NC State Events Category
05.02.2013
Four graduating seniors will receive the Mathews Medal, the highest non-academic distinction awarded to NC State students, at a ceremony tonight at the Dorothy and Roy Park Alumni Center. The Mathews Medal is modeled after the Watauga Medal and is administered by the Alumni Association Student Ambassador Program.
The award is named after Walter Jerome Mathews, the first student to arrive on the campus of the N.C. College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in 1889 (we chronicled Mathews’ arrival on campus in the commemorative 125th anniversary issue of NC State magazine). The Mathews Medal recognizes seniors who have made significant contributions to the university based on leadership and service.
Here are this year’s recipients:
Emily Tucker of Gaithersburg, Md. Tucker, a Park Scholar, served on the University Affairs committee as a student senator and founded the Reusable Regatta, a raft race to on Lake Raleigh to promote campus sustainability. She also chaired the Krispy Kreme Challenge and served as president of the Institute of Industrial Engineers.
Josh Privette of Wendell, N.C. Privette was transportation and campus safety chair in his time serving in the Alumni Association Student Ambassador Program. He also represented student interests in his time serving on the Physical Environment Standing committee, streamlining access to campus departments for students.
Mary Charles Hale of Morehead City, N.C. Hale, a Park Scholar, served as a Service Leadership Team committee member for the Center for Student Leadership, Ethics, and Public Service. She led a service trip to the Dominican Republic as a junior and directed NC State’s 125th anniversary homecoming celebration, the largest student-led homecoming in the country.
Andy Walsh of Pittsboro, N.C. Walsh served as student body president. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and served in the Alumni Association Student Ambassador Program, where he implemented the University’s Tradition Keepers program, known as The Brick. He also oversaw the Coaches’ Corner project aimed at celebrating NC State’s most beloved coaches.
05.01.2013
The 2010 men's club team poses with the national championship trophy it won that year.
There’s a lone disappointment for senior Grayson Eubanks when he thinks back to his freshman year at NC State in 2009-10. Having played basketball in rec leagues all his life and for Athens Drive High School, he figured he had the skills to make the NC State men’s club basketball team, which is different from intramural sports in that club teams make cuts.
It was a manageable first round of cuts, which annually includes more than 100 people vying for five-to-six new spots on the 14-man roster. But the second round was much more difficult, with skilled players each trying to make a name for himself. And at the end of the day, it was not meant to be for Eubanks, whose brother was on that team that went on to win the 2010 national club championship. “He gives me a tough time about it all the time,” Eubanks says.
Eubanks, who will graduate May 11th and pursue medicine at East Carolina’s Brody School of Medicine, made the team the next two years. And this past year, he served as the club’s president. He says that role has helped him cultivate leadership skills that extend beyond the out-of-bounds lines on a court.
“With a lot of 21- and 22-year-olds and with a lot of people who have played high-level basketball, everyone has a lot of ego,” Eubanks says. “We have a lot of attitudes. But you learn to deal with people so that everyone is still friends and go out to dinner together.”
And it’s also equipped Eubanks with skills he can apply in the professional world, like raising money and budgeting for the team’s needs. In the past, the team has just checked out intramural jerseys from University Recreation, which houses intramural and club sports, but toward the end of this year, Eubanks purchased jerseys online. He and his girlfriend then took them to A.C. More, where she put all the lettering on each jersey. “It pays to date someone in textiles,” he says.
The men’s club team began in 2009 and plays its games in Carmichael Gymnasium on NC State’s campus. It competes against other universities’ club teams. In addition to winning the national title in 2010, it hosted the National Intramural Recreational Sports Association 2013 National Basketball Championships on campus in April. More than 70 teams from 19 states came to compete for the championships in Raleigh.
With events like that, the club team continues to raise its profile and sometimes sees its success translate into a player or two making it to the varsity squad. Jay Lewis walked onto the varsity squad during the 2012-13 campaign after success at the club level. But that can also mean more work for Eubanks and future club presidents to fill spots. “I’m always hoping the don’t steal my players,” Eubanks says. “But they do.”
For more on club sports at NC State, check out the Spring 2013 issue of NC State magazine. We profiled the rich program at the university and featured different club sports teams, some of which are the most successful and the best-kept secrets on campus.
04.23.2013
Many animals have passed through the halls of NC State’s College of Veterinary Medicine through the years, but none more famous than the storied Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales.
Those Clydesdales, routinely featured in annual Super Bowl beer commercials, came to Raleigh to help celebrate the opening of the vet school on this day in 1983. And they were the first horses ever to be kept in the school’s stables.
But, according to the Technician, the Clydesdales weren’t here just to celebrate the event at NC State. They themselves had something to commemorate.
“The new school’s opening coincides with the 50th anniversary of the the repeal of prohibition,” a 1983 Technician reports. “In that year, 1933, one member of the Busch family gave the Clydesdales to his father to celebrate the repeal of prohibition. The horses have practically become an American institution since then.”
02.22.2013
Pullen Hall had seen many different purposes carried out within its walls over the years as a campus landmark. The first men’s basketball game was played there in 1911. It had housed a dining hall, auditorium and library. The English and math departments has been based there.
“Since 1955, it had been home to the music department,” wrote Cherry Crayton ‘01, ‘03 MED , in a 2009 NC State magazine article about the fire. “But because of its age and mostly wooden construction, it was restricted to limited use.”
That age and wood gave way to a towering blaze on this day in 1965, when around 8,000 people watched in the night as Pullen Hall burn to the ground.
Firefighters fight the Pullen Hall blaze.
There had been a string of fires on campus that year. And on April 2, 18-year-old former student Vernon Dodd was arrested and charged with eight counts of unlawfully burning property. He went to trial a year later and pleaded guilty to five charges of willful and malicious burning of property, but not to the charge involving the Pullen fire, according to Crayton’s piece.
A new Pullen Hall went up on campus in 1987 and today houses student affairs offices.
02.01.2013
The winter edition of NC State magazine serves as a tribute to the 125th anniversary of NC State University. In researching the different stories in the magazine, from a tale of an athlete lost to history to the story of the first freshman class in 1889, we found a treasure trove of artifacts, pictures and documents that weave together an important tapestry of the university’s past.
We couldn’t include everything we found in the magazine, so we’ve compiled some of the more interesting finds and information for the blog as a way to look back just a little more. We hope you enjoy what we found.
S.M. Young and Walter Jerome Mathews were two of the longest living members of the Class of 1893. Young ran a hardware store in Raleigh for years, and Mathews was the first student to arrive on campus in 1889, a young man from Buncombe County, N.C., ready to study mechanics. He is remembered every year when the Alumni Association awards the Mathews Medal, the highest non-academic award given to students, in his honor. Below, they both stand with Chancellor John T. Caldwell in 1959.
From left to right: S.M. Young, Walter Jerome Mathews and John T. Caldwell.
Alexander Quarles Holladay was the first president of North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts when the first 72 students arrived in 1889. He apparently stayed connected to some of the graduates in the Class of 1893, as we found a letter of recommendation for a job written for Louis T. Yarbrough. In the letter, dated August 16, 1895, Holladay lauds Yarbrough’s mathematical skills and knowledge of machinery.
Below is a photograph from a 1943 NC State College News issue. In it, some of the members of A&M’s first graduating class stand as they gather to celebrate their 50th anniversary in 1943. Joining six of the members in the photograph is Exum Taylor, one of the first African-Americans to set foot on the university’s campus. He’s listed in the photo as the first class’ valet when classes and lodging were both held in Main Building (now Holladay Hall).
Front row, from left to right: Mathews, Yarbrough and Young. Back row, from left to right, Taylor, unidentified, C.B. Williams and W.H. Turner.
A 1951 column by H.E.C. "Red Buck" Bryant.
A&M’s first freshman class produced men who pursued a variety of careers in engineering and agriculture. But it also held two future wordsmiths, neither of whom are listed in archives as graduates from A&M, who left their marks on the pages of newspapers around the state. H.E.C. “Red Buck” Bryant was a well-known columnist for the Charlotte Observer in addition to writing about politics in Washington, D.C., Boston, New York and Raleigh. Baxter Clegg Ashcraft was an editor for the Monroe Enquirer for 25 years before dying in 1922. Upon his death, the paper published his last editorial, seen below, which he wrote some time before he died to serve as a reflection on his life.
Ashcraft's last column, re-printed here in the News & Observer in 1922 after his death.
Ashcraft, in his later years.
12.04.2012
Photo courtesy of NC State Athletics.
Julius Hodge is playing basketball professionally in Paris, but tonight he’ll serve as a link to the past for the NC State basketball team, which tips off at 9 p.m. at Madison Square Garden against Connecticut in the Jimmy V Men’s Basketball Classic.
The event honors former Woflpack head coach Jim Valvano and benefits the V Foundation and its efforts to raise money for cancer research.
Hodge was a sophomore on the last Wolfpack squad to play in the Jimmy V Classic. It was 10 years ago, a 69-60 loss to Gonzaga. We caught up with Hodge via email from Paris, and he reflected on that game and what Valvano means to him.
“I do remember the lead up to game time and realizing the significance of being a part of helping contribute to such a great cause as fighting cancer,” he writes. “With the late great Coach Valvano and the legendary Coach Kay Yow being two of the greatest to ever wear the red and to have battled cancer, it makes this event that much more heartfelt for State alums.”
Even after his death in 1993, Valvano remained a larger-than-life presence on campus a full decade later, writes Hodge, who adds that everyone on campus had a classic “Jimmy V story.”
“Whether it was a conversation he had with a referee, his coaching efforts, his charisma as a person and the way he made everyone within his reach feel appreciated with his kindness,” Hodge writes. “Make no mistake, the man Jim Valvano was who we all should aspire to be. …I never met Coach Valvano, and I miss him. We all do!”
Two-and-a-half years after NC State’s appearance in the Jimmy V Classic, the Wolfpack (a #10 seed) faced UConn (a #2 seed) in the second round of the 2005 NCAA tournament. Hodge drove to the basket against the Huskies and hit the game-winner with 4.3 seconds left in the game. That was the last time State played UConn, its opponent in tonight’s game.
“It was a big win for the team and especially Coach [Herb] Sendek, but more importantly it put NC State back into national prominence on the college basketball scene and into the Sweet 16,” Hodge writes. “Still to this day gives me goosebumps when I watch the clip.”
11.10.2012
For years, every student at NC State was required to take part in military training through ROTC. It was an essential part of the campus experience for any student who studied at NC State.
That changed in the 1960s.
“Though long a source of campus pride, the Air Force and Army programs came under increasing fire in the early 1960s from faculty members who considered them extra-curricular activities,” Alice Elizabeth Reagan wrote in North Carolina State University: A Narrative History. “Students also expressed some discontent with the mandatory two-year course because it was time consuming.”
Reagan says Washington officials were interested in scaling back ROTC programs. They were not convinced that it made sense to provide officers and the materials necessary to provide the training to all university students. In 1963, officials replaced the basic ROTC course with a summer camp, hoping to attract better students.
Students from Meredith College have fun with ROTC cadets during their initiation into the National Society of Pershing Rifles in 1962
In response to the changes coming from Washington, the Faculty Senate at NC State voted on this day in 1964 to abolish compulsory ROTC. The trustees for the state university system approved the change the following year, ending the days of compulsory military training for all NC State students.
“ROTC continued to have a special place at NC State, however, and many students elected to include military science in their studies,” Reagan wrote.
11.05.2012
Homecoming 2012 is over, but before we move on we thought it would be worth looking at some of the numbers from last week:
$1,047.40 - Money raised for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund through the sale of cupcakes by student organizations in the Cupcake War.
85 - Alumni, family and friends who took part in the “Classes Without Quizzes” program at the College of Engineering on Friday.
50 - Years after it was written and first performed, the NC State Wind Ensemble played “Of Earth and Atom” at a concert Tuesday night. “Of Earth and Atom” was originally composed and performed in 1962 in honor of NC State’s 75th anniversary as well as the centennial anniversary of the Morrill Act, the legislation that established land-grant universities.
252 - Pints of blood that NC State students donated as part of the Homecoming blood drive.
250 - Pints of Howling Cow ice cream the first 250 students received in return for their life-saving donations.
1,000 - Slices of Marco’s Pizza given to students as part of the week-long “Wear Red, Get Fed” event.
2,000 - Homecoming T-shirts given to students.
250 - Runners who registered for the University Recreation 5K that kicked off Homecoming week.
60 - Floats and other items in the Homecoming parade.
15 - Contestants in the Craziest Fan contest.
1,000 - Jimmy John’s sub sandwiches given to students as part of the week-long “Wear Red, Get Fed” event.
64 - Lawyers who gathered at the Park Alumni Center on Friday to hear head basketball coach Mark Gottfried and others speak at the annual meeting of the NC State Lawyers Alumni Society.
$10,874 - Money raised for scholarships by the Black Alumni Society at a series of Homecoming events.
14,537 - Cans of food donated by student organizations to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.
11,446 - Estimated number of meals that can be provided by the donations of canned food.
700 - “BEAT” shirts given to members of the Student Alumni Association for the football game against Virginia.
5,000 - Wings from Wing Zone given to 1,000 students as part of the week-long “Wear Red, Get Fed” event.
22 - Display windows on Hillsborough Street businesses painted by students with Homecoming themes.
600 - Students who enjoyed mini bbq sliders from Backyard Bistro as part of the week-long “Wear Red, Get Fed” event.
900 - Alumni and friends who enjoyed barbecue, biscuits and beer at the Alumni Association’s tailgates before the football game on Saturday.
1 - As in first place in the week-long Homecoming spirit competition and winner of the coveted Stafford Bell, which went to Sigma Alpha Omega and Beta Upsilon Chi. Congratulations!
10.25.2012
The former chancellor’s house will be filled to the brim with local artists and musicians this Sunday as more than 2,000 people are expected to gather to see the future home of NC State’s Gregg Museum of Art and Design.
Art Outside the Box is a free event that is open to the public from 12-4 pm and was designed for audiences of all ages. Guests will be able to tour the chancellor’s house, view renderings of the future museum and enjoy demonstrations of art forms such as pottery, painting, jewelry making, origami, calligraphy and digital art. Light refreshments will be provided and a variety of musicians will perform.
The chancellor’s house was constructed in 1928 and has been a sort of hidden landmark in the Raleigh area. The Gregg Museum of Art and Design staff came up with the idea for Art Outside the Box as a way to introduce the public to the new location.
Art Outside the Box will be held at the historic chancellor's house on Sunday from noon to 4pm.
“I got together with some friends from different areas of my life that were interested in NC State and art and we started kicking around a few ideas,” says Anna Ball Hodge, a local artist at Roundabout Art Collective and member of the Art Outside the Box team. “The renderings of the new addition include a box-like structure, so we decided to call the event ‘Art Outside the Box.’
“We wanted to make the event a different art experience than the usual and wanted to include artists who would engage or tempt the public to try different art,” Hodge says.
The Gregg Museum of Art and Design currently is located on the second floor of Talley Student Center and will be there until April. However, various pieces of art have already been moved and are on display at the chancellor’s house. In the coming years, the full museum will be housed at the historic residence as soon as the funds are raised.
Last November, the NC State University Board of Trustees approved the proposal to renovate the chancellor’s house and create an adjoining gallery and educational wing. The total project is a $7.5 million endeavor and nearly $3 million has already been given to NC State and the Gregg Museum of Art and Design through non-state funds. However, approximately $4.5 million still needs to be raised in order to make the 16,700-square foot addition to the chancellor’s residence a reality.
“We wanted to have a party to introduce its new location to the public,” Hodge says. “They wanted it to be free to the public and be a ‘friend raiser.’”
Pearl Fryar, a self-taught topiary artist, is internationally known and will give a demonstration at Art Outside the Box.
The special guest artist at the event is Pearl Fryar, a self-taught topiary artist from South Carolina who has used his own techniques to create a living sculpture garden. Fryar will be demonstrating his art form at 2:30 pm.
“Frayer is the coolest,” Hodge says. “He has such a positive, hopeful, encouraging spirit that goes beyond his creations.”
As guests make their way through the house, Hodge hopes people get a greater idea of what the Gregg Museum is all about.
“The Gregg Museum collection has 26,000 pieces of art and continues to grow,” Hodge says. “We want people to leave the event with a sense of excitement about the Gregg Museum.”
10.25.2012
Failed banks and high unemployment were the norms across the country in 1932. And joining them was a sweeping doubt that incumbent president Herbert Hoover could rescue the nation from the Great Depression.
So on this day 80 years ago, New York Gov. Franklin Delano Roosevelt came to Raleigh, offering himself and his New Deal as solutions to the problems the nation was facing.
Roosevelt appeared at the N.C. State Fairgrounds to campaign against Hoover, and NC State College canceled classes so students could attend the speech.
Presidential portrait of FDR.
The election, held a few weeks later, resulted in a landslide victory for Roosevelt, who became the 32nd president of the United States. He captured 57 percent of the popular vote, which was the largest percentage cast for a candidate up until that time. Roosevelt would serve three terms and part of a fourth before he died in office in 1945.
The 1932 campaign stop was not Roosevelt’s first visit to Raleigh. He was the closing speaker at the NC State College of Agriculture and Engineering’s commencement when he was assistant secretary of the Navy.
“You in this state are essentially country-bred,” Roosevelt said in 1913. “You ought to thank God for it.”
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