Chancellor's Corner - September 2008
The success of the Achieve! campaign has only begun to show us what we can and will do in the coming years.
Chancellor James L. Oblinger
Sharing the Essence of NC State
With the fall semester underway, we've hit the ground running – teaching, studying, learning, researching, collaborating, innovating, engaging – all the things we do well here at NC State.
And the things we do best just got better.
On June 30, we officially marked the conclusion of Achieve! The Campaign for NC State. I think most of you know that NC State reached the $1 billion mark 19 months early.
We raised more than $1.37 billion, surpassing our goal by some 37 percent. Our record-breaking total was made possible through gifts from more than 66,000 donors, including a $20 million pledge, our largest-ever private gift to NC State, from the Randall B. Terry, Jr. Charitable Foundation. These contributions bring collective participation and collaboration to a new level at NC State. As a result, we have new academic and athletic facilities, increased faculty research funding and enhanced outreach. We also have more student scholarships and financial aid.
And, you know, it's not just the dollar amount raised or the square footage of space provided by the campaign that is so impressive. Our donors have helped us transform the learning environment at NC State by helping us hire and retain top faculty, develop new academic programs and assure that our university is both accessible and affordable.
We have 405 new endowed scholarships and 64 new endowed graduate fellowships. New scholarship and fellowship opportunities will help our students move beyond the traditional classroom, working in communities throughout the state to learn, while contributing to society. In addition, our 37 newly endowed professorships ensure that NC State's teaching and research programs are among the finest in the country in subject areas as diverse as biomedical engineering, nanotechnology, veterinary medicine and non-woven textiles.
The success of the Achieve! campaign has only begun to show us what we can and will do in the coming years. Our next step is to share the essence of NC State with the rest of the world.
While our campus environment is changing and growing, NC State's commitment to excellence, innovation and a spirit of collaboration remains strong. This fall, we launched a new awareness campaign to tell the world about NC State's determined, eager and tenacious approach to solving problems and making a difference in the world. We're confident, yet approachable. We're proud, yet grounded. And we are ready to hit the ground running and change the world. As one of the new commercials says, "While others wait for the future, we wait for it to catch up."
You may have already seen our new TV commercial that aired at halftime during the August 28th South Carolina game. It was the first step in a high-profile, three-year campaign that will help us to tell our stories in a bold, confident, poised and compelling manner, through advertising and other forms of communication.
The campaign's key messages speak to the core values and driving force that make NC State's success possible. The goal of the campaign is to help us articulate the NC State story and to motivate prospective students and their parents, current students, alumni, faculty, staff and donors to take their NC State pride to a new level.
I hope you will be able to see yourself as a part of this story and this campaign – a campaign that reminds us that, at NC State, "RED means GO."
Thank you for all you do for NC State.
James L. Oblinger