Mar 23
Poet Ricardo Nazario-Colón
Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series
Thursday, March 23, 2023
6:00pm-7:15pm
Dr. Ricardo Nazario-Colón was born in the South Bronx, New York City, and raised in the Highlands of Puerto Rico. He lives in the Appalachian region of North Carolina, where he works as the inaugural Chief Diversity Officer and Inclusive Executive at Western Carolina University. His work has been widely published and anthologized in print and online publications.
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Mar 23
KODO
The Schaefer Center Presents
Thursday, March 23, 2023
7:00pm
KODO, a group of Japanese artists, musicians and performers whose name can be translated as “heartbeat,” uses many musical instruments, but focuses primarily on taiko, traditional Japanese drums. Under the theme “One Earth,” Kodo endeavors to bring the sound of the taiko to all corners of the globe so [their] music and message can resonate with myriad cultures and ways of life.
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Apr 20
United States Poet Laureate (2012-2014) and Pulitzer Prize Winner Natasha Trethewey
Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series
Thursday, April 20, 2023
6:00pm-7:30pm
Pulitzer Prize-winner Natasha Trethewey served two terms as the 19th Poet Laureate of the United States (2012-2014). In his citation, Librarian of Congress James Billington wrote, “Her poems dig beneath the surface of history—personal or communal, from childhood or from a century ago—to explore the human struggles that we all face.” Trethewey was the first Southerner to receive the honor since Robert Penn Warren, in 1986, and the first African-American since Rita Dove, in 1993.
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Apr 27
Poets Nickole Brown and Jessica Jacobs
Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series
Thursday, April 27, 2023
6:00pm-7:30pm
Nickole Brown received her MFA from the Vermont College, studied literature at Oxford University, and was the editorial assistant for the late Hunter S. Thompson. Jacobs holds an MFA from Purdue University and a BA from Smith College. Her poetry, essays, and fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in publications including Orion, Ploughshares, Image, and New England Review.
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Apr 27
Poets Nickole Brown and Jessica Jacobs: Craft Talk
Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series
Thursday, April 27, 2023
Time TBD
Nickole Brown received her MFA from the Vermont College, studied literature at Oxford University, and was the editorial assistant for the late Hunter S. Thompson. Jacobs holds an MFA from Purdue University and a BA from Smith College. Her poetry, essays, and fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in publications including Orion, Ploughshares, Image, and New England Review.
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Ongoing events

Sep 6Mar 1
Féroce et Formidable: A Francophone Film Festival
Belk Library and Information Commons and Department of English
September 6, 2022-March 1, 2023
Jul 1Dec 10
Installation with Ukrainian Flag: Lowell Hayes
July 1-December 10, 2022
Turchin Center for the Visual Arts
Dec 2May 6
Thin Places: Kiliii Yuyan
December 2, 2022-May 6, 2023
Turchin Center for the Visual Arts

Engage with App State

Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to visit App State Engage for more opportunities to get involved — on and off campus.

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Notable events

Diversity Celebration

The Diversity Celebration features a wide array of music, eclectic dancing, delectable food, international films and festivals. App State students, faculty, staff, K-12 schools and members of the local community are all invited to join in this celebration of cultures through art and entertainment.

Chancellor’s Awards for Inclusive Excellence

In January 2020, App State presented its inaugural Chancellor’s Awards for Inclusive Excellence. These awards — which will be given annually — are designed to shine a light on individuals at App State and in the community whose work demonstrates their active, intentional and ongoing commitment to transformative change.

International Education Week

International Education Week (IEW) at Appalachian State University is a celebration of transformational global experiences at home and abroad. Everyone is encouraged to participate in these free events, which take place throughout the week!

ASCEND Orientation

The ASCEND Program — formerly known as Linking Education and Diversity (L.E.A.D.) — is an engaging, intentional, high-impact supplemental orientation program targeting first-year App State students from marginalized and historically underrepresented backgrounds. ASCEND is based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and establishes a solid foundation for new students to feel a sense of belonging and community, to be empowered to succeed with knowledge, connections and resources, and to explore and give back to their new home-away-from-home.

Martin & Doris Rosen Summer Symposium on Remembering the Holocaust

Since 2002, the Center has organized and held the annual Martin & Doris Rosen Summer Symposium “Remembering the Holocaust.” Named for symposium benefactors, the late Doris and Martin Rosen, the symposium endeavors to provide teachers with the most current research on the Holocaust, racism, and anti-Semitism in tandem with teaching strategies and plans needed by every educator to tackle this urgent topic in an informed and successful manner in a classroom setting.