Our Extraordinary Year

NC State was founded to solve problems and serve the community.

North Carolinians already know that. It’s part of why, in 2016, they passed the Connect NC Bond, which secures $160 million for engineering and agriculture projects on NC State’s campus. It’s why they share our research successes — battling Zika, cracking CRISPR, decoding genetics — on Facebook and Twitter. It’s why they root for the red and white on the field and the court, at the speedway or in a swimming pool in Rio. It’s why they’re joining our $1.6 billion campaign to Think and Do the Extraordinary.

In 2016, NC State’s impact was recognized nationally, too. We were hailed as one of the best universities in the country at realizing research. The journal Nature ranked us third in North America on its list of rising stars. And our faculty earned major awards: the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, the Canada Gairdner International Award and the Wolf Prize in agriculture.

Meanwhile, more than 9,000 new NC State graduates left campus ready to remake their state, this country, our world for the better.

Because the face of NC State changes so rapidly — goodbye, Harrelson; welcome back, Old Barn — it’s important to find moments to reflect on the successes of our students, faculty, staff and alumni.

In 2016, they were extraordinary. Here are just a few highlights of all that they thought and did.