The generosity of some of NC State’s most recent grads means several more families will enjoy turkey during a holiday meal this year.
The university’s Annual Giving effort recently completed a challenge — to see if they could get 300 alums who graduated from NC State within the last 10 years to contribute to their alma mater during the four weeks between Nov. 15 and Dec. 15. If they did, Prestage Farms agreed to donate 200 turkeys to the Raleigh branch of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.
Well, the challenge was met — exceeded, actually — with 348 recent grads giving back to NC State during the four-week period. And Prestage Farms, in turn, donated 200 turkeys to the Food Bank last week. Go(bble) Pack!
Recent CALS alums Rachel Huffman and Mindy Herman are joined by CALS student Ann Margaret Dietrich (back row), Katie Prestage of Prestage Farms and CALS lecturer Lynn Worley-Davis as the turkeys are donated to the Food Bank.
Joe and Ginger Taylor never studied at NC State, but they have become strong advocates of the university and major financial supporters of the work being done at NC State.
So Joe and Ginger Taylor will be recognized during Sunday’s basketball game against Maryland as honorary alumni of NC State. The designation, approved by the board of directors of the Alumni Association, has been given to only 14 people. Joe Taylor is an attorney and partner in Murchison, Taylor & Gibson PLLC in Wilmington. Ginger Taylor is a former high school teacher.
The Taylors, who live in Wrightsville Beach, were nominated for the designation by Johnny Wynne, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, in recognition of their contributions to the college, ARTS NC State, NCSU Libraries and Cooperative Extension. The Taylors have solicited new donors to the university and served as co-chairs of the university’s $1 billion comprehensive campaign. They sponsored a garden at the JC Raulston Arboretum during its Raise the Roof Campaign
The Taylors have also donated — and encouraged others to donate — environmentally sensitive land to the university as part of their effort to preserve North Carolina’s natural resources and to promote environmental education and sustainable agricultural economic polices.
“The Taylors’ generosity has inspired landowners to contact our College in the hope of preserving their lands for the benefit of all North Carolinians, while generating income and tax incentives,” Wynne wrote in his nomination of the Taylors. “Joe and Ginger are leading this monumental effort, which is Joe’s innovation. We believe the potential is tremendous, and we have seen a great increase in activity that can be directly attributed to Joe and Ginger’s work in this area.
“Lands contributed by and because of the Taylors are used to further the research, teaching and extension programs that form the mission of our land-grant university.”
While the Taylors did not attend NC State, their son and daughter both graduated from the university. “The personal attention and mentoring provided to their children here is one reason for the Taylors’ strong devotion to our university,” Wynne wrote.
Previous recipients of the honorary alumni designation:
1997 - Jeff McNeill
1988 - Frank Grainger, Sam Lee
2001 - Sue M. Daughtridge
2002 - Kay Yow
2003 - George Worsley
2004 - Dick Robb, Robert A. Barnhardt, Shirley Barnhardt
Lonnie Poole ‘59 has joined an elite group with his gift of $40 million to NC State. Poole and his wife, Carol, have been named to the Slate 60, a list of the largest American charitable contributions in 2010.
The Pooles gave $37 million to fund an endowment to support what is now known as the Lonnie C. Poole Jr. College of Management. They gave $2.5 million to fund the Carol Johnson Poole Club House at the Lonnie Poole Golf Course on Centennial Campus, and $500,000 for the Carol Johnson Poole Endowment for Humanities and Social Sciences.
Topping the list was George Soros, a New York hedge fund manager who gave $332 million to the Open Society Foundation and other groups. Other notables on the list include New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, oilman T. Boone Pickens and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.
The Slate 60 made a total of $3.36 billion in charitable contributions last year.
Editor’s note: Last Friday NC State announced that Lonnie Poole ’59 and his wife, Carol, have donated $40 million to NC State, making it the largest-ever gift to the university. The College of Management will receive $37 million and be renamed the Lonnie C. Poole Jr. College of Management. As you can see in the video of the announcement and the renaming ceremony above, among the folks participating in the activities Friday was Chandler Thompson, a junior in economics who was selected NC State’s Leader of the Pack during Homecoming 2010. She’s also a member of the Alumni Association Student Ambassador Program and has been one of four students blogging for us throughout the semester. In her the entry below, she writes about what the Pooles’ historic gift means to NC State and to students like her.
One of the most important things for alumni to do after graduation is stay connected to the university. Being involved after graduation is something I value and look forward to. I know that my giving, no matter how little or how big, is important to NC State and the university’s endowment.
Mr. and Mrs. Poole’s generous gift is a testament to their dedication to NC State. They set a great example for supporting this university, and their support comes at a crucial time given the challenging economy. Students like me in the College of Management are lucky to now be students in the the Poole College of Management.
As I mentioned last week, this announcement makes me think of my younger brother. I used to call him my little brother, but someone pointed out I can’t say little anymore because he’s about a foot taller than me now. My brother received his acceptance letter to NC State last week, which means he is now joining me as a student in the Poole College of Management. That is very cool!
The Poole’s generous gift means a lot to my brother, me and all other students in the college. The value of all our degrees, as well as degrees of alumni of the college, will go up. All students in the Poole College of Management will see the benefits of this endowment. We will also see the business college put more focus on sustainability with the creation of a Center of Excellence in Sustainability within the Poole College of Management. I cannot even begin to imagine the other great things that will come from this gift.
On behalf of myself and all students at NC State, I want to extend another huge THANK YOU to the Pooles and all other alumni who donate to the university. The Pooles have done a great job of setting a terrific example to current students on how much it means to give back to NC State. They give me just another reason to love my school and be appreciative of the Wolfpack family. It makes me so excited, I just have to yell: GO PACK!
Carol and Lonnie Poole (Photo courtesy of University Communications)
Chancellor Randy Woodson announced today that Lonnie Poole ’59 and his wife, Carol, have donated $40 million to NC State, making it the largest-ever gift to the university. The College of Management will receive $37 million and be renamed the Lonnie C. Poole Jr. College of Management, becoming the first named college at NC State.
Another $500,000 will fund the Carol Johnson Poole Endowment in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and $2.5 million will be used to build a clubhouse at the Lonnie Poole Golf Course on Centennial Campus. In February 2007, Poole also donated $3 million toward construction of the golf course, which opened in summer 2009. From University Communications:
“With this transformational gift, it’s a new day for NC State,” Woodson said. “Today, we send a signal to the rest of the state and to the country that NC State University is prepared to compete on the highest national levels. Donors like Lonnie and Carol Poole understand that this university can and will use their gifts to make a broad impact that is felt well beyond our campus.”
Poole is founder and chair of Raleigh-based Waste Industries. In a 1992 NC State magazine profile, he talked about why he started the company:
Retired animal science professor Jim Lecce studied porcine husbandry but has been working as an artist for almost 20 years, sculpting in wood and stone. He and his wife, Eileen, have willed their estate — valued at more than $1 million — to the university. It will be the largest arts gift in NC State history. From an N&O profile of Lecce:
He recently went into his garage and pulled out a two-foot-high carving he’d done years ago. It had been gathering cobwebs since Farrow shipped it back to Lecce 10 years ago.
It’s autobiographical. A man’s face, a woman’s body reaching away from the man, a baby’s face below them, and a pig’s face and snout pulling the man from behind. The piece represents him, his wife, the children they never had and Lecce’s mistress of an academic career.
The sculpture sits on Lecce’s sun porch. He scowls a little, admitting he never liked it himself. He says the piece is mocking him.
So what’s it called?
“I hate you,” Lecce says with another wink.
Feeling better than he has in a long time, Lecce laughs easily, especially at himself. His family legacy has a name and a home at N.C. State.
Joe and Ginger Taylor never studied at NC State, but they have become strong advocates of the university and major financial supporters of the work being done at NC State.
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