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Mick Kulikowski, News Services, 919/515-3470

Jan. 31, 2006

UNC System President Bowles, NC State Chancellor Oblinger Tour Eastern North Carolina

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

University of North Carolina President Erskine Bowles will join North Carolina State University Chancellor James L. Oblinger on a visit to four eastern North Carolina cities today for a demonstration of the varied ways NC State’s research, extension and economic development programs respond to the needs of North Carolinians.

The chancellor and president will tour the Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station, the Center for Marine Science and Technology (CMAST) in Morehead City, the Cunningham Agriculture Research Station in Kinston and the Duplin County Agriculture Center in Kenansville. During the visit, Bowles will learn more about various research projects in a number of disciplines, extension efforts in the area, and how NC State promotes economic development statewide.

“This is a great opportunity for President Bowles to get a true sense of how NC State listens to the needs of North Carolinians and then uses its strengths in innovative research, extension outreach and economic development to provide results,” Oblinger said. “We’re proud of our accomplishments all across the state. Under President Bowles’ leadership, we look forward to doing even more for the state and its citizens.”

“I’m excited about the opportunity to see how our campuses make a real difference in people’s lives,” Bowles said. “It’s obvious that NC State’s impact extends far beyond the campus in Raleigh, and the tour today provides some concrete examples of how NC State’s land-grant mission is carried out each and every day in eastern North Carolina.”

During the trip, Bowles and Oblinger will tour the Naval Air Depot (NADEP), which provides maintenance, engineering and logistical support to the Navy’s vertical lift aircraft, including helicopters and the V-22 Osprey. In addition, the depot has engineering responsibility for the Navy C-130 transport. NC State researchers are working on various projects there, including a contractual agreement with the Vertical Lift Center of Excellence to address the technical and training challenges of vertical lift aircraft.

In Morehead City, Oblinger and Bowles will tour CMAST, a 51,000 square-foot marine laboratory striving to make North Carolina’s seafood industry safer and more competitive. CMAST is home to 10 research labs, four teaching labs, two wet processing labs, a biotelemetry lab, a seafood processing lab, a seafood pilot plant, a staging area for oceanographic buoys and other support facilities and equipment.

The chancellor and president will then make their way to the Cunningham Agriculture Research Station in Kinston, where research is conducted on major North Carolina field crops such as tobacco, corn, soybeans and cotton. The station is also home to new and innovative research on alternative specialty crops. These crops are grown by farmers wishing to expand their crop production with products in high demand in niche markets.

Bowles and Oblinger will end the tour with a visit to the Duplin County Agriculture Center in Kenansville, where they will tour the brand-new center and learn about several North Carolina Cooperative Extension success stories. They will also meet with members of Cooperative Extension’s State Advisory Council. The 31-member council oversees Extension’s Advisory Leadership System, 20,000 volunteer leaders who provide support for programming and advocacy for 101 Extension centers in all North Carolina counties and on the Cherokee Reservation.

The eastern North Carolina trip is part of Bowles’ ongoing effort to learn about the 16-campus system and the role the campuses play across the state. He began his job as UNC president on Jan. 1.

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