Hier-Archy

With four prominent College of Natural Resources (CNR) alumni within the Jordan family, it’s little surprise that the co-owners of Jordan Lumber Company of Mt. Gilead, N.C. wanted to give back to their alma mater collectively.

In recognition of the strong ties that bind them to the college, former N.C. Lieutenant Governor Robert B. Jordan, III (’54), Jack P. Jordan (’63), Genie Jordan Ussery (’75), and Robert B. Jordan, IV (’84) established the Jordan Family Endowment for Natural Resource Innovation to support faculty and students.
The first linked endowment at NC State, the $1.525 million Jordan Family Endowment supports a named professorship and fellowships for both an exceptional graduate student and an undergraduate student chosen to assist the Jordan Professor.

“NC State and the College of Natural Resources have played a huge role in our lives,” says Jack Jordan. “We’re proud to have at least one graduate from each of the college’s departments. But the college is not just a part of our past. Every week someone at Jordan Lumber is in touch with someone in the college. They have been invaluable to the success of our company. This is our way of giving back.”

Continuum of Scholarship

Set up within the North Carolina Natural Resources Foundation and the NC State Endowment Fund, the Jordan Family Endowment comprises the $400,000 Jordan Family Graduate Fellowship in Natural Resource Innovation, the $125,000 Jordan Family Undergraduate Honors Program, and the $1 million Jordan Family Endowed Professorship in Innovation, housed in the Endowment Fund. Together, the endowments will allow CNR to leverage academic expertise along with research support to address pioneering natural resource issues for the greater benefit of the natural resource community.

Dr. Vincent Chiang, the first Jordan Family Distinguished Professor for Natural Resource Innovation, is researching the use of genomics, novel gene regulation, and genetic transformation methods to create trees with high-performing wood for bioethanol production. The four-year support is worth more than $250,000 and gives outstanding CNR faculty such as Dr. Chiang — and promising graduate and undergraduate students — the opportunity to advance far-reaching natural resource research.