Campus Landmarks Category
04.27.2012
Six years ago, the Alumni Association started placing student class rings in the Bell Tower the night before they were given out at the ring ceremony. That duty has always fallen to Thomas H. Stafford Jr., vice chancellor for student affairs, who would tuck the rings in at night in the historic landmark.
Today, students will experience a new twist on that already popular tradition.
For the first time ever, students receiving class rings at Sunday’s ring ceremony are invited to place the rings in the Bell Tower themselves. They can show up today at 4 p.m. at the Bell Tower’s base to receive their rings in the box — but remember, opening it and taking the ring out is bad luck — and listen as Stafford describes the significance of the tradition.
There are 330 students receiving rings, the most ever in a spring semester. On Sunday morning, the rings will be removed from the Bell Tower and taken to the Park Alumni Center for two afternoon ring ceremonies. One is at 2 p.m. and the other is at 4 p.m.
If you have any questions, please contact Meredith Craig, Alumni Association marketing coordinator, at (919) 515-0559, or by email at meredith_craig@ncsu.edu.
04.04.2012
We profiled a day in the life of Thomas H. Stafford Jr., who is retiring from his post as vice chancellor for student affairs in June, in our Spring 2012 issue of NC State magazine. We asked him to reflect on the places on campus that have become the most important to him during his tenure at NC State. Here are his six favorite spots:
1. 
Stafford is a walking encyclopedia of NC State history, and the place on campus that is most meaningful to him is the Memorial Bell Tower. He regularly gives tours, where he recounts the history of the landmark, something he hopes to continue in his retirement.
2. Holladay Hall not only houses his office, but it was the first building on campus. Stafford appreciates that symbolism and lines every tour group on the building’s steps to recreate a famous picture of NC State’s first freshman class, taken in the same spot in 1889.
3. The sports junkie in Stafford cherishes Reynolds Coliseum. The storied arena was the home to so many great memories, but he also appreciates it as the home to NC State women’s basketball and Kay Yow’s legacy.
4. One of the places he is most accessible is on his strolls through the Brickyard, where he chats with students.
Thompson Gymnasium in the 1920s. Photo Courtesy of NCSU Libraries.
5. Colleagues celebrate the vice chancellor’s eclectic tastes. He says his love for the arts has grown because of the plays he’s seen in University Theatre in Frank Thompson Hall. And he points out that in its previous life, Thompson Gymnasium was where “big-time college basketball started in the Southeast.”
6. While Stafford has overseen student affairs since 1983, many forget that he was a student himself when he attended graduate school at NC State in the mid-1960s. He and his wife, Judy, lived in Owen Residence Hall, which allowed married couples to live there. He might get in trouble at home if this one didn’t make the list.
03.07.2012
Happy Birthday, NC State!
It was on this day, 125 years ago, that Charles Dabney signed the legislation to create the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. That, of course, would later become what we now know as NC State.
Today also kicks off a yearlong celebration of the university’s 125th birthday. It will feature a birthday bash at Reynolds Coliseum on April 2, a bigger and better homecoming celebration this fall, the dedication of the Hunt Library on Centennial Campus and much more. There will even be a new flavor of Howling Cow ice cream.
It would be worth your while to take a few minutes to visit the university’s website on the 125th anniversary. While you’re there, be sure to check out the video that captures NC State’s tradition of excellence and the transformative nature of the work being done here.
Here at RedandWhiteforLife.com, we’ll be marking the year with periodic reminders of important, or fun, dates in NC State’s history. Stay tuned.
11.28.2011
It used to be that this time of year in the ACC, every fan of one of the Big Four schools — NC State, UNC, Duke and Wake Forest — was scrambling to secure a ticket to the Dixie Classic.
It was an annual tournament that was the brainchild of Wolfpack basketball coach Everett Case, and it brought a handful of nationally ranked teams to Reynolds Coliseum every Christmas season to take on the Big Four. As last week unfolded and all the tournaments wrapped up in the Bahamas, Las Vegas and Maui, Case was probably smiling down at his legacy.
Bethany Bradsher, a journalist who lives in Greenville, N.C., has captured the story of the Dixie Classic in The Classic: How Everett Case Brought Big-Time Basketball to the South. The book traces the tournament’s life, from the maneuvering Case used to make it a reality to the scandal that helped bring it to its end in 1961.
Bradsher will be at NC State Bookstores, currently located in Harrelson Hall, on Friday, Dec. 2, to discuss her book and the Dixie Classic. She’ll be appearing from 5-9 p.m.
Also, be sure to look in our Winter 2011 issue for a Q&A with Bradsher as a part of a larger look at Case’s legacy.
11.10.2011
Compiegne. Courtesy of Sister Cities of Raleigh.Photo by Stephane Aubry.
Countless accounts chronicle the celebrations around the globe on Nov. 11, 1918. That day, Compiegne, a city in northern France, stood at the center of world as the location of the final chapter of World War I. At 5 a.m., in a railroad car in Compiegne’s forest, the Allies and Germany signed the Armistice that ended the war.
A little of Compiegne will come to NC State this week during the university’s Veterans Day Run and Ceremony.
In the mid-1980s, Gretchen Chapman was teaching middle-school French in Wake County. Chapman and her husband, George, who was Raleigh’s planning director at the time, started taking student groups to Compiegne, which later became a sister city of Raleigh.
The Chapmans have long been involved with the Sister Cities Association of Raleigh, and Gretchen Chapman is president of the organization today. Over the years, multiple exchanges have taken place between Raleigh and Compiegne.
On Friday, M. Le Chatelier, whose wife is a former vice mayor of Compiegne, will be at NC State’s Veterans Day celebration at the Bell Tower. And at the same time, Compiegne’s mayor will place a wreath donated by the Sister Cities of Raleigh honoring the French dead of World War I.
The event will be symbolic on many levels, George Chapman says. “The ROTC here are some of the oldest in the country,” he says. “The celebration at the Bell Tower is one of the oldest in the country. We hope as time goes on it will become more well known as a commemorative celebration of those who died in World War I and the connection to the city where the Armistice was signed.”
Sister Cities of Raleigh also have relationships with other cities, including Kingston Upon Hull, England; Rostock, Germany; and Xiangfan, China.
10.11.2011
Chris Gould made musical history at the Memorial Belltower this week.
Gould, the associate dean for administration in the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, sat at a keyboard in small room in the basement of Holladay Hall on Monday afternoon and played NC State’s “Alma Mater.”
And the music poured out of the Belltower, for the first time since 1989.
“It was amazing,” says Thomas H. Stafford Jr., vice chancellor for student affairs, who was on hand for what he described as a historic occasion.
“It’s been over 20 years. Just to hear it again almost gave me goose bumps. It really did sound good.”
What had Stafford and Gould so excited (”Dr. Gould was beside himself,” Stafford says.) is that the Belltower’s 246-bell grand symphony carillon worked for the first time in more than two decades.
No, that doesn’t mean there are now actual bells in the Belltower. But the university’s carillon, which has been broken since 1989, can now transmit songs played on a keyboard to create the sounds of bells that are then amplified through speakers inside the Belltower.
“It’s amazing that it works this well,” says Gould. “If you look inside, it’s a mechanical marvel. That was my happy moment, to play the ‘Alma Mater’ on the carillon.”
The magical moment was set in motion recently when Gould, an accomplished pianist, was talking with Stafford about tours that Stafford periodically gives of the Belltower. Stafford mentioned that the carillon in the basement of Holladay Hall was a popular stop on the tour, but that the carillon had not worked for years.
Stafford says students and others used to play the carillon every day at 5 p.m. They would typically play four to six songs, often ending with the “Alma Mater.” Handwritten logbooks from 1970-1989 show that religous songs such as “Amazing Grace” were played regularly, but that students also played songs that were popular at the time.
Stafford says it’s a bit of mystery about what happened to cause the practice to stop in 1989. But he says the carillon had not worked for years until Gould started poking around.
Gould and others in the physics department took a look at the carillon, but could not figure out how to make it work. “It’s a very beautiful piece of equipment,” Gould says. “It’s really a work of art.”
Workers at the university’s Physical Plant got involved, and consulted with representatives of the carillon’s manufacturer and a company consultant. When Stafford, Gould and others checked in on Monday afternoon, the carillon was working again. Stafford says university officials once thought it might cost $10,000 or more to fix the carillon, but that it was apparently done at no cost.
When Gould first played the keyboard, he couldn’t tell if the sound was coming out of the Belltower. It was, although the momentous occasion may have been lost on some people who have been accustomed to hearing the chimes that ring from the Belltower.
“It seems people weren’t aware that this was an unusual event,” Gould says.
The sound system for the Belltower is actually three separate systems, Gould says. The automated chimes, which have worked for years, constitute one system. The carillon, played from a keyboard, is the second system. The third system allows the carillon to be played from a cassette tape and is either broken or obsolete, he says.
But Gould is excited to think that the carillon could be played for this December’s graduation. Stafford says his next challenge is to figure out a system for when and how to play the carillon.
“Are we going to find someone to come in every day and play it and are we going to have special occasions where we play music?” Stafford says. “The next step is to figure out how we move forward.”
——
The College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences has posted a Flickr page of photos showing the carillon and the Belltower.
10.04.2011
The Third Annual Pinhole Challenge is over, and the results are in.
Well, most of the results are in.
Your vote is needed to award the People’s Choice prize. To vote, you have to drop by the Crafts Center, check out the various images of NC State and then vote (only once, please) on “your favorite image that best represents the spirit of NC State.” Judging will run through 5 p.m. on Oct. 21. The winner receives $100 and a free Crafts Center class.
The Judges' Award winner
Meanwhile, the Judges’ Award went to Pamela Ocampo, who is working on a masters in computer science. Here’s what the judges had to say about Ocampo’s photo of the atrium at D.H. Hill Library: “Her stunning photograph of the Atrium is wonderfully composed in a great display of visual clarity and depth of field.”
Ocampo received $100 and a free Crafts Center class.
The judges also gave out an award for the photo that best captures the ongoing renovation of the Talley Student Center. Nicole Vayo, a biology major, won for what the judges called a “perfect snapshot that captures this special time on campus.”
The renovation of Talley Student Center
Over 50 NC State students entered the contest by capturing images of NC State through the eye of homemade cameras. One student captured an image of the Memorial Belltower with an Altoids candy tin.
You can check out all the photos in the Pinhole Challenge on the Crafts Center’s Flickr site.
09.28.2011
After attending NC State for undergraduate studies in civil engineering, Donald Katz ’07 still cheers for the Wolfpack as a graduate student at Georgia Tech. As part of our series during football season on alumni residing behind enemy lines, we spoke with Katz about his experiences as a Wolfpack fan studying at Georgia Tech, his favorite memories of his time at NC State and, of course, his prediction for this weekend’s game between NC State and Georgia Tech.
What made you choose Georgia Tech for graduate school? They had a large degree program for my area of focus, transportation engineering, with many faculty and researchers with whom I could work.
How would you describe Georgia Tech’s fans? Georgia Tech fans love to come to campus, set up tailgates amongst the buildings, and walk down to the stadium to cheer on their Yellow Jackets. Tech fans have many traditions, and they take great pride in them. I also found Tech fans to be very polite to their visitors, as I experienced first-hand at last year’s game when NC State won. In both going to and from the stadium, no one harassed me for wearing red and white!
Will you be making the trip to the game on Saturday? I won’t be making the trip up this year, but it was a real thrill to watch the Pack beat the Jackets in Atlanta last fall. I’m excited for NC State’s game vs. Tennessee in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in 2012 here in Atlanta.
Who do you predict will win the game this Saturday? I know it’s been a less-than-desirable start, but the Wolfpack are back at Carter-Finley, and I always have faith in our team. I think the Wolfpack will beat the Yellow Jackets again. We were able to slow down the triple option in 2010, and it can be done again. Final score: NC State 31, Yellow Jackets 21.
What’s your favorite memory of your days at NC State? I remember when we beat UNC in basketball in 2007. I was at Sammy’s Bar and Grill on Avent Ferry, and it was a thrilling game to watch. Right after the win, we headed straight to the Bell Tower, already lit up red, and marched up and down Hillsborough Street several times with thousands of other students.
Do you wear any NC State apparel around the Georgia Tech campus? I wear NC State shirts and hats around Georgia Tech all the time, and no one I don’t know says anything. My friends in my graduate office who went to Tech for undergrad, on the other hand, love to give me a hard time.
– Jeannene Lang
09.27.2011
The shacks may be gone from the Brickyard, but the Caldwell Fellows are continuing their effort to raise money for Habitat for Humanity.
The 21st annual Shack-a-Thon took place last week, with 25 student organizations building a total of 17 shacks on the Brickyard. The Caldwell Fellows built a shack in eight hours out of scrap wood that was donated to the Habitat Re-Store after the shack was taken down.
Fellows slept in the shack every night last week, through rain and shine, to raise money for Habitat for Humanity of Wake County.
That effort continues through Friday, and the Fellows are appealing to alumni to help them raise at least $300 more. You can contribute online or drop donations off at the Caldwell Fellows office in Pullen Hall.
The Caldwell Fellows program is an intensive leadership-development scholarship program that was created by the Alumni Association to honor the legacy of Chancellor John T. Caldwell.
09.01.2011
A portion of D.H. Hill Library is being lit in Wolfpack red this week to honor NC State’s latest member of the National Academy of Sciences.
The library’s Conservatory and Light Sculpture will shine out over the Brickyard and light up a part of the library in honor of Dr. Fred Gould, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Entomology. Gould is the ninth current professor at NC State to be elected to the National Academy.
“We thought that lighting up D.H. Hill’s most beautiful spot would show just how much we admire the great light that Dr. Gould’s work has shone on NC State,” said Susan Nutter, vice provost and director of libraries.
The upcoming issue of NC State magazine will include an article on some of the research being done by Gould and others to try to genetically engineer mosquitoes so they can’t spread diseases such as dengue fever or malaria.
Subscribe