Category — Just Interesting

by Anna Rzewnicki

How cool is that.  Two NC State women will be among the first females to serve on submarines, the United States Navy announced yesterday.

Midshipman Megan Bittner, 22, from Chesapeake, Va., and Officer Candidate Karen Achtyl, 25, from Rochester, N.Y. will be commissioned as ensigns in the U. S. Navy on May 14. On May 15, the two students will graduate from North Carolina State, Magna Cum Laude. Bittner will graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering with a concentration in Green Chemistry and Engineering and a minor in Naval Science. Achtyl will graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and a minor in Business Management.

Following their commissioning and graduation on May 15, Bittner and Achtyl will attend Nuclear Power School in Charleston, S. C., before being assigned their first submarine.

“I don’t believe the Navy could have picked two finer females to pioneer the entrance of females in the submarine community,” said Marine Corps Lt. Col. Timothy Nichols, executive officer of the North Carolina Piedmont Region NROTC consortium, which includes Duke University, the University of North Carolina and N.C. State.

“These are two outstanding midshipmen and the perfect candidates to be officers and leaders in the submarine force. They are both ready and eager to start their Navy careers.”

[Read more →]

I’ve written about this before, but wanted to share the updated presentation I made to the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) last week in Savannah.  Had a great group of about 60 people from as far away as Australia and Bermuda.  Great discussions followed.  More to come.  CASEFutureComm

Trends that affect us all

•Accountability to our various publics

•Challenge from the competition

•The rise of a new breed of Chancellor

•Changing role of communications

Accountability

•With increased competition for funding and the need to justify our contribution or value to all of our stakeholders; communications will have to lead message development and delivery

–Different messages for different groups

•Parents, students, civic leaders, business leaders, etc.

•How does giving help?

[Read more →]

Can you say “duh” with me.  I know, I know.  It’s not fair to be critical when someone else is doing the work, but CASE ought to do better than this when they are dispensing advice on social media.

Of course planning is critical.  Planning is critical to the success of any communications campaign.  Print, broadcast, Web, invisible ink.  You’ve got to plan.  Use the classic RACE Formula; Research, Action (planning), Communicate (do the communicating) and Evaluate.  Or R-PIE; Research, Plan, Implement, Evaluate.

I’m not going to lecture any more so here’s the lowdown from CASE regarding social media:

Social media is all the rage but leading experts at a recent CASE conference say communications professionals must address five key questions before they start tweeting, blogging and posting content on behalf of their institutions. [Read more →]

As a public university, NC State receives numerous requests from individuals and organizations to provide information pertaining to research, education, our outreach efforts, funding, personnel and more.  While we strive to fulfill these “public records requests” as quickly and completely as possible, it can be a challenge, especially given the daily requirements and work load of our staff.  When requests ask for information that goes back for months — even years — you can only imagine.

To help provide consistency in the way we respond to these requests, the university has revised guidelines created back in July 2002.  I’m posting a copy of the revisions here, but there are a couple of  things to remember;  First, requests need to be made in writing.  This helps us understand the scope and nature of the requests and helps us determine who should respond.  We’ll log the requests and are in the process of developing a more consistent method of tracking their progress within the university. [Read more →]

NC State student Jason Smith shows off his iPad.

With all of the hoopla surrounding Apple’s newest gadget, NCSU Libraries (which already loans students everything from laptops and digital cameras to scanners, eBook readers and GPS units) wanted to put a few in the hands of a few NC State students to see what they really think.

Do they like it? Do they hate it? Would the iPad be helpful as they go through their normal educational routine?

Earlier this week, University Communications and the Libraries teamed up to give these five students a creative online outlet for their musings, reviews and comments. It’s gone extraordinarily well – our iPad-related pageviews have eclipsed the 3,000+ mark in less than 48 hours.

So far, comments have run the gamut from “OMG!” to “What was Apple thinking?” as the bloggers download Apps, browse the Web and attempt to do everything they normally would, both in and out of the classroom.

iPad Test Drive: http://www.ncsu.edu/features/tag/ipad/

And if you’ve already visited the site, take another look – our students will be posting day and night for the next week or so.

Passion Rules!

1 of Many

Michael Peace, a third year Doctor of Veterinary Medicine student in North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, is the recipient of a $27,000 scholarship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to support his participation in an innovative, year-long research training program with the National Institutes of Health.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute-National Institutes of Health (HHMI-NIH) Research Scholars Program provides “outstanding students at U.S. medical schools” the opportunity to receive research training under the mentorship of senior NIH research scientists. Peace is one of 42 scholarship recipients—and the only veterinary medicine student— selected from 207 applicants nationwide.

Scholars will live together at the Cloister, a residential community on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. Peace will spend the first two months of the 12-month program interviewing with investigators and exploring opportunities with different labs prior to deciding which one of the more than 2,500 NIH projects encompassing cell biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience, structural biology, and epidemiology is of interest and aligned with his career goals. He will then conduct basic, translational, or applied biomedical research under the direction of a senior NIH scientist before giving a formal presentation on his research activity. [Read more →]

“NC State Night” at UNC-TV is tonight. Tune in from 7 – 11 to see all your favorite NC State people on the air.

We have about 40 volunteers for the last night of UNC-TV’s Festival 2010 pledge drive so give us a call and donate a dollar (or more!)  http://www.unctv.org/index1.shtml

We’ll have two special “commercials” during the evening.  At 7:55 p.m. CHASS Dean Jeff Braden will address the audience and at 8:23 p.m. Alex Miller from Arts NC State will appear. Sure to be the highlights of your viewing week.

So tune in tonight to see us answering the phones in our NC State t-shirts!

Passion Rules!

By Steve Townsend, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences:

Chancellor-elect Woodson recently stressed the importance of science and engineering in addressing “the grand challenges of society,”  such as water, climate and energy. At NC State, we believe this goes beyond educating those who will work directly in science and technology fields. It’s also important that we develop a strong scientific knowledge base among the general public and those who frame public policy.

Our elected and appointed officials need solid scientific information to make sound policy decisions, and citizens need the background and tools with which to evaluate those decisions. That’s why it’s important that our faculty take an interest in explaining their work outside their disciplines and that our colleges work together to prepare students not just to enter the workforce, but to be well-rounded, participatory members of society. [Read more →]

See today’s story about our new Chancellor Randy Woodson in the N&O.  I think we’re going to really, really like this guy!

http://www.newsobserver.com/home/story/288759.html