June 2024 Announcements

Administrator Updates

• Kim Grainger has been named senior vice provost for Faculty Excellence. Her appointment becomes effective July 1.
• Vice Provost for Budget and Business Operations Search: The nomination committee is currently conducting first round interviews. They will make a recommendation to the provost on two to four candidates for in-person finalist interviews potentially taking place in late June and early July. Stay up to date by visiting the search page on the Provost’s Office website or go.ncsu.edu/vp-bbo-search.

From Continuing and Lifelong Education:

• Register now for NC State Continuing and Lifelong Education’s 100-Year Celebration on Aug. 27! Celebrate the division’s work with your own continuing and lifelong education. Sign up to join free panels and workshops on one of the following topics:
  • Unlocking Opportunities: Building Career Pathways with Non-Degree Credentials
  • Stories to Strategies: Persuasive Storytelling in Action
  • Using Technology to Build Emotional Intelligence for the Workforce of Tomorrow
  • Your Future After Work – Planning for Purpose in Life’s Second Half
  • The Impact on N.C. Workforce and Community

Check out the 100-year anniversary site to review workshop session descriptions, read stories about our history and programs, and secure your spot at the celebration. We hope to see you there! 

From DELTA:

• Two DELTA projects have received national recognition in the 2024 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report. This includes the development of a chatbot for counselors-in-training (page 33) and the RoboChem virtual lab (page 45).
• The new DELTA Grants Yearbook highlights the innovative and impactful student engagement opportunities created through the collaborative efforts of faculty grant awardees and DELTA staff. Using compelling visual storytelling and engaging narrative, the project aims to inspire prospective grantees interested in improving their own courses.
• Want to master tips and tricks and best practices for using NC State’s instructional tools this summer? Many of the vendors are offering in-person and online workshops that can help you to use these platforms more effectively.
• Wicked Problems, Wolfpack Solutions 2024 focuses on (Y)Our Health and will be offered June 24 – July 26. It is a no-cost, two-credit course that encourages students to explore different disciplines, connect with their professors and peers, and apply learned skills to the world around them.
• NC State Online students are a diverse group of individuals with unique educational journeys. They Think and Do from anywhere — throughout the state, across the country and around the world. A few of our graduates shared their adventures to inspire others to pursue their dreams.

From the Office for Faculty Excellence:

• From the team that has been bringing you the award-winning SPARK Summer Professional Development programs for the last five years comes our newest offering. The Paper Trail is an intensive, five-week asynchronous professional development program crafted to empower academics in maximizing the impact of their projects through comprehensive publication strategies. Throughout the duration of the program, participants will delve into every facet of the publication cycle, from the inception of a project to its dissemination across various channels.

From the Genetics and Genomics Academy:

• The GGA will welcome David Deamer, co-inventor of nanopore sequencing and professor of biomolecular engineering at University of California, Santa Cruz, to present at 4 p.m. on June 17 in Witherspoon 201. Were nucleic acids invented by primitive forms of life? Nanopore sequencing may explain these origins.
• Join us for a special retirement symposium for Bruce Weir, a long-time faculty member and former director of the Bioinformatics Research Center on June 18 from 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. in the Stephens Room (3503 Thomas Hall) and on Zoom. This symposium, recognizing Weir’s contributions to statistical genetics and bioinformatics at NC State, will feature presentations from current faculty, student talks and stories from past students! Coffee and light refreshments will be provided in the morning, followed by an afternoon reception.

From the Global One Health Academy:

• The Global One Health Academy is excited to announce the recipients for the Fall 2024 Graduate Travel Awards to support international or domestic travel that advances global One Health-related research. Four eligible NC State graduate students were awarded funding for travel occurring July through December 2024. Congratulations to Dayvion Adams (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences), Nicole Odell (College of Natural Resources), Fabiola Santiago (College of Veterinary Medicine), and Jake Seiter (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences)!

From the Office of Information Technology:

• OIT will perform its next IT quarterly maintenance from 6 a.m. Saturday, July 13, to 6 p.m. Sunday, July 14. During this maintenance window, OIT will apply critical system updates and security patches as well as perform hardware and equipment maintenance. Campus IT users should expect that many major IT and network services will be degraded or unavailable. 
• OIT now offers three new workshops to help you develop some essential IT skills. These workshops cover accessibility scanning, Google Shared Drive, and Google Meet and Chat. You can easily register for these training opportunities via REPORTER.

From Innovation and Entrepreneurship:

• As part of NC State’s Summer Start, NC State Innovation and Entrepreneurship will be discussing what programs are available to students at NC State that allow them to pursue fulfilling careers and entrepreneurship. Whether it’s founding a company, working for a growing startup, or breaking into an industry, we will talk about what that looks like and how to start. We will cover examples of student success stories, best practices, and answer any questions you may have! Snacks will be provided. This event will be held in the Albright Entrepreneurship Garage Classroom on July 3 from 5:30-6:30 p.m.
• Six NC State alumni have been awarded Miller Fellowships to focus on their startups. The fellowship program supports newly graduated entrepreneurs who wish to pursue their venture full time after graduation with resources and a monthly stipend.
• Students from any major can prepare for and enhance career outcomes with experience in innovation and entrepreneurship. Unlocking the entrepreneurial mindset enables students for a lifetime of success in any industry. Entrepreneurship classes designed specifically for non-business majors are now available from the Department of Management, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. MIE 209: Survey of Entrepreneurship and MIE 309: Entrepreneurship Skills for Non-Majors are now offered as general education credit starting in Fall 2024.
• In partnership with the Office of Research Commercialization and Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative has developed an incubator called the Seed2Grow program which is steered by a commercialization council of industry and entrepreneurship experts.

Seed2Grow helps entrepreneurs bring NC State plant sciences discoveries into the marketplace to advance agriculture in North Carolina and beyond. Companies in the Seed2Grow program benefit from guidance from an 11-member Commercialization Advisory Council of university and faculty administrators along with ag tech industry leaders.

Applications to the Seed2Grow program are considered on a rolling basis. For more information, contact Kathleen Denya, the Director of Innovation Partnerships for the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative.

Are you interested in forming a commercialization council and/or incubator in your field? Contact Stephen Markham, Executive Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, to apply the PSI commercialization framework to your research program.

From the Institute for Emerging Issues:

• We’re putting the spotlight on North Carolina change agents. From assisting people with obtaining their driver license to helping youth identify their passions and potential careers, IEI is spotlighting some of the many change agents across the state building bridges, breaking down barriers and supporting the state’s underrepresented workforce. Learn more.
• IEI congratulates its graduating student interns Freya Dahlgren, Adam Sichel and Brodie Smith of the Class of 2024. These three undergraduate students have excelled as IEI interns, and the organization wishes them every success on their future journeys.

From the NC State University Libraries:

• When the NC State Gaming and Esports Lab opened on the fourth floor of the Hunt Library in January, students were excited to play. By the second week, over 300 students had already completed the orientation process and were happily immersed in the Libraries’ latest high-tech space, spamming the buttons on their controllers to score goals and complete levels. Learn more about the Esports Lab and the Libraries’ history of leveling up when it comes to gaming.

From Outreach and Engagement:

• The Office of Outreach and Engagement hosted their 2024 Awards Ceremony April 29. Twenty-two individuals and five organizations were celebrated for their commitment to teaching, research, public outreach, and extension. Economic Development Partnership Director Tom White presented the awards, and Director of the Golden Leaf Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center Dr. Ruben Carbonell gave introductory remarks. The awards honor the commitment of NC State faculty and staff members to fulfilling NC State’s land-grant mission alongside community partners.

From the Office of Research and Innovation:

• Mladen Vouk, vice chancellor for research and innovation and a Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, will retire on July 1. Vouk has nearly 39 years of service at NC State, first as a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science, including 12 years as a department head, and then nearly 10 years in different administrative roles with the Office of Research and Innovation . For the last five years, he has served as NC State’s fifth vice chancellor for research and innovation.