The Future of NC State

Adam Compton talks about how the university is growing, and what the future holds in store for NC State.

Interview on 2011-11-18 00:00:00 -0500

Transcript

00:00:00.000 I think we're just on the cusp of doing so many great things.
00:00:06.857 Here at NC State things are changing so much
00:00:11.380 that I envy the student that starts as a freshman next year.
00:00:15.634 There are just so many incredible opportunities. We're going to open one of the world's greatest libraries on our Centennial Campus.
00:00:23.639 There is no doubt in my mind that it will fundamentally change our campus.
00:00:27.777 We're about to open a new student center. We're actually going to have the student center.
00:00:31.769 When I was a student we didn't really have-. We had Talley but it wasn't a hub for students.
00:00:37.889 So those are kind of two things that are going on.
00:00:40.912 We've got a new chancellor in place that I think has got a very clear picture of where he wants this university to go.
00:00:48.820 He's developed a strategic plan. He's one of the first chancellors that I've sent that really focuses on
00:00:54.941 getting that feedback from students
00:00:59.272 but also pushing this university forward.
00:01:03.253 I think we're going to do a lot of great things. We're no longer going to be looked at as North Carolina's redheaded stepchild.
00:01:10.777 I really think in ten years from now people will say-.
00:01:15.772 When you go out of state and you say, I graduated from North Carolina State people won't say, oh, you mean UNC.
00:01:22.559 No. They'll understand and know what NC State is because it's a leader in this country and in this world.
00:01:29.481 We take our land grant mission to heart,
00:01:33.074 and I think that's what's going to really push us forward. We've seen the writing on the wall, I think.
00:01:38.279 We looked at our textiles program and we saw that textiles was a dying industry in North Carolina.
00:01:44.816 How do we develop it and move it forward? Now our textiles program is one of the world's leaders in textiles
00:01:51.520 but it's no longer building furniture. It's focusing on developing new fibers that our firefighters can wear
00:01:59.431 when they're fighting fires and they're really focused on growing and developing the future of that industry.
00:02:05.073 We look at colleges like CHASS that are looking at things in a different way than your normal liberal arts things.
00:02:11.304 We are able to work with our scientific sides of things and our CALS and CNR
00:02:19.370 and understand that, okay, if healthcare is one of our biggest problems facing the future,
00:02:25.717 yeah there are some different nutritional sides of things but there's also a psychological side,
00:02:30.943 that if we can change the way people-or not so much change the way people think but help them understand the way they think about food, the way they think about things.
00:02:40.258 The CIA is now recruiting people that have strong backgrounds in philosophy and Middle Eastern studies.
00:02:49.492 I think our college of humanities really sees that here,
00:02:53.452 and I think you can say that about all our colleges. They really see the future, they see how they fit in a land grant mission,
00:02:59.435 and I think there's so many great things to come from NC State.