Breadcrumb Navigation:

Home > About NC State > Chancellor > Chancellor's Corner > March 2008

Chancellor's Corner - March 2008

NC State's response to the UNC Tomorrow Initiative will help guide and shape current and future priorities, resources, existing and future programs and strategic plans for the university system, while also affecting our mission, the mission of the University of North Carolina, its 17 constituent institutions and its affiliated entities. It will shape higher education in North Carolina for the next decade.

Chancellor James L. Oblinger

Shaping Higher Education in North Carolina

In late summer of 2003, NC State embarked on an effort to develop and implement a strategic plan.  We engaged faculty, staff, students and alumni, as well as external supporters, to set the direction of NC State for the next several years – reaffirming our mission statement, recording our culture, examining our vision, identifying our distinctive characteristics and pinpointing investment priorities. 

In February 2007, a similar process began at the system level.  The University of North Carolina Tomorrow initiative launched as a means for the UNC System to anticipate and identify the needs facing our state over the next 20 years.  President Bowles created and is leading a UNC Tomorrow Commission, a 25-member group consisting of representatives of the UNC System Board of Governors, business leaders, the Community College System and nonprofit organizations.  He also assembled a Scholars Council, consisting of 14 faculty representatives from universities in the system, including two from NC State – Dr. Ruben Carbonell and Dr. Michael Walden.   

The Commission and Scholars Council traveled the state and hosted a total of 11 listening forums that drew 2,700 statewide attendees, who voiced their needs and expectations of the university system.  The Commission also distributed a survey, receiving 6,700 responses and held 11 Faculty Forums, involving all 17 UNC campuses.  After reviewing the results of the listening sessions and surveys, the Commission compiled its findings and asked for campus responses in seven areas of need:

  1. Our global readiness

  2. Our citizens and their future: Access to Higher Education

  3. Our children and their future: Improving Public Education

  4. Our communities and their economic transformation

  5. Our Health

  6. Our Environment

  7. Our University’s Outreach and Engagement  


These areas are included in a comprehensive UNC Tomorrow report located on General Administration’s Web site (UNC Tomorrow Final Report ). Like other institutions in the system, NC State has begun writing its response to the Commission report.  In many ways, we already have demonstrated our leadership in these areas of need.

I have asked Provost Nielsen to lead the effort and have appointed strategy, faculty and partners teams to guide the process. Similar to how we developed our strategic plan, a preliminary version of our report is available on our UNC Tomorrow Web site, www.ncsu.edu/unctomorrow, as a “living” document.  I invite you to read it and provide your suggestions.

NC State’s response to the UNC Tomorrow Initiative will help guide and shape current and future priorities, resources, existing and future programs and strategic plans for the university system, while also affecting our mission, the mission of the University of North Carolina, its 17 constituent institutions and its affiliated entities.  It will shape higher education in North Carolina for the next decade. 

As you have heard me say many times, NC State prides itself in being responsive to the needs of our state, nation and world.  That is NC State’s heritage, and I believe that historic responsiveness uniquely positions NC State to be a leader in this systemwide process.  Be sure you visit the site and provide your input.

Thank you for all you do for NC State.


James L. Oblinger