Jason Gipe is the Alumni Association's new associate executive director for membership.
Jason Gipe ‘00, ‘05 MR was only five years old when he watched Lorenzo Charles slam home the 1983 national championship for NC State. But he knew then that he wanted to be a student at NC State.
And now, as the Alumni Association’s new associate executive director for membership, Gipe wants to help other NC State students and alumni enjoy being Red & White for Life.
We talked with Jason about his work at the Alumni Association and some of his experiences at NC State:
Favorite NC State memory: Basketball games at Reynolds Coliseum. My freshman year I lived in Owen Dorm, Room 152. It would be the dead of winter and you would have to put on shorts to walk over to Reynolds because you knew once you got in there you would absolutely burn up if you wore pants and a sweatshirt.
You should know that: I have a golden retriever named Finley, after Carter-Finley Stadium. I orginally wanted to get two and name the boy Carter and the girl Finley, but my wife would only let me get one.
His role at the Alumni Association: My team is in charge of customer service and reaching out to all of our members … trying to communicate what membership benefits are available to them. We are always working on new benefits. We want to make sure our members feel like they get value from their membership.
On the value of membership in the Alumni Association: According to member surveys we have done, the top benefit is the magazine. It really gives people the pulse of what’s going on on campus and tells great stories about alumni who have had success due to the education they received at NC State. There are also pretty substantial savings you can get by using our Savings Connection. Members can get half-price movie tickets, substantial discounts on televisions and other electronics, and great online deals from retailers like Target, Izod and Office Depot.
On what the Alumni Association does: I love NC State because of the experience I had when I was a student here. So I’m a bit partial to the student programs we do and the traditions we start. Part of every membership dollar goes toward our student ambassador program. They put on pep rallies. We do a Legacy Luncheon, where we invite alumni parents and their kids when they are coming in as freshman to a luncheon before the school year starts so their parents can pin them with an Alumni Association pin that says “Legacy” on it. We do the Ram Roast before every Carolina game. Most of what you see at homecoming is student-run through our student programs.
On why he’s Red & White for Life: A lot of what has happened in my life was set in that ‘83 championship game. I didn’t even apply anywhere else. This was the only place I wanted to go. From the time I set foot on campus, this place has meant so much to me that I couldn’t possibly think of wanting to work anyplace else.
We recently asked you to share your favorite tales of romance at NC State. Many of you posted your stories on our blog and we thank you for taking part.
We enjoyed reading all of them, but we could only select one winner for the Valentine’s Day gift basket.
Jim Beaver ‘76, a trumpet player, and Martha Harmon ‘79, a mellophonium player, met in 1975 while members of the NC State marching band. Here’s the couple’s winning entry:
I played trumpet in the band all four years Lou Holtz was coaching NC State football. When I was a senior, I was playing trumpet in “M” rank and noticed a cute freshman girl beside me in “L” rank playing mellophonium, but it wasn’t until Lou Holtz asked the band to travel to a big game at Michigan State that I actually got to meet her.
The band stayed overnight in a hotel in Columbus, Ohio, on the way to East Lansing. As I was returning to my room after dinner I ran into this same cute freshman in the hallway telling elephant jokes to a small crowd. I heard her say she was from Kannapolis, and that was my opening because I was from rival Concord. My first words to her were, “You know, we are enemies!”
We ended up talking half the night away, then hit the road to Michigan State the next morning where the Wolfpack got trounced by the Spartans. That didn’t matter to me by that time because that girl, Martha, and I were inseparable after that.
We married as soon as she graduated, and have lived all across the country and traveled the world. We are still together today over 35 years after that fateful night in Columbus.
Read the other entries here. Thanks again for sharing your memories!
One of Raleigh’s hidden gems is the farmers market off Lake Wheeler Road. There’s nothing like spending a Sunday afternoon walking by the countless stands, sampling the season’s best offerings. Unfortunately, many students are limited to the confines of campus because they don’t have a car. In 2009, Eric Ballard ’09 had the idea to bring a farmers market to NC State students. Through Ballard’s efforts, along with Student Government’s Sustainability Commission, NC State hosted its first on-campus farmers market in April 2009. You can check out video from it below.
Today, the Campus Farmers Market has become a weekly event in the Brickyard. Each Wednesday, vendors set up beside D.H. Hill Library. You’ll find everything from jellies, jewelry, fruits and vegetables to cookies and salsa. Ballard’s idea was an excellent one, and the market is providing students with the opportunity to shop for locally grown produce and handmade products in their back yard. Students seem to have responded positively to this new campus addition. If you haven’t had the opportunity to check it out, stop by the Brickyard any Wednesday of the semester (weather permitting) and experience NC State’s own farmers market.
(Photos from the Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010, Campus Farmers Market by Matt Long)
Meet Sam Dennis, Chandler Thompson, Matt Long and Caroline Linker. These juniors and seniors, who are all Alumni Association Student Ambassadors (Matt is president), will be blogging for us this fall, writing about student life at NC State. They’ll be sharing their thoughts on and experiences with everything from the renovated Hillsborough Street to Homecoming, from tailgating to the daily grind of classes and extracurricular commitments. Check back often to read what they have to say about life at NC State today!
Sam Dennis
Hometown: Jamestown
Class Year: 2012
Major: Biological Sciences
What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be an orthopaedic surgeon. My dream job would consist of working at a private practice here in Raleigh and being involved with Wolfpack athletics.
What’s your favorite thing about the first day of school? I love seeing the Brickyard full again. People watching is great in this area. You can pick out which students are freshman and it is fun to see older students reuniting with friends. I also enjoy walking into all of my classes for the first time. I am never as excited about getting to class as I am on the first day.
Why did you come to NC State? More than any other university NC State will allow me to reach my career goals. The science curriculum is top notch; I wanted to be a part of a special program like the Department of Biology. I also am the third son to come to NC State, so the encouragement from my brothers didn’t hurt.
What one thing should people know about NC State that they might not know already? Explore the library! There are so many resources, new technology, and software that students can use. You can check out so much stuff, for FREE! Also, always use the book stack elevators closest to Hillsborough Street; the ones nearest the Brickyard at the front are painfully slow.
Chandler Thompson
Hometown: High Point
Class Year: 2012
Major: Economics
What do you want to do when you grow up? Work in student affairs.
What’s your favorite thing about the first day of school? It’s syllabus day! Most students hate it but there’s nothing I enjoy more than planning my calendar for the whole semester.
Why did you come to NC State? I came here because of my family! My dad attended NC State and wasted no time introducing me to the campus, the academics and, of course, the sports teams. So when it came down to choosing a school, Raleigh felt like home.
What one thing should people know about NC State that they might not know already? NC State is much more than just a place for textbooks and learning; students are engaged in many areas and service is a big part of that. I take pride in the fact that events like the Krispy Kreme Challenge, Service Raleigh, Service NC State, Hoops 4 Hope, Relay for Life, Homecoming Canned Food Drive, Polar Plunge, the Chocolate Festival and so many more are the most popular events on campus. Students are committed to service and to making a difference in the community.
Matt Long
Hometown: Hickory
Major: Finance
Class Year: 2011
What do you want to be when you grow up? A financial officer for a corporation.
What’s your favorite thing about the first day of school? I really get excited about a new semester of courses. It sounds really lame but I really enjoy meeting my new professors and scoping out how I think each of my classes is going to go that semester. I also like the idea of having a fresh start. Regardless of how good or bad you did in a previous semester, you are presented with a clean slate and can make the best of it.
Why did you come to NC State? NC State was actually not even on my radar until I began to visit colleges my senior year of high school. I knew that State was one of the top universities in North Carolina but had very limited knowledge of much more than that. Once I visited the campus, I knew that it was the place for me. It was a feeling that that I hadn’t experienced during any of my other college tours. I fell in love with the campus and was impressed by all of the opportunities that NC State offers through its lengthy list of majors and student organizations.
What one thing should people know about NC State that they might not know already? Although it’s not technically “on campus,” Global Village coffee shop on Hillsborough Street is one of my favorite places to go when I’m on campus. It is the perfect spot to meet up with friends, have an informal meeting, or to just get on your laptop . . . not to mention the coffee is amazing!
Caroline Linker
Hometown: Concord
Class Year: 2012
Major: Communication
What do you want to be when you grow up? I would love to be a public relations account executive for a record label. I love all types of music, and I think that a public relations position in the music industry would allow me the opportunity to work in the profession that I enjoy and be surrounded by one of my favorite things. What’s not to love?
What is your favorite thing about the first day of school? My favorite thing about the first day of school is the excitement surrounding new class schedules, meeting new professors, and using new school supplies! The first day of school is exciting because it allows me to start a new routine. A new academic year allows for new topics to be learned and new friends to be made. I love meeting new professors, especially in smaller classes. New professors always have different stories to tell and fresh ways to teach new concepts. And, who doesn’t love to write with new pens and the smell of new textbooks? The first day of school is the one day out of the school year that it is acceptable to be excited about using a new pack of colorful, ballpoint pens and using the first, crisp sheet of notebook paper. I am excited already!
Why did you come to NC State? I decided to come to NC State because it felt like home to me. The campus and the surrounding community were so welcoming when I visited, and I knew this was the place that I was supposed to be. I knew that by becoming a member of the Wolfpack family, I would receive the best education in the world and would be given the opportunity to develop a strong bond with my other fellow Wolfpackers — something I couldn’t find anywhere else. Coming to NC State has been the best decision of my life. I adore NC State and the people that make this such a great place to be. There’s nothing in the world that could match my appreciation and pride for this university.
What one thing should people know about NC State that they might not know already? One thing that people should know about NC State is that this university offers some of the best professors around, especially Robert Larson. Mr. Larson is a professor within the Department of Communication and teaches public relations courses. He is extremely knowledgeable in the field of public relations and strives to assure that all of his students succeed in his classes and in their future careers. He truly cares about his students, which makes going to his classes a joy. I highly recommend taking one of his courses. You won’t regret it!
Last summer, we posted as a Photo of the Day an image from 1966 of Harry Kelly, then the dean of faculty, with a copper plaque featuring the chancellor’s seal. An Iranian alumnus had given the plaque as a gift to Chancellor John T. Caldwell. Readers on our blog and Facebook page were curious about its current whereabouts. After a little legwork, we found out that it was hanging in Primrose Hall, one of the oldest buildings on campus, and we snapped this photo:
Fast foward to this weekend. Rafi Javid ’57, the alumnus who gave the plaque, ran across our Photo of the Day and sent us this comment:
I, Rafi Javid, am the one who presented the plaque to the Chancellor Caldwell in 1966, when I visited the N.C. State for the first time after my graduation in 1957. I was on a business trip to the U. S. and I thought it would be a very small token of my appreciation for what this school offered me and taught me for my future life. Mr. Caldwell was very kind and invited me to a very nice luncheon with the members of Dormitory Council and Student Advisers, where I presented the plaque.
Two to three years later, when I came back to the U.S. and visited the school, the plaque was still hanging on the wall of the Chancellor’s office. I really would like to know where it is now.
I had the seal of the N.C. State to be enlarged and took to Isfahan, (Iran) to be engraved by the most well known artist on copper and then silver plated. The artist put my name and my graduation date at the lower part of the plaque. I am so glad I did so!!
Thank you for the beautiful gift and for sharing your story, Mr. Javid.
Michael Chinneck ’06 has a degree in middle grades language arts and social studies. But in 2008, he began working for Central Texas College, running education centers on military bases in Afghanistan. After spending several weeks helping to set up education centers on different Army bases, he settled at Forward Operating Base Sharana, in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. There he oversaw the offering of college courses to the more than 3,000 members of the 62nd Engineer Battalion. He returned to North Carolina in May and talks here with former NC State intern Ryan Greene about his year of challenge, danger and personal growth.
On his job
[It encompassed] setting up classes for soldiers to take on site. I hired teachers [and] worked with universities to facilitate getting books to their students there. One of the things that soldiers have is goarmyed.com. [The military] gives [them] $4,500 while on active duty to take college courses. There were over 300 different colleges within the system, and the number of degrees was in the thousands. So there were a lot of choices for the soldiers.
On the importance of the work
It sets up their career after the military. I saw soldiers positively working toward something they thought could be attainable in the future. And it provides an outlet for them while they’re deployed to take their mind off the combat environment. I saw soldiers going to classes at night, and they said, “This is the only thing I have besides going to my room and just sitting there and thinking about what’s going on.” On the base, you really don’t have anything else. You have maybe a small [Morale, Welfare and Recreation area], which provides computers and phones. But when you have 20 computers and over 3,000 soldiers on the [base], it’s really not going to be feasible for them all to do that.
On the dangers
Our bases got attacked a couple times while I was there. One base in particular, Salerno, it was attacked twice in two days. About [2 a.m.], I heard something fly by and thought, “That does not sound good.” (more…)
About 25 NC State students are participating in EcoCAR: The Next Challenge, a three-year competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, General Motors and Argonne National Laboratory. The team is one of 16 from universities around the country that are working to convert a 2009 Saturn VUE into an electric, hybrid or fuel-cell vehicle. The students completed their design the first year and will now begin transforming the VUE, which they received in August. NC State magazine intern Deborah Neffa spoke with the team’s outreach leader Erik Schettig ’08 about the project.
How did the first year go?
Considering this is the first time NC State is participating in the competition, [it] went very well. We were able to keep up with other universities that have participated in the competition for many years and have bigger teams—upwards of 40 or more people. . . .
Who’s on the team?
It’s a mix of undergraduates and graduate students from all departments throughout the university. The faculty adviser also gives some kind of assignment through the mechanical and aerospace engineering department so students can participate on the team for a few months to get credit. Even people who have already graduated and are working can become involved. . . . I am an education [graduate student] and have nothing to do with the engineering aspects, but we have people from [all over campus] working together. It really helps better the product.
What’s special about your vehicle?
I’d have to say that our vehicle is closer to what the public will be seeing in EREVs (extended range electric vehicles). [It has] a B20 biodiesel engine (which runs on (more…)
In the Summer 2009 issue of NC State magazine, we asked readers to tell us their memories of living on a student budget. We received nearly 175 responses and printed many in the Autumn 2009 issue. Below is a submission from (Ret.) Col. Ralph Brake ’40.
Ralph Brake '40, from the 1940 Agromeck.
Not only did he send us his story (below), he loaned us the ledger in which he recorded his income and expenses for his junior year (1938-39). We’ve reproduced images of pages from it at the end of the post.
How much did college cost? I estimated my freshman year expenses at $400. Expenses went up approximately $100 per year for my sophomore, junior, and senior years. For my junior year, September 1938 to May 1939, I kept a written ledger of my income and expenses.
I had to work to stay in college. I had no bank account. I was fortunate to have three older sisters who provided financial support during my four years at NC State. My father and mother died before I enrolled.
Beginning with the second term in January 1937, I worked daily in the dairy, milking cows by hand starting at 3:30 a.m. The building for milking cows in 1937 was located near the site of Reynolds Coliseum. I occasionally dropped off to sleep at 8 a.m. classes. At the end of my freshman year my roommate, Bruce Hildebrand ’40, informed me that I had a choice: I either get a new job or get a new roommate for my sophomore year. I got a new job in the botany department doing typing, filing, etc. A bonus was working for Prof. Murray Buell occasionally as a babysitter.
Brake's ledger, where he recorded his expenses for the 1938-39 school year.
[After] my first year at NC State, I was given summer employment working for the U.S. Forest Service doing a timber survey of Pisgah National Forest between Asheville and Blowing Rock. This job helped pay for part of my sophomore year expenses.
In September 1938, I was accepted for the Advanced ROTC program, which provided some additional income. I also was offered a job in the ROTC Military Department for my junior and senior years, which helped pay my expenses. During a six-week ROTC camp at Ft. McClellan I was given extra duty as the company clerk in addition to the required training, but no extra pay.
Another source of income was from selling pecans. My father had planted about 5 acres of Stuart Pecans on his farm. I sold and delivered about 100 pounds of these to faculty members and students each fall.
Editor’s note: Click on the images for a closer look. There are more after the jump.
The Autumn 2009 issue of NC State magazine will be mailed next week, and we’ll be posting to redandwhiteforlife.com some of the content as well as blog-exclusive items. Look for:
A roundtable discussion about NC State’s culture with former UNC System president Bill Friday ’41, former Board of Trustees member Suzanne Gordon ’75, organizational leadership expert and management professor Art Padilla ’69, ’71 MS, former Alumni Association president Billy Maddalon ’90, former Faculty Senate chair Jim Martin and assistant news editor for The Washington Post Dwuan June ’90.
Photographs from freelance photographer David Evans ’84, whose work has appeared in National Geographic and who helped start the National Geographic Channel.
Q&As with an alumnus who helped design the Lonnie Poole Golf Course and another who spent a year in Afghanistan helping soldiers get a college education.
There will be much more, so make sure you check in throughout the week.
Welcome freshmen! Many of the 4,700 entering freshmen will arrive to campus this weekend to move in to their dorm rooms before classes start next Wednesday. It’ll be the beginning of a spirited Wolfpack Welcome Week highlighted by the Alumni Association’s Legacy Luncheon, the Convocation Festival and the Friday Fest Concert. So as our newest members of the Wolfpack family settle in, what advice do you have for them? What should they do to get the most out of their NC State experience? What would you have done differently? What do you wish you had been told or listened to when you started college? Let us know, and leave a comment.
Here’s what Eric Webber ’74 told Melissa Clements ’07, our program assistant for outreach and engagement, at an alumni network event this week in Portland.
What would you say? Tell us! Read what others had to say on our Facebook page.
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