If you made a list of NC State’s best years across its 135-year history, you’d be hard pressed to find one that outpaced 2022. The high points were truly extraordinary:
We concluded the most ambitious capital campaign in university history, raising more than $2.1 billion for scholarships, faculty resources and infrastructure.
We welcomed the largest, most diverse and most academically accomplished class of first-year students in our history this fall.
We achieved our highest ranking ever on the annual Best Colleges list published by U.S. News & World Report, joining the ranks of the top 30 public universities in the nation.
We surpassed $500 million in annual research expenditures and ranked No. 6 in research spending among public universities without a medical school.
We were recognized as the best large employer in North Carolina by Forbes magazine.
Below, you’ll find more reasons to celebrate the past — and to look forward to the future.
The past year’s achievements are our stepping stones to the future, moving NC State forward as the university grows in quality, impact and reputation.
Randy Woodson
Chancellor
More Students Are Choosing NC State
We’re increasingly the university of choice for high-performing students from throughout the state, across the nation and around the world.
For the third consecutive year, NC State welcomed its largest class in university history. We also achieved our second straight year of record-high numbers of first-year and transfer applications.
Our newcomers hailed from 98 North Carolina counties, 43 states and 41 countries. Just as impressive is how diverse this class is: 30% of first-year students are people of color, and 19% of incoming students are the first in their families to attend college.
Backed by a $50 million state legislative initiative — Engineering North Carolina’s Future — we’re continuing to grow. Over the next five years, NC State will enroll 4,000 more students in engineering and computer science, creating a massive talent pipeline that will help to drive North Carolina’s economy for decades to come.
39,874
Total Applications
5,601
Enrolled Students
Record-Breaking Research and Innovation
Over the past year, we’ve cemented our status as a national leader in innovation, public-private partnership and moving discoveries from the laboratory to the marketplace.
Nonprofit Heartland Forward ranked NC State second among U.S. public universities — and seventh overall — for research commercialization and technology transfer.
In the last fiscal year alone, 15 new companies were launched based on intellectual property developed at NC State.
Government agencies and industry heavyweights continue to flock to our Centennial Campus, which recently saw the opening of Fitts-Woolard Hall, a $150 million expansion of our College of Engineering, and the dedication of the Plant Sciences Building, a $160 million global hub for research in that discipline.
Our Economic Development Partnership worked with partners across the state to secure 12 capital investments from industry totaling $3.9 billion, which will lead to the creation of 12,415 new jobs.
Companies such as Toyota, VinFast and Spotit join Google, Apple, IBM, SAS and FUJIFILM in citing NC State as a key reason to do business in North Carolina.
$547M
in Research Expenditures for FY21
$409M
in New Sponsored Research Awards
#1
in the Southeast for Student Entrepreneurship
Championing Inclusion and Belonging
NC State has always prided itself on being a university of the people, and that’s truer now than ever before. We’ve implemented measures over the past year to ensure that everybody on our campus is a welcomed, included and fully contributing member of the Pack.
We’ve added a new slate of diversity-focused events to our regular annual calendar, including an Equity Research Symposium, a Juneteenth Celebration and a Pride Walk.
Our Division of Academic and Student Affairs has continued to expand access to crucial student services, including mental health counseling, peer support, personalized career development and free COVID-19 testing and vaccination.
The College of Education has welcomed its inaugural cohort of Transformational Scholars, with 20 future educators hailing from across eastern North Carolina. Upon graduation, these educational leaders will return home to teach in their communities.
The College of Design leads NC State’s Initiative for Community Growth and Development, which addresses issues and opportunities facing North Carolina communities, such as real estate development, economic growth, infrastructure expansion and ecosystem conservation.
By centering equity and inclusion in our research enterprise, we create solutions that benefit everyone.
Mladen Vouk
Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation
A Culture of Collaboration
The grand challenges facing the world don’t confine themselves to disciplinary boundaries. That’s why at NC State, we’re finding creative new ways to work together — and ensuring interdisciplinarity is a key part of our new strategic plan.
We formed the Office of University Interdisciplinary Programs to lead academies, initiatives and faculty clusters that encourage collaboration across campus.
One of our newest interdisciplinary programs, the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative, uses data-driven ideas to improve agriculture, both here at home and wherever plants are grown.
A new $160 million building in the heart of campus will house the Integrative Sciences Initiative, bringing together scholars and students from chemistry, biological sciences and other fields to tackle health and environmental challenges.
All students, regardless of major, can take courses through our new Data Science Academy on subjects like biomedical data sharing and data science for social good.
We’re offering our first umbrella Ph.D. training program through the Genetics and Genomics Academy, where universitywide research interest groups are making advancements in the life sciences.
Giving Back, Driving Forward
In the 2021-22 academic year we marked the extraordinary end of an inspirational chapter of philanthropy at NC State, while charting the path toward an even bolder future.
The Think and Do the Extraordinary Campaign, which publicly launched in October 2016, ended Dec. 31, 2021, with $2.1 billion raised from more than 131,000 donors across all 100 North Carolina counties, all 50 states and 70 countries.
Our campaign donors created 1,350 new scholarships and strengthened existing ones to benefit 5,000 more students than before the campaign, launching 70 new fellowships and contributing $22.5 million to 214 distinct funds with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.
Our fourth annual Day of Giving saw a record 14,533 gifts to more than 600 unique funds on campus. More than 1,800 donors made their first gift to the university on Day of Giving, and alumni from every decade between 1940 and 2020 joined the effort.
125
Extraordinary Opportunity Scholarships Awarded Since Spring 2021
$10M
in Extraordinary Opportunity Scholarship Initiative Endowments
706
Student Emergency Fund Grants Awarded in the 2021-22 Academic Year
Cultivating Excellence, Today and Tomorrow
NC State has become a top-choice school for bright minds in STEM, business and other fields.
Our students continue to earn prestigious awards, including two Goldwater Scholarships and five Fulbright Awards in the past year alone. And our faculty are recognized around the world for their excellence in teaching and research, including four Fulbright Scholars and eight American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows.
Fred Kish, M. C. Dean Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors.
Hollylynne Lee, distinguished professor in the Department of STEM Education, received Baylor University’s Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching.
Eduardo Corral, an associate professor in the Department of English, was named a Guggenheim Fellow.
Jason Miller, a professor in the Department of English, and Blair Kelley, associate professor in the Department of History and assistant dean for Interdisciplinary Studies and International Programs in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, were named National Humanities Center Fellows.
Lilian Hsiao, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, was awarded a 2022 Sloan Research Fellowship.
History-Making Year for Women’s Athletics
As America celebrated the 50th anniversary of Title IX, NC State honored its leading role in establishing women’s college athletics with the most successful season in school history for women’s sports.
The women’s cross-country team won the Wolfpack’s first team NCAA championship in any sport since 1983.
In addition to a men’s swimming individual championship by Kacper Stokowski in the 100-yard backstroke at the NCAA Men’s Championships, Katharine Berkoff of the women’s team brought home the NCAA title in the 100-yard backstroke for the second year in a row.
Women’s tennis won its first national championship of any kind in program history as Jaeda Daniel and Nell Miller teamed up to win the NCAA women’s doubles title. As a team, the Wolfpack finished at a program-high No. 6 overall.
At the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, sophomore Katelyn Tuohy became the fifth NC State woman to win the individual national championship in the 5,000-meter race.
In the ACC, women’s cross-country won its sixth consecutive championship, men’s swimming and diving won its seventh title in eight years, wrestling won its fourth consecutive title and women’s basketball won a championship tournament for the record third year in a row.
Overall, four NC State teams finished their season in the top five of their respective sports, and 11 finished in the top 25, closing out a strong year of athletic competition for the Wolfpack.
Recent Honors and Accolades
Our campus is brimming with accomplished faculty, staff and students — and the world has taken notice. Here are a few highlights from 2022:
Top 1% of universities worldwide (Center for World University Rankings)
#4 veterinary medicine program nationally (U.S. News & World Report)
#6 best value among public universities nationally (U.S. News & World Report)
#7 online master’s degree in engineering nationally (U.S. News & World Report)
#10 online bachelor’s degree program nationally (U.S. News & World Report)
#11 graduate statistics program nationally (U.S. News & World Report)
#13 software engineering program nationally (U.S. News & World Report)
#15 in student entrepreneurship nationally; #1 in the Southeast (Entrepreneur/Princeton Review)
Above, you’ve seen just part of what we’ve been able to achieve at NC State this year. Explore the complete Chancellor’s Annual Report to learn the rest of the story.
