When Albert and Rebecca Gibson, of Orlando, Fla., found out that their beloved terrier mix, Potter, had lymphoma, they didn’t hesitate to seek out a cure. Their search led them to NC State, as the Orlando Sentinel reports.
Since 2008, NC State’s College of Veterinary Medicine has offered canine clinical bone marrow transplants, to fight against lymphoma, the most recurrent form of cancer in dogs. The vet school was the first in the nation to offer such a procedure.
Bone-marrow transplants haven’t been easily available for pets because the machines for the procedure are expensive and there isn’t conclusive evidence on the success rate of the transplants. Still, as the Sentinel writes, “Hope is more powerful than statistics, though, and NC State is booked solid for the next few months by dog owners.”
In an NC State magazine article last winter, we wrote about how the vet school is giving devoted pet owners like the Gibsons a second chance with their pets:
A minority of pet owners wants the best of everything for their pets, including medical care. Increasingly they can get it. At NC State’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital, the list of services available includes MRIs, CT scans, chemotherapy, radiation, cataract surgery, cardiac catheterizations, knee and hip replacements, and consultations with behaviorists and nutritionists.
You can check out a video about the bone marrow transplant program here:
For more information, check out the Veterinary Teaching Hospital’s website on canine bone marrow transplants.
This is Victor ’04 and Sarah ’04 Lytvinenko, owners of Raleigh Denim. They’re two of three alumni spotlighted in The New York Times‘ travel magazine, T Magazine, which featured the Raleigh/Durham area in its winter issue. The magazine dubbed the Triangle “North Carolina’s Axis of Cool” and gave a short rundown of local businesses, people (Grayson Currin ’05, music editor of The Independent Weekly is the other alumnus) and organizations that help make the area cool.
You can check out an interactive version of the feature here. And you can read the digital version of the print edition by clicking on “View Print Magazine” here.
The Wall Street Journal sat down recently with Jim Goodnight ’65, ’68 MS, ’72 PHD, co-founder and chief executive officer of Cary-based SAS, the largest privately held software company in the world. In the interview, he discusses the outlook for his business in Asia and his view of management:
I believe management must trust the people who work for them. You have to treat people like they make a difference. And if you do, they will.
Here, he talks about his best and worst decisions as a manager:
WSJ: What’s the best decision you’ve made as a manager?
Mr. Goodnight: Back in the mid-80s, we rewrote our source code, which gave us what we call our multivendor architecture. It was a huge investment to rewrite everything. But after, our systems could now be portable through all computers. It gave us tremendous flexibility as we migrated off mainframes to minicomputers. We could use the same software on all machines.
WSJ: And the worst decision?
Mr. Goodnight: I bought an airline once. [In 1997, Mr. Goodnight and SAS co-founder John Sall bought a majority portion of now-defunct Midway Airlines.] Bad decision. We had a little airline that everyone was trying to get rid of in Raleigh, N.C., and I bought it because I wanted us to maintain the hub in Raleigh. There’s no money it. Don’t ever buy an airline. Waste of time.
Greg Volk '03 (Photo courtesy of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences)
You might be familiar with the popular Discovery Channel show Cash Cab, which gives people cash for correctly answering trivia questions during taxi rides around New York City. What you may not know is that Greg Volk ’03 is one of the writers behind the scenes. In late June, he won his second Emmy in writing for his work with Cash Cab. A self-employed TV and comedy writer based in New York, Volk’s other credits include The Onion News Networkand the Huffington Post’s 236.com.
The College of Humanities and Social Science’s November alumni e-newsletter includes a profile of Volk, who was a member of the Caldwell Fellow scholarship program when he was a student at NC State. The story — written by CHASS intern Carrie McGaha, a senior in communication — traces Volk’s path from Technician writer to an internship with Late Show with David Letterman to his life as a trivia writer and provides insight into how he manages to come up with 20 questions a day for Cash Cab:
Any event, person, or place can be shaped into a question for Cash Cab, so Volk keeps a notebook by his side at all times. “Even checking my e-mail gets me wondering,” Volk said. “How long is the average e-mail? What percentage of people has never sent an e-mail? Who is considered to have sent the first e-mail? This is my life.”
The News & Observer today has a story about Leonidas LaFayette Polk (above), leader of the Watauga Club, the group that lobbied the state legislature to create NC State in the late 1800s. The former agriculture commissioner’s house opens to the public tonight after 10 years of renovations. Polk, who also was an owner and publisher of The N&O and founder of the Progressive Farmer, was a tireless advocate for farmers:
At war’s end, Polk returned to a scarred South and found penniless farmers and freed slaves without land. In his home county, he founded the town of Polkton and started the Ansonian newspaper as the poor farmer’s voice. This advocacy got him appointed to the new post of agriculture commissioner in 1877 — a job he quit in disgust after a few years. Basically, his family reported, he kept bumping up against moneyed interests that ran counter to his farmers’ agenda.
“Our farmers buy everything to raise cotton, and raise cotton to buy everything,” Polk once said, “and, after going through this treadmill business for years, they lie down and die and leave their families penniless.”
He continued that tone through the Raleigh News, then the Progressive Farmer, and used his political weight to help open both Agricultural and Mechanical College — now N.C. State — and Baptist Female University — now Meredith College. His goal with N.C. State had been to teach farmers the “practical arts,” and he faced fierce opposition from advocates of UNC-Chapel Hill, who feared competition for state dollars.
Left to right, Sam Dennis, Chancellor Randy Woodson, Chandler Thompson and Alumni Association Executive Director Benny Suggs '69. (Photograph by Roger Winstead '87)
Wow! What a weekend. It is a great honor to be selected as Leader of the Pack along with Sam Dennis, especially considering the many outstanding student leaders we have at NC State. It was a great ending to an awesome Homecoming week. Congratulations to the Homecoming Committee and all the Alumni Association Student Ambassadors for a successful week. I saw Wolfpack pride everywhere I went!
I think this was the first game I have ever been to where I didn’t watch much football. There were too many distractions — including the anticipation of the announcement at halftime and visiting the Chancellor’s Suite before the game. It was fun being down on the field, I’ve never done that at NC State except at the Kay Yow Spring Game. My stepdad and mom were down there with me. I really wish my dad could have been there. He’s a big part of the reason I love NC State so much, but I really enjoyed sharing the moment with my mom and stepdad.
Its really special to go through the process (which consisted of a review of your grades, an essay application, interviews and a student vote) and be named Leader of the Pack. I think this shows that I am really making a difference in student’s lives with the various traditions projects I am passionate about. It’s great to know that other students recognize my love and passion for NC State and how I strive as a leader to make NC State the best school possible. I dedicate my time to serving the community and NC State because it is what I love.
The best thing that can come out of this is more awareness for the importance of traditions at NC State. It would be great if more people know about The Brick (the student-produced book about the history and traditions of NC State) and the 54 Things to Do at NC State deck of cards. Sam and I are working hard on these projects every day.
Homecoming is such a special event that is near and dear to all of our hearts here at NC State. For those who don’t know, NC State is one of the few universities with a Homecoming that is completely student-run. I think that is one of the reasons why Homecoming is so special to us. It provides numerous opportunities to interact and share our love of NC State with all types of students. Who wouldn’t love an entire week celebrating this great university with free food, t-shirts and fun events? It always amazes me how this week creates a sense of unity within the university from everyone — students, professors, deans, administrators and the chancellor! It’s always so exciting to see everyone wearing red all week long and getting so excited for the game on Saturday.
Homecoming is not only a great week of recognition for NC State, but it is also a week of service. I am always so impressed with how dedicated NC State students are to helping make the surrounding community a better place. Students volunteer at numerous places around Raleigh like nursing homes, the Boys and Girls Club, and local Meals on Wheels programs. A huge service project that occurs during Homecoming is the canned food drive. This year, we collected more than 13,000 cans for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.
For me, Homecoming is the happiest time of the year on campus. It is such an exciting week for students, faculty and of course, alumni. We look forward to seeing you at the game on Saturday!
If you don’t know these guys already, you will soon. Ryan Harrow, C.J. Leslie and Lorenzo Brown (left to right) make up this year’s men’s basketball freshman class, and they’re the most heralded NC State newcomers in at least a decade. If you haven’t seen them in action, you can find plenty of clips of each on YouTube (Ryan here, C.J. here and Lorenzo here). And you can check out highlights from the 111-73 exhibition win over Pfeiffer here. The trio joins a Wolfpack team that returns all-conference forward Tracy Smith and is looking to make the program’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2006. The News & Observer, Technician, The Fayetteville Observer and TheACC.com have previews.
The men’s basketball team opens the 2010-11 season on Friday night at 7 p.m. at the RBC Center against Tennessee Tech. GoPack.com has a preview.
On the women’s side, the Wolfpack are coming off a 20-win season and an NCAA Tournament bid in head coach Kellie Harper’s first year. The 2010-11 squad features the 2010 ACC Freshman of the Year, Marissa Kastanek, and forward Bonae Holston, who led the Wolfpack in scoring at 12.6 points per game. WRAL, Technician and TheACC.com have previews.
The women’s basketball team tips off Friday in a noon game at Reynolds Coliseum against the College of Charleston. The contest is part of the Sheraton Raleigh Wolfpack Invitational, and GoPack.com has the details. We followed Coach Harper through her first season in our series A Coach’s First Season.
(Photograph by Luis Zapata, courtesy of NC State Student Media)
The university’s home page, ncsu.edu, yesterday featured comedian Zach Galifianakis ’92, who scored a major hit last year with The Hangover and whose latest movie, Due Date, premiered last Friday. A communication major, he fell one course short of earning his degree and ended up moving to New York City with A.D. Miles ’92, who’s now the head writer for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Galifianakis has thought about coming back and finishing, he says:
My time is so limited, but I’ve definitely thought about finishing [my degree]. If I were to do it all over again, I would have studied something specific in agriculture, because I live on a farm now and do not know what I am doing.
In the interview with NC State Web Communications’ Dave Pond, Galifianakis talks about his favorite professor, the sandwich spot he tries to hit whenever he’s in town and what he’d tell college students today. It’s pretty sound advice.
“There is more to life than college. Use your time in college and grow. There are some people who are still playing beer pong in their late 20s. Do not do that.”
We spoke with Galifianakis and Miles a few years back, after their Comedy Central show Dog Bites Man was canceled. Check out the story here.
Animal-lover and English professor Barbara Bennett took a sabbatical to Harnas Wildlife Refuge in Namibia in 2007. There, she got hooked on caring for lions and monkeys and was intrigued by the founder, Marieta van der Marwe, who provides shelter for 400 orphaned and injured animals. A few more trips to Harnas helped Bennett amass a bundle of stories, which she turned into a book on the refuge and van der Marwe. National Geographic published Soul of a Lion late September. The Bulletin, NC State’s faculty/staff newsletter, has a story on how Bennett got involved at Harnas and put together the book.
Check out Bennett’s blog, Soul of a Lion, and read an excerpt from her book here. National Geographic has a video promo featuring an interview with van der Marwe.
Subscribe