September 2021 Announcements

• Stay up-to-date on all university COVID-19 updates and reminders. Read the latest message to the NC State community and review the Protect the Pack website regularly.
• The winners of the 2021 Envisioning Research contest have been announced. The contest is a collaborative effort by NC State’s Office of Research and Innovation, the Graduate School, the NC State University Libraries, the Office of Undergraduate Research and University Communications and Marketing. Envisioning Research was open to faculty, staff, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and undergraduates. You can see a gallery of all the winners here.
• Nominations are now open for eight awards for NC State faculty members. This year’s nomination submission deadlines have been scheduled to align with the traditional fall and spring semester calendars. This year, the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost is pleased to offer the new Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the most prestigious award for exceptional teaching given to professional full-time faculty from among NC State’s 10 colleges and the University College.

Administrator Updates

• An open search for the dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine is underway. The nomination committee is chaired by Dean David Hinks of the Wilson College of Textiles. As previously announced, Dean Paul Lunn is leaving NC State in mid-January 2022 to become dean of his alma mater, the University of Liverpool School of Veterinary Science. Kate Meurs, Randall B. Terry, Jr. Distinguished Professor in Comparative Medicine and associate dean for research and graduate studies, has recently been appointed to serve as interim dean effective January 18, 2022. Stay up to date on the search by visiting the search page on the Provost’s Office website or go.ncsu.edu/cvm-search.
• An open search for the dean of the College of Education is underway. The nomination committee is chaired by Dean Chris McGahan of the College of Sciences. As previously announced, Dean Mary Ann Danowitz will return to the college’s faculty in the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy and Human Development, effective October 5. Paola Sztajn, a professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Learning Sciences who recently served as interim associate vice provost for academic personnel and policy, will serve as interim dean. Stay up to date on the search by visiting the search page on the Provost’s Office website or go.ncsu.edu/ced-search.
• Greg Cope has been named interim head of the Department of Applied Ecology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, effective September 1, 2021.
• JunJie Wu is the new head of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, effective September 1, 2021.

From the Coastal Resilience and Sustainability Initiative:

• The Coastal Resilience and Sustainability Initiative has two upcoming lightning talk sessions on September 22 and October 13 from 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. in 4140 Talley Student Union or virtually. These talks will help faculty learn about the work being done by their colleagues and set a foundation for building collaborative interdisciplinary teams. Talks are being organized around the Initiative’s six themes. Faculty and professional staff can register to give a lightning talk here. 
• The newly established annual KIETS Climate Leaders Program (CLP) is designed to empower, educate and inspire the next generation to embark on careers and become innovative leaders in addressing climate change. The Program focuses on developing solutions to mitigate or reverse negative effects of climate change. KIETS CLP will select NC State students as KIETS Climate Leadership Scholars annually. These Scholars will be supported to work with our world’s best leaders and organizations working on climate change solutions. 2022 program components include: a one-year commitment (January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022), internship (three to six months), Climate Leadership Academy (May 8-10, 2022), Climate Leadership Symposium (October 10-11, 2022), Funding provided for Scholars and their faculty mentors.

A NC State faculty or professional staff member who is interested in mentoring a candidate must nominate a NC State full-time undergraduate or graduate student who will not graduate prior to Spring 2023. Any major is eligible and candidates may propose an internship in any area associated with climate change adaptation and mitigation. More details about the program and the nomination/application process can be found at https://climateleaders.kenan.ncsu.edu/. Nomination and application forms must be submitted online by 11:59 pm, October 31, 2021. Contact Amanda Mueller (919.515.4265 or ammuell2@ncsu.edu) with any questions about the program or nomination/application process.

From the Data Science Academy:

• The Data Science Academy is pleased to welcome guest speaker Priya Donti, co-founder and chair of Climate Change AI, for her virtual colloquium on “Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning” on October 12 at 2 p.m. The RED Talk series is sponsored by the Office of Research and Innovation. In this talk, Donti will describe how machine learning can be a potentially powerful tool for addressing climate change, when applied in coordination with policy, engineering, and other areas of action. Note to CSC and Statistics graduate students: these lectures have been approved to count toward the required seminars for graduate students. Please contact Mary Catherine Cole (ncstate-dsi@ncsu.edu) with any questions. An invitation is coming soon.

From the College of Education:

• The College of Education will host the Cherry Award Lecture on Thursday, September 23 from 3-4 p.m. in Talley Student Union’s Coastal Ballroom. The lecture will feature Hollylynne Lee, professor of mathematics and statistics education and finalist for Baylor University’s Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching, who will speak on “Data Moves and Discourse: Design Principles for Strengthening Statistics Education”. Attendees must register to attend the lecture in-person by September 20. Given space limitations, registration is first-come, first-served. A light reception will follow the lecture. Masks are required in all indoor spaces on NC State’s campus for students, faculty, staff and visitors, regardless of vaccination status. If someone wishes to view the lecture but can’t make it in person, the lecture will be livestreamed on the NC State College of Education’s YouTube channel.

From DELTA:

• DELTA is excited to announce 28 new and continuing DELTA Grant recipients for the 2021-2022 academic year, including four new and five continuing Faculty Fellows for the 2021-2022 cycle.
• The online Leadership in the Public Sector (LPS) bachelor’s degree completion program is making history at NC State as the first program to earn Quality Matters (QM) Program Review Certification — just one of eight in the nation to earn certification in the program design category.
• DELTA Faculty Fellow Michelle Bartlett and Lead Instructional Designer Jessica White received two awards at the Distance Learning Administration 2021 Conference for a DELTA Grants partnership.
• The DELTA Teaching Resources website has a new look and new content. Faculty will find a collection of resources written by experts to teach effectively with technology both in the classroom and online.
• With NC State resuming face-to-face instruction for the fall semester, Professor Marsha Gordon shares what she learned during the first week of classes.
• Online students have the flexibility to learn whenever and however they want, which means prioritizing tasks (life, work and school) is important. Share these tips with your students on how to be successful in online courses.
• There are multiple ways to take attendance in a course using digital tools, but now with the need for contact tracing, there are more factors to consider. We provide several options to help you with this process with a focus on enterprise tools available here at NC State.

From the Office for Faculty Excellence:

• The Office for Faculty Excellence continues to support and guide faculty by enhancing traditional offerings and expanding programming. Read Resources for Faculty Success for more information on new and upcoming events, programming and community engagement efforts from the office.

From the Office of Global Engagement:

• The Office of Global Engagement is now accepting nominations for the Jackson Rigney International Service Award and our Outstanding Global Engagement Award. The nomination deadline for both awards is January 24, 2022.
• After a tumultuous 2020-2021 school year, NC State Global is looking forward to sending students to study abroad, welcoming international students to campus, meeting face-to-face (with masks) for global events, and learning together again. Learn more about what’s changed and what’s new for this academic year.
• This month’s global alumni spotlight highlights NC State faculty member and alum Dr. Bharat Balagopal who is headed west to become a Battery Algorithms Engineer at Apple.
• Anyone wishing to view the lecture with Robert Skinner from the United Nations may do so here.

From the Office of Information Technology:

• In celebration of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month in October, NC State’s Office of Information Technology will sponsor “Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart” to increase the awareness and prevention of security threats.

Brad Reaves, an assistant professor in the NC State Department of Computer Science and a member of the Wolfpack Security and Privacy Research (WSPR) Lab, will present the keynote address, “Who’s Calling? Understanding the Scourge of Robocalls,” from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 6 online. 

Telephone subscribers in the US are inundated by frequent unsolicited calls known as robocalls, and this is arguably one of the greatest cybersecurity issues facing people today. In this talk, Reaves will explain how and why the robocall problem became so significant, how NC State research reveals robocallers operations, and what is being done to put an end to the problem.

There will be an opportunity to win great prizes, including an Apple Watch. To register, visit REPORTER. To learn more about other planned security events in October, see NC State’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2021 website. 

From the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity:

• As a Wolfpack, we support the right of everyone to observe their faith, and we continually work to ensure that university events do not conflict with religious holidays. Faculty and staff should do the following to avoid scheduling academic or administrative programs and events on religious holidays:
• Add the Google religious holidays calendar overlay to your own Google calendar so that when you are creating your course syllabus or scheduling an event, you can avoid scheduling on holidays. Refer to Religious and Cultural Holidays for guidelines on how to do this and for additional information about best practices for avoiding conflicts.

From the Office of Research and Innovation:

• The Office of Research and Innovation will be hosting the 2nd annual Research Week at NC State later this month. The week kicks off with a research forum on Monday, September 27, where you can hear from the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation as he shares the current state of research at NC State and participate in open Q&A with research leadership. Register for the forum here. The research community is encouraged to submit questions they would like to see addressed in advance.

From the NC State University Libraries:

• The newly renovated D. H. Hill Jr. Library is one of eleven libraries recognized in American Libraries magazine’s 2021 Library Design Showcase Award. The Library Design Showcase is an annual celebration of new and renovated libraries that address user needs in unique, interesting, and effective ways. The Hill Library is one of only two university libraries recognized this year. Read the full article on the Libraries website.