Philip Morris USA has contributed $489,000 to enhance research, extension and academic programs in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University.

Dr. Larry M. Sykes, director of agricultural programs at Philip Morris, presented the company’s check to Dean James L. Oblinger on Aug. 7.

Also representing Philip Morris was Dale Hill, manager of agronomy for the company. Philip Morris supports 24 scholarships, internships and graduate fellowships in the College, as well as provides funds in support of professorships, extension leadership programs and research projects. This check, in addition to $10,000 made available earlier this year in support of a flue-cured tobacco curing project in the College’s Tobacco Foundation, brings the company’s 2002 contribution
to $499,000.

“Philip Morris is pleased to be able to continue its support of these tobacco-related programs at N.C. State,” Sykes said. “We feel that our relationship over the years has been very productive and that NCSU has been a good steward of these funds. We are confident that these programs will be of benefit to North Carolina’s tobacco producers, as well as tobacco producers throughout the southeastern United States.”

Said Oblinger, “Philip Morris is a company that has, over a long period of time, invested in academics and in individual and cooperative research activities. Then, through support of extension leadership programs, it has taken the research and put it to work in the real world.”

Dr. Ken Esbenshade, director of Academic Programs in the College, told how Philip Morris, in response to information about rising costs for students, had increased its scholarship support. And Dr. Jon Ort, director of the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service, acknowledged the company’s sponsorship of the summer statewide Futures Summit.

—Terri Leith