Momentous Achievements - College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

NC Family and Consumer Sciences Foundation

Creating specialized foundations in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) has impacted a myriad of areas. Since its inception in 2005, the Family and Consumer Sciences Foundation’s success in attracting more than $750,000 in new funding has presented many opportunities for expanding family and consumer sciences programs in the state.

Landscapes of Opportunity

The NC 4-H Livestock Board now has a vehicle for addressing $2 million in programmatic needs from the private community. Founded in 2007 to support continued excellence in CALS research and led by a volunteer board representing national and international agricultural and life sciences corporations and organizations, the North Carolina Agricultural and Life Sciences Research Foundation raised over $10 million for CALS research initiatives in its first year.

NC Agricultural and Life Sciences Research Foundation

Launched in 2004 by the North Carolina Agricultural and the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service Foundations, the Landscapes of Opportunity program has engaged in conservation planning, environmental sustainability practices and research/extension initiatives throughout the state. Landscapes of Opportunity has resulted in land and cash gifts totaling in excess of $82.4 million for endowed professorships, internships, scholarships and enhancement funds.

Circle of Life - Student Support

Since the campaign began, CALS donors have created more than 120 new student endowments and annual awards, supporting undergraduates and graduate students throughout the College. CALS students have seized the challenge as their own…through such efforts as their masquerade ball and national agricultural ambassadors leadership conference, both raising funds for student activities and awards. Engaging students and alumni throughout their CALS careers and in the years that follow has instilled a new “Circle of Life” approach that will increase the power of academic fundraising for generations to come.

Ray E. Hollowell, Jr., Named Chair

Ray E. Hollowell, Jr. has committed to the establishment of the first fully funded named chair at NC State University. The $2.5 million endowment will create the Ray E. Hollowell, Sr., Distinguished Professorship, which will support the work of an eminent scholar working in the discipline(s) of viticulture and/or enology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The professorship and allied endowment will provide increased research and outreach support to North Carolina’s burgeoning wine industry.

Named in honor of the Senior Hollowell, a 1951 graduate of the NC State’s Department of Agronomy, the faculty member holding the chair will always hold a joint appointment in the Departments of Crop Science and Soil Science, formerly combined as the Department of Agronomy. Ray E. Hollowell, Sr., played a key role in what will be remembered as a time of great progress and innovation in the field of agronomy. He was known for his energy and leadership as he began his career in soil conservation, and went on to become a force in North Carolina agriculture.

LaPaz

William (Bill) White was passionate about establishing LaPaz as the first sturgeon/caviar production facility in North Carolina, and worked closely with NC State aquaculture specialists on the set-up and development of the business. When Bill was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he initiated a conversation with NC Agricultural Foundation (NCAF) and CALS leadership in the belief that putting LaPaz in NC State’s hands was the best way to ensure its long-term success and potential for North Carolina agribusiness and the state’s economy.

Bill’s gift, which includes funding for research at the LaPaz site is valued at more than $4 million. This facility will serve as a hands-on laboratory in which NC State scientists fine tune production of high-quality caviar and sturgeon here in North Carolina. Since it is one of only three such facilities in the nation, LaPaz has the potential to have a significant economic development impact, placing our state as a leader in production of one of the world’s most favored delicacies. A portion of the future income from LaPaz, now a for-profit facility of the NCAF, will be reinvested in aquaculture research.  Finally, remaining future income will flow into the NCAF competitive grants program, increasing the support it is able to provide for faculty research and extension work on behalf of North Carolina agriculture.

Southern Vines Conservation Easement

The vision shared by Chris Collins and John McNeill of Southern Vines, LLC for a self-sustaining mountain retreat and testing ground for grape varietals, led them to partner with Cline Family Vineyards of California and the Jacuzzi Family from Sonoma, Italy. The partnership led to a $17.1 million conservation easement gift that benefits the North Carolina Agricultural Foundation, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the Little Tennessee Land Trust. The gift will help protect more than 450 mountain acres in Jackson County, N.C. Southern Vines has also funded a Distinguished Professorship in Viticulture and Enology; an Apprenticeship Endowment, allowing a student to study in North Carolina, California and Italy as well as a Jackson County Program Endowment.