Dear Wolfpack,

I have challenged our community to consider what it means for NC State to set the standard for a 21st-century land-grant university. That requires us to adapt as the world changes, bring our strengths together and ensure that innovation ultimately serves people across our state, nation and world.

Artificial intelligence is changing how we learn, conduct research, work and solve problems. At NC State, that change is already well underway.

Across our colleges and units, faculty, staff and students are advancing AI-related research, developing new approaches of teaching and learning, working with industry, supporting North Carolina’s workforce and exploring new ways to serve communities across our state. NC State has considerable expertise and momentum on which to build.

Our opportunity now is to better connect those strengths and increase their impact.

I have asked Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Jim Pfaendtner and Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation Krista Walton to jointly lead the creation of the NC State AI Hub, centered on AI for land-grant impact.

The hub will connect AI activity across the university, support work already taking place within our colleges and units, identify emerging needs and opportunities, and help us make strategic investments where collaboration can make the biggest differences. 

This is not about concentrating AI activity in one place or creating another layer of administration. NC State’s strength is distributed across our university. Our goal is to better connect and support that expertise while creating new opportunities across education, research, workforce development, extension and engagement.

I am grateful to the many faculty and staff who have built these programs and to those who have served on our university AI advisory groups. Their work has helped NC State reach this next stage.

I have also asked Provost Pfaendtner and Vice Chancellor Walton to develop new opportunities that support AI work within our colleges and create opportunities for university-level collaboration. University working groups will provide input as this work moves forward. More information about future investments, AI Hub leadership and ways for faculty, staff and students to participate will be shared throughout the academic year. 

AI presents an extraordinary opportunity to build on our land-grant mission — to improve how we educate students, accelerate discovery, strengthen our workforce and translate NC State expertise into impact for communities across North Carolina and beyond.

I look forward to seeing what we will Think and Do together.

Go Pack!

Kevin Howell
Chancellor