Charlotte Observer
The 13 public buses in Boone will soon be running on biodiesel fuel after students at Appalachian State University led an initiative calling for the use of cleaner fuel. Read the full article

Winston-Salem Journal
Charles Scott watched recently as teachers at the Communication Disorders Clinic at Appalachian State University worked with a group of children, including a 2-year-old who had never spoken. Scott was touched by how the teachers tried to help. Scott and his wife, Geneva, have helped the clinic for decades. It has now been named in their honor, after the Winston-Salem couple made a gift of real estate valued at $307,000 to the N.C. Scottish Rite Masonic Foundation, which financially supports the clinic. Read the full article

Classroom and hands-on experience is invaluable if you want to join the ranks of renewable energy professionals.

Renewable Energy Access.com
If you want more than just PV training, an undergraduate degree in Appropriate Technology at Appalachian State University (ASU) in North Carolina provides curricula in energy conversion systems, waste and water management, community and shelter design, technology assessment, small-scale production systems, and technology transfer. Read the full article

Inside Higher Ed
A couple dozen of the nation’s elite private institutions and flagship publics have steadily committed over the past few years to pick up the tuition tab in packaged “promise” programs targeted for the neediest students. But, as some commentators have pointed out, the typically wealthy institutions that have committed to cover tuition costs for low-income students also generally have high admission standards and limited low-income enrollment - meaning that their actions, however well-intentioned, still fall far short of reaching the vast majority of students from low-income families. Just three of the 16 institutions in North Carolina’s system - including Appalachian State University, which just this week announced a new, privately funded program to cover tuition, fees, room, board and books, plus a $1,000 stipend, for students at up to 100 percent of the poverty level - offer similar initiatives. Read the full article

Winston-Salem Journal
Gus Pena badly wanted Alejandro Gonzalez to come to Appalachian State University, or to at least consider it. Trying to get Hispanics interested in a predominantly white college tucked in a mountain valley can be an uphill battle. But Pena, 26, a soft-spoken administrator in ASU’s diversity office, can be persuasive and persistent. Read the full article