This is the first in an occasional series of conversations with Dr. Randy Woodson, who was named NC State chancellor on Friday, Jan. 8. Woodson comes to NC State from Purdue University, where he served as executive vice president for academic affairs and provost.
Friday, Jan. 8, was a whirlwind of a day for NC State chancellor-elect Randy Woodson, one that began with his nomination and acceptance as the 14th chancellor in university history, setting off a sequence of meetings, introductions and celebrations both on and off campus.
On Saturday, Dec. 19, NC State sent its next group of talented, high-acheiving graduates into the world - students who have created lifelong memories and bonds on our campus while gaining the toolsand education they need to further pursue service, dreams and ambitions. Senior Emma Norton, who addressed her fellow graduates at commencement, spoke to us about what the time she's spent at NC State has meant to her as she prepares to take the next step in life.
In 2009, our faculty and staff strove to advance research, education and service in a time of limited resources. But despite the challenges, it was most certainly a productive year on campus, where our community of more than 31,000 students and nearly 8,000 faculty and staff continued to fulfill the promise of this institution through groundbreaking discoveries, lifesaving research and pioneering innovations. As we move forward to 2010, join us in reliving some of NC State’s best ideas and advances from 2009.
When it comes to information about NCSU Libraries, yeah, we’ve got an app for that. The NCSU Libraries Mobile Web site provides students and faculty with the most complete of library services currently available for mobile devices. Using any mobile device with Web access, NC State students and faculty can access a range of library information – from book and article searches, computer availability to the length of the line at the café and Webcam views of construction at the new Hunt Library on Centennial Campus.
NC State physics professor Robert Beichner has long been regarded as an expert not only in his field, but also as a teacher and a mentor with an uncanny ability to influence the lives and careers of his students and colleagues alike. His contributions to science education, from co-authoring a top-selling physics textbook to literally changing how our students are educated in the classroom, reach far beyond the boundaries of our own campus. Earlier today, Beichner was recognized for his efforts, and named North Carolina Professor of the Year by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education [CASE].
Armed with aspirations of doubling the amount of library seating space available to NC State students, university officials and dignitaries from around the state have broken ground on a state-of-the-art, Centennial Campus-based facility that will undoubtedly set the standard for libraries constructed during this century and beyond.
Physicist Bob Beichner is no stranger to mixing things up in the lab or in the classroom. His innovative teaching methods have been fine tuned over the past decade into a system called SCALE UP – Student Centered Activities for Large Enrollment Undergraduate Programs – and adopted in one form or another at more than 50 universities across the United States, including Clemson, the University of Alabama and MIT. Beichner’s philosophy is that students learn better through hands-on activities – a philosophy that's been borne out by research and in practice.
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
At a time when families are more worried than ever about the cost of college, NC State’s Pack Promise is helping approximately 1,000 new and continuing students get the education of their dreams. For families with limited financial resources, Pack Promise covers up to nine semesters of college, using a combination of scholarships, grants, federal work-study jobs and need-based loans of no more than $2,500 per year.