It’s been less than a year since Susan and I came to Raleigh to join the Wolfpack family but the excitement is still fresh. NC State is a community that thinks big and engages the world with enthusiasm, optimism and creativity.
We know what we do here. We solve problems.
At first, I supposed this sense of purpose came from NC State’s historic strengths in engineering, science and technology. But I’ve found that the sharp focus on action that permeates this institution transcends disciplines. In fact, it may be directly related to our tendency to cross disciplines, to meld design thinking and scientific methods with an understanding of humanity.
In this report I’d like to share a few stories that exemplify the culture of NC State. You’ll meet a blind man who joined the workforce as a sewing machine operator, an undergraduate who journeyed 5,000 miles on foot across Latin America to raise money and open minds, a visiting teaching fellow who stepped outside her discipline to develop a process that uses bacteria to grow bricks, and a graduate student who turned a four-unit course into a for-profit business to help launch a billion-dollar industry.
Admittedly, these are not the typical stories you find in university annual reports. There’s a good reason for that. NC State is not a typical university. Our award-winning faculty, acclaimed research programs and highly ranked academic departments are not an end in themselves.
The real measure of a university — or any endeavor — is how it changes lives. That’s what you’ll discover on this website.
That’s why I’m so excited to be a member of the Wolfpack family.
Randy Woodson
Chancellor
NC State University