Highlights and Hopes: Dean Linton’s Reflections at the Start of a New Year

Another year in the books for CALS – and it was a big one.

2017 saw major advancements in each of the college’s initiatives, multiple new department head and faculty hires, innovative new programs to increase student access, record fundraising and research award totals … and the list goes on.

“We’re a college that has a vision, that has big ideas, that’s focused on the grand challenges of the future within the state, nation and world,” Linton says. “I think we’ve grown quite a bit in the last year, and we’re at the beginning stages of creating many amazing things.”

Join us as we bid farewell to 2017 with a list of CALS highlights – in no particular order:

The N.C. Food Processing and Innovation Center received another round of support in December as the Golden LEAF Foundation issued a grant for $2.2 million to purchase equipment for the Kannapolis facility. This grant follows $4.4 million in General Assembly funding in June and an affirmative vote in October by the Food Processing Innovation Center Committee. Construction is expected to be complete by early 2019.

Plant Sciences Initiative. Steve Briggs came on board as launch director in August, and most of the funding for the building has been secured. Partners celebrated with the college in October, literally planting stakes into the ground. Efforts in the coming year will focus on further developing human talent.

Student Access. “We are committed to fostering rural North Carolina and creating opportunities for all students,” Linton says. The college developed multiple new pathways for entry, including Nominate a Student and PackTrac to complement existing programs like ASPIRE and STEAM. CALS is also welcoming nearly 50 new students this coming spring semester through the new Spring Connection program.

Food Animal Initiative. The food animal industry represents more than 70 percent of North Carolina’s ag economy, and the college plays a big role in it. Over the last couple of years, CALS leadership has held multiple stakeholder meetings, visited every facet of animal ag industry in the state and reached out to other land-grant institutions for best practices. “Look for a lot more to come out in the next year and in coming years to build out that initiative. It’s an exciting time,” Linton says.

Research Awards. 2017 was a “record-smashing” year for contracts and grants, Linton says. The college brought in $112 million in sponsored research. Our goal by 2020 is to be a top-five college in the country, bringing in $75 million annually. Record-smashing, indeed.

CALS Advancement. The college raised $84 million in 2017, blowing past its $50 million per year goal by 2020. In October, Sonia Murphy was named assistant dean for advancement, providing new leadership for the CALS Advancement team.

Diversity. Through its Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the college is committed to continue building a positive culture of respect and inclusiveness, with lots of new programming in 2017 and more to come in the new year. “I’ve seen what’s happened around the rest of the country, and it’s not encouraging. We’ll do everything we can across the college to build mutual respect, a positive culture, so we’re more like a family than a university.”

Strategic Faculty Hires. In 2017 the college launched an ambitious faculty hiring campaign to recruit 40 new positions, thanks to the CALS Provost Hiring Process, “a joint investment to prepare us for the future,” Linton says. Couple that with attrition and retirements, and CALS anticipates hiring nearly 80 total faculty over the next three to four years.

NC State Extension. 2017 was a year of relationship-building for Extension. “I think Extension is becoming more integrated, and they are much more informed because our director has done a terrific job getting out in the state and building those relationships.” Delivering more than 13,000 programs with 1.9 million contacts and over $264 million in economic impact, Extension is hitting the mark.

Leadership Programs. Spanning from youth development programs like 4-H and FFA to undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff and external stakeholders, college leadership programs have taken off. “I’m particularly proud of our CALS Proud program for staff,” Linton says. “The response they’re having to this opportunity to grow has been tremendous.”

Five new department heads joined the college in 2017: Derek Aday in the Department of Applied Ecology, John Beghin in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Pat Curtis in the Prestage Department of Poultry Science, Garey Fox in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and Melanie Simpson in the Department of Molecular and Structural Biochemistry. “They’re all change-makers in their own way, bringing new ideas to the table,” Linton says. “They’re all incredible.”

International Programs. Two-thirds of our faculty are involved in some sort of international activity. The Office of International Programs recently developed a powerful interactive database that shows projects taking place all over the world.

Extraordinary Alumni. At the CALS Alumni Award ceremony in September, the college honored 28 alumni award winners representing every department in the college. “CALS alumni and friends are our legacy and our future,” Linton says. “For all you do, we are extremely grateful.”