Two distinguished figures — a businessman and a meteorologist — will receive honorary degrees at NC State's Fall Commencement on Wednesday, Dec. 18, at the RBC Center in Raleigh.

Chancellor Marye Anne Fox will confer honorary degrees on behalf of NC State to Dr. Jim Goodnight, SAS Institute president and CEO who is also the commencement speaker, and Thomas Karl, director of the National Climatic Data Center.

Goodnight received bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from NC State, and it is there that he began work on what would become SAS (Statistical Analysis System) software. SAS Institute is now the largest privately held software company in the world, and is lauded as one of the best companies to work for, with employee turnover at around 4 percent in an industry where the average turnover is roughly four or five times higher.

Goodnight served as a faculty member at NC State from 1972 to 1976, and continues to serve as adjunct professor. He is also a fellow of the American Statistical Association and author of several papers on statistical computing.

In 1997, Goodnight co-founded Cary Academy, an independent co-ed college preparatory schools for students in grades six through 12. The school integrates technology into all facets of education.

In addition to Karl's director duties at NCDC, the world's largest data center for climate data and information, he also manages the Climate Change Data and Detection Program Element for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Global Programs.

Karl is best known for his work on climate change — he has authored about 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals and more than 200 technical reports. He is the editor of the Journal of Climate and associate editor for Climate Change. He has also been called on to brief the White House and Congress on climate variability and climate change.

Karl is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union, and has received numerous awards for his climate work. He did postgraduate work at NC State after receiving a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a bachelor's degree from Northern Illinois University.

Posted December 2, 2002
Updated December 11, 2002

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