On this day in 1962, students learned that the correct pronunciation of the dormitory was actually “sim,” sounding like “dim.” In a survey by the university, more than half of the student body thought the pronunciation was “sime,” with a long “i.”

That thought is still around today, as the university’s facilities website lists the pronunciation as “sime.”

Syme Residence Hall in 1955. Photo courtesy of NCSU Libraries.

The residence hall was named for George Frederich Syme (prounounced “Sim,” like “him”), a civil engineering student who graduated in 1898 and garnered a reputation when he worked with C.L. Mann, an NC State professor of civil engineering, to survey the prospects of building a canal across Nicaragua after the turn of the century.

But as Hardy D. Berry writes in Place Names on the Campus of North Carolina State University, “It is said the heat, insects, and hostile surroundings discouraged their enthusiasm for the canal location.”

Syme, who was the first president of the Raleigh Engineers Club, came back to North Carolina as a highway and bridge specialist with his reputation, but apparently not his name, intact.

On this day in 1930, Dean of Students Edward Cloyd took a stand against an existing dress code that many saw as an early form of hazing.

Former NC State Chancellor John T. Caldwell shows off a Freshman Cap. (Photo from the NC State Alumni Association Archives)

The controversy dates back to 1916, when freshmen first began wearing a red hat with an “F” on it to denote their underclassmen status. And, as Alice Reagan points out in North Carolina State University: A Narrative History, the rites of passage did not stop with the caps.

“Freshmen also were to learn all college songs, attend class meetings, and show a deference to upperclassmen,” Reagan writes. “For violations of the code, especially failure to wear the freshman cap, students were forced to run a gauntlet.”

Over the next nine years, freshmen got fed up with the initiation. Reagan writes that in 1929, NC State’s students voted to abolish the gauntlet as a means of punishment. A student body group known as the Court of Customs ordered a freshman football player to wear a dress as punishment for not wearing his cap that fall.

“A large portion of the freshman class attempted to burn the offending caps,” Reagan writes. The student body voted to keep the dress code, and the freshmen pleaded to the administration.

But Cloyd said he supported eliminating the tradition in his end-of-the-year address to students in 1930. The State College Board of Trustees voted to abolish the dress code that June.

But, as Reagan writes, “freshmen were still obligated to provide matches to upper classmen on request, and also run errands for them.”

“Clean living and clean thinking are of first importance to the person who expects to be an athlete,” he wrote. “All athletic directors lay stress on these facts. This is as it should be, especially the case in all intercollegiate athletics.”

The Monogram Club in the early 1920s. Photo courtesy of NCSU Libraries.

The Athletic Council apparently agreed with Fetzer and wanted some way to celebrate athletes who had accomplished great things in their respective sports.

So on this day in 1920, the Council made the decision to award sweaters to athletes who had received letters, or monograms, for their achievements. The sweaters, adorned with stars and an “N” and a “C” nestled inside of the block-S, soon made their way on campus.

Twenty-eight young men made up that first group of those who lettered in 1920. They are called “Monogram Men” in that Agromeck, and several of them lettered in the four sports listed: football, baseball, basketball and track. S.L. Homewood and R.N. Gurley lettered in three of the four. (Subsequent Agromecks dubbed them the “Monogram Club.”)

So it might seem odd that on this day in 1923, the basketball facility on campus was named Thompson Gymnasium in honor of him. But the honor saluted more than just Thompson’s athletic prowess.

The son of Judge John W. Thompson,  Frank felt the patriotic call to serve his country. According to Hardy D. Berry’s Place Names on the Campus of North Carolina State University, Frank was too old to be drafted for service in World War I. But he enlisted anyway in the Fifth Division’s 15th machine gun battalion and soon became a first lieutenant serving in France.

Thompson was killed in action along the German lines when his division was attacked at Regnieville. “The news of his death reached his father in the Panama Canal Zone where he was serving as a judge by appointment of President Woodrow Wilson,” writes Berry.

Reynolds Coliseum opened in 1949, and Thompson Gym became Thompson Theatre in 1963 after renovations. In 2009, the building was renamed Frank Thompson Hall, which houses the Crafts Center and University Theatre, the home for the dramatic arts at NC State.

Moore looks at the Free Expression Tunnel.

An exhibit in Withers Hall on display through the end of May celebrates the history of the Free Expression Tunnel, which has been an important part of NC State’s campus since 1967.

The exhibit depicts the tunnel’s legacy as a forum for free speech on campus. Students have used the tunnel to debate about controversial topics, sometimes blurring the lines between free speech and hate speech. Michael Moore, a first-year public history graduate student, came up with the idea for the exhibit in a history class about museums.

“I think the most fascinating thing about the Free Expression Tunnel is that even after 45 years, it is still generating intense discussions about the place of free expression on the college campus,” Moore says. “The fact that it remains a controversial landmark makes it a tough subject to represent, but I also think it provides a unique opportunity for us as students of museology to develop our skills as future professionals.”

Moore says he hopes the exhibit will continue the Free Expression Tunnel’s legacy by causing people to reflect and discuss ideas. “In creating an exhibit that is hopefully as respectful as it is challenging, we give voice to as many viewpoints as possible and in the process perhaps create some really constructive dialogue.”

Visit the Facebook event page the class set up for more information.

But here’s what it did have: “The only coach in the country whose wife sang the National Anthem before games,” the Agromeck reads. “It had class.”

The purveyor of that class was none other than Norm Sloan. On this day in 1966, NC State hired “Stormin’ Norman” to become head coach of its men’s basketball program. Sloan would come to join Case, his former head coach, on a would-be Mt. Rushmore of NC State coaching greats after his team won the NCAA championship eight years later in 1974.

Sloan was one of  Case’s original “Hoosier Hotshots,” a group from Indiana that Case brought to Raleigh to run his up-tempo style. He played for the Wolfpack from 1947-49, fighting for playing time behind guard Vic Bubas. After his playing days, Sloan took coaching gigs at Presbyterian and the Citadel before landing at the University of Florida in 1960. He would coach there for six years before NC State hired him away for a three-year, $12,000 annual contract. After compiling a 266-127 record at NC State in 13 years, he returned to Gainesville to coach the Gators from 1980-1989.

Strickland holding a microphone at a Band Together meeting.

Matt Strickland believes in the power of that special song . “”Everybody is drawn to great music,” he says. “When you hear that song on the radio, it takes you to a different place.”

And Saturday night, music’s reach will be center stage when Band Together, the  nonprofit Strickland runs which partners with local nonprofits each year to raise money and awareness, hosts its annual benefit concert at Koka Booth Ampitheatre in Cary, N.C. The show features local band Big Something, Southern Culture on the Skids and the B-52s as headliners. Band Together’s partner this year is Urban Ministries of Wake County.

A 2002 graduate of NC State with a sociology degree, Strickland became executive director Band Together last year. He says there’s been a learning curve but that the payoff is worth it. “We have such a dynamic group of volunteers on our board,” he says. “I’m really thrilled to see all the fruits of our labor when we turn over that big check on stage Saturday night to Urban Ministries.”

Band Together features one local nonprofit each year and partners with it to share resources and go after sponsorships and donations. Strickland says Urban Ministries of Wake County has been an ideal partner because it does so much. It runs the second largest food pantry in Wake County. It operates the Helen Wright Center for Women, which serves as a transitional shelter for 300 homeless women annually. And it helps with the Open Door Clinic, one of the first free clinics established in the state that offers comprehensive medical care for uninsured adults. “I think the neat thing is that they do a lot of work, but they operate so efficiently,” Strickland says. “Ninety-four cents on every dollar is going right to the programs.”

Strickland says Band Together was started ten years ago to bring a feeling of humanity back into the world after 9/11. And every year since, he says, it’s proven to show the power of music. “That medium of live music draws people to your cause,” he says.

Austin network leader Taylor Cooke ‘04 and some of his group’s members got to hear about the Hunt Library and discussed possible ideas for upcoming service projects.

That was the first in a series of 125th anniversary parties that will be thrown in cities around the country in May and June. Those parties serve as great ways for alumni to get the latest NC State news and enjoy birthday cake, too.

Happy Birthday, NC State!

Today we’re visiting with Hiller Spires, a professor in the College of Education and a senior research fellow at the  Friday Institute for Educational Innovation. Spires is one of two professors being recognized as Distinguished Graduate Professors.

What is the key to being a successful teacher? Any success I’ve had as a teacher is derived, I think, from my passion for compelling ideas and creating conditions for students to be curious and intellectually challenged. I’ve found that students more often than not rise to the learning occasion. I see my role as setting high expectations, modeling intellectual curiosity and being available to mentor, challenge and provide resources for students to be successful. I’m not afraid to show my enthusiasm and students tell me that it is contagious. “If you tell me, I will listen. If you show me, I will see. If you let me experience, I will learn.” This well-known quote by Lao Tau aptly captures my philosophy of teaching.

What gives you the greatest satisfaction as a professor? My favorite aspect of graduate teaching is engaging my students as co-researchers. I enjoy supporting students as they learn the rigors of the educational research process, including publishing findings and sharing them with professional audiences at conferences. It’s rewarding to watch as students become confident in their new-found knowledge and skills. I take satisfaction knowing that I have a part in contributing to the next generation of educational researchers.

Today we’re visiting with Jay Levine, a professor of epidemiology and public health in the College of Veterinary Medicine. He is also an associate curator at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences. Levine is one of three professors being recognized with Outstanding Extension and Outreach Awards.

What is the key to being a successful teacher? Enjoying teaching, a bit of theatre, and focusing on the key elements of what you feel students may need to know, rather than on just presenting facts.

What gives you the greatest satisfaction as a professor? Seeing personal growth in students I’ve worked with. Watching them take on new challenges and watching them move beyond the things I’ve introduced them to. Perhaps the things I’ve enjoyed the most is taking time from the rigors of running a laboratory and teaching to work with young future scientists; helping instill a sense of wonder about the beauty of the natural world.