IMPORTANT NOTE TO EDITORS: The names of NC State University's December 2002 degree candidates are not attached to this release. You can obtain them on the Web at the following address:

www.ncsu.edu/news/fgrad/fall_2002grad.htm

If you do not have access to the Web, call NC State News Services at (919) 515-3470 and we will mail you the list of graduates for your area. To access the names of local students from the Web site, log onto the address listed above and click on the counties within your coverage area. This will take to you an alphabetical listing of all graduates. You can highlight and copy this information directly into your word processing program.

If a graduate's hometown address is not listed under the appropriate county, it is because the graduate originally established residency in the county listed, but has changed his or her mailing address for grades. Graduates' fields of study are indicated by two- or three-letter codes. Students with more than one code earned degrees in more than one field. You can find a list of the codes, and the fields of study they designate, on the Web at: www.ncsu.edu/news/fgrad/curr.htm.

If you experience problems with this format, please call us at (919) 515-3470 or email us at newstips@ncsu.edu. Following are the lead-in paragraphs to the graduation list.

Dec. 20, 2002

Local Students Receive Degrees at NC State Commencement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

North Carolina State University Chancellor Marye Anne Fox conferred 2,995 degrees on graduating students when the university held 2002 Fall Commencement on Wednesday, December 18, at the RBC Center in Raleigh.

Dr. James A. Goodnight, an NC State alumnus and co-founder and CEO of SAS Institute, a Cary software firm, delivered the commencement address. Candidates for degrees were from 90 North Carolina counties, 27 other states or United States territories and 48 foreign countries. NC State holds graduation ceremonies each year in the spring and fall.

Chancellor Fox also conferred two honorary degrees on behalf of NC State. The degree recipients were Thomas Karl, director of the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, who did postgraduate work at NC State; and Goodnight, the commencement speaker, whose wife Ann is an NC State trustee.

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