Donor generosity is the top story as CALS newsmakers are on display at 2011 Donor Recognition Event
“Stop the presses!” was the rallying cry at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ 2011 Donor Recognition Event. That’s because the reception’s exhibits were themed around CALS programs and activities that have been newsmakers in the pages of Perspectives, the magazine of the College.
The annual celebration of the College’s scholarship, fellowship and professorship donors and supporters of research, teaching and extension programs was held in the McKimmon Center Nov. 6. Attending were the CALS administrators, faculty and scholarship students who were there to thank their benefactors.
Exhibits were arranged as an “Innovation Fair Featuring CALS’ Top Stories,” and each display was illustrated with a poster-sized Perspectives “cover” depicting the featured activities.
Among the “stories” on exhibits circling the room were the Dale and Genia Bone Scholars program; the new undergraduate degree program in soil and land development from the Department of Soil Science; the research of Dr. John Cavanagh and the CALS Department of Molecular and Structural Biochemistry; bed-bug and other pest-management research in the Department of Entomology; Department of Genetics and genomics research; the research of Dr. Trudy Mackay, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished University Professor of Genetics, and of the W.M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology; and information about the Initiative for Biological Complexity.
Next on exhibit were Perspectives features on the College’s celebration of the centennial of Family and Consumer Sciences, with copies of the recently published FCS history. Nearby stood an exhibit about last year’s centennial celebration of North Carolina 4-H, with copies of that program’s newest history, Clover All Over, available.
Rounding out the exhibits were presentations from the College’s Phytotron, the controlled environment plant research facility; the Entrepreneur Initiative for Food (ei4f); the Cook Smart/Eat Smart program; and Howling Cow ice cream and the new Schaub Hall Creamery annex.
Also on display were facts about Perspectives magazine, as well as samples of all 46 issues since 1999.
Anna McKain, a CALS senior majoring in animal science and poultry science who is recipient of the Connor Kennett Jr. Endowed Scholarship, served as emcee of the event.
Featured student speaker Stephanie Knowles, a sophomore in Extension education, told of her pride in representing the Dale and Genia Bone Scholars. “Without the Bone Scholarship, my dream of attending N.C. State would not have become a reality,” she said.
Dr. Johnny Wynne, CALS dean, also thanked the donors on behalf of the College and N.C. State for “your outstanding support and leadership and all that you have done to make this celebration possible today.”
The dean noted that next March the College and the university will be celebrating the 125th anniversary of N.C. State and the 150th anniversary of the Morrill Act that created the land-grant universities. “Both celebrations are coming up in 2012,” Wynne said. “We honor our past but do so while looking forward with visions for our future.”
Following Wynne, N.C. State Chancellor Randy Woodson took the podium and thanked the donors for their “remarkable investment in the best college of agriculture and life sciences in the country.”
– Terri Leith
