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Celebration of Achieve $1 Billion Milestone

Friday, November 17, 2006

Atrium, College of Textiles
3:15 pm

Thank you Bob, and thank you all for joining us for this Milestone Celebration - a time to take a breath and celebrate.

Just a moment ago, Terry Wood handed me this piece of paper.  On it is written a number.  This is the total amount raised in our Billion Dollar Achieve Campaign as of 3 p.m. today, Friday November 17.  We have broken the Billion Dollar mark, and our campaign has now raised $1,003,853,000.  And we're not finished yet.

What does a Billion Dollars really mean?  It means we have made great progress in strengthening our endowment.  But we have a long way to go.  And we're not finished yet.

A Billion Dollars means that we have begun innovative new initiatives in every one of our colleges, in the Libraries, in the Arts and in Athletics.   And we're not finished yet.

It means that we have completed and undertaken significant new building projects, such as:  The William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation; The Dorothy and Roy Park Alumni Center; The Ruby C. McSwain Education Center; The E. Carroll Joyner Visitor Center; The Wendell Murphy Football Center; The C. Richard Vaughn Towers; and soon, the Randall B. Terry Jr. Companion Animal Veterinary Medical Center.  And we're not finished yet.

A Billion Dollars means we have dramatically increased the amount of financial aid for our students, and we have strengthened faculty research and outreach programs that benefit the economic future of our state.  And we're not finished yet.

It also means that we have enriched campus life through the arts and our athletic programs.  This Billion Dollars means that NC State is among the leaders in education, research and public service.  And we're not finished yet.

Our donors have helped us achieve our goal of raising $1 Billion for NC State and the momentum of our achievement is such that we will NOT stop here.  When the official campaign concludes in June 2008, we will know that we've sailed well past our goal, thanks to the leadership of a dedicated group of campaign volunteers, our loyal donors like yourselves and the hard work of our university development staff.

Raising funds that will build NC State's endowment is still a crucial goal for the remainder of the campaign.  A university's quality - its reputation and stature - are certainly measured by the size of its endowment.  And we're not finished yet.

Our opportunity to attract and retain the most talented faculty, recruit the best and brightest students and provide scholarships for needy students will depend on building our endowment.  So, we must all continue to work to achieve our goal - not just our $1 Billion Goal, but also our goal to make NC State University the leading land grant university for the 21st century.  And we're not finished yet.