Dear College Faculty and Staff:

As the year draws to a close, I'd like to look back with you at the many accomplishments made this year by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' faculty and staff.

We've dedicated new facilities that enhance our mission of teaching, research and extension, and we've earned honors for faculty and staff achievement. We've forged new partnerships with other agencies and universities to enhance agriculture, agribusiness and the life sciences in North Carolina. And, through our advancement efforts, we've received some generous gifts and grants and reached out to our alumni and friends in new ways.

FACILITIES

Perhaps no other event holds as much significance for the future of our College, University and University System than the Nov. 7 UNIVERSITY/COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOND REFERENDUM. Through the referendum, North Carolinians gave a resounding endorsement (73 percent in favor) of higher education, showing strong support for our present and future faculty, staff and students.

Faculty and staff on campus and in the field played an important role in educating the public about the bond referendum, so it is fitting that our College will be among the first to break ground on a partially bond-funded project. On Dec. 20, we break ground for the McSWAIN EDUCATION CENTER at the JC Raulston Arboretum, funded with $500,000 from the bond and $3.7 million from private donations.

We look forward to the coming months and years, when bond money will be used to improve South Gardner Hall, Schaub Hall, Williams Hall, Polk Hall, and David Clark Laboratories. There also will be funding for improving our outlying field laboratories and research stations as well as for developing the feed mill, the meat processing laboratory and several other projects to enhance our College's work.

Meanwhile, we are benefitting from a new GENOME RESEARCH LABORATORY, officially opened in June on the Centennial Campus. The GRL is a tool that will help us learn more -- faster -- about the genetic makeup of different organisms. It also will be an important training ground for students planning careers in biotechnology, the agricultural sciences or pharmaceutical research and development.

Another important new facility that opened this year is the four-story, 50,000-square-foot CENTER FOR MARINE SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY in Morehead City. It houses scientists and educators from NC State, Carteret Community College, Beaufort County's North Carolina Cooperative Extension Center, and N.C. Sea Grant. Future plans call for the construction of two additional buildings -- a dormitory and salt water fisheries lab to be shared with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

HONORS

The year 2000 saw our faculty and staff receiving well-deserved recognition. With a long history of excellence in teaching and an exemplary commitment to students, the DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY was a natural choice to receive one of the University's first Departmental Awards for Teaching and Learning Excellence -- a one-time $5,000 award, plus $15,000 in recurring funds to support teaching.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman presented Cooperative Extension with two USDA HONOR AWARDS. Extension received the Silver Plow Honor Award for Emergency Response and Heroism for leadership during and following Hurricane Floyd, and the Neuse Education Team received an award for promoting sensible management of natural resources.

The College also was in the spotlight on Oct. 12, when three College faculty members were inducted into the inaugural class of the university's ACADEMY OF OUTSTANDING FACULTY ENGAGED IN EXTENSION. They are Extension Entomology Specialist Mike Waldvogel, Coordinator of the Biology Outreach Program Coordinator Charles Lytle, and Animal and Poultry Waste Management Center Director Mike Williams. They join 130 charter academy members -- more than 40 from the College -- who were previous winners of the University Outstanding Extension Award.

In another first, two College staff members received the highest honor that state employees can receive for noteworthy service to state government and North Carolina's people. Marcy Bullock, our College's career services director, and Angela Lands, administrative assistant in our College Advancement unit, were named winners of the 2000 Governor's Award for Excellence. They join Howard Glasgow, of the Botany Department, who received the award in 1999; Ray Kimsey, of Extension Computer Services (unit name at that time) who received the award in 1991; and Faye Childers, of the Department of Statistics who received the award in 1989.

PARTNERSHIPS

The excellence of our faculty and staff also is evident in the types of partnerships that we have entered in the year 2000. For example, a landmark agreement last summer between Smithfield Foods and N.C. Attorney General (now Gov.-Elect) Mike Easley provided our College with $15 million to continue our identification and development of ALTERNATIVE ANIMAL WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS. We received a second, $2.5 million grant from a similar agreement between Easley and Premium Standard Farms. On Dec. 5, a constructed wetland -- one of five alternative technologies that appear to hold the most promise -- will officially be put into operation at full scale on an Onslow County swine farm.

On Sept. 28, our College and the state's departments of Environment and Natural Resources and Agriculture and Consumer Services signed an agreement to work together to promote FARMLAND PRESERVATION. The partnership comes on the heels of Gov. Hunt's call for North Carolinians to add a million acres to the state's permanently conserved open spaces over the next decade.

Farmland preservation was also on the agenda for the daylong GOVERNOR'S SUMMIT ON AGRICULTURE, held at the Global TransPark in Kinston on Oct. 2. The summit focused on innovations in North Carolina agriculture, the outlook for farming and the challenges that lie on the horizon. Our work with specialty crops and new aquaculture species was highlighted at a preconference forum. Our efforts also were featured in the following days, as hundreds of farmers and others gathered for the CAROLINA FARM SHOW. Nearly 40 College exhibits, under the theme "Farming: Healthy People and a Healthy Environment," gave expo-goers a look at many facets of the College's academic, research and extension programs.

COLLEGE ADVANCEMENT

Some of our most important partners are our alumni and friends. On Sept. 16, some 1,500 of them attended our annual tailgate -- called CONNECTION 2000 this year. Along with Chancellor Fox, they joined in a bond rally, viewed departmental exhibits, took a trip down memory lane through a display of old Technicians, Agromecks and photos, and enjoyed barbecue dinner followed by fellowship at a Wolfpack football game. Alumni also had the chance to connect with some of our brightest students, including 120 volunteers who helped set up, guide children's activities, make buttons and more. Events like this remind us of our rich heritage and the strong ties that exist in the College family.

Such ties were instrumental in making this a RECORD-SETTING FUND-RAISING year. In FY1999-2000, the College raised $23.8 million -- up more than 12.5 times since 1989. The $10.4 million raised in the first quarter of the current fiscal year is also a first. Among the gifts that helped make this a record-setting year was the $3.5 million gift of a 22-acre site at the southern tip of Holden Beach and $1.2 from Ms. Ruby McSwain for the arboretum education center.

Our College Advancement staff is to be commended for their leadership in these efforts, as well as their work on the College's "FOOD ... FOR THOUGHT!" awareness program. Thanks to this award-winning program, thousands of North Carolina's urban citizens learned of the value of food and farming as well as where the technology comes from that supports North Carolina's Number One industry. Keep an eye out for the next phase of "Food ... For Thought!": More than 70 road signs statewide will picture a beautiful North Carolina farm and display the campaign's message, "Remember Your Food Doesn't Just Come From A Grocery Store."

LOOKING AHEAD TO THE NEW MILLENNIUM

As we approach the New Year we can do so with a great deal of pride. The innovation and dedication of our faculty and staff were instrumental in the successes I've cited. And they will be critical in this new millennium, as we work together to rise to new challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

I thank you for all you continue to do for NC State University and this College, and I wish you and your families a happy holiday and a prosperous New Year.

Jim Oblinger