Goals 2 and 3: Invest in Faculty and Infrastructure and Support Interdisciplinary Scholarship

We've made significant investments in faculty and infrastructure that have increased the number of tenured and tenure-track faculty on campus and have expanded faculty engagement in interdisciplinary work. Our research has made a positive impact on the workforce, the economy, the advancement of knowledge and more. See examples of our progress below.

faculty member in science lab

Recruiting and Retaining Top Faculty

We take deliberate steps to recruit, reward and retain top faculty, who play a key role in student success and maintaining NC State’s world-class academic reputation. One program — University Faculty Scholars — provides a permanent salary boost to selected tenured and tenure-track faculty. The Chancellor’s Faculty Excellence Program has welcomed renowned faculty engaged in groundbreaking interdisciplinary research clusters. We’re also committed to increasing the number of endowed named professorships through private support. These privately funded positions enhance our ability to attract star faculty to NC State. In addition, we continually seek to provide professional development opportunities to strengthen faculty teaching, leadership, research and service. We hope that all of these measures and more will continue to increase the number of tenured and tenure-track faculty on campus.

72 New Faculty Cluster Members

since 2011

95%

retention of faculty named University Faculty Scholars

Investing in World-Class Research

We’re a research powerhouse, and not by accident. Strategic investment in our campus infrastructure supports a wide range of faculty research efforts. We’re now managing our Genomic Sciences Laboratory and Cellular and Molecular Imaging Facility — both home to state-of-the-art scientific equipment and services — as central resources for maximum effectiveness. We also offer spaces for interdisciplinary collaboration, including the Faculty Research Commons present at both D.H. Hill Library and the Hunt Library, the Center for Geospatial Analytics and collaborative spaces that allow faculty to work together across disciplines. Of course, we’re also paving the way for future research facilities, with plans underway to bring the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative and Engineering Building Oval to fruition. The research taking place in these spaces is supported by internal grants to support on-campus research, including the Chancellor’s Innovation Fund, the Game-Changing Research Incentive Program and the Non-Laboratory Scholarship/Research Support Program. From creating innovative spaces to backing our outstanding faculty, we strive for all-encompassing research excellence.

Research Expenditures per Tenured/Tenure-Track Faculty

increased 28 percent, from a baseline of $282,000 to $361,000

#7Nationally in Research Expenditures

among public universities without medical schools; expenditures totaled $490 million in 2017

Breaking Through Barriers

NC State redefines interdisciplinarity by bringing the world’s best academic minds together to solve society’s most pressing issues. Our interdisciplinary Chancellor’s Faculty Excellence Program directly supports this aim through faculty clusters focused on areas ranging from bioinformatics and geospatial analytics to visual narrative and precision medicine. The cluster program expanded in 2015 and now includes more than 70 faculty in 20 clusters. These clusters also house outstanding academic programs. The Geospatial Analytics Cluster offers both master’s and doctoral degrees, and the Genetic Engineering and Society Cluster houses an Integrated Graduate Research Traineeship program. In addition, the Center for Human Health and the Environment, associated with the Environmental Health Science Cluster, received a $6.5 million research grant in 2015. Our faculty clusters place NC State at the forefront of interdisciplinary research and education.