Chancellor’s Letter

NC State celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2012. As I took this unique opportunity to look back on the university’s rich history, I was struck by how NC State has held fast to its core values since the university was founded in 1887. We are an institution that has always leaned forward, pushing ourselves to confront one more challenge, create one more innovation, solve one more problem.

This forward movement has created an inspiring sense of momentum at NC State. In our labs and classrooms I see faculty and students collaborating across disciplines like never before. Engineering professors team up with veterinary surgeons to create the next generation of artificial limbs. Researchers in biology, design and advanced analytics work with faculty and graduate students in management to bring the latest breakthroughs to market. Collaboration between biologists and social scientists are reinventing graduate education in energizing fields like biotechnology. Our industry partnerships — in fields ranging from textiles and software to chemistry and bioinformatics — help us transform research discoveries into economic power.

To support this exciting momentum, I launched the Chancellor’s Faculty Excellence Program, a $5 million effort to hire 39 faculty members in a dozen multidisciplinary areas of strategic importance, such as forensic science and translational medicine. These initiatives connect faculty from every college on campus, fostering the kind of academic collisions that transform lives.

Even as we commemorate the past and celebrate 125 years of tradition and transformation, NC State faces forward, confident that our energy and innovation will enable us to achieve our goal: creating a better future for North Carolina, our nation and the world.

Randy Woodson, Chancellor