A professor assisting a student in a hydraulics lab.

Support Our Work

Our goal is to grow as a comprehensive research powerhouse. Investing in our faculty is investing in the future.

104 Endowed Faculty Positions

were created from 2016 to 2021.

#2 in Technology Transfer and Commercialization

among U.S. public universities.

#4 for Startups Launched

among universities without a medical school.

NC State faculty members are guided by an extraordinary purpose. They inspire students to think creatively and critically. They serve as mentors. They support graduate students — the future of academia. And they undertake vital research that strengthens our ability to provide solutions to society’s grandest challenges.

Each day, the work of NC State faculty impacts the world around us — helping us understand pandemic modeling, supply chain operation, best practices in food safety, new ways to help K-12 students learn, better methods for fighting wildfires and more.

Donor support makes more of our imortant work possible, from enhancing spaces and equipment to providing the resources to pursue innovative ideas. Supporting our work is an incredible vote of confidence in our people, our mission and our institution.

Investing in Academia, at Every Career Stage

As a Research I university uniquely located in the heart of innovation that is the Research Triangle, NC State is an ideal place to launch an academic career. In addition to rewarding established talent with distinguished professorships, donors help expand our ability to nurture and promote outstanding faculty at every stage of their careers.

Trees blooming around the Memorial Belltower.

NC State Announces 2021-22 Goodnight Early Career Innovators

The program recognizes and rewards promising early-career faculty whose scholarship is in STEM or STEM education. The 25 faculty selected will receive $22,000 for each of the next three years to support their scholarship and research endeavors.

The Gateway Arch at the entrance to NC State univeristy on Western Blvd.

New Deanships Established Through Two Longstanding Partnerships With NC State

The College of Engineering and the College of Veterinary Medicine have each announced transformational gifts from long-term philanthropic leaders that will endow two new dean’s chairs at the university.

The Libraries Announces Two Tom Regan Visiting Research Fellows for 2022

The NC State University Libraries has awarded 2022 Tom Regan Visiting Research Fellowships to Kat Poje, a Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University, and Joshua Russell, an associate professor at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York.

The Freedom of Flexibility

Following in the footsteps of an NC State pioneer, Dr. Thomas Schaefer has built his extensive physics career in Raleigh. Since Schaefer was named the Wesley O. Doggett Distinguished Professor for the Department of Physics in 2018, private support has given him greater flexibility to Think and Do.

Breeding a Berry Successful Career

WIth support from the John D. and Nell R. Leazar Distinguished Professorship, Gina Fernandez is developing a better berry — and the next generation of plant breeders.

Podcast: Distinguished Professorships With Walt Wolfram

On the Season 1 finale of the NC State Philanthropy Podcast, we’re joined by sociolinguist and William C. Friday Distinguished Professor Walt Wolfram to hear how private support has benefited his work on campus and beyond.

Listen now

Impact Beyond Campus

Our work extends far beyond the boundaries of our physical campus. Support for programs, research, entrepreneurial initiatives and Extension sharpens our purpose and benefits our state, our economy and our world.

NC State Extension serves all 100 counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, transforming science into everyday solutions for communities across our state, generating $2 billion in economic impact.
More than 30 currently active companies got their start in NC State’s Entrepreneurship Garage, with a combined $75 million in venture capital investments.
NC State is home to two major interdisciplinary National Sciences Foundation-funded centers launched in 2021, the NSF AI Institute for Engaged Learning and NSF Science and Technology Center — Science and Technologies for Phosphorous Sustainability (STEPS).
Through the Friday Institute and Belk Center, the College of Education transforms teaching and learning across our state.

Regenerative Medicine Visionary Cheng Receives Endowed Professorship

NC State College of Veterinary Medicine’s Ke Cheng, whose groundbreaking stem cell research has led to promising new ways to repair damaged hearts and lungs, was named the Randall B. Terry Jr. Distinguished Professor in Regenerative Medicine in a Nov. 4 ceremony. The professorship is made possible through the R.B. Terry Charitable Foundation.

Belk Center Executive Director Audrey Jaeger speaking to a group of people seated around a table.

Audrey Jaeger Receives W. Dallas Herring Professorship in Community College Education

Audrey Jaeger, Ph.D., executive director of the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research, has been awarded the W. Dallas Herring Professorship in Community College Education. Her work focuses on how community college presidents make decisions related to completion and transfer, equity, labor market outcomes and teaching and learning to impact student success.

Powering Extraordinary Stories

Over the last decade, the number of endowed faculty positions at NC State has grown substantially — a significant point of pride made possible through private support. Such positions are among the highest honors a faculty member can aspire to, which helps the university reward the outstanding achievements of current faculty and elevate our reputation by recruiting new talent. Learn more about about how our faculty are thinking, doing and leading thanks to professorship support.