1997
• Dr. James L. Oblinger becomes dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences on Oct. 1, succeeding Dr. Durward Bateman.

1998
• The first issue of Perspectives is published, providing College alumni, friends and stakeholders news and features on teaching, research and extension accomplishments.

• At Holden Beach, the College dedicates a donated 29-acre site, worth $1.375 million, as the Drew Griffin Environmental Research Facility.

• The W.M. Keck Foundation gives the College $800,000 to support interdisciplinary faculty and graduate student research in behavioral biology.

• The Fish Barn, where scientists study and demonstrate the feasibility of aquaculture in the Piedmont, opens.

• A new 3,400-square-foot laboratory dedicated to research on Pfiesteria piscicida, an organism implicated in Mid-Atlantic fish kills, opens.

• With $867,000 from the Pew Charitable Trusts and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the College launches the Neuse Crop Management Project to educate producers in the Neuse River Basin about nitrogen and herbicide management.

• The College awards 1,007 associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.

1999
• The College’s Campaign for Students surpasses its goal of $15.45 million.

• The College builds on the success of the Undergraduate Research Symposium by launching an annual Undergraduate Teaching Symposium, featuring the efforts of undergraduates in scholarly teaching projects.

• During installation week for Chancellor Marye Anne Fox, the College dedicates the $4.5 million Butler Communication Services Building.

• The first class is taught in the new Geographic Information Systems Educational Laboratory, outfitted with 21 high-end workstations, software, GPS receivers and other equipment.• N.C. State launches new graduate programs in functional genomics and bioinformatics.

• The College awards 1,076 associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.

2000
• The College is a partner in the newly opened Center for Marine Sciences and Technology in Morehead City.

• The College launches the Food ... for Thought!, campaign to educate North Carolinians about the value of food and how the College supports agriculture and agribusiness.

• N.C. State University unveils the 4,000-square-foot Genome Research Laboratory, a high-tech research facility for gene studies. College faculty members have taken the lead in establishing the lab.

• The Animal and Poultry Waste Management Center, directed by Dr. Mike Williams, receives $17.5 million through agreements among Smithfield Foods, Premium Standard Farms and the N.C. Attorney General’s office. The funds support research aimed at developing an environmentally and economically viable alternative to the lagoon-and-sprayfield waste management system used on most N.C. hog operations.

• The College hosts an open house for a new video microscopy and imaging laboratory in Gardner Hall. The lab integrates wet labs, modern microscopy, cameras and computer technology to create a modern training center for future biologists.

• North Carolina Cooperative Extension receives the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture’s Honor Award for Emergency Response and Heroism for its leadership during and following Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Its Neuse Education Team is also honored for water-quality education.

• The College dedicates the Alma Robinson Roberts Environmental Research Facility at Holden Beach on 22 acres valued at $3.5 million.

• In North Carolina citizens vote in favor of the UNC Higher Education Bond issue, which allows for new construction and renovation of several College buildings.

• The College awards 1,095 associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.

2001
• The $10 million Eastern 4-H Environmental Education and Conference Center is opened in Tyrrell County.

• The College launches the Center for Turfgrass Environmental Research and Education.

• The Bioinformatics Research Center — a partnership of the colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Natural Resources and Engineering — opens on Centennial Campus.

• Former N.C. Agriculture Commissioner James A. Graham is named the College’s first executive-in-residence.

• The Toxicology Building, home of the Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, opens on Centennial Campus.

• Dr. Todd Klaenhammer, a professor in the Department of Food Science, is elected to the prestigious National Academy of Science.

• Meredith Price, an undergraduate biochemistry student, wins an inaugural Gates Cambridge Scholarship to study in England.

• N.C. State launches a 15-credit undergraduate minor in biotechnology, with courses being taught in a newly renovated learning center in Jordan Hall.

• The College awards 1,047 associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.

2002
• The College’s Center for Integrated Fungal Research plays a key role in two major scientific breakthroughs: the sequencing of the rice genome and of the rice blast genome.

• The JC Raulston Arboretum’s Ruby C. McSwain Education Center officially opens. While it is the first building completed as a result of the University of North Carolina Higher Education bonds, most of the funding has come from private donations — the largest from the building’s namesake.

• The College launches a capital campaign with a $180 million goal.

• The College signs its largest research contract ever — $17.6 million with Philip Morris USA for a tobacco genome initiative.

• Featuring more than 500 recipes, Jim Graham’s Farm Family Cookbook for City Folk hits book stores through-out North Carolina and beyond. Proceeds go to the James A. Graham Scholars Endowment.

• Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin visits the College with hopes of extending an ongoing partnership between N.C. State, Moldova’s state agrarian university and other agencies.

• Twelve Cooperative Extension county centers become university gateway centers, considering new ways to connect communities with the knowledge base and resources across all of N.C. State.

• The College awards 1,099 associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.

2003
• A new Beef Education Unit opens at Lake Wheeler Road Field Laboratory in Raleigh.

• Dean Oblinger becomes N.C. State University’s provost, and Dr. Johnny Wynne is appointed interim dean of the College on May 19.