N.C. State will model itself after top institutions like Cornell University and Georgia Tech, Chancellor James L. Oblinger told the Board of Trustees on Friday.
Oblinger reported to the board that an “Official Peer List” he and Provost Larry A. Nielson have developed has been upgraded to include some of the top institutions of higher learning in the country.
The chancellor said the University will compete directly with these schools for faculty and use their data as a basis for comparison of faculty salaries, tuition and enrollment.
The list is a grouping of universities ranging from the University of California at Davis to Texas A&M and includes a new group of “aspirational peers” such as Cornell.
Oblinger also reported the University’s ranking in Forbes magazine as one of the nations “25 Most Connected Campuses.”
The Princeton Review survey underlying the ranking identifies universities offering the most cutting-edge technology.
The chancellor also cited a Triangle Business Journal poll conducted Dec. 28 through Jan. 3, which showed 65 percent of respondents placed NCSU as top among local universities in contributing to the Triangle economy.
Nearest ranked schools UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University received 21 and 11 percent, respectively.
The board also recognized Kay Yow, women’s basketball head coach, for coaching her 1,000th game.
“That is really unusual among university athletic coaches,” Oblinger said.
Yow is one of only four college women’s coaches to pass that milestone.
Oblinger reported that a draft of the University’s strategic plan has been prepared and will be left for comment from faculty, staff and students. The plan will not only set out NCSU’s vision, but also guide investment, program development and planning for each of the University’s colleges.
Melissa Watkins, chair of the Staff Senate, used a PowerPoint presentation that included images of mangled roadways, toppled bridges and debris strewn across treetops, to describe the volunteer efforts of staff to help people affected by Hurricane Katrina.
The staff volunteers drove all night to get to the Gulf Coast area of Mississippi. Over a three-day period, volunteers under the oversight of J.C. Boykin, design and construction services contracts administrator, tore down and re-built a family’s home.
Other issues likely discussed by the board in the near future include the recommendations of the tailgating study committee, the leasing of University property to Greek Life organizations and the proposed separation of the judicial branch from the legislative branch in Student Government.
Whil Piavis described his experience on the board so far in his trademark pirate lingo.
“In general, matey, work’n with tha Board o’ Trustees has been a warm wind in me sails, and t’as learned me quite a bit!” Piavis said.