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Home > Featured Stories > Outside the Classroom > March 2008 > Dedication and DevotionDedication and Devotion
Each has played a devotion to their profession, to their community and this university that makes them very deserving of this award.
D. McQueen Campbell, chair of the NC State Board of Trustees
By Dave Pond, Web Communication
On March 10, NC State Chancellor James L. Oblinger and the Board of Trustees continued a university tradition that reaches back more than three decades, bestowing the prestigious Watauga Medal on a trio of recipients chosen for their dedication and devotion to the advancement of the university.
Oblinger and D. McQueen Campbell, chair of the NC State Board of Trustees, presented the Watauga Medal to Robert A. Barnhardt, dean emeritus of the College of Textiles, Waste Industries USA, Inc. chairman Lonnie C. Poole Jr. and Virginia [Ginger] B. Sall, an active volunteer for several NC State fund-raising and outreach activities. The Watauga Medal is the highest non-academic honor given by the university.
From 1987-1999, Barnhardt served as the dean of NC State's College of Textiles, where he was instrumental in helping raise financial support for the college's move to Centennial Campus.
He has also served NC State as interim provost and interim chancellor, and continues to stay involved at the university through volunteer efforts, an endowment to the library and contributions to a number of scholarships.
"For more than 20 years, Bob has provided outstanding service to NC State University, to the College of Textiles and the textile industry," said industry leader Alan Dickson ('53), a previous Watauga Medal winner and a member of the North Carolina Business Hall of Fame. "Throughout this time, he exhibited enormous dedication to his profession, this institution and his students."
Lonnie Poole is the chairman of Waste Industries, a solid waste services company serving more than 700,000 customers across five states. A 1959 graduate of NC State, Poole has served as director of the NC State University Foundation and the Endowment Board, as well as several college-based foundations.
Along with his wife, Carol Lynn Poole, he provided a naming gift in 2007 for the Lonnie Poole Golf Course, currently under construction on Centennial Campus.
"It has been my pleasure to serve with Lonnie on the NC State Foundation Board, where I have witnessed his dedication and leadership to our great university," said Paul Michaels. "Years ago, Lonnie played a key role in bringing CHASS under the umbrella of the foundation and without a doubt, that encouraged other colleges to follow suit."
Sall serves as co-chair of the Physical and Mathematical Sciences Campaign Committee, helping the college to surpass its fund-raising goal ahead of schedule. She has been an advocate for private support for the expansion and completion of the new Mathematics and Statistics Building, and is heavily involved in a number of international and community organizations including La Leche League International, CARE, World Wildlife Fund and Cary Academy, an innovative middle and high school in Cary, NC.
"For more than 25 years, Ginger has been a champion for positive change here at NC State and around the world," said Daniel Solomon, dean of the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at NC State. "NC State - and this college in particular - have been fortunate to have been a major beneficiary of Ginger's energy, insight and experience over the years."
In total, the Watauga Medal has been awarded to just 84 men and women.
"Since 1975, the Board of Trustees has been proud to honor some of NC State's finest achievers with the Watauga Medal," Campbell said during the March 10 presentation. "Each has played a devotion to their profession, to their community and this university that makes them very deserving of this award tonight."