NC State Feature Stories

Recent Stories From Dave Pond — Page 9

What Makes a Chancellor?

Over the next several months, constituents from the NC State community will undertake one of the most important jobs in the life of a university – the search for a new chancellor. Earlier this week, we took to the streets to speak with a number of NC State students, faculty, staff and alumni in hopes of finding out which qualifications and characteristics they feel are most important for our future chancellor to possess.

Jimmy V’s Legacy Continues Cancer Fight

It may not look like it, but NC State graduate student Ashley Tucker is advancing cancer research as she drops worms into containers with varying concentrations of five experimental compounds. If Dr. John Cavanagh and Nick Valvano are correct, her work also could be crucial to creating a new generation of cancer researchers.

Greener Ways to Greener Lawns

During the record-setting 2007-08 drought in North Carolina, when the governor called water conservation everyone’s patriotic duty, a brown lawn was a badge of honor instead of a neighborhood blight. But even before the drought began, NC State researchers were studying ways to use less water in outdoor irrigation, which could make green yards honorable during future dry spells.

What a Deal!

Each year, Princeton Review staffers spend countless hours poring over survey results from students and faculty at more than 2,500 North American colleges and universities. And now, the results are in – NC State offers its students the sixth-best value of any public university located in the United States or Canada

A Pirate’s Tale

Students in computer science and industrial design at North Carolina State University have developed a game that lets kids experience history anew in "Blackbeard’s Escape." The game is fun way for kids to learn about the Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard's flagship which ran aground off the North Carolina coast in 1718. Players of "Blackbeard’s Escape" are able to experience the action of interactive ship battles through flashbacks to the 1700s, learn about good diving practices, and explore artifact recovery and conservation.

Biomedical Marvels

Even before she heads off to med school, NC State's Kat Sauer has a medical device invention to her credit. Then again, so does every other student who has taken the senior design course in the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) in the last two years. Course director Andrew DiMeo’s efforts to make the course more entrepreneurial in that time have produced 17 invention disclosures and a new partnership with Wake Medical Center.

A Chat with the Chancellor

Before he took the stage in front of members of the NC State family gathered Tuesday afternoon for a standing-room-only welcome celebration, our new chancellor Jim Woodward spent a few minutes speaking with us on camera. Watch the video — the first of many to come from Chancellor Woodward as he keeps his promise of openness and transparency.

Welcome Home

From the youngest undergrad to members of the university’s Board of Trustees, members of the NC State family gathered Tuesday afternoon for a standing-room-only celebration to officially welcome former professor Jim Woodward back to the university as chancellor.

Planting for the Future

Brent Droege, a senior in NC State's College of Management's bachelor of accounting program, is working to help troubled youth in his community begin to realize their potential by giving them real-life work experience. Droege recently launched a seasonal lawn care business – The Agape Lawn Company – to help young people between 14 and 22 develop landscaping skills, earn money and get a taste of entrepreneurship.

Ready to Lead

After a long, distinguished career in higher education, Jim Woodward found himself quite comfortable in retirement – a career choice that allowed the former UNC-Charlotte chancellor an opportunity to relax the days away (sans jacket and tie, of course) with his wife, Martha, and their new puppy. Then came a Sunday afternoon phone call from UNC system president Erskine Bowles, who asked if Woodward – whose teaching career began at NC State in 1968 – would be interested in returning to campus as the university’s chancellor. It was the only position, Woodward recalled earlier this week, capable of luring him out of retirement.

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