An Innovative Future

What a year it’s been for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. In 2019, the college had the largest infrastructure expansion in its history. And thanks to strong partnerships, transformational gifts, and record-breaking grants and sponsored research, CALS has never been in a better position to develop and deliver the education, research, and solutions to positively change the lives of those we are charged to serve.

Infrastructure for Innovation

Over the summer, the state-of-the-art Dinah E. Gore Teaching and Research Kitchens opened. The kitchen complex will enhance and extend the college’s work in teaching, research and extension. We celebrated NC State’s heritage of dairy and food science with the dedication of the Howling Cow Education Center and Creamery in the fall. Stakeholders with North Carolina’s beef industry helped us celebrate the naming of NC State University’s Beef Education Unit after prominent College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumnus E. Carroll Joyner.

We broke ground on the NC State University Plant Sciences Building, the future home of the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative which will bring the brightest minds in academia, government and industry together to change the world through accelerated plant science discovery, teaching and innovation. And thanks to a prominent gift by the Talley family, the newly named Windell and Judy Talley Turkey Education Unit is being renovated to improve biosecurity, decrease labor costs and boost turkey research productivity.

Legislators and partners from across the state joined us in Kannapolis for a ribbon cutting to celebrate the new North Carolina Food Innovation Lab, a project that will change the face of food and agriculture for our state. And to better serve the citizens of our state, this year NC State Extension kicked off an effort to equip local centers with the highest speed broadband available.

A Community On The Move

At CALS, we think and do to tackle the grand challenges of today and tomorrow, and with more than 900 NC State Extension professionals on campus and in every county of the state and the Eastern Band of Cherokee, we put our research into action – providing a $2.1 billion impact on North Carolina’s economy.

The CALS community of extraordinary students, faculty and staff are second to none – and over the last two and a half years, our community has grown. With roughly 3,000 undergraduate students, more than 1,000 graduate students and the hiring of more than 100 new faculty, we are one of the largest colleges of agriculture and life sciences in the nation. Our acceptance rate for students from rural counties has tripled, and we can’t wait to see the results of how you all think and do in 2020.

Record-breaking Investments

Our college’s continued progress and long term success are greatly impacted by the generous support of our partners, alumni and friends – and 2019 was a banner year for philanthropic support. You helped NC State raise $13 million in its first annual Day of Giving, with more than 700 of those gifts supporting CALS. And thanks to you, more than $42 million was raised last fiscal year to advance student scholarships and success, professorships and departments, and other vital college programs.

This has also been a prolific year for our research faculty who were awarded more than $86 million in sponsored research, helping support more than 600 active projects. Through our connections to industry and commodity partners, we turn these discoveries into products and practices that help feed, clothe and heal a growing population.

Thanks to you, 2019 has been a profound year of renewed purpose and new partnerships and investments to help us better serve our land-grant mission. As CALS’ Dean, I can’t thank you enough for your extraordinary generosity and support this year, and I look forward to working with you to build on our momentum in 2020.

Happy holidays to you and yours, and Go Pack!

Richard Linton, Dean
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

It’s never too late to support the future!