Alumni To Give $2.5 Million

A Raleigh couple has made a planned estate gift of approximately $2.5 million to NC State that includes funding for a professorship, scholarships and the J.C. Raulston Arboretum. The gift from Keith and Margaret Collins, both of whom are NC State alumni, will establish endowments in the College of Engineering’s Department of Computer Science and in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

In the College of Engineering, the charitable bequest establishes the Collins Distinguished Professorship in Computer Science to help the computer science department attract top talent to study ways to use data management and high-performance computing to develop large-scale business analytic solutions. The gift also establishes the Collins Leadership and Computational Excellence Scholarship in Computer Science, which will be awarded to top students who have demonstrated strong aptitude and interest in research and mathematics. The Collins Computer Science Discretionary Fund will give the department head resources to recruit students and faculty, provide support for student organizations, support lecture series and make faculty awards.

In the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the Margaret “Margie” P. Collins Fund already provides annual support for the CALS Ambassadors student leadership program and two undergraduate student leaders scholarships. When fully realized, the Collins’ gift will establish several named endowments to benefit the college: the Margie Collins Endowment for the JC Raulston Arboretum, the Margie Collins Endowment for the CALS Ambassadors, and the Margie Collins Scholarship Endowment for CALS, which will fund a number of leadership and merit-based scholarships.

The Collinses, who met as students at NC State, have been longtime supporters of the university. Keith is a 1982 computer science graduate and Margie is a 1979 horticultural science graduate.